As part of the capitalistic system here in the U.S., I find that there is really no way to ignore it and that it's not the best idea to ignore it. In fact, I'm happier now being a materialistic user and consumer than I ever thought possible.
Call it the "Stepford Wives" syndrome, I'm happier giving in to it instead of fighting it. And I've a lot to show for it, so I have no complaints.
Yes my family had $$$ to start with, so that was a huge help in life. I still had to work once I completed high school (started a job the next day) and to put myself through college, and I'm glad I had those experiences.
I've traveled a lot, in china and Asia and in Mexico - believe me, there are so many good things that our society of capitalism offers; great houses, food, a bed to sleep in, that many people in other countries do not ever get to experience at all.
You can kick against it, but you won't change it. It's what our society runs on. And trust me when I say there are much worse things than being a fat and happy capitalist pig.
It’s extremely difficult to have ethics while being involved in a capitalist system which is inherently unethical. Genuinely giving a damn and putting people ahead of profits is seen as a liability.
I tend to go with the "distract myself" method. Think about some song, movie, game, etc. Keeps the brain from ruminating on that shit. And usually can manage it long enough that the thought's barely a vague memory afterwards.
I really enjoy reading dense hard science fiction that I don't fully understand. I'm only really capable of reading when my ADHD med kicks in, so this is kind of an issue since there are many other things that require my medicated attention. But reading sci-fi when my brain is properly tuned is a source of great pleasure to me. A lot of what I read is about characters that are somewhat deranged and post human. I imagine that a lot of people find those characters unsettling, but I feel cozy around them since I'm not conventionally human myself.
I'm talking about authors such as Greg Egan, Greg Bear, Peter Watts, and some things by Robert Heinlein, Asimov, and Philip K. Dick.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is the first book of a very dark trilogy.
I will also add this, even if it doesn't match the request, but because it's so weird and funny: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It's about a quite absurd society where people's social status is determined by their ability to perceive colors. And they are not allowed to manufacture spoons. Sci-fiish
You're not the first person with this idea. I suggest you read up on gift economies so that it may inform your experiment if you go on to make one and wish you the best of luck.
I'm of the personal opinion that while radical Anarchist direct action like this is great, it's not really something you can practice on a societal scale.
Yeah... somehow the people I spoke to didn't figure that out. Then I had some first-hand experience at an employee-owned company, and... OMG, some people can be so smart and so stupid¹ at the same time, it's baffling. It made me kind of reconsider.
(¹: as in "I want more than that guy over there... but no, none of us want anything to do with governance, let's make CEO the first one who asks for it... [some years later] what do you mean they embezzled ALL the money? 🙀" 🤦)
So a few weeks back it's been officially confirmed I'm being made redundant.
I had a job interview last Friday - late stage. I'm hoping they come back with some positive news. The interview went okay. I think I did well with the Java stuff, but when I was asked about Javascript Event Loops, I was completely befuzzled.
Back at work, and we all have to act like we give a shit. Not too great, I wish I was done with the company overall.
Luckily I have another job interview next week - something to look forward too!
Originally reddit was a niche site with few visitors that was full of knowledge and a strong sense of community.
Then during Gamergate (2014), several organizational subs were created by rancid basement dwelling mysogitrolls that soon found that not only did they not get banned for doxxing and harassing people, that they gathered even more rancid basement dwelling mysogitrolls to their ranks and realized they weren't as rare as they worried.
Then 2015 rolled around and a SHITTON of alt-right wastes of their own father's protein came around for the whole trumpfest that reddit became at the time.
And they never left.
On the other hand, a ton of people who created content and supported other users with meaningful replies all decided it wasn't worth the constant harassment, doxxing, malicious reporting, bigotry, botting and refusal of the admins to address said behaviors.
And we left.
So the only redditors still there are either shitstains or too emotionally invested to leave yet.
And that latter group will get smaller and smaller as the shitstains become louder and more emboldened.
Seriously though, I've been using Reddit since probably about 2012. I never really put time into analyzing it's demise. I didn't care enough. Thanks for the information. 🙂
I'd like a functional local LLM app for Android. I tried MLCChat, but it just spat out gibberish. I tried installing llamafile on a Linux VM with Termux, but it didn't work.
Zero. Influencer has a negative connotation to me. I associate it with shock media, cringe, and self-centered hubris. At best it's a production, meant to create a persona and a market around that.
I don't want to be influenced, I want to experience art, story, kindness, food, the world all more holistically than through a screen.
I don't care if the creator is racist, sexist an asshole or whatever. I only care that their vision for the product aligns with what I want from the product.
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