Rien's recent activity
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Comment on Unexplained space phenomenon has been lighting up every twenty minutes since 1988 in ~space
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Comment on Anyone having trouble using their invites? People just don't seem interested in ~tildes
Rien Link ParentMany people have their identity tied to being in the right and have grown up in an internet debate mindset. So they latch on to an objective truth in their mind (like free speech, gender norms, or...Many people have their identity tied to being in the right and have grown up in an internet debate mindset. So they latch on to an objective truth in their mind (like free speech, gender norms, or in this case eugenics) and see any opportunity to "debate" as a chance to validate how they're smarter than the masses.
It's like being a high schooler that's read Ayn Rand for the first time. Everything makes sense suddenly because self reliance is the morale truth, but they conveniently forget about the systems in place for them to succeed in the first place (public education, roads, hospitals, fire departments, any infrastructure in general). And now equipped with this newfound knowledge they have to preach about how everything can be solved by only self-reliance. Any argument against is met with "you just don't get it" while if they're ignored then they're "being silenced". No, you're not being persecuted, your discussion is just a waste of time.
Anyway, I paid the long-form discussion tax so I can say guilt free: lolol get rekt
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Comment on Is anyone else just fed up with companies being greedy? in ~talk
Rien LinkQuick disclaimer, I'm American and as such I'll be giving my opinion from a US-centric view on this. I believe a major source of the growing discrepancies we've been seeing is the lack of...Quick disclaimer, I'm American and as such I'll be giving my opinion from a US-centric view on this. I believe a major source of the growing discrepancies we've been seeing is the lack of accountability, and the more extreme tribalism has become in our culture.
Publicly traded companies by definition are beholden to shareholder value. This does NOT mean they need to maximize profit at the expense of everything else as value can be created in intangible ways such as public perception. However, It does make increasing profit one of the easier metrics to show, hence the need for infinite growth. This isn't new. What is new is that in past decade or two companies have been shown to face no repercussions for malicious actions. In 2008 banks were bailed out of a situation they caused with NINJa loans. Pharmaceutical companies have been price gouging like crazy and given barely any attention as it's considered a cost for not having universal healthcare. Businesses took out PPP loans during the pandemic, allocated them however they wished, and had them forgiven. Companies that have been exposed to have known about detrimental side effects that are global in scale from in-house studies (climate change, cancer from smoking, leaded gas) and buried them because it would negatively affect stock prices? Small fine. Companies have learned that to get ahead they need to be amoral.
The country has also been caught in a culture war, one that is almost certainly on purpose. Outrage sells and drives engagement. Go to r/all on Reddit for instance and count how many headlines are emotionally manipulative vs a normal title. Unless it's a novel piece of original content in its own right chances are the highest upvoted contents are stories that will make you mad or smug. And not only does this content succeed in grabbing your attention, it has the added benefit of inducing fatigue. You get tired of seeing the same outrageous things over and over again. You grow numb and accepting of the situation as the new normal. So companies price gouging eggs? Business as usual I guess. Let me look at some relaxing animal pictures to unwind a bit... wait, writers are striking because their jobs are being replaced with ai? Oh... well good luck to them.
We're inundated with information at a historically unprecedented pace daily now. And companies have learned how to leverage that against us. The fact of the matter is that we ARE mad, we do care, but we're tired. We don't strike like other countries because we've grown apathetic. We're apathetic because that's the only emotion we have the mental bandwidth to feel. I'm not sure what the solution is but the problem right now is that we're overwhelmed and that's the new normal.
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Comment on Mysterious, thoughtful games? A genre I can't define in ~games
Rien Link ParentI've played Pony Island, The Hex, and Inscryption. Inscryption is the best one imo and I'd highly recommend going into it blind.I've played Pony Island, The Hex, and Inscryption. Inscryption is the best one imo and I'd highly recommend going into it blind.
I recently learned that most star systems in the universe are binary or tri-star systems. We historically worked under the impression that our solar system isn’t unique and based our assumptions on that fact, but in the past few decades, especially with the advent of better space telescopes, that we’re pretty unique. Not only are most star systems not singular but the ordering of planets in our solar system (small rocky planets closer with gas giants on the outside) is incredibly rare with this fact. I think the study said we’re the 1% off the top of my head.