Human quality of life would be better without so much efficiency and global trade, which doesn't raise quality of life
Nonsense. China opened to world trade in 1980. Since then, income has increased eight-fold, and hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. The poorest countries in the world today are sub-Saharan African countries with near zero trade. The world's richest countries are those with the most open economies.
You make shirts in some southern China shithole where there are lots of unskilled workers and sweatshops.
Most textile manufacturing is done in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Labor costs are too high anywhere in China. A factory worker in Shenzhen is going to cost over $2/hr. Even in inland cities like Chongqing and Chengdu, labor costs are over $1/hr.
Transport costs are very low, and energy used in transport is likely a lot lower than you think (which is why the cost is low). If you live in California, you may think you are being "green" by eating local California grapes instead of grapes from Chile. But you are wrong. The California grapes are grown with energy intensive irrigation. The water is pumped for hundreds of miles. The Chilean grapes are grown with rainwater. That makes a much bigger difference than the transport of the final product.
As a general rule of thumb, the product produced with the least resources, is the one with the lowest price.
Here's a crazy idea: Why don't we protect _both_ groups of workers?
Because employees are not "better protected" than contractors. They are just differently protected. Employees generally receive health, retirement, and vacation benefits. Those are paid for by lowering their pay. Employees also have less control over their working hours and conditions. Plenty of people prefer to work as contractors.
Surge pricing is exactly the opposite of low, predictable, and uniform.
Yes, surge pricing is the opposite, and that is a GOOD THING. Prices should respond to the market conditions. The alternative to surge prices is some form of rationing. There is no reason that prices should be "uniform". They should adjust to balance supply and demand.
If you think that surge prices are too high, then go drive for Uber.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what is trying to say here. Does anyone here get it?
She is saying that paying a fixed fare for a taxi ride is a fundamental human right, unlike food or medicine, and therefore government management of the market is justified.
Basically her argument is that taxis are good, and the only problem with them is that they need to be completely different than they are now. No one with an interest in maintaining their credibility would say something so stupid and incoherent of their own free will. Ergo, she is being paid.
If they only check for the DNA-fingerprint that the cops normally use, there is a 1 in million change of a false positive. That means in the U.S. there will be 300 people with the exact match (according to the fingerprint) of your DNA.
Sure, but of those 300 people, 299 will live in a different city. One will be the next door neighbor.
As long as there is a warrant and it is for a single suspect's DNA then it is lawful and I am fine with it.
That is almost useless. If they have a specific suspect, and probable cause, then they can use a warrant to demand a hair or blood sample directly from the suspect. What is far more likely, is that they have the DNA sample, but have no idea who it belongs to. So they give the sample to 23andme, and say "Who matches this?" Then they get back a match, or maybe a partial match of a brother, sister, or cousin. That could narrow the suspects way down.
Criminals and terrorists are usually too smart to voluntarily give their DNA to anybody.
Do you know any actual criminals? I have met many, and few of them are "smart". Also, they don't have to get the DNA of the suspect. They can identify someone by looking at the DNA of a sibling or parent.
control and eliminate your pollution and reduce your population and you will have all the respect the World could ever give you.
On a per capita basis, China produces less pollution that either America or Europe. China's population growth is near zero, and will soon begin to decline. If current trends continue, India's population will exceed China's by 2028.
It is already regulated. They were not allowed to do what they did. How will registering affect people blatantly ignoring the rules?
The registration number is stamped on a steel plate and attached to the side of the drone. This will add enough additional weight to keep the drones out of commercial airspace.
lots of Americans at the time that were opposed to slavery. Quakers existed, abolitionists existed.
These people mostly lived in the north, where plantation slavery was not economical. It is easy to be opposed to something that doesn't serve your interests anyway.
Jefferson and other slaver founding fathers lived in denial.
Jefferson was not in denial. He described slavery as "holding a wolf by the ears", being able to neither subdue the wolf nor let it go. He saw it as an evil institution, but also also saw it as economically necessary, and didn't see an easy path to abolition.
the martian refinery can produce the return trip fuel.
Why do you need to return? There is no reason to return robots. We shouldn't send people until we are ready to establish permanent colonies. Then there is no need for a return trip. Eliminating the return can drastically cut the cost.
Just building a launchpad and fuel storage infrastructure on the moon does make more sense
No, don't build a launchpad. The moon has no atmosphere, so you can use a mass driver instead. A mass driver is far more efficient than launching rockets.
China prices products in $US so to devalue their currency just earns them more of their own currency.
If they devalue, they earn the same US dollars, but pay less in wages and also for any raw materials that are sourced locally. So their profit margins go up, at least temporarily, until the resulting inflation starts pushing up wages and local prices.
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Human quality of life would be better without so much efficiency and global trade, which doesn't raise quality of life
Nonsense. China opened to world trade in 1980. Since then, income has increased eight-fold, and hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. The poorest countries in the world today are sub-Saharan African countries with near zero trade. The world's richest countries are those with the most open economies.
You make shirts in some southern China shithole where there are lots of unskilled workers and sweatshops.
Most textile manufacturing is done in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Labor costs are too high anywhere in China. A factory worker in Shenzhen is going to cost over $2/hr. Even in inland cities like Chongqing and Chengdu, labor costs are over $1/hr.
If you buy local, you need less transport
Transport costs are very low, and energy used in transport is likely a lot lower than you think (which is why the cost is low). If you live in California, you may think you are being "green" by eating local California grapes instead of grapes from Chile. But you are wrong. The California grapes are grown with energy intensive irrigation. The water is pumped for hundreds of miles. The Chilean grapes are grown with rainwater. That makes a much bigger difference than the transport of the final product.
As a general rule of thumb, the product produced with the least resources, is the one with the lowest price.
Here's a crazy idea: Why don't we protect _both_ groups of workers?
Because employees are not "better protected" than contractors. They are just differently protected. Employees generally receive health, retirement, and vacation benefits. Those are paid for by lowering their pay. Employees also have less control over their working hours and conditions. Plenty of people prefer to work as contractors.
Surge pricing is exactly the opposite of low, predictable, and uniform.
Yes, surge pricing is the opposite, and that is a GOOD THING. Prices should respond to the market conditions. The alternative to surge prices is some form of rationing. There is no reason that prices should be "uniform". They should adjust to balance supply and demand.
If you think that surge prices are too high, then go drive for Uber.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what is trying to say here. Does anyone here get it?
She is saying that paying a fixed fare for a taxi ride is a fundamental human right, unlike food or medicine, and therefore government management of the market is justified.
Do you have evidence to support that claim?
Basically her argument is that taxis are good, and the only problem with them is that they need to be completely different than they are now. No one with an interest in maintaining their credibility would say something so stupid and incoherent of their own free will. Ergo, she is being paid.
If they only check for the DNA-fingerprint that the cops normally use, there is a 1 in million change of a false positive. That means in the U.S. there will be 300 people with the exact match (according to the fingerprint) of your DNA.
Sure, but of those 300 people, 299 will live in a different city. One will be the next door neighbor.
As long as there is a warrant and it is for a single suspect's DNA then it is lawful and I am fine with it.
That is almost useless. If they have a specific suspect, and probable cause, then they can use a warrant to demand a hair or blood sample directly from the suspect. What is far more likely, is that they have the DNA sample, but have no idea who it belongs to. So they give the sample to 23andme, and say "Who matches this?" Then they get back a match, or maybe a partial match of a brother, sister, or cousin. That could narrow the suspects way down.
Criminals and terrorists are usually too smart to voluntarily give their DNA to anybody.
Do you know any actual criminals? I have met many, and few of them are "smart". Also, they don't have to get the DNA of the suspect. They can identify someone by looking at the DNA of a sibling or parent.
control and eliminate your pollution and reduce your population and you will have all the respect the World could ever give you.
On a per capita basis, China produces less pollution that either America or Europe. China's population growth is near zero, and will soon begin to decline. If current trends continue, India's population will exceed China's by 2028.
India has done a comparable effort
No they haven't. In 1980, India was doing better than China. Today, per capita income in China is four times higher.
Maybe the government shouldn't be getting all this credit for merely sufficiently standing out of the way?
The Indian government does not "stand out of the way". They stifle enterprise in every possible way.
then they'll want to change their phone number for one reason or another and then... Whooops.
You can switch to a new phone number by answering the security questions.
I just wait for someone to start selling "your new, own personal cloud to put in your home!!" devices.
Like this?
Or this?
Or maybe this?
It is already regulated. They were not allowed to do what they did. How will registering affect people blatantly ignoring the rules?
The registration number is stamped on a steel plate and attached to the side of the drone. This will add enough additional weight to keep the drones out of commercial airspace.
lots of Americans at the time that were opposed to slavery. Quakers existed, abolitionists existed.
These people mostly lived in the north, where plantation slavery was not economical. It is easy to be opposed to something that doesn't serve your interests anyway.
Jefferson and other slaver founding fathers lived in denial.
Jefferson was not in denial. He described slavery as "holding a wolf by the ears", being able to neither subdue the wolf nor let it go. He saw it as an evil institution, but also also saw it as economically necessary, and didn't see an easy path to abolition.
Point is that it doesn't require any new technology to do.
Yes it does. With current tech, it will cost a trillion dollars ... which means it will NOT happen. We need new, much cheaper, technology.
I'd also like to add to this that I can do without the USB audio jack. A single analog stereo 1/8" input jack is perfectly sufficient.
Also, rubber tires are superfluous, and an obvious point of failure. Wooden chariot wheels worked just fine back when I learned to drive.
Pay us well and treat us well, and we won't keep job-hopping.
People tend to job-hop when pay is rising the fastest. It is during recessions that they hunker down and stay loyal.
the martian refinery can produce the return trip fuel.
Why do you need to return? There is no reason to return robots. We shouldn't send people until we are ready to establish permanent colonies. Then there is no need for a return trip. Eliminating the return can drastically cut the cost.
TFA quickly says it should be possible to make fuel locally, without many details.
There is water in the moon's polar craters. It can be separated into H2 and O2 using electricity from PV solar panels.
Just building a launchpad and fuel storage infrastructure on the moon does make more sense
No, don't build a launchpad. The moon has no atmosphere, so you can use a mass driver instead. A mass driver is far more efficient than launching rockets.
I would rather NASA goes somewhere, even the Moon
Why? What is the reason to send a can of meat to the moon, for the a thousand times the cost of sending a robot to do the same mission?
Likewise, the "omg we're losing our skillz" concern in the summary will have to wait
It is already happening. There are some people that no longer know how to shoe a horse.
China prices products in $US so to devalue their currency just earns them more of their own currency.
If they devalue, they earn the same US dollars, but pay less in wages and also for any raw materials that are sourced locally. So their profit margins go up, at least temporarily, until the resulting inflation starts pushing up wages and local prices.