First of all, all text messages are in-the-clear (at least for the service provider). Second, this seems to be a service that is targeted to end-users and itself uses the API of one of the big "cloud telecom" providers.
If you want API access, I would suggest bandwidth.com, Plivo, or, Twilio.
I agree with what you wrote, but why does the US have be the same as those countries? Why can't there be a variety of implementations of government such that different humans can choose different situations for their own needs? I'd still like to see Cuba change to a fully democratic communist state, for example.
But when you discover that a system has way better objective outcomes, e.g. in the case of drug policy or healthcare policy, it’s a shame not to upgrade to a similar system.
Really, the US has a lot of good systems, but healthcare isn’t one of them.
I wonder if this is not an oxymoron. In my view, democracy means (a lot of) politics, while communism means no or very little politics (in a true sense of the word).
Considering the entire premise of the founding of the US was based on individual liberty, and throwing the yoke of power off from the centralized power of a monarchy across the ocean, I don't see why we need to be convinced.
Why does the whole world need to be homogeneous? Why can't some places on the earth (with ~7B people) value individualism and some value collectivism. Maybe neither one is superior, just different?
There are genuine tradeoffs to be had, and space for cultures to take different positions on the Pareto frontier, sure. But there are also deadweight losses, unforced errors where one culture's approach is just worse by every metric, and those would seem to be cases where we could learn. E.g. US healthcare seems to somehow manage to be uniquely bad - more expensive on average, while excluding or bankrupting people, without offering patients a meaningful kind of choice in most cases. Things like a patient not being able to afford non-emergency treatment until their condition develops into something that needs more expensive emergency treatment (which hospitals aren't allowed to refuse) seem lose-lose.
You're conflating things -- collectivism and individualism are not necessarily defined by the system of government.
I'd argue, that collectivism is inherently superior for most albeit with a lower magnitude of quality for most and individualism is the inverse, with a higher magnitude of quality for some and is inherently superior for some.
However I'd also say that individualism is more resilient as it is inherently decentralized. You're right in that one cannot necessarily be better in all ways, but for the traits the article speaks to, I'd argue collectivism is superior.
Individuals don't have a choice of where they are born; neither do most people have a real choice of migrating to the other side of the ocean. If the thought even occurs to them. Cultural blindness is a thing, and especially troublesome in the case of American exceptionalism and general disinterest in other cultures.
No, it actually isn't. To actually lobby Congress on behalf of a company you need to register as a lobbyist. Very, VERY different than a constituent calling their representative.
Cultures differ even among "industrialized countries," so it makes little sense to compare them. Given your comments in this discussion, it is clear you have never worked in the service industry and you have little empathy for their issues.
In fact, my first job was a typical summer job in the service industry: I scooped ice cream at an ice cream store. There was a tip jar and our tips were pooled and divided by the hours we worked -- it was not much but it was something.
I would not have complained if there were no tips and our salaries were increased a bit to compensate.
No, I do not have a lot of empathy for people who are unwilling to accept change or who think that a company that introduced some new technology should be held responsible for how that technology personally affected them. I have no interest in freezing society in time and only allowing new ideas that have no negative impact on anyone to be put into practice.
> do not have a lot of empathy for people who are unwilling to accept change
As if you are going to change the tipping culture in the US?
I use cash because there are less fees to small business, and I like privacy. You are obviously free to participate in FB or whatever privacy-compromising activity you want
Saying we need less comments of some sort does not equate to saying "screw them!"
I can't DV, so you all can create an aggressive environment on HN if you want, but it won't help you IRL if you say this. If you want to create a toxic environment for discussion, that is up to dang.
I waited tables while in college and made $2.10/hr +tips, which usually gave me $80-90 after tipping-out the bar/'bussers.' I also currently frequent a few bars, and these folks normally net $200+/shift. The lack of guaranteed wages, also allows them to under-report their earning WRT taxes.
Tipping in the service industry in the US is part of the culture, which has been historically difficult to change by declaration.
I've read several well-reasoned comments of yours today that I agree with completely, but given that I don't want to become an expert on the Rohingya, it would be helpful if you all (i.e. in this entire subthread) were to lay out the specific facts upon which you are making these judgements.
Yes, everyone could read that entire Wikipedia page, look through its edit history, check the talk page, and check out the cited links. Most of us probably will not.
There are other well-reasoned arguments in this subthread and it seems like there is some disagreement on some fundamental facts.
Just as another data point, I'm on 56.0, and while the option is there, it is default not enabled. So, it looks like something changed in the move to Quantum.
I quit Twitter in '10 b/c of the 'social media consultants.' I recently started simply bookmarking specific accounts related to politics and propaganda. When certain Tweets get lots of comments, I read them all (up X,000s; yes, this is problem).
I'd be curious about your thoughts WRT to this thread, and the resulting 'threaded cache.'
If you want API access, I would suggest bandwidth.com, Plivo, or, Twilio.