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DeusVult
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Whoever named Lake Titicaca was a genius, because every child who first hears "Titi-Caca" in geography class starts laughing uncontrollably and then they are fascinated by the details of this lake.

Fun fact: there's a much smaller lake next to that one called Lake Bootipipi.

Plato's allegory of the slaves in the cave comes to mind. Just like bitcoin, many people would prefer to hear comforting lies than the harsh truth, even if such knowledge could demonstrably improve their lives.

Doesn't just apply to India of course. We see the exact same thing in the US with politics becoming more and more partisan and subjective, even when we have more access to information than ever!

I like your nuanced take. We all have some addictive tendency and should fo our best to mitigate it. That said, in times of stress, isolation, or alienation EVERY negative tendency gets worse and worse.

A recovering alcoholic with a strong family, meaningful job, happy life etc is going to resist the temptation to drink much better than that same person who is depressed and listless.

Unlike alcohol, AI and social media are going to be nearly impossible to opt out of though. I despise Instagram for example, but I lose a lot of money with my business (hospitality) when I don't vigorously use Instagram to advertise and engage.

Wasn't always this way. The managerial class used to plan, build, and maintain amazing cities and societies.

Houseman was an administrator who orchestrated the rebuilding of Paris into the amazing city we know today. Many other examples.

What you say is true of the current crop. Mostly incompetent parasites.

But historically every great society had competent bureaucrats, managers, who shaped civil society in amazing ways. Most of these transformations happened in eras of sound money, but yes, you need these people.

The answer to bad governement isn't necessarily less government, it's good government.

Honestly Venice isn't even a good venue for that size wedding. Too cramped, unless they actually secured one of the main plazas, which I doubt.

I largely agree with you, but for the sake of discussion, what about the possibility that there is an assymetric aspect to this, like with the US vs Afghanistan/Vietnam where big wins are not necessary to atritte over time the financial or political resiliency of Israel. As in, Iran can "afford" to get bombed, but Israel, as a developed integrated nation cannot afford it's airports, ports, economy shut down that long.

Did you get this from a 2008 grandpa's Facebook post?

Yes, "nothing" has a clear definition, but even taking your generous interpretation and discounting the Israeli dead and wounded, billions in economic and military costs etc...

Why would Trump be pressing so hard for a ceasefire if Iran cannot do anything? Seriously what's the downside to just letting Israel do whatever they want and fully destroy Iran or at a minimum topple the regime?

You said they would do "nothing". Israel certainly did more damage, but to say Iran had a nothing burger response is certainly not accurate in my opinion, and that was your original point.

Having traveled throughout that specific area, English is very much the everyday language of all the residents.

Replying to Avatar Jeff Booth

Somber and emotional morning in Hiroshima, Japan that unlocked the door to a very powerful conversation with my son.

The emotion, fear and gravity of a situation where we’ve always lived in a world where horrific things happen in order to divide and control people had him convinced that there was no way out….and that it would happen again. Because that must be a part of us and we wouldn’t change. We then talked about how it is happening right now in parts of the world with most people turning a blind eye or making it stronger by believing that there was a side to win inside a system that relied on manipulation, coercion and control for its survival.

As I brought up how #bitcoin is imposing the opposite system - one of truth, hope and abundance, and inscribing the best of us into a protocol that changed the system we have always known - he pushed back - not believing that “we” could or would change fast enough to avoid the worst.

I asked him: What about you? Where is your energy going? Is your fear of what others will do keeping you from realizing what you can do?

With that……he saw that we were each the change. The light in the darkness. And that no one had the power to take that from us. That every mind changed contributed to more minds changing and further understanding that we’re never going back.

Yes - the system change will be chaotic, Yes - there will be many things keeping you in a perpetual state of fear to keep you locked in.

Yes - There is a high probability that the world goes to war again.

But how can you contribute to the world you want to see?

Hope > fear

Love > hate

Freedom > control

Abundance > scarcity

I needed to read this today. A timely reminder!

Just some rambling on the "intellectual dark web"... after watching Piers Morgan have Sean Carroll and Eric Weinstein debate.

I used to think Eric Weinstein was a reasonable and smart person. As I did Sam Harris and Doug Murray and Jordan Peterson. Back around 2016 with the "intellectual dark web". I agreed with them all about identity politics, political correctness, free speech, wokeness, etc.

But all of these people have fallen in my estimation.

Eric Weinstein is embarrassing. Like a child desperately trying to prove he is smart. Sticking to some ideas he had in college but isn't smart enough to put together anymore... desperately trying to make his mark on the world and prove himself. Hoping physics works in a way to make us multiplanetary rather than taking reality for what it is. I watched part of a video of him lecturing to a classroom. Except there were no questions from students, no coughs, no sniffles, no sounds of paper shuffling... I'm pretty sure he was videoing himself lecturing to an empty classroom. And his scatterbrain couldn't keep on any one subject he would say something he thought was deep and profound and then jump to something else without connecting his ideas. And he blames physics gatekeepers for blocking out his ideas. Sad, really sad. He has some great abilities to think out of the box, but too far out and disconnected, pathologically so. His brother Bret is far more healthy. I'm sure his wife has a major stabizing influence on him. He's not always right, but he's can explain himself coherently, his thinking remains connected, and his creativity is properly bounded by logic and reason and data.

Sam Harris I can't even be bothered to critique here. But I don't think he is worthy of being listened to.

Douglas Murray... just listen to his Joe Rogan episode with Dave Smith. I found Dave Smith through that, and I learned who Douglas Murray really is... two improvements in one.

Jordan Peterson started to look bad when he tried to redefine "truth" and redefine everything in terms of Jungian theory and "stories". I think he helped lost young men, to his credit, and I am absolutely on his side about the Canadian law of compelled speech. But he started to fall off my radar when he started tweeting "Glass Gaza", and went on about how great Europe is and European things... and how other cultures essentially suck. And then his latest debate with 20 athiests was enlightening.

Anyhow... the intellectual dark web wasn't really very intellectual. I'm glad they pushed back against the cultural woke nonsense when they did, but each member is not really the intelligent person they might have appeared to be at the time. Never could compete with the intellectual prowess of the new athiests: Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens.

They all actively advocate for Israel too. Like for everything Israel does no matter what. No nuance allowed with them. It's tiresome.

I promise I don't have TDS, but it's time to slowly disassociate from those grifters. They will end up being a huge liability.