wervenyt's recent activity
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Comment on What's a feeling you sometimes experience that you don't have a name for? in ~talk
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Comment on Donald Trump administration are limiting toilet paper and other maintenance purchases at US national parks with one dollar credit card limit for staff in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentWith the context of their elaboration (sibling comment), I've been thinking a bit about the panopticon and its power. It seems like, in lieu of the surveillance state's destruction, a key method...With the context of their elaboration (sibling comment), I've been thinking a bit about the panopticon and its power. It seems like, in lieu of the surveillance state's destruction, a key method of rebellion against it may simply be to trivialize the tokens by dilution. The more such language is disseminated and diversely used, the less effective that screening based on it can be, no? Propaganda is gonna propagand, and narratives have already been detached from reality and even basic coherence, the goodwilled may as well take advantage of the implausible deniability if the ill already dominates with such tact.
Any considerations to the constructive contrary are welcome.
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Comment on Waiting for a book in paperback? Good luck. Publishers increasingly give nonfiction authors one shot at print stardom, ditching paperbacks as priorities shift. in ~books
wervenyt Link ParentAdd one to the hard cover contingent. I have large and sweaty hands, and as a result, the weight of a hardback is vastly outweighed by the fact it won't literally dissolve from my use. Even high...Add one to the hard cover contingent. I have large and sweaty hands, and as a result, the weight of a hardback is vastly outweighed by the fact it won't literally dissolve from my use. Even high quality softcovers end up falling apart if the book is over a couple hundred pages or I return to it.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (March 2025) in ~health.mental
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (March 2025) in ~health.mental
wervenyt Link ParentHey. Dementia is the worst. I'm sorry your grandmother had to go through it. I'm sorry you had to bear witness. I'm a couple decades younger than you, and fortunate enough not to be in the...Hey. Dementia is the worst. I'm sorry your grandmother had to go through it. I'm sorry you had to bear witness.
I'm a couple decades younger than you, and fortunate enough not to be in the immediate fallout of grief, but otherwise, what you say here is true for myself as well.
Beyond any other hopeful platitudes that I'd otherwise say (earnestly): you are grieving, and you are recovering from covid. It took months for my brain to recover fully. Regardless of any grander hopes, this is almost certainly a local minimum in the graph of your capacity to cope with respect to time. This is the hardest it will be for a while, in other words. Please hold on.
You are loved.
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Comment on Looking for low-precision, mouse-only Steam game recommendations in ~games
wervenyt LinkMaybe a weird one, but... Insaniquarium (Deluxe) is a sci-fi themed action-resource management fish tank builder from the early 2000s, made by the team that went on to bring us Plants vs Zombies....Maybe a weird one, but... Insaniquarium (Deluxe) is a sci-fi themed action-resource management fish tank builder from the early 2000s, made by the team that went on to bring us Plants vs Zombies. It started as a flash game, and feels like one at its core design, but the full release is on Steam and regularly goes on sale for less than US$3.
It isn't exactly "low-precision" mouse only controls, but it was designed for 800x600 displays, and upscaling kind of makes it work that way. The early gameplay is trivially easy, and never gets hard, but it's right in that sweet spot of mobile game difficulty, and rewards creativity.
Besides, all the little character designs are adorable, and when those aliens show up to chomp on your baby guppies, you get a real sense of protective fury.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
wervenyt Link ParentTo be fair to yourself, Kierkegaard reads like holy crack, and Lolita is a marathon of candy glossed evil. Every page made me hate humanity for containing Humbert in its hypothetical domain,...To be fair to yourself, Kierkegaard reads like holy crack, and Lolita is a marathon of candy glossed evil. Every page made me hate humanity for containing Humbert in its hypothetical domain, traversing that exclusion zone in a month isn't an easy pace.
What'd you think of them?
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Comment on What is your strangely specific phobia? in ~talk
wervenyt LinkGrubs, non-hairy caterpillars, and other such unsegmented creatures with that type of thin skin. I really find them horrible. Worms are fine. Snakes are great. Even springtails are fine. Scaleless...Grubs, non-hairy caterpillars, and other such unsegmented creatures with that type of thin skin. I really find them horrible. Worms are fine. Snakes are great. Even springtails are fine. Scaleless fish, snails, octopi and cuttlefish? No problem! But give a worm catfish skin, an octopus that hydrophobic cuticle, leave a butterfly unsclerotized? Agh!
Perhaps it can be chalked up to some fear of parasitic maggots, but I'm pretty confident I was around caterpillars and beetle grubs long before finding out about botflies and other horrors.
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Comment on How to identify quality in clothing (a rant) in ~life.style
wervenyt LinkWatched this one yesterday, and as someone who was up at 1 Saturday morning discussing with a friend that it's ridiculous how quickly garments fall apart nowadays after a realizing we both had...Watched this one yesterday, and as someone who was up at 1 Saturday morning discussing with a friend that it's ridiculous how quickly garments fall apart nowadays after a realizing we both had sub-US$20 t-shirts from ~2013 that are still wearable (if not exactly presentable), the rant was deeply satisfying. Some of those pieces were so poorly made that it comes across as parody.
I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the core message, just because I knew as much going in, but it was great to see someone with real expertise and presentation skills demonstrate the basis for what surely comes off as lazy nostalgia from someone less knowledgeable.
A note or two:
- There are non-viscose rayons available all over the market these days. The fiber itself still has some of the drawbacks that Bernadette laid out, but in a looser textile, or if treated like silk by the wearer, it's a very valid and durable material for clothing, and the newer production methods appear to be as sustainable as any synthetic might hope to be. We mustn't forget the water used in growing cotton. As it's molecularly "just" cellulose, microplastics are not a concern, either.
- The video might get a tad precious about traditional methods and styles for some, but the underlying principles are valid. Sure, if you value comfort and variety in your wardrobe, the price for structured and lined traditional method pieces plus tailoring may not be worthwhile. That has nothing to do with the quality of the stitching, textiles, or the compromised longevity from certain design elements of a garment.
In case this video startled anybody who hadn't examined these aspects of clothing, and you're hankering for more dread, consider footwear from a quality lens. It's shocking how many respected brands are selling shoes for over $100 on clearance which are all-but-guaranteed to fall apart within a year or two.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentI guess I see Vance as someone like LBJ: a horrible presidential possibility, but probably better than the guy without an intact frontal cortex.I guess I see Vance as someone like LBJ: a horrible presidential possibility, but probably better than the guy without an intact frontal cortex.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentDon't take the label of "mark" versus "conman" as implicit support—he is more or less a technomonarchist, he'd not be a good president for almost anybody but his pals. The difference there is in...Don't take the label of "mark" versus "conman" as implicit support—he is more or less a technomonarchist, he'd not be a good president for almost anybody but his pals. The difference there is in the malleability of his intentions, and his relative lack of charisma.
Nor is his groundedness or principle-driven personality (by contrast to the current president) an indication of virtue. By any real measure of character, he's a craven and self-serving viper with enough guile to wear a mask.
However. Trump is Hitler-in-the-bunker, Qaddafi in the 2000s level of deranged. He seems to have lost everything except the ability to puff out his chest and string words along. This allows people who aren't reckoned with the intentions of those who are facilitating his administration to dismiss concerns, because "he's all talk". It allows people who voted for him as a proxy for "None of the above" to hear what they want to hear. It allows more cognizant conmen to manipulate him. He wants one thing: to feel good about himself, and to believe he's either feared or loved by everyone else. He seems to be perpetually one bad week away from deploying nukes to secure Greenland as "his". He's off-the-cuff threatened to take control of Gaza. He might dream that his dad told him off for letting eggs be expensive, and invade Canada to secure their chicken farms.
I'm really not saying that "Vance is better", I'm saying he's sane and capable of comprehending consequences beyond "if I throw a fit, I get what I want!", and that means a lot in terms of rallying opposition and strategizing against him.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentAbsolutely! But that's the difference between Trump and politicians as a group: I'm not sure he's ever had any. I don't think Vance is some secret antifascist, just that he's reasonable enough to...Absolutely! But that's the difference between Trump and politicians as a group: I'm not sure he's ever had any. I don't think Vance is some secret antifascist, just that he's reasonable enough to convince of something that doesn't privilege his own wealth.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentBasically, I suspect that any society which holds economic efficiency as an ultimate virtue will eventually convince itself that certain forms of life are intrinsically more valuable than others,...Basically, I suspect that any society which holds economic efficiency as an ultimate virtue will eventually convince itself that certain forms of life are intrinsically more valuable than others, and be able to institute subtle incentives which don't scan as eugenicist to those who see such paradigms as unethical. Think designer babies, or systematic marginalization of certain traits which, over time, leads to castes. I'm not one to privilege DNA itself as a core factor in human experience, but also don't trust society not to recapitulate bigotry based on its expression.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentThanks. It's the result of much consideration, and I'm glad to hear it's appreciated.Thanks. It's the result of much consideration, and I'm glad to hear it's appreciated.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentI'm equally curious about Vance. He strikes me as closer to a mark than a conman, and in a lot of ways that's heartening. His ideology may be racist, and himself is clearly misogynistic and...I'm equally curious about Vance. He strikes me as closer to a mark than a conman, and in a lot of ways that's heartening. His ideology may be racist, and himself is clearly misogynistic and classist, but he might be grounded and principled enough to disregard the more totalitarian and destructive elements in the Republican party. I'm hardly expecting him to fix anything, but he probably won't burn the house down trying to turn on the TV.
I'm sufficiently young and alienated not to have those investments, but the old order sure was comfortable, and I can't begrudge anyone their nostalgia.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentI'd like to clarify that I more said that fascism is what we have now, and it's the subjective appraisal of liberal democracy in decay.I'd like to clarify that I more said that fascism is what we have now, and it's the subjective appraisal of liberal democracy in decay.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt Link ParentKnowing where we are is much easier than where we'll be in a century, of course. In the local context of the USA for the next decade, Musk (the only one at the table with any real plan) wants to...Knowing where we are is much easier than where we'll be in a century, of course.
In the local context of the USA for the next decade, Musk (the only one at the table with any real plan) wants to institute a techno-feudalist structure, and the larger industries would have no problems there. The military itself, and the parts of society who think they support the current administration, really don't want that. Trump himself might grow tired of being played by his most recent partner in crime. I expect war, or a fragmented totalitarianism that gets chewed up by outside forces and civil unrest.
In the paradigmatic sense, it seems like there are two or three global competitors for liberal democracy's inheritance. One is exemplified by Russia, and can be seen happening in the US as the CIA is seeming to back the current administration: kleptocratic info-tyranny, where violence is entirely decentralized and power is accrued by the most craven and most-able to control communications. Another is whatever you call China's current paradigm: a centralized power structure is maintained which cannily suppresses any competing organization of value, holds economic efficiency as the sole virtue, and seems to aim toward a "utopia" that resembles the World State of Brave New World. Order as God, and hedonism as the sole humanity. The third is much less clear, and its gravity is more diffuse, but somewhere between the Nordic European rational humanist socialism project, the recurrent progressive tides in South America, and the ideals of Indian democracy seems to be a third pole of sorts. This one seems vulnerable to subversion by the others, as it's an order that's thrived under the canopy of the cold war and outside powers predominating. Europe appears on the precipice of fascism as well, as India has built its own military industry it's followed that same path, and those idealists in South America seem bent toward failure unless the Catholic Church takes up a unifying mantle in that mold (which seems not unlikely).
My ignorance of African politics beyond the broadest strokes leaves a massive set of undefined variables in the equation, and these things are really too complex to forecast for anyone. My gut says that the three structures I listed above are all likely to converge on a rigid hierarchy built on cryptoeugenics and industrial economy. My heart dreams that humanity can forgo its demand for false certainty and supremacy without some sort of apocalypse (or theocratic vanguard state) delivering us into a solarpunk/Star Trek utopia.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
wervenyt (edited )LinkQuite simply, yes. In the sense that you mean it, at least. But in a less simple sense, we've been witnessing this takeover since....the 1700s? But, in a...Quite simply, yes. In the sense that you mean it, at least. But in a less simple sense, we've been witnessing this takeover since....the 1700s? But, in a slightly-more-but-still-less-simple-than-you-mean sense, since the...40s? The...20s? Yes. Yes. Yes.
The sense it seems you mean
The structures and ideals of liberal democracy of the US government are actively being subverted by a small cohort of politically incoherent business owners. They are using tactics from the same bag drawn from by countless coups, from the Nazi takeover of the Weimar Republic, to Stalin's accretion of control in the early Soviet Union, to the numerous state-sponsored coups that happened in Guatemala, Chile, Vietnam, Korea, throughout the 20th century.
The methods:
- unremitting brinkmanship in order to strongarm other political actors
- the use of divisionary propaganda that:
a) labels a huge portion of the population as suspect-by-default and blames for all the administration's failures
b) inspires those without vested interests to simply tune out, thanks to exhaustion - gross lies supported by aforementioned propaganda outlets
- undermines established political norms in the interest of furthering the ability of the administration to achieve its ends
But, wait, doesn't that apply to... George W Bush? Reagan? Nixon?
The sense you kind of mean
Yes, it does. Since the rise of the USSR, the federal government of the USA has allowed regulatory capture and coerced journalists in order to placate the corporations who facilitate the economy. It has engaged in disinformation campaigns, from Reefer Madness, to the Red Scare, to rumours of Weapons of Mass Destruction so as to coerce the populace into acceptance of
- the curtailing of civil liberties
- unconscionable military campaigns
- the erosion of the political agency of the citizenry
- climate change and other 'externalities' of industry
Fascism is not an ideology, not outside of Rome. Fascism is a long-term procedural decay and disenfranchisement of the populace in the interests of corporations and reactionary political parties.
But, wait, what about pre-1900? Wasn't the Spanish-American War kinda-sorta orchestrated by the publishing industry? Weren't there a number of huge classes of American citizens already disenfranchised before...the 1960s? Women couldn't vote before the 20s, racism?
The way you don't mean
Yeah, it wasn't like the Founding Fathers were angels sent to throw tea off a ship and fight a Righteous War to Usher in Liberty and Justice for All. They were, broadly, a bunch of business owners and polymaths who wanted to take advantage of the distance between the Colonies and the King to avoid taxation and the sure-to-come abolition of slavery in Brittania.
So, they huddled up, drunk and overcaffeinated, possibly stoned on cannabis or opium, and brainstormed a means of achieving local popularity for their private interests. They mined Locke and Rousseau's writings for positive justification of sovereignty, they borrowed from Adam Smith's early explorations of macroeconomics to chart a course to support their newly-cast-off dinghy, and blended these ideas with a fetish for ancient Athens and the Roman Republic they developed thanks to Enlightenment Education.
Basically, by accident, they designed the first modern state: one where every Man was King, where capitalism would nurture the children, where government was agreed upon by The People. Of course, they conveniently ignored the rights of their slaves, treated women as incapable of higher thought (and therefore participation in government), and only allowed the indigenous population such dignities if they stayed in their place (either in the Frontier, keeping to themselves, or as converts to the Modern State).
This was the model of the soon-to-follow French Revolution. As global literacy rose, as colonialism became gauche, as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches lost political power, and the Protestants fell into countless schisms themselves, as the world became more Enlightened, it turned out that the only system that people could really get behind, when facing these cultural and logical contradictions, was a system entirely devoid of self-seriousness. Liberal Democracy became the name of the game, and soon enough, even the warring kingdoms of Italy and Germany threw away their monarchies, even the British had to put their sovereign in a closet, to maintain Order.
Liberal Democracy, however, is a fragile ceasefire. It is a serviceable method of preventing social collapse, of curtailing the tendency of merchants to own private armies to guard their mansions, of keeping the huddled masses from killing the feudal lords, of preserving the human need for the illusions of Truth and Justice despite the death of gods and kings. Should the huddled masses become too huddled and too educated, they may revolt. Should the priests convert enough to once again fill the churches, they may dictate Righteousness again. Should the factory owners confuse the workers, they may convince them to surrender their political will. Should the government bureaucracy become convinced of its own righteousness, it may institute its own God.
So, yeah. We're watching the Holy Constitution burn. We're watching the miseducated masses conspire to conspire. We're watching a wealthy narcissist with dementia take advantage of the largest camp of conspirators, those who learned right and wrong from televangelists, oil barons, and weapon dealers.
HOPIUM
Some Things Are Happening. But it isn't new, and the bureaucracy of government will attempt to preserve itself, because it must. The tech billionaires don't agree on much except that the world should be modeled on a circuitboard, the military industry wants moar gun, the press want moar news, the petrochemical complex wants...well, whatever gets regulation out of the way, and the social regressives want to be kids again. With continual efforts to subvert alignment between these diverse power-holders, and luck, We will avoid a Brave New World and a Big Brother. If We give up, We'll have Orwellian totalitarianism. If We give in to our inner demons, We'll have a Huxleyan world state. If We build something, We will have it.
But liberal democracy is probably dead. It was born with Washington and Lincoln, it drowned in Coca-Cola Death Squads. If We resurrect it, We'll need to reckon with some Big Problems, or Fascism will come back out of the hinterlands.
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Comment on Supercentenarian and remarkable age records exhibit patterns indicative of clerical errors and pension fraud in ~health
wervenyt Link ParentYeah, I didn't mean to implicitly attack or criticize you, and couldn't remember who in particular was the first to complain and who was just making jokes about it. Didn't want to point fingers...Yeah, I didn't mean to implicitly attack or criticize you, and couldn't remember who in particular was the first to complain and who was just making jokes about it. Didn't want to point fingers without finding the original conversation as a result.
I like the jokes and understand your frustration, to clarify. Just also saw how thrown off imperialismus was without that context.
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Comment on Bluesky advertises itself as an open network, they say people won't lose followers or their identity, they advertise themselves as a protocol ("atproto"). These three claims are false. in ~tech
wervenyt Link ParentSure. That's why I expressed my own feelings as well. As a total package, the investors were probably aware that the openwashing of bluesky would help get initial buy-in and overwhelm general...Sure. That's why I expressed my own feelings as well. As a total package, the investors were probably aware that the openwashing of bluesky would help get initial buy-in and overwhelm general network effect issues. As a result, anyone who believed the marketing was deceived, and the whole of the enterprise is founded at least partially on such false pretenses.
Call it a scam or not, it still feels underhanded and deceptive. Getting mad at calling it a scam just feels like searching for a reason to dismiss the technical arguments while retaining a sense of superiority.
I know this one well, and have come to think of it as orbiting around "mean", "defensive", and "bitter". Mean as an attitude, not judgment, but in the sense of focusing on the short term, self-centeredness, uncompassionate. Feeling small in spirit. Because like you say, it isn't some shift in reality, there's no desire to act cruelly, it just feels easy, or like kindness would be pointless.
To be clear: these are my thoughts about what I've experienced that seems very similar to what you've described, not at all a matter of criticism or judgment. We may be talking about different things, and if my internal labels come across as harsh or misplaced, I apologize.