

On Efficiency - zdw
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/06/16/Efficiency

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rauljara
"It's complicated"

For some reason, I'm very comforted when other people reach that conclusion
about big questions. I think it's because I was much more certain about what
was right when I was younger. The more I learn, the more I'm able to
definitively say ideas I used to hold are wrong (or incomplete), but I've got
nothing to replace them with. What's wrong has become clearer, but what's
right has become foggier, nebulous, a many headed beast with a whole bunch of
curves and caveats.

My increasing lack of certainty is more than a little unsettling sometimes. I
think it's reassuring to hear that other people are going through it as well.

~~~
tomjen3
To me it seems a coup out. This may be due to my age, but I have very little
respect for wishywashy feel-good conclusions (it is complicated? Great then I
don't have to do anything about it, or accept that it is the way things are).

And I am not saying you should feel bad about the world either. Just that it
is complicated is not an acceptable answer.

~~~
rauljara
I know different people can take away different feelings, but for me, it's
complicated is the opposite of a cop-out. It means you have to keep on working
at it. In my experience, the people who believe they have answers to
everything are generally the ones who are taking feel-good shortcuts.

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w1ntermute
> It sucks that they’re built in factories in South China that have to rig
> anti-suicide nets on their buildings.

I don't know about the other statements, but the suicide rates at those
factories are actually _lower_ than the nationwide suicide rate in China. It's
easy to come up with pithy one liners about the working conditions in third
world sweatshops, but the actual picture is a bit more nuanced than that.

~~~
tomjen3
Plus it makes no sense. If they really hated it that much, they could simply
quit (the Chineese government may be commies but they do not like slavery), so
why commit suicide?

~~~
w1ntermute
> Chineese government may be commies

Yet another common misconception. The Chinese government has not been anything
more than nominally communist since the days of Mao. The current Chinese
government can be described as a single-party pro-business authoritarian
regime with occasional streaks of socialism for the sole purpose of
maintaining control. Cornerstones of communist regimes, such as widespread
income redistribution and a state-controlled economy, are entirely absent in
modern China.

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DodgyEggplant
[http://www.amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burnout-Busywork-
Efficie...](http://www.amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burnout-Busywork-
Efficiency/dp/0767907698)

