Its really only an issue in the context of capitalism.

I mean, yes but also a massive portion of our entire society is propped up on the back of capitalism whether we like it or not, we can’t pull the rug out from the hospitals, the services, people’s food and so on. There are a lot of people who think that a population crash will be good for us but if system crashes too fast, it won’t be an issue of not having new iphones and labubu’s, it will be an issue of not having antibiotics and rubber products like the washers in syringes and the company that makes the single bearing you need to keep your heater on in winter closed their doors years ago and the grocery store is almost empty and you haven’t heard any noise from your elderly neighbor’s house in three days, and is that gunfire again? It’s not an apocalyptic event but a withering of life and progress.

The damage that a collapse can cause can outweigh any long-term benefits and even last too long and hard for any better systems to even have a chance of taking root. Our logistics network is simultaneously the most impressive thing we’ve ever built and the most fragile, and it’s also what we rely on to a degree that should have scared everyone when a single cargo ship blocking a canal almost brought the world to a stop.

I am just trying to say that it’s a real issue that every nation is going to have to start bracing for with the same gravity as climate change because the consequences can lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering. I wish more people other than the very worst people were taking it seriously and preparing for the strain.

Don’t forget to attach metal spikes to your black lacrosse gear and matching trencoat.

Haven’t seen any listings for “entry level white dude” but I’ll an eye peeled.

I hope you understand anonymity is an illusion and that intelligence agencies and law enforcement can use these kinds of comments as a justification to get ALL up in your shit. This kind of performative “we got a badass over here” act is not really impressing anyone here, and it could get you in massive trouble.

This isn’t the internet’s backwater. There are bots crawling through these comments right now looking for and flagging users.

Since we’re roleplaying you should also say “skulls for the skull throne.”

I would literally move if I could afford it and if it was even a little easier.

Stockholm syndrome suggests we enjoy it or want to be here.

There are people who move to China to become “professional white guys” where you hang out with socialites and drink and make them look good by being their “white associate” which is a big deal in some social circles. Literally that’s all you do.

The catch: you need to be really familiar with China, fluent in the language, and fluent in the culture and have some connects. You should probably also be somewhat attractive or at least know style and be fit.

There are a lot of “state options” for the poor, but these are often terrible and only cover the most basic services. You may not even qualify for this in some states depending on requirements. Like, a lot of places now won’t provide any assistance without an address, monthly interviews or check-ins AND proof of income.

I have been to the bottom at least once when I lost a lot of family members in a short time, lost my business and had a massive mountain of health expenses and debts. I basically lost everything due to circumstances and it was damn nearly impossible to climb out again. The US makes it very, very expensive to be poor. The hoops you have to jump through to get even the most basic help make it almost prohibitive.

If I could suggest anything to anyone out there who has even basic needs met… go donate to a local food-bank/public pantry. It doesn’t have to be much, especially with the holidays. Cash will go a long way, but anything will help from vegetables from your garden to a few pairs of new, cheap socks. Those places saved me and I am paying it back.

Draw you like an infographic meme and paste text above you?

It used to be when the population was spiraling out of control faster than infrastructure and economy could keep up. A new middle-class of sorts rose up and people stopped having kids like everywhere else in the world. So now they have raised the limit to three and are throwing in a bundle of incentives and benefits but even that’s not increasing birth rates.

A lot of countries are facing aging populations and a smaller young workforce and it’s going to wreck economic production for literally everyone. There’s a reason for the huge push for robotics in elderly care across much of Asia. But the US and EU will be feeling the crunch soon enough also.

This is a problem that’s being co-opted by right-wing nazitards like Elon Musk who are making it about race, but it’s really a global issue without a lot of clear causes or solutions.

Quantum mechanics are the dreams that stuff is made of.

A Tattoo parlor and modeling agency contained entirely on a raft floating adrift in the ocean? AND they restore custom motorcycles AND they’re all people with dwarfism? SON YOU GOT YOURSELF A SHOW.

Attempting to say that everything is pretty much explained just increases the confidence of someone believing in the flat earth

Except that’s a completely made-up idea of how this goes. I have a lot of experience in this area… the idea here being explained is that there is a very real growing wave of anti-intellectualism, and this is not growing in the fields of science, but dumbasses who spend all their time online listening to cranks like Eric Weinstein or Anti-vaxxers who lean on the idea that we can’t “calculate a system with 3 electrons” as evidence that since science doesn’t know how to do X, then why should we believe that there’s an accurate model for Y?? and people who don’t KNOW anything about the topic connect with that rhetoric because it appeals to feelings, not reason.

People do not fucking turn anti science because someone who knows science tries to explain science any more than this kind of “change in values.”

And nobody says that. I immediately know that someone is constructing a whole straw universe when someone claims anyone representing science ever claims “everything is pretty much explained” because that’s not how science WORKS. it’s just a word that means a process… we look at shit, we come up with ideas for why that thing is like that, then we do tests to see if that model works, and we collect those successes as facts. It’s a process that doesn’t even claim to “explain” anything.

I was going to talk about our social acceptance of religion despite even knowing it does objective harms to society, but then I realized you’re being performative and don’t really care or you wouldn’t have to put words in my mouth. I won’t see whatever else you have to tell me I am saying.

It’s funny because we allow people to believe whatever crazy, insane fairy tales they want about what magic sky wizard is the real magic sky wizard and even if those beliefs do harm, we say “well that’s their belief.”

I’m saying, if people are going to live in fantasy land, tell better fucking stories because our world is literally burning down on the backs of performative shits sitting on the computer being smug about what their perfect future looks like.

It’s a pretty dumb trolly problem if you rather truth that hurts people than a fairy tale that actually helps people.

What’s crazy is holding onto the ideal that you can get everyone on the same page, interpreting the same things the same way. Our entire civilization is build on a palace of lies we will never have truth for, so I find I don’t feel bothered if people take inspiration from someone who may or may not have existed.

I care more about outcomes nowadays far more than if everyone is on the same page, that’s never going to happen.

I’ve come to accept that reality is far less important to our daily lives than narratives.

I mean, it’s a real depressing understanding of the world, but after you embrace it, you learn to work around it and it can even be a huge asset or tool for getting results and interacting with others.

For me personally, I want to learn the disappointing truth about everything, but for the vast majority of people, they will live their whole lives without ever needing or wanting to learn who actually said or did what in history. It’s fine. We can keep building stories to influence people to do better things. There is no cosmic arbiter of truth who is going to judge people for spreading a story that leads to better outcomes.

I think I did read a recent paper outlining just such a case study.

It’s both deeply essentialist, and insulting to people’s intelligence. If you’re planning on studying hitler’s DNA, who cares, knock yourself out. But it’s ridiculous to think all but the worst people are going to believe there’s an “evil” gene.

If you’re a scientist planning on cloning hitler, you have a lot more problems on your hands, and are obviously not pursuing any kind of scientific results and just want attention and deserve all the ridicule from other that idiots you will get.