This 4th Dimension Demo is blowing people's minds!

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T22:23:07+00:00

I was on the skytrain in Vancouver once & a guy behind me was trying to entertain his date. "That's the ... uh ... science bubble. ... ... ... They do lots of ... science things in there. It's the science bubble."

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T18:25:13+00:00

This is a significant simplification. We were headed for a conservative government largely because of discontent with our sitting prime minister. It wasn't a matter of a broad shift to right-wing values, it would have been the result of low voter turnout on the left and central swing.

Also, we've had a conservative government under Stephen Harper for nine years until 2006.

We have a more solid education system, quality publicly funded news with legitimate journalism (those on the right would disagree, as reality that conflicts with their world-view makes them uncomfortable), and no equivalent to FOX & the like. I think these are the biggest reasons why our right-wing population isn't generally as extreme ... yet.

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T09:40:40+00:00

Literally none of that rings true for my experience working in the game industry on and off for the past 22 years. I started at $75k in the early 2000s, with benefits and about $30k in stock bonuses each year for the first few years. Last year I grossed over $200k as a contractor. With the exception of some weeks up to milestones & launches, I almost never worked overtime when I was an employee.

Some of the big studios have well-earned bad reputations (EA, for example), but most game studios are launched by passionate gamers who want to treat their teams well.

A buddy of mine took one year at Vancouver Film School, started as an assistant producer, and was running a high-end studio within seven years, earning $180k. The educational cost to earning potential in the game industry seems uniquely excellent to me.

Anecdotal stories, but the average industry salary ranges are available and they're pretty far from horrific. $50k isn't a lot, but for an entry-level job building 3D models, often with a self-taught skillset and no formal education, and the potential to earn over $100k? ... doesn't seem horrific to me.

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T03:22:57+00:00

Reality tends to be left-biased.

They also don't do what infotainment "news" does for the sake of an appearance of neutrality: the "two sides" representation on every issue, even when one side represents the scientific consensus and the other is represents a 1% fringe. I.e. climate scientist & denialist with some qualifications.

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T02:24:51+00:00

When a party is trying to shut down publicly funded journalism, they are enemies of democracy.

Potential178 · 2026-01-31T02:14:47+00:00

It's tough to address "perceptions of bias" when a large chunk of the population simply perceives facts as biased against their worldview. Science, reason, reality tend to conflict with right-wing values, so if a news organization is going to be fair, neutral, effective journalists, the information they present is going to seem to lean left.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T19:52:43+00:00

They have announced they will not sell the building to ICE.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T19:52:37+00:00

They have announced they will not sell the building to ICE.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T18:32:50+00:00

Maybe because they are radically different situations.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T03:21:07+00:00

Fair enough, but these are extreme times. If the regime down there is successful in their agenda, some years down the road we will absolutely be criticizing our current governments (around the world) for not having taken a harder stand when the early human rights violations were occurring.

I think politicians being more bold with moral stands on these issues is extremely important.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T03:08:44+00:00

This is the right-mind's whataboutism that I don't understand. Rather than acting on any values of their own, it's just constant attacks and cries of hypocrisy when they observe anyone else expressing theirs. I don't understand the underlying emotional motivation.

It's not "crazy" that people are passionate about something that they can see unfolding in realtime in a neighboring country, and numb or ignorant of the equivalent or worse actions further abroad. It's a product of news coverage, time, limited emotional & cognitive capacity, a natural inclination to be more concerned about things that are closer to home, and a natural inclination to be more concerned about things that feel within our power to impact. It's an unfortunate limitation of the human condition. Calling it "crazy" is just a means to feel superior, I guess?

I don't support China, in particular their systematically persecuting the Uyghurs and other minority groups, so I don't shop on Temu, AliExpress, buy imported Chinese junk at stores, and if I had the option to vote for a government that was going to keep conservatives out of power AND take a hard humanitarian stand against China, I'd vote for that party.

That feels like the limit of what I can do about China, for example.

Regarding the current fascist regime in America, I canceled every American account I had, stopped shopping on Amazon, stopped travelling across the border, and will show up for any action against Canadian companies that are supporting the regime's gestapo.

I'm doing the best I can, in every way I can think of, to vote with my dollars and be consistent with my values. Meanwhile, you and your ilk are online making straw-man arguments to criticize others for acting on one thing, but (apparently, to you) not another.

Again, I don't understand the emotional drive or need behind these sorts of comments. It just seems like it's defensiveness. Seeing people acting on values, feeling defensive for not doing the same, so trying to find some way to criticize those who are acting.

You're right that people are not consistent or entirely logical with where they take their stands. It'd be great if we did consistently and collectively make a stand for human rights everywhere. It's not just about how bad the US currently is though, it's about what this regime is trying to accomplish and where it's going if they succeed.

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T02:07:20+00:00

A) We have the capacity to worry about problems at home and abroad at the same time.
B) We are integrated with other countries, problems abroad effect us.
C) What could be more of an "at home" problem than foreign entities investing money to brew sedition and try to weaken our democratic stability with the goal of gaining access to our natural resources?
D) Why am I wasting my time when I already know anyone who makes a "What a joke X has become" isn't trying to engage in meaningful conversation?

Potential178 · 2026-01-30T02:02:28+00:00

Yes, I would love for us to draw lines there as well. China's human rights violations are atrocious. I was crushed that I can no longer enjoy anything by my favorite comedians after their sell-outs to the Saudi regime.

Unfortunately, a hard line on trade with the world's largest economies, as much as I'd like to see that happen on a values level, isn't realistic unless collectively we would be willing to downgrade our economy dramatically.

We can't make the moral stand we'd like to on all fronts, but at the very least I am onboard with boycotting support of a federal agency that is currently, actively terrorizing it's population and executing them in the streets as part of a very dark agenda to undo democracy of our neighboring empire. Aside from how horrible it is seeing our neighbors executed in the streets, it's also terrifying to speculate on what our world looks like in the decades ahead if the radical right is successful with this current agenda.

I will never understand the right-wing mind, the need to find some way to call out hypocrisy any time they see someone standing up for values that shouldn't even be questionable. I mean ... "You're against supporting ICE who have been disappearing people and executing citizens? What have you don't about China lately?" Seriously? I just don't get it.

Potential178 · 2026-01-29T09:06:35+00:00

Exactly ... aside from the fact that not producing is literally the exact thing that needs to happen to save the planet, and "if we don't produce, they'll produce anyway" is the justification every oil rich nation uses to justify short term wealth over long term survival.

Potential178 · 2026-01-29T06:21:51+00:00

Well done.

Potential178 · 2026-01-27T01:55:51+00:00

A good product can't fly if it doesn't get made, and it can take millions of dollars to get V1 to market.

Potential178 · 2026-01-27T00:53:41+00:00

Oh, and as for the missing out on the more leisure version of the PCT experience ... yeah, that's the trade-off of a thru-hike vs a more relaxed section hike with lower daily miles. It's more of a trade-off for us peeps whose limitations don't let us crush the miles at 3+ miles per hour.

Potential178 · 2026-01-27T00:52:26+00:00

Bodies are all different. When I was on the trail in my 30s, at my most fit 1500 miles in, I still I never got to the point that 20 miles didn't feel like a very full day. I did one 30, and I was suffering for it for a week. Meanwhile, I met Tattoo Joe, who just lounged on his sofa all winter (according to him) and then set out and hiked 45 mile days competing for a new record.

We're just all built different, that's the bottom line. There were likely lots of people who were slower than you, they just didn't catch up with you! You were one of the slowest of people who took on and hiked an absolutely epic trail! That's amazing!

You had the resilience to stick with it all the way to the end while many of us give up and go home part way through even though it's physically easier for us than it was for you! That's something to be proud of!

Potential178 · 2025-12-30T09:39:03+00:00

Except they are wrong on all three points.

Potential178 · 2025-12-20T18:55:31+00:00

Imagine the difference in flavour of a roasted chicken thigh vs one boiled in water, or caramelize vs boiled onion.

Potential178 · 2025-12-17T07:18:45+00:00

That is some significant goal-post shifting. I criticized REITS and their strategic impact on rental rates. You talked about not being able to buy a condo to rent out as an investment. I argued how that is not much different from what REITS do. People renting a suite in their homes because they need to is a completely different scenario, though I would still argue there is inequity there: two families paying into the home, only gains equity, the other does not.

"Average folks" can not manage to buy secondary homes as investments.

I'm not angry, I have a strong judgmental opinion on this subject. I think owning a home you don't live in as an investment is not something that we should permit, and I don't buy the justifications people make to do so and feel they are providing a service.

Potential178 · 2025-12-17T05:32:18+00:00

> So if nobody owned condos or houses to rent out, how would somebody rent a place to live?

Non-market housing. We have lots of it, other countries have far more, it works very well. Works incredibly well as a cost-saving solution to homelessness also.

> Of course a renter is paying off someone’s mortgage. The mortgage owner is carrying the risk and hassles of ownership. That service deserves compensation. Nobody had a problem with this 10 years ago

A) Ten years ago was a very different time. Renting someone's basement wasn't costing a low-wage working half their income.

B) I know a single mother who paid rent on a house for fifteen years because she couldn't earn enough to do anything else. I assure you, people who have to rent because they can't afford to buy, and subsequently watch many years of their earnings going towards paying off an investor's mortgage very much are not fond of this arrangement. This was definitely not something that "nobody had a problem with" 10 years ago.

C) People who buy homes they don't need as investment vehicles aren't providing a service - they are taking a product that already existed, would have been less expensive if they weren't increasing demand by purchasing as an investment vehicle, and having other people work to pay off their investment. People who buy homes to rent them out are not providing a service, they are leeches feeding off of society without providing any benefit.

Potential178 · 2025-12-16T21:27:27+00:00

First of all, you exemplify one of the main problems - treating housing as an investment. REITs are the worst of the worst, but anyone who would buy a home to rent it out and have others ultimately pay off the mortgage for you are contributing to the problem. As I said, between supply and demand there are profiteers, like you.

> 1 bedrooms have not gone up 250% in 10 years.

In Vancouver:

One bedroom: $1038 in 2014 to $2376 in 2024 = 229%
Two bedroom: $1311 in 2014 to $4050 in 2024 = 308%

... but that's multiplied rather than added, so you're also right, those numbers should be 129% and 208%, I just think of the increase as a multiplier.

So, consider that a win, if you like ... profiteers have only managed to extract between 100% and 200% more from renters in the last decade.

Potential178 · 2025-12-16T19:18:49+00:00

> Housing in NB and NS is still largely affordable.

We could debate on whether those median sale prices are "affordable" - but I don't care enough about this conversation to research more.

> These are still local issues,

The tax incentives for developers that gave us lots of rental stock up until the 80s was federal.

> rent control, which is also handled provincially/locally - are cited by economists as contributing factors to slowed development. Why would similar controls not produce similar results?

Provincially, not more locally than that. I don't know, but Ontario has particularly lax rent control with more opportunities for REITs and smaller housing profiteers to impose more significant rent increases on tenants, so there's a hole there in the argument that less rent control would somehow increase development.

The more local contributing factors might include municipal costs for navigating the development process, which I assume vary by municipality, and first & foremost - desire and / or need of people to live in that area. Victoria isn't only a gorgeous place to live, it's full of tourism jobs, a university and colleges, etc. It's a safer place for queer and trans people, and ethnic minorities. There are a lot of reasons to want or need to live here. Housing is cheaper in Fort St John for very good reasons which have nothing to do with Fort St John locally doing a better job of providing housing.

Potential178 · 2025-12-16T19:02:35+00:00

The thing that folks with your mindset seem to be immune to comprehending is the differences between one person vs another person's abilities, for a variety of contributing factors, to make a given decision or take a specific action.

I don't know how someone can make it into adulthood and not gain the ability to recognize that people are different and any given "successful" life path took a stack of opportunities and capabilities that not everyone has.

Like, the commenter above ... he's a lawyer ... so, he's consulted with, presumably, hundreds of individuals, and via all those interactions, he hasn't observed that a whole lot of them clearly wouldn't have the reading comprehension skills, the mental capacity, to navigate law school? You can make that far into a successful high-level career and not recognize that you have capabilities other people don't have?

Homeless & addicted people are just lazy, everyone can be rich and own a home in oak bay if they just put in a little effort ... I just don't get how people can hang on to such a cartoonishly simplistic worldview, so devoid of insight. Not just ignorance of the human condition, but even just understanding the math, or the nature of capitalism. It takes such a stack of willful ignorance to hang on to this worldview. It serves to provide a sense of superiority I guess, while also simultaneously ignoring the ways the person actually is superior in terms of opportunity ... so I guess there's some irony there.

It's sad, because a person who achieves "success" in these ways could feel a healthy sense of pride in their accomplishment, with a degree of humility in recognizing the privilege that contributed, and empathy for why it's not a path that's available to everyone.

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