I started walking to school alone once I started 1st grade (at around age 7) and did it for about 5 years until my parents moved our family to a place outside of town where it was impractical to do so. I just checked Google Maps to be sure and it is about a 1.2Km / 0.75 miles, so a short walk for either an adult or a 7-year old.
A few months ago I had a heated argument with my father, stepmother and wife because I (half-joking/serious) told my almost 8-year daugher that next year we will start practicing her going to school by herself. You would not believe the stink all of them raised telling me I was irresponsible, yadda, yadda, what about child molesters/ kidnappers, yadda, yadda, too many cars and the usual non-sense you usually hear about this.
Again I went and checked on Google Maps just to be precise and the walk between our house and my daughters school is... 500 meters / 0.31 miles.
In a single generation we went from "your starting school for the first time? time to fend for yourself, you will do fine" to "you are a snowflake that needs to be protected at all times and must not be allowed to alone in any circunstances".
PS: To give more context, I don't live in the US but in a small EU country with a low crime rate, on a town that indeed is busy but very safe.
they are probably right and I can certainly bet my money there are way way more cars in small EU country than there were 30 years ago (assuming you had her at least at 30, if later, then the difference will be even starker)
my kids school is ~1.1km walk, son is walking to/from school by himself maybe from 3rd grade (8.5yo) with classmate(s), I still walk my 4th grade (8yo) daugher to school in the morning (unreliable/inconsistent slow classmate living nearby), at least I get some exercise working from home (if I didnt have time to walk them and help them with backpacks I would probably let them go by themselves earlier)
the main reason I still walk her is crossing the road, because I consider Prague roads dangerous even for adult pedestrian, let alone for kid, too many crazies driving here cars
other big reason is heavy backpack when they have to lug tons of books/workbooks
on the way back they go home either with classmates or together already for years, used to pick them up only in 1st and maybe 2nd grade
“It’s totally fine guys, if we give billionaires even more money it will totally all work out and be fine! Everything is ok and our benevelont overlords will take earnest care of us, despite literally never having shown the merest inclination to do that ever before”.
You jest, but the wonderful thing is billionaires are mortal.
The known anti-semite and Hitler admirer Henry Ford's chartiable foundation added DEI to its mandate in 2021.
Andrew Carnegie, an infamous monopolist and strike crusher...his charitable foundations helps fund science education to this day, and his university has graduated countless engineers.
The point is... billionaires will die... their capital can continue to work both in the economy and society.
I mean... unless someone figures out immortality. I dread the thought of Jeff Bezos invoking prima noctae
I wonder what opinions a 163-year-old Henry Ford would have about equality, today, especially if he had no threat of death hanging over him. Execution (by proxy, via death) seems a needlessly harsh way to get rid of people's entrenched ideas.
When Jeff Bezos dies, someone is going to inherit his money. There's no particular reason to believe that whoever he chooses as his heir(s) will be less disposed toward funding fascism and destroying the ability of regular people to have a voice in the world.
You invoke Carnegie, but the current generation of robber barons have shown no real propensity toward philanthropy—they donate to charity, to be sure, but in tiny (relative) amounts, and frequently to their own foundations, which make it legally charity, but in practice just another way for them to control their own money.
The proposals that the billionaires of today will give away their money (and thus power) within their lifetimes, or that their heirs will suddenly become champions of labor and the downtrodden, require some fairly significant evidence—from today, not just comparisons to the Gilded Age—before they can be considered credible.
I would argue that Gates, Buffet, Mackenzie, and (yes) Zuckerberg do actually have philanthropic foundations setup that will outlast their mortal lives. Chan-Zuckerberg Institute + Biohub, Gates Foundation, giving pledge... Gates at least was directly inspired by Carnegie's example.
Elon Musk definitely does not fall in that category and instead dumps wealth endlessly into moonshot ventures and into his own political and social power.
There are also efforts by more rightwing billionaires to put their money in education/social engineering type ventures like the right wing leaning libertarian University of Austin.
The real problem was issues like Citizen's United, the rampant insider trading that is going on in Congress, and efforts to destroy the Estate Tax.
The assumption that right wing facist billionaires will automatically spawn political clones just does not hold up if you look into the families of the robber barons though. More often than not, the wealth gets diluted, the children become more liberal, or the following generations simply become feckless and squander the wealth. After 100 years typically the only thing that lasts will be names on buildings.
Again, you're trying to take the Gilded Age as a prime example, when there's already evidence that shows it's not going to be that way.
Gates and Zuckerberg are, to my understanding, giving away only tiny fractions of their wealth to charity. A far cry from Carnegie.
Their foundations remain powerful engines for them, and their heirs, to control the money and how it gets spent.
And the norms have changed since the Gilded Age: at that time, there was still a very strong culture of honor, dignity, and genuine service even among what were then the "nouveau riche" that is utterly absent today. Indeed, one of the primary hallmarks of today's right-wing movement is the aggressive denial that dignity and respect are things that should even exist. (Except, of course, for them.)
For children raised in that kind of environment, the very best we can realistically expect is that they will simply squander the wealth and have little direct impact on the political sphere.
Here's hoping that after 100 years, the only thing that lasts about this crop of robber barons is their names as a cautionary tale in history, about what happens to the wealthy when they forget that they are few, and we are many.
I don't think HN is libertarian at all. In fact, I can barely tell the difference between reddit and HN now. Anti-capitalism is the dominant sentiment here now.
There is a small group of people who are quite openly attempting to make you, me, and everyone else obsolete. They’re doing it while blatantly lying that they’re not. Surprisingly, people aren’t receiving it well. Anti-capitalism is the dominant sentiment everywhere.
Is this going to be truly free and open source or is this one of those situations where for now it's "free" and then in the future people get slapped with some ridiculous pricing and/or license changes?
I don't mind paying for software but I'm starting to get a bit sick of investing my time and money on software that is just looking to generate buzz and then the other shoe drops...
In my opinion this happens because people start projects as a side project, then they get attention and need more and more time. So either you somehow invest more time (work less on your normal job) or get more contributors/ a team. The first option is happening more often, so you need income to replace your normal job where we mostly end with your described situation.
They state that they will have paid tiers on the site [0]:
"At its heart, Spacedrive will always be open source and free. However, we do offer optional paid services to boost your experience. For instance, with a subscription to our cloud service, you get an encrypted database and preview media backup, file transfer options, ample storage, and backup plans. These are perfect for individuals, teams, and businesses looking for better collaboration.³
Connections between devices in your network are always peer-to-peer, and never go through our servers. We do not have access to your data, and we never will. Our cloud service is completely optional, and you can use Spacedrive without it."
Love Peter Watts' work but be warned that his writing is super depressing (in a good way), specially his Rifters Trilogy. My favorites are still Blindsight and it's follow-up, Echopraxia. The ideas on those books about sentient life are eye opening and something I still think is heavily debated in the scientific community.
Of his catalogue, I like Blindsight best probably, it's one of those fundamental science fiction novels that asks a new question and stays with you for a long time, without being too cerebral.
A few months ago I had a heated argument with my father, stepmother and wife because I (half-joking/serious) told my almost 8-year daugher that next year we will start practicing her going to school by herself. You would not believe the stink all of them raised telling me I was irresponsible, yadda, yadda, what about child molesters/ kidnappers, yadda, yadda, too many cars and the usual non-sense you usually hear about this.
Again I went and checked on Google Maps just to be precise and the walk between our house and my daughters school is... 500 meters / 0.31 miles.
In a single generation we went from "your starting school for the first time? time to fend for yourself, you will do fine" to "you are a snowflake that needs to be protected at all times and must not be allowed to alone in any circunstances".
PS: To give more context, I don't live in the US but in a small EU country with a low crime rate, on a town that indeed is busy but very safe.
reply