domain:npr.org
TheAntipopulist
Formerly Ben___Garrison
2m ago
There's a lot of stuff that could have been done with that money. I guess in a Keynesian sense that having that extra economic 'activity' is somehow better overall, maybe. But there's no doubt that we'd both be wealthier and have a better financial future.
This is a silly strawman of what economics says. Economic activity is only useful if people are getting something they want out of it, otherwise economists would advocate for going around breaking random windows to generate "economic activity" by repairing them.
ChickenOverlord
4m ago
I had a friend who straight up quit Dota 2 because of how negatively it affected his mood and mental well being. I never let myself get too frustrated but the tryhards in ranked are obnoxious to play with so I usually just play turbo as mid ogre and hit Q and 4x multicast (multicast is pure skill and zero luck fight me).
campy
4m ago
All these people, and everyone who tolerates these people, are refusing to breed.
But they're recruiting like mad.
professorgerm
You shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart
5m ago
The entire point of this site is to allow us to discuss across ideological divides.
And the monkey's paw curled a finger hard on this one.
I've long though that people abuse that Twain quote about travel being fatal to prejudice and bigotry, and that travel- especially if it's only a limited exposure- has about a 50/50 shot of reinforcing it instead. Likewise here; if your exposure across the ideological divide is limited and of... particular quality, it only reinforces just how obnoxious/stupid/evil/whatever "the other" really is.
Sloot
8m ago
(This is one big reason I still live with my mom; if I have to have a roommate anyway, who better than my mother who loves me? What's the point of moving out just to become roommates with a stranger?)
Because living with one’s mother runs a higher risk of ick-induction in potential female partners than living with an unrelated male roommate, which in turn runs a higher risk of female ick-induction than living solo.
Living with an unrelated female roommate can be tingle inducing for potential female partners if she’s attractive, given preselection and female mate choice copying.
TheAntipopulist
Formerly Ben___Garrison
10m ago
Problem 1: God isn't real.
Problem 2: Many societies have done fine enough without God, like East Asia up until a few decades ago. They had watery "spirituality" like Shintoism's ancestor worship or Confucianism's philosophy, but those are very different from God.
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
13m ago
In 2025, it's a near impossibility to support oneself at age 18 entirely independently
It's easier than it's ever been in history.
sun_the_second
could survive a COD lobby and a gay furry discord server
15m ago
If old great works are so great, why do we stop caring about them as opposed to yearning for the standard they had set? Sounds more like the traditional humanities were simply inferior to the new, "diluted" way of doing art.
oats_son
15m ago
South Korea is an extreme example and bringing it up likely weakened the point. I don't mind the idea of things changing to be a more stable equilibrium, but if we're on a cliff, it would make me feel a lot better to know if it's a short drop or a long drop.
ThomasdelVasto
Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου
18m ago
The issue I see here is that conservatism is increasingly the ideology of uneducated people and those who went to third-rate universities. Instead of thinking about how to acquire power, or attract EHC who have power, they're smoking copium about how noble manual labor is.
Hmm I think it's hard to put the entire right into a bucket like that. I would say the same for the left. It's a broad coalition. Neither party right now really appeals to the educated elite imo, with progressives throwing away much of their historic stances and technocratic focus for identity politics.
In general I think the left has an ideal intellectual as an effete, sarcastic, witty urbanite who focuses on socialization. Whereas the ideal intellectual on the right is a woodsman, a man who knows the Western canon extremely well, can debate and write poetry with the best of them, but also does have that connection with the land and with the common people. It's a very classically Christian notion, imo.
One can even negotiate down to $0 by the One Weird Trick of just not paying. Just like jiu-jistsu isn’t real, because you can just stand-up: hospital bills aren’t real, just don’t pay.
Although it’s likely one of those things that varies across states in the States, my recollection is that credit score treatment of delinquent medical bills tend to be more lenient, if medical bills make it in there in the first place (God forbid if you close a credit card, though).
It works even better if you’re a member of the underclass or an illegal immigrant, where your (or “your” for illegal immigrants) credit score likely doesn’t matter to you anyway. The costs of your hospital tabs will be passed on to those who pay their bills. Anarcho-tyranny, hospital bill edition.
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
18m ago
I do think America's gender wars will get worse before they get better, but keep in mind that much of South Korea's gender dysfunction is due to sex-selective abortion two decades ago.
Tollund_Man4
19m ago
I also think the truth is generally to be found in the middle. 25 million deportations is the thoughtful man's solution.
oats_son
19m ago
I like this post. Yes, the future flatlining and being the same trend forever is unrealistic. My points are more that I don't see any mechanism for some of those issues getting better. Also, you'll hopefully understand that just because humanity already has went through civil wars and starving poverty, that I regardless won't be particularly enthused if it happens again.
oats_son
22m ago
Meh. I think that everyone likes feeling "sensible". That doesn't mean much, if everyone does feel like they're sensible. Being a centrist doesn't make you more sensible. It just makes you more palatable to more people. It also lets you get away with not actually giving your own viewpoint on what will happen, I guess. Comfortably distanced forum poster, you did a bad job responding to my post!
Crowstep
26m ago
The experiment we're running in the West since 1965 now is not even half done. And perhaps I'm wrong. But it will be a fascinating thing if the acceptance of LGB leads to a significant decrease in their population come 2065. This will be especially poignant if there's far more gay folks outside the tolerant west -- a world with gay Muslims but no gay Swedes.
I had a very similar thought myself the other week when past the local Pride parade.
All these people, and everyone who tolerates these people, are refusing to breed. This is all a flash in the pan. Unless AI flips the table and changes all the rules, the Europe of the future will not have Pride marches.
TheAntipopulist
Formerly Ben___Garrison
32m ago
There is a small but substantial fraction of Trump voters who are willing to break with him on foreign interventions and military support of foreign countries.
Strong disagree here. Foreign affairs consistently ranks as one of the issues voters are most likely to "trust their leaders" on, i.e. be sheep about. MAGA quite vehemently wanted no more interventions in the Middle East... until Trump started bombing Iran, then they switched to being more or less OK with it. He even threatened full regime change and the response from MAGA was lukewarm at worst. Much of MAGA was unequivocal in how much they wanted Trump to dump Ukraine and "not give another dollar to Zelenskyy", right up until Trump promised to arm Ukraine a few days ago, when most of MAGA flipped to saying it was OK due to the minerals deal (or something like that).
Likewise, voters DGAF about tariffs, but might be more concerned if they manifest as inflation later on.
Things like immigration and to some degree the Epstein files are less likely to evoke sheep-like responses from the right.
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
32m ago
I'm curious overall - do you not see a benefit to being in touch with the working class whatsoever?
To a small extent, sure.
The issue I see here is that conservatism is increasingly the ideology of uneducated people and those who went to third-rate universities. Instead of thinking about how to acquire power, or attract EHC who have power, they're smoking copium about how noble manual labor is.
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
48m ago
My post says nothing negative about low-class people. I'm taking issue with lower-middle-class conservative policy wonks who fetishize manual labor. As to being a one-trick pony, I've written much else, see:
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
51m ago
Now, frankly I have no idea how he does want these necessary but awful (by his lights) jobs to be done, and would very much appreciate hearing that directly from him. I would also, honestly, really like him to make a top level post where he lays out his own, explicit, positive ideas about how he wants the economy and culture to work.
Over the short term, by people who have no better option, which is how they're done in any society. Over the long term, economic and technological growth will allow more and more of those jobs to be eliminated.
Bartender_Venator
52m ago
Not suggesting they become academics (God, no! Affirmative action just scratches the surface of academia's professional pathologies). If you go to a top university, and are sufficiently intelligent, personable, and flexible, you can pivot into basically any type of email job you want with a little networking. Or, with luck, they can follow some passion and have a happy life doing something for its own sake.
TheAntipopulist
Formerly Ben___Garrison
55m ago
I've started to read up on this whole Epstein thing, and your take in your first 3 paragraphs seems much more realistic than the crazy conspiracies. WAY too much of this whole affair is sourced from Virginia Giuffre, a serial accuser and known liar.
The question I have, though, is why Trump proceeded the way he did.
A mix of incompetence and disinterest. Trump only has an implicit, gut-feeling on his base which is good enough for him in most ways, but has limitations. That's why he messed up on H1-Bs in December, and it's why he messed up now. He probably didn't really think this whole Epstein thing was that important so he let his lieutenants (Bondi and Patel, among others) hype up promises they couldn't keep, and now its blown up in his face. He's trying to backpedal like a malfunctioning ChatGPT doing a slurry of outgroup hate that usually works -- mentioning the Steele Dossier, Hillary, Obama, Biden, Russia investigation, Comey, etc, etc. I don't think this will actually do much to dent the Trump coalition in the long term -- there will be a few defections and disillusionments, but not a critical mass since the human brain is quite adept at rationalizing away cognitive dissonance. However, it's sure been good pickings for hilarious blatant hypocrisy, e.g. example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4, example 5.
I've read a few times that hiring has become a mess because loads of applicants are using LLM agents that can apply to jobs and adjust your CV per job, and thus rapidly apply for hundreds of suitable positions with custom applications.
Is this true, do such systems exist? My wife is returning to the job market soon but is a bit lazy when it comes to applications, so this would be a lifesaver for her
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