yogthos

seems that austerity in Canada is all but inevitable

I think that's exactly what's gonna happen in the long run. Right now we're in the hype phase of a new technology, but one the hype dies down we'll start identifying use cases where the tech actually works well. At the same time the tech itself is going to mature, and people will figure out how to work with it effectively.

Raytheon stock goes brrr, Raytheon output not so much.

Yeah basically, a turn key solution where your machine gets wiped and imaged with a Linux distro that does all the basic stuff most people need would be an ideal solution. A good way to look at it would be making sort of a Linux based console for non technical users as opposed to a general purpose computer. Tech people want the latter, but non technical users just want a reliable tool that can reliably handle a few tasks.

I can highly recommend this book for a broad analysis https://redletterspp.com/products/chinas-great-road

The TLDR of it is that economic growth is positively correlated with the increase in the standard of living. A country like China started out with a very low standard of living after the revolution, and the primary goal of the party has been to raise people out of poverty. This necessarily correlates with the rise in consumption.

I agree that you can reach a point where further economic growth may not produce meaningful improvements in the standard of living, but majority of the world is far from that point right now.

Indeed, it kills me how much perfectly hardware is constantly thrown out because Windows refuses to run on it.

I think the trick has to be that somebody who has a bit of technical skill sets the laptop up initially. I did this for my mom a while back, and once I set it up once, it just worked from there on. Non technical users tend to have a fairly small set of things they need to do like check email, browser the web, and play media. Once that's working, they never need to change anything. In fact, they don't want to change anything because they get used to the workflow, and they're comfortable.

It would be great if people set up community centres where people can bring their old laptops, and somebody switches them over to Linux for them.

it's good to be ahead of the curve :)

Where do you think 5% military spending is going to come from. It's gonna be funded by austerity and cuts to science.

I think if the proletarians were able to read it back at the start of the 20th century when literacy was far worse and information was much harder to access, there's little excuse for people not to read it today. It's the one proven way to improve conditions for the working majority. We are in a privileged position where all the theory and practice is available to us having been won by prior generations, and we're too lazy too bother learning it.

touche

incredibly, hence why Blackrock is already dumping Ukraine https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-05/blackrock-halted-ukraine-fund-talks-after-trump-s-election-win