Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[Kak]

On second thought:

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=07fTsF5BiSM

 

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[Mathuin]

Will do. I wonder if people still think degrees make you real money.

I found this video of his to be eye opening in re to degrees

View: https://youtu.be/kXpwAOHJsxg

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

FBI investigates FBI and finds that the FBI did nothing wrong

C.I.A. Says It Has Found No Link Between Itself and Crack Trade (Published 1997)

CIA concludes, after interviewing nearly 400 people on four continents, that its officers had nothing to do with explosion of crack cocaine in US, as charged by some blacks; secret report finds no evidence that CIA coordinated or condoned drug trafficking, although separate probe continues into...

www.nytimes.com

 

[ItsAJackal]

I absolutely cannot believe there is a market and people are purchasing "mouse movers" on amazon. Small devices that cause your mouse to randomly move to make it appear that you are at your desk.

There is so much to unpack here.

The fact that people can get their work done, but their management requires them to be at their computers and "active" is a sad state of where we are. Personally, if people are getting the work done I don't care if they work 20 hours or 50 hours. As long as the things that need to be done are being completed.

 

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[Rabby]

It's not the mask-wearing that pisses me off, but the incessant lockdowns.

Malaysia is now in a full lockdown till 14 June because the government caved into 'social outcry'
At first, the government had a more reasonable approach of just having partial lockdowns in heavily-hit areas, plus sending some workers/employees to work-from-home settings. So business could still continue...

Then the social media starting pouring in with tweets on 'road to 10k cases' and '#kerajaangagal'(government fail)

There's plenty to pick with the government, but do people want to be cut down into poverty, just to be safe from a virus that actually has a decent survival rate? I've got a friend who caught COVID, and he recovered in a week with decent rest.

Sadly, most people don't deserve good leaders with strong decisions, because they keep pressuring the ones they already have into making more stupid decisions.

I want a Galt's Gulch to escape to.

People are told what they want by government, or its allied establishments. What they really want is prosperity, but quite often it eludes them because the vampires are afraid that if productive people become too powerful, they won't be able to get at the blood.

 

[Rabby]

Anatomy of the State | Murray N. Rothbard

Just go read it. You'll be enlightened.

 

[Kak]

Anatomy of the State | Murray N. Rothbard

Just go read it. You'll be enlightened.

I second this. It’s an awakening. If some of you think conservativism makes more sense than liberalism, you will land on at least minarchism after reading Anatomy Of The State.

 

[Kak]

@Thoelt53 and @Timmy C democracies kill themselves.

 

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[Kak]

Sure seems that way.
Seems like a republic does also.

That’s what people get when they ignore human nature.

Embracing human nature is embracing choice and competition. Everything else is fighting the inevitable.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

Saw this posted in the BTC thread...

John McAfee dead of apparent suicide in Spanish jail after court approves his extradition to U.S. on tax charges

Antivirus software company founder John McAfee was found dead in a Spanish jail Wednesday after a court approved his extradition to the United States.

www.cnbc.com

He had an incredibly interesting Twitter account. RIP.

 

[Bekit]

I'm in the exact same boat. I pulled up an old Trello board that I had made in 2019 with a few goals I had set for myself and I haven't achieved a single one. If anything I'm further from them. And it is soul crushing.

I'd kill to be 27 and on this forum. I'm 38 and everything is slipping away.

I'm in a dead end slow lane 11 hour a day job and I just feel hopeless about the future. This current job is killing my health and I'll be lucky to be alive at 45 by this point.

You are not stuck.

You are not a victim of your past track record with goals.

You are an adult, and you have choices.

What one choice could you make today to get you a step closer to where you want to be?

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Resharing from Techno Optimism page on FB. 1963

 

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[Raoul Duke]

Laurel Hubbard is such an inspiration.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

things can always get more retarded

View attachment 38586

Nothing makes more sense than requiring terminally ill children to get a vaccine they don’t need and that won’t matter since they are already dying.

 

[Thoelt53]

Nothing makes more sense than requiring terminally ill children to get a vaccine they don’t need and that won’t matter since they are already dying.

But bro they could be vectors of the disease!!!1!1!1! I read the science. Think about the children! You’re a moron anti mask anti vaccine Nazi literal fascist racist white supremacist xenophobic homophobic transphobic bigoted misogynist. I hope you get covid and die while eaten by an alligator while you fall out of a plane and get hit by a bus.

On a real note, at this point I can’t even trust the word ‘science.’ If this is what science is, I don’t believe in science. I’m all set, thanks. I’ll stick to God and common sense.

 

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[Madame Peccato]

On a real note, at this point I can’t even trust the word ‘science.’ If this is what science is, I don’t believe in science. I’m all set, thanks. I’ll stick to God and common sense.

It's what happen when religion is replaced with "science". The world becomes devoid of any morality, and people cling to science as if it was humanity's only hope.

The difference is that religious central powers don't control you. Science can. When "scientists" say to lock down and vaccinate everyone they can do it. If the Vatican or other institutions proposed it we'd be giving them the middle finger.

I don't trust "science" when it's so politicised. Dissent is silenced. Scientific discourse is barred. That's now how progress is made. Progress is made by challenging ideas and dissecting them to their essence.

Nowadays there is "what's right" and every other idea is banned from the public. People label who disagrees as "no vax" (as if...) or "conspiracy theorist" and frame the discussion to make it impossible to have a real discussion. You can't even argue with these people, because their assumption is that you're stupid or uneducated.

 

[GPM]

The difference is that religious central powers don't control you.

History begs to differ.

Massive central power of any kind can and will control you. Religious has had its time in the sun, right now for the moment it is "science".

Come to think of it it was not religion or "science" that has done either of the controlling, it has been government using both of those titles in the name of "the greater good".

Once again government control rears its ugly head and yet people think they are still there to help us.

 

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[Mathuin]

you spend all of your time only with people who are the same age as you, then you are an idiot.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

I have always hated “partying.”

Partying is fun when you're celebrating big wins with people who helped you get there. It's often empty otherwise.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Now even climat change is a conspiracy? Sure, the fact that we build with no limits, waste everything and use resources like we live in paradise has no consequences at all.
And I’m curious, what’s the point of climat change conspiracy?

There are solutions to everything.
Ever heard of recycling? It’s a huge industry. You could even start a business doing it.

Waste management is a massive company. They provide incredible value to the world.

The conspiracy part is more about ineffective solutions. Real solutions can come from entrepreneurs.

You can also develop products that pollute less, and see if people will buy them. Many of them will.

 

[Thoelt53]

Now even climat change is a conspiracy? Sure, the fact that we build with no limits, waste everything and use resources like we live in paradise has no consequences at all.
And I’m curious, what’s the point of climat change conspiracy?

Why did we change from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’?

Look around and educate yourself. Neither of these were ever threats to the planet. They are a threat to your bank account and potential generational wealth.

Don’t be a sucker. Human caused warming of the planet is demonstrably false. Look and you shall see.

To be so arrogant as to think we pathetic humans have more effect on Earth than Earth does herself is asinine.

Don’t even get me started on the Sun.

Unless of course you think we humans are more powerful than the Sun. Hah.

 

[Madame Peccato]

And I’m curious, what’s the point of climat change conspiracy?

More power concentrated in the hands of the government .

People think the government is the only thing that can salvage the environment.

So the government does what it does best. Toss money into the bottomless pit called "government programs". Money it stole from its citizens through its monopolistic power.

The results? Higher taxes. More control on the population. Less freedom to do anything. Somehow we went from "the Ice Age is coming" 50 years ago to "we are all going to die in 20 years because the planet is heating up".

Check out this article, and the image I attached for more information.

 

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[Matt Sun]

Now even climat change is a conspiracy?

We need that tax money to “fight climate change”. Sea levels rising !

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Just wanna point out a big disconnect between people who think big and those who think small:

Small minded people see a billionaire or a pro athlete or elite musician and think they were lucky or talented.

Big thinkers think of the effort and dedication... and imagine the incredible heights they could achieve if they committed their whole lives to something.

 

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[Timmy C]

I now call bullshit on all of this vaccine and covid crap.

The inventor of the MRNA vaccine has come out and said they are not safe and guess what they are doing now?
Censorship isn't enough now. No No NO!
They are literally rewriting history itself. He was listed as the MRNA inventor on Wikipedia only to be taken off.
His Linkedin has been shut down etc.

Toe the line or else.

This is his Twitter

https://twitter.com/RWMaloneMD

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Question: If I wear a t-shirt that says "Freedom" with a picture of the American flag, do I get to pay less taxes? Can I leave the country without an exit tax? Without a passport? Can I stop paying my property taxes but still keep my beautiful house that I worked so hard for?

Likewise, if I stand in a garage, can I call myself a car?

How does capitalism consider the environment in this case?

It doesn't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a capitalist, but there has to be a balance between resources and unfettered, unlimited profits at any cost because shareholders and Wall Street analysts demand it.

Part of the reason I'm getting out of Arizona is because of the relentless growth. Every plot of land down here (S. Suburbs) that is vacant is now being built upon -- apartments, tiny houses jammed packed together -- it is simply unsustainable. This is unrestrained capitalism, and I guarantee you, the developers don't give a shit, and neither do the city council members who undoubtedly got a nice stipend for their reelection campaign.

How long can it last? I'm not sure, but I don't want to be here when the water shortages hit.

 

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[MTF]

The point is, when people value trees more than people value buildings, and they will at some point, capitalism will consider leaving forests in inconvenient places. For now, we aren't there.

At this point, will there be anything else to leave alone? The entire problem is that if you wait for capitalism to consider leaving forests in "inconvenient" places, the moment may come when it's too late to save them. There are countless examples of places that are forever destroyed already.

@MJ DeMarco summed it up well in his example of Arizona. That's exactly what I wanted to convey.

This does not mean capitalism doesn't consider the desires of the people, it did. Did it consider the desires of the trees? No it didn't and won't. Trees aren't paying customers.

And herein lies the entire problem. The value of the world can't be judged by the number of "paying customers" alone or it becomes one giant factory with no place for what makes life worth living. This includes plenty of things you can't and shouldn't commercialize, including nature, public spaces, many arts, etc.

There are things that should be free and available for everyone. I would hate for my beloved lake to be turned into a private club where I would have to pay for the privilege of swimming in it. Or worse, see all the trees around it cut down and the lake polluted to wait for capitalism to one day perhaps value clean water more than short-term profit. Thankfully, it's public land and I hope it'll stay this way forever.

Stopping people from cutting down trees that they own is bullshit.

So if someone buys an old-growth forest that took hundreds of ages to grow and cuts down all the trees because he happens to "own them," that's cool with you? The ecosystem the "owner" destroyed is forever lost, along with thousands of rare animals and plants that lived there. That's textbook ecocide.

In scenarios like these, I don't believe in capitalism because it doesn't take into account the fact that owning something doesn't give you the right to destroy something that had existed long before you were born.

If trees don't speak to you, then let's imagine someone buying a castle that was built in the Middle Ages. Since he owns it, he decides to bulldoze it and replace it with a shopping mall. Is that also cool with you? The castle is never coming back and with it, a part of human legacy. What gives the guy the right to erase hundreds of years of history? The fact that he has money? The world where this would be true would be a very sad place.

Anyway, pretty sure we have to agree to disagree here.

Cue Felix Dennis. Dude just bought up thousands of acres of land and starting planting trees himself. He certainly was an anomaly though under the current circumstances.

He proves my point because it's set up as a charity. It would never work as a business. But I appreciate his initiative a lot.

The only example that comes to my mind of a company that does understand the risks of exploitative capitalism and is successful in today's world is Patagonia.

Eventually, the virtual reality centers built where the trees were will show you trees so real you won't know they aren't there, you aren't there, and nothing exists.

Sort of reminds me of this picture:



Cut down the tree, rent umbrellas, make a profit. Because who would make money from a tree that gave free shade? And this way, it still sort of looks like a tree (the stump is still there, see how eco-friendly I am!) so everyone's happy, right?

 

[Madame Peccato]

Relying on the government to fix the environment is a bizarre idea. The existence of governments and public property is why we reached this point.

Right now, chemical industries dump their toxic chemicals in the oceans. Regular people throw away plastic in lakes and rivers. Why? Because they can. Rivers, lakes, etc. are public.

Western governments realized their mistakes recently. Too little too late? Probably not, but only if daddy lets people figure things out.

The problem is twofold:
1) If the most efficient way to dispose of toxic waste is to dump it into a lake, companies will do it.
2) These companies don't have to find a better way to dispose of their waste.

Until Kyoto protocol in 1997, nobody cared. Governments let people to do whatever they wanted with pollution.

Now, the question from statists always turns into: "if government failed to protect the environment, how are private owners supposed to?". It's way easier.

For starters, companies have to own the land/water they use to dispose of their chemicals. Or they have to pay for the privilege of using someone else's landfill.

This leads to a massive improvement in water quality for the general population. People will only buy water from clean lakes. If companies buy a lake for their activities, the lake will become unusable. There is a huge opportunity cost in that.

You reach a point where it makes more sense to develop a better way to treat waste. Research costs money, but the government is a business' biggest cost, so it's hard to justify R&D costs.

Plus, companies have to fight all sorts of regulations. Let's say you find a way to develop an amazing disposal method, but it uses a material banned by the government. Good luck getting it approved, even if your creation is 100% harmless.

The bureaucratic machine will stop you. Look at insulin in the States for an example (source). There is a government approved monopoly on insulin, forced through the FDA. You can't make your own insuline. You have to buy it from one of the 3 approved makers. The makers of course all raise the prices together. They don't care. They are a legally-protected monopoly.

Governments have been ok with F*cking up the environment for decades. Many governments still don't care. I'm sure you can send Xi Jinping a letter asking nicely to stop polluting. He will think you're off your rails. It's his country, not yours. The same principle applies to private property. Or should, if private property was respected.

Would you trust these people to not F*ck up again?

Remember, they are the ones stifling innovation through coercion. They have a gazillion pointless regulations in place. They tax anyone who wants to make the world a better place. They waste trillions to do whatever the F*ck they are doing.

The U.S. spends almost 800 billion dollars in military expenses. Other countries spend billions too. Italy for example spends about 30 billions in their military. Every year. Here's the source.

These are the people you are trusting. If you think democracies exist to advance civilization, the propaganda system fooled you.

Back to the environment...consumer behavior is changing, prompting companies to change. That's the only thing that matters. Consumers. If consumers want environmentally-conscious companies, the companies will change. If consumers don't care, neither will the companies.

But if the government makes it impossible for companies to change, or for better companies to exist, then you have a problem.

 

[becks22]

I bought a milk frother online. I have now frothed things that shouldn't be frothed. I've created a monster.

 

[GPM]

I'm banned from gyms here in Italy because I'm not vaxinated.

xd

Time to move. Screw Italy and any other country like that. I hope the countries pulling crap like this lose all their productive citizens and they can go and rot in the cesspool that they are.