lordgrenville

On Chag (Sukkot), we are judged for water...

Sukkot is referred to as Chag HaAsif, the harvest festival ,in which we take in the dry produce from the field after it has baked in the sun all summer. As such it is one pole of the agricultural cycle, with Pesach being the other. (The Ramban on Chumash says that Shavuot is the conclusion of Pesach after a long 'Chol HaMoed' of the Sefirat HaOmer, just as Shemini Atzeret concludes Sukkot - thus both festivals are referred to as Atzeret.) Its proximity to the Asif is an inherent part of it: we learn in Sanhedrin that one of the causes to add a month to the year (Ibur HaShana) is the timing of the the Asif.

The gemara in Rosh HaShana explains that the produce in the field is judged twice: its early growing is judged the Pesach before it is planted, while its post-Pesach growth is judged on that Pesach. With rain, the rains are all judged on Sukkot, but their disbursement can change based on our deeds throughout the year. (Little rain can fall tactically for great 

lordgrenville

[Kumail Nanjiani on Twitter](https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/925828976882282496) says of his visits to tech companies: "ZERO consideration seems to be given to the ethical implications of tech...Only "Can we do this?" Never "should we do this?"" It is hard to disagree with his assessment of the risks, but I disagree with his implied prescription - that tech companies ought to self-police, to slow down their progress until ethicists and lawmakers can catch up. 

The first reason that tech companies shouldn't self-police is that they are conflicted: they are foxes guarding the henhouse. Their ethical policies will naturally be diluted so as to have the least impact on their bottom line.

The second reason is that this isn't their area of expertise. Technologists want to develop technology, and set up companies to speed up that process. Their instinct is to keep pulling at the thread, not to stop. A system with an external ethical body setting guidelines, and a tech company trying to be maximally innovative w

lordgrenville

{
  "modeindicator": "false",
  "nmaps": {
    "<Space>": "scrollpage 0.75",
    "A": null,
    "d": null,
    "<C-f>": null,
    "q": "tabclose",
    ";c": "hint -Jc [class*=\"expand\"],[class*=\"togg\"],[class=\"comment_folder\"]",
    "w": "fillcmdline tabopen wikipedia",