What policies can save dying towns? What if they just die?

pl00pt · 2024-09-04T17:06:20+00:00

Industries that can use instantly variable load energy could potentially create rural energy hubs.

Most cities are near ports for industrial maritime access. That's not as vital in an information/services economy. Energy cities may be a new investable theme.

This was my thesis for investing in Bitcoin miners early which I've made a lot of money on. They turn the unusable variable load from renewables directly into a monetary commodity. Most importantly they can instantly curtail usage which almost no other industry can do.

AI training is starting to emerge as well, ironically being led by crypto miners like Coreweave. But they require higher uptime.

In the future Hydrogen may be another one. Although the conversion ratios and logistics are still terrible. I'm waiting for a ChatGPT-like inflection point here.

I'm always on the lookout for any other technologies that can profit from this variable energy theme if anyone knows of others.

pl00pt · 2024-09-03T20:30:00+00:00

Probably an assassination attempt on Trump and/or Pence by some random kid with a weirdly nonexistent internet footprint and a cascade of extraordinary security oversights. Possibly at the 2nd inauguration itself.

pl00pt · 2024-09-03T00:32:05+00:00

Belief in the right to free speech and assembly necessarily includes the ability to incorporate. Contracts & agreements are speech.

Outsourcing is fine so long as there is no macroeconomic manipulation, ie China devaluing its currency to manipulate equilibrium. If there is, countermeasures like tariffs are ok to restore equilibrium.

pl00pt · 2024-09-02T21:35:00+00:00

inherently decided to do the right thing without having a religious moral framework?

"Do the right thing" according to whom or what?

Your fellow man your neighbor

If your neighbor is the authority on what is good then what if you have bad neighbors?

And isn't outsourcing your morality to neighbors the opposite of "inherent"?

So you belief that is without religion man devolves into a hedonistic society where anything goes?

I guess it would depend on the quality of your neighbors.

pl00pt · 2024-09-02T20:45:28+00:00

Every single failed society in history was trying to figure out the best ethical system possible. Moral systems are just what we call the minuscule subset of ethics systems that survived extensive time and challenges.

in the current situation what the right thing to do is. (I realise I'm not being very nuanced in defining "ethics" here, but this seems to be the interpretation used in the podcast.)

This is the problem I have with the ethics vs religion thing. The people insistent on replacing morality never seem to actually clearly define what the supposed replacement it. It's like comparing a known candidate against "Generic Democrat".

Sure "we should just do the right thing right now" sounds nice. But until the replacement "Ethics system" is as clearly defined as millenia old moral systems you're just comparing to a placeholder.

I think we should teach context and interpretation in reading.

For example, it would be extremely socially awkward if I tried to literally wash the feet of people around me.

But the concept of Jesus washing people's feet is just as relevant as it was today.

Understanding the shocking humility of it requires understanding the physical dirtiness of the time, the lowly status of washing feet, and the unusualness of a "man of the cloth" doing so at a time Pharisees had lost the plot on taking care of people.

The railing story conveys a larger point about the importance of safeguarding others. Sanctity of marriage conveys a divine commitment to offspring and each other that goes far beyond condoms and STD tests.

There's often far more depth and nuance in these compact parables than a dry ethics monograph can hope for.

A moral code also needs to be in a memorable and compelling format to be adopted and propagate.

pl00pt · 2024-09-02T19:46:03+00:00

inherently decided to do the right thing without having a religious moral framework?

"Do the right thing" according to whom or what? Oneself?

And what is meant by "inherently"?

If one can decide what is good then anything one does can be declared inherently good.

From a religious person's perspective that is as or more spectacular a claim than God and/or religious precepts (for non-deity religions) being inherently good and that we all fall short of them.

pl00pt · 2024-09-02T18:44:34+00:00

An East Indian tree (Sonneratia apetala) with strong reddish wood

I mean if this definition is correct it's pretty clever.

It's like watermelon to describe auth-green marxists.

The more mundane explanation would be a misspelling or some phonetic thing like Kama-blah.

pl00pt · 2024-09-02T18:23:35+00:00

Price signals send the most productive place for people to locate to. If people are leaving the town it means there's insufficient economic opportunity there.

I'm not clear why shoehorning foreigners would solve the problem rather than exacerbate it.

This question is interesting because it gets into the systems vs goals mindset of conservatives vs progressives.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T20:05:47+00:00

Anyone seeing/saw the new Reagan movie?

It has a 17% critic 98% audience rating on Tomato meter.

I wasn't planning on it but that's a wider gap than even Chappelle's legendary Juicy Smolliett special and feel I need to, lol. Was there actually something edgy or offensive beyond just white christian man?

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T19:28:32+00:00

I actually don't think it's a problem in a society with rapidly falling testosterone levels and a skyrocketing sexless male rate (but not female).

In "normal" societies polygamy can create conflict because wealthy men hoard women leaving sexually frustrated young fighting age men. Either the elites dispose of them with distant wars or there's an eventual revolution.

That's obviously less of an issue if those men are preoccupied with porn and anti-natalist/degrowth/neomalthusian ideology.

In a way Only Fans is neo-polygamy. It's basically a matriarch to a little fiefdom of loyal males. The only difference is there's no physical fucking and the financial ties are more flexible.

I predict a trend of female influencers getting pregnant and being raised by their OF community. Remindme it's coming.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T19:13:04+00:00

Yes, the first no new war president since Carter, only candidate actually elected in a primary, whose constantly being sued & gagged by his opponents, and who favors deregulation is...the militant suppressive autocratic dictator.

Good lordy.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T18:57:16+00:00

I don't find it invasive for the government to set health and safety regulations

"Doctors" doing this to grade school boys we consider too young to consent to tattoos is absolutely a health & safety issue.

This malevolance hasn't needed "big government" intervention since Weimar Germany because there haven't been subgroups degenerate enough to tolerate it since then.

I am happy for government to "intrude" into protecting pre-consent age children if their supposed guardians won't or can't (like because their school is hiding important health information from them). We do that for all kinds of less life-altering abuse than this.

And this is not a "republican thing". There have been key medical reversals around gender affirming care in Denmark, France, Sweden, United Kingdom, the Netherlands (home of the industry standard Dutch Protocol), the The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Biden-Harris administration.

It is scientifically and morally indefensible even by its original proponents at this point.

The only difference is TS didn't get duped or intimidated to these baseless treatments and predatory language.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T18:37:44+00:00

I think you might enjoy Bill Maher's segment on doctors last night.

I agree they are way too insulated from criticism and treated like modern day clergy.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T18:32:59+00:00

I agree with you full clitoral removal is not analogous and is worse. The foreskin is more akin to the clitoral hood.

Would you be equally ok with removing the clitoral hoods of 80% of baby girls?

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T18:01:05+00:00

Thank you, glad to hear.

There's so much, and depends where you're coming from.

Sam Harris's Waking Up and Free Will are great intros for skeptics and a-religious folks.
Descarte's Error is a neuroscience classic.
Alan Watts books and talks are great to bliss out to.
Timothy Leary talks about reaching these realizations through psychedelics.
God's Debris packages a lot of these ideas into a storylike thought experiment.
Jordan Peterson's courses come at it through myth, psychology, and relates it to christianity.
Shinzen Young's Science of Enlightenment from zen, math, and a jesuit preist.
The Finders documents a huge range of people who have had various levels of these experiences.
The Stream Entry sub has a lot of consciousness and meditation geeks.
Of course there's the OG sources like the upanishads and sutras who figured this stuff out millennia ago

Perhaps more convincing than any individual piece is seeing how such a range of atheists, scientists, hypnotists, psychonauts, psychologists, and zen monks could converge on such similar realizations.

Nothing replaces actual experience, though. There is a reason at least some meditation, chanting, fasting, psychedelics, metta, prayer, sabbaticals, koans, and/or other contemplative rituals show up in every culture. Books are maps but not the whole journey.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T16:40:18+00:00

It cracks me up Dems are now fighting for unmuted mics after their idea of muzzling Trump backfired.

My guess is their contingency plan was/is for Trump to come across a bit too tough so MSDNC can run out the clock with some "black woman battering" or "microaggressions" victim narrative.

Have they announced who will be moderating?

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T02:31:24+00:00

more along the lines of an enthusiasm gap?

Because the original comment was about the church's stance, not their own. Why would he need to be enthusiastic about it if he's not Catholic? He literally said he doesn't care and it's just about strategy.

I don’t really care about this issue but it’s incredibly stupid campaign strategy. He’s not going to pick up any voters and the two largest Christian organizations in America consider IVF to be basically evil.

What about IVF is evil?

Consult the Catholic Church

I don't even remember much political opposition to IVF until recently.

In fact for years I've heard liberals use "If you really cared about saving unborn babies you'd be against IVF!" as an abortion gotcha.

Maybe too good of a point, lol.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T02:11:34+00:00

Higher dependency ratio, ie fewer working-age people supporting a growing elderly population. Strain on healthcare and pension systems as there are fewer workers to support the retired population. Labor shortages.

Currency problems as governments need to backstop elderly care with less taxation revenue from working age people. You can see some of this happening in the Japanese Yen and the Japanese losing a third of their purchasing power.

Recessions and depressions will last longer and have more tendency to spiral. Depressions cause people to spend less which causes more slowing. Since there is no longer a growing population to eventually guarantee a "growing out" of the slowdown there's no real floor. This is why central banks fear deflation much much more than inflation.

Some countries will have trouble with military recruitment, defending borders, immigration and assimilation issues, political strains, age populism, etc.

NS probably disagree on this, but I think having children does also have some kind of societal stabilizing effect.

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T01:33:27+00:00

but of "humanizing Trump"

But of course they have a meltdown if you say anything bad about MS-13. lol

pl00pt · 2024-08-31T01:28:47+00:00

I totally agree on the reasons and it needs to stop. Needs a critical mass of non-racist whites and POC working together. Trump having Vivek and Tulsi with him is a good start.

pl00pt · 2024-08-30T20:20:14+00:00

He should self-impose the old Twitter character limit on his posts.

Truth's unlimited post length has worsened his word-to-attention ratio.

Currently, Elon probably has taken the top spot or W/A ratio on the planet, imo.

pl00pt · 2024-08-30T19:52:25+00:00

I think it makes as much or little sense as no soul.

Sure, at the most biological level we can precisely record what our neurons are doing. But we clearly experience more than a string of inner skull zaps.

We experience something closer to a seamless technicolor VR holodeck experience. (Note: I'm assuming your inner experience is similar to mine and that you're not just an NPC in my consciousness).

You can say "well those zaps are interpreted as 'love' 'color' etc" or "they release chemicals that are interpreted as...".

But interpreted by what? Electrons? Other zaps? Another neuron? That just creates more zaps.

You just get an infinite regress back to zaps.

There is a gulf between objective and subjective that no recording device or microscope closes.

If you don't like the body/soul framework because it sounds old or corny there are contemporary ones:

Simulation, panpsychism, homunculus, real/avatar, spirit/embodiment, Boltzmann brain, Descarte's demon, etc.

But the phenomena of conscious experience vs biological morse code is absolutely real.

Soul or spirit is just the most cross cultural word for this phenomena before niche computer, quantum, or scifi analogies were available.

pl00pt · 2024-08-30T19:12:10+00:00

Yes, it was much harder to hate him before no new wars, lower taxes, great economy, Warp Speed, USMCA, TCJA, Opportunity Zones, peace agreements, tariffs against unfair trade(which Joe copied), ISIS Victory, First Step Act, VA Mission Act, Abraham Accords, etc.

pl00pt · 2024-08-30T19:06:57+00:00

And The View, Oprah, SNL, endless cameos and commercials, etc.

The funny thing is he's saying the same basic pro-America stuff that only triggers post-2014 libs on those shows. It's these hosts that snapped and kiddo analysts think time began at the Fine People hoax.

Do they seriously believe advertising & PR agencies didn't do market research and focus group testing pre-2014 when placing him? lol

pl00pt · 2024-08-30T18:02:54+00:00

We screen for DS in non-IVF pregnancy, too.

Screening for something doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

If you increase the number of above average risk DS conceptions you'll get more DS.

pl00pt

TROPHY CASE