Arshan's recent activity

  1. Comment on What are some best anti-capitalist books? in ~books

    Arshan
    Link
    As the book I would normally recommend 'The Conquest of Bread' has already been suggested, I would offer a broader suggestion. Learn about some society you know nothing about; learn how they...

    As the book I would normally recommend 'The Conquest of Bread' has already been suggested, I would offer a broader suggestion. Learn about some society you know nothing about; learn how they organized their political and economic system. I recently did this with the Inca, and it found it helped me remember that our current system is not special or sacred in anyway. Other systems have come and gone, and in all likelihood, so will capitalism. It moves the question from 'pro capitalism vs anti-capitalism' to 'what type of economic system are were transitioning to?'

    4 votes

  2. Comment on It turns out, all those 'woke' White allies were lying in ~misc

    Arshan
    Link
    Well, yeah. Our current system will change as little as it can, which in this case was agree that its problem and then proceed to fuck off. Change can start in demonstrations and in...

    Well, yeah. Our current system will change as little as it can, which in this case was agree that its problem and then proceed to fuck off. Change can start in demonstrations and in community-building, but they are not the solution to any problems.

    9 votes

  3. Comment on The existence of God and the beginning of the universe in ~humanities

    Arshan
    Link
    As far as I can tell, the author is ignoring the fact that their argument also applies to a creator god. Also, the bad faith arguing for existence requiring a cause when the entire point of their...

    As far as I can tell, the author is ignoring the fact that their argument also applies to a creator god. Also, the bad faith arguing for existence requiring a cause when the entire point of their argument is that god is an uncaused cause.

    9 votes

  4. Comment on Satisfactory - Update 4 is now available in Early Access in ~games

    Arshan
    Link
    I just want to say the zipline is great. Now, I need to go back to building extremely long conveyors. :)

    I just want to say the zipline is great. Now, I need to go back to building extremely long conveyors. :)

    3 votes

  5. Comment on Recommend a piece of fiction that gives a specific feeling, regardless of genre or medium in ~talk

    Arshan
    Link
    The anime "Sound of the Sky" would be my recommendation. I have a hard time describing the exact emotion (similar to what you said), but it is a weirdly hopeful melancholy. It really imbues the...

    The anime "Sound of the Sky" would be my recommendation. I have a hard time describing the exact emotion (similar to what you said), but it is a weirdly hopeful melancholy. It really imbues the entire series with that emotion as well.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Is it normal to think about your life really hard every night? in ~talk

    Arshan
    Link
    I had a lot of those types of thought loops when I was younger, and I have broadly escaped from them. Every once and a while, I can slip back into those anxiety paths, but it really stands out to...

    I had a lot of those types of thought loops when I was younger, and I have broadly escaped from them. Every once and a while, I can slip back into those anxiety paths, but it really stands out to me now when that happens.

    As a twenty-something who has never been in a romantic relationship, I can relate to that fear. I will say that has put me in a position where people are more willing to be open about those romantic insecurities. I am a little generalizing, but everyone has those fears, so I would say its probably something you could talk about with a person your interested in.

    I would like to caution against using a friend who isn't a therapist as one. I have been in that position, and good god can it be terrifying to be someone's "therapist". I am not saying don't confide in friends, simply make sure that the person your sharing with can share with you as well.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on What is/are your favorite quote/s? in ~talk

    Arshan
    Link
    Ludwig Feuerbach, Essence of Christianity

    God is pure spirit, clear self-consciousness, moral personality; Nature, on the contrary, is, at least partially, confused, dark, desolate, immoral, or to say no more, unmoral. But it is self-contradictory that the impure should proceed from the pure, darkness from light. How then can we remove these obvious difficulties in the way of assigning a divine origin to Nature? Only by positing this impurity, this darkness in God, by distinguishing in God himself a principle of light and a principle of darkness. In other words, we can only explain the origin of darkness by renouncing the idea of origin, and presupposing darkness as existing from the beginning.

    • Ludwig Feuerbach, Essence of Christianity
    3 votes

  8. Comment on DnD 5e's Newest Rulebook (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) is out tomorrow in ~games.tabletop

    Arshan
    Link
    I have played a lot of 5e, probably close to a 1000 hours over 4 years and at least 25 different characters. I am happy they are adding more subclasses, as well as tweaking "races" (I prefer the...

    I have played a lot of 5e, probably close to a 1000 hours over 4 years and at least 25 different characters. I am happy they are adding more subclasses, as well as tweaking "races" (I prefer the Pathfinder term "Ancestry", because a humanoid tortoise is real different from a humanoid cat) to be more broad and removing weaknesses. My best memories from college are playing 5e with my friends, so I am glad that they are keeping the system fresh.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on How have you changed over the course of your life? in ~talk

    Arshan
    Link
    In grade school, I was quite out-going; I would say that I was friendly with pretty much everyone in my grade. I have no recollection of social anxiety, but my memory of that time is pretty hazy....

    In grade school, I was quite out-going; I would say that I was friendly with pretty much everyone in my grade. I have no recollection of social anxiety, but my memory of that time is pretty hazy. That all changed when my parents started to homeschool me in middle school. I got crippling depression and suffocating social anxiety. I hated my self, and I had a lot of suicidal ideation. This period lessened in high school, but didn't really start to get better until college. I was fortunate enough to have met a lot of compassionate people who helped me get out of this pit. By the time I graduated in 2019, I would say that I was almost through it. The last year and half, while terrible for humanity as a whole, have be the last mile out of that shit. I do wish I could actually enjoy this new found peace, but I can't complain.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on If you could rewrite 1 element of modern computing, what would it be and why? in ~comp

    Arshan
    Link Parent
    I was vaguely aware of CORBA, but not OpenDoc. Neither are quite what I had in mind with the difference being the target user. I am not interested in the "average user" or devs, but the skilled,...

    I was vaguely aware of CORBA, but not OpenDoc. Neither are quite what I had in mind with the difference being the target user. I am not interested in the "average user" or devs, but the skilled, but less technical, professional. Think video editors, lawyers, accountants, people who likely have a fairly static, but complex workflow. I do understand real-world implementations would be real difficult, but this is my fantasy world :D.

    5 votes

  11. If you could rewrite 1 element of modern computing, what would it be and why?

    ~comp Ask (survey)
    The question mostly says it all, but I will give one of my ideas. I would replace the concept of a holistic app and instead replace it with a loose collection of features. The point would be to...

    The question mostly says it all, but I will give one of my ideas. I would replace the concept of a holistic app and instead replace it with a loose collection of features. The point would be to allow the end user to build a GUI from elements of multiple apps. You could have buttons that perform multiple functions in multiple apps. It would allow you to streamline and remove remove annoying elements; you could lock interface elements so you don't have to relearn the interface when the devs randomly decide to change it.

    11 votes

  12. Comment on Modern IDEs are magic. Why are so many coders still using Vim and Emacs? in ~comp

    Arshan
    Link
    I have learned so much from using Emacs that I could imagine using an editor that wasn't designed in the same way. Lisp was the first programming language that clicked with me. You can make Emacs...

    I have learned so much from using Emacs that I could imagine using an editor that wasn't designed in the same way. Lisp was the first programming language that clicked with me. You can make Emacs EXACTLY what you want, and you can do anything in Emacs. Emacs does have a rather steep learning curve, but instead of plateauing at power-user level, it keeps letting you optimize it. Also, with the Language Server Protocol, I can get IDE-level functionality for the vast majority of languages.

    My dream for computing in the future is that an entire OS is built on the Emacs philosophy, so I can make MY computer fit with MY brain, not the other way around.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    Arshan
    Link
    I just binged Plastic Memories yesterday, and I absolutely loved it. It is really, really sad, so be warned. At its core, its a story about loving someone who is terminally ill and making the most...

    I just binged Plastic Memories yesterday, and I absolutely loved it. It is really, really sad, so be warned. At its core, its a story about loving someone who is terminally ill and making the most of the time you have with them. Its art style didn't strongly stand out to me as especially good or bad. The last episode is incredibly painful to watch; every moment is tinged with the suffering that will come the next morning. It has been a long time since I have been so moved by art, and it was nice to cry while listening to Erik Satie's Gymnopédies.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Are there any aspects of your mental life that you know/suspect to be idiosyncratic? in ~life

    Arshan
    Link
    I have Aphantasia, so I can answer to that. I always assumed the term "mind's eye" was metaphorical. As I have no experience of anything else, I can only assume day dreams are cool things. I can...

    I have Aphantasia, so I can answer to that. I always assumed the term "mind's eye" was metaphorical. As I have no experience of anything else, I can only assume day dreams are cool things. I can dream in my sleep, but it is "low resolution", not blurry, just without any detail. I also cannot relive memories, though I can still remember past events in the abstract. Personnally I have considered it a net benefit, mainly because it has rooted my view of the world either in the object itself or my abstract representation of it.

    9 votes

  15. Comment on What are your favourite online publications? in ~tech

  16. Comment on Are there any major problems in society that we genuinely do not have any good solutions to? in ~talk

    Arshan
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I agree, and I see 2 likely directions that humanity could go: We continue are current path and focus on extracting resources from space. So we mine the moon, asteroids and Mars; we return to the...

    I agree, and I see 2 likely directions that humanity could go:

    1. We continue are current path and focus on extracting resources from space. So we mine the moon, asteroids and Mars; we return to the colonial mercantilist system and artificially maintain the Earth as the capital of this new empire.

    2. We fundamentally change the structure of our society to stop optimizing for "More at any price" and move to something that acknowledges our post-scarcity society. I can't see this happening for decades, and even then, there will need to be economic catastrophes that prove the collapse of the current state capitalist system.

    4 votes

  17. Comment on What's a movie that has entranced you? in ~movies

    Arshan
    Link Parent
    As someone who grew up sheltered, I can imagine the shock and horror on their face was priceless. But at least you got to watch a memorable movie.

    As someone who grew up sheltered, I can imagine the shock and horror on their face was priceless. But at least you got to watch a memorable movie.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on What's a movie that has entranced you? in ~movies

    Arshan
    Link
    Article 15 | It has 1 shot in particular that is super haunting with a sort of living painting feeling. I am not going to spoil the movie, but I highly recommend watching the film. Possession...

    Article 15 | It has 1 shot in particular that is super haunting with a sort of living painting feeling. I am not going to spoil the movie, but I highly recommend watching the film.

    Possession (1981) | Possession is the only movie that I finished with a slack jaw, I was literally just staring in shock from a movie that was probably made by an alien.

    Housefull 4 | Best, worst movie of all time. I am genuinely not exaggerating when I say I laughed for 2 hours straight AFTER finishing the movie. I have never come close to enjoying a movie more.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Donald Trump calls for delay to 2020 US presidential election in ~news

    Arshan
    Link
    My interpretation is like many here; he is preping for a loss in November. Realistically, he won't be able to post-pone the election, and if he loses the election, he can claim that it was voter...

    My interpretation is like many here; he is preping for a loss in November. Realistically, he won't be able to post-pone the election, and if he loses the election, he can claim that it was voter fraud. Now, most people won't believe him, hell I don't think anyone will actually believe him, but it gives them a story to pretend they believe. I've known a few full Trumpists, and none of them convinced me they actually believed the shit they were saying. They want it to be true because it plays into their fantasies about conspiracies and being a victim.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on Donald Trump calls for delay to 2020 US presidential election in ~news

    Arshan
    Link Parent
    I just want to say that I love the honesty of calling the US military influenced by socialism. I had a college professor explain that Catholic monastic orders were socialist organizations, and so...

    I just want to say that I love the honesty of calling the US military influenced by socialism. I had a college professor explain that Catholic monastic orders were socialist organizations, and so many people freaked out. People put so much weight behind a word.

    8 votes