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Jim Naseum

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Everything posted by Jim Naseum

  1. It can in fact be done outside of college by a highly motivated individual who truly commits themselves to it for a very long time, but that's true with most any field outside of doctors, teachers, and attorneys, whose careers are ruled by a governing board that require a certain degree. Saying an average 12 year old or liberal arts student can be anywhere near ready to code professionally in any respectable amount of time is silly, naive, and a little insulting. If this were the case, we wouldn't have so many good paying engineering jobs available with nobody to fill them. The sheer number of people going into the field would drive salaries down big time and companies would never ship people in from India.Well, it seems you are unaware of the average age and education of the hacker and open software communities. You don't need a 4 year college degree to code. Bright kids pick it up in months. Yes, there are a few very high level kinds of programming that require extensive training. But our discussion is about 'most' tech jobs, not the rare ones. Most people would find that kind of work boring and uninteresting, and that's why not everyone wants to do the work. Why there isn't a flood driving the wage down. Oh wait, wages have been driven down by the millions of Indians doing offshore programming. We disagree on all the fundamentals here. That's OK. I feel extremely confident that the best minds in the world all support the reasons why liberal arts education is beneficial. I can't even imagine a world run by mere technicians with no knowledge of art, literature and history. It's a good discussion. Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  2. In the first couple hundred years of capitalism it was easy to find massive new markets to exploit for ever increasing capital growth. The New World, the West, India, the Far East, then the Middle East, then two World Wars, and then it started getting tough. Then consumerism has to be invented, then credit cards, then health care, then college education, and now primary education. The problem gets worse each year. How to grow the capital by 10% while simultaneously replacing labor with automaton? Imagine an economy consisting of corporations and robots. With no work, how do growing legions of humans survive? With no customers, how do the corporations survive? Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  3. So let me get this straight. We have a bunch of people with useless degrees, who cannot find work that's even remotely related to what they studied, who instead work crap jobs they could have gotten without the college experience, trying in vain to pay back a mountain of debt they incurred to obtain said useless degree, which is becoming so widespread that the US Marshals are having to arrest people which apparently most people consider to be fairly shocking, and in the meantime we have a ridiculous amount of tech jobs available, with no one to fill those positions, with both indeed.com and engineerjobs.com claiming around 300,000 available engineering jobs in this country because we don't have enough qualified people...and your answer is that we need more liberal arts? Yes.Most "tech" jobs require very little formal education. If 12 year old kids can code, so can 22 year olds with a liberal arts education. As Old time pointed out, hiring practice takes the easy road of insisting on highly targeted tech degrees for the simple reason that it's a buyer's market. I don't argue at all that at the top of technology the real inventors and scientists need all the scientific education they can pack into life. That's about 1% of the so called tech jobs. The other 99% of our university educated population can benefit the society greatly by learning history, literature, theology, psychology, art history, music, anthropology, philosophy, political science and language. Civilization will not advance on the backs of programmers. It advances on great minds with complete educations. That's what universities were intended to do.... Advance the civilization. Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk Are you really dumb enough to believe that 99% of the population can even pronounce those things, let alone study them? Are you really dumb enough to believe your own drivel? oops! I fed the Troll... Roger Please read what I said. I said "99% of our university educated population should study liberal arts." Not 99% of the population. Your lack of reading ability validates my case. Thank you for that. Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  4. So let me get this straight. We have a bunch of people with useless degrees, who cannot find work that's even remotely related to what they studied, who instead work crap jobs they could have gotten without the college experience, trying in vain to pay back a mountain of debt they incurred to obtain said useless degree, which is becoming so widespread that the US Marshals are having to arrest people which apparently most people consider to be fairly shocking, and in the meantime we have a ridiculous amount of tech jobs available, with no one to fill those positions, with both indeed.com and engineerjobs.com claiming around 300,000 available engineering jobs in this country because we don't have enough qualified people... and your answer is that we need more liberal arts? Yes. Most "tech" jobs require very little formal education. If 12 year old kids can code, so can 22 year olds with a liberal arts education. As Old time pointed out, hiring practice takes the easy road of insisting on highly targeted tech degrees for the simple reason that it's a buyer's market. I don't argue at all that at the top of technology the real inventors and scientists need all the scientific education they can pack into life. That's about 1% of the so called tech jobs. The other 99% of our university educated population can benefit the society greatly by learning history, literature, theology, psychology, art history, music, anthropology, philosophy, political science and language. Civilization will not advance on the backs of programmers. It advances on great minds with complete educations. That's what universities were intended to do.... Advance the civilization. Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  5. Yes, 70x7 is well known in the Biblical traditions, but similar ideas are present in eastern traditions like Buddhism too. This is just a teaser, but points to the difference in results between Europe and the US. http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/11/14/some-european-prisons-are-shrinking-and-closing-what-can-america-learn Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  6. It is the lack of broad education, and particularly in liberal arts. Better people make better societies. Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  7. No but it makes you a better person. A broad education is supposed to be the point of it. It was never meant to be a job factory. The voice of sanity.Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
  8. Morris Berman wrote an exceptional book, "Why America Failed." It is he describes the "hustler culture" that emerged and that we live with today. I called it "Larceny and Loopholes" he is less kind. QUOTE During the final century of the Roman Empire, it was common for emperors to deny that their civilization was in decline. Only with the perspective of history can we see that the emperors were wrong, that the empire was failing, and that the Roman people were unwilling or unable to change their way of life before it was too late. The same, says Morris Berman, is true of twenty-first century America. The nation and its empire are in decline and nothing can be done to reverse their course. How did this come to be? In Why America Failed, Berman examines the development of American culture from the earliest colonies to the present, shows that the seeds of the nation's "hustler" culture were sown from the very beginning, and reveals how the very tools that enabled the country's expansion have become the instruments of its demise. At the center of Berman's argument is his assertion that hustling, materialism, and the pursuit of personal gain without regard for its effects on others have been powerful forces in American culture since the Pilgrims landed. He shows that even before the American Revolution, naked self-interest had replaced the common good as the primary social value in the colonies and that the creative power and destructive force of this idea gained irresistible momentum in the decades following the ratification of the Constitution. As invention proliferated and industry expanded, railroads, steamships, and telegraph wires quickened the frenetic pace of progress—or, as Berman calls it, the illusion of progress. An explosion of manufacturing whetted the nation's ravenous appetite for goods of all kinds and gave the hustling life its purpose—to acquire as many objects as possible prior to death. The reign of Wall Street and the 2008 financial meltdown are certainly the most visible examples today of the negative consequences of the pursuit of affluence. Berman, however, sees the manipulations of Goldman Sachs and others not as some kind of aberration, but as the logical endpoint of the hustler culture. The fact that Goldman and its ilk continue to thrive in the wake of the disaster they wrought simply proves that it is already too late: America is incapable of changing direction. Many readers will take exception to much of Why America Failed—beginning, perhaps, with its title. But many more will read this provocative and insightful book and join Berman in making a long, hard reassessment of the nation, its goals, and its future. END
  9. Most of us went to college in the 60s, 70s and 80s, all well before the massive programs for the government to GUARANTEE student loans. Once the government said they would guarantee student loans, the unintended consequence machine raised it's head. Every two -bit lender got into the business of pouring money over students because, you know, there was NO RISK! That massive influx of hot money meant colleges could massively inflate their overhead and simply charge more for school. Since the money available was virtually unlimited, students by the million, who are the most unsophisticated financial consumers took every dollar they could get for art degrees, history, and who knows what. Imagine coming off a $120,000 loan with a BS in history. How you gonna pay that back. In shorter words, students were targeted as "suckers" by bankers who were awarded federal guarantees and simply could not lose. We made a sharks market out of education by exploiting children. Nice going, Mr. Banker.
  10. I live in California, not Texas or the "heartland". The west coast has an entirely different culture and, we have a massive number of felons living outside of prison, as well as a massive number of mentally ill. I doubt that most premed murders are committed by sociopaths or psychopaths. That means the crime was for money or love. I have no money and no one but my wife is going to love me, so I am just not all that worked up about the guy coming to kill me. I am absolutely certain my risk of death by traffic, or disease is orders of magnitude higher. Me too.
  11. We have created a culture of "Loopholes and Larceny." Anyone can see that. Every entity that can buy a loophole, does so. Corporations are hiding a trillion dollars offshore to avoid participating in the health of the country by paying taxes, but the guy owing a grand will be thrown in the clink because he could not purchase the synthetic loophole. The largest thefts are never prosecuted. Every form of fraud and evasion is rewarded. Now, couple that with a two-tiered justice system, and what do you think the resulting society will eventually become? Student loan defiers, and I have no idea how many there are, are being influenced by what they see around them. And that would be loopholes and larceny on a grand scale.
  12. I previously said: But, supposing that some murderers met some responsible rehab criteria and was released, I'm fine with interacting with them to the extent I interact with any arbitrary neighbor. In other words, "Good Morning" when taking out the garbage. Life is chock-a-block with risks. And frankly, right now, I feel patrol cops playing ' Dirty Harry Meets OK Corral' on street corners all over the area are a far higher risk to safety than some hypothetical rehabbed murderer as a neighbor. But let's be more real. We don't have a rehab system, and there is no practice or experience by which we can even anticipate the level of risk involved. So, it's all hypothetical, and I return once more to my philosophical belief that redemption is always possible, and compassion is the desirable trait in a society.
  13. Under the same terms that dozens, or even hundreds of bankers, who committed vast frauds, didn't have to pay back those gains. When you create a two tiered legal system, you can't expect those in the disadvantaged tier to want to stay there. They will eventually seek the same advantage as the rich. Just saying. Justice ought to rightly begin at the top.
  14. I do. And I arrive at my view through the study of our spiritual and mythological history, which generally advances the idea that redemption is always possible, and that everyone is deserving of opportunity for reform, and that the best philosophy mankind can express is endless compassion. I don't hold this position because I like criminals, nor because I have sympathy for them. I hold it because the choice of not finding compassion leads down the wrong road, usually to one of many forms of war and killing. If hurting the innocent is the benchmark, then what do you propose we do with soldiers, generals, presidents and others who order and participate in the killing of millions upon millions of "innocent" people? Killing innocents, per se, is of course fully justified for an arbitrary group given that authority. But, let's face it, that arbitrary authority is nothing but a veil. The innocent person killed has no respect of that veil, right? In other words, we have not made "killing innocent people" an absolute wrong punishable as you describe.
  15. yes; but, as evidenced by just a small group on this very forum, we won't even agree on what we should wake up to--let alone the entire country agree. I know it's a rather fatalistic view.Got to go...the boss just sent some tasking. Later folks, enjoy your day. Oh no, I am not in any way suggesting a whole country come to some agreement. That's impossible. What I mean by a spiritual awakening is not that "rational argument ensues followed by consensus,' but rather that the irrational process of spiritual revival take root, or flower, throughout the country. It's an unpredictable process. It arises a little bit like wild fires. A 100 fires get set in the forests, and 99 are put out, while one becomes a monster super fire with no way to predict which, where or when that happens. It's a phenomenon, more than a process. The USA has experienced a few of these already in our short history. So, it is possible, even if the past experiences were not all perfect. They come about due to that effect known as "the straw that breaks the camel's back."
  16. By advocating for rehab you must inherently include a tremendous level of trust in the individual AND demand an unreasonable level of tolerance from society. Nobody will want to live next door to any previously unstable (assuming rehab worked) member of society if they knew they were a murderer. Heck, nobody I know wants to live next door to a car thief! Do you know anyone that would be willing to? You wouldn't I'm sure of it. But for some odd unexplained reason you think someone should have to. It is not societies responsibility to shoulder the burden of another's transgressions. That is the line that should be read at the end of each offenders sentencing hearing. And I would disagree that we are inflicting maximum cruelty on our offenders. From what I understand they have cable TV and access to gym facilities, etc. THERE is your problem. We aren't hard enough on these scumbags in my opinion and so there is no incentive to stop being a poor member of the community. TV? No, that's not a useful concept behind understanding prison. I couldn't possibly write a treatise here that would convince you if you are beginning from that premise. I can only say, we disagree profoundly, and the disagreement is based on the actual conditions of prison. But, you do manage to confirm the idea that we want more, not less punishment. We won't be able to find any common ground on this.
  17. This phenomenon was explored extensively by Tolstoy in War and Peace. After Napolean's massive and decisive victory at Borodino, thereby paving the way to Moscow, Napolean was hailed as the most brilliant general in history. Tolstoy reasoned that it was false to assume his orders had anything to do with the actual victory because logically (or maybe logistically is a better word) his orders could not possibly flow through to all the soldiers (some 200,000 or so) and actually be followed. Rather, he argued, the battle was the culmination of the combined billions of actions by the hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The argument is long, and fascinating, and I can't do justice to it here, but he understood that a society was "the sum of it's actors." You hear people all the time saying, "The USA is headed to he//, and we must reverse course." That argument presupposes there is a wheelhouse and all that is needed is to jump in and turn the wheel! Ludicrous argument. The "isness" of the USA, is the combined behavior and attittude of the 315M people. You don't change that by turning a wheel, or electing a new guy to sit in an office. The only possible way to change this direction is by mass spiritual awakening.
  18. Yes, that is very true. But, we're blameshifters extraordinaire. We can pacify our conscience if we say the country "is going;" we've got personal involvement if we say "we're taking it." Malcolm X? judges from the X factor? i get your point. ha ha yes, any of those will do!
  19. Aaron Swartz is the prime example of this punishment at all cost society. Here's a brilliant young man being punished for releasing reams of the best scientific research to the world. This was a young man of extraordinary capability and good will, and was the object of the most aggressively stupid prosecution you can imagine. He wound up taking his own life rather than face the inhumanity of years in prison. Once you see his story, you can't help but see the misguided motivations of our justice system.
  20. Before consulting me, have you consulted any of history's most cherished spiritual references? The answer is there. No. I'd rather explore your thought processes on rehabilitation since you introduced the subject in such a way as to accuse humanity (or at least the participants of this thread) of an injustice. People who think passionately are to be commended because of their passion for their fellow man. I think you fall into that category, and I truly commend you for it. However, those types of thinkers often allow their emotions to interfere with logical thought processes. So I'd like an answer to my question. Where do we house those people that have been rehabilitated? What neighborhood? If you are true to your convictions that people can be rehabilitated then the conversation with your newly rehabilitated neighbor should go like this: You: Hey, I just wanted to come introduce myself and to welcome you to the neighborhood. Them: Thanks very much! You: So where are you from? Them: Well, I just got out of rehab. I murdered someone, again. I'm feeling much stronger now and I think I've got a grasp on my issues. You: Great! Hey, why don't you come over for dinner tonight so we can get to know you? You can meet my wife and kids. . . . Somehow, I don't think that would ever happen, do you? So yes, I question your logic on rehabilitation because I think it is clouded by the emotions you bring due to your compassion. But I could be completely out of the ballpark. So please, I'd rather hear from you than have you point me to the scriptures. If I said, "I support the idea of going to Mars." I would not expect you to say, "Ok, pal. What's the engine design to get there." My comments on the subject were philosophical support for experts in the field to be allowed to apply that expertise. I am not ducking your question, but I am clarifying the purpose of my comment. When a society is guided by good motivations, and in my case I would call those motives, humanism, they work at finding solutions based on the ethic. The current ethic in the USA is "punishment is good, and more punishment is better." That goes against thousands of years of the best spiritual advice regarding forgiveness. In short, we are pulling in the exact polar opposite to that idea. But if pressed, I'd begin by reforming the prisons. Remove the private profit motive. Created mandatory education. Rid the prisons of corruption (by the administrations) and allow far more participation by NGOs who are willing to work in the environment. Rid the system of inhuman practice, such as solitary confinement. By rehab, I am not suggesting every murderer is released into society. But, that doesn't preclude rehabilitation efforts, and forgiveness. Right now, we are doing the exact opposite of rehabilitation. We are maximizing the cruelty of punishment. It can not yield a good result.
  21. Thanks. Just look at the complexity of choosing this measure: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
  22. For starters, we are an extremely vengeful society, trained that way, by the way the society is organized. In other words, society molds it's people, and vice versa. This is why it is somewhat laughable to suggest "the country is going in the wrong direction!" It's always going in the direction the people take it! Just look at the utter lack of a "forgiveness principle" in this very thread! READ IT! It's a mirror. If there is no forgiveness, there will be no apology. You breed an ever increasing number of criminals by synthesizing new crime, and then seeking to profit from the punishment. It seems rather obvious to me, but maybe people just don't bother paying attention to it? Based on posts in the Lounge many people were potheads in the era when you could get years of imprisonment and be strapped with a felony. That so many avoided it, is simply a combination of luck and privilege. "There, but for the grace of X, go I." Then, having good advantage of that luck and privilege, they turn a cruel eye to those who were not so lucky.
  23. I like the chart. I didn't spend the time to go see what inflation index was used, but my comment is that there are MANY available index theories, and depending on which one you select, the chart can look quite a bit different. "Inflation" as it turns out, is another political/economic football, and is grossly manipulated by the government to tell whatever story they find useful at the time.
  24. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise. I think, by carefully reading the actual thread, people are suggesting the penalty and process for not paying is mismatched for the crime. Well einstein, in the absence of a crime there is no penalty. Keith Well, you don't have to be Einstein to do simple research. Here's my constructive advice to you. Use the Google, and type in "Proportionality of Punishment" and begin reviewing what intelligent people have to say on the subject. It's never too late to learn something new. Respect for lifelong learning would go a long way here. Try it out.
  25. Before consulting me, have you consulted any of history's most cherished spiritual references? The answer is there.
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