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Re:The Triumph of Stupidity (1933) by TeMPOraL on Friday November 27, 2015 @02:13PM (#10638464)
Well, the democracy can't build nuclear power plants and fast trains, an an oligarchy can. So there's that.

But still, if you want to look for an alternative to western media, you'll need to look elsewhere - China is turning more and more free, and is becoming increasingly like the rest of the West - good and bad, the whole package.

Re:The Triumph of Stupidity (1933) by nl on Saturday November 28, 2015 @02:38AM (#10640379)
the democracy can't build nuclear power plants and fast trains, an an oligarchy can. So there's that

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Maybe the case for fast trains stacks up (in some places), but Nuclear power just doesn't. I know some people assume that because some of the safety problems are overstated it makes it a good option, but that chain of reasoning doesn't hold.

Re:The Triumph of Stupidity (1933) by TeMPOraL on Saturday November 28, 2015 @02:47AM (#10640396)
http://www.withouthotair.com/

This book does a pretty decent and math-based argument that the chain of reasoning for nuclear energy holds up pretty well. Have there been some new developments that suddenly made it not so?

Re:The Triumph of Stupidity (1933) by nl on Saturday November 28, 2015 @03:28AM (#10640484)
Considering it doesn't address the cost of building the plants I'd say it isn't very compelling at all.

Heres a good article on the costs: http://theconversation.com/what-does-nuclear-power-cost-old-...

Re:The Triumph of Stupidity (1933) by eli_gottlieb on Friday November 27, 2015 @04:39PM (#10638952)
>Well, the democracy can't build nuclear power plants and fast trains, an an oligarchy can.

The democracy once did, and in fact, was probably more democratic when it chose to. Of course, now it chooses not to because the vast majority of the population are NIMBYs, while nuclear power and fast trains are actually supported only by a technically-educated elite (ie: us).