We're just a little bit smarter than other apes and our technology was all created by people on the tip of the bell curve for intelligence (for that sort of thing). Social media may as well have been handed down to us by aliens, for all we are prepared to deal with it. It's blowing our tiny minds.

People in the fat bit of the bell curve don't know what to do, we can't manage the planet, we just want a house and some friends and dinner. All of this would be somewhat manageable, because the smart ones could probably devise social systems that we could live happily in, if it weren't for the presence of the evil fucks, those exploiters of human weakness, humanity's streak of total assholes.

I figure, we are a tribal animal. We didn't evolve in solitary. We have all these different personality types and they all seem to be present in roughly stable proportions in different societies. Something in the human genome seems to think we benefit from being 10% asshole. Maybe for most of our history, we did. But they're really fucking things for everybody now.

Every autocrat knows that you only need the stupid people on your side, and then you can shoot the smart ones later. This seems to be a dynamic that has been with us from the beginning.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens to Bitcoin if Etherium successfully pulls off the transition to proof-of-stake.

Chud Fusk wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 7:41 pm

Anthony Flack wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:59 pm Seems to me like the declining birthrate and machines taking people's jobs are two problems that have the potential to solve each other to an extent.

Unfortunately I believe you're right. While it would be nice if birth control could cripple capitalism and religion, they have a plan for that.

I don't think we can solve environmental problems with birth control either. There aren't too many people; we're just too wasteful and destructive. The only type of population reduction that would work is 50-100% decrease, not in reproduction but in the existing population. That's why I think the premise of this thread is flawed; it's not "having kids" that's the problem: it's the existence of humans

Exactly. I feel like ecoanxiety is misanthropic at best, suicidal at worst.

I never hear the Vatican talk about adoption

really?

The Pope sure shit the bed with his comments on pet ownership.

Does he not know "God" spelled backwards is "dog"?

He might catch some divine retribution for that. Better watch your step, Francis.

hbiden@onlyfans.com wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 12:23 am

Chud Fusk wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 7:41 pm I never hear the Vatican talk about adoption

really?

At least not on my favorite podcasts

DaveA wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:25 am Does he not know "God" spelled backwards is "dog"?

Ah, well maybe not! He's from Argentina. Dios mio!

Life goes on and somehow now I’ve got a baby, got a babydog
I’ve got a babydog, got a babydog
I’ve got a baby, I’ve got a babydog
I’ve got a babydog
I’ve got a baby, got a babydog
I’ve got a babydog

One of the nicknames I've given our dog, who turns ten soon, is Cool Baby.

I call him this because he was presumably cool even when he was smaller than a softball, waiting to be born.

Anthony Flack wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:58 pm We're just a little bit smarter than other apes and our technology was all created by people on the tip of the bell curve for intelligence (for that sort of thing). Social media may as well have been handed down to us by aliens, for all we are prepared to deal with it. It's blowing our tiny minds.

It doesn't help that our education system stratifies and segregates people, so the technical people are pretty unquestioning of what will be done with their inventions, and aren't encouraged to feel any solidarity with non-tech workers.

I dunno. I'm not voting b/c I also agree that the premise is a little weird.

One one hand, the so-called elites have always behaved like elites, specifically when literal royalty and nobility were more of a thing than they are now. There were far fewer of them (and everyone else, many of whom are also quite wasteful) and so, the planet wasn't half as fucked. Too many fucking humans, as the song goes...

That said, crypto seems like the infinitely more frivolous and unnecessary option. It's still in its relative infancy, so its full potential for environmental destruction remains to be seen.

It's a pity that Pentti Linkola (or the original guitar player from No Trend) didn't live long enough to see this thread. Not that either would have been on this forum...

Checking in to say that I just noticed how hard bitcoin's imploding this month. Peaks and valleys I suppose.