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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • I immediately dislike calling it commerce for 3 reasons:

    1. Most people will not know what I mean so I will have to explain every time
    2. Commerce is an existing word that means something different so it will still be confusing in a different direction
    3. I, on principle, don’t like abandoning words because some dumb group(s) appropriate them and try to change their meaning

    I think I will try saying “regulated capitalism” from now on and see if it works better.




  • CGP gray very specifically refers to democracies as well and explains how things like farm subsidies are used to buy votes. Maybe re-watch the videos.

    And yes, CGP gray also indirectly explains why Marxists kept pumping resources into the government, police and bureaucracy. (Clarification: CGP Gray never mentions Marxists specifically, he just explains why leaders have to funnel resources to areas that help them stay in power.) It is inevitable in a system where you concentrate power in a limited group of people.

    That is why distributing power between large number of independent capitalists and voters is the system that so far worked best, although still very far from perfect.

    As long as humans behave like humans and are in charge, the utopian communism is as realistic as wizards in flying castles.


  • It is the opposite. In capitalism, there is at least a chance a good person has some power because power is distributed, not only held by governments. There are multiple examples in the main post. Even better examples are European countries where the government and businesses hold each other in check instead of govt being bought off legally like in the US.

    In communism, the way power is distributed ensures corrupt people raise to the top. See an amazing video “rule for rulers” by CGP gray for a simplified explanation how that corruption works and why a good person can’t hold power.














  • Well, this is a bit tricky to answer:

    1. The e-sim in a phone is a separate chip with proprietary firmware. The chances of a FOSS version of this HW are nearly nonexistent. It would require developing your own silicon and putting it into your own phones. Chances of FOSS FW for this proprietary HW are also very small, because it is difficult and there is not much reason to do so.
    2. Currently, registering an e-sim requires a proprietary app (usually google). There is no FOSS alternative. Work on one is slow and there are some IP issues.
    3. Using an e-sim does not require a proprietary app. So you can remove google services or remove their access to the e-sim HW once you have it registered. GrapheneOS uses this.