Big part of the reason why I left big tech to work in infrastructure. None of this Faceboot stuff is going to matter if we are drowning in sewage. That and the comfort that if/when things go to hell I will still have a job.
But hey I would like to point out that a bunch of the problems we are seeing are fixable with law changes. Housing is too expensive? Get rid of zoning. Global warming threatens to kill us all? Carbon tax and gradually increase it. Faceboot sucks but we are the ones that refuse to vote.
get rid of zoning
(To be clear here, I'm not being accusatory or anything here, I'm genuinely curious) When you say that, what, exactly, do you mean? I feeling like I may be thinking something different from you, because when I picture getting rid of zoning, I see businesses/companies taking over everything and making neighborhoods a bleak nightmare. For example, we just recently had a Chinese group open up a smoke shop in a place not zoned for it. (skipped every single process required of new businesses to open) They got caught fast because the neighborhood they were in started having issues with the shop's customers, so someone blew them in to permitting. Thats what I picture happening with no zoning, but without the ability to turn in the problematic businesses.
A while back there was a discussion with Elon Musk and Jack Ma. Musk talks about living on Mars and Jack talking about making life better on Earth. I can't believe now that back then I thought Musk was the smart one...
The orca arrives in panel 5.
Effective Altruism go brrr
You can be passionate about technological advancement and also be concerned about rent prices, funding for schools, and climate change. Let people solve the problems they're able to solve.
They aren't solving any actual issues. They are just hogging resources and wasting them on their dream projects. They are taking away resources that others need to survive.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think absolutely any value came from Jeff and Elon going to space in penis shaped rockets.
Dreams are great, but we need those with means to give back more to society. We don't need mars colonies, we need common sense solutions to corporate greed, stagnating wages, and the growing threat of unchecked, privately-owned AI.
Physicist here. Thermodynamics always wins.
It really doesn't matter what we do on the earth -- as long as people and industry exists, we will heat the planet. Either faster (greenhouse gasses), or slower (increasing albedo to capture more sunlight, adding energy with nuclear reactors, etc.).
There are effectively three very long term solutions: (1) kill all humans, and let nature recover -- at least until the output of the sun crosses some threshold in about 250 million years where the Earth fries. (2) Large scale geoengineering, like solar shades between the earth and the sun, or similar means of reducing incoming sunlight. (3) Move all industry off the earth.
Now, these are all very long term scenarios. The problem is, if we don't work towards the technology required to do one of three, all of humanity is doomed eventually. Space tech may seem like a vanity project by the rich, and honestly it often is, but it is also advancing civilization in the direction required to turn Earth into Eden in the far future.
If you look at the planet from far enough away, you stop seeing individuals, their triumphs or their suffering. You just see "solar energy capture cross section".
Sure, but the point of the comic is that while technological advances for "cool" things get all kinds of attention and development, actual social problems that continue to impact billions of people hardly get any focus.
I can't wait for some billionaire to do both...
In response to climate change:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/12/business/bill-gates-infrastructure-bill-climate/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/business/jeff-bezos-earth-fund.html
For rent control and public school funding, that seems like more of a policy issue than a problem for individuals.
Yes but when you have billions at your disposal you have a much greater moral responsability than a fresh out of uni geek. He could greatly contribute to our urgent problems.
Musk can't make a marriage between two people work: and you want to trust him with the world because he is greedy ?
Tax all of those oppressors.
