I think only the extremely simple life doesn’t feel pain, but then you have arrived on a microscopic level, where some tiny creature is getting eaten while eating themselves.

Organised religion tends to go south

I suspect that this might be true for the older religions? They are just not all that suitable for the times we live in. What I do expect is that the older religions will be replaced by more modern ones, that will turn into organised religion.

I grew up in a relaxed (not religiously fanatic) Catholic family. To me it all fell apart at 14, when I dared to critically think about it. Since then I have gathered as many books of the different religions as I could. The Bible was one of the last. I see new religions rising, constructed out of parts of the old ones mixed with new things. I can’t see any really structured ones yet. I feel the old religions started pretty much the same. I don’t believe in a higher, conscious power. I don’t believe we are created, nor that we exist after we die. At most a few generations will remember us, now and then. I don’t know any of that with 100% certainty, so that would make me an agnostic atheist I guess. I think we humans need to go for wellbeing, not pure economic/capitalistic metrics. Obviously you’ll need a certain amount of money for wellbeing, but I also believe that there is more than enough to go around. It’s just that a few take it all and we let them. We must finally take science and knowledge much more seriously. Hefty fines for bribing or forcing scientists and scientists that falsify data. Science it itself doesn’t know ethics, so that has to be the human side of it: wellbeing.

Putin has his claws into way too many world leaders.

Healthcare should never ever be a system based on making profit. It should be based on keeping the people as healthy as possible and limit suffering. This means strict government control and that’s something America isn’t fond off.

I also liked very much what was going on in the beginning, same as you. I don’t want to Tesla shame anybody, sorry about that.

A strong polarisation occured the last few years. A splitting into a few fractions. And indeed, the rich becoming filthy, insanely rich. With so much money comes tremendous power. An increase in banning and outing those that think differently, where there used to be at least some dialogue. It’s all a fight for power in the end. There’s the power of the few rich. There’s the power of the numerous people. It’s not only those that take power, it’s also those that give power.

I prefer connectors to be uniform, so that’s the good thing. I just feel the USB C is a bit fragile and not suited for all situations.

No public toilet is cheaper for a city. Officials payment should depend on the public’s wellbeing.

I loved Pascal back then, only worked with Arduino “C” more recently. Still think Pascal was a great language. Basic was my first one obviously. The manual that came with a cheap Mattel Aquarius was fantastic. It worked with examples and also similar functions as they one they described. The very first computer I touched was a Exidy Sourcerer. Had to share that with my classmates. I tried to create games as well, but never really finished anything outside a few very simple games.

I often get the feeling that echo chambers seem to exist, is that it’s often about one specific topic. It’s easier to find a large group that agrees about a fairly narrow aspect then it is to find a large group that agrees about some complex system.

The whole world only has one problem: bad leadership.

Reddit uninstalled me, after 13 years. Something changed, reddit did, maybe I did, both. But still I hung on. A bad telegraph connection is still better than nothing. I would have hung on a bit longer I guess. I was already a member here, but didn’t post much. I can find my way more easy here though, found lots of interesting information.

I do have some understanding for people that were raised in a Nazi-like environment as the likely don’t know any better. But when you hit adulthood, you need to inform yourself. The problem with that is that there are countless Nazi channels you need to escape from. There needs to be some tiny spark from within. By immediately (though understandably) condemn such people, you don’t enlighten them. Try instead to have them explain their views as if you are five or completely ignorant. They will not feel threatened and gradually, they will get into trouble explaining themselves. It will not work with all.

Trump is a classic scumbag, but I consider him less dangerous then Elon. So I hope Trump’s ego will be triggered enough to dump Elon. If that will be enough to limit Elon I am not sure though.

Correct, Italy as well. That’s what we know for a fact. I see no reason why Elon would not support other similar parties, like the Dutch PVV. I suspect there are several aspects to it. Not only limiting worker protections and such, but also Elon’s link with Putin.

Elon already bought America, but he also tries to buy Europe by supporting pro-Putin political parties. The only problem is that he can’t finance them directly, but no doubt there will be a way around that.

Thanks for this great info! Horrific, though. Assuming that not much has changed in attitudes since that time, you can only wonder what chemicals are harming us all without us knowing it. All this while someone, somewhere, does know.

I wondered about that myself. Often, people that vote for different parties do agree about certain issues, but all that gets watered down as they are forced to just pick one party. In this day and age of technology, directly voting for plans would be quite feasible. I just don’t think it’s going to happen, as it would take the power away from the few and put it in the hands of the people. Exactly the reason why people like us would want this. Another more difficult issue is that you should be able to get an idea of how a certain vote would work out. To use a simple and silly example: we want no more tax. But the consequences of that would be devastating, roads crumble, no police or fire brigade. So we need a political independent and scientifically based model of reality that anyone can access and check what other effects a certain vote might have.

Conservatism has been forcefully on the rise, but something like porn can cause it’s downfall. It reminds me of the videotape format wars end 70s, early 80s, with VHS pushing out Betamax due to porn.