Ahmed FASIH @22@octodon.social

@CobaltVelvet I thought of another reason why UBI wouldn't necessarily make exactly this problem go away—ok it might pay for labor, but if your solution needs hardware that is expensive compared to what you can sell the solution for, then the solution still won't get made and the problem remains unsolved. Can't seem to get around the iron law of credits minus expenses…

@CobaltVelvet Ohh, I see, that's a good way to see UBI also. I realize that usually I thought of UBI's main breakthrough being what comes after that stage, i.e., what people would do if they didn't have to work eight, ten hours a day to earn enough to pay rent+bills(+health insurance+daycare). That's like, scifi.

@CobaltVelvet Your comment reminded me of this Finn explaining Nordic capitalism + "smart, universal social policies that are in everyone’s self-interest" to Americans as a necessity of competing in the global age:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/bernie-sanders-nordic-countries/473385/

I feel like this well-executed universal healthcare, education, and daycare would do a lot that UBI aims to do, with less uncertainty than UBI (because of Nordic existence proof). "Well-executed" is of course a huge challenge.

That or, fields need devotees who are alert to prices falling unexpectedly and rush to make, passing on the savings to everyone else.

Such a website e.g., thanks to Stripe and AWS and open ledgers like Dat, could probably run with close to zero recurring overhead, and could net a lot of money for producers and the public for the upfront non-recurring expense (NRE) of just a couple of weeks of full-time coding.

I’d like to pitch this idea to a library and see what interest there is.

@CobaltVelvet I agree but on the flip side, all the Flat Earth and Scientology and evangelical people will also be able to devote themselves to their unsavory activities without worrying about income, and that worries me. Do you think the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks? Or is there a UBI proposal that seeks to address this in any way (seems like there couldn’t be but who knows, I ask because I’m ignorant).

I learned in industry that there are problems that we can solve and sell those solutions to people who desperately need them, but not for enough money (or not cheaply enough) to justify us actually doing it.

Not just little websites but this often comes up at Real Work too.

I usually numb the pain this causes by moving on to the next problem for which we can actually charge enough to make it worth our while.

Maybe this is why fields need passionate devotees who work for (next to) nothing.

Solution to a problem that'll probably evaporate in a few years: website like Patreon, but for published authors/producers.

Visitors pledge a monthly amount (with ability to limit to N months) to any published creator.

Website repeatedly purchases a published item from that producer whenever sufficient funds accumulate, and provides public proof of the purchase to maintain trust.

If physical media was purchased, website operator donates it to a library/charity of their choice.

Because this is the internet, of course I have to caveat the above: yes, "be nice" is superb advice IRL and on the net, but it doesn't apply when dealing with fascists, Nazis, abusers, etc.

Questions about JavaScript or FFTW inspire compassion. For oppression and hate, reach for Gandhi/MLK/Chenoweth-grade resistance and protest.

I have two thoughts on this: (1) I'm grateful for the people and experiences that have instilled in me the importance of civility and kindness (not withstanding a recent post I may have deleted), given that at least some lack this.

Building on that is (2) reading the responses to this post reveals that those who don't understand civility/kindness don't see themselves as having a problem, but rather see requests for kindness as a threat.

Glad to see StackOverflow picking sides in the Nice Wars.

It's 2018, it's been lit decades since I read Dale Carnegie's *How to win friends and influence people* (after Paul Graham's 👍), so I'm very happy that #StackOverflow is giving Explicit Instructions on How To Be Nice On The Internet:

https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/311737/lets-hold-language-in-comments-to-the-same-standard-as-posts?cb=1

"Avoid accidental misinterpretation of your comment by being deliberately explicit about your intent"

"Flag … condescending / mean-spirited 'jabs'"

"deliberately show that you at least considered how someone would receive your comment"

👏

- Uraraka (the gravity hero in *My Hero Academia* anime (Crunchy)),

- Tsubaki (childhood friend and softballer in *Your Lie in April* anime (Crunchy)),

- Kaisei (the Ebisugawa girl betrothed to Yasaburo in *Eccentric Family* anime (Crunchy)),

- Bort (Diamond's partner in *Land of Lustrous* anime (Prime)), and

- Kase (the runner protagonist in *Kase-san and Morning Glories* OVA)

are all the same voice actress, Ayane Sakura!!??!! https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=94383

What amazing vocal range!!!