lobotomy42

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You hear UBI thrown around a lot by the AI crowd, often before or after the word "obviously" and the phrase "the government will." The people who talk about such-and-such political solution being INEVITABLE due to (some non political thing over here) have almost never spent even a moment paying attention to actual policy conversations that touch on their proposal. They usually have not looked at the political context either.

It is, in the year 2024, a Herculean effort to get the U.S. Congress to pass a functioning BUDGET. Every. fucking. year. The institution nominally in charge of the country grinds to a halt as it debates "Hey, should society continue existing? I'm not sure" for a few weeks because some asshole decides to throw sand in the gears over what the culture war issue is trending that day. Modest improvements to existing infrastructure or policy areas are MONTHS and YEARS long battles to get passed. And in the lucky event something does get happen, no one ever looks deeply into either the sustainability of the policy nor the implementation of the policy. Making sure the-thing-we-passed-helps-the-people-we-intended-and-is-functioning is always a Next Year problem for Somebody Else.

The very idea that, like, our government could get it together long enough to create and fund a long-term permanent UBI program is laughable. Insulting. "Well, it's a very obvious problem that a government will have to solve" you say. "How could they not solve it?"

My dude. Not solving very obvious problems that it is their job to solve is our legislature's speciality. It's what it lives and breathes for. On the metaphorical resumé of Congress, "finding reasons to not do things" is the first bullet point under "Strengths."

And UBI is not some trivial post-office naming bill. It would be a hugely contentious issue, as you'd have to decide fun questions like who qualifies to receive the money, how much money do they get and, most fun of all, who is going to pay for this. And whatever clever answer you think you have for that third question, I guarantee you they will immediately launch an all-out assault on your very soul once they catch a whiff of you attempting to redistribute THEIR GOD-GIVEN RIGHT to hoard piles of cash large and small alike.

It's an annoying statement to hear repeated because it's such a STEM-head "on my napkin this is all very simple" reflex that totally ignores the reality of the human beings and the society they live in.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

"Socialists think we’re sociopathic Randroid money-obsessed Silicon Valley hypercapitalists."

No, Scott, we just think you're a coward and a racist

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Maybe. The current EA strategy is to takeover all the technocratic positions in government/business one level down from the ostensible policy-makers. The idea being that if they are the only ones qualified to actually write the reports on "alignment" for DoD/NIST/etc. then ultimately they get to squeeze in some final control over the language, regardless of what Joe Senator wants. Similarly, by monopolizing and brainwashing all the think tank positions, even the Joe Senators out there end up leaning on them to write the bills and executive orders.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Life is weird when you're living in a racist polycule

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I see the former evangelical Christians who were converted into EAs are busy redpilling themselves back into their original beliefs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

If you think so, then come here and hang out!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

The rest of you live in such cool cities. I'm in Washington, DC, the least cool city imaginable (and now even worse, having been overrun by EA lobbyists)

Let me know if you want to SneerUp

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Which stems from a contempt for accountability itself

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

More depressing than amusing

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

My favorite Stewart Lee bit is about this. (In regards to conservative trolls, but the point still holds.)

It's just a joke!.... But in addition to it being a joke, it's also my sincerely held true belief.

https://youtu.be/K7CnMQ4L9Pc?feature=shared&t=265

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

Congratulations?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It’s almost exclusively a matter of vocabulary: people identify speaking in a particular register with being that kind of person as they understand that ideal

This, so much this

 

I don't particularly disagree with the piece, but it's striking how little effort is put in to make this resemble a news piece or a typical Vox explainer. It's just blatant editorializing ("Please do this thing I want") and very blatantly carrying water for the--some how non-discredited--EA movement priorities.

view more: next ›