Young Master Smeet
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
https://theconversation.com/sometimes-science-cant-see-the-wood-for-the-bees-18532
Quote:Among those researching the field of science, technology and society, it is argued that scientific knowledge is never just about facts, but also about power. Facts are not simply discovered by science as absolute truths, but are instead constructed in social contexts that are riddled with power relations. As the old adage suggests, knowledge and power are always intertwined.What becomes a fact and what does not is a social and political issue that is concerned with what kind of knowledge – and importantly whose knowledge – acquires legitimacy and therefore authority.The full article is interesting on this question with regard to nicotinoid pesticides, the precautionary principle and bees.
Oh, this is pleasing. Anthropogenesis is available online.i was looking for this quote:
Quote:The transmission of the nervous current often works as a relay, whereby a very feeble electric current opens the track for a stronger current. Each consecutive step in the connected track increases the available energy. Therefore the cerebral cortex does not only act as a switchboard with millions of fuses, but also is an amplifying apparatus through which almost imperceptible energy impulses coming from outside or from within the body are increased to great effects. “The whole cortical apparatus is wound up and set on a trigger so that its latent reserves of motor power and memory patterns may be released by the slightest impulse set in motion by some external event or some change in the interior of the body.” (Judson Herrick, 24, p. 122). Herrick quotes the example of a man on a ship. When this man sees a faint spot of light in the distance (effecting perhaps only a millionth of an erg on to the retina) the whole of his brain apparatus comes into action and thereby the muscle apparatus of his body is set in efficient motion. This can even cause the great engines of the ship to function.A good materialist account of how we cannot be passive observers, the energy from the eye is less than the signal to the brain, our brain adds energy to the system, and thus, what we see is as much a construction of our brains as it is a reception of enviornmental data.http://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1944/anthropogenesis.htm
https://theconversation.com/machines-on-the-march-threaten-almost-half-of-modern-jobs-18485
Quote:The threat of computerisation has historically been largely confined to routine manufacturing tasks involving explicit rule-based activities such as part construction and assembly. But a look at 700 occupation types [link, PDF] in the US suggests that 47 per cent are at risk from a threat that once only loomed for a small proportion of workers.Abstract of the article linked to:
Quote:We examine how susceptible jobs are to computerisation. To assess this, we begin by implementing a novel methodology to estimate the probability of computerisation for 702 detailed occupations, using a Gaussian process classifier. Based on these estimates, we examine expected impacts of future computerisation on US labour market outcomes, with the primary objective of analysing the number of jobs at risk and the relationship between an occupation’s probability of computerisation, wages and educational attainment. According to our estimates, about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk. We further provide evidence that wages and educational attainment exhibit a strong negative relationship with an occupation’s probability of computerisation.Hrothgar,given that you use those categories, in order to communicate with you, I have to deploy them. While you or I can and will differentiate between lemons and limes, in many countries that distinction isn't recognised, they could still use those words to us, in order to communicate.Population genetics is very like those colour charts you get on computer programmes for choosing the font colour, at one end there may well be red, and at the other blue. There are no boundaries at any stage, and selecting any section will include a variety of components (which will merge at the edges with any neighbouring sets within arbitrarily drawn boundaries). There is no essential difference at any point on the scale, merely greater or lesser concentrations of particular traits.I present, btw, the ancestor paradox as a major scientific refutation: there are more people alive than pairs of ancestors to produce them, within relatively recent history (about 20 or 30 generations) we all share common ancestors.
Hroðgar, Ic ne sægd þæt þær bið "cynnisc todal", Ic sægd se ongean, soþlice. Ond, hwi sprichst þu Frencisc? Ic spreche hit to for þe…My comment in fact was pointed at the fact that there is no category boundary, and human populations bleed one into the other.
To take a concrete look at something I've just been flicking through: the history of the Boulton-Watt Steam engine and the introduction of the separate condenser.Although Engineers recognised that the Newcomen Steam Engine was inefficient, Watt got lucky because he was working with a scale model miniature engine, which exacerbated the inefficiencies, and he was able to diagnose the problem. He had to rely for over ten years on substantial backing from industrialists to build his working prototypes, and even then was only really able to advance because of cannon boring improvements at the Wilkinson foundry in Birmingham. Boulton oversaw the development of the newly bored cylinders, but also hired teams of craftsmen, who would have helped build the first functional full scale engines.Now, this was all about a hundred years before the full development of the science of thermodynamics, but also illustrates how technological advance is interlocked and contingent, also distributed (with the named 'Great men' standing at the head of an army of skilled technical staff who are just as much responsible for the realisation of the technology.Another interesting part of the Boulton-Watt story is how their patent nearly held back its introduction: they wanted to charge the full value of the savings in coal use as their price for the machine, which, of course, would have meant no savings for the purchaser, and thus no incentive to use the damn things.
Hwæt! Hrothgar, hit þencest þu þæt se walesh ne bide landas Angelfolc? Hit me þinceth þæt þæt bith unrihtnes. Angelfolc bith walesh to se walesh.As a supposedly so-called "White person" I can categorically state that I do have black skin. 'sTrue. If you are "White" then there's a strong chance you have too. They are known in common parlance as freckles, but what they are are patches of melanin in the skin. All it means is that "White" people simply have less melanin pigmentation than so-called "black" people. Indeed, I'd propose a terminological re-definition. "Black" people should be known as "Melanin Rich" and "White" as "Melanin poor" (or melanin deficient, even?). This does tell us something, that skin colour is just a question of degree, not quality.
I think that migration can aid workers, in looking for work. in some cases emigration aids the ruling class as much as immigration. The point is neither are the cause of our enslavement, and the enemy is the wages system, not migratory workers.What you are essentially calling for is organised scabbing. The answer is for workers to organise themselves, not to enforce their masters' borders.I note for the fourth time of asking that you have not refuted my model.
Clegg wrote:Mr Clegg, who will close the Commons debate opened by the Prime Minister in a show of coalition unity, added: "I personally do not want to be part of a generation of political leaders, who, when for the first time in close to a century, we witnessed the ever more frequent use of chemical weapons which have been successfully prohibited for decades and decades, that this generation of politicians basically decided to walk on the other side of the street.Now, did I miss something, but what about Halabja? What about Iraq using gas in the Iran-Iraq war? The Syria situation is not unprecedented. I don't mind hypocrisy, but this sounds like pure ignorance on Clegg's part.
wiscalatus wrote:Let the pixies make mops from the trees and sew their own clothes.Then, any other pixies out of work, can be made to do non-jobs such as holding doors open for the masters and ladies – this is what happens in the real world.The masters will always empower themselves by forcing subservience on their underlings whether for a valid function or not.This is why a vast army of suplus labour is so glorious for the elite and their lackeys!Why are you so keen to feed the master?A concierge to hold open doors costs capital (uniforms, discipline, administration), so even such non-jobs are subject to the limit of capital.The pixies do not own the trees, they belong to the humans.And, whoever heard of a pixie wearing clothes. Such nonsense.Now, as to wage growth:http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/unfairtomiddling.pdfThis shows wages growing, even for the poorest decile, but not as fast as other segments of the workforce, and as part of a declining share of national income as wages fall from 65% (see page 11).
wiscalatus wrote:More nonsense here, because we can clearly see that over the last decade or 2, wages for the lower classes have actually gone DOWN, and unemployment has gone up, mainly due to the increase in workers.Actually in the UK real wages grew until quite recently, but not as fast as productivity. However, it is true that real wages were static for the last thirty years in the US. However, that is largely down to the low profitability of capital due to unbalanced investment.Evidence:
Quote:In the seven years to 2009, UK employees’ median hourly earnings grew by 3.7% a year on average in nominal (current price) terms. With relatively low inflation, median real earnings (in 2012 constant prices) grew by 1.6% a year on average.wiscalatus, It is a valid scientific method, zeroing out one variable to isolate the effects of others. Yes, if wages were zero, the workers would be unable to pay for any goods and services (indeed, it simply could not happen, because those workers would starve:zero means zero, not even slave rations). As a thought experiment, though, it does illustrate the limiting factor of capital: to have employment at all requires some capital expenditure.If it helps to clarify, the world I am discussing contains a handful of humans, who own all the wealth, and some magickal pixies who will work, but never need to eat, sleep or rest. Being magickal, they cannot use someone else's property without permission. That is why wages are zero. Even in this impossible land, there would be unemployment, because the limit of the use of pixie labour would be the consumable resources. Even cleaners need mops, cleaning agents, clothes, etc. There are capital costs for cleaning.
Wiscalculatus,First off, this host nation stuff is nonsense. I don't know about you, but the only country I've ever lived in seems to be called Tresspassers Will Be Prosecuted. I don't own a square inch of any country, I just live here. I am economic migrant myself.Now, you didn't bold the key phrase "when rates of investment are high", that is, when lots of capital is being thrown onto the market. When lots of capital is competing against other capitals to attract labour, wages rise, so wages will rise even with a growing population. i note, for the third time of asking, you have not provided any refutation to my zero wage example.Some other factors to consider. A lot of migrant labour actually arises out of currency differentials, in that the migrants work in one country to support a family in another, where the high value of the currency in the country where they work can mean a significant increase in the use values their wage can buy.Also, there is a demographc factor. Many migrant workers are young men without families, the most mobile type of labour. These qualitative aspects of economic migrancy are also more important than raw numbers.
Quote:YMS's argument of population numbers not effecting wages smells very fishy tro me. It's like saying that the amount of money in circulation does not effect inflation.This actually would be the case if we still had a gold standard, the number of notes in circulation was irrelevent, as the price of gold determined inflation rates. Look at it this way, in some countries surplus population does exist, and as the slums rise, the wages simply cannot go any lower, people aren't priced into the market. Imagine a world in which the supply of potatoes was unlimited, would you have an unlimited supply of chips? No, that would depend entirely on how many friers there were, both in value terms, and in technical terms.
I'm afraid you haven't refuted my proposition. If, as I suggest, wages could drop to zero and there still would be unemployment, that means it is the rate of investment that determines employment. Yes, if wages fall, then certain production models that require lots of labour become options, and labour can be priced into the market, but there are limits to this. Lets look at this from the other angle, if the rate of investment rises, i.e. profits are high, then labour becomes scarce, and employers will offer higher wages to encourage workers to work for them. Both scenarios happen independent of population numbers.
Quote:Ergo, if we can employ one Briish worker for £10/hr or 2 Polish at £5/hr – what's it going to be?That depends entirely on what the form of labour is. Some jobs can't be split, and you might need to invest in more consumables/facilities if you want to take on the extra worker, it may be cheaper to employ one at £10 than two. Again, it is the structure of capital that drives the labour market, not the population around it (which is only epiphenomenal, i.e. it only changes the surface of the deep structures).Now, to maintain your position, you need to refute the model I've outlined above, you cannot continue to just assert that migration affects wages.
