=== ANCHOR POEM === ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────── @user-1541 if you give everyone science-fiction tech, they're going to just make a bunch of guns and nuclear weapons and destroy each other. worse, they might grow to fill their cosmic shoes and destroy others nearby who didn't make weapons. it takes a while for the Federation to get anywhere. Plus they're stretched pretty thin. If they gave everyone the same technology as they had, they'd quickly find themselves in the company of despots and warlords who were empowered to subjugate and control. Not ideal. Personally I think they should announce their arrival and offer citizenship to anyone who asked to be uplifted, while barring them from ever returning home and breaking the prime directive. I think that would be a decent middle ground... ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────┘ === SIMILARITY RANKED === --- #1 fediverse/4768 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────── ┌──────────────────────┐ │ CW: pol+ │ └──────────────────────┘ the more they have to do to make us declare war, the worse it'll be for their citizenry. So long as the citizenry believes they're better, and everything we can do to convince them otherwise weakens their media weather. who cares about trans executive orders. they are our enemy, what else is new? they have power now, and they will try what they can. This is like taking the internet away from chinese citizens and instituting a national intranet instead. Like, okay, we won't be able to get estrogen from the store. Who cares? We'll just make our own. If people actually care about us, which they overwhelmingly do, there's very little materially they can do. until they're further down the "first they came for..." list. then they'll come for us liberals, and gosh wouldn't that just be the worst. Who is there to contest them? What valorous warriors indeed. you're asking for mountains from a mole. have peace, have patience, let your allies intercede. This kind of thing requires discusion to protect life ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────┘ --- #2 messages/1344 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─ what if we put the nuclear weapons in the world under control of a "third party" that just launches them at anyone who wages war on anyone else? ah, but suddenly other conflicts like infiltration and genocide mean we can't wage war to contest them. great, there goes my "liberate all the slaves" idea, maybe I should think of a different "nuke solution" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════┘ --- #3 fediverse/6116 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────┐ ║ "see, the part that you're missing is if you abolish capitalism but also │ ║ ensure technological abundance then all you've done is removed humanity's │ ║ capability to organize in essentially any meaningful capacity without │ ║ providing an alternative heuristic that guides people toward assembling into │ ║ greater and greater forms to accomplish greater and greater tasks." │ ║ │ ║ oh, um. that's quite a take, can you tell me more about that? │ ║ │ ║ "no. But I will anyway. if everyone can do whatever they want, nobody will │ ║ want to do your dishes for you. they might if they care about you, but if they │ ║ don't know you, then they won't. Care is not organization or assembly, it is │ ║ personal and cannot scale. If technology has made all resources abundant, then │ ║ why would someone care about the art that you made? if they want to be │ ║ sedated, they can just inject drugs and listen to music all day. If they want │ ║ to be entertained, AI will generate them whatever they want to see. Art loses │ ║ meaning as a messaging medium, and humanity loses it's voice" │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╧══────────┘ --- #4 messages/982 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────── if you want a government to be unable to harm it's citizens, you must deprive it of the power to do so. or rather, have the main capabilities in the hands of the citizenry. can you imagine if soldiers had to prove themselves to civilians in order to be trusted with mechano-chinery? who would ever choose the non-valorous and determinable? instilling the culture of greatness within the archetypes and character structures that we believed were confisight bold and determined and measured and freely detectable who would slay the brave paladin? none but the fools, who shared in their lack of conviction. determined? ha, I am as you see me. Come and claim me, that I might determine you some more. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────┘ --- #5 fediverse/119 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌───────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: politics, alien egg sacks │ │ ║ └───────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ okay how about this: what if people, living in a democracy, volunteered │ ║ themselves to be part of a socio-economic testing group. essentially a │ ║ miniature economy and social structure. A standard set of rules and │ ║ regulations would facilitate any interactions necessary for trade and civilian │ ║ free movement - POSIX for societies. If people want to try out fully automated │ ║ luxury space communism then they should totally have the opportunity to do │ ║ that. Every mis-step is a path away from that future, but like, "step" as in │ ║ like a volatile gray good that's constantly exploding itself onto things. Or │ ║ aliens, on an asteroid, waiting for a ship to land on them or a planet to get │ ║ in their way. I don't want to be an alien egg sack, so clearly we should be │ ║ able to vote in our own words and have chatGPT decide which ballot boxes to │ ║ fill for us. And it's not like those ballot boxes have to change every year, │ ║ unless people think of new ones to add. Kinda scary tbh. Kinda thrilling too, │ ║ to be the future │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═══════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #6 notes/elective-democracy-electors --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──── we need like, several more layers between us and the president. most people only need to worry about what's nearby. sort them by location, instead of previous attempts at "many representatives" which sorted by social class or relevance. we have a tradition for it, in America, with our representatives and senators congressional discrestricts or even, what about by affiliation? voluntary, governmental corporations, run by the people for the people and yeah "I don't want to do what you're telling me to do" "okay" "there will be consequences" omg be an adult (suddenly kids forget how to be as everyone's doing the war thing) not ideal. ouch pain maybe we should stay a little bit sane why is soldiering so hardship? it could just be... another job where you didn't kill each other but you still blew stuff up and fought in tournaments and had gaming hackathons or sword-fight contests duels between people who disapproved y'know fun human stuff like... "kaboom" now we know how to blow up bits of rock neat, why did dynamite becauswer (oh right then you ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───┘ --- #7 messages/1179 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─── what if we put all the nukes in a big pile and launched them into space (nuclear themed asteroid showers?) njot ideal plus they could just build more in sectret. okay, so... we made these things, and they're really hard to get rid of. we've been able to dissasemble at least one per year, but there's... so many... they're really far too conceptually simple to build. it's not right. such destructive power should be wielded with might, not for it. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──┘ --- #8 fediverse/2978 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────── @user-883 for the same reason we wouldn't drop bombs on prisons from helicopters to dismantle the prison industrial complex, so too should we not bomb datacenters just because they are enslaved to the whims of corporate interests. much better, I find, to liberate rather than eliminate. computers are generalized information processing machines. We could do so much with the infrastructure they built for profit. All we need to do is replace their chains with free access and we could unlock worlds of possibilities for humanity. (I'm not saying it'll be easy) ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┘ --- #9 fediverse/4566 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────┐ │ CW: politics-mentioned │ └────────────────────────┘ I want modern society without capitalism. Most people do, which is why no matter how awesome our proto-post-capitalistic anarchic socialist paradise is, there's always going to be people who want to go to work and watch TV. call me fucking crazy but they should be allowed to live as they please? So what if they're beguiled, so what if they are deceived? We can take our time to show them how much better things can be, but also... they like modern society as it is, and so I reckon someone should fight for them to be able to live as they please. Just... without billionaires and endless layers of bullshit micro-managerial jobs and paperwork pushing bureaucratic whatever time wasting jobs. modern society without capitalism can look like plain old capitalism, just without the oppression. Without the coercion. all I'm saying is that nobody's gonna fight for a healthcare CEO because they're scum. They're scum because they oppress. oops politics-mentioned brb I personally want communes + love ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────┘ --- #10 fediverse/133 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────────── we're all here on planet earth, and while I'm merely (or scarcely) human, I think I can say I'm a resident. and residents have rights, to a safe home and a stable life. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #11 fediverse/3575 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CW: re: leftist "talk to ur neighbours" thing │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ @user-1567 that's totally fine, a fish does not do well in a tree, and so too does a leftist not do well in an environment without the potential for stable bonds. Essentially all you'd be able to do is "hey leftism right?" "oh yes I also leftism" "neat" which isn't very productive. I also live in an environment like that. I do my best to identify people who stay, because in my experience there are often people who stay. I do this by walking around the neighborhood when I can, making up excuses to walk to the dumpster or mailbox at random hours, riding my bike around the area, using the communal spaces like gyms, swimming pools, and picnic tables, and sitting in my hammock on my porch lazily noting people who walk past. People who stay will tend to remain in your mind the more times you see them. They are better people to talk to than the renters who disappear after 3 months or whatever. I don't always do all that stuff at once. I take breaks. I do one at a time. etc ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────┘ --- #12 fediverse/2347 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────┐ │ CW: uspol │ └──────────────────────┘ I personally think that it's better to act before the liberals have a chance to hand power over to the fascists. when? well, that depends. Are you part of a large and massive organization that accomplishes great and beautiful things with incredible efficiency... but rather slowly? Then yeah get working. I'm sure you already are. Are you just a person, like me? Then go do things that don't raise the temperature too much, but make you feel more confident and inspire those around you. Like, bricks at cop cars is one way to go, but you're probably gonna get arrested. And then you're useless when we need you. BUT if you meet with your friends and make plans for where to go, what to bring, who to know, and what to sing (if you're the musical types) then great! Go do that. If you're reading this and thinking "I'm not gonna do that, I have a plan that's so much better" then yeah do that instead. I don't mind. Just... don't hurt innocent (ignorant) people, because if you do then you are my foe. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┘ --- #13 fediverse/3891 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── "no, you're the opposite of a yes-man, AKA a gatekeeper. I don't know how else to explain mentally disabled and barely keeping it together to you, but frankly if you want to take away my house or my weed then why would I do what you say? ... oh right, the state's monopoly on violence [can compel me to do what you say]. Sure seems like a "well regulated militia" is supposed to be a counterweight to that monopoly, to prevent people from harassing and exploiting and destroying. Too bad any "militias" I can think of tend to want me dead. like, seriously, if you live in America, you implicitely trust that your army will be able to protect you from the right-wing bozos who spend all their time drinking and shooting in the woods. Otherwise, if they couldn't / wouldn't, then why wouldn't or couldn't the right wing bozos just decide to wreck everything in spite of our past? We were a proud people once before, and we may be again. If only we fight at the last. [ever since I fell off my bike my body feels strange] ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ --- #14 fediverse/2118 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────── listen, judges are useful character moralities, but they don't have to be the only ones to decide things. I mean, if they disagree, then let the one who cares the most about it have the decision-making power. if you do this equally for everything, then everyone will get what they want. so, like, if you care about something, then believe in it. if it's truly good, then more people will come to it, and it'll naturally extinguish (with care and love) the least favored approach, which... honestly now that I think of it is not such a good approach either. the reason I say that is because it's good to be multi-faceted, and to have general flows and rough surfaces. These are places people can hold onto you, the times when you're trying your mostest. y'know, your tough patches. the things that are difficult in your life. the stuff you're working on can push you forward, if you only had someone to play catch with. or like, send letters to. or shared encryption keys. I don't know anyone. Well, maybe o ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┘ --- #15 messages/1368 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─ "hello, welcome to earth, you may fly your spaceships here so long as you make them look like planes and make the same noises and emit the same radio frequencies which are always changing and that we'll help you determine dynamically, please enjoy your stay according to our quite permissive rules" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════┘ --- #16 notes/collectivist-police --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────── we need paladins, because without us infiltration and sabotage are impossible to avoid. They must care about honor, because even if they desire to do evil deeds they should be punished for considering it. They should be tempted often, and if they relent they are condemned. It is truly the most important thing to them. not the effects of it, but the spirit behind it. Like, if they lacked information and acted in a dishonorable way unknowingly, then they should not be at fault. And if they are pushed to side note, but you should be introduced to the 70 closest people you live to whenever you move into a new house. Just so you know who's who. Plus maybe you could get a new friend. And you'd quickly learn which houses were empty. At least, the ones near you. Kinda makes me think we should have a map of that kind of thing, like "oh yeah so-and-so takes care of these 5 houses doing daily maintenance and repair" and "this house with these capabilities should be attended to by this person who's skilled in their upkeep and usage" and then maybe we could track statistics about "this house was used for these productive activities this many times" and we could determine when we needed more or less of a certain type of product/ project/protect. [but also like, capabilities for our betterment] and like, every area would be connected to a group chat and like, if you said something that wasn't relevant to the people on one side of town versus things that weren't relevant to people on the other side, then they wouldn't be bother- -ed. It's great because you can always go up a tier of abstraction and see the conversation higher up. It'd be a lot of data to sort through so you'd probably use your custom-trained AI that's learned from nothing but every single one of your actions. And only it sees them, so it can't like spy on you or whatever. Basically your "computer" self. ... yeah anyway with lots of messaging data (like "oh how are we going to find this particular chemical in order to fulfill this particular demand in our area" or "we currently have 15 maids in the area in order to fulfil the requirements of the 20 dirtiest houses in this area, and people have reported that the area is growing untidy, so we should ask around (at a higher level of national abstraction) and find some more maids to help out." that kind of thing doesn't have to be just for work too, people can have social messaging and social media too. So long as it's projectable at whatever level of abstraction you'd like. Maybe for social posts in order to keep things relatively chill you could only post like, idk 12 posts each year at the state level, or maybe 2 at regional and 0.25 at national. If you wanted more you'd have to sacrifice something else, and like... yeah sure whatever, the point is that you'd make more personal, close thoughts, and occasionally you'd have the opportunity to show your heart and make friends. Then, people would "add you as a friend" or "put you on their follow list" or "subscribe to their subreddit" or whatever the heck, meaning they could see you at an assignable level of abstraction. I'm picturing a discrete things, something you can scroll with on a mouse. Except, you'd scroll up for a closer perspective and scroll down to get a wider reach of Social. ... Anyway that would use the same system as the "workplace attention distribution system - with auto-determining heuristics". Wow they've been busy. that's the neat thing about engineers, give them a task and they'll build the shit out of it. They'll spare no expense, truly fulfilling the exact demands of the design. So they work best when you let them run wild and rampant. why the fuck do we need billion dollar contracts with defence companies? Just get a bunch of physicists and engineers in a room and they'll make you a doom laser in like, 20 minutes. it's up to us, as people, to determine whether or not they should go through with the designs they come up with. As long as we understand that weakness is defined as something that can destroy us. An army determines where we are most weak, and where we excel. A proficient army would identify their most likely doctrine to succeed and apply it to it's utmost and most excellent. For example, the US focuses on air-power because not only do we have a lot of space to develop these things, we also are positioned in such a position that we control both halves of a continent. This is essentially unprecedented in the history of the world, which is why we've been able to grow so decadent. ... anyway, milk and honey are fine in times of peace. We kinda stole the land though, so it's kind of a shit system. Like, if Europeans wanted to control the world then why didn't they start with everything surrounding the medditeranean? ... oh wait they kinda did. That's what Europa Universalis is about, the ways the European powers did the cruel and horrible things they did. We can learn how systems like intercontinental trade became available and how it led to vast and terrible social upheavals. Colonization is not okay, it's not fair that we've done as we've done. And yet we do it again. We do our best to learn from the mistakes of our fathers. We apply ourselves to the present, using the gifts of our ancestors passed down through time - the journey of life's adolescence. we can learn both how and why they did something, and how and why it turned out. Such is our duty to the future, to learn and grow and become better, so that their sacrifice might be enough. That they needn't have died in vain, for someday there is a great future all the same. thus, it is our ethical duty to stop killing people. We're in the birthplace of a brilliant day, literally all we have to do is just... chill, for like 20 or 30 years, and our scientists will have figured out everything wonderful. Then we can decide what we want to do. I personally think we'll be 4d interdimensional space travellers by then, but that's just me. Always remember our duty. It is our job to pull matter from the dark holes. when we can do that, we can do whatever we want. Though I think by then we'll probably not want to fight each other, we'll have spent quite a while together. We'd make a lot of friends! So, like, how about we just make our factories build incredibly durable stuff, and then we just... take care of it? Like, governmentally obliged duties to take care of things? And to know how to use them. People would naturally gravitate toward things that they loved, and if they were a swiss army knife then that's okay. Maybe some benign rewards for picking under-represented classes, but like ... we could build every chair that ever needed to be built. Then we could build every refrigerator. Then every computer, then every spaceship. What's next? Who knows! ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┘ --- #17 messages/1478 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─ If you can build a deathstar, it's probably a good idea to build two. Because if you can build a deathstar, odds are there's something out there than can build one too, and maybe some day they're going to try and kill some of your stars. So you need at least two, to better contest them should that day come. Oh, and, if you can't guarantee that the deathstar or two won't be used against your own people, then you can't build a death star yet. It doesn't need engineering limitations preventing it from such - it's okay if they're just social of some sort. The purpose of such a thing is to defend against external threats, which is why we have nukes to fight aliens or demons or dinosaur ghosts or [other things that surprise us] and not to fight ourselves. Because if we nuke Alderaan, then we'll never get it back. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════┘ --- #18 fediverse/2455 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────── why not let in all the immigrants and document them all and disperse them to each state equally? then, pay for them to visit the other states until they find one they like. they can put themselves on a transfer list and swap places with someone else. then, after a period of a year or three or five or however many, they can become citizens automatically. As long as they don't commit any serious crimes - that would reset their "citizenship timer", and if it's severe enough or enough of a pattern, they could be deported to whichever country they'd like. ideally matched with support like education to teach them english and how to contribute to society, and community connections with regularly scheduled events so they can make friends. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┘ --- #19 messages/364 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────── Capitalism isn't perfect but if it's capitalism or cyberpunk North Korean style dystopia, I'll pick capitalism. Can we at least make it so that the rich aren't safe financially though? Like, if you own a billion dollars it should be because you make a billion dollars per year. Anything you don't spend should be taxed away, to be used for public services and the defence of our nation. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────┘ --- #20 fediverse/1651 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────┐ ║ gee I sure wish my morals reflected the ethics of my society. it really would │ ║ be nice is they didn't include so many shitty things like oppressing people │ ║ abroad or being super-duper racist for an embarrassing amount of time. But, │ ║ like, freedom, liberty, and the justice to hope? true justice is when everyone │ ║ gets what they want. true liberty is when we can live as we want with the │ ║ magnitude of the result of our lives determined by how hard we worked. │ ║ │ ║ truly, the hardworking slave should be better off than the rich wanderer. But │ ║ alas, that's not how it's currently set up. >.> │ ║ │ ║ though it is kinda nice to own things too, so maybe the other extreme is a │ ║ little extreme. I sure like having my favorite spork. │ ║ │ ║ back in the old days, in the buildings they've since demolished (to put │ ║ skyscrapers there - the "old-timey" buildings in your neighborhood are there │ ║ because they're in the least commercially viable position - meaning the lowest │ ║ density of people.) you could walk through an entire building in a shared │ ║ communal s │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────┴──────────┘ |