Producers are taxed at nearly 50% rate[income + sales tax + property + wage + others] on what they make. If we kill off the parasites, then we would have to work almost 50% less to have the same standard of living as we have now. Imagine: 20 hours/week. You could work 2-3 days and then enjoy the rest. Or 1 person could work and the other one would stay at home and take care of their children.
It makes sense to reward people you love and who are productive. But, these are parasites and the correct course of action is to, not reward them with cash and goods we producers make, but to kill them and enjoy our lives.
They are dummies! How do I know? Evidence[1] and experience(having met a lot of professors/students).
They are completely worthless parasites who were bad at math/physics/chemistry or something like sports/art in high school.
They offer no significant contribution to society and are actually a net negative. You're mentioning gender identities, but they are the ones who primarily care about that BS, so it's self-referential.
'STUDENTS' - this word is the problem. Students are those studying to become engineers/surgeons[producers] and those studying sociology/gender_studies[parasites].
That's why so many people in humanities departments are liberals/communists. How else is a sociology student going to get a smartphone? They have to tax producers, take their money by getting a fake job in some non-profit/government agency/college and receive a salary there[taken from tax dollars].
The word 'student' makes it seem like we're all in this together, but we aren't. Parasites are eating us alive.
Student loans are not a problem if you're a surgeon/engineer, because you'll make millions of $ during your career, but they are a problem for dummies studying sociology, gender studies etc.
There are few reasons cost of going to college is so high:
(1) More people wanna go - not just from the US, but people all over the world apply to go to US schools.
(2) Government standing behind the loans. This means that universities/banks don't have to screen applicants based on potential future earnings, but loans are given to everyone, which makes going to college much easier and fuels (1)
(3) Brainwashing since early childhood. "People with college degrees make more money" they say. That might be true, but that doesn't mean it's because they went to college and have a piece of paper. They are accepted to good schools because they are ambitious, hard-working, have wealthy parents with connections, talented, lucky etc. - those things are what makes a person financially successful later on in life. But, propaganda makes students willing to put up with high debt and go to college in the first place. It's a voluntary slavery.
He had 4 years of lost wages + $65k in debt. When you're in college, you don't work. So, again, he's in much worse situation than someone who learns programming at home in 1 year.
Just look at programming jobs ads. When it comes to degree requirements, ads can be divided into 4 cases:
1) No degree required (not mentioned).
2) Stated that you need either a degree or show some code you've created.
3) Stated that a degree is required. Here you could contact them, show them samples of your work, list all of your experiences and offer to do additional tests if you don't have a degree.
4) Stated that a degree is required and they will only hire you if you got a degree.
Does this include bonobo monkeys, sharks, dogs, snails etc. ?
'We live in a society...'
No. You(member of homo sapiens species) live on planet Earth with many biological organisms, like bacteria that's on your hands right now. Actually, even that is too specific. You live in 1 galaxy that has 100s of Billions of stars and other clusters of matter in it. That galaxy is just one out of 100s of Billions of galaxies in the whole universe.
'make sure poor people don't get to have anything'
What? Why would some homo sapiens automatically deserve something, just because they happen to be born as one?
'Work is not a moral imperative'
Do you have a method of determining what a moral imperative is? You know, people at CERN have built complex machines to detect certain particles. So, you're saying that work is not a moral imperative. How did you find that out? There are people who think that it is. How are you going to convince them they are wrong? Who is dictating these moral imperatives? Is it God?
$65k in student loans to learn programming? The author is clearly an idiot. Programming can be learned from home for next to nothing, because you have all the tools you need there. It's not like you're a surgeon and you're working with expensive/complex equipment.
1) They've pulled bait and switch when they decided to charge to reach users that have already liked your page. Most of those users liked your page because you've posted a link to FB on your site.
2) Click fraud is rampant [1]
3) They make money on copyrighted videos + ripping off YouTube content creators [2]
No, because I will kill myself when I get there. I'm doing all the things I want to do before I grow old and incompetent. All the activities you would do when you're old + much more, you can do when you're younger and healthier.
For example, let's say you plan to visit location X when you're old. Well, why not do it when you're younger with the money you would have saved for retirement?
"An approximately rational truth seeking community can reasonably be expected to come to a reasonably good approximation of the truth, compared to what they have access to. As such, such a community can be used as an (approximate) indicator of the truth."
- You're writing about a rational truth seeking community when the user @afarrell is writing about majority of people. Do you see the difference? People (members of homo sapiens sapiens species) have not evolved to seek truth, but to survive and reproduce.
"Moral relativism can fall down a well."
- How can moral relativism fall down? What does that even look like? Fall according to what standard? Is the standard relative or not?
"From a gods-eye perspective, this is actually a good thing, as it brings down the costs of serving peoples' needs."
Why do you define 'good' as servicing needs of members of homo sapiens species? What if a good thing(objectively) is actually servicing members of 'fire ant' species? You attitude smells like speciesism.
"From the perspective of someone who loses their job, it sucks because that person now has no way to feed themselves."
Yep, just like a lot of other animals. You look at some of those animals in the jungle - maybe you'll eat if you're lucky and survive long enough to reproduce. It's a struggle for them. When a zebra is killed by a lion, it ain't nice for the zebra.
"So, we want to get around that by being able to say to someone: "Here is a free $700/month. Move to rural Maine and spend 6 months learning to code and eating food delivered by the driverless truck which stole your job. Then join us in automating more people's jobs away."
Again, this smells like speciesism. Why do you want to spend your time helping members of homo sapiens species? Was that the result of brainwashing during your childhood or did you independantly discover that it is your duty to help members of homo sapiens species?
"Very few people think that sex is a basic right or think that the existence of sexually frustrated folks indicates a flaw on the part of society."
You forgot to add 'today' or 'these days'. Why is what majority thinks an indicator of truth?
"Most people don't put sex and food/shelter/medicine/etc in the same categories."
Again, you're going by what majority thinks. Do you care about truth or what majority thinks?
"Also, we can't really automate the production of sex."
Modern tech can certainly help. For example, you spy on people to see who is attractive and having lots of sex. Then, you sexually tax those people. You locate, kidnapp and take them to someone who is unattractive.
From the perspective of the receiver, it will be automated, 'cause they'll be getting women frequantly with no effort.
"do you support "euthanasia of economically useless people"? If you don't have a job for whatever reason, should you just be left on the streets to die?"
YES. Old & incompetent people are 'all cost, no benefit' proposition. Children are cost in the beginning, but benefit later on. Saving lives of old and incompetent(lazy, mentally/physically challenged) people is a total waste of resources.
P.S. Just because you don't have a job now, doesn't mean you can't get one in the future or get new skills and work in a different field.
Why are people on HN supporting basic income so much? Do you support 'Guaranteed Basic Sex' as well? You know, there are guys like Elliot Rodgers who would be thrilled with something like that.
To all those whining about being poor - nobody owes you anything. Money, women etc. You are not entitled to any of that because you happen to be recognized as a homo sapiens.
If you think you are, then please point to where it says so objectively. Is it written in the fabric of the universe that humans(or any other cluster of regular matter) are entitled to anything? Is the entitlement included somewhere in equations of general theory of relativity? Is it placed somewhere at the subatomic level - kinda like paper in fortune cookies - when you look deeper into protons/quarks, maybe there you will find "All members of homo sapiens are entitled to get free stuff from governments". What is the objective source of any of these human privileges(i.e. rights)?
Do you also want to go to the kitchen and start bringing your own food and drinks? Getting up a few times, going there and asking if it's done. Imagine if you have dozens of people/kids running around getting food, maybe spilling it on the floor in the process, bothering people in the kitchen etc.
Are you better at scanning items and handling errors than someone who's been doing it for years? The same applies to waiters, cooks etc.
I'm saying government will do it with the help of Uber. Just like they spy on people with the help of FB, Google etc. It's already happening with data.
Imagine you have those cars in China. Government just orders some company to spy on its users and then when certain people enters those cars, they will be steered towards some location where they can be arrested/tortured/killed, because they are enemies of the state. They can't get out of the car, because the locks are also controlled by algorithms.
Who knows, maybe they can release some poisonous gas while the person is inside of a car.
Many possibilities are there. Governments are getting much more powerful, while the average homo sapiens is the same like when there was no government.
Self-driving cars are not driving themselves, they are driven by algorithms. The problem is that cars then become prisons on wheels. Think about it - since you pay with a debit/credit card, your identity is known when you enter a car. You can then be driven directly to a police station and you can't escape, because the whole thing is controlled by centralized machines. Just look at what's happening to these people in China who are mysteriously disappearing. Vehicles driven by algorithms are the best tool for eliminating protesters, political enemies etc.
Automation is not always the most convenient thing. Think about self-checkout or pumping your own gas at a gas station.
Wouldn't it be better for the customer to have someone do the drudgery for them?
Even in the context of websites, some companies have generic FAQ instead of a real customer support team, which is not a good experience.
- Kill the parasites.
Producers are taxed at nearly 50% rate[income + sales tax + property + wage + others] on what they make. If we kill off the parasites, then we would have to work almost 50% less to have the same standard of living as we have now. Imagine: 20 hours/week. You could work 2-3 days and then enjoy the rest. Or 1 person could work and the other one would stay at home and take care of their children.
It makes sense to reward people you love and who are productive. But, these are parasites and the correct course of action is to, not reward them with cash and goods we producers make, but to kill them and enjoy our lives.
Don't you agree?