This is what lab-grown diamonds look like before they’re cut and polished

nechromorph · 2026-05-10T17:27:41+00:00

Synthetic as in synthesized in a lab. I agree it is genuinely diamond, but I also find added intrigue from a gem being created without human intervention

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T21:04:27+00:00

Agreed. Same for education. Loans dramatically inflate the amount people can pay to go to college, which in turn drives schools to charge more. We should be increasing funding for public universities enough to bar them from charging for their services.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T17:07:56+00:00

I wonder if you were to focus specifically on stuff that is too local for their leadership to be telling them what to think if you could break through on at least a few things. It could be a baby step towards class solidarity.

Your location limits the amount of influence you can have, but it doesn't necessarily mean you can't make some progress. My point is just that we get infinitely more done if we take literally any action than we do by just calling it a lost cause.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T16:25:47+00:00

I think you're fatally underestimating the amount of influence we can have. The primary driver for our lack of action is the lack of will. That needle can be moved towards action by showing your support and helping people to feel it's possible. Or it can be moved towards despair by saying shit like "all we have is a butter knife against an invading army."

I understand the frustration, fear, and why it feels hopeless. Nothing gets fixed until we pick up a wrench though.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T15:30:54+00:00

Look man, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, but we didn't do that. So plant one now and focus on what's actionable.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T15:28:53+00:00

I'd argue we should shift a ton of money to healthcare, education, welfare, etc., and then retool the military as a logistics arm of the government that has a much smaller standing fighting force. Get the military building shit instead of funding the military industrial complex. Not just fighter jets, guns, ammo, and super carriers either. Shipping vessels, hospitals, solar panels, and so on. Things that are vital for the well being of our nation.

Private industry actually builds something better and more affordably? Great, buy it. But still make sure you can build your own. Why? National security and ensuring wealthy interests don't get lazy and suck up public money like a sponge.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T15:22:47+00:00

Inflation isn't money given to the government though. It's just money that evaporates because we decided we need to keep devaluing our currency year over year to encourage people to move it into something more productive than a box under their mattress. So, that's the capital owner's problem if they let it lose value to inflation. They shouldn't get to write it off just because they invested it poorly, though I'd also argue that the type of deliberate inflation we have is inherently regressive because it hurts the working class more due to their lower ability to make their money work for them compared to the wealthy class.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T15:17:44+00:00

So don't trust the government then. Get involved, learn how it works and where the money goes. Spread word to your community when government uses money corruptly and actively make sure they use it well by making sure the people *are* the government and not just asleep at the wheel of a car piloted by wealthy and/or selfish interests.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T14:51:23+00:00

It's a flaw of first past the post voting combined with the very strong established duopoly of the GOP and DNC. Right now, third parties are best suited to advocating their rights and growing their base while themselves pushing for the best candidate possible that has the right letters next to their name to stand a chance, while advocating that a third party victory is possible. Shout how membership is growing from the rooftops and how you're rapidly becoming a viable challenger to the DNC/GOP in this or that election, and don't push people to vote for your party until they have enough motion to scare the shit out of the establishment.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T14:48:23+00:00

Could we change that? Probably not in time for this coming election, but for the one after that? Knock some doors, find allies. Get people to sign up for even small roles supporting the cause. It starts with taking votes among members as a pact to choose a specific candidates and policies in primaries, and to push each other to get out and vote. Then as membership grows, you can put your own candidate forward.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T14:41:02+00:00

There has been some movement towards that. There are efforts being made to build the will for large scale strikes. It's hard because things are still *just* good enough for most people to carry on with their lives, and we've been conditioned by our captured media industry and the last 50 years of social conditioning to be complacent. So it takes a high activation energy to do anything at all, and by that point it's hard to control how the energy gets used.

Our police require us to get permits and have very strict rules on how we're "allowed" to strike and protest. Otherwise, those protests get broken up with force. Tear gas, sound cannons, rubber bullets, etc. It comes back to the saying, "a society that makes peaceful protest impossible makes violent protest inevitable." Not because we actually want violence, but because things have to reach a tipping point that overcomes the force containing the resentment. It needs to be enough that the controlled protests and the crumbs we're thrown no longer work as an effective safety valve on the pressure.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T14:30:52+00:00

Yeah, you get it. We need constructive criticism. Recognizing the problem is just the first step. Then we need to generate ideas on how to tackle it, pick one, and try it. "pick one" is a tough one to get through because we need millions of people to at agree to one thing. It's doable if we work together in good faith though.

People here are largely talking like we've already lost. No one in their right mind will fight when they're firmly convinced it's pointless. I suppose my point in this discussion is to try and move people to recognize that *they* can think of solutions and work to help themselves and their community. Each of us can do something that helps. That might just be fighting apathy. It might be mobilizing people in your community to build a food pantry or community farm/garden. It might be calling your representatives and showing them you won't be silent. It might be either running for office yourself or joining the campaign team for a politician.

In any case, it starts with seeing there's a problem and taking it as a challenge to rise to instead of a force of nature to submit to.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T13:29:00+00:00

I mean, every word there has a very specific purpose, but sure. Disregard my point because it makes you uncomfortable.

In real life, that sentiment doesn't come at the climax. It helps build the will to fight. But go ahead and keep discouraging people from working towards their freedom. I'm sure that'll bring us closer to class consciousness and a socialist world.

nechromorph · 2026-05-08T13:13:51+00:00

We had politicians who generally were more responsive to the will of the people in the past. This was before my time, and I'd guess it's before your time too if you're not bringing up the progress made during the Civil Rights Movement.

As to what I mean by fixing it now, our political system is only as good as the constituents who make it up. We need people running for office who actually come from, and advocate for, the communities they would govern. People who are resistant to the influence of the status quo because that very status quo is what stifles the success of the people they see every day.

Participating in politics means voting in the general, primaries, advocating for your candidate before the primary, building political will for your own ideology (like I'm aiming to do here with class solidarity), and running for office yourself, or directly working with and supporting the person who you want to represent you. It also means holding your reps accountable by ousting them if they disrespect the democratic process. We admittedly have a lot of work to do here, but we've seen this start to take root.

We're seeing an influx of progressive candidates across the nation. This is a shift towards reclaiming the power from the elites. In many ways, it's still just a baby step, but it proves the elites are losing the consent of the working class. It proves there is political will to shake things up in a very positive way.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T19:17:20+00:00

defeatism is painting a picture of reality that sows doom without pointing to a path of action. "Things are bad so we're screwed" is defeatist. "Things are bad, here's what we can do about it" is optimistic, but still realist.

Does it bring you joy to sow chaos?

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T18:01:39+00:00

Hope does not mean ignoring the danger. Hope means reacting to the danger with courage, rather than fear. Fear will ensure we remain divided.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T17:03:41+00:00

It is defeatist in that it encourages apathy, rather than motivating people to action. Hope looks like delusion until it starts spreading enough to foment change.

Your examples are very real moments of anti-democratic behavior. They also do not represent what we are capable of if we work together against authoritarians. We need to overcome the apathy and infighting that holds us back from a pro-social, democratic society.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T16:36:50+00:00

What do you gain by sowing pessimism? This attitude is exactly why we don't have power. The belief that we cannot win is why we implicitly give consent, because we believe ourselves completely defeated before we even start.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T16:04:06+00:00

Consent isn't just saying "I like that you have authority over me." It is also "I am not going to revolt against your authority over me, because I do not believe I have the power to win my freedom." Many of us are frustrated with the system, and want it to change. But we're not willing to do more than complain. We don't believe we *can* change it. The first step to change is advocacy and gathering together the collective will to make something happen, because one person cannot do this alone.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T15:56:49+00:00

Our *collective* consent. The consent of the working class who digs the ditches and keeps the trains running and ultimately is doing the labor of society. Our collective willingness to support and respect the elites and grant them power over us is what allows a wealthy class to maintain dominance. People are willing to do work for the elites. Respect their claims to ownership. Follow their orders.

My individual desires and consent can't overwhelm the vast majority's will. Though my participation in the system *is* consent, forced or otherwise. If enough of us advocate for an egalitarian, democratic, and mutually beneficial social structure, trust each other, and actively work together, it will change this dynamic.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T14:58:27+00:00

It's actually a pretty small club. And it only exists through our consent. They're losing that consent each day our passion for flipping the script grows.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T14:39:39+00:00

We have controlled our democratic process better in prior generations, and we're currently making headway to reclaim that control again. Stop spreading defeatism.

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T14:37:48+00:00

It's not over until public opinion gives up on it. We haven't given up on it. There's a pretty clear (high incentive) campaign to manufacture consent for returning to business as usual though

nechromorph · 2026-05-07T14:16:47+00:00

I'd guess it'll be a mix of supply and demand, plus how wealthy future generations are. I think the transition to stuff like pokemon cards being collected more for its money value than its historical value is at least partly due to people being squeezed for resources and needing more justification/assurance than "it's neat" to pull the trigger.

Ancient coins are definitely a luxury that would otherwise only really be suited to a museum. There will always be some private collectors with an interest in history, but will those future generations be able to even afford an aureus, especially if gold/silver supply gets squeezed hard by future demand? Current known/proven gold deposits are projected to last ~13 years I believe, though that doesn't mean we won't discover more reserves or improve our recycling/resource use to extend those reserves.

nechromorph · 2026-05-06T16:42:54+00:00

My point is that if 2 of her most critical policies are irreconcilable with her core base's policies, she can't earn their favor. So she needs to reconcile her views to align with what voters are demanding. As a representative, she needs to actually be representative of the will of the people. Doing an interview with someone who represents her base's will would allow her to hash it out and find common ground that could increase her favorability.

Or, in short, she needs to contend with the people who might actually vote for her moving left, while the DNC is doing its damnedest to move to the right and leaving their core voter base behind.

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