47 comments

  • netfortius 6 hours ago ago

    There is no coming back from all this, is it?

    • mrtksn 38 minutes ago ago

      Why not? IMHO it's just a phase. It's up to you what would the phase transition will end up look like.

    • martythemaniak 6 hours ago ago

      Sure there is, many countries have successfully thrown off personalist authoritarian regimes and transitioned to being inclusive democracies with a strong rule of law. The problem is that Americans are very far from realizing that they have a problem, the magnitude of their problem, and the time and effort it'll take to fix this problem. It's a generational project that starts with throwing most of the current cabinet in jail, however this view is very far from the mainstream and things will keep getting worse before more people come to the same conclusion.

      • cyberge99 4 hours ago ago

        Never in recorded history have authoritarians ceded power without violence. Ever.

        • cmurf 34 minutes ago ago

          Viktor Orbán, 2026 Slovakia, 2018 Mozambique, 2004

          There's more...

      • ck2 5 hours ago ago

        um, we can't even get people to do something as simple as stop using X

        then he takes all those billions and further funds the alt-right

        democracy is pretty much done even if Dems get the Senate

        actually he may stomp on the accelerator pedal if the Senate does shift

        btw it's not "many" only a very few countries have done that

        we're literally one Supreme Court justice away from the country becoming the christian taliban

        capitalism doesn't need democracy, MANY countries prove that, they even prefer knowing who to bribe to get exactly what they want

      • engineer_22 5 hours ago ago

        For real? You still have feudal titles and a monarch. In your land some humans are literally created as more human than others. Your government literally asks the monarch for permission to do democracy. But you'll lecture Americans on throwing off the strong man.

        • windexh8er 4 hours ago ago

          American here, I'm not sure you're understanding the world we're living in right now based on this comment.

        • martythemaniak 5 hours ago ago

          Totes for reals, yes, because I understand the difference between de jure and de facto.

          The failure mode you're observing in the US is that one partisan hack can write a memo in the correct linguistic style, submit it to a council with a majority of other partisan hacks, and like magic anything can become legal or illegal, because everything was done in the correct linguistic style. Actual practice does not matter. There are lots of examples of this over the last two years, perhaps the case against the 14th amendment is a good starting point to see how this works.

          • engineer_22 4 hours ago ago

            > There are lots of examples of this over the last two years

            And an equal number in your country. Do not lecture Americans on freedom and virtue. Your country has its share of shortcomings, your economy structured to a higher degree to benefit a class of oligarchs. Your politicians are liars and thieves like any other. Wait your turn.

            • martythemaniak 4 hours ago ago

              As I said in my original comment:

              > The problem is that Americans are very far from realizing that they have a problem

              So I understand and I certainly agree that you're with the majority of Americans thinking everything's basically fine.

    • sdcfgy 6 hours ago ago

      Don't you have an amendment that allows you to fix it all?

      • bix6 5 hours ago ago

        We have a judiciary actually

        • newCrotchSmell 5 hours ago ago

          Nah.

          We have an Executive, Legisla...handful of outdated pants shitters, and SCOTUS

          Oh and 10s of millions of <50 year old adults that outnumber the >50 cohort. Yet they're too afraid of an frail olds doddering off into their own inner world live on TV.

          Thing is rest of the world been saying this about the US for decades but censored TV full of imagery like one might see painted over buildings in countries run by Dear Leaders; Americans are effectively socially the same low effort smooth brains as those in terror nations they bemoan.

          • cyberge99 4 hours ago ago

            The older politicians bring history, decorum and ceremony to the Congress.

            I’m not a fan of term limits because they would allow megacorporations to buy influence too easily (with free retries every X years).

            Establishment has flaws for sure, but de-stabilization is not one of them.

            Steady state can only be achieved with balance.

            • newCrotchSmell 3 hours ago ago

              Tell us you aren't paying attention without telling us you are not paying attention.

              Wtf are you even on about?

              But we don't have balance.

              The typical age in Senate is "older than dirt" and it's not much better in the House.

              That imbalance is fostering de-stabilization; maybe not for you cause you filled your bag or have generational wealth? Cause everyone I know has seen their wages go down 30-40% and grocery bill go up 50-60%

            • tstrimple 3 hours ago ago

              I'm not a fan of term limits for many reasons, but the Democratic Party's strict adherence to decorum and ceremony are a part of why we're in the mess we are. They care more about decorum and process than actually helping people and stopping the rise of fascism in our country. I'm confident the next Democratic administration will try to "return to normal" and "reach across the aisle" just like every time they get power to the detriment of their voters.

              • newCrotchSmell 2 hours ago ago

                Their strict adherence to decorum is intentional self selection and preference for preserving their own gains in life

                They're people solving for the same biological imperatives we all are

                Like gamergate "Dems this and GOP that" is just propaganda. Intentional obfuscating of the plain old biological motive that underlies their being

                Conjure all the gibberish philosophy we want there's no waving off that imperative is still there

              • thisisit an hour ago ago

                Part of this is that some people whine about reaching across party lines and working together when they start losing. Biden's responsibility to keep the country together and pander to far right, when shoe is othe foot it is about owning the libs.

          • rtaylorgarlock 4 hours ago ago

            party-line voters would be really mad if they could read this

        • sdcfgy 5 hours ago ago

          Could have fooled me.

        • chinathrow 5 hours ago ago

          Are you sure?

          • bix6 5 hours ago ago

            Yes? Supreme courts pretty off rn but there are still a number of wins happening in lower courts. The party of law (team red) is making a mockery of itself that I won’t forget in my lifetime.

            • newCrotchSmell 5 hours ago ago

              Wins on paper. The illegal acts continue.

      • boppo1 6 hours ago ago

        That would only work if we agreed on what a replacement regime would look like. Faith in our regime is low, but the 'revolutionary' replacements are the DSA on one side, who mean well but are unbelievably naive[0] and on the other... Idk ancap wignats or something? Before the people equipped to put that amendment to use do so, I think there needs to be some sort of idea of what they're fighting for. There's a lot of stuff about how we gotta fight for democracy, but it's democracy itself that got us here.

        One might point out the yale study that shows we don't have democracy, but if that's true, idk how one would implement a democracy that doesn't get co-opted the way ours has. Most of the ideas I see are not actually democratic. There's a lotof "well, democracy would work if only people / ideas that agree with my correct political views should be allowed to power" which isn't democracy, it's authoritarianism. Plato established a long time ago that benevolent authoritarianism is preferable to democracy, but the problem is humans aren't really good at implementing it. When authoritarians of any ilk get power, they tend to step on someone, no matter how good their intentions are.

        [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RWsHLvBntg In this interview Megan Romer, who is basically party leadership, explains 'Authority in the DSA is when we vote at the convention every two years'. The lack of structure is extremely ripe for bad actors.

        • engineer_22 5 hours ago ago

          Look I don't want to be pedantic, but this problem is exactly why the 2nd constitution of the United states framed up a representative democracy with strong federal government. It's a middle ground between a mob and a strong man. Close enough to the people to course-correct in perilous times (good track record for that, graven circumstances the likes of which we've no living memory) and far enough removed from the masses to guide us as a peer among nations. This only fails if the traditional Republic's "Rule of Law" is eroded to the point that the law becomes irrelevant.

          DSA is the Coachman in pinocchio who promises a new life on Pleasure Island. Eventually the bill comes due.

          • gcanyon 4 hours ago ago

            What does DSA promise that hasn't been demonstrated to work in other countries?

    • newspaper1 5 hours ago ago

      No, and “all of this” is essentially the entire history of the United States. We’ve built a society on genocide, land theft, slavery and imperialist slaughter across the globe. What we are seeing now is the reflection of our true selves.

      I think the answer starts with the US breaking apart into many smaller countries and the natural decolonization happening via demographic trends.

  • bix6 5 hours ago ago
  • dtf 4 hours ago ago

    "He offered to mop the floors at OpenAI to get his foot in the door."

    The American dream is alive and kicking.

  • stillpointlab 4 hours ago ago

    My most cynical take: keeping the feel-good image of Anthropic is a temporary ploy to keep fickle SV tech workers building the technology.

    When OpenAI started to move obviously towards commercial and governmental ties, a lot of people left. Those people were necessary to build the tech. Many landed at Anthropic, a company that still attracts the most ideologically strict and capable ML researchers.

    But at some point of their choosing, the powers that be will just take it.

  • gsky 5 hours ago ago

    No sirprise after all Oligarchs rule america

  • bix6 5 hours ago ago

    > A self-described “awkward kid,” Brown has said he briefly worked on a group dating app called Grouper to help people like him “talk to girls.”

    What’s up with Republicans attracting all the people who can’t talk to chicks?

    • paulddraper 5 hours ago ago

      Strange criticism.

      By that token, don’t ask what party attracts the most convicted criminals…

    • tclancy 5 hours ago ago

      I mean the app name itself is … something.

    • google234123 5 hours ago ago

      Umm, firstly, it's embarrassing that this is the top-rated comment on Hacker News. Secondly, I'm pretty certain Republicans have way higher marriage rates and higher rates of having children.

      • bryanlarsen 5 hours ago ago

        Slightly higher marriage rates, balanced out by higher divorce rates.

        • paulddraper 2 hours ago ago

          I don't see how relevant this really is, but one of those metrics is an 18 point gap; the other is 3.

      • or1gaminal 5 hours ago ago

        > Secondly, I'm pretty certain Republicans have way higher marriage rates and higher rates of having children.

        There has not been said it attracts only incels so no contradiction. Both claims could hold.

      • bix6 5 hours ago ago

        Don’t worry jokes don’t last long here

    • awnird 5 hours ago ago

      Republicans are used to dating kids. They never develop the skills to talk to adults.

      • tstrimple 3 hours ago ago

        There does seem to be an abnormal amount of child predators in the GOP. Could be their overlap with Christian institutions which are also historically known to protect child predators.

        https://goppredator.com/