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wwarnout t1_itpuh5g wrote

Perhaps if companies were required to pay for ALL the consequences of their operations (e.g., oil and coal companies pay for cleaning up all the pollution they cause - otherwise known as externalities: "a side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved"), they would be more likely to use their resources more wisely.

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TheBigCore t1_itpurv7 wrote

That will happen around the time pigs fly.

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iiioiia t1_itq9ajd wrote

Similar claims have been made about things like heavier than air flying machines, racism, etc.

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cristobaldelicia t1_itqmcvb wrote

Wait, you're saying racism has ended? Even if you're talking about some small enlightened enclave somwhere.. you're really comparing the invention of the aircraft to racism? SMH. "the end of racism", that's quite a nice little bubble you've constructed for yourself.

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iiioiia t1_itqog3s wrote

> Wait, you're saying racism has ended?

I'm more so getting at the quantity and type of racism, over time.

> Even if you're talking about some small enlightened enclave somwhere.. you're really comparing the invention of the aircraft to racism?

Not really, I am more so using them two examples of humans making incorrect predictions about the future.

I could compare the invention of the aircraft to racism, but that is not what I'm doing.

> SMH.

Why?

> "the end of racism", that's quite a nice little bubble you've constructed for yourself.

Was it I who constructed that bubble, or you?

Here is a technique for checking: try to identify the portion of my text that contains that idea.

edit: voting on Reddit is often very counter-intuitive.

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TheBigCore t1_itqa37y wrote

It's certainly not happening in the USA. Both parties are only interested in fighting each other rather than getting anything useful done.

Who knows about Europe....

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iiioiia t1_itqbpgz wrote

> It's certainly not happening in the USA.

I don't disagree - things do not happen, until they happen.

But, for certain things to happen, certain conditions must first exist, and this can be a lot harder to discern than the end product, in no small part because the necessary conditions cannot necessarily be known....even in materialistic science, which is relatively easy.

> Both parties are only interested in fighting each other rather than getting anything useful done.

This is an excellent meme, but how true is it?

> > > > Who knows about Europe....

I suspect the same as with the US: nobody (from a technical perspective).

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cristobaldelicia t1_itqop9d wrote

Apparently you're not paying attention because there's a f'n war in Europe! "Who knows?" Do you watch the news at all? Deliberate, willful ignorance is worse than just ignorance. Plus, even reluctantly tolerating Trump in the Republican party, is accepting facism. Democrats may not get a lot done, but they are not actively destroying democracy. There is no equivalence. The two-party system is indeed very flawed. The status quo is sickening, especially seeing Biden to give up any Green principals to keep the price of gas low. But there are worse things. And the rise of the extreme right in Europe is one.

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coke_and_coffee t1_itrcux4 wrote

I mean, the current admin did just two of the largest infrastructure and clean energy spending bills in history. Hard to say that isn't getting anything useful done...

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TuvixWasMurderedR1P t1_itr5c5f wrote

That's still assigning an instrumental value to things, and thus still the kind of "technology" that Heidegger disliked. Though it would be a much better world than the current one, if that was done.

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pduncpdunc t1_itrevt9 wrote

I love this idea and wish it were espoused more. If the real value of the goods or services were reflected in the cost, people would think a lot more about how they spend their money. Sure, many people might have to deal with less material goods, less luxury, less stuff...but the overall benefit might be that we don't completely render the planet unliveable in so short a time frame.

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namenottakeyet t1_itq3j9j wrote

“Perhaps if companies -and the users of their products and services- were required to pay for ALL the consequences of their operations…”

Fixed it for you.

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ShalmaneserIII t1_itpwpuv wrote

Why only charge them for the downside?

Let's say that the transport system that runs on oil and coal generates ten times the value (just picking numbers) of the sale price of the oil and coal that powered it. Should the company get a share of that?

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cristobaldelicia t1_itqp9kf wrote

They already do in the form of subsidies. Do a little research into how much the fossil fuel industry gets, maybe starting with Missippi and the offshore oil in the Gulf. They are handsomely rewarded, not just in huge profits that are only recently falling below the tech giants.

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