jwb

I mean I can't help but point out the irony that I'm trying to make the case to the resident communists that poor people's lives would on average be improved if they had more money

The Batlord

It's like you didn't read anything I said and just restated what you already thought.

Or course scarcity is a universal mindset. It's what all of humanity evolved to live in. So of course it will always be what drives us and will always be what drives us to accumulate more no matter how much we have. So therefore accumulation is a mechanic of humanity and not an end goal. Once you have accumulated "enough" you must therefore find a way to satisfy that mechanic differently because it will still be your driving instinct regardless of whether or not it is necessary.

Happiness is a temporary emotion that was never an evolutionary thing meant to last. It's a carrot to encourage humans to strive, it is not an end goal. No human society will ever solve unhappiness because unhappiness is a feature and not a bug.

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OccultHawk

We’re gonna Huxley our way out of unhappiness

The Batlord

I doubt it but why?

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jwb

I absolutely read what you said and thought i was responding to it. I just think we're using the word scarcity different. Because if it's a universal mindset then it follows you will never accumulate "enough." Enough is relative. So you are still motivated by the same basic drive. To earn more. To accumulate more. It's just the actual stakes of failure are less drastic as to go up the financial totem pole.

jwb

... Yes you do. Depending on who you are. The idea that existential crisis is something reserved for the privileged few is just quite simply wrong.

jwb

so what is your driving goal if not to improve poor people's lives?

The Batlord

The stakes kinda sorta don't matter. Accumulation is an irrational instinct based on experiences we had when we were still worried about having enough food for the day as poo flinging apes. It's an instinct built over millions of years which a house or a substantial bank account do not satisfy because the instinct is too primitive to understand what those things are or that it is possible to have enough for any kind of extended period of time. You might as well tell that instinct that you've watched enough television because guess what, that instinct insists that you haven't watched enough television cause it doesn't understand what television is or even that there's a difference between television and food.

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OccultHawk

I’d rather numb out on Xanax than feel it. And the Soma is only going to get better.

Give me AC, Xanax, ambien, and my phone, and a private room - **** a purpose - **** real interaction - **** sunshine and exercise

I can ride it like that for years too

I wouldn’t have wanted to spent my youth like that but from 45 on sure

Read a couple chapters, listen to a record, watch a show, post some bull**** on here, eat cereal take a nap - it’s very much like what Huxley predicted

The Batlord

That's literally my life and I don't understand how it's supposed to be more fulfilling. The only thing I can think of is doing something to make life more novel. Like learning to sail and sailing around the world to keep each day as novel as possible.

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