5 ms·

> I used to want to do many things. Make great art, build great machines, solve important issues. Maybe our greatest gift to the world is to do as little as pos

> I used to want to do many things. Make great art, build great machines, solve important issues. Maybe our greatest gift to the world is to do as little as possible. To look at the birds, feel the wind and the water in our own hands, and ... nothing more. Eat when we are hungry, laugh when we are happy, cry when we are empty. And maybe that is the greatest gift to ourselves as well. This is not always true, it depends on who you are. If you are an employee at Meta, or work for Philip Morris, you'd certainly do more good for the world by doing almost nothing, staying home doing nothing would be more moral compared to going to work everyday. Not so for doctors, nurses, teachers, and many other professions.

lanyard-textile 5mo ago
:) I think this very mindset is the one the article resists. How complicated. The best gift you can give yourself is enjoying the simple moments of life, no matter who you are and what your role is. And that's all this is about.
- bloomingeek 5mo ago
  Well said. For my part: seek beauty and happiness. Don't make others sad. The last part is far more difficult. Why? As someone said, "We have caveman emotions, live under medieval systems and have access to god-like technology." Perhaps a simpler example: when driving on the highway, stay out of other driver's way, enjoy the experience and don't cause danger. I can't control how others drive, but I can get out of the way.
- nojonestownpls 5mo ago
  Yes, when life puts you in a position where you're insulated from the consequences of your actions, just enjoy it :) If your role is actively making life worse for thousands of others, that's their problem. When you've been offered the privilege of an uncomplicated life in a complicated world, just grab it by the neck and take it, discard the complications as something for others to deal with!
  - lanyard-textile 5mo ago
    What a terrible view. It's a good thing that I do not feel that way!
    - nojonestownpls 5mo ago
      When you take into account how much corporations cloud the effects of your work from you, and how easy (normal, in fact) it is to live in a bubble where you don't realize the level of suffering of others, then when you say > no matter who you are and what your role is that view is exactly what you are endorsing. You may not feel that way, but unfortunately, you don't have to explicitly feel it in those words to act exactly in accordance to that.
- margalabargala 5mo ago
  Going about your life without concern for how your actions affect those around you is what some might call selfish :) You feel that's the best give you can give yourself. Others might feel the best gift they can give themselves, is a community. Perhaps a war criminal might find equal personal fulfillment in seeing a wildflower as a doctor. But there's more than one ingredient in a happy life :)
  - aliasxneo 5mo ago
    [dead]
  - lanyard-textile 5mo ago
    It is no fun applying a well meaning thought to an obviously unintended subject. A war criminal, really! You are making this... complicated ;) 1. There is an evil at both extremes -- I do not advocate for either. 2. Life's simple moments include the ones that build up your communities.
pyrale 5mo ago
I guess the issue is that, on average, our society looks more like Phillip Morris or Meta than it looks like a school or an hospital. And, most of all, the people our society promotes to steer itself tend to be the kind that thrives at Meta rather than in a school.
- timacles 5mo ago
  To be more precise, the late stage capitalism phase we are in has designed itself around destroying anything that contributes to society. Nothing can exist without making a profit. If there is something that is useful, our system makes sure it will be exploited for maximum profit which will in turn destroy that very things.
  - ModernMech 5mo ago
    The people leading this society right now sincerely believe that empathy is the fundamental weakness of our civilization, and introspection is something to be avoided as much as possible. I believe our state of affairs stems from those two propositions.
    - cogogo 5mo ago
      And much of our society believes those two things. You see it every day watching people interact in public with a sense of extreme entitlement. Toxic individualism.
    - freeopinion 5mo ago
      I believe in local societies. Very few of us are in a position to affect things at a global scale. If you want to change your world, demonstrate empathy in your very small, very local society. I'll try to do better in my small world, too. Maybe some day your little society will extend out to touch my little society. Let's hope that together they would form a bigger bubble where empathy is a strength.
  - fwipsy 5mo ago
    That's not true. Capitalism is merely indifferent to things without economic value. If something is monetizable it will be monetized, which can be very harmful in itself, but capitalism does not seek destruction for it's own sake.

lanyard-textile 5mo ago

:) I think this very mindset is the one the article resists. How complicated. The best gift you can give yourself is enjoying the simple moments of life, no matter who you are and what your role is. And that's all this is about.

bloomingeek 5mo ago
Well said. For my part: seek beauty and happiness. Don't make others sad. The last part is far more difficult. Why? As someone said, "We have caveman emotions, live under medieval systems and have access to god-like technology." Perhaps a simpler example: when driving on the highway, stay out of other driver's way, enjoy the experience and don't cause danger. I can't control how others drive, but I can get out of the way.
nojonestownpls 5mo ago
Yes, when life puts you in a position where you're insulated from the consequences of your actions, just enjoy it :) If your role is actively making life worse for thousands of others, that's their problem. When you've been offered the privilege of an uncomplicated life in a complicated world, just grab it by the neck and take it, discard the complications as something for others to deal with!
- lanyard-textile 5mo ago
  What a terrible view. It's a good thing that I do not feel that way!
  - nojonestownpls 5mo ago
    When you take into account how much corporations cloud the effects of your work from you, and how easy (normal, in fact) it is to live in a bubble where you don't realize the level of suffering of others, then when you say > no matter who you are and what your role is that view is exactly what you are endorsing. You may not feel that way, but unfortunately, you don't have to explicitly feel it in those words to act exactly in accordance to that.
margalabargala 5mo ago
Going about your life without concern for how your actions affect those around you is what some might call selfish :) You feel that's the best give you can give yourself. Others might feel the best gift they can give themselves, is a community. Perhaps a war criminal might find equal personal fulfillment in seeing a wildflower as a doctor. But there's more than one ingredient in a happy life :)
- aliasxneo 5mo ago
  [dead]
- lanyard-textile 5mo ago
  It is no fun applying a well meaning thought to an obviously unintended subject. A war criminal, really! You are making this... complicated ;) 1. There is an evil at both extremes -- I do not advocate for either. 2. Life's simple moments include the ones that build up your communities.

pyrale 5mo ago

I guess the issue is that, on average, our society looks more like Phillip Morris or Meta than it looks like a school or an hospital. And, most of all, the people our society promotes to steer itself tend to be the kind that thrives at Meta rather than in a school.

timacles 5mo ago
To be more precise, the late stage capitalism phase we are in has designed itself around destroying anything that contributes to society. Nothing can exist without making a profit. If there is something that is useful, our system makes sure it will be exploited for maximum profit which will in turn destroy that very things.
- ModernMech 5mo ago
  The people leading this society right now sincerely believe that empathy is the fundamental weakness of our civilization, and introspection is something to be avoided as much as possible. I believe our state of affairs stems from those two propositions.
  - cogogo 5mo ago
    And much of our society believes those two things. You see it every day watching people interact in public with a sense of extreme entitlement. Toxic individualism.
  - freeopinion 5mo ago
    I believe in local societies. Very few of us are in a position to affect things at a global scale. If you want to change your world, demonstrate empathy in your very small, very local society. I'll try to do better in my small world, too. Maybe some day your little society will extend out to touch my little society. Let's hope that together they would form a bigger bubble where empathy is a strength.
- fwipsy 5mo ago
  That's not true. Capitalism is merely indifferent to things without economic value. If something is monetizable it will be monetized, which can be very harmful in itself, but capitalism does not seek destruction for it's own sake.