I'm so far in the hinterlands that I officially live in a country that doesn't exist :) And yes, it is superior in every way to the United States.
As for the rest, this is an interesting article, but it's more of a 1000-ft view thinkpiece than an effort to really dig into the deeper roots of what's at the foundation of this (genuine) exp…
I'm so far in the hinterlands that I officially live in a country that doesn't exist :) And yes, it is superior in every way to the United States.
As for the rest, this is an interesting article, but it's more of a 1000-ft view thinkpiece than an effort to really dig into the deeper roots of what's at the foundation of this (genuine) experience that people are having that "woah, poor people over THERE seem to be living better lives than me."
Not my article to write, so all I can do is show you the pillars:
1) The term "Third World" is incredibly outdated and from a colonial era mindset. It automatically frames a given country as LESS THAN another one. Furthermore, it isn't even based on anything objective. Even the purchasing power parity indices (aka hard numbers) don't align with what people who use the framework of "First/Third World" think applies to a given country. Much more accurate is Global South/Global North.
2) The 1950s weren't when the USA resembled Mexico. More like the 1750s. Back when a guy like Daniel Boone could wrestle a bear and make moonshine in the cabin he built himself before becoming a lawyer and then serving in Congress.
3) What makes people of ALL countries and ALL regions happy is working with their hands. Not their finger(s), but their whole hands. Swiping, clicking, gesturing, and tapping = unhappy. Touch typing = happy, along with, of course, all the other thousands of occupations that require use of both hands, from sweeping floors to sculpting to machining precision parts to bushcrafting to camping to gardening to knitting, et al. If you want to suck the soul right out of a person's body, give them a job that doesn't require the use of their hands (very much). That may sound simplistic, but look at literally anyone you know who he is happy with their job/career/occupation and you'll see that I'm right.
3b) It just occurred to me that there's a way to prove this - some (mostly younger) surgeons now use robots (the most popular is called "DaVinci" for some reason) to assist/perform some procedures, while other (mostly older) surgeons go strictly with their hands and haptic feel to perform the exact same procedures. Guess which cohort has less career burnout/turnover and fewer post-surgical complications?
You've got a good instinct for what's going on in our reality. Just need to bury your nose deeper into the stratum, my friend, instead of getting lost in the clouds.
This. I gave a service that was my calling, given such a gift…I worked with my hands and preformed magic. Yup. The dredges of public health nursing, US, style. You know, the disdain, almost contempt from the “others ” in the profession. Like plastic surgery and cosmetic nurses, right🤪The greatest wounds, mine, were my best teachers. Anyway, the fellowship trained neurosurgeon who restored me after a catastrophic spinal cord injury did utilize the DaVinci pocket rocket. I so get what your saying. Thanks for sharing, ❤️🐈⬛
Living out of the West, it feels like the continued presence of the extended family system is just inherently relaxing. Hardly anyone in Istanbul had to live on the streets. Even though the cost of living is going crazy and people are raging everywhere, still there's this fundamental sense of a safety net.
Now, if there was a way to keep the extended family system but get rid of the accompanying bureaucratic and administrative nightmare, that would be cool.
My son sells the DaVinci robotic surgery system. I don't think that system has been in play long enough to generalize about "burn out". My son also reports that hospitals have a hard time attracting surgeons if there are no robots in their system. The one very important advantage the robot offers is that a robotic surgery is done at a "console" not unlike a "game console"...the advantage for the surgeon being that s/he doesn't have to bend over continuously to do surgery. IE, the robotic surgery is much kinder on the surgeon's body than the previous system. A woman doctor friend (OB-GYN) who is retired, complains of constant back pain because of her years of bending over to do surgery or deliver babies. That said, this same doc is NOT the biggest fan of robotic surgery, for reasons I won't get into.
I forget who noticed germs way back and was ridiculed for it, pasteur? I wonder if a height adjustable surgical table has ever been thought of or would be ridiculed because this is how it's done, I'm an aquarium hobbyist and I changed the height of my aquariums so that I can work at them without crouching leaning or peering and it changed everything. Hours of surgery crouched as opposed to comfortably suspended in a weightless suit perhaps, forgive my early morning babbles
"wonder if a height adjustable surgical table has ever been thought of "
Your suggestion is a nod to, ahem, Occam's Razor. That is, out of a range of possible solutions to a problem, the simplest solution is usually the best. It seems likely that the old surgical method, though punishing to the body, was "just how things work". Just how things are done. Medical people fit into a very hidebound, conservative profession. Straying from the established methodology (on anything) is a way to get whacked. There are probably more obvious reasons why surgical robots are coming on line, beside table height issues, but my son would be the one to speak to that point. Thanks for your comment!
Louis Pasteur, and many otherwise effective physicians went to their graves calling him a liar, fool or worse. The next generation then washed their hands religiously, boiled their instruments between uses & etc...
it was an Austrian doctor before Pasteur - I forgot the name - he ended up in a lunatic asylum . I read about him in an excellent book on spontaneous remissions called CURED - by a doc from Harvard or Yale I forgot
My wife and I live outside a town of 50k in Mexico.
The walls, fences, and private security that one sees in Mexico reflect reality. Mexicans don’t play “let’s pretend” that the police and insurance companies will protect them from loss. Security is proactive.
Most Mexicans accept their station in life. Social mobility is muy difícil over here. If your dad was a laborer, you’ll be a laborer. Likewise, if your father is a doctor, you’ll go to medical school.
Most importantly, local preference is what matters to law enforcement, not dictates from on high. For example, several years ago Mexico demanded that states pass mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists. Then it was found that hit men on stolen motorcycles LOVED the law because they could assassinate with impunity while wearing a helmet and C19 mask! So the result is that wearing a helmet is forbidden in some places—without a change in law. In 2023, Mexico passed a sweeping smoking ban. A year on, it’s selectively enforced—politically connected restaurants and bars don’t comply while opposition establishments are cited.
Mostly, Mexico is a place where non-violent acts aren’t illegal. One can text while riding a horse on the street. Villages don’t have stop signs. Ignore the yellow lines—pass when it’s safe. If you live outside of town, send a WhatsApp to the butcher and he’ll slaughter your hog on the edge of your property. Build with or without a permit.
Freedom begins in the mind. Americans are conditioned to ask, “May I? Which agency do I ask?” Mexicans think, “That which is not forbidden is permitted—what do I want to do?.”
Yes, I never regretted being a tradesman, Yes man, doing real work with satisfaction and pride in what I had built. Real people thinking and moving to make something a physical reality. I also had the "freedom" to leave if I chose without worrying about the pension as I carried my skills in my head and hands.
I'm so far in the hinterlands that I officially live in a country that doesn't exist :) And yes, it is superior in every way to the United States.
As for the rest, this is an interesting article, but it's more of a 1000-ft view thinkpiece than an effort to really dig into the deeper roots of what's at the foundation of this (genuine) experience that people are having that "woah, poor people over THERE seem to be living better lives than me."
Not my article to write, so all I can do is show you the pillars:
1) The term "Third World" is incredibly outdated and from a colonial era mindset. It automatically frames a given country as LESS THAN another one. Furthermore, it isn't even based on anything objective. Even the purchasing power parity indices (aka hard numbers) don't align with what people who use the framework of "First/Third World" think applies to a given country. Much more accurate is Global South/Global North.
2) The 1950s weren't when the USA resembled Mexico. More like the 1750s. Back when a guy like Daniel Boone could wrestle a bear and make moonshine in the cabin he built himself before becoming a lawyer and then serving in Congress.
3) What makes people of ALL countries and ALL regions happy is working with their hands. Not their finger(s), but their whole hands. Swiping, clicking, gesturing, and tapping = unhappy. Touch typing = happy, along with, of course, all the other thousands of occupations that require use of both hands, from sweeping floors to sculpting to machining precision parts to bushcrafting to camping to gardening to knitting, et al. If you want to suck the soul right out of a person's body, give them a job that doesn't require the use of their hands (very much). That may sound simplistic, but look at literally anyone you know who he is happy with their job/career/occupation and you'll see that I'm right.
3b) It just occurred to me that there's a way to prove this - some (mostly younger) surgeons now use robots (the most popular is called "DaVinci" for some reason) to assist/perform some procedures, while other (mostly older) surgeons go strictly with their hands and haptic feel to perform the exact same procedures. Guess which cohort has less career burnout/turnover and fewer post-surgical complications?
You've got a good instinct for what's going on in our reality. Just need to bury your nose deeper into the stratum, my friend, instead of getting lost in the clouds.
This. I gave a service that was my calling, given such a gift…I worked with my hands and preformed magic. Yup. The dredges of public health nursing, US, style. You know, the disdain, almost contempt from the “others ” in the profession. Like plastic surgery and cosmetic nurses, right🤪The greatest wounds, mine, were my best teachers. Anyway, the fellowship trained neurosurgeon who restored me after a catastrophic spinal cord injury did utilize the DaVinci pocket rocket. I so get what your saying. Thanks for sharing, ❤️🐈⬛
Living out of the West, it feels like the continued presence of the extended family system is just inherently relaxing. Hardly anyone in Istanbul had to live on the streets. Even though the cost of living is going crazy and people are raging everywhere, still there's this fundamental sense of a safety net.
Now, if there was a way to keep the extended family system but get rid of the accompanying bureaucratic and administrative nightmare, that would be cool.
My son sells the DaVinci robotic surgery system. I don't think that system has been in play long enough to generalize about "burn out". My son also reports that hospitals have a hard time attracting surgeons if there are no robots in their system. The one very important advantage the robot offers is that a robotic surgery is done at a "console" not unlike a "game console"...the advantage for the surgeon being that s/he doesn't have to bend over continuously to do surgery. IE, the robotic surgery is much kinder on the surgeon's body than the previous system. A woman doctor friend (OB-GYN) who is retired, complains of constant back pain because of her years of bending over to do surgery or deliver babies. That said, this same doc is NOT the biggest fan of robotic surgery, for reasons I won't get into.
I forget who noticed germs way back and was ridiculed for it, pasteur? I wonder if a height adjustable surgical table has ever been thought of or would be ridiculed because this is how it's done, I'm an aquarium hobbyist and I changed the height of my aquariums so that I can work at them without crouching leaning or peering and it changed everything. Hours of surgery crouched as opposed to comfortably suspended in a weightless suit perhaps, forgive my early morning babbles
"wonder if a height adjustable surgical table has ever been thought of "
Your suggestion is a nod to, ahem, Occam's Razor. That is, out of a range of possible solutions to a problem, the simplest solution is usually the best. It seems likely that the old surgical method, though punishing to the body, was "just how things work". Just how things are done. Medical people fit into a very hidebound, conservative profession. Straying from the established methodology (on anything) is a way to get whacked. There are probably more obvious reasons why surgical robots are coming on line, beside table height issues, but my son would be the one to speak to that point. Thanks for your comment!
Is Semmelweis the name you're after?
Louis Pasteur, and many otherwise effective physicians went to their graves calling him a liar, fool or worse. The next generation then washed their hands religiously, boiled their instruments between uses & etc...
it was an Austrian doctor before Pasteur - I forgot the name - he ended up in a lunatic asylum . I read about him in an excellent book on spontaneous remissions called CURED - by a doc from Harvard or Yale I forgot
My wife and I live outside a town of 50k in Mexico.
The walls, fences, and private security that one sees in Mexico reflect reality. Mexicans don’t play “let’s pretend” that the police and insurance companies will protect them from loss. Security is proactive.
Most Mexicans accept their station in life. Social mobility is muy difícil over here. If your dad was a laborer, you’ll be a laborer. Likewise, if your father is a doctor, you’ll go to medical school.
Most importantly, local preference is what matters to law enforcement, not dictates from on high. For example, several years ago Mexico demanded that states pass mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists. Then it was found that hit men on stolen motorcycles LOVED the law because they could assassinate with impunity while wearing a helmet and C19 mask! So the result is that wearing a helmet is forbidden in some places—without a change in law. In 2023, Mexico passed a sweeping smoking ban. A year on, it’s selectively enforced—politically connected restaurants and bars don’t comply while opposition establishments are cited.
Mostly, Mexico is a place where non-violent acts aren’t illegal. One can text while riding a horse on the street. Villages don’t have stop signs. Ignore the yellow lines—pass when it’s safe. If you live outside of town, send a WhatsApp to the butcher and he’ll slaughter your hog on the edge of your property. Build with or without a permit.
Freedom begins in the mind. Americans are conditioned to ask, “May I? Which agency do I ask?” Mexicans think, “That which is not forbidden is permitted—what do I want to do?.”
Yes, I never regretted being a tradesman, Yes man, doing real work with satisfaction and pride in what I had built. Real people thinking and moving to make something a physical reality. I also had the "freedom" to leave if I chose without worrying about the pension as I carried my skills in my head and hands.
Why do I have this strange feeling that @Oldspeak (Sam) is referring to Republic of Somaliland when he talks of "a country that doesn't exist".