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560 points whatsupdog | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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perihelions ◴[] No.45167153[source]
Hard-earned freedoms are wasted on societies who don't have memories of what it took to earn them. Freedom is a ratchet: slides easily and frictionlessly one way, and offers immense resistance in the other.

This is all so disheartening.

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cedws ◴[] No.45167299[source]
I’m not aware of a single nation where the ratchet is loosening. It appears freedom is being eroded everywhere. The most disheartening thing is that nothing works to stop it. There are countries where millions of people have protested, but in time the protests always fizzle or are stamped out, and things continue on the same trajectory.
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komali2 ◴[] No.45167482[source]
We recently had a record-sized protest in Taiwan and major political movements as a result. The recall movement was also unprecedented, though it ostensibly failed. However the KMT has failed in its coupe so there's still a positive outcome.

It's why I'm here - it's one of the only countries on earth for which I'm politically optimistic.

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lordhumphrey ◴[] No.45171020[source]
> It's why I'm here - it's one of the only countries on earth for which I'm politically optimistic.

My curiosity is piqued by this. Do you mean to say you've moved there from somewhere place? And what do you mean, why is it the only country for which you're politically optimistic?

I don't mean to pry, and have no ulterior motive or point in asking. It just seems like a strong statement, and I cannot guess what you mean, or if I'm missing some cultural insinuation here or something. Taiwan does sound like a very interesting place to me, generally, though.

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1. simgt ◴[] No.45178713{4}[source]
For a good intro you could listen to an interview of Audrey Tang
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2. lordhumphrey ◴[] No.45180189[source]
Just read the Wikipedia page - holy sh*t, if you'll pardon my French, what a figure! I haven't done anything with Perl, or Haskell, so this figure was just outside my view. Will definitely check some stuff out, I appreciate the pointer.
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3. komali2 ◴[] No.45181069[source]
I was already rambling but didn't mention that Audrey Tang was one of the reasons I moved to Taiwan. Somewhat ironically they are an anarchist. I always meant to ask them how they square that with working as a minister. They have a HN account they sometimes post on, but I lost it.

When Audrey Tang was digital minister, you could just walk into their office during office hours and talk about whatever you wanted, so long as you consented to the meeting being recorded and uploaded to youtube. I met them at a g0v hackathon once and came to say hello, and they bade me sit down struck up an instantly deep-dive conversation into how to maintain data integrity using technology like ipfs what with the PRC constantly cutting our fiber cables.

I'm not quite sure what they're up to now that they're tenure's over, I saw their face on a massive billboard about some tech conference and heard a rumor that they're teaching at some university in like Australia or some such?