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eightpix

@ eightpix @lemmy.world

Posts
3
Comments
153
Joined
3 yr. ago

Been a student. Been a clerk. Been a salesperson. Been a manager. Been a teacher. Been an expatriate. Am a husband, father, and chronicle.

  • What’s the first book you remember loving?

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  • As a small child: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

    As a teen: Lightning by Dean R. Koontz

    As a high-schooler: Island by Aldous Huxley

  • 8 billion people vs. 3000 billionaires: Who would win?

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  • Billionaires win. They are winning in this world — imagine the world as an arena...

    They first reach out to those primed to defect. The ones who think they are defending their own interests because, one day after much bootstrapping, they'll be rich too. That's 10% of the non-billionaire population and a large group of the young, able-bodied, entitled predominantly male population.

    Another 10% opt to not fight. They'll wait and see who comes out on top or opt for pacifism — supporting those who fight without fighting themselves.

    The next 20% are those who want a compromise — not having the foresight to admit they'll be screwed in the end by the shrewd and wily billionaire class.

    That still leaves 4.8 billion people.

    Well, another 10% of the planet is malnourished, living in extreme poverty, or are infirm and unable to fight. Take another 10% who lack the capacity to fight effectively, are children, or are exceedingly advanced in age.

    We're down to 3.2 billion people.

    Of those who remain, each billionaire will need to kill 1 000 000 people in order to win the day. This is achieved by a combination of attacks — nuclear, chemical, biological, conventional, and systemic. Supply lines are cut early, communication lines are jammed, and every possible similarity that could bind 3.2 billion people together is spun into a wedge to divide them. The billionaires are unified behind their purchasing power. Each victorious serves as a message to the remaining people of the fresh horrors to come.

    After five or six days, there are 2700 remaining billionaires, who somehow got richer and only 1 billion fighters. Demoralized, decimated, defeated, the non-billionaires give in.

    The one strategy that would — nay, could — turn the tables is to upend the tables. Make money worthless. In some minds, this is the Purge. This is the antithesis.

    Instead, as a thesis: truly valuing life and living things, the fragile interdependence of ecology within an economic, social, and anthropological order would negate any power that the death-driven cult of profiteering offers. I'm not talking about sitting in a circle and singing kumbaya into eternity. I am talking about doing the work of eternity — stewardship for a planet we understand (not just its commodities) and community for all participants (not just the economically viable). We can learn from one another and grow with one another without exploiting or reinforcing one another's weaknesses.

    Takers like to quote Adam Smith, Sun Tzu, or the 48 Laws of Power. The battles we do not fight will feed us. The fields we do not raze will house us. The oceans we do not destroy will connect us. The planet we treat like a home instead of a hole in the ground will support us.

  • Be tiny and live in a giants pocket, or be giant and have a pocket friend?

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  • I've spent most of my life being the bigger, stronger, heavier person in most of my friendships. If the ratio is mouse to human — or Iron Giant — I'd take the opportunity to (literally) stand on the shoulders of a giant.

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    Why was Eeyore so sad in Winnie the Pooh? What did he need that could have made him happier?

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  • Also, being the one whose tail was "pinned on" must have given him some sense of distrust. Was his tail severed only to be temporarily attached with sharp object as a game to amuse children?

    Some existential stuff right there.

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    Why was Eeyore so sad in Winnie the Pooh? What did he need that could have made him happier?

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  • Tigger. And, to a degree, Owl.

  • Be tiny and live in a giants pocket, or be giant and have a pocket friend?

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  • I have questions.

    When I'm tiny:

    • is the giant still a friend?
    • Am I less/ as/ more intelligent by comparison?
    • do I really have to poop out the pocket?
    • could I poop out the bottom of the pocket?
    • what is the scale difference?

    When I'm giant:

    • is the pocket friend still like me?
    • is the pocket friend vulnerable to my mistakes?
    • am I one of few, or the only one remaining of, giants?
    • is the pocket friend intelligent or more like a pet?

    Pertinent examples in this inquiry are Attack on Titan, the Iron Giant, Marvel Comics' Galactus and Celestials, that one episode of Futurama with Bender being a god, and the Shadow of the Colossus.

  • What is your most lukewarm take?

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  • Private soil farming is a great business model. Low cost, high demand. With fewer chemicals and wider practice, the trade will be more sustainable.

    More houses will be 3D printed — and smaller — in the future.

    The internal combustion engine is the largest technological mis-step in human history.

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    Am I alone in this feeling?

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  • Good trouble. This is the answer.

    And good books, we're not alone out here.

    I just finished One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad. Not just about Gaza and the collateral damage of empires, but also about the tiny manipulations we're all subjected to that make us feel alone.

    Great reading.

    Note: the link is to the Chicago Review of Books.

  • How long have you been journaling for?

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  • Off and on since the late 90s. Mostly observational, stray thoughts, ideas for designs, or writing. Intense emotional moments are often channelled into my writing.

  • Do you succumb to the urge to stop the microwave a few seconds before it actually stops ?

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  • Are you me?

  • Who is your favourite Anti Hero?

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  • Everyone in the Expanse. Naomi, Drummer, Fred Johnson, Bobbie Draper, Chrisjen Avasarala, Monica... Obviously, Amos, Peaches, Miller, and even Holden.

    All of them do reprehensible things. Some did them and made up for it. Some still do them to win.

  • What shitty stuff did you discovered when you became adult?

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  • If more people realized this, life would be a lot more simple. I never grew up. I just got older.

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    Which NES soundtrack do you find very relaxing?

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    Which NES soundtrack do you find very relaxing?

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  • That Super Mario Bros 2 - Game End lullaby is perfect.

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    What made you realize your parents aren't good people? /srs

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  • The voice I used for "piece by piece" was Denzel's from Man on Fire (2004).

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    Is there a historical precedent or tv series that mirrors whats going on in the States right now? Besides Handmaids Tale?

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  • Wow. Hadn't heard of this one. Power of Nightmares and the Century of Self are among my favourite docs.

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    Is there a historical precedent or tv series that mirrors whats going on in the States right now? Besides Handmaids Tale?

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  • Take a serious look at the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gutting of the Commonwealth, and the rise of Russia under Yeltsin, then Putin. I'm not sure of any fictionalized works that examine this in any detail, but the aftermath and the new reality is well-described in Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. Link is a 10 year old review in the Guardian.

    The falls of other empires would also be instructive. There is an excellent podcast/YouTube channel, the Fall of Civilizations(YouTube Link)(Spotify Link). In listening, I found several parallels to the first Trump presidency. I haven't listened in years.

    A paper-thin skinned hegemon leads a dying empire against his staunch allies. I fed this prompt to ChatGPT and it handed me back Dune by Frank Herbert and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

  • What's your best Lemmy post or comment so far?

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  • Yeah, I've read my Asimov. Love that guy. I knownsome haven't, so Im glad you've included them. It was a student of mine who got me to read Caves of Steel for the first time. I thought they were excellent.

    Strangely, I've only seen the 2004(?) Will Smith version of I, Robot. But, I digress.

    The prompt for that post moved me. To think that we could break human affairs down to just three laws is enticing. I took a swing at it. That was what I had off the top of my head. I'd read a list — years ago — of Dene Law (it's a PDF, sorry). Those were also an inspiration.

  • What's your best Lemmy post or comment so far?

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  • I'm pretty happy with this answer to what the three laws would be if I made them.

    It's not my top response, but it is short, sweet, and to the point.