Dimos wrote on Yesterday, 21:53:

You are using the Titan Xp with Windows Xp?

Was, couldnt get it working properly to be fair...
Running an EVGA GTX 960 and put the Titan to work on an LLM machine, which it isnt very good at either...
Couldnt get the WiFi card to work either but I just pulled that and went the old fashioned route.

What is wrong with the quotation on this board now?
This site has been nothing but problems for days now.

ElectroSoldier wrote on Today, 14:54:

This site has been nothing but problems for days now.

403 Forbidden - please fix this bug

The Solutor wrote on Today, 14:57:

ElectroSoldier wrote on Today, 14:54:

This site has been nothing but problems for days now.

403 Forbidden - please fix this bug

Yeah I know I cant browse the site without dev tools panel open.

gaffa2002 wrote on Today, 00:56:

Is that so? Depending on where you live, companies resort to literal slavery and child labor to make their products.
Plus why would they need goons if they can control you in far more efficient ways anyway (change laws, control the police, supplies, technology)?
Thats a complex discussion… in pure economics the definition of “free” is just that nobody points a gun to your head or creates a law that forces you to buy something, but real life is far more complicated than that… is it really a free choice if you need a product to survive and there is only one person offering it? What choice do I truly have?

Yeah and that's not a free market then.

"Free market" is mostly a theoretical idea that rarely exists in practice. It has existed in a few times and places in recent history.

It's also not the be all end all. There should be moral restrictions placed on companies. Most people simply disagree about which moral code should be followed there.

I'm just saying in order to actually be considered a "free market", there has to be total absence of coercion for all parties.

Also you mentioned companies having control over laws, the police, etc. - that's why rule of law is so important to a functioning society. You have to have a way to enforce things such as "companies cannot force you to buy a product", and that way is the courts. Etc.

Of course every system is prone to corruption, because mankind is corrupt. All you can do is try to build in as many safeguards against it as you can. Checks and balances. Another way to fight corruption is to ensure that your nation produces and rewards high quality, moral people who are then funneled up to positions of power. That's very difficult to achieve though.

keenmaster486 wrote on Today, 16:53:

Yeah and that's not a free market then. […]
Show full quote

Yeah and that's not a free market then.

"Free market" is mostly a theoretical idea that rarely exists in practice. It has existed in a few times and places in recent history.

It's also not the be all end all. There should be moral restrictions placed on companies. Most people simply disagree about which moral code should be followed there.

I'm just saying in order to actually be considered a "free market", there has to be total absence of coercion for all parties.

Also you mentioned companies having control over laws, the police, etc. - that's why rule of law is so important to a functioning society. You have to have a way to enforce things such as "companies cannot force you to buy a product", and that way is the courts. Etc.

Of course every system is prone to corruption, because mankind is corrupt. All you can do is try to build in as many safeguards against it as you can. Checks and balances. Another way to fight corruption is to ensure that your nation produces and rewards high quality, moral people who are then funneled up to positions of power. That's very difficult to achieve though.

The current status is way worse than the usual corruption (intended as bribery of few or a lot of politicians).

Here the big corps are keeping the US economy afloat, and be sure that no politician (no matter how honest or dishonest he is) will harm seriously any of such corporations.
After all Americans think about themself first as Americans, then as Democrats, Republicans, Catholics, Protestant, whatever. The number of flags waived for no sane reason, everytime, everywhere, is just a small indication of that.

In short I believe there is no way out of the current situation. Unless something of really big happens, like a war, a 1929 style crisis or whatever else.

keenmaster486 wrote on Today, 16:53:

Yeah and that's not a free market then. […]
Show full quote

gaffa2002 wrote on Today, 00:56:

Is that so? Depending on where you live, companies resort to literal slavery and child labor to make their products.
Plus why would they need goons if they can control you in far more efficient ways anyway (change laws, control the police, supplies, technology)?
Thats a complex discussion… in pure economics the definition of “free” is just that nobody points a gun to your head or creates a law that forces you to buy something, but real life is far more complicated than that… is it really a free choice if you need a product to survive and there is only one person offering it? What choice do I truly have?

Yeah and that's not a free market then.

"Free market" is mostly a theoretical idea that rarely exists in practice. It has existed in a few times and places in recent history.

It's also not the be all end all. There should be moral restrictions placed on companies. Most people simply disagree about which moral code should be followed there.

I'm just saying in order to actually be considered a "free market", there has to be total absence of coercion for all parties.

Also you mentioned companies having control over laws, the police, etc. - that's why rule of law is so important to a functioning society. You have to have a way to enforce things such as "companies cannot force you to buy a product", and that way is the courts. Etc.

Of course every system is prone to corruption, because mankind is corrupt. All you can do is try to build in as many safeguards against it as you can. Checks and balances. Another way to fight corruption is to ensure that your nation produces and rewards high quality, moral people who are then funneled up to positions of power. That's very difficult to achieve though.

I think I got what you mean now... you are talking about the literal (theoretical) definition of a free market. So to be clear, I am not blaming the current situation to us BEING in a free market (because it's honestly contradictory and impossible to achieve). My problem is with the IDEA of a free market being used as justification to not have more severe legislation against companies.

gaffa2002 wrote on Today, 18:04:

I think I got what you mean now... you are talking about the literal (theoretical) definition of a free market. So to be clear, I am not blaming the current situation to us BEING in a free market (because it's honestly contradictory and impossible to achieve). My problem is with the IDEA of a free market being used as justification to not have more severe legislation against companies.

Keep in mind those companies also crave regulation when they get large enough, because they have teams of lawyers to deal with it while smaller companies (their competitors) can't handle it and sell out to the big guys.

And then that regulation ends up being of an unproductive and irrelevant nature, simply gumming up the wheels for no good reason other than politicians think they're doing something good and the big companies can pretend they're being oh so morally upright.

Instead we could just have basic normal restrictions like "don't dump sewage in the river" but it ends up being a nightmare bureaucratic disaster that no one can navigate except for Amazon.