New to politics

[Comrade #138672]

Hello everyone,

I'm not good with introductions, so please forgive me if I somehow offended you with a less than good introduction.

Let me start with saying that I'm really impressed by this forum. It's really big and the people here seem to know a lot. I thought I started to know a thing or two, but that's nothing compared to this. Amazing! This seems like an excellent learning opportunity.

I'm a 23 years old male AI student living in the Netherlands. I'm also a (web)programmer. I love doing that without the need for a financial reward, but I'm being paid for it aswell.

I've only recently been into politics and economics. Before I wasn't really interested. I didn't understand them. They made no sense to me. Maybe due to my "autism". I had a lot of other interests too. I could easily jump from one obsession to another, but never politics or economics. It has only been recently, partly due to me moving more from selfishness towards altruism, and being affected by politics more than ever (due to some new laws that destroy our educational system and our freedoms).

Since then I've learned a few things, but there's still so much to learn. I hope I'm able to contribute to society with the knowledge that I gain. It gives me a sense of purpose that I've lacked for a long time.

Not everything can be said of course. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

- Wecandobetter

[#FF0000]

Welcome, guy.

[Positivist]

Welcome! May I ask, what has drawn you to socialism rather than other political theories.

[Book O'Dead]

Hello everyone,

I'm not good with introductions, so please forgive me if I somehow offended you with a less than good introduction.

Let me start with saying that I'm really impressed by this forum. It's really big and the people here seem to know a lot. I thought I started to know a thing or two, but that's nothing compared to this. Amazing! This seems like an excellent learning opportunity.

I'm a 23 years old male AI student living in the Netherlands. I'm also a (web)programmer. I love doing that without the need for a financial reward, but I'm being paid for it aswell.

I've only recently been into politics and economics. Before I wasn't really interested. I didn't understand them. They made no sense to me. Maybe due to my "autism". I had a lot of other interests too. I could easily jump from one obsession to another, but never politics or economics. It has only been recently, partly due to me moving more from selfishness towards altruism, and being affected by politics more than ever (due to some new laws that destroy our educational system and our freedoms).

Since then I've learned a few things, but there's still so much to learn. I hope I'm able to contribute to society with the knowledge that I gain. It gives me a sense of purpose that I've lacked for a long time.

Not everything can be said of course. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

- Wecandobetter

This is the most offensive introduction I have ever seen!

Just kidding.

Welcome! May we learn many good things together!

[The Jay]

Welcome to the forum!

[Comrade #138672]

Thanks for the welcome. :-)

What has drawn me more to socialism than other political theories? It's because socialism is the only system that tries to guarantee equality and social justice. It's focus is on people's well-being, not economy. The "social" part of socialism is what attracts me. Many social problems are caused by inequality, which in turn causes a lack of social cohesion.

We need to work together more. We can do better. It's not necessary for there to be unemployed people. It would even be better for the economy if everyone was "employed" (which may mean something entirely different in a socialist system), but not better for the capitalists. Capitalists need the (fear of) unemployment to keep wages low.

I dislike capitalism in many ways. It's destructive, selfish, inefficient and shortsighted. I had been apathic for a long time and I believe the emptiness and injustice of capitalism contributed a lot to this feeling. But many people have come to accept the "reality" of capitalism. They submit themselves to the system. "Just accept the way things are. You're sabotaging yourself," they would say to me. No, I don't accept this at all. It's hard to talk to someone about it in a meaningful way, even the people who consider themselves "left-wing". Usually they're not really interested in changing the system in a revolutionary manner, but rather reform "a little here and there" thereby treating only the symptoms of a system that is inherently flawed.

If you have more questions, please ask.

[maskerade]

Welcome! I have a question, though it's not related to politics: what's it like studying AI? Is it anything like i'd imagine it to be - programming computers to more closely resemble human intelligence, working with robotics, obsessively watching the terminator to avoid creating skynet? or does it resemble computer science courses?

hope you enjoy your stay here at revleft!

[Comrade #138672]

Welcome! I have a question, though it's not related to politics: what's it like studying AI? Is it anything like i'd imagine it to be - programming computers to more closely resemble human intelligence, working with robotics, obsessively watching the terminator to avoid creating skynet? or does it resemble computer science courses?

hope you enjoy your stay here at revleft!AI is a broad subject. It includes imitating human intelligence, robotics, psychology, mathematics, logic, and indeed computer science courses. Since it's so broad, you will most likely specialize in one of these subjects later.

AI is not much more than "high-level" computer science ("high-level" meaning more abstractions, not necessarily more "advanced"). My AI dream is to build a bot that develops its own personality and is able to learn from experiences (like conversations or reading material). However this is very hard and it's likely that I will not succeed at this, but it's still a nice dream that keeps me motivated.

Until now I've only succeeded at building a simple bot that was able to extract keywords from posts on a forum and he would map those keywords to a possibly relevant response. He used this to help people with their basic psychological and social problems like "I'm shy, how can I be social?". My bot would notice "shy" and "social", and act accordingly.

I wish to use my skills and knowledge to help people in many possible ways. What about my career? I don't know. That's of secondary importance, especially in this capitalistic world (I'm sorry for bringing it up again).

I'm positive that I will enjoy my stay here, thanks!

[maskerade]

AI is a broad subject. It includes imitating human intelligence, robotics, psychology, mathematics, logic, and indeed computer science courses. Since it's so broad, you will most likely specialize in one of these subjects later.

AI is not much more than "high-level" computer science ("high-level" meaning more abstractions, not necessarily more "advanced"). My AI dream is to build a bot that develops its own personality and is able to learn from experiences (like conversations or reading material). However this is very hard and it's likely that I will not succeed at this, but it's still a nice dream that keeps me motivated.

Until now I've only succeeded at building a simple bot that was able to extract keywords from posts on a forum and he would map those keywords to a possibly relevant response. He used this to help people with their basic psychological and social problems like "I'm shy, how can I be social?". My bot would notice "shy" and "social", and act accordingly.

I wish to use my skills and knowledge to help people in many possible ways. What about my career? I don't know. That's of secondary importance, especially in this capitalistic world (I'm sorry for bringing it up again).

I'm positive that I will enjoy my stay here, thanks!

All of that sounds really interesting actually! and very impressive as well. I've always been interested in programming and such but my mathematical illiteracy always hindered me from developing it further.

and don't worry about careers, i certainly don't, my only plan is to continue my studies and then eventually become employed. hopefully we'll both see a day when we won't have to be wage-slaves!

[Comrade #138672]

All of that sounds really interesting actually! and very impressive as well. I've always been interested in programming and such but my mathematical illiteracy always hindered me from developing it further.If you're mathematically illiterate, you can make yourself literate by practicing (endless trial-and-error), reading, asking and discussing. It's not about talent (almost everyone has the basic capabilities to do math; if you can think logically then you can do math). It's about motivation, passion and opportunities.

Programming is not as hard as it seems. It's not much different from building a car or a house. You're just using a fixed amount of components (whether it be bricks or mathematical operators) to build some logical structure (whether it be a house or software). Sometimes things look very complex, but by applying the divide-and-conquer technique it's all a matter of accumulating a lot of basic steps. You can treat complex entities as individual components of which you do not necessarily need to know its inner workings. Because people are able to do abstract thinking and treat composites as elements, we're able to build complex things. It all seems much more impressive than it really is, when you understand what's really going on.

There are also many (e-)books about mathematics, programming and AI from which you can learn. If you want to do it, just start somewhere and make your first steps. It's the accumulation of these small steps that make big things happen. And if you want help with something, feel free to ask.


and don't worry about careers, i certainly don't, my only plan is to continue my studies and then eventually become employed. hopefully we'll both see a day when we won't have to be wage-slaves!Me too. It's a temporary strategy. At least, I hope so. We got to be careful not to give in too much because "it's easier to conform".