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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • I completely seriously, put forth that it’s the soul-crushing, rampant late-stage capitalism, with poor worker protections, much more than the lack of political freedom, is what is driving the low birth rates. (Now, obviously different story during one child policy).

    I just think people are way to quick to overlook the economics, which is currently happening almost everywhere (the stupid house prices, real wages not keeping up with price inflation, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest of a nation getting larger, etc)

    If China became a mutli-party representative democracy overnight, you can bet your ass no one is going to be having any more children than they are right now.

    If you were to ask the average Chinese person if they support their government, the answer would be yes, despite what some people outside China would like to believe. (On average, of course there are still a notable number who aren’t happy at all with the government).









  • Luckily/unluckily (because effort), in Australia, consumer guarantees on length of time you can get a refund are vague.

    E.g. it doesn’t matter that a fridge’s manufacturer warranty is only 2 years, you expect that to last longer.

    With effort, you could probably get a fridge fixed like 5 years after purchase with some badgering / threatening small claims.

    Bricking your product would probably fall under that category.

    This is wild speculation, not a lawyer.










  • While I get that as a stop gap when your city hasn’t built enough PT, car to the station sounds like a good last mile solution. But my personal preference, and how good public transport is set up, is that in 90% o more of the trips around your city, public transport should never be more than a walk away.

    This is not to say that cars should be removed entirely (for disabled people where PT accommodations are difficult, delivery, emergency vehicles etc). Just that you shouldn’t nearly as many cars for the last mile, in a well designed system.

    This is how I try to live, mostly. Can’t get there by public transport? Well I’m not going unless I have to then 👍 because cars are expensive and I’ll get a cab or rent one if I have to. But I live in a fairly car-centric city. It’s totally possible to have your entirely city be accessible by foot + PT.

    I’m not sure if the driverless car tech would ever be viable, and why not just do driverless BRT conversions, which is possible right now, and not that expensive.