[HN Gopher] To understand what is wrong with the west, think of ...
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To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
Author : vaghetti
Score : 8 points
Date : 2022-03-12 14:26 UTC (8 hours ago)
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| etempleton wrote:
| To some extent, this is by design. The inaction of liberal
| western democracies is because it is ambiguous as it what should
| be done. Yes, this leads to stagnation, but also minimizes
| massive mistakes. When it becomes clear what needs to be done
| western democracies can spring into action, such as with, as the
| author pointed out, the pandemic.
|
| Look at Russia - The government, but more specifically Putin,
| just set the country back 20-30 years with one bad decision.
| China is on a hot streak, but the same could happen to them. What
| happens when Xi looses his mind? Or dies? Or when the economy
| takes a prolonged downturn?
|
| Democracies win over the long term because they bet small and
| lose small.
|
| Libraries aren't being built because, A. We already have a lot of
| them in the west, and B. Typically they begin as part of a major
| philanthropic gift but right now our philanthropist class is
| focused on eradicating diseases and going to space.
| eternityforest wrote:
| Getting involved in a war, trade war, or campaign of human
| rights abuse is a completely separate category from, say,
| spending 100 billion on some project.
|
| You might upset the economy a bit. Maybe someone will call you
| an idiot. But at any rate you made some jobs and nobody died.
| Nobody is going to demand sanctions unless someone is being
| badly abused.
|
| We did not spring into action with the pandemic. The only thing
| we did was make the vaccine, and we can't even keep up with the
| variants with that.
|
| If we really "Sprang into action" we would have small thermal
| cameras in our phones by now that would warn us of fevers.
|
| We would have grates in the floor making a constant downward
| airflow, and vents blowing HEPA air in the ceiling in major
| public spaces.
|
| Cashiers would have barriers and small filters making walls of
| clean air indefinitely, not just "Till the worst of the
| pandemic is over" It would be such a big industry they'd have
| advertising projections on the acrylic.
|
| Busses would have the same thing.
|
| We would have "Trying to get your employees to work sick"
| become a 10 year sentence kind of felony.
|
| We'd have subsidized masks that actually do something, with
| battery powered fans.
|
| We don't do these things because we accept infectious disease
| as part of life, and there's basically no interest in actually
| stopping it with any kind of sustainable long term technical
| evolution like we did with sanitary sewers.
|
| It seems the current system is considered good enough.
| 8bitsrule wrote:
| Hands off the libraries, pal. If you need a straw-they for your
| 'thought exercise', go ahead and use 'sports stadiums', I don't
| care then. Of _course_ 'the west' IS still building _lots_ of
| stadiums. [https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/the-10-newest-
| stadiums-... ] Panem et circenses. (Dick was right.)
| Dracophoenix wrote:
| >Think about libraries as a concept - the government builds a
| huge building, buys loads of books from many different authors
| and allows everyone to just go there and read the books for free
| or some small fee.
|
| False premise: Most librairies in the United States were funded
| and built by private philanthropy. See: Carnegie Library
|
| >"Sometimes you can even take the books to your home!"- Now
| imagine libraries didn't exist and some politician came around
| proposing we create libraries exactly as they are. What would you
| expect to happen? I can tell you what I would expect to happen:
| Nothing at all: What about the authors and publishers? What about
| the bookstores! People will just steal and/or destroy the books!
| People don't even read anymore! I am quite confident they would
| never get built in any major western democracy today.
|
| If it's difficult to build libraries today, political will is not
| a limiting factor. Rather, technology has slowly but surely
| rendered the storage of dead trees as obsolete in all but a few
| circumstances (i.e. archival analysis) Just as we stopped using
| street cars when buses and cars proved to be more maneuverable
| and efficient, one shouldn't advocate a reinvention of the 19th
| century library simply because it delivered a unique benefit once
| upon a time.
| bediger4000 wrote:
| Gotta admit I read this one expecting to find some extremely
| libertarian critique of libraries per se, something about how
| "intellectual property" is being violated, etc etc etc.
|
| Instead, I found all the talking points to refute such extremist
| critiques, and a thoughtful expansion to problems afflicting
| western liberal democracies. Good read, very thoughtful.
| daniel-s wrote:
| A commentary about the shortcomings of western civilization from
| someone that doesn't understand what makes our civilization a
| success.
|
| All the other civilizations have large powerful governments that
| intervene in their society. The West's strength comes from the
| fact that governments are generally restrained, slow, and more
| power and freedom is given to individuals. Governments are
| supposed to not be able to get anything done.
| dc-programmer wrote:
| The internet, GPS, nuclear energy, novel vaccines, the
| interstate system, space flight, the Panama Canal,
| electrification of Appalachia, 99% adult literacy. Yup glad we
| didn't need government action to get these done
|
| Most of the highlights of Western Civ have been a result of
| collective action. If anything the libertarian mythos that was
| synthesized in the late 70s is our greatest weakness.
| hendark wrote:
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