EgoEimi's recent activity
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Comment on School choice programs have been wildly successful under Ron DeSantis. Now Florida public schools might close. in ~life
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Comment on The spectacular failure of the Star Wars hotel in ~movies
EgoEimi Link"Hey kids, we're going to Disney World! Don't get too excited now: we're going to stay inside a dark warehouse with no sunlight, and you can't actually leave to actually explore the rest of Disney..."Hey kids, we're going to Disney World! Don't get too excited now: we're going to stay inside a dark warehouse with no sunlight, and you can't actually leave to actually explore the rest of Disney World."
...
I mean, what were the execs thinking?
The concept was fundamentally flawed from the get-go. They were asking people to spend $6k and their weekend sleeping in essentially sci-fi-y college dorm rooms inside a dark warehouse with a small curation experiences that can't stand up to the massive universe of entertainment outside that is Disney World.
Here's what I would have built for $350 million: a rip-off of Zaha Hadid's freaky fluid-shaped luxury apartment tower in NYC in the middle of an artificial lake filled with thousands of floating but anchored light orbs so that at night it looks like a field of stars.
Guests can enjoy full-sized luxury rooms befitting of ambassadors on Coruscant and natural sunlight during the day when they wake up and want to go enjoy the park.
Connect the hotel to the Star Wars attraction area with a dedicated tram that has virtual windows that show video of space being travelled through at warp speed. Have the tram enter the hotel lobby directly. Call the tram the "ship-to-planet shuttle" or something.
Voila.
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Comment on "Appear weak when you are strong" - This Confucian proverb is keeping everyone in confusion in ~talk
EgoEimi LinkAn applied version of this in corporate life is: don't outshine the master. https://fs.blog/never-outshine-the-master/ More often than not, outshining your manager, even accidentally, can have...An applied version of this in corporate life is: don't outshine the master.
https://fs.blog/never-outshine-the-master/
More often than not, outshining your manager, even accidentally, can have negative consequences for your career.
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Comment on Congo names third American in a foiled coup plot as mourners gather in Utah to remember plot leader in ~news
EgoEimi Link ParentIt's completely implausible that the CIA would employ two untrained, 21-year-old American college students with no known military experience for a coup.It's completely implausible that the CIA would employ two untrained, 21-year-old American college students with no known military experience for a coup.
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Comment on Denmark became the world's most trusting country – how have the Danes achieved this level of faith in their fellow citizens? in ~life
EgoEimi (edited )LinkThis is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" things. On the opposite end, France has long been criticized for relegating its Arab and African immigrants to the banlieues, or poor...Bijoe, 50, and Kris, 29, are having a beer in the anarchic “free town” of Christiania, in the middle of Copenhagen. They’re both originally from Nepal. “Danish people aren’t racist at all,” Bijoe says, “but Danish policy is very racist.” The signal example is the so-called “ghetto list”, which started in 2010, and set a threshold of 50% migrants (first or second generation) who could live in an area, above which it classified as a “ghetto”, which triggered mass evictions and regeneration (the basketball court where Valdemar was playing is in Mjølnerparken, which was designated a ghetto in 2020, and is now, after evictions and regeneration, full of white guys playing basketball).
This is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" things. On the opposite end, France has long been criticized for relegating its Arab and African immigrants to the banlieues, or poor suburban ghettos that are disconnected from economic and educational opportunities and which fail to integrate their residents into broader French society.
An area made up of 49.9% 1st or 2nd gen migrants is still plenty diverse and can enable a strong and vibrant ethnic community to form while enabling sufficient contact area between the social surfaces of both immigrant and native communities.
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Comment on Scarlett Johansson says she is 'shocked, angered' over new ChatGPT voice in ~tech
EgoEimi (edited )LinkI feel that Scarlet Johansson has a very generic (white female) American voice. A clear low tone and a bit of vocal fry? Those are common voice qualities among modern American women. I've always...I feel that Scarlet Johansson has a very generic (white female) American voice. A clear low tone and a bit of vocal fry? Those are common voice qualities among modern American women.
I've always interpreted Cove and Sky as the generic white American voices, and Ember and Juniper as the generic African American voices. And then Breeze is the overly enthusiastic undergraduate voice.
edit: I just pulled up one of ScarJo's interviews as a sanity check. Her voice doesn't strike me as very distinctive. If I were to listen to it without having known it was hers, I wouldn't be able to pin it down.
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Comment on Police are not primarily crime fighters in ~life
EgoEimi Link ParentI would agree, and criminal science supports this. Giving warnings without punishment is extremely important: it creates an atmosphere of lawfulness. It lets people know that someone is watching....I would agree, and criminal science supports this. Giving warnings without punishment is extremely important: it creates an atmosphere of lawfulness. It lets people know that someone is watching.
From: https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/five-things-about-deterrence
We know:
The certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment.
Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished.
Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.
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Comment on Indiana judge rules tacos, burritos are sandwiches in ~food
EgoEimi LinkI think that burritos, as mentioned in the article, can be classed as functional sandwiches. The purpose of both is to serve as holdable, portable food where some bread encloses some filling.I think that burritos, as mentioned in the article, can be classed as functional sandwiches. The purpose of both is to serve as holdable, portable food where some bread encloses some filling.
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Comment on Dune: Prophecy | Official teaser in ~tv
EgoEimi LinkThe cinematography has a “made for TV” quality to it where it only superficially borrows the elements that gave Denis Villeneuve’s Dune its mystical gravitas but then processes it through the...The cinematography has a “made for TV” quality to it where it only superficially borrows the elements that gave Denis Villeneuve’s Dune its mystical gravitas but then processes it through the Formulaic Action TV cinematography machine.
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Comment on Chinese police officers will soon be on patrol in Hungary in ~news
EgoEimi Link ParentMajor investments, a university branch, and Chinese police officers on Hungarian soil — all that's next for Hungary is to announce a name change to "Far West China"Major investments, a university branch, and Chinese police officers on Hungarian soil — all that's next for Hungary is to announce a name change to "Far West China"
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Comment on AI, automation, and inequality — how do we reach utopia? in ~talk
EgoEimi Link ParentI want to talk about social and political organization in a future thread, because this topic is so big and encompasses everything about what it means to have a place in society. Ideally, we...I want to talk about social and political organization in a future thread, because this topic is so big and encompasses everything about what it means to have a place in society.
Ideally, we should have a world where we celebrate job redundancy and the people made redundant can be secure in knowing that they can enjoy the fruits of automation — instead of our current world where those people are left scrambling for new work because they don't get to enjoy those fruits and their skills and labor left devalued.
Not long ago, I read that EVs are simpler than ICEVs (Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles) to manufacture. They have fewer moving parts; their production requires a lot less labor and therefore far fewer workers. Rationally, we should be happy that future cars take less labor to make! The United Autoworkers unions as well as incumbent automakers are important political constituents, and they pressured the Biden administration to softball the new ICEV emission limits in order to protect jobs and industry.
This is suboptimal for society. Personally, I favor cycling and public transit over driving; but if we are to have cars, then we should transition to EVs. But I think this example is one of many where industries and (less often) workers act in their rational self-interest to impede progress for society at large.
I also think about how tax prep software companies lobby against free filing. It wastes god knows how many hundreds of millions of hours (in the US) every year, just a handful of companies and several thousand workers can work. When I was in the Netherlands, doing my yearly taxes took maybe 5 minutes of logging onto the gov tax site, reviewing the numbers they had collected about me, and then accepting or correcting them.
If we took care of people regardless of their employment status, and incentivesed long term strategies like automation, those strategies would become cheaper very quickly as we developed economies of scale and established a knowledge base and standardized tools for setting them up.
I agree and this is where I want to aim the conversation series. We should aim to provide incentives, social safety nets and support structures, as well as knowledge infrastructure to accelerate automation in an equitable manner.
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AI, automation, and inequality — how do we reach utopia?
Ok, not utopia per se but a post-scarcity-ish economy where people have their basic needs—food, shelter, healthcare—met virtually automatically. A world where, sure, maybe you have to earn money...
Ok, not utopia per se but a post-scarcity-ish economy where people have their basic needs—food, shelter, healthcare—met virtually automatically. A world where, sure, maybe you have to earn money for certain very scarce luxuries like a tropical island trip, jewelry, nightly wagyu steak dinners, or a penthouse overlooking Central Park, but you get enough basic income to eat healthily and decently every day, have a modest but comfortable home, and not stress out about going to the hospital — and then you can choose if you want to work to earn money to buy additional luxuries or just spend your time to do sports, make art or music, pursue an academic interest, counsel or mentor others in your community, or devote yourself to nature conservation.
I want to get this conversation rolling regularly because it's evident that we're on a cusp of a new economic era — one where AI and automation could free us from a lot of menial physical and intellectual labor and the pretense that everyone has to work to earn their continued existence. It's evident that not everyone has to work. If anything, our economy could be more efficient if incompetent or unmotivated folks just stayed at home and got out of other people's way. I think we all know someone who stays in a job because they need it but are actually a net negative on the organization.
It's an open-ended topic, and there's a lot to talk about in this series—like, how would we distribute the fruits of automation? How would we politically achieve those mechanisms of distribution? What does partially automated healthcare look like?—but I think it'd be good to first talk about current economic inefficiencies that should and could be automated away.
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Comment on The surprising reason few Americans are getting chips jobs now in ~tech
EgoEimi Link ParentLately and increasingly I think about how maintaining or improving working conditions in the US is possible as long as global labor arbitrage is possible and profitable. It's difficult to demand...Lately and increasingly I think about how maintaining or improving working conditions in the US is possible as long as global labor arbitrage is possible and profitable.
It's difficult to demand better pay and working conditions so long as there's someone's more desperate willing to stoop down for worse pay and conditions.
In the long run, when global wealth equalizes and everyone is on equal footing, this won't be a problem. But for the next, I don't know, 100? years, this is a problem.
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Comment on Google lays off hundreds of ‘Core’ employees, moves some positions to India and Mexico in ~tech
EgoEimi Link ParentI think it's a common strategic mistake to view engineers as interchangeable laborers who produce X units of software per day, rather than as professionals and repositories of institutional...I think it's a common strategic mistake to view engineers as interchangeable laborers who produce X units of software per day, rather than as professionals and repositories of institutional knowledge. Or the executives know but don't care because even if the software degrades in the long run, they'll be rich and kicking it in nice homes in Tahoe, Santa Barbara, or Atherton.
No offense to oversea engineers or developers, there are good ones (especially the ones who immigrate to the west), but from my experience the median one is quite bad.
It's my mom's experience too: she spent her entire career working IT for large traditional corps that thought they could save millions by firing those pesky, expensive American programmers and replacing them with cheap Indian programmers whose resumes looked good on paper. Of course, those projects rarely panned out: the outsourced programmers lacked institutional knowledge and context, and communication and technical skills to discuss and understand the specs. A few projects were returned as total garbage spaghetti, completely not to spec, and had to be discarded in their entireties, wasting millions of dollars and pushing back timelines by multiple quarters; but my mom was always the one they tapped to save the projects somehow.
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Comment on GDP per capita vs. the federal poverty rate over the years (observation and discussion) in ~finance
EgoEimi Link ParentElizabeth Warren wrote about this issue in her book The Two-Income Trap. Vox has a little summary. In short, there are certain essential but scarce resources like housing and education. Now...The single earner family has eroded.
Elizabeth Warren wrote about this issue in her book The Two-Income Trap. Vox has a little summary.
In short, there are certain essential but scarce resources like housing and education. Now households are expected to bid over these resources with two incomes instead of one.
Before, if one person lost their job, their partner could pick up some part-time work to help make ends meet.
Now, both partners have to work full-time: there isn't 'slack' any more.
If I recall correctly, Warren's take away is: it's good that women can work and be economically independent, but it also created an exhausting economic arms race between households because two incomes are now the norm, and now everyone is working at max capacity competing for limited resources.
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Comment on Climate policy is working – double down on what’s succeeding instead of despairing over what’s not in ~enviro
EgoEimi Link ParentReducing oil production and consumption is kinda a chicken-and-the-egg political problem. Reducing production without reducing consumption is a recipe for losing elections. Voters revolt over...Reducing oil production and consumption is kinda a chicken-and-the-egg political problem. Reducing production without reducing consumption is a recipe for losing elections.
Voters revolt over energy prices rises: they'll vote in populists who more often than not have anti-environmental platforms. In the USA, gas prices have had a direct and significant impact on the president's approval rating.
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Comment on San Francisco office sells for a stunning 90% discount from 2016 price in ~finance
EgoEimi Link ParentThis is really good one-stop explanation for why it's very, very difficult and expensive to convert modern office buildings into apartments. Old apartment and office buildings had to conform the...This is really good one-stop explanation for why it's very, very difficult and expensive to convert modern office buildings into apartments.
Old apartment and office buildings had to conform the same physics of habitability.
Modern mechanical and lighting systems enabled buildings to break those physics. No longer do modern buildings have to respect the need for natural ventilation or sunlight.
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Comment on San Francisco office sells for a stunning 90% discount from 2016 price in ~finance
EgoEimi LinkI know that building well. I'm not surprised. It should be noted that it's on an extremely rough intersection and street. That stretch of 6th St by Market has lots of homeless folks and drug...I know that building well. I'm not surprised.
It should be noted that it's on an extremely rough intersection and street. That stretch of 6th St by Market has lots of homeless folks and drug addicts who hang out on the street. The sidewalks have more dog and too-big-to-be-dog poop and litter than any other street in the city; whenever I walk there, I have to keep my eyes glued to the ground and play hop scotch. Literally every single sidewalk ‘tile’ has poop or poop smears, I’m not exaggerating. 50% of the time I see an ambulance there to handle an overdose or other emergency.
That office building has been empty for a while. In this market, potential office tenants have way, way better options elsewhere in the city.
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Comment on The cycling revolution in Paris continues: Bicycle use now exceeds car use in ~transport
EgoEimi LinkSemi-related: cycling activists promote the environmental and traffic benefits of increased cycling, but I think that another benefit that goes undermentioned is that getting around on bike is an...Semi-related: cycling activists promote the environmental and traffic benefits of increased cycling, but I think that another benefit that goes undermentioned is that getting around on bike is an excellent way for people to get daily exercise: you end up with a fitter, more attractive society. Plus, exercise is good for skin health.
I remember Amsterdam was full of lean, fit people (with glowing complexions) when I lived there. I easily burned 400+ active calories a day biking and walking around the city to get to work, run errands, or see friends. I seriously cannot recall seeing 'love handles' in Amsterdam; I forgot they exist. Until I left and moved back to Chicago after years abroad.
There at O'Hare Airport, I was shell shocked being greeted with the sight of so many overweight, unhealthy-looking Americans. That was the segment of the population that was affluent enough for international air travel too. The shock got worse once I stepped out of the airport.
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Comment on What if we discover the answers of the Universe, eliminate cancer, halt aging. What's next? in ~humanities
EgoEimi Link ParentImmortality without neural plasticity would doom us to a stagnant, geriatric society. We'd have people living forever with their fundamental dispositions fixed. I think that if immortality came...Immortality without neural plasticity would doom us to a stagnant, geriatric society. We'd have people living forever with their fundamental dispositions fixed.
I think that if immortality came with having childlike neural plasticity, then our society could still evolve and develop new ideas and perspectives, and change would be possible.
One of the best elementary schools in California is a dual language immersion charter school in Oakland called Yu Ming. They’re in West Oakland, which is a gentrifying but still poor and violent area. I recall their at-grade math and reading proficiency rates are above 90%.
They pay significantly less than the public OUSD. Like… $47–52k to teachers. It’s insane.
They attract middle-income families that are too poor to send their kids to private schools but also don’t want to send their kids to OUSD — where the at-grade proficiency rates are around 30%. But a quarter of their students come from low-income families.