asdaddasdad's comments

So what quantum value is it? Shouldn't the argument then at least say "the number is greater than the number of possible states of the universe", or something like that?

Doing computations with single atoms also doesn't sound very practical.

Measuring distances, I suppose there could be numerous ways, like measuring the gravity or electric pull (not sure what it is called in English). I think only Quantum theory says we can not measure to arbitrary precision, or at least if we do, there are other issue. Still, that would be another argument than simply pointing at the number of atoms.

What counts as an interaction? It seems to me there can be an infinite number of interactions between just two atoms.

As I said, one atom per digit is not really natural. Just two atoms could encode an infinite number of numbers, by measuring their distance. Well except quantum physics might get in the way, not allowing us to measure with arbitrary precision. But that would be another argument.

Another argument would perhaps be the energy required to do the computation. Maybe that relates more directly to the number of atoms in the universe, via Einstein's equation?

I've never understood the "number of the atoms in the universe" argument. The number of states the universe can be in doesn't seem to be equal to the number of atoms. For example, just two atoms could encode lots of numbers simply by using their distance. Quantum physics would affect it, but I mean in principle: we are not switching atoms on and off to encode state.

"Positive Outlook" maybe sounds a bit naive. I mean that people have the means to do things and change things. Not everything is just a power play. Of course some situations in the world can be very bad, but even then I don't see how musing about power structures would help.

I guess it is (for me) about practical approaches and solutions vs theoretical musings.

Also in general people are not all that bad. Even most bad people are just misguided, not inherently bad.

I would guess that comparison to be very misleading. Singles presumably don't want to live in the countryside, they want to live in big cities with jobs and other people they could meet. In big cities, there tends to be little space for building, so especially little space for building 3 car garages.

So I would guess most 3 car garages are built in the countryside, where there is lots of space for building.

The two numbers point to completely separate issues.

If singles would be willing to move to the countryside, perhaps they wouldn't have a problem to find accommodation. (A job could be a different matter).

But are your suggestions a "Code of Conduct"? Like would anybody be expelled from a community for "not thinking about people who may be up at 3am trying to figure out their code"?

They are good suggestions, but I would put them in another category than CoCs.

Fair enough if it is useful for you. I am curious what makes it useful, as it seems to be a very negative and destructive way of thinking. At least I have never met an adherent to that philosophy with a positive outlook on things.

Code of Conducts - have they ever done any good? Maybe installing a CoC should be considered an inflammatory act in itself.

What makes you sure that is the right way to think about the world?

Since Bulgaria really doesn't seem to be very attractive at the moment, what about Lithuiana? What is the situation like there? The article mentions it as a competitor for fastest shrinking country in the EU.

If you don't want pollution, regulate pollution. But this "everything should be repaired and the world would be better" is pure ideology. They think they can achieve less pollution by enforcing repairs. They are not businessmen. They don't know the actual problems with production and repairs. They should let businesses figure out how to reduce waste and pollution, not tell them what to do.

It sounds as if inequality in the gilded age was mostly caused by masses of immigrants entering the country, hoping for a share of the high wages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age

If that is the case, it seems unwarranted to present it as an example of failure. Poor people were attracted by the success, and accommodating them was not seamless. But how could it be - no system can be prepared for that.

Not sure what EU rules you are referring to. All the phones I had were chargeable by standard USB socket and rootable, afaik.

You have things like fairphone where you can exchange and upgrade parts. In general, the magic of capitalism is that if people want something, somebody will eventually make it.

I also wonder how much of companies trying to prevent repairs is actually BECAUSE of regulations. Like they could be liable if something goes wrong. What if somebody tries to repair a phone, does it wrong, and the battery explodes. Who would be liable?

Your final point, with you being able to do a lot of repairs: you are not normal in that respect. Most people could not do that.

And even the hourly rate of most people would probably make it ineffective for them to do it, even if they could.

Since it is inefficient, I question the assumption that repairs are automatically good for the environment. Maybe buying a newer, more energy efficient machine every couple of years is better in some cases, especially if the old machine is recycled properly.

I would be much more in favor of regulations with respect to recycling. This "repairing is better" is mostly ideology and virtue signalling.

Simple: if people would want devices they could repair, they would prefer the products of companies offering such devices over the products of companies not offering such devices.

The problem here is that people don't really want these devices. Maybe they think they want them, but in reality the effort to have them repaired would be too much to them. As others have pointed out, wages are the real issue, not cost of spare parts.

If you trust the "experts" of the government, you are probably a big fan of Trump. And if Hillary had won, you would be a great fan of her.

Experts are not better than business leaders at running businesses.

Nevertheless the same issue applies. You can't build everything from standard components.

Can you build an iPhone from standard parts?

So just ship your washing machine to Poland for repairs, I guess. Very energy efficient.