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Old 05-03-2017, 01:24 PM   #34
Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
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Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield View Post
That's disheartening, as "automation" should hold that title by many multiples of its closest challenger.

I'm not downplaying the seriousness of misogyny. But we're engaged in conversation regarding asteroids at the cost of neglecting a planet sized pile of economic problems and environmental concerns barreling toward us.

Maybe it's time we wake up and stop allowing the tail (real, but still secondary social issues) to stop wagging the dog in terms of policy debate? Maybe use Maslow's Hierarchy as a start:

First we talk economics, which controls everything (and we stop dithering around tired talking-point solutions like 'education,' and directly address automation);
Then we get to civil rights - most notably the emergence of a police state within our borders;
Next on to the environmental crisis (anyone else notice summer came two months early this year?);
Then on to privacy rights, as in the right not to be spied on by domestic agencies, and a woman's absolute right to make all decisions regarding her body AND any fetus within it.

After we tear through all of those, I think it's time to debate the crisis of flyover state misogynists. I'm not saying it isn't problem. I'm saying it appears to me, that if I wanted to divide and conquer people, and keep them from the discussing the more immediate and dire issues, it's the kind of subject I'd encourage the masses to argue.

We need to prioritize a bit better in this country. We allow ourselves to be divided and conquered on so many secondary matters and rarely discuss the really serious shit. Seeing so much ink spilled on the issues lower down the ladder of importance reminds me of listening to gold bugs. One can't help thinking, "If the possible events of which you're so concerned occur, gold won't be worth shit... the currency will be seeds and bullets." If we don't address automation and the environment, in the not too distant future, debating whether a head of state acquired that position via sexism or unfairness of the media will be the most decadent of parlor conversations.
Actually, misogyny is absolutely critical for understanding economic problems in this country.

Right now, the most significant constraint on the growth of the tech industry is availability of talent, and the biggest reason tech companies take good jobs abroad is not to find cheap labor but to find good engineers and scientists. China's production of engineers is mind-boggling.

In the US, I don't think we're going to significantly increase the number of white boys who go for tech or science careers. Huge numbers of them have the opportunity and support (100% in most suburban areas), and choose to do something else.

The largest untapped source of tech talent inside the US right now is girls who are being dissuaded from pursuing tech careers by misogyny. That number is huge. Watching what my daughter has to deal with in her engineer training you get a good sense of how many barriers there are. You want lower immigration? Train young girls in science.

The second largest untapped source of tech talent inside the US is African American and Hispanic, but that's not about misogyny, that's something else.
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