Hacker News: ceilingcorner

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Shanghai Disney shuts: Visitors unable to leave without negative Covid test"

ceilingcorner — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 08:12:09 +0000

Every time I see events like this happen, I get extremely skeptical of the idea that China will somehow replace the US as leader of the world. I’m not sure if I’m justified in thinking so, but I just cannot imagine actions like this leading to a creative, innovative culture.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Ask HN: Has the war in Ukraine changed your view on working on Defence projects?"

ceilingcorner — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:49:14 +0000

I do think that a pacifist can stand up to violence, but I don’t think working in the defense industry is the way to do that.

The more wars I study, the more I realize the genius of MLK and Gandhi. Violence just begets violence.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Ask HN: Has the war in Ukraine changed your view on working on Defence projects?"

ceilingcorner — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:24:56 +0000

The opposite, in fact. I used to be mostly neutral about war, but now I would consider myself a borderline pacifist. After studying this war and its causes, I realized that it was the consequence of geopolitical actors (including the defense industry) acting in certain ways over the last few decades. It is the kind of game where the only move is to not play.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Supreme Court Overturns Roe vs. Wade"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 17:30:30 +0000

There are many people that aren’t religious extremists who think that abortion is, at best, extremely morally problematic. It’s fundamentally a question about the definition of life, not the adherence to certain religious beliefs.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Supreme Court Overturns Roe vs. Wade"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 16:24:07 +0000

It’s not a minority view, both in the United States and in the world at large.

I don’t quite understand why American progressives think they represent the world at large. Neo-colonialism, I suppose.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Supreme Court Overturns Roe vs. Wade"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:19:39 +0000

It isn’t wrong legally and if anything, had the constitution been followed correctly, this decision is how it should have played out in the first place. It is only controversial because some people think their personal opinions on controversial issues should override democratic mechanisms.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Supreme Court Overturns Roe vs. Wade"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:18:09 +0000

Most other first world nations have more restrictive laws on abortion. Yes, even Western Europe.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Supreme Court Overturns Roe vs. Wade"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:09:41 +0000

Yes frankly this website is not capable of entertaining certain contrarian ideas. Which of course are only contrarian in the narrow societal bubbles they occupy.

I blame the downvote mechanism for rewarding echo chambers and punishing outlier opinions.

/Shrug.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?"

ceilingcorner — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 06:07:37 +0000

If you worked for Amazon, Facebook, Google, or a similar social media / adtech company, I think you’d be doing more real damage to society. The only difference is that these organizations have a better PR department.

Crypto has pluses and minuses and you should determine whether it’s a technology you believe in or not. I think basing your opinion of it on “the public” or (notoriously uninformed about crypto) HN opinion is just a bit mentally weak. Either believe in what you’re doing, or do something else. But don’t base your feelings on what the mob thinks.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Vladimir Putin, in speech, hints at further territorial expansion for Russia"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 18:49:26 +0000

The whole region was chaotic for centuries. Poland invaded Russia at one point as well. Everyone pretty much invaded everyone else.

Certainly no one was “justified” here, I just meant to point out that the article is written to be misleading. The region in question (St. Petersburg) does indeed seem to have been occupied by Russians for a considerable period of time prior to Sweden occupying it.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Vladimir Putin, in speech, hints at further territorial expansion for Russia"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 18:24:43 +0000

The historical portion of this article is misleading and relies on Western people’s lack knowledge of the region. It makes you think that Sweden then was Sweden today, a neutral peaceful country. In reality, Sweden had spent the previous century invading and destroying Central and Eastern Europe. It was so destructive that some historians estimate the damage in Poland exceeded that of World War 2.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deluge_(history)

Peter the Great indeed did “take back” the land from Sweden, which Sweden had conquered from Russia about a century beforehand.

Nyenschantz was built in 1611 to establish Swedish rule in Ingria, which had been annexed from the Tsardom of Russia during the Time of Troubles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyenschantz

New comment by ceilingcorner in "The Agony of Eros: Dating"

ceilingcorner — Mon, 02 May 2022 09:45:00 +0000

Interesting that at no point does anyone stop and think, “Gee, maybe tearing down every institution and social obligation in the name of individualist consumerism wasn’t a good idea? Perhaps our ancestors and their thousands of years old traditions concerning marriage and dating weren’t outdated idiots after all?”

Nope. The solution is always more dating apps, more self-help books, more targeted algorithms to find your perfect match and fulfill your individualist desires for pleasure and purpose. If you aren’t happy with your dating situation, it’s because you aren’t knowledgeable or hard-working enough.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?"

ceilingcorner — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 12:05:27 +0000

There is an exact year: 2008. Two reasons:

- Obama is elected with significant help from new social media tactics. Powerful interests realize that tech will shape the future of politics. This leads to less "technology for technology's sake" and more of its use to achieve sociopolitical goals.

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/o...

- The financial crash heats up resentment against elites. While it may seem like the East Coast media and financial set are opponents of Big Tech, to the average person, they're both out of touch elites. Tech stopped being cool when it stopped being the underdog.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Spreadsheets Are Hot–and Cranking Out Complex Code"

ceilingcorner — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 14:51:12 +0000

Sadly it feels like single purchase software is on its way out. All the momentum is toward SAAS.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "An Account of the Shanghai Lockdown"

ceilingcorner — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 14:07:34 +0000

Perhaps if you had invested your life savings into a business, which was then forced to be shut down, you would have more sympathy.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "An Account of the Shanghai Lockdown"

ceilingcorner — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 13:09:07 +0000

Yes well that’s the issue with utilitarianism and any other calculated ethical system. You can always justify some horrible things by saying “but we saved X more lives.”

New comment by ceilingcorner in "The new silent majority: People who don't tweet"

ceilingcorner — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:32:21 +0000

Nitter.net is a life saver for this.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "The new silent majority: People who don't tweet"

ceilingcorner — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:31:31 +0000

I have lost a lot of respect for certain very accomplished people because they tweet their hot takes on current issues constantly. I follow you because you’re an awesome musician/writer/entrepreneur/whatever, not because I need your extremely uninformed opinion on geopolitics or social issues.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 20:35:42 +0000

Baltics are easily neutralized with taking the Suwalki gap. The Russians were also not happy with them joining NATO, but couldn’t do much about it. And Ukraine (Kievan Rus) is the center of eastern Slavic civilization and therefore much more important to Putin than a largely unrelated culture in Latvia, Lithuania, etc.

Otherwise yes I do think Mearsheimer is a little too mechanical in his theories and doesn’t factor in ideologies, especially in the modern Information Age.

New comment by ceilingcorner in "Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine"

ceilingcorner — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 20:25:46 +0000

The world isn’t a Marvel movie with good guys and bad guys. It’s more like Sicario: mostly bad guys with some innocent people caught in the crossfire.