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Asofon

@ Asofon @discuss.online

Posts
10
Comments
22
Joined
5 mo. ago

  • Does Might Make Right?

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  • War is never desirable, but this does not make pacifism a virtue. Rather, peace must be guaranteed by strength

    Yeah.

    Once someone decides that Might DOES make Right, everyone is in that game whether they like it or not. Of course one can totally surrender, if they are okay with the consequences of that.

    That said, Might also does Make Right in the sense that those who wield power get to decide what "Right" is. It's just that the more it departs from common human sensibilities, the more they have to wield Might to make it Right.

  • "iT's NoT tHaT dEeP" [20:52]

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  • Made me snort.

  • People who reject challenging ideas as stupid without engagement are like intellectual nepobabies

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  • Not really all that interesting. It's just the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_paradox wearing the cape of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

    Without the fancy jargon, the argument is "All people must be free to do whatever they want (the paradox part they don't say out loud is: except form a consensus)"

    If you resolve the paradox, what you're left with is exactly the same world we have now: everyone is free to do exactly what they want, including forming a consensus (that may restrict the freedom of the individual)

    It's a philosophical sleight of hand that's easy to hide in grandiose and virtuous rhetoric. I've seen it often from the Libertarian Right, and I suspect so have others on Lemmy.

    I recommend you check out analytic idealism instead:

    https://philarchive.org/rec/KASAIA-3

  • What’s your golden rule for the internet?

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  • This is one of the best and most ignored rules.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at with the sarcasm. You asked, I answered. My point was never that capitalism is good or necessary, but that it’s the system we’re currently stuck in and I suggested relatively low bar action individuals can take.

    I'm not interested in discussing hypothetical worlds that woulda been, clouda been or shoulda been if not for them darn capitalists. I'm sure we could live in a completely egalitarian utopia if not for this, that and the other thing.

    But we don't.

    If you have something constructive to contribute, feel free to do so.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • Well, that's exactly why I advocate for small actions on the level of the individual and branch out from there. I can't make other people do anything. Least of all use their brain beyond their capacity.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • Noted, you have successfully got me to edit my first post. I await the results of this revolution.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • You are absolutely correct on all points. Now what do you propose we do about it?

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • You’re arguing with a straw man. The point isn’t that billionaires are the sole reason these things exist in some abstract sense - it’s that, in the world we actually live in right now, they control the levers that determine whether you have access to them at all. Nothing that we have right now could be possible if not for everything that came before it. So unless you invent a time machine, you're arguing beside the point.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • I might be misunderstanding you but there seems to be an assumption that I'm making the claim that the kind of modern life we have can't be possible without capitalism. I am not. It's completely irrelevant to me (and my point).

    If people want to insist that a world like ours can be possible while resources are shared equally, great. I have nothing against making the attempt at that, please do. But that's not the world we live in right now. The world we currently find ourselves is the one where capitalism has made all the luxuries etc. possible, and we are very habituated to it. To the point that many people are reluctant to let any of that go, while simultaneously demanding for a systematic change. Hence the "can't have your cake and eat it too". People are demanding revolution but precious few have any actually actionable suggestions on how to bring that about. I'm suggesting things that anyone can do by themselves, as much as is possible for them. Doing those things doesn't require that everyone agrees with you, because you start with yourself. It doesn't require a massive systematic change, because again, you start with yourself.

    If anyone has suggestions on concrete actions to take to bring about massive systematic change, please let me know. Let everyone know. But keep in mind you'd have to persuade people that it's going to work and it's a better system. Revolution is very easy on paper.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • Claiming any of these things only exist because of billionaires is absurd. They take over and destroy.

    But if they ‘took over,’ then by definition, the things that exist now - including the infrastructure you’re using to complain about them - exist because they allowed it. What you (and !Feyd@programming.dev ) have actually described is a world where billionaires are both all-powerful and completely irrelevant. That’s not a critique. That’s a paradox. And it’s a useful one because it lets you feel angry without actually taking any concrete action.

    After all the Quanon stuff and the general population increasing their awareness of how conspiratorial thinking works, it's weird to see "my side" use the same rhetorical tactics:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Definitions_of_fascism&useskin=vector#Umberto_Eco

    "Fascist societies rhetorically cast their enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak". On the one hand, fascists play up the power of certain disfavored elites to encourage in their followers a sense of grievance and humiliation. On the other hand, fascist leaders point to the decadence of those elites as proof of their ultimate feebleness in the face of an overwhelming popular will."

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • Great, all the better. Please do start building it again from scratch.

  • What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class??

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  • Post about it on the internet built upon tech enabled by the said class in today's world, from devices sold to us by the said class in today's world, in our homes with comforts the existence of which wouldn't be possible without the said class in today's world. Then go to work using infrastructure and means we wouldn't have without the said class in today's world, likely doing work we wouldn't have without the said class in today's world. Perhaps go buy some food the likes of which we couldn't dream of having access to without the said class in today's world. Maybe indulge in a hobby - a leisurely distraction, the kind that only exists because the said class engineered today's world where you have time and resources to waste on frivolity, while they decide what those resources are.

    Anyone who wants to hold on to the comforts of modern life will have next to no power to make a change happen. Most of the money you spend goes into their pockets. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

    Option is to reduce spending, start exchanging favors without money (or develop your own currency with your friends) and if you have to spend money, prefer local goods and small services. Learn to fix things instead of buying new stuff. Offer community, food and fun to people with as little money investment as possible.

    Make it work for you and people immediately around you. Get it to spread. This goes triple for you tankies out there. If you can't get this to work at a small level, you will not bring about systematic change. The game is theirs, it's rigged against you and bless your sweet honey heart, you somehow think you can win.

    Not saying this is what I think everyone must do. I'll be dead soon enough and I don't have kids. But I am saying that if YOU want to see a change in the system, you need to start playing a different game that isn't built on money.

  • Do you ever feel like you need to cry but can't?

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  • Yeah, reading this thread actually made me cry. I've clawed myself out of some dark places and really wish I could offer some help but there's very little I can do.

    Doing the little I can, in ways that are available to me but... yeah. Would be awful nice to have a magic wand that just fixes everything.

  • What are some depressing realizations or positive benefits about life you've learned growing up?

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  • Never once did I say to ignore anything. On the contrary, I encouraged taking action, twice. But from a place of love and empowerment, not from a place of hate and futile demand for the world to bend to your will. That will only consume you from within.

    But if you wish to bring privilege into this, let’s do so with honesty: the fact that you’re here, on Lemmy, discussing these things freely, already means you’re in a position of relative safety. Most of the world doesn’t have that luxury. MOST of the world is too busy surviving, too busy fighting for clean water, food, or a roof over their heads. If you have the time and space to worry about fascism or collapse online, you’re already doing better than BILLIONS of people who have the exact same capacity to experience suffering as you do. That’s not to dismiss your concerns, it’s just to say that perspective matters and you may want to be careful about how you wield the accusation of privilege.

    And this device you’re using? There’s a good chance it was made possible by slave labor. That’s not your fault, but it’s worth sitting with. Because exploitative labor is also a function of capitalism. The system is what it is, and we’re all part of it in ways we don’t always see.

    Guess what also addresses these inequalities though? Settling for less, refusing to play the game of endless wanting for more. Like I said.

  • What are some depressing realizations or positive benefits about life you've learned growing up?

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  • Sure it will. We aren't the first creatures or even people to witness what we take to be the end of the world. You can grieve it and do your best to resist it if you so feel called. If you can do so out of love for whatever it is that you value. My gratitude and respect if so.

    Just stop believing that it is "bad". Which is NOT the same as saying it's "good". It's just the natural consequence of everything that has happened so far. Or do you shake your fist at the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs? Have you given a good talking to at the volcanoes in Siberia for wiping out nearly all life in the Great Dying? Or any number of other events that led to mass extinctions. Human nature is also just a natural consequence and we're a microscopic blip in Earth's history. Cherish what is here now and do what you're called to do out of love for what you want to protect but you'll spare yourself a lot of meta-suffering if you can give up the idea that there's some right or wrong way for history to go. There's just what is advantageous for humanity and what isn't. I'm aligned with the former but I don't believe that humanity should or shouldn't exist.

  • What are some depressing realizations or positive benefits about life you've learned growing up?

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  • Yet weirdly enough many people still let the psychos decide what "success" means.

    If the game is rigged against you, stop playing it. Live by your examined values and get your priorities in order. If you really want tons of money, and power, by all means play the game. But if you actually value something else than money, pursue that. Money is often a shortcut, not an obstacle. People have more options than they think but the capitalistic mindset doesn't allow people to see them. Are you going to perhaps have to sacrifice luxuries that capitalism has granted us? Yeah. Is it just that easy? No. But how fucking ungovernable would you be if you you could settle for less?

    Buddhist monks are doing pretty good. Not that you have to go that extreme but just to make the point: usually people reject modest living purely because they just gotta have more. And the system everyone is bemoaning in this thread is always ready to provide more and more and more - the price is just one's body and soul.

    Most people in this thread could take a good, long look at their wants and needs and figure out which are actually which. And then decide for themselves what they can do that's actually worth doing as per their own values.

  • You know that feeling "so close, yet so far"? Add Zeno’s Paradox for extra spice.

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  • Hmm, maybe. Not sure if the expression is related, I always thought it had more defeated quality. With Zeno's paradox there's the idea that you do keep getting closer, and a bit closer, and just a bit closer, and just a tiny bit closer... There's the sense of progression.

    Or maybe I'm conflating it a bit with the other expression, "close but no cookie".

  • Nowhere Else To Share @sh.itjust.works
    Asofon @discuss.online

    You know that feeling "so close, yet so far"? Add Zeno’s Paradox for extra spice.

  • A lot of people know what to think. Much fewer people know how to think.

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  • Yeeees and unfortunately it can get very meta: "I need to think critically" is another "what" to think. Most people would agree that critical thinking is a good thing. Yet, they still fail to actually do it. When pressed, many people can't even define is means to think critically and even get really pissed when this gets highlighted.

    Also to @BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today

  • A lot of people know what to think. Much fewer people know how to think.

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  • Unironically, you are 100% correct.

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    Asofon @discuss.online

    A lot of people know what to think. Much fewer people know how to think.

  • MealtimeVideos Cafe @lemmy.cafe
    Asofon @discuss.online
    38:21

    Nihilism, Absurdity, and hope…online and off | Khadija Mbowe

  • Just Post @lemmy.world
    Asofon @discuss.online

    You can feel your individual nose hairs move with your breath if you learn to spot it

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    Asofon @discuss.online

    We've grown fat with information, but are starving for wisdom...

  • Just Post @lemmy.world
    Asofon @discuss.online

    Online world is weird when you're a 40+ year old nerd

  • MealtimeVideos Cafe @lemmy.cafe
    Asofon @discuss.online
    25:25

    Self-Education: How to Build a Personal Curriculum

  • MealtimeVideos Cafe @lemmy.cafe
    Asofon @discuss.online
    18:15

    Self Education: Your Best Defense Against Brain Rot