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What does the light at the end of the tunnel look like?
Look, every now and then I stop watching my footfalls and get pensive. And one of the things I've gotten pensive about the past few days is this: the Western culture war is not going to last forever, which means it's going to end. And when it does, how will we look back on this mad time?
Two of the answers are obvious:
But what I can't really put together is the third option, the narrative that will be told if SJ is indeed just a passing phase, either because Red/Grey defeated it or because it wins and then turns out to be unsustainable. Frankly, the Blue Tribe's been writing all the history books since before I was born, so it's hard for me to even picture it. And that troubles me; it's the scenario I think is most likely, and the one I'm to at least some extent trying to bring about, so if I don't have a good idea of what it even looks like that's kind of an HCF. "It is not enough to say that you do not like the way things are. You must say how you will change them, and to what."
So, how will the people in that scenario think of this time? What story will they tell?
(To the SJers here: feel free to answer, if you think you understand your opposition, or feel free to correct me if you think my #2 is uncharitable.)
Personally, I view SJW’s as defectors in a massive prisoner’s dilemma. Conservatives are those who want to punish defectors. But where do you go as a conservative once the defectors have won?
It’s pretty obvious. You defect. And you probably defect worse than the SJW’s, because you are not bound by their strange morality. What will this look like?
Marriage will mostly end as a concept. Women will not have fun in their 20’s and then marry a beta in their 30’s. The betas will be shamed out of existence. Women will either be passed around for their entire lives or settle as part of a harem. Polygamy, the natural mating equilibrium of humanity, will reassert itself.
The economy will shrivel, under nominal socialism or not. It will not be completely obvious, things just won’t get done. Your packages will be delivered to the wrong address. Stores will have random shortages. Software won’t work. Rent will be even more unaffordable. You won’t be able to get healthcare because the doctor-patient ratio is out of whack. Yet they will refuse to train more doctors.
War is certainly on the table. We can already see how militant SJWs are towards Russia and Israel. SJWs are a globalist ideology. All humans are under their sovereignty. And many are willing to prove their loyalty by fighting and dying.
The future is sealed. We have chosen our fate and now must live it. The only way the future may be averted is through a deus ex machina. The impact of AI cannot be predicted, other than to say that those who control access to and direct powerful AI’s will inherit the world for eternity, or until humans are deposed or extinct.
No, conservatives are those who want to co-operate because they believe co-operation itself is the right thing in itself (or "for the sake of the institutions"), even as the other side defects every time. That's why playing Defectbot has worked so well for progressives.
Come on. I think if we look, for instance, at political institutions the right has done just as much defecting as progressives. Gerrymandering obviously happens on both sides but Republicans are overall more aggressive and net more seats from it, the absurd hypocrisy over Supreme Court nominations in final Presidential years, Trump/Jan 6/election fraud nonsense and the list goes on.
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Nah. I sooner see people pacifying themselves with porn, AI companions, and cats. People still having sex will probably stand by marriage. It's too good of a deal for all parties involved.
I can see that! I'm half-convinced it's happening before my eyes. Re: doctors, it's not even about them refusing to train them, who the hell will want to be one, for the price they're offering. I feel horrible if I make a mistake in my, relatively inconsequential, line of work, why should I take on responsibility for someone's life, for the salaries they're offering (in countries that are not the US).
That sounds like a fatal mistake. Antifa black-blocks are legendary for falling apart upon the slightest bit of resistance, and the more resilient underclass shock troops, that progressives sometimes deploy, have no actual loyalty to the regime. If Boston Dynamics comes up with reliable infantry drones, we're fucked, but until they need flesh-and-blood boots on the ground, they'll be limited in what they can do, and in fact, trying to shove critical theory in the military might be the domino causing the whole thing to fall apart. There's still mercenaries, I guess, so maybe they can keep the lights on, as long as they have money.
Meh. I'll happily put myself forward as predicting that the impact of AI will be limited to extrapolating current trends.
I really don't get this messianic / doomerist aura around it.Which is bad enough! I suppose contra what I wrote earlier, I get the doomerism, and the aura I don't get is better described as metaphysical.It seemed like the least bad option at the time, especially accounting for the (not entirely forlorn) hopes of moving to the US and getting a cut of those healthcare fees everyone loves complaining about 🙏.
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I feel like this would just result in polygamy reasserting itself. I would expect the people who pacify themselves with porn, AI companions, and cats to be majority - likely overwhelmingly - male, leaving a smaller number of males having sex than women (there's some indication that this is already happening). Marriage is indeed a good deal for all parties involved, but when you have such an imbalance of people still having sex, then polygamy is a pretty natural outcome. I'm sure the modal woman would prefer the currently-typical two-person marriage between one man and one woman, but when that option isn't available, why not choose being the 10th wife of a high status man than turning to AI companions and cats? I suppose part of it will have to do with how good AI companions get in the future; if the AI can actually manipulate the user's mind into genuinely believing that they're having a real relationship with a real flesh-and-blood-born-from-a-real-womb human who is high status, then all bets are off.
Presumably they'll program the AI companions in such a way that they won't leave you for a newer model.
That's the beauty of polygamy, he won't leave you for a newer model! The newer model just comes in and raises his status which means it also raises your status (while also lowering your status relatively due to having to share with one more woman; whether this is a net gain or loss depends a lot on the details).
But why would a guy support a harem aging wives when, if we're going for all-bets-are-off hedonism, he can just never marry anyone, or divorce and remarry? If nothing else it sounds dangerous. By the time I'd be adding wife no. 4, I'd be worried the other 3 will plot to give me a gentle push down a flight of stairs, so they can split the inheritance / life insurance.
Hm, good point. I suppose my thinking was that it's higher status to be a husband of a harem than to be a playboy or serial monogamist, but in the brave new world, that's certainly not a safe assumption.
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