zero

hey thanks for telling me what I think and believe. you've obviously lumped me into some category different than yourself. you of course are in the "right" group, meaning I must be in the wrong one, and am therefore inadequate compared to what your thoughts & beliefs are. I believe in some definitions, your assumption is also referred to as "arrogance." but you of course would not fall prey to such a concept, as you are all about communism, therefore we're all supposed to be equal, right? for the record, I live in what's called reality, and have a pretty good guess what would happen if the "workers" all banded together and gave a big F U to the man. they are not all going to be sharing knowledge and helping advance the greater good, they are going to be taking care of them and their own, as if they were like most other humans.

dunno why I bother, but I can't help but ask - how do you know so assuredly that once the workers are "free," that they are going to automatically band together and "share knowledge" or whatever other things you always talk about on here? do you really think that's what will happen? if so, could you please provide an example of this happening on a mass scale at any point in human history, and provide proof it actually worked out well for all involved.

but unhinged buffoons are a usa specialty. there are tons of them out there. they are all angry at some unknown force that displeases them, but they can't really pinpoint exactly what that is. and they listen to their circle jerk social medias/crazy cable news channels telling them this is all some sick dem fantasy land witch hunt game, trying to put a good orange man down. I have no doubt they will vote en masse for their savior in 2024, and will want him to return to what they see as his rightfully deserved throne. never underestimate all the crazy, brainwashed, eligible to vote humans out there in those territories informally known as trumpistan.

yeah, you're right, just turning things over to the machines doesn't sound like a great plan at the current point we're at. we are speaking in pretty broad terms here, and have no idea how realistically this would look. all the AI discussion is purely theoretical of course, since we're not there yet. and if we ever do come close to this point ("we" here in this forum will all be really really old or dead by then), I have no doubt there would be some massive human power struggle to control it. and then what's the point if humans are just going to control the machines, which may actually be able to make better governance decisions any way. so yeah then talking on this with respect to fixing the current US political shit show is really just pie-in-the-sky "what if" type talk. sadly, we here in the US are more than likely going to be stuck dealing with this 2 party system, which has run its course. human society has changed so much since the advent of the internet, it doesn't really make sense to keep in place a bunch of governance rules that were created a long time ago. I mean there are a bunch of foundational rules that need to stay (like you kill someone, go to jail duh), but there are a bunch more that really need some serious consideration and questioning if this really makes sense any more in today's world. but once again, we go back to the problem that self-serving politicians are making all these decisions with their voting base in mind, and ignore the greater good. and to further add into the current mix, the decisions these politicians are making are fueled by social media influenced lies, so now the decisions become flawed because they aren't based on fact. this is why I sometimes go down the AI rabbit hole, because I think that governance decisions should be made based on hard data. like use science to determine how much of an impact this decision will make, and get a yes or no from that. make decisions based on data, not opinions. politicians are notorious for taking a hard "yes" answer to a fact, and convincing their base it should be a no. that is BS. I think we are all sick of this, since it has reached a completely absurd point that is not even comical any more, it is just pathetic. they don't even try and hide the lies any more. some of these guys could literally say "I am lying to all of you to get elected, because the dems suck!" and the red hat crowd would go wild, and vote for the guy! this is insanity!

that's a great question, with a next to impossible answer. as mentioned above, there are plenty of safeguards in place to keep the politicians running the show, which can't be untangled solely through the voting process. I hate to sound all doomsday, but at this point I really think it is going to be some sort of cataclysmic mass casualty event on this planet, which the survivors then get to re-do how human life is governed. OR we keep pushing toward allowing AI tech to "reboot" everything, and allowing hard data to manage the herd. but that would mean that humans become subordinate to the machine decision making process, and humans won't ever bow down to machine rule, because we got the hammers or some shit...

I don't really care who anyone listens to, as long as the person doing the teaching/preaching isn't completely full of shit. and that's the problem with politicians running the show. a good 99.9% of them are all self promoting people that think they are always right. even the so called good ones, will at some point not be able to steer through the shit show without hitting some point where they have to bow down and play by the "rules," meaning they will not be able to express what they really think on some topic. that's why they are forced to lie, evade answering simple questions, and so forth. and the completely and totally fucked up thing is - these are the people championed by our society as the "leaders." give me a fucking break. aliens, please come here now. there are a whole bunch of lying assholes on this planet that don't really care about large swaths of the human race, and deserve some good ol' fashioned alien probing up the ass.

internet came along and it seemed like a good thing. then social media started and it was fun at first. smart phones showed up and we then had access to internet everywhere. the US elects it's first black president and it seemed like we are heading in the right direction in regards to concepts like equality, do unto others, all that. during Obama's terms, slowly the idiot brigade starts rearing its insane head. the tea party. Ted Cruz. then turtle man Mitch starts losing his mind, and the R's all follow. then donald appears claiming Obama's a muslim, all because O pissed him off somehow, and donald's racism can't hold back. this outright lie gains steam, and others jump on board, all because they too can't control their racism toward having a black president. this builds and escalates to the point that an outright lie turns into the liar joking about running for president. then this too gains traction, even though it's still somewhat of a joke. and then the motherfucker gets elected. now the lies are spewed out 24/7 through twitter since he has all the attention, and others are attracted to the anger and start actually believing the lies, because they fit their personal narrative (and everyone has a smartphone to push more and more lies, and CNN and those guys give donald 24/7 coverage). and now we have just about half (or more) of the country believing in absolute bullshit, because they can't let go of their affiliations with the republican party. like @trying to be less rude said in another thread, we are witnessing the modern destruction of reality. and now it is changing the fabric of this country through legislation. complete and utter backwards ass legislation that does not lead us forward, but sets us back to times when mankind hadn't yet amassed knowledge through experience, science, and whatever other factors add into the human mind being able to absorb factual information. having a country move toward believing in all these lies, and changing our laws to suit them, is unsustainable. it's slowly getting to the point that we cannot turn and hide from this any longer, but need to take action to stop this. and that is when this all hits the fan. I really think the momentum is building for some modern version of a civil war. this is not going to be some blue coats vs. grey coats thing, this is going to be far messier. look at what is happening in Ukraine for example. I just don't fucking know how any of us are going to be able to continue to mentally deal with all this crap that gets thrown at us on what seems now like a daily basis. it is utterly depressing to have to time after time hear about school shootings, and now this dumb ass shit of overturning the right to an abortion. I know I am preaching to the choir on this forum, but this is as good an outlet as any to post some truth. and this is where I'll stop, because then I start going down a dark AI influenced rabbit hole, and saying shit like Kaczynski was right in his opening remarks -

how was that, and/or was that your dessert? me personally, am not a huge fan of the concept of combining milkshakes with beer. but there's apparently a market for it. although I do enjoy this one from time to time, but can't drink too many as I get a headache after a few. something about the sweetness mixed with beer doesn't compute well in my head/stomach I suppose.

lol smart move. discussions on this topic usually result in more questions than answers. although it is certainly a fun topic to have a nice IRL chat with someone else who appreciates heavier subject matter such as this. I used to love talking about stuff like "why do I think the thoughts I do", or "what is the source of this thought?" I always found that when having a discussion on this with another person, it is best to articulate in as simple of terms as possible. in fact that should apply to life in general. we should all really sometimes stop and think more on the simple stuff like what are we doing? why are we doing this? yeah this is like philosophy 101, but I find it's good to think on the basics from time to time, and not care so much about what all the screens in our lives are telling us to do.

hey man that's a great line. I hope you don't mind I used it when I went on a rant this week with a friend of mine about the current state of human civilization

I think all sorts of trippy psycho babble could be spewed out in response to a question like that.

*ahem* these dudes have actually been providing some resourceful knowledge about shit most normal run o the mill MF's don't give 2 fucks about, sir...to each their own, I guess... btw I actually bought a Korg Volca Drum thanks to what was being discussed a few pages back. thanks all

cool story, but I am more intrigued as to why tf there is a creepy ass colonel sanders next to the guy as he grabs a selfie. and also there appears to be a dude wearing a bullet proof vest at 1:33 in that clip? like what the hell is that about? the news failed to answer some important questions here.

so glad my laziness got in the way, as it ultimately prevented me from investing some $ in the crypto world. toward the end of last year I hung out with an old friend who is (um, maybe now was?) huge into the crypto, and was starting to put the idea in my brain that maybe I should put a few bucks into it. I had been looking at investing a little $ into something, and was looking for something outside the traditional stonks/bonds racket. I didn't get very far with this line of crypto thinking though, as I don't understand enough about all this, and felt like if I put some $ into something, I should be able to understand in simple enough terms (1) where the money went and (2) how the money turns into more money. with crypto, everyone starts yammering on about this and that - like this fuckin thread topic - proclaiming it to be the future of computing technology. yeah I know that came from Zeff, but it does highlight the fact that there is far too much "grey area" in the crypto markets, to make the average consumer want to leap into it. I mean take that super vague Matt Damon ad, where he talks about not missing out on an opportunity to help man kind advance, or some BS like this. like for real? crypto currency is where the future of civilization is heading? well explain to me the basics like (1) how and (2) why - and then let's party amigos!!

just start with the easy stuff. don't think about what the pros are doing, 'cause you're not a pro! I remember when I was like 11 or 12 or something, I took a drawing class and the starting point was like drawing simple cartoon characters, like homer simpson or the like. just practice drawing easy things then advance from there. yeah this is like the most basic advice ever, and I don't draw at all, so maybe there's a better way to master it, I dunno

no doubt. where I am now (Dallas) has the absolute worst drivers. car accidents everywhere thanks to distracted drivers going way too fast. so many self centered a-holes that think it's totally ok to drive as fast as possible, get as close as possible to the car in front, riding my ass... I can't stand it. but I did the alternative for quite some time when I lived in the northeast, i.e. the public transit thing, and that can suck even worse. all sorts of gross shit people do on trains/buses, it's ridiculous. so the best way I think is walking/biking to get where you need to go. but that is limited to older US cities, not the Sunbelt 'burbs like where I am. cycling around here is a death wish, and it's hot, and it is time constrictive vs. driving.

I've definitely though the same. I remember when his first "album" came out - R.O.B. - I felt so confused, like wait hasn't there already been one? and I always thought he could've been a bigger name (I suppose if he wanted that), maybe if his catalog was I dunno...more cohesive?

re: the culture of sickness, as you put it. there are some seriously fucked up humans that no doubt you and I have had to deal with at this point in our lives. so much bullshit gets smeared all over the entire world. but there is some mental breaking point, which every fucking person in this country needs to hit right now, in order to get up off the bench, and intentionally call all this ineptitude out...and start thinking why the fuck can't we actually make some shit function all in lock step and order as we have been told it can. if this entire fucking political thing is built off a bullshit lie, then wtf are we doing trying to navigate this through politics or what not, since it's all crap. like seriously. I don't know what else to do. can I call the cops on all these fucking idiot politicians? because these are the fucking idiots I hold responsible for the way, you know, us idiots are governed...

exactly! blame the open door for this whole thing! had the door not been open, then the shooter wouldn't have done it! it is all just such a sad, pathetic joke that we have to listen to fucking idiots like lyin Ted, hot wheels Abbott, or turtle man Mitch, try and weasel their way out of accepting the fact that they all support getting more guns in the hands of the public, and are too chicken shit to do anything to try and curb this sort of thing happening again. I don't know how this country can avoid heading toward a full scale revolution in the next few years, especially if that orange guy comes back around. so sick of these idiot politicians giving lip service and showing zero accountability.

don't forget this event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout

you're not alone in thinking that this could this happen anywhere, any time, out in public. I have done so as well, not often, but I've thought that same thing. (side note - most psychologists would agree that a large percent of the public experience some form of "hero" thinking when it comes to those scenarios. thinking like I would protect my kid, then go stop the dude, or similar. but realistically the duck and cover or run approach is the behavior the majority of people take.) so much stuff is wrong in this country, and feels like it's only getting worse. human behavior has drifted pretty far away from the old school politeness / decency / altruistic / do unto others model. mix a decline in human decency in with the American ego, and voila, we have a nation packed with self-centered, arrogant, belligerent, gun-loving, uncaring assholes. I largely blame technology for this human behavior shift, but am not unabomber crazy enough to start attacking people over it. then we get to mental health issues, which again, could be fueled by technological advances the human species is not equipped to handle. like we started as hunter/gathers way back when living in packs, now we sit in front of fucking screens all day that tell us what to do. that's why people have to go on runs or the gym to feel better, because humans need physical activity to keep the mind in tact. then there's social media, which indoctrinates kids into thinking their online persona has more value than their IRL one, which is totally messed up. mental health issues + crazy detailed high definition 1st person shooters are also probably not a good combo. but you can't stop those, I get it. so pick your poison. society as a whole is on a downward trajectory. kali yuga blah blah blah, we're in the worst yuga. it's all good though. just roll with the punches, go with the flow of the universe. something will come around and set the place straight. if that means wiping out most of humanity, then so be it. I don't think this will happen like tomorrow, and will hopefully be long gone by the time it happens. ramble ramble ramble. sorry dudes. this one definitely hits hard. it's sickening that these kids got killed like that, and we all (I think) feel yet again so powerless to stop it from happening over and over again.

it's not necessarily the government per se, I see it as primarily coming from the republican party. it's all about votes. the R's are too scared to tell their flock to put down their AR's, because then they wouldn't vote for them. and then the NRA of course. they are tied to the R party, and pump them full of cash and peer pressure to not ban the fucking things. to psychoanalyze it further - guns are also ingrained into the American way of life, thanks to like old cowboy movies, the dominating military machine churning in the underbelly of the country, etc. the tried and true 2nd amendment "right to bear arms" that was written 250 years ago, when they were talking about muskets and shit, not like the fuckin AR-15's that everyone loves here in 'merica land. had the founding fathers game planned this shit out a bit further, and maybe thought that one day humans would replace muskets with bazookas, then I'm sure they would have been like whoa...we need to put some sort of limit on the whole "bear arms" thing. but nah, they didn't, and so now all these fuck nuts think that bearing arms means I can stock my fucking gun locker packed with as many high powered rifles as possible, because that's like all manly and shit, and it's all well and good...until of course an unhinged 18 year old decides to get one and then all shit hits the fan. look, I own some hunting rifles and am not opposed to gun ownership at all. but I don't think that they should be as easy to get as they are here, and don't think these high velocity assault rifles are needed to be owned by the public. and to change that requires legislation, which goes absolutely nowhere, thanks to the fucking idiots largely on the R side, who are already saying this morning essentially it's not the guns fault, it's the teenagers fault. well chicken and egg motherfuckers, if there was no assault rifle with a fucking magazine attached to it, would as many kids have died here? would people be more inclined to rise up and stop the guy if they knew he didn't have some thing with a shit ton of bullets that could come flying out of it? we don't know the answer of course. but the easiest comparison to make would be to look at other country's, where they don't let the public own AR's, and this school shooting shit is not as commonplace as it is here. fucking grim. my kid is in elementary school in Texas, and watched the news last night. I don't even know what to tell him.

today I was driving in a walmart parking lot (I know, I know). I turn off of the main lane to the row of cars to park, and there's a giant SUV sitting in the lane blocking anyone from driving down it. spots are angled so it's a one way only lane. I get that this person is waiting for another vehicle to exit out, so the SUV can then pull into that spot. but there are like a ton of open spots 4-5 parking spots down. then I see 2 more cars starting to reverse out of their spots closer to me, but the SUV is blocking them in. so now I'm sitting here for more than 30 seconds (everyone knows this is an unacceptable delay) waiting on this SUV to get that one spot, when more are now opening up behind it, and I can't go anywhere until this SUV moves, and the one spot they are waiting on has some lady loading a stroller taking forever, so we're all now doomed to wait on this one person so like a bunch more people can move. this all makes me start thinking about all the inefficiencies a person has to deal with in their daily life, and why can't things all run smoothly, yadda yadda. then I start thinking about communism (noooo!), and the trains coming on time and all that. there's just no way to make the majority of humans more efficient. that ship has sailed.

if there's one guy that could make Pence's face turn bright red on stage, followed by Pence erupting with a word salad diatribe packed with obscenities, my bet would be that one guy would be Donald. Pence had to bottle up all that Trump rage somewhere, we all know he is just a ticking time bomb waiting to have a proper onstage meltdown... I'm thinking back to the Howard Dean moment, that level of hyper maniacal unfocused energy exploding out, but through the world view of Pence's homophobic white knight, goody goody Christian persona. maybe the closest to that would be that Simpsons episode where Flanders becomes totally unhinged thanks to Homer, and drives himself right into the mental asylum. that's my prediction what will happen at least, when the never ending American political shit show becomes the Trump v Pence show. can't wait!

not sure if this makes you feel any better about it, but I live next door to Mexico, and Corona still sucks. think there's a mexican beer thread kickin 'round here somewhere, but just wanted to reiterate that Corona is widely known as the worst of them. now, I haven't actually dranken it from the mountain streams in Mexico where it runs freely to compare, but there are far better options. dunno if you can get Modelo especial on that side of the pond, but I'd trust that one over any. Dos Equis Amber is a nice lager, but if your mission is to drink away the afternoon poolside, then it may be a bit too filling an option for that. and I hope this doesn't come across as beer snobbish. I drink Lone Star and Miller Lite all the time, especially on a day like today, now that this massive heatwave has engulfed large swaths of this country. we are tipping close to 99 degrees farenheit here this afternoon (like 37c). in fact, that should be my first world problem I bring up in here, since I am in this thread. it is has been sweltering hot here for like over a week now with no end in sight. thanks global warming.