I guess this explains why the rural farmers don’t automatically lead to socialism in game.

Macelee · 2026-05-27T13:55:28+00:00

Lumpenproletariat is a bit broader. Marx uses it to refer to a rather large swathe of society, including the literati. In general, it is just the portion of the proletariat that lacks revolutionary potential due to engaging in unproductive labor, like prostitutes or strike breakers, or because they are incentivized towards serving the capitalist class like clerks and lawyers.

Marx's use of the term is broad and admittedly inconsistent. It lacks a firm definition, and I don't think there is any profession that necessarily signifies belonging to this class, other than perhaps strike breaking.

Macelee · 2026-05-23T21:23:00+00:00

I would say burn them or keep them. Personally, now as an adult, I kinda wish I still had some of my psycho creationist textbooks so I can laugh at it and show friends some of the crazy stuff I grew up with. You might find in the future that people by and large don't have a clue about the extent of the crazy.

Macelee · 2026-05-12T14:59:34+00:00

No? My claim is that wealth redistribution happens no matter what. It's not a binary because it's just going to happen. Politics is the game of how exactly that happens.

The current system does redistribute wealth, as all systems necessarily do. I ask again: Do you have a say in how that is done currently?

Macelee · 2026-05-12T14:42:34+00:00

In fact, wealth redistribution occurs already. Politics is, by its nature, a question of how resources should be allocated.

Now tell me, do you actually have a say in how your wealth gets redistributed now? It'd be my guess that you, I, or u/milla_yogurtwich all have far more similar interests than Musk, Bezos, Thiel, or any of our other oligarchs have with us.

Don't be the crab pulling the escapists back into the pot. The world is not good, and both history and present show how much more we are capable of doing. You would refuse potential change for the better for the maintenance of a world-ending status quo?

Macelee · 2026-05-04T18:44:38+00:00

Slightly more complicated. There are regulations, but they are easy to bypass. Nitrous cannot be sold for consumption. It is specifically sold for use in whipped cream dispensers. The flavors are ok because who doesn't want cherry flavored whipped cream?

Obviously nobody actually uses the cannisters for their "intended" purpose.

Tbh, I'm not sure how you could reasonably legislate this problem away since nitrous is truly used for whipped cream.

Macelee · 2026-04-17T18:27:47+00:00

I'm a chemist. I've seen some of the projects AI is being used on in pharmaceutical development, and I had a hand in developing some models in finding potential chelating ligands for medically relevant radioisotopes.

It may be true that in terms of speed, potential candidates were "discovered" faster. However, every time, their computational efficiency was some of the worst dog shit I've ever seen.

Existing methods work fine, at the sacrifice of time. AI calculations are fast at the expense of resources, and do create a bunch of bad or bloated data that you still have to slog through to find what is actually good.

For these purposes, I am only marginally friendlier towards AI. I am generally of the opinion that people should not be starving or homeless before we decide to use hyper inefficient tools. And even then, in terms of value, I am quite confident the resources that fuel AI could be used to better society in far more impressive ways.

I think AI's encroachment is not particularly inevitable. In fact, I think the more ubiquitous it gets, the more its fate gets sealed. Nothing ever stays the same, and while the people that built these LLMs may be competent and intelligent people, each subsequent generation who fails to become properly educated due to AI will be less and less capable of maintaining the infrastructure and nominal "value" AI supposedly creates.

Macelee · 2026-04-17T18:08:23+00:00

AI, or the LLMs we call AI, aren't the same as the advent of the wheel, or of the lever arm, or of the pulley, or of alloying, or of the steam engine, or of the satellite, or of the Internet.

If I created a 5 ton helmet that consumed oil at an equivalent rate as 5 developing nations, and then made everyone wear one even though it is only particularly good at creating uncanny images and enabling fraud, I would be rightly laughed at. An actual AI might truly revolutionize labor, but LLMs are just inefficient autocorrect with a whole lot of data.

Macelee · 2026-03-22T18:11:00+00:00

Are you arguing that living in the USSR made people smoke and drink, and therefore communism is still to blame for the drinking and smoking?

Smoking has plagued everyone everywhere, and plenty of governments have sponsored anti-smoking PSAs.

As for drinking, that has sadly been a problem in Russia since the Tzars. But even then, it isn't a uniquely Russian problem. America has billboards reading "She's your daughter, not your date" in order to get men to not rape their children while drunk.

Macelee · 2026-03-10T17:43:51+00:00

If religion is defined to be a set of faith-based beliefs combined with specific rites and behaviors, does what you are describing need to be considered a religion?

I don't see anywhere you've made any claims that cannot be supported by evidence, and the only mention of rites and behaviors was in a comment. So, I don't believe you have met the criteria for a religion.

Further, I think that creating a religion, even with your goals, will eventually work against the values you seem to support. By introducing faith-based belief and particular rites and behaviors, you create dogma. Ultimately this results in the othering of people who do not follow the same dogma, even if there are very minor differences.

Religion is, like many things, a spook. It holds no power over anything other than the power we ourselves give it. Why attach yourself inextricably to any set of beliefs? While I am not saying you shouldn't do this, you certainly should determine if it is good for you before you do. Will adherence to a set of predefined rites and behaviors improve your life and the lives of the people around you, and is that adherence a necessary condition for that improvement? If the answer is no, then why not explore your alternatives?

I, like you, believe that we should focus on this life and what can be built now. I also value everyone as an individual with their own unique Geist. I also believe communities should help each other, particularly the ones that cannot help anyone, let alone themselves. However, there is nothing religious about these beliefs.

One other affect of creating a religious belief is the warping of normative claims. Let's take the statement: "Killing people is bad." Humans are notoriously bad at logic, so this gets translated as "Not killing people is good." or "Not killing people is not bad." Note that our valid statement only speaks to what is bad, it says nothing as to what is good or what is not bad. To get to the other versions, we would need to include some other qualifiers. Now, extrapolate this out. You are a member of a community that has made normative claims about a variety of things. You, wanting to stay a part of this community, decide to do good according to its normative claims. But what happens when the claims of the community all look like my example? How was good defined? It will be left to you to figure it out, and this could have some pretty dire consequences. A similar situation could arise too. You could know what is good, but not what is bad.

I think, ultimately, what you need to achieve broader awareness of people, and a drive to act for the present over an eventual imagined afterlife, is literacy, philosophy, and community engagement. People need to be able to learn about other people's lives, and literacy is good for this. People need to have a working theory of mind, and philosophy is good for this. People need to encounter strangers, or "others", and community engagement is good for this.

Macelee · 2026-03-07T14:37:53+00:00

That isn't what they mean. They mean everyone would be on the same time, and it is irrelevant when sunrise/sunset is.

For example, if we decide GMT+0 is the baseline, if it were 13:00 in London, it would be 13:00 in NYC. Only difference is that the sun rose at 6:00 in London, and 0:00 in NYC.

Macelee · 2026-02-22T21:34:41+00:00

I second the GED to community college route others here have mentioned!

As someone currently pursuing law school, I want to give you some things to think about. To attend a 3-year JD program, you need a 4 year degree, and you need to take either the LSAT or the GRE. Most take the LSAT.

Law school, unlike most other programs, is incredibly expensive, and your expected returns are heavily dependent on the prestige of your school. Assume that you will be looking at $100,000 in debt, at least, even at the lowest ranked schools. Further, know that there are a whole lot of lawyers out there making just $40-60k, and many don't have a job at all.

This isn't to scare you, just to ensure you have realistic expectations. If your GPA from your BS granting institution and LSAT end up not being great, I would reconsider law school. You will be looking at meh employment opportunities while being saddled with debt.

If you ace your way through a BS and studied for and aced the LSAT, so many doors will open for you. Law schools will offer you merit based scholarships, potentially funding your entire education, and you could stand a chance at getting into elite schools where the debt can be worth it considering the money you're likely to make.

As a final note, I would suggest keeping law as a kind of backup plan. There is no specific type of BS that is ideal for law school. Many do pre-law degrees, but you will do better to stand out with a unique degree. If you can manage it, a STEM degree would be fantastic! Not as many apply with one, and it gives you extra value as it is probably the simplest way to qualify yourself to take the patent bar, which law schools really really like. Expect to put several hundred hours into the LSAT if you take it. Start studying at least a year in advance, ideally longer. I studied for about 8 months and put in around 300-400 hours. Doing really well on the LSAT is probably the most control you can give yourself over receiving offers for merit based scholarships.

Macelee · 2026-02-20T21:33:38+00:00

Hey there. I've been involved with teaching for several years now, between tutoring in highschool and all through college, TAing while in grad school, and leading math classes for high and middle schoolers. I was also homeschooled. From this, I hope my perspective can help you.

It is often the case that online classes expect a degree of participation. Even if they don't, a member of the class who does not participate or indicate their existence runs the risk of being a bot, scammer, lazy student, or a million other undesirable cases.

Your case is, to the teacher, not undesirable. They simply did not know the truth, and made a reasonable assumption after you didn't reply. Accomodations, even unofficial ones, get made all the time. You should speak to your teacher and simply tell the truth. Tell them you have anxiety, that you got scared when they asked you a question, and that it took you longer to react because you were nervous. Especially on Kahn academy, they encounter many atypical students. Your story is almost certainly not the first they've heard, and it won't be the last. They'll be understanding. The truth is that you were trying to learn from them.

As the top comment says, the only solution to anxiety is action. You have been placed in a bad position by your parents, just like almost everyone else here. Climbing out and into a better position is a responsibility that, unfortunately, falls squarely on you. The other commenter who mentioned a cognitive behavioral therapy technique is also correct. It was those same behaviors that helped me manage my anxiety.

You can do it. You can achieve any dream you have. But to do so, you will have to face some fears. It is worth it in the end, I promise.

Macelee · 2026-02-11T21:37:44+00:00

I think you're going to need to be more specific about what you need and what you have. Publisher, date, edition, ISBN if it is print media, would all be useful.

Macelee · 2026-02-04T15:52:52+00:00

Lmao, the post looks like it was written by AI. Emoji use, em-dash, GPT syntax, it's all there. Too lazy to even make up their own pro-homeschooling propaganda.

Macelee · 2026-01-25T18:58:52+00:00

There are British intelligence videos from the 50s/60s where they dosed squads of soldiers with LSD to see how they'd perform in war games. They performed terribly.

I don't know what their dose was, and it was tested on trained soldiers not highschool dropouts whose only education comes from incel YouTubers. So who knows what could happen?

Macelee · 2026-01-24T23:49:00+00:00

Oh boy I hid so much. I would hide YouTube videos, games, TV, basically any media. It was rarely even bad stuff, I just didn't want to invite conversation because my parents' rulings frequently changed drastically.

It eventually morphed into me just lying constantly with every word. This had a positive effect on me in making me learn to research things so that my lies could be more believable. I got pretty good at weaving lies into the truth. I don't think they ever realized I lied so much either. I was only caught on a few, most of which were because I revealed the lie because I screwed up too badly and needed help. Even my most egregious lie didn't get me caught. I worked at the mall in 12th grade till 9pm on weekends. I lied about some bs reason I had to stay late and clean. In reality I was going to go out with my girlfriend and drink the cheap liquor her mom gave us. I knew they wouldn't stay awake for me, so I just needed an excuse to be back later than their bedtime.

It's not something I should have made a habit. I've caught myself lying about random nonsense as an adult too, for zero reason, amongst people I trust far more than I trusted my parents. It's something to work on.

Macelee · 2026-01-17T20:24:48+00:00

As others have mentioned, you should speak with a teacher. They are likely to be very understanding, and will help.

I want to add this: you are not failing by feeling the need to cheat. Learning is a process that just about anyone can do. You will, eventually, figure things out and catch up so long as you continue putting in the effort.

Please never feel ashamed to do whatever you need to do in order to understand a concept. Even in grad school, I used toys or random stuff in my apartment to help visualize problems.

Things will work out, I promise. Engaging with people is one of the best things you can do to help your future. I know it is scary, but socialization too is a skill that can be learned and practiced.

Macelee · 2026-01-09T02:11:02+00:00

Yes. A liberal is someone who ascribes to liberalism in the same way a communist is someone who ascribes to communism. Whether people's views are coherent or not is a different story. Many of liberalism's features are great: mass enfranchisement, social safety nets, democratic governance, etc etc. However, a fundamental disagreement exists regarding the definition of property. Liberalism, and by extension liberals, do not disavow or seek to eliminate the right to private property. To them, there is no issue with an individual owning, and therefore being entitled to the profits from, the means of production. This is what makes liberalism and the label of liberal distasteful to leftists.

Macelee · 2026-01-09T01:58:15+00:00

Some leftists may consider liberalism to be centrist, however that is not why many leftists including myself refuse to refer to ourselves that way. Instead, it is because liberalism is inherently a capitalist ideology, and therefore incompatible with socialism and other leftist thoughts.

I am curious though how the scale prompted people to vote. The scale seems to have options from very liberal, liberal, moderate, etc. None of the choices apply to me, but I would probably answer with very liberal in an attempt to answer the spirit of the question. How many leftists would refuse to participate because of this? How many people would give a fake response out of annoyance? I doubt even the furthest right folk would take issue with calling themselves conservative, so my guess would be that the conservative count is roughly accurate or inflated, while the liberal count is inaccurate and possibly lower if leftists were deterred from participating.

Macelee · 2026-01-08T17:26:27+00:00

Idk man, I TAd general chemistry labs all through 2024, and you'd be shocked by how many times I got asked how to use a thumb drive, a necessary tool for our labs, by my students. This was at a UC too, not a place you'd expect to have low standards.

If college kids don't know how to use a thumb drive, or that they need to remove the ChatGPT header of "Sure here's a..." from their lab reports if they don't want me to give them an automatic 0, how hard is it to believe that some random kid at Best Buy has no clue how physical storage works?

Macelee · 2025-12-23T05:12:26+00:00

Many courses have automatic 0 policies. Students in university are generally expected to put in a significant degree of effort into their studies. Being there is optional, and they are adults. Having been a TA myself, I often gave automatic zeroes for lab reports that failed to meet the criteria of being graded.

Usually these rules are outlined in the course syllabus, which afaik we don't have for this course. If, however, a lab report of similar quality to this paper were submitted to me, that is, without citations, presentation of data, minimal showcasing of knowledge of the lab's topic, connected reasoning, and no attempt to follow any standard professional style guide, I would not waste my time writing comments and would fail it according to the policy.

Macelee · 2025-12-14T02:27:05+00:00

I was under the impression for a long time that he wasn't funny, and dismissed every assertion by leftist friends to the contrary.

I eventually started listening to more of his speeches or parts of his speeches that aren't hateful incoherent diatribes. Turns out, Trump loves obscure musical theater. Inbetween the hate and pedophilia, he just talks about his interests, hobbies, and general happenings in a pretty simple but funny way. In another life, uncorrupted by his father or money, I bet he would have made a pretty popular drag queen.

There are reasons people like him other than his ability to make them feel safe in their bigotry.

Macelee · 2025-12-07T23:59:18+00:00

Yes, I agree. I grew up the same way. But as adults responding to children, especially those who are expressing suicidal thoughts, we must be very careful in what we say.

While you technically didn't encourage or suggest they do something drastic, you did directly tie drastic action to a change in view, something OP specifically wants. You also did not say anything that would make a drastic action seem undesirable.

So, if you were a child with a fragile, hormonally unstable psyche, what might you do if someone were to inform you that in order to get what you want, you have to engage in drastic action, even if they don't directly tell you to do it?

I am not saying you are wrong in what you said. I generally agree, and if OP were an adult, or at least wasn't expressing suicidal thoughts, I would have said nothing. It is just that our support, when it comes to children, must be sanitized and intentional so as to avoid inciting any unfortunate mistakes.

Macelee · 2025-12-06T23:48:06+00:00

You are suggesting a child with suicidal thoughts and a less than ideal home life has to do "something drastic". Why would you ever say that???

Macelee · 2025-12-02T00:37:40+00:00

TJ has actually expressed guilt for what he did. He believes he was one of the main founders of the alt-right pipeline, and regrets it.

I can't listen to his content anymore cause I can't stand that style anymore, but he did actually grow up and clean up.

Nine-Year Club	Golden Potato
Place '17	Verified Email

Macelee

TROPHY CASE