Question

1. Do social media adequately substitute for traditional friends?
2. If Lane’s ideas are implemented, what would be effect on our economy?
3. How could his ideas be done in our society? What political changes would be needed
4. What do you think about consumption and happiness? Consumption and depression?
5. What is the nature of the ideal state? What would its goals be?
6. How would its economy work?
7. What types of laws would it have? E.g., related to information security and privacy
8. How would it deal with technology progress? Technology at service of people or people at service of technology. Government funding/sponsorship of research and development
9. Is the most efficient solution necessarily the best?
10. What should be done about H1-B visas?

Answer 1

1. Do social media adequately substitute for traditional friends? -

Ans - Real friendship has a value far beyond price. But you must not confuse true friendship with "facebook friends" or any other social media contrivance such as Twitter and Instagram "followers".

That said, the value of any friendship ultimately depends on the effort each of you put into it. It takes a great deal of time and emotional investment to create true friendship. It takes going through good times and bad supporting each other, laughing and (sometimes) crying with them.

Social media does, IMO, tend to cheapen the notion of what friendship is by the very nature of it's superficiality. You simply cannot be friends with hundreds (or thousands) of individuals. It's impossible. Calling these acquaintances "friends" only shows your own superficiality and lack of understanding of the true rarity and preciousness of real person-to-person relationships.

2.What do you think about consumption and happiness?-

Ans - h = 1/c + p
h = happiness
c = consumption
p = participation by others

What I’m saying really is that the less you consume the happier you become and the more other people participate with you in whatever you are doing the happier you become. I just tried to put this mathematically in response to the word relationship and to allow others to perhaps alter the formula I used by modifying the terms in the formula or by adding other terms to it.

3.What is the nature of the ideal state? What would its goals be?-

Ans -

Plato’s purpose in the Republic is to investigate the principles of right governance of the human psyche or soul, not physical cities. He merely uses a hypothetical physical city to illustrate principles of governance that would be difficult to show otherwise. Socrates explains the analogical nature of the discussion explicitly in Book 2, 368c-e. This explains why there are so many absurd, implausible and objectionable features of his ‘ideal’ state of we understand it literally.

The ancient subtitle of the work is On the Righteous Man. That explains Plato’s goal: to identify what righteousness (not civil justice) is.

His answer, ultimately, is that if, through intellectual and moral discipline, a person learns to be guided by ‘the wisdom that comes from above,’ then the city of their soul will operate harmoniously. Then one may attain to a happy, virtuous and holy life. Otherwise ones competing ambitions, desires and interests will produce a conflicted inner city, and one will dwell in a cave of confusion and delusion.

4. What should be done about H1-B visas?-

Ans-

An H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa which allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. A "specialty occupation" is defined as one that requires theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge in a field such as: biotechnology, chemistry, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, law, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts. It further requires a minimum educational level of a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Similarly, if a license is required to practice in the worker’s particular field then the worker must also obtain the required state license.

To obtain an H-1B visa, there must be a job offer and an employer who is willing to sponsor a person by filing a petition with the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (“USCIS”). The H-1B work visa requires a sponsoring U.S. employer; the sponsor must file a labor condition application with the Department of Labor. The H-1B employer must then file an I-129 petition with the USCIS. A person may hold H-1B status for a maximum of six years, and it may be issued in increments of up to three years by the USCIS.