I understand sociapathy. What I don't understand is why you or anyone else sympathizes with it. Your own handle has "socialist" in it yet you're swooning over some libertarian drivel from a person that doesn't think laziness even exists. Spoiler - it does.
spidermanchild
joined 8 months ago
All I know is the "average" person has slightly less than one testicle.
What sort of Gordon Gecko / Kissinger, sociopathic nonsense is this? The problem is not enough empathy, not too much. People should prioritize what's good for society because what's good for society is also good for the individual. Things like universal healthcare, environmental protections, collective bargaining. I'm a straight white healthy dude, I guess I should just ignore LGBT, women, minorities, sick people, disabled people, education (I already am learned so fuck them kids) maybe a little genocide as long as it's not against me personally. Might as well pull the ladder up because I don't need it anymore, it's in me personal interest!
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
You should get some more diverse opinions then. Read it again through the lens of a confederate trying to preserve slavery. Or a straight person that doesn't understand LGBT issues. Or someone that's fortunate enough to not need healthcare (right now). Or someone that doesn't see the effects of climate change on their doorstep. Or someone that hasn't lost a family member to gun or vehicle violence. This isn't wisdom, it's sociopathy.
Not sure why you jump to "blame". It's about awareness of reality. You're more than welcome to raise awareness about the damage of corporate overlords, which is what's needed to do something about it politically. We alll need to talk about things to change things.
Wattage is power, not energy. But I still generally prefer carbon as a metric because that's the climate issue, so by focusing on it directly we can make more informed decisions. It also incorporates time of day/seasonal (peak) impacts implicitly, which also have profound effects on the grid, more than total energy used. The essence of our comments is the same though.
I'm only seeing a "short version" linked that has one question (and a horrible one at that, it's a ranking of 5 things that are all about "average Americans"). Based on this question alone, I'm forced to assume the test itself was stupid yet their conclusion is likely correct.
"New generation of engineers" is a bit cringe. The old generation knew thermodynamics pretty damn well. All that's changed is they're using R290 refrigerants and variable speed compressors now, but those don't change anything from a physics perspective. COP is fun but it's not even the right metric to use from a policy perspective, just like MPG. And despite being unitless, COP suffers from the same exagerative effect as MPG numbers. What matters is the carbon associated with delivering BTUs to a home, so here you can have the ridiculous case of delivering more BTUs at a higher carbon cost achieving a higher SCOP than the same exact heat pump delivering fewer BTUs at a lower total carbon cost achieving a lower SCOP for a better insulated home, and the person with the higher SCOP bragging about it like a clown. At least when the government tests COP it's a standardized test so you can actually compared equipment (somewhat).
Regardless, nerds gonna nerd and no harm done (and I also track real time energy use of my heat pump, so I consider myself a nerd).
Not sure where you're located, but there are often significant incentives for heat pumps. If you're US and low/moderate income, there are big programs ramping up via the IRA that will cover a large percentage of the costs, assuming you're not in a total brain dead state.
Ultimately we must do the best with what's available to us, just like you're doing. Electrify everything, get the most efficient stuff you can, and vote and trust your regulators are decarbonizing the grid. I'm in CO and although I am on track to overproduce on an annual basis with my 8 kW system, I'm not even close to matching my usage daily and especially not seasonally (good luck in January when my heat pump is cranking and I have a foot of snow on the panels). I'm able to retire my own RECS for my production so at least Xcel doesn't get to use my solar to meet their targets, but I'm clearly very heavily dependent on their grid.
We're maybe a decade behind CA in solar adoption and although I'm aggressively compensated by our current rate structure, that will surely change when the duck grows a belly here and solar is worth jack shit at high noon. It's a fascinating industry.
You're still making the mistake of treating dems like some single monolith. It's a coalition of just about everything that isn't MAGA at this point, covering all sorts of ideals, yours being just one small part. The answer is still "get a majority of reps that aren't asswipes" and then we'll get legislation we want.
As to DC statehood, it would have gone through if not for Manchin because the Senate "majority" at the time hinged on his support. We need to win these seats with bigger majorities, period, and then they'll pass better bills. The overwhelming majorty of Dems support DC statehood, saying "they won't do it" is not a great take when they literally didn't have the votes.
You kept using the words "personal interests" though. When you extend those interests to broader society, that's no longer personal by definition. You're just describing voting for what you believe will create the society you want to live in, but you framed it in a misleading way as if personal greed will get us there.
On a philosophical level, you've separated these qualities from their application. Can we agree that when a situation calls for empathy but someone employs violence, that this is bad?