tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post3364471557479636841..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Classic Washington, and Washington PostAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-82817735471770342952021-03-21T12:59:16.169-04:002021-03-21T12:59:16.169-04:00james: Only two "connections" separate m...<b>james</b>: <i>Only two "connections" separate me from Muammar Gaddafi</i><br /><br />Interesting. <br /><br />Not all connections have the same bandwidth. Some people don't ever talk to the next door neighbor, but some information will flow through the network even if it takes a circuitous route. In any case, people do have more in common than they do differences, though it is often the differences that lead to barriers.Zachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-78155604387504111342021-03-21T08:53:10.386-04:002021-03-21T08:53:10.386-04:00Z: Read what I wrote a little more carefully.
On...Z: Read what I wrote a little more carefully.<br /><br />Only two "connections" separate me from Muammar Gaddafi, but that gives me no insight whatever into the late dictator's world. There's no information flow, much less emotional connection--and I was writing of the latter.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-57864625904677514012021-03-20T22:36:46.287-04:002021-03-20T22:36:46.287-04:00Assistant Village Idiot: But these days wouldn...<b>Assistant Village Idiot</b>: <i> But these days wouldn't someone have to be forced to resign for even proposing a nuclear plant?</i><br /><br />After a number of accidents, including at Fukushima with a cost in the hundreds of billions of dollars, nuclear plants are nigh uninsurable.Zachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-3923503741762219962021-03-20T22:33:03.038-04:002021-03-20T22:33:03.038-04:00James: We've got a limit of approximately 150...<b>James</b>: <i> We've got a limit of approximately 150 friends(*); maybe we've got some limits on how many different environments we can feel to be real, and not merely theoretical. </i><br /><br />While human contact is necessarily limited, network theory shows that most people are separated by only a handful of connections. So, for instance, the guy (1) you know who met Springsteen (2) who met Clinton (3) who met Kennedy (4) who met Marilyn Monroe (5). Network theory also suggests that the policy of thinking globally, but acting locally can be effective.Zachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-8629625467812118912021-03-20T22:15:59.352-04:002021-03-20T22:15:59.352-04:00Assistant Village Idiot: But what does the Washin...<b>Assistant Village Idiot</b>: <i> But what does the Washington Post focus on? The political fallout for people in Washington, especially Biden and Congress.</i><br /><br />Well, keep in mind that the <i>Washington Post</i> is the hometown paper for Washington D.C. <br /><br />Here’s the equivalent view from 9th Avenue:<br />https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Steinberg_New_Yorker_Cover.pngZachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-38581110783047867942021-03-20T18:32:21.394-04:002021-03-20T18:32:21.394-04:00Great example. But these days wouldn't someone...Great example. But these days wouldn't someone have to be forced to resign for even proposing a nuclear plant?<br /><br />Though that doesn't seem to be the fashionable issue this year, so maybe not.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-23937553631015153172021-03-20T18:16:13.275-04:002021-03-20T18:16:13.275-04:00Sometimes the “compromise” position, with everyone...Sometimes the “compromise” position, with everyone’s preference reflected, is the worst of all worlds. In NH, when they were planning the Seabrook nuclear reactor site, the utility proposed two reactors on the site, and the anti-nuk crowd protested furiously for none. They drove the cost so high, we ended up with one reactor. We still got the horrors of a nuclear disaster, and we got only half the power at twice the price.engineerlitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07380503909321660350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-17822204159392366292021-03-20T18:08:11.028-04:002021-03-20T18:08:11.028-04:00People who want to arrive at the best answers view...<i>People who want to arrive at the best answers view their opponents differently from those who need to win the game, and it doesn't matter what the best answers are.</i><br /><br />That reminds me of a recent online disagreement I had with a woke relative. I wanted the best answer, and went to a primary source to get it. The relative responded with snark upon snark. Conclusion: more concerned with winning instead of the best answer.RichardJohnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07490819511630683969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-83776637057364027402021-03-20T15:17:53.399-04:002021-03-20T15:17:53.399-04:00@ Korora - I think that is so. People who want to ...@ Korora - I think that is so. People who <i>want to arrive at the best answers</i> view their opponents differently from those who <i>need to win the game, and it doesn't matter what the best answers are.</i> I used to look with some disdain with the modern European, especially French system of arriving at a plan of making sure that everyone's preferences are reflected in the final answer, even if that's not the best plan. But that is at least a protection against the current winner-take-all woke system, and that may be why the French intellectuals are warning us against the modern American CRT approach.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-63430536940908372942021-03-20T15:00:35.954-04:002021-03-20T15:00:35.954-04:00"Everything else is counters on their board.&..."Everything else is counters on their board."<br />There may be something of that in even the best-intentioned. I wonder if that contributes to the temptation to WANT the worst to be true of people who disagree politically.Kororahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208444799799287420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-67143637830772149202021-03-20T10:19:51.808-04:002021-03-20T10:19:51.808-04:00The technology seems to bring its own power, and t...The technology seems to bring its own power, and the owners and operators of it certainly have a lot of that. Yet it is also power that we give them, or that <i>human nature</i> gives to them. They didn't create that, they are just reading that and exploiting it to make a buck. Along the way, they have discovered that these technologies not only enable but influence people, so they think "Hell, if there's going to be influence, it's going to go in the direction I want it to."Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-17515582816143969702021-03-20T08:58:14.530-04:002021-03-20T08:58:14.530-04:00"the sad but frightening separation from real..."the sad but frightening separation from reality that young people and those who also live in online culture are experiencing."<br /><br />This implies that those who control that online environment have immense power.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-69518643049693894562021-03-19T22:57:56.482-04:002021-03-19T22:57:56.482-04:00You must mean acquaintances instead of friends? I ...You must mean acquaintances instead of friends? I can count on two hands, the number of friends I have now. And by friend, I mean someone that will help you out and you them, no questions asked.Mike Guentherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13760305520055214986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-7617997033983290772021-03-19T21:56:08.154-04:002021-03-19T21:56:08.154-04:00We've got a limit of approximately 150 friends...We've got a limit of approximately 150 friends(*); maybe we've got some limits on how many different environments we can feel to be real, and not merely theoretical.<br /><br /><br />(*)I know it's disputed, but it seems to accord with experience.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.com