TheDemonBuer

@TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Prisoner peeing on the libs?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Such a rich and vibrant culture.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s not a world government.

  Exactly. The UN is NOT a world government and we need to stop expecting it to act as one. That was never the intention of the UN.

  That being said, a lot of people talk about the necessity for the “rule of law,” but there cannot be the rule of law without some kind of government with the authority to enact and ENFORCE laws. If nations are not willing to sign on to something like that, we cannot have the rule of law. Instead we will have the rule of whichever country has the largest, most powerful military and/or economic influence. I know a lot of Americans are fine with that arrangement because that position is currently occupied by the US, and has been for more than half a century, but the US might not always occupy that role. How would you feel about this arrangement if China, for instance, were the world’s hegemon instead of the US?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This Fall, Florida Students Will Be Forced to Take “Anti-Communist” Classes⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, if humanity is going to continue to progress, that needs to change. If it doesn’t change, then humanity doesn’t progress.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This Fall, Florida Students Will Be Forced to Take “Anti-Communist” Classes⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Just teach history. Teach history, without an agenda. It’s history class, not propaganda class. Teach history, not a nationalist narrative.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨An uplifting message for you.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  As a species things do just keep getting better for us, except in periods of systemic transition.

  I think that’s been generally true since the first agricultural revolution led to the emergence of civilization, 10,000 or so years ago. But, progress has not been linear, it’s been exponential, with most of the progress occurring in just the last few hundred years, since the industrial revolution. In that regard, the progress that we’ve experienced over the last few hundred years has been anomalous.

  The way of life that we take for granted today is very different from how most of humanity has lived through the vast majority of history (and that was itself very different from how our species had lived through the vast majority of our existence, with humans living in small hunter-gatherer tribes for most of our time as a species).

  Modern life has existed for only the blink of an eye, on evolutionary time scales. Yet, in that time we have used up an incredible amount of natural resources, and we have made significant, irreversible changes to the Earth’s biosphere and climate.

  It took our species nearly all of the 10,000 years of civilization’s existence to go from a few million people on the planet to a billion, but it only took a little over two centuries to do from one billion people to over eight billion. That kind of exponential growth simply cannot be sustained indefinitely on a planet with finite resources. Even at maximum possible resource use efficiency, and even with the maximum possible environmental impact mitigation efforts, the Earth still wouldn’t be able to sustain our growth forever. We would reach some hard, physical limit to growth, eventually.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨An uplifting message for you.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I feel like our whole lives here in the US we’ve been told to expect things to just generally keep getting better, seemingly forever. Like, that’s the narrative of “progress.” The economy just keeps growing, the nation just keeps getting richer, technology just keeps getting better, living standards just keep getting better, so forth and so on. But, that was probably never realistic, or even feasible. I mean, no civilization progresses forever. Essentially every civilization that’s ever existed has followed a pattern of ascension followed by decline. Many of the most notable civilizations ascended very quickly and dramatically, and then collapsed just as quickly and dramatically. Why should we expect to be any different? What makes us think we won’t follow the same pattern as basically every other civilization in history?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨God bless the Midwest⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m drinking my dinner plans right now. But I drive by a Culver’s all the time. I’ll definitely stop in someday soon and give it a try.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨God bless the Midwest⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨God bless the Midwest⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve never been to Culver’s. Is it any good?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Oil prices rise sharply in market trading after attacks in Middle East disrupt global energy supply⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Higher inflation, here we come.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Also, in my state, all the drivers are the worst⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It is a scientific fact that Tennessee has the worst drivers. Not my state, btw.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm in!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s fairly straightforward: they don’t want restrictions placed on their rights to own and carry a gun, but they absolutely want restrictions placed on the rights of their political enemies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  For decades, politicians and policymakers have prioritised growth – as measured by GDP – as the overarching economic goal.

  That’s because for most people there simply is no such thing as “enough.” No matter how much money they make, no matter how much wealth they accumulate, they always want more. Now, for a poor person to want more is understandable and acceptable, but for a rich person to want more is considerably less acceptable, and it becomes less acceptable the richer they get.

  That being said, I don’t think it’s so much about the numbers, as in the number of zeros on a person’s paycheck, in their bank account or on their personal financial statement. I think it’s more about having access to the products and services that give people the living standard they want. I think most people could at least feel content if they had access to a “decent” standard of living, regardless of how much money they had relative to the richest members of society. But in a society where a person’s access to a “decent” standard of living is directly correlated to how much money they make, and that standard of living is only getting more expensive, it makes sense why so many people are looking for more money.

  And that’s made more contentious when those same people see a relatively small number of extremely wealthy individuals at the top of the wealth and income ladder, seemingly hoarding a lot of what they want.

  The thing about growth is, many people still need to see their living standards improve. There still needs to be increased access to that “decent” standard of living for many billions of people around the world. So, growth in many areas is still necessary. But it’s the continued demand for growth among people who are already well, well past the “decent” standard of living most people are striving for who need to accept no growth, or even degrowth.

  There’s this idea that we need to just keep trying to make everyone richer and richer, forever. To keep “growing” the pie, forever. But some people already have more than enough pie, and we just need to cut them off, or even take some of the pie they already have. There has to be a limit. There has to come a point where we all say, “sorry, but you just can’t have any more pie.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨BASED?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m sure it’s true for some women. But I wouldn’t be surprised if most working women were either married or in a committed relationship. Plus, a lot of households have two incomes out of necessity. Both partners need to work full time just to make ends meet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US frackers were already facing a global oil supply glut. Trump’s Venezuelan dream could make it worse⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Like, all you really need to build a settlement is water, electricity and a source of carbon.

  That’s not all you need. You also need breathable air and surface pressure that isn’t going to make your eyes pop out of your skull. You need protection from too high levels of radiation.

  You’re not living on the surface of Mars. That environment is not survivable. If you’re going to Mars, you’re living underground or in enclosed habitats. You can do that here. Go get a little bit of land here on Earth and build a self sustaining enclosed habitat and live in it. It would be a lot easier and cheaper.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US frackers were already facing a global oil supply glut. Trump’s Venezuelan dream could make it worse⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, space. That’s always the solution. But if expanding into less and less hospitable environments was the next frontier of continued economic growth, why aren’t investors scrambling to build out Antarctica or the bottom of the ocean?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US frackers were already facing a global oil supply glut. Trump’s Venezuelan dream could make it worse⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding at the heart of many countries’ energy policies. Many countries believe that continued economic growth will require an increasing amount of energy. That is absolutely true. More growth will require more energy. However, the misunderstanding is the almost subconscious belief that energy = oil and gas. It’s as if many world leaders believe that there are no energy sources available to humanity outside of some relatively rare fossil hydrocarbon deposits. To many, oil and gas is energy and energy is oil and gas. It makes sense why people who think this way believe the choice the world faces is between continued growth or reducing fossil use, as if we must choose one or the other. The fact is, it is possible to grow while reducing fossil fuel use. Between renewables and nuclear power, we can produce enough energy to power a growing global economy.

  That being said, infinite growth does require infinite energy. If the global economy continues to grow, at some point we will need all the fossil energy resources, as well as all renewable energy and all the nuclear energy. But we’ll boil our atmosphere just from latent heat before we can use all the energy. At some point, wealthy countries are going to have to decide when enough is enough. We simply cannot grow forever on a finite planet. It’s not physically possible. But in the meantime, developing countries especially can and should continue to grow, and they absolutely can do that without increasing global fossil fuel demand. But that’s largely up to the wealthy countries.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I can still get down with the best of 'em!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US | NASA's Largest Library To Permanently Close On Jan 2, Books Will Be 'Tossed Away'⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fix your shit, Americans.

  I wouldn’t plan it. We’re a lost cause, best to plan on the US being a mostly irredeemable pile of garbage for the foreseeable future.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‼️‼️ scam alert‼️‼️⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think corporations should make dividend paying shares a part of employee compensation more often, at least for long term employees.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tesla Robotaxis Are Crashing More Than 12 Times as Frequently as Human Drivers⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If driverless taxis ever go mainstream (and that’s a big if), it will be from companies like Waymo, not Tesla. Tesla shouldn’t be seen as a serious company. I mean, they do sell legitimate products, but their $1.6 trillion market cap isn’t based on what they sell today, but what their cult member investors think they’re going to bring to market in the future. You know, all the stuff that will usher in the post-human, techno utopia. It’s all nonsense, and someday it will all come crashing down, though that could take a while. People can stay delusional for a long time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you are a guy living with a woman you know THIS⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I always put the lid down. It’s got a lid for a reason, it looks much nicer with it down.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Fed just ‘Trump-proofed’ itself with a unanimous move to preempt a potential leadership shake-up⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s more regulatory capture and misaligned incentives than a pure “invisible hand” problem.

  Well, what’s your solution? I don’t think this is a terribly uncommon opinion, but I’m not exactly sure what the implication is. Eliminate all regulations? Eliminate government entirely, paving the way for an anarcho-capitalist utopia? I’m not sure I think it’s a good idea to eliminate all public oversight when it comes to something as important as our national power grid. Someone has to look out for the interests of the public and the nation, and I’m not sure private, for-profit interests can be counted on for that.

  That being said, I am totally in support of regulatory reform. Unnecessary and inconsistent regulations introduce all sorts of inefficiencies and costs. But all the more reason, in my opinion, for the Federal government to standardize, unify, and simplify regulations as much as possible across the country. Of course, that would require capable leadership, and we are woefully deficient there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Fed just ‘Trump-proofed’ itself with a unanimous move to preempt a potential leadership shake-up⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is definitely a good thing, but if we can’t get competent leadership in Washington, it won’t matter. Just the interest payments on the Federal debt is approaching $1 trillion. That’s already almost 1/5 of all federal revenue. But the debt problem isn’t restricted only to the Federal government. Private debt is nearly 150% of GDP.

  And do we want to reshore at least some key industries? What about our infrastructure? What about our aging power grid? What good is AI if there isn’t enough power to run the damn data centers. All of this is going to take a lot of money and most of that is going to have to be borrowed.

  And I’m sorry but the god damned invisible hand of the free market ain’t going to do it. If the free market is so all knowing and wise, why hasn’t it kept our power grid updated? Could it be that the free market is too narrowly focused and short sighted? Hmm.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨China’s exports grow 5.9% in November, while U.S. shipments drop 29%⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Here in the United States, we’ve been very disappointed with our leadership for some time now. We decided to do something about it, which is good. Unfortunately, the solution we came up with was to put significantly worse leadership in place. Whoops.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why you may not want lower prices as much as you think you do⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Deflation would be bad, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that debt defaults, both public and private, would skyrocket. So, no, we don’t want lower prices, as that would certainly mean a significant recession, if not depression.

  What people, desperately, desperately need is for their income to AT LEAST keep up with inflation. Any household that doesn’t see their yearly income increase at least as much as the rate of inflation, are getting a pay cut. And when you consider that housing, a ubiquitous, universal human need, has increased in price much faster than the overall rate of inflation, really people probably need their income to increase much more than the base inflation rate.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it’s costing the economy⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fuck the economy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨He's on a mission⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Probably someone who lives in the southern US, where it rarely snows. This wouldn’t be unusual for someone living in many northern states, especially those around the great lakes. But to a southerner, this might as well be a different planet. They will close schools and businesses even for relatively light snow in the South. It frightens and bewilders them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Linux gamers on Steam finally cross over the 3% mark⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I wonder if Valve will ever release an official desktop version of SteamOS? I think Linux adoption would really increase fast if there was a gaming focused Linux desktop distribution with the support of an established company. But does Valve want that? A full featured operating system is a lot to maintain and provide support for.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bill Gates warns AI will take over most jobs and leave humans working just two days a week⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No it won’t.