howrar

I can quickly skim the code on the right and know roughly what the createPizza function does despite a chunk of the code being missing, but I can't do that with the left side. The author complains about how you don't know all the details, but why do I care about those details? I just want my pizza. If anything, the problem is poor documentation.

Based on your comments here, I understand that you're looking for a place where you can freely discuss any topic with voices from many different points of view. This is something I've been looking for as well. If there's enough interest and no one has started it yet, I can spin something up.

You said you expect to see little to no moderation, but you need to understand that such a community will need much heavier moderation than your typical community. If you want to ensure that everyone has a voice, then you need to make sure they don't get silenced by other members. This is a very fuzzy line, so it's not going to be an easy job.

If that's what you're looking for, let me know.

The entire premise of the OP is a hypothetical.

In any case, there's plenty of work on making agents that are "genuinely creative". Might happen sooner than you think.

It makes perfect sense, doesn't it? If we didn't evolve to value our own kind above all else, then we never would've made it this far.

I'd argue that it's more of a "this content is a positive contribution" button. I'd upvote something I disagree with if it fits that bill.

Yep. And if we go out and buy sustainable products, we're still paying for the non-sustainable ones. Of course most people are going to choose to get the thing they're already paying for.

Thanks. So it basically comes down to externalizing costs again. Those who build the trains don't see most of the profits or the costs that come with it, so they optimize for the parts that they do see.

Regarding food, I as an individual need to eat every day, and I need to pay for that food. I'm not going to just not buy food because I'll need it again tomorrow. It doesn't matter if the government provides the food or I buy it myself, it's still money that needs to be spent on it. One could argue that food security also leads to similar second/third order effects by freeing up that mental real estate dedicated to survival and allowing it to be used for positive contributions to the community, though I don't have data to back this up so it's just speculation. Similarly, if the rails are public and built using my tax money while providing me with no value, I would consider it to be wasteful as survival takes precedence over comfort. If it's private and not profitable, then it means no one wants this for the price it takes to build and maintain, so it was a bad idea to have it in the first place. But either way, this is all moot because it's a conclusion reached from incomplete information. I'm down for public spending on this if there are higher order effects that everyone benefits from.

China is very much capitalist and has been for at least three decades now.

Care to explain why?

Ah, that makes sense. So maglev is overall cheaper but still less profitable because the costs are paid where they're incurred.

Then it's good that we don't have them, isn't it? Kool_Newt's post implies that it's due to a failing of capitalism, but this sounds like a win to me. I'd rather my money go towards food and housing than a faster or more comfortable experience doing something I rarely need.