pg did originally call it 'startup news' but i don't think you have standing to accuse him of 'appropriating' the term 'hacker' until you've hacked together something of comparable significance to on lisp or viaweb
The definition of “derivative” and its historical context look nothing like the new reality created by generative AI.
To continue blindly applying historical understanding to fundamentally new technologies creates huge blind spots, and I’d argue similar to pretending that the creation of ever more destructive weaponry requires no changes to the rules of engagement in warfare.
A better way to frame the drug legalization issue is, "should pharmaceutical companies be allowed to profit from incredibly addictive drugs?"
Does that framing change your mind at all? Sure, small-time drug dealers are currently allowed to profit from it. Once they get big enough though, they're usually stopped by the DEA.
The idea of giving this enormous profit incentive to multi-million dollar corporations with huge advertising budgets is absolutely terrifying to me.
This is an inaccurate understanding of the drug economy. The drug cartels that supply the street dealers are multi billion dollar businesses rivaling the size of the big pharma corporations. And the DEA absolutely is not "usually stopping" them. They disrupt low and mid level arms of their operations with some regularity, but it does little to stem the rivers of money flowing towards the groups controlling the illicit drug trade at a high level.
Even if we presume that big pharma is a very corrupt industry and that allowing advertising of narcotics would increase drug use in some populations, bringing the production and distribution into a moderately well regulated market would likely cause a net reduction of usage and overall harm.
Didn't we kind of already try this out some with opiates? Didn't big pharma already push opiates and cause millions of people to become addicted and cause an untold number of deaths and didn't that contribute to the current situation that we are in now with opiate addiction?
I don't see how legalizing it completely where anyone who wants it without a prescription could possibly turn into anything but an absolute mess. How many millions of people will say "O, the government legalized it and I can buy it in a store, it must not be so bad, I might as well try it out", become addicted and have their lives ruined? People can't rationalize their way out of addiction of this stuff easily.
Not exactly, hence the rise of fentanyl. Prior to the rise of fentanyl, new addicts often went from prescription pills like oxycodone to heroin as their lives unraveled because prescription drugs are expensive and hard to get. Some enterprising drug dealers started enhancing their cut heroin with fentanyl which can be imported from China and is extremely dense compared to other opiates, which matters because smuggling is most of the cost. Downward pressure on the prices changed the ratio until you were left with pure fentanyl, so in effect prescription pills were not available enough and drug dealers were able to capture the market with more dangerous but cheaper product.
If they were generic, not marketed (a la nicotine products), and used a system similar to the one used by pseudoephedrine, I think it could work.
I think there will be a really big systemic drive to stop this kind of system because if we’re doing this already for “vice” drugs, why not do it for all drugs even if they don’t get you high? This would remove tons of middlemen and give consumers a lot more control over how they get their medication.
The problem is not actually the production of the fentanyl itself, but the way it’s mixed in with “heroin” or pressed into pills (plus all the likely accidental contamination from using the same equipment to process fentanyl and stuff like cocaine). If the mixture is not done well, it creates hotspots that can easily cause an overdose due to a much higher density of fentanyl.
And also, this part is not necessarily done pharmaceutically, so there is no standardization of dosage or strength. Which can in part incentivize producers to progressively increase the ratio of fentanyl to <other> so theirs is “stronger”.
“ Illegal drugs increase crime, partly because some users turn to crime to pay for their habits and partly because some users are stimulated by certain drugs to act more violently. Legalization, however, will not affect addiction and its effects on the propensity to violence. Instead of legalizing drugs, better treatment, education, and research are needed to curb dependency on drugs and the adverse health and social effects of drug use.”[0]
"Illegal drugs increase crime, partly because some users turn to crime to pay for their habits "
If all drugs would be illegal, then they would be mostly so cheap that this argument falls apart very quickly. Drugs are only expensive because they are illegal. Poppy and coca are not hard to grow and neither is hemp. And the chemical drugs are way more cheap to produce. So very high quality stuff would remain expensive, the same way a fine wine is expensive, but just to get drunk is cheap (even with taxes).
"and partly because some users are stimulated by certain drugs to act more violently."
And yes, that is true, but one of the most famous and widespread drug that makes people aggressive is already legal - alcohol.
"Legalization, however, will not affect addiction"
And this is up for debate, for some it will be easier to get help, because the stigma and criminalisation is gone, but yes, some might start it, because it becomes avaiable. And I did not look in the recent numbers, but back then when I did - in the netherlands for example, drug use decreased, after marijuhana was legalised. It is quite complex - some people are afraid of anything illegal, some are appealed by it, mainly teenagers who are in most danger of becoming addicts/developing brain damage.
"better treatment, education, and research are needed to curb dependency on drugs and the adverse health and social effects of drug use."
But this is true. And better, than jail people who simply need help.
'illegal drugs' is a pretty broad brush, and treating opiods and psychedelics equivalently is silly. Surely treatment, education and research would all be far easier alongside decriminalization?
anecdata: I'm in canada, which has legalized marijuana recently. The black market is cheaper, but all but the most die-hard stoners I know like to buy government weed, because the product is consistent and you know what you're getting.
> - Even in a legal market how many people are always buying their own?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but in a legal market even if I don't buy something directly at least I have vastly increased faith that i know what something is.
> - If everything is legal then it's even easier for people to spike drinks and the like.
Who knows, but I strongly doubt that there is a large pool of potential rapists at large who are currently stymied primarily due to the difficulty in acquiring GHB.
> - Purdue Pharma marketing issue writ large.
> - Patients pressuring their doctors to prescribe, or alternatively feeling pressured by their doctors to use a particular drug.
There are definitely a bunch of social and policy questions that would need to be addressed when considering legalization, sure.
> - If it's legal it's easier to purposefully or accidentally overdose (e.g. alcohol today). Especially if it's also cheaper.
Almost certainly not, as the majority of overdoses are the consequence of people not knowing what they're taking, or not knowing how to take it.
Hell even in states where it's illegal people prefer to drive to a state where it is legal or get it shipped compared to "street weed." This isn't to say that the market has dried up or anything but it's clearly an inferior good in the economic sense. As soon as as an alternative of comparable price entered the market people immediately switched.
That bit about Purdue resonates with me. I'm not firmly against legalization of harder drugs, but that's a case where average people given legal access to pharmaceutical-grade medicine through proper legal venues has been absolutely catastrophic. If I were making a case against legalization, that would be my Exhibit A.
This is really Venture Capital News, and accordingly they've appropriated the whole "hacker" image in an attempt at authenticity.