They had to. If life in western Europe would have been worse than in eastern Europe, people would have elected communists.

If you don’t come to America, America comes to you.

Those were concessions to look good compared to communist countries. There is no need for a good impression anymore.

The candle was needed.

join-lemmy.org could show the posts from all, with a big join button at the top. The introduction page can be shown if somebody presses the join button.

There is one server implementation that shows it to its users. I forgot its name though.

Also biiiiiiiiiicycle

Trump announced his plans the previous day to develop the multilayered, $175 billion (€155 billion) system with ground- and space-based capabilities that can defend against a wide range of enemy weapons

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II_development

the program was expected over its lifetime (until 2070) to cost $406.5 billion for acquisition of the jets and $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance.

How? Hypersonic missiles should make it more difficult.

Add automation for cheap production costs and any defence system can be overwhelmed.

Knowledge can be a status symbol like clothing. People show what they know if they can signal their status with it.

In that form, knowledge is not verified by own thoughts. The value of the knowledge comes from the reputation of the source and the value of the people who agree with it.

That door is locked.

The cartoon is apt. It’s even worse. Pilots don’t fly without the approval of airline management.

The door to the cockpit is locked. If there has been a discussion or if there is just this vote, the powerlessness of those regular passengers shows that anti-intellectualism is an isolated problem. It only looks dangerous to those who don’t remember the locked door.

How should a secret society remove such a video without silencing the author?

https://xkcd.com/1425/

It is easier to do the above three things. Removing a video draws attention to it because the author will post it on other channels. Other people will upload it to check the claim that it is removed.

It’s much easier to drown a problematic video in other content so that only few people discover it. So some people know the real truth, but nobody believes them or cares about them.

There is only one choice: feeling or rationality.

When you feel, you do what feels best.

When you think, you do what is the most valuable.

So no free will but that choice.

Just one article about the work conditions: https://africame.factsanddetails.com/article/entry-190.html

It could be that building the pyramids was not the regular job of the laborers. It was a communal experience like going to burnig man.

Society would be different if there would be one project that everybody builds together. It would be as unifying as a big war, without the disadvantages of a war.

It’s not the same because the president doesn’t represent society in a democracy in the same way.

For Egypt, the pharaoh was the thing that made Egypt. Kind o like the Dalai Lama or Jesus, the pharaoh was the son of horus, the incarnation of the principle of ruling. I am not an expert but I would say that the pyramid was built for that principle and not the person itself, whereas Trump has a Trump tower to make himself known.

If it isn’t Trump but e.g. Taylor Swift, I could imagine fans to build something for her, e.g. her next stage set, if she offers to provide food and housing.

For democracy though, society should build something that doesn’t celebrate one person but the community. E.g. China has a day when every citizen plants a tree. When you see the effect after some years, you can feel the transforming power of the community.

People would have time to debate political issues. Their job wouldn’t take the biggest part of their life so they wouldn’t link their identity with their job. Social customs would change so that the people who should work 40 hours for the benefit of all prefer other jobs. Scarcity of applicants would also shift the power towards the employees for wage negotiations.

It’s possible and could improve society massively, but too risky for the current business owners to implement on their own.

Pyramids were most likely not built by slaves. They were communal projects.

We need something like the pyramids today. Communal projects that show the strength of the community.

Because it represents the tipping point where America lost its dominance. Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee but an affordable access to experiencing the American way of life.

If Starbucks loses its appeal it means that people stop looking up to America. Students won’t dream of becoming a scientist in America, business men won’t long for participating in the American economy, consumers don’t care about buying American products for being American.

All American products from now on have to compete on quality and service. This changes the value of the products and the value of the work that American workers deliver.

The latter made me aware of the former.