the government can go into unlimited debt if it is willing to cause a hyperinflation at some point later in the future to eliminate all of that debt.

we need more working powers to keep our wealth and our standard of living up. obviously, as things are crumbling around us, this means we don’t put in enough effort to maintain things, and more hands would help.

that is a false thought. The labor market is regulated by supply and demand. That means, fewer workers lead to higher wages and a higher quality of life. It might seem paradoxical, but having a smaller workforce means people in the country will be able to afford more stuff.

That is especially important as people discuss the birth-rate, and immigration, in all countries, also in the US and in Europe. People say things such as “women have 1.6 children on average, which means our population is declining, and obviously that is the reason why our quality-of-life seems to be going down as well”. However, the opposite is true. As automation takes over and well-paying (and meaningful) jobs are eroded, having fewer people around doing all the work actually drives wages up, and leads to an improved quality-of-life.

ways to self-sabotage (100% speedrun)

I honestly don’t really know, but i can guess.

Stock on basic food items, maybe enough for a year or more (including noodles, rice).

Maybe, if you can afford the space/time for it, learn how to grow some basic vegetables on your balcony/garden, to go along with the calories.

That is all i can do. Maybe, also look into viable long-term accomodations in case you lose your house/apartment. Could be homeless shelters, could be sanctuaries, idk.

don’t forget the source code!

danbooru.donmai.us archive

The biggest problem with batteries is that people think that we need them.

What we need is for big consumers (heavy industries) to learn to take the electricity when it is cheap.

Yeah, that would mean everybody pays for hosting videos themselves. The question is: is that a viable strategy / are users willing to put up with that.

NewPipe stopped working for me two weeks ago, and it seems like Google won’t allow NewPipe to download Youtube’s content for free anymore. I don’t think Youtube/NewPipe will ever be usable again. I think we have to say goodbye to Youtube.

The problem is hosting (storage, network) is expensive.

IIRC some platforms (feddit.org, catbox.moe) pays $1000 per month, and that’s mostly just static images.

Videos is much more than that. Who pays for that?

Yeah, me too.

I liked watching ads 12 years ago, they were a funny interjection/change.

Nowadays the ads are so extremely obnoxious, it feels as if they’re poisoning my mind. No way i’m even gonna watch them for a second.

I think it would make sense to channel all bots/propaganda into some concentrated channels. Something like https://lemmygrad.ml/u/yogthos where you can just block all propaganda by blocking one account.

i see your point. i consider ideas to be like stars - they only shine in the darkness. our current world is so full of stress that we have no time to consider silent things anymore.

i think of “progress” and capitalism and the current system as an intense sunlight that burns us, but some are made for the night.

You have put very well in words what i have been feeling for a long time.

“Theory of Baseless Forms” is a phrase i must remember. “I am deeply saddened that people around here are no longer in contact with their essence and have fallen into believing this game is the only real thing around…”

Yes, exactly, the world used to be a magical place, guided by magical principles, but nowadays everything is rationalized, superficial, and driven by the law of mass action (also called “economies of scale”).

There is no myth in the modern world, no story told except that of capitalism and endless greed, and the soul of people seems to be silent.

I would also point out that “greed” is the problem, not “egoism”.

Egoism is a healthy attitude to take care of yourself.

Greed is the unhealthy attitude to do so at other’s expense.

There was a soviet joke:

A refugee from the sovjet union was not surprised to learn that most of what his government had told him about his country was lies - it wasn’t that great.

However, he was shocked to learn that they were telling the truth about other countries.

I don’t think so.

Primarily because there’s not economic benefit in it for the ruling class.

Also, we’ve made the experience of the war in the middle east around 2000 where the USA couldn’t even occupy a farmer’s state for more than a couple years.

I don’t think anybody realistically thinks they can take over another (big) country in this time.

The one true way to resolve this issue (IMO) is to pass a digital bill of rights, regulating these social media corporations, and forcing them to make their products safe for all ages.

Nope it doesn’t work that way, it’s much more complicated than that.

“regulating these social media corporations” how? how exactly are you gonna regulate them?

no matter what you do, somebody complains. put good filters in to only show good news sites, and people complain it’s not “free speech”. Make free speech, and you get hate content.

also, “safe for all ages” is bullshit, it would require digital age verification, like PornHub in Florida. Check out how that went.

FYI, the EU commission is proposing basically mass surveillance too.

Link is german. hope you can find a translator.

striking a good recommendation algorithm is impossible.

no matter what you do, somebody will complain. if you filter “good” news sources, some complain about it not being “free” enough. If you allow everybody to say what they say, you’re gonna end up with a lot of hate speech.

TikTok for me has been this refreshing different media which wasn’t mostly about politics, but about private artists creating whatever they do.