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The problem is that the physical world crumbling around us is something that we can all see with our present eyes. That now those of us who live outside of East

by rabite 5y ago

The problem is that the physical world crumbling around us is something that we can all see with our present eyes. That now those of us who live outside of East Asia are in the middle of a plunge into the abyss is plain as day. Simple things like visiting a grocery store or driving down the streets of ones childhood home are extremely alienating things that generate nothing but loathing and regret. Nobody is selling any solution better than escapism than this, and indeed, most people who say we should restore society to the standards of the times where we were building material prosperity and social fabric are called all called all sorts of pejoratives, banned from the workplace and financial services, and even subject to violence by mobs and militias that the state seems to either ignore completely or sometimes nod and winkingly support. All of society screams to you to shoot dope and put on the headset, and no other alternatives are given.

vba616 5y ago
I haven't seen any of this stuff. The only thing that worries me a little is the cars without license plates.
- rabite 5y ago
  You haven't seen any of this stuff? There's been multiple frontpage articles on HN alone about financial institution based censorship. The Canadian government is gloating in public about banning people from the banking system and getting them fired from their jobs in the past week. I am absolutely stunned you haven't heard about any of this happening.
  - vba616 5y ago
    >There's been multiple frontpage articles on HN alone I was replying to your original comment, focusing on the real world around me. You wrote "the physical world crumbling around us is something that we can all see with our present eyes" And "Simple things like visiting a grocery store or driving down the streets of ones childhood home are extremely alienating things that generate nothing but loathing and regret" I live on the edge of a small American city (roughly 1 million greater urban area) where it's only a few miles between downtown and the suburbs so I do errands anywhere in the vicinity. Early in the pandemic, it was the suburban grocery stores that had significant numbers of people who seemed pushy, vaguely angry at the world, and maybe 1/4 of them not wearing masks. I was more comfortable going to the inner city grocery store because everybody was wearing a mask and keeping their distance. Not that I was particularly paranoid about the virus, just because it felt less hostile and less crowded. The scariest thing I've seen there was a pickup truck plastered Florida-style with graphics and lettering about somebody's paranoid fantasies, vendettas, and politics. It straight up looked like someone who might randomly murder you if they learned you worked for state government because they think the governor is some kind of evil dictator coming to take their guns. I don't see my neighborhood crumbling. Haven't been to my "childhood home" but I don't think anything in particular has happened to the street it's on.
bee_rider 5y ago
What specifically do you want to restore? Cheap colleges, social safetynet, unions? People will (often incorrectly) call you a socialist for supporting that kind of stuff, but just don't think of it as a pejorative.
- rabite 5y ago
  What I want is irrelevant. The point is a good half of the population in the United States believes that the social and material landscape they grew up with is in profound decay. What I specifically perceive to be the issue is much less important than the fact that lots of people think their lives are being trampled upon, but if we're asking me personally? For starters, I want the businesses of my home that were shuttered due to arbitrary restrictions that were not levied upon megacorporations over the flu to be reopened and fully compensated at the expense of the people that made trillions. I want them to go back in time and prevent the government subsidized section 8 housing that infested my town and skyrocketed and filled it full of fentanyl and methamphetamine and subsequent overdoses and rape and murders to be prevented in the first place. That would also have prevented it from being later burned down in riots as well. I want public schools that enrich the cognitive function and knowledge of my kids instead of trying to convince them they are racist and transgender. I want there to be a steady supply of goods on store shelves again, and not incredible supply chain crises created by an intentional multinational campaign of The Great Reset. I want Klaus Schwab to not be able to publicly gloat he controls the elected representatives of G5 nations. I want to be able to travel freely without having my family's medical decisions scrutinized. I want the free as in freedom Internet I grew up with back before 5 companies controlled the entire social graph. I would like more manufacturing backbone and jobs in the United States, like before we shipped everything to Mexico and China. I would also like 95% of H1Bs to be banned, and the sponsors penalized by the government for immigration fraud. I want housing to cost the same percentage of the median income as it did for my grandparents. College, the same.
imtringued 5y ago
I don't see the world crumbling in any permanent way. I just see the conventional liquidity costs problem where people hold onto money to avoid storage costs and capital depreciation. This can lead to a war until artificial capital scarcity sets in and the accumulation game starts from scratch. The truth is that this is not a good reason to advocate for VR because the solution is pretty simple. Internalize capital depreciation and storage costs involved in maintaining liquidity of physical goods by introducing holding costs onto money and land ownership.

by rabite 5y ago

vba616 5y ago

I haven't seen any of this stuff. The only thing that worries me a little is the cars without license plates.

rabite 5y ago
You haven't seen any of this stuff? There's been multiple frontpage articles on HN alone about financial institution based censorship. The Canadian government is gloating in public about banning people from the banking system and getting them fired from their jobs in the past week. I am absolutely stunned you haven't heard about any of this happening.
- vba616 5y ago
  >There's been multiple frontpage articles on HN alone I was replying to your original comment, focusing on the real world around me. You wrote "the physical world crumbling around us is something that we can all see with our present eyes" And "Simple things like visiting a grocery store or driving down the streets of ones childhood home are extremely alienating things that generate nothing but loathing and regret" I live on the edge of a small American city (roughly 1 million greater urban area) where it's only a few miles between downtown and the suburbs so I do errands anywhere in the vicinity. Early in the pandemic, it was the suburban grocery stores that had significant numbers of people who seemed pushy, vaguely angry at the world, and maybe 1/4 of them not wearing masks. I was more comfortable going to the inner city grocery store because everybody was wearing a mask and keeping their distance. Not that I was particularly paranoid about the virus, just because it felt less hostile and less crowded. The scariest thing I've seen there was a pickup truck plastered Florida-style with graphics and lettering about somebody's paranoid fantasies, vendettas, and politics. It straight up looked like someone who might randomly murder you if they learned you worked for state government because they think the governor is some kind of evil dictator coming to take their guns. I don't see my neighborhood crumbling. Haven't been to my "childhood home" but I don't think anything in particular has happened to the street it's on.

bee_rider 5y ago

What specifically do you want to restore? Cheap colleges, social safetynet, unions? People will (often incorrectly) call you a socialist for supporting that kind of stuff, but just don't think of it as a pejorative.

rabite 5y ago
What I want is irrelevant. The point is a good half of the population in the United States believes that the social and material landscape they grew up with is in profound decay. What I specifically perceive to be the issue is much less important than the fact that lots of people think their lives are being trampled upon, but if we're asking me personally? For starters, I want the businesses of my home that were shuttered due to arbitrary restrictions that were not levied upon megacorporations over the flu to be reopened and fully compensated at the expense of the people that made trillions. I want them to go back in time and prevent the government subsidized section 8 housing that infested my town and skyrocketed and filled it full of fentanyl and methamphetamine and subsequent overdoses and rape and murders to be prevented in the first place. That would also have prevented it from being later burned down in riots as well. I want public schools that enrich the cognitive function and knowledge of my kids instead of trying to convince them they are racist and transgender. I want there to be a steady supply of goods on store shelves again, and not incredible supply chain crises created by an intentional multinational campaign of The Great Reset. I want Klaus Schwab to not be able to publicly gloat he controls the elected representatives of G5 nations. I want to be able to travel freely without having my family's medical decisions scrutinized. I want the free as in freedom Internet I grew up with back before 5 companies controlled the entire social graph. I would like more manufacturing backbone and jobs in the United States, like before we shipped everything to Mexico and China. I would also like 95% of H1Bs to be banned, and the sponsors penalized by the government for immigration fraud. I want housing to cost the same percentage of the median income as it did for my grandparents. College, the same.

imtringued 5y ago

I don't see the world crumbling in any permanent way. I just see the conventional liquidity costs problem where people hold onto money to avoid storage costs and capital depreciation. This can lead to a war until artificial capital scarcity sets in and the accumulation game starts from scratch. The truth is that this is not a good reason to advocate for VR because the solution is pretty simple. Internalize capital depreciation and storage costs involved in maintaining liquidity of physical goods by introducing holding costs onto money and land ownership.