Hacker News: GS523523

New comment by GS523523 in "The looming college-enrollment death spiral"

GS523523 — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:19:17 +0000

I'm sure a lot of people assume it's immoral rather than impossible.

New comment by GS523523 in "Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester"

GS523523 — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 03:27:17 +0000

> Either way, Proton didn't help the FBI.

> Proton Mail complied with a legal demand they had no choice but to comply with

New comment by GS523523 in "Spain’s LaLiga has blocked access to freedom.gov"

GS523523 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 03:07:16 +0000

Are you forgetting how the Americans blocked Stormfront and Silk Road? They don't have full access to the Internet either, they're just not so obviously totalitarian about it as the Europeans.

New comment by GS523523 in "Property taxes going up? The 340B Program might be partly responsible"

GS523523 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 23:08:15 +0000

Property taxes are the most evil of taxes because they force you out onto the street if you're unable to pay them. Qualifying it with the words "very valuable" to solve the problem creates an arbitrary two-tier system that is inherently unfair.

>Claiming that you have ownership over land on this planet is odd, you didn't create the land and governments change overtime.

The government didn't create the land either.

New comment by GS523523 in "CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook"

GS523523 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 19:11:29 +0000

> "Do what we say or lose your income" does require blind faith in the correctness of the hierarchy.

That just describes anyone who worked under management. Recognizing that you may be fired for disobeying orders != believing that your manager is physically special.

How do you define blind faith and informed faith? Can't you conceive of someone who follows orders without blindly believing in them?

You seem to have this caricature of an XSXJ in your mind but your definition is so broad it lumps the majority of the world into it, and that's what I'm calling you out on.

New comment by GS523523 in "CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook"

GS523523 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:29:13 +0000

That's better, but it's still wrong, because there are plenty of organized belief systems whose leaders don't demand blind loyalty. To say that these don't qualify as religions is absurd.

You could say that one of the elements of religion is having faith in something that is not provable via the scientific method and I'd agree. But then you'd lose generals, managers, politicians, etc... from the list above in which case the comment has lost its meaning.

New comment by GS523523 in "CIA suddenly stops publishing, removes archives of The World Factbook"

GS523523 — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:09:36 +0000

> To me religion isn't Christianity or Islam. It's following orders of arbitrary leaders who give themselves titles via narrative. Priest, Minister, CEO, General... just words.

Religion = doing what your boss told you. Got it, that makes sense why so many people are religious.

New comment by GS523523 in "The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospects for Recovery (1994)"

GS523523 — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 01:49:46 +0000

> Why? Is this just an isolationist dream?

Imagine if Russia produced their own technical components - how much of an effect would sanctions have on them? If Russia relies on our computer chips, we have leverage over them. If we rely on Asian factories and silicon, they have leverage over us. President Biden wouldn't have had to go begging to Prince Mohammad for oil if we had enough production at home. It's the way the world works.