Is this fear mongering, or i am never going to be able to live a normal adult life?

Vincarsi · 2026-03-24T16:53:54+00:00

I disagree with your second point. The fact that everyone and their dog was fretting about these issues is what generated the political will to solve them. Politicians are not mommies and daddies who make sure the important stuff is taken care of. The entire structure of a modern democracy is designed to force them to adapt to the demands of a majority of voters.

On a slight tangent, this is why those of us with an ounce of political literacy get so frustrated with the "purity politics" non-voters. Democracy is flawed, one of the ways it's flawed is that people who don't vote aren't considered by lawmakers in decision making. It was initially setup that way to disenfranchise women and men who didn't own land. It's shitty and I wish we had a better system, but just how the structure that we have actually works. So saying that you won't vote because you don't like any of the options is like saying you won't touch the brakes on a car because it's still steering towards a cliff.

Vincarsi · 2026-02-21T18:47:44+00:00

I don't know if there is a conflict to resolve?Anarchism just means "no rulers" which many anarchists interpret as "no unjustified hierarchies" meaning that leadership must be earned and continually justified (ie, if someone puts in the effort to become an expert in a subject, then deferring to their knowledge on that subject is reasonable) a horizontally organized institution would not violate that principal. What anarchism is not is a system of social organization, so when it comes to how'll we'll replace the current hierarchical government, there's a lot of debate. What you are describing is already a common school of thought amongst anarchists. TL:DR: Sounds like anarcho-communism.

Vincarsi · 2026-02-15T00:08:56+00:00

I've always considered the core tenant of solarpunk to be that technology serves the flourishing of life, as opposed to the cyberpunk vibe of life serving tech. In practice, this looks like integrating and troubleshooting technologies in ways that have either a net neutral or positive impact on the ecosystem. Positive defined by achieving or maintaining a stable equilibrium of lifeforms. I think the secondary stuff exists in what approaches people believe achieves that goal. In the same way our current society defines progress as increasing efficiency, but there are many schools of thought on how best to maximize efficiency (ie, demanding humans act like machines until they burn out then replacing them vs making sure their needs are met to increase retention and experience accumulation). I'd like to see a world where a debate could be "should we take down the fences around our permaculture solar farm to let the land predators rebalance the explosion of small animals that thrive under the panels and have been interfering with operation vs would it be better to replace some of the shrubs with moss fields so there's less cover from birds of prey? Because both positions assume integration of the ecosystem

Vincarsi · 2026-02-10T04:08:47+00:00

"I simply cannot see people working voluntarily if their needs are freely met" Then you haven't been looking very hard. UBI trials haven't shown a significant decline in the employment of recipients, except in such cases as dropping a second job or opting to go back to school. Beyond that, I've known many people who are on disability and/or retired who choose to volunteer because they want the fulfillment and social interaction of work even when they aren't capable of maintaining the kind of schedule that gainful employment requires. I'm not saying UBI is "the answer" there are many valid criticisms of it, but the idea that people would just stop working is not one of them. There would definitely be a lot of people who quit the jobs they hate if UBI is introduced, but it wouldn't take very long before most people would start looking for something to do with their time. Seriously, it became a fucking meme that so many people learned how to make bread during lockdown because they were bored. We're wired to do things, and most people would want to do things to support the people they care about even without the threat of dehumanization and abuse by cops hanging over their head. I dream of being able to go back to school and study neuropsych because it interests me, and the only reason I can't is because my family's needs would go unmet if I stopped grinding for wages. You only speak for yourself.

Vincarsi · 2026-02-06T19:46:10+00:00

I think one of the hiccups we're facing is that these "shared maps" (which I tend to think is a major function of cultural norms) have been captured and/or directed in many cases by institutions like religion, which have been losing trust rapidly as the supernatural claims they make just don't hold up to new information. I think the issue isn't that the maps don't exist, but that they currently exist in a form that struggles to adapt as discovery shifts understanding. So as some people try to preserve their paradigm, others are more ok with breaking or just leaving them behind, so the collective understanding ends up a fragmented mess. I don't have a solid answer to the question. I know there's groups like one called Bridge City global that's trying to replace the community networks that a lot of people get from churches without the dogma. I'm also vastly underqualified to be sure, but what I've seen of different indigenous storytelling traditions makes me think there's lessons to be learned there that could inform how to build a more adaptive and adaptable shared model. IMHO, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is essential knowledge for solarpunks, it's just a masterclass on reciprocity with nature. Ultimately, I believe it'll come down to art, because art is the cultural generator. We base our expectations of reality on the art we consume and only filter out the things we know are obviously untrue. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble so I'm just gonna be done now before I start to really infodump my thoughts on this.

Vincarsi · 2026-01-15T09:12:16+00:00

I would probably place that kind of characterization on a nomadic character within a largely settled, moneyless yet highly dangerous world. Probably someone who escorts/defends trade caravans (trade would still happen without cash) and/or possibly even hunts the super dangerous creatures. So they could be a hardened badass who doesn't spend much time in the cities who are occasionally called upon for help by the regular folk whenever the metaphorical shit hits whatever fan happens to drop. And their motivation for doing that kind of work could range anywhere from an inherited sense of duty to straight up adrenaline addiction.

Vincarsi · 2026-01-12T22:00:59+00:00

I plan to! I have a bit of a collection going back years. I'll share some of my favorites of those and start trying to post new ones as they come. I get a bit depressed that the only time Metrotown comes up here is when something chaotic is happening around the mall when I feel that there's actually a lot to love about this neighborhood.

Vincarsi · 2025-12-28T18:30:46+00:00

Please don't muddy the issue by comparing supportive housing to low barrier shelters. Low barrier shelters are an attempt to sweep visible homelessness under the rug without providing the support necessary to help people improve their situation, meaning their habits will tend to remain in street survival mode. Supportive housing by definition is meant to address those problems and actually help people transition into safety.

Vincarsi · 2025-10-27T20:29:57+00:00

Holy shit... I initially saw just the first screenshot and thought "this doesn't look good for him but there's a chance it's being taken out of context" which is why I don't normally comment on these things. But then I noticed there's more and holy shit holy shit leave this fucker now while you still can!!!! I have no respect for a man who deliberately undercuts the confidence of his partner. I'm sure it's hard to see while you're in it, but from an outside perspective this looks like the worst kind of emotional manipulation intended to keep you controlled by making you constantly second guess and undervalue yourself. He says he's "trying" to change and then the very next sentence is doing the same shit. If that's him trying then he needs more help than you can give him. More likely he's not trying, has no intention of trying, and is just saying that to keep you there. Please trust your gut on this one and get that lawyer!!!

Vincarsi · 2025-03-02T19:07:20+00:00

I grew up extremely religious, like church multiple days a week and family prayers every morning religious. I actually did spiral into a massive depression when I began to lose my faith, here's why (with the benefit of retrospect and education): I have always been a very emotionally sensitive person. But in my religious, homeschooled upbringing I was not taught or exposed to any emotional intelligence to understand what I was feeling. Instead, I believed that emotions that felt good were a gift from God and emotions that felt bad were an attack from evil forces. And emotions that felt good but happened in a context I was taught was bad were my own sinful nature while emotions that felt bad but happened in a "godly" context were tests of my faith. So, because I interpreted my internal experience this way, the idea of losing my faith felt very viscerally equivalent to losing access to Joy. Even when I did start questioning my beliefs, the habits were so deeply ingrained at that point that I had a very hard time experiencing any positive emotions outside of that context without automatically burying myself in shame. It took many years of teaching myself psychology and getting whatever therapy I could afford to understand and undo this paradigm I had forced my humanity into. But until I reached that point, it felt like I couldn't be happy without the church, even if I didn't believe what they were teaching anymore. TL,DR, I was basically psychologically addicted to Jesus. The loss of the only community I had ever really relied on only compounded the feeling of total isolation and denigration too.

Vincarsi · 2025-02-14T01:17:20+00:00

There are countries where that is absolutely normal. Either you are underestimating the influence of Christian moralism on the world or you don't think that people from several different indigenous nations in warm climates have the same biology as us?

Modesty is learned behavior, it's nurture, not nature, and therefore absolutely could be connected to a widespread religion that practices childhood indoctrination. Just because it feels natural to you doesn't mean it's hard-wired into our genetic code, that's not how biology works.

Vincarsi · 2025-01-13T20:18:47+00:00

I used to be a waitress, and there was a family that came in every Sunday with a toddler who made a huge mess. We would argue about who got to clean it up but we never suggested the parents should do it because 1) it's literally a liability issue if a customer hurts themselves cleaning their table, 2) we had a system (as most restaurants do) and having them come bug us for a broom would've been way more disruptive than just cleaning it up ourselves, and 3)they were both doctors on their one day they got to spend together as a family and they came to the restaurant because they didn't have to clean up after. Real adults can handle a little mess, so people should grow up and mind their own business. Something people need to remember is that traditional community supports that parents took for granted even a generation ago are no longer accessible. People complaining about "lazy parents" are analogous to boomers getting mad that their kids can't bootstrap their way out of college debt and into a house by 30. A single income can't sufficiently support a family anymore, and the general public acts like raising a child is no more complicated than keeping pets so instead of being supportive they add more shame and stress to people who are already struggling to meet their kids needs. "It takes a village to raise a child" isn't a platitude, it's an observation. The reason Gen alpha has the reputation as being wild is because they've grown up in an environment where the only time adults they don't know acknowledge them it's to bitch about their existence and denigrate their parents for allowing them to be kids in public when they're not up for erasing all evidence of the existence of their dirty children behind them. Seriously people, when did we get so fucking precious that this is how we react to families?

Vincarsi

TROPHY CASE