padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Vimothy's debut and some ripe Padraig posting
that's the other padraig - aka hundredmillionlifetimes - who predated me, for you new people who might not know

@vimothy - I would be curious to know, given the last 15 years

that is - financial crisis, mass transition to precarious gig labor, pending crisis of human obsolescence, etc

are you more, less, or equally happy to endorse free markets, capitalism, and Austrian School economics?
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I like the way the original Padraig didn't even take a one second pause before dumping all his toxic sewage over Vimothy. No quarter given for the fresh "howdy folks" first-time-poster!
 

Leo

Well-known member
that's the other padraig - aka hundredmillionlifetimes - who predated me, for you new people who might not know

forgive me, my brain is foggy in old age: was there a story behind how you both used the name? was there a reason, or pure coincidence?
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
forgive me, my brain is foggy in old age: was there a story behind how you both used the name? was there a reason, or pure coincidence?
no reason related to him, he was either gone or about to be gone when I showed up

I was into Irish language stuff and names at the time, I don't remember why I chose that specifically

if I'd known the HMLT history I certainly would've picked something else

and actually if I'd known its etymology I would've chosen a cooler Irish name - something native and not Latin-derived - but here we are
 
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padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
@padraig (u.s.) significantly less happy, altho I think I would have given the same answer even ten years ago
fair enough

was your thinking influenced by the resurgence in Keynesianism in the wake of the financial crisis? or just coincidental timing?

and not to put you on the spot, but do you have a preferred response to the looming obsolescence crisis?

same question I put to third in the other thread
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
it seems like our positions have grown closer over the years via a shared growth in cynicism and/or lack of certainty?

not to a perfect unanimity but significantly closer than they would have been ca. 2006
 

vimothy

yurp
I can't remember exactly when I stopped being a libertarian. certainly if I still was one when the financial crisis started, I wasn't when it finished. then I went through a period where I was more interested in economic theory, which is generally a bit more circumspect about the power of free markets. but eventually I became suspicious of that too.
 

vimothy

yurp
re human obsolescence, I dont think its inevitable, I think it's a political issue. it's the result of choices made, which dont have to be made. but these choices probably will be made, for ideological reasons, so I dont discount the possibility or even the probability that it will occur
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
re human obsolescence, I dont think its inevitable, I think it's a political issue. it's the result of choices made, which dont have to be made. but these choices probably will be made, for ideological reasons, so I dont discount the possibility or even the probability that it will occur
sure. I've never suggested otherwise, I don't think. the only true inevitability is death. everything else is some "result of choices".

let's assume for the sake of discussion it has at least a serious likelihood of coming to pass in some form, which seems reasonable

what's your response to that likelihood? if you have one

should it be embraced? hastened? fought against tooth and nail? grudgingly accepted and mitigated? something else?

and were you in a position to influence policy, how would you go about carrying out your preferred response?
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
there are 2 different but related questions

one is: why and how did we get where we are (i.e. by what choices)? the other is: given where we are, what should we do?

the second question is the one I'm interested in. I recognize answering it almost definitely also bears on the first question.

I've been informally polling anyone I know, online or IRL, with some economic background, to hear their answers
 

vimothy

yurp
idk you might need to say something more about the nature and source of this obsolescence, as you envisage it.

when I hear the phrase "human obsolescence", I think of two different scenarios: one, which is a kind of dystopian sci-fi fantasy where computers can do everything humans can, only more efficiently, which I don't think is particularly likely; and another, where certain industries (esp low skilled & labour intensive) become increasingly capital intensive and push ppl into a permanently unemployed underclass, which is a kind of perennial source of anxiety under capitalism (eg the complaints of the luddites in the 19th century)
 
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