jbrun

Interestingly, the invention of the printing press, a clear analogous technology to AI, was directly linked to the schism and creation of the protestant and reformation movement and bloody religious wars. So the Catholic church knows what it is talking about here!

Absolutely. Also, kids end up helping you focus on the travel, experiences and things that are truly worthwhile. You drop a lot of activities and TV and other activities that was frankly a waste of time anyways.

I use Instapaper for articles, videos and more. Does not work for dynamic web apps obviously.

The projections you are referring to are out of date. We are already well below replacement rates globally.

Population implosion is going to be the biggest problem of our lives. It is one of those issues that creeps up progressively (like Global Warming), but will have cataclysmic impacts. Sex is a precursor to relationships and kids, if people don't have sex...

Imagine 80% of the population is elderly and retired (or want to be retired) - that is where the world is heading by the end of the century.

From 2018: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex...

From 2022: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex...

Empty Planet: https://www.amazon.ca/Empty-Planet-Global-Population-Decline...

lol

Good luck

The comments below echo what I think. We are social animals, deal with it.

It's a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don't want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who care about you. That requires an investment of time and of your emotions - something many people seem unable or unwilling to do. You have to get out into the world and invest in others.

We use an external firm. Works great.

Breather tried to do that out of Montreal and went bankrupt this year, not sure how much overlap there is with your system.

Definitely agree.

America is built mostly on immigrant work ethic, vast amount of arable land, no bordering enemies and the collapse of the european powers. Not sure america is that special, just lucky - right place, right time.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-under-pressu...

Yeah, probably true. My background is Jewish European and there is an obvious streak of self-improvement in that culture (or at least, there used to be....)

As a Canadian and a French citizen, America definitely has this puritan streak of trying to be the best person you can be - or the purest you can be. Work harder, drink less, exercise more, etc.

My French grandparents lived until they were 100, were perfectly content, had 8 kids, ate great food during long meals and drank lots of wine. I don't think they jogged a day in their lives.

I have had my remarkable 2 for a month and really love it. It replaces paper and annotating paper PDFs. It is simple and easy to use. If you currently take notes or write paper PDFs, it is for you (this is enough for many people).

America is so blinded by their love of free speech they fail to see that most countries operate quite well with modest limits on speech. If American style free speech were so great the country would not be tearing itself apart as we speak.

What a surprise!

Clarification: I meant rule of law broadly speaking as a human invention (like science and medicine), not specific to China. Sorry for the confusion.

I meant rule of law broadly speaking as a human invention, not specific to China. Sorry for the confusion.

Pssst.... See Irak, invasion.

Not sure how many of the people on this thread have actually been or lived in China. I have lived there about 2 years and travelled fairly extensively. I cannot speak to these specific villages, but the amount of people lifted out of poverty in China in the last 50 years is probably one of the greatest achievements in human history along with modern science, medicine and rule of law.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Picketty

Both dramatically formed by world view.

I tried it for 1 month, it is genuinely great, just kind of expensive considering all the pretty good free email apps out there. It is nice for me (CEO), but buying this in addition to everything else for all of our staff is tough to justify.

This is fairly accurate, I am in Montreal.

We are in Montreal and looking for great people! http://nimonik.com/jobs/

Lots - Lapham's Quarterly, Harpers, The Atlantic, Jacobin, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, Monde Diplomatique, ....

There are no bullshit jobs. I like David Graeber very much, but he is wrong on this.

If you believe that we operate in a market economy, then by definition bullshit jobs would be removed. Government or public institutions may be less subject to the market, but even they are subject to it.

Procedures and rules are critical. Most tech people make the fundamental mistake of thinking that because their companies are small and profitable (or that they are solo entrepreneurs), then all companies can be like that. You need to look at the "real world".

Modern civilization requires very, very large organizations that are very complex. Keeping these organizations running is not all sunshine and lollipops. There are a lot of boring, but necessary jobs. See large airlines, mining companies, electrical utilities,... etc. THe modern world is big, complicated and has lots of tedious tasks that ensure your airplane (for which you got a cheap ticket) is built safely, takes off, landes, has fuel, and whose passenger tickets are priced at an insanely cheap level.

As a straightforward example, just look at the complexity of producing and distributing fossil fuels. Read Vaclav Smil.

Are there boring jobs that may one day be automated, yes. But the thing with automation is that it will not eliminate jobs, because we will just buy more stuff - this is exactly what has happened since the Industrial revolution.

Of course. Empires collapse from within.

Read Capital in the 21st century and histories of the French Revolution.

That is all true. However I would say that the divisions within US society (black vs. white, guns vs. no guns, abortion vs no abortion, tax rich vs. tax no one,...) and the horrible public education system will be its biggest challenge going forward. At the end of the day, empires are build on economic / technological advantage - Roman army & aqueducts, British longbow, French knights, British steampower, US microprocessors,...