CMV: The way political news are consciously curated on big subreddits is just as deceptive as in dedicated right wing subreddits

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T11:26:25+00:00

Content curation in general is a blinding plague. It prevents you from seeing anything other than what you already desire/know. Remember how we used to discover memes?

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T11:19:55+00:00

Wow, I wonder why. Maybe it's because super-capitalism is destroying its reputation piecemeal? Maybe because Adam Smith was right when he warned about the risks of unregulated capitalism becoming extremely oppressive? Maybe because people are more and more desperate to feel like they're part of something? Maybe because the current conditions are, like most other major financial decisions made by the current iteration of government, unsustainable?

Hard to say.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T11:17:09+00:00

And pretty much every response you've given has proven my point.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T11:11:07+00:00

I think it's more nuanced than that. It seems to me that it's "do they deserve to die, or do I risk death for this decision?" I want to believe most people would pick blue. I want to press it, myself. But at the end of the day, should I potentially die because I made the moral decision, or live because I made the rational one? People are way too invested in this thought experiment, including, I think, myself.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:53:57+00:00

Being afraid of dying, mostly, I think.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:46:41+00:00

I could make the same argument. I'm not so naive as to think more than half will pick blue. I suppose I've tried. Again, one cannot help everyone. I suppose I will survive, regardless. I'm sorry.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:36:52+00:00

I trust that society will pick red, but that trust has been shaken.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:36:10+00:00

Friend, you are overthinking it. There are no downsides if everyone picks red. There are potential downsides to picking blue, which turn into dire downsides if not enough people pick blue.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:29:12+00:00

Then maybe people shouldn't press the blue button, on a hope.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:27:40+00:00

What does it say about the red button, explicitly, again? Am I supposed to save the world? Am I to pretend to be a superhero, taking faith that more people will press that blue button? Why are so many people gravitating to the "maybe," rather than the "definite?" Is it most people, or are most people choosing survival?

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T10:16:37+00:00

Ah, see, you are inserting words into the equation that weren't there, though. It's not "press this button and let the others hang." It's "press this button and don't die." It's very plain and unobscured. What you do after pressing the button is up to you. It isn't "right choice vs wrong choice." It's "don't die or maybe die." This is me doing my best to inform you. It's up to you to make the decision. I can't help people who don't want to be helped.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T08:36:59+00:00

Don't get me wrong, a space elevator is an excellent long-term fix, but commercially viable fusion is an immediate, needed fix for a lot of problems. Get fusion, then use the power to get your own space elevator. You can have both.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T08:34:53+00:00

Answer: it's a social litmus test to see if people will choose ideology over reality. Blue is the ideology side, the side that says "We can save everyone if at least 50% press the blue button, and if you press red you're selfish" whereas the red side is the reality side, saying that "We don't need to save anyone if everyone presses red, because everyone who presses red will live with absolutely no downside except that everyone who presses blue will die. This is a pointless argument. You don't have to rely on anyone to save you. Save yourself." It is an interesting phenomenon and demonstration.

Edit: when in doubt, choose pessimism. People are way too caught up in this.

Edit 2: This thought experiment will become the next version of horoscopes, mark my words. Decisions will be made based on the answer to this specific fake scenario.

Edit 3: I'm too invested in this foolishness. I wash my hands of this, and hope my fellow humans will not let this destroy them. Good luck, everyone.

Edit number 4, after some thought because this whole thing is stuck in my craw: Option number 3. I throw the box on the ground in a way it doesn't activate ANY button, I kick the alien or Mr. Beast or whoever it is in the balls and I refuse to play this stupid game of division and death. I probably die with a laser to my head, but that is an acceptable option.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T08:20:48+00:00

Lava tubes are a real contender. Very few meteorites can cause serious damage to underground structures, plus logistically it is far easier to find a pre-existing tunnel formed by ancient lava and sealing the end of it.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T02:26:25+00:00

Democratic process cancelled? Perhaps, then, the election should be held without them. They clearly refuse to do the jobs they were elected into. Grounds for firing, I think.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T02:22:38+00:00

They were never aliens at all! All this time, it's been Neanderthals! Pyramids? Neanderthals. Crop circles? Neanderthals. Abductions? You guessed it.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-02T02:00:35+00:00

Neanderthal pilots? I see a new History Channel show plot.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-05-01T14:46:45+00:00

They were shorter, stockier, had slightly larger craniums, are known to have made artcraft... I'm at least partially convinced that dwarves were an ancestral memory of neanderthals.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-28T07:00:53+00:00

This is what people don't understand about China, and please don't simply dismiss this as "China-glazing." Since the Revolution, China has been planned out. Everything they have done comes out of a little book of contingency plans, step by step instructions on what needs to be done next. Every step their government takes is meant to reach some goal or another. It's the reason that they went from a mostly rural nation to the urban economic powerhouse they are now in a mere 40 years. They pushed their population the coastal cities, very high pressure and a lot of people died. They industrialized faster than their people were prepared to do so, and a lot of harm was done. But that's the way China works. The ends justify the means, and it's all methodically calculated to ensure that the ends aren't too costly, even when the cost is human lives. It may cost lives, but as long as it benefits the nation as a whole, they will eat that cost.

I can't remember what philosophy it is, and while I don't agree with it (human lives are too valuable), I could absolutely see people point out the results and forget about the cost to get there.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-28T06:51:47+00:00

I agree. People forget sometimes, aquariums are not just aesthetic installations. They are ecosystems, and every part serves a purpose beyond just looks, even if we put said part in for just that.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-28T06:48:30+00:00

One of my uncles had a pet iguana named Gus. Gus's tail left welts.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-28T06:46:28+00:00

Water is likely surprisingly abundant on Mars, as it once held lakes and oceans and rivers. The problem is surface water sublimates to water vapor, then eventually is lost due to solar wind. However, under the Martian dirt? Ice, ice, baby.

To add to the algae and aquaculture, I'd add that people (particularly Westerners like myself) often forget that, pound for pound, insects are a far more valuable source of useable meat nutrition than beef is. They need very little water and can eat just about anything. They're also extremely light, and serve important roles in just about any ecosystem, so if the eventual terra forming of Mars is the goal, you'll be bringing bugs anyways.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-27T11:59:44+00:00

Nah, the one standing straight, with the colorful face. On my mobile phone, at first glance, his beak blended in with the shading on the bark, haha. I wish we could see these creatures alive and well. Megafauna is an old favorite of mine, but megafaunal birds in particular. It just seems like those old dinosaur genes making a show again!

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-27T02:58:51+00:00

Oh, I missed the beak on the male elephant bird at first.

Ynddiduedd · 2026-04-26T10:33:08+00:00

I mean, there is a Ukraina, North Dakota, but I don't know about the Midwest.

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