Not my name

Bitcoin maxi, self-doubter, child free by choicer, anonymist, knower of death, dying and disability, egalitarian, seeker of perspective, nature and physical fitness enthusiast, despiser of dogma, hater of vanity, and lifetime loyal partner.

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Last Notes

2024-04-29 12:24:07

A final post from me to say that I have appreciated the folks who have developed this tool of censorship resistant communication. While I believe (now more than ever) that humanity is doomed, you have done your part, just like Satoshi, to not make things worse for others on the steep downslope we are on. I will try to continue living up to the same ideal as well.
I have spent a lot of time on here trying to gain a better understanding of myself and my fellow humans and, at that, I feel I have been pretty successful. The ultimate conclusion I have reached is that we, myself included, are just very very flawed animals who likely deserve to go extinct.
We are collective hypocrites who are terrified of others who in any way make us question our precious “truths”. We are easily and effectively exploited and will happily give up our freedoms in exchange for comfort, certainty, or the mere promise of meaning in our futile little lives.
I have encountered some on here with the capacity for introspection and for those interactions I am truly grateful. Those who can communicate well have made me think about things differently and have helped organize my thoughts and values. I love so very much to find out what I’m wrong about so thank you for your help with that.
Now it’s time for me to get back to the woods, the mountains, the gardens, and the many sources of joy that are still available to us as this dystopian hellscape burns to the ground around us.
To those with kids or who still plan on having them, I wish you and your blameless offspring the best. Maybe one day I will say I was wrong and you lot made the better choice.
Good luck everyone.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-29 01:13:16

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Good luck to you and your kids! I really do wish you all well.

2024-04-28 23:54:31

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I don’t think we are enough either. That’s why I live the way that I do.
The very bad times are here already. I just want to do what I can to not make it worse for others.

2024-04-28 17:18:45

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This would be fine except that I don’t see anyone fighting meaningful battles now apart from those building #bitcoin and #nostr. And sadly no, this is not gonna cut it.
What I do see is a lot of complaining, hand wringing, and misplaced anger. I see mostly cowardice and kicking of the can down the road on behalf of parents who literally have the most skin in the game.

2024-04-28 17:07:33

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2024-04-28 16:52:46

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And yet here you are posting on the internet. Sorry but this is hypocrisy.
None of us wants to give up our lives. Fortunately, we don’t have to in order to fix the mess we’re in. Just stop consuming useless products, stop producing yield for anyone but yourself, stop using USD, and stop having children until the current system collapses or capitulates.

2024-04-28 16:42:45

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I prefer #bitcoin but anything other than fiat would potentially be better.

2024-04-28 16:28:17

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That has worked out great so far hasn’t it?

2024-04-28 16:27:47

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I can understand where you’re coming from since these are the tools you are familiar with. The examples you give though are equivalent to small battles that have been won in the context of a much larger losing war. Ask yourself whether, since the 1990s, privacy laws have improved or worsened as a whole.
I’m sorry, but I maintain that using the tools of the state won’t work.

2024-04-28 16:03:12

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In case people do want to actually do something about this, the answer does not lie in the political system. It does not lie in the legal system. Sorry Lyn, but you’re flat out wrong.
These systems have been fully and completely captured. To try to change things using the tools of the state is simply absurd.
The way to change this is to vote with your feet, your wallet, or your genitals.
Move out of the US, ditch the US dollar, refuse to produce yield for anyone but yourself (become self-sufficient), and for fucks sake (yes I know), stop producing more slaves for the masters.
This is all the leverage we have left.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-28 15:40:16

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Why one day? Why not now?
When are we going to ACTUALLY going to do something about this?
Oh that’s right, never.

2024-04-28 15:38:39

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Bulgarian split squats for the win.
Gotta hand it to the Eastern Europeans when it comes to leg day.

2024-04-28 15:31:16

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As usual David, I appreciate your thoughtful and measured response. This is awful stuff to think about as a parent I know, since children are permanent once born and the dissonance involved must be massive as the person who chose to have them.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that parenting already involves massive sacrifice. It is an awful job that results in no direct benefit to the parent other than intangibles and maybe a resource to care for you in old age. As I’ve posted before, it’s like the ultimate form of taxation, since it imprisons parents to a particular geography, forces you to be obedient to the state (or they take your fucking kids away), and costs an absolute fortune in terms of the best years of your life and earning potential.
That said, WHY OH WHY do people still do it? The state of the world is beyond TERRIBLE. Why did you bring another batch of slaves into existence when you can clearly see the walls closing in? I know you value human life but your kids will only suffer a worse fate than you, being constantly surveilled and exploited to within an inch of their lives. Do you not feel this way yourself? Do you not want to protect them from this? Do you think it will somehow magically get better or that your kids should solve the problems you and your generation have created and ignored?
I just read that here in the US, the average American only has one healthy birthday after the age of 65. Most are working full time until they are older than that. We are so beyond FUCKED in this country and in this planet yet people are still breeding and arguing over who can use what bathroom or what some senile fucking moron has to say about it.
Do you know that all of our technological advancements over the last 2000 years have only led to more working hours and less leisure time? Is this not concerning? Does this make any sense? Sure, our ancestors didn’t have Wi-Fi, cars, or air conditioning, but they had freedom of movement and ready access to the abundance of nature. When they woke up they only had to leave their shelter and find some food and water (which was everywhere) before being able to enjoy the rest of their days. Now, they wake up, go to work or school to produce yield for the masters, eat poisoned packaged food that will kill them off quickly when they are old and no longer productive, and spend what little time they have to themselves consuming propaganda so they can be optimally watched and marketed to.
We are allowing this imbalance get even worse and are pawning the hard work of fixing it off onto the next generations.
My working theory is that humanity has literally gone blind to the reality of the world. We have been bred over millennia now to be a maximally distractible and docile working class. Although it has human nuance, this phenomenon happens eventually to all species who outgrow their resources and it serves to accelerate their species’ decline and restore balance to nature. Humans have brains though and so could avoid this. It is really, really awful to watch.
If I were to be a parent, I would only do so if I were willing to die for my kids. It only seems fair. Given the abhorrent state of the world, I guess I just don’t understand how I haven’t seen ANY do so yet. I suppose they are all just too tired or distracted with Facebook updates and soccer practice.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-28 00:24:40

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Well I am sorry for your child but understand how hard it is to not fall for the pro family propaganda that is shoveled down our throats from birth.
You are correct that I do not have children and could never conceive (pun intended) of having any in this reality. I was lucky (in a sense) to see the falseness in such things from an early age and find a partner who agreed with me on the topic.
The fact that you are even able to think about such issues as a parent though is truly impressive and admirable. While I don’t wish the guilt you must feel at times on anyone (which is why I advocate so loudly for going childless from the start), I do think it is very important for parents to process the fact that they bear all of the material responsibility for their children’s existence. The government and religious leaders that promote reproduction sure as hell aren’t going to take any of it on. Part of that responsibility should be, in my opinion, telling your children about the guilt you feel, and urging them to not reproduce by extension. At least as long as it takes for the world to wake up to what is going on around it.
I truly do appreciate your willingness to discuss such difficult things in a civil and thoughtful manner though. Taking the next step though, I really do wonder how you are not rioting in the streets these days? I mean, as someone with almost no skin in the game myself, I am rendered so livid on a daily basis by the exploitation and abuse of humans around the world that it is a struggle to not do so myself. The true targets of my ire though are not my fellow plebs, but our so called global leaders and elite who so smuggly and openly oppress us. Do you just feel completely powerless? Are you more afraid of your own suffering than that which your child will potentially endure by your inaction?
I recognize how tough these questions are. Thank you again for being so willing to see past any offense, and help me gain a better understanding of the issue.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-27 22:47:59

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I agree with you 100%, revolution and massive amounts of human suffering will be necessary to reset humanity to any semblance of freedom. Whether they realize it or not, parents are voting for this suffering, except they are not willing to do the suffering themselves. They expect their children to do it instead.
How millions of parents wake up everyday and live with themselves and this vile kind of cowardice is beyond my comprehension. If I had forced someone into existence, and witnessed what the world has become, I would be long dead, having found it necessary to do something, anything, and everything to atone for my grievous mistake.

2024-04-27 20:54:28

**Trigger warning**
Many parents seem to have this romantic notion that they would die for their children. They espouse this ideal most fervently when confronted with the question of what material things they are doing to unfuck the world we are currently living in and they have brought more human life into.
What seems to happen far more often in practice though is that they really aren’t willing to sacrifice anything for their kids. They just tell themselves (and others!) that they are willing to fight and die for their kids, that things will surely get better soon, or that other people who are actually to blame will soon “see the light” or get theirs. Rather than doing anything of consequence, I also see many retreat into non-logical self-soothings like “this is all just part of Gods plan”.
Anything and everything is done to avoid and distract from the harsh possibility that they have created lives that will most likely be even more miserable than their own.
When it’s all said and done, they believe their children of course will only carry on with the “correct” and “true” principles that they, as all knowing and wisest of parents, have imparted. Someday, someone else or some God will surely come along, since their own efforts are already maximized (they would die for their kids, remember?), that will finally fix all the things they complain about.
So I ask you, parents (who are all apparently willing to die for their kids), when will you start actually living (or maybe dying?) up to this lofty ideal??
How bad do things have to get? How much surveillance, propaganda, and exploitation do you have to witness your children suffer before you ACTUALLY do anything of consequence to protect them?
I’m sorry but until then, I’ll continue to see you as the impotent cowards that you probably are. Keep telling yourselves that Bitcoin, god, nostr, whatever, is going to fix this shit. Anything to avoid putting in any actual effort or suffering yourselves, right?
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously
#getoffended

2024-04-20 17:50:46

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Hyperoxia produces many harmful free radicals and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Other than decompression sickness, hyperbarics should mainly be used for wound therapy where perfusion to a limb is severely impaired due to peripheral arterial disease or treatment of air embolus where the goal is to shrink the size of the embolus.
What purported benefits have you been promised I wonder? Could it be that someone is preying on your vanity or fear of aging normally?

2024-04-17 15:12:33

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Well put. :)
So what can be done about such people/institutions in your opinion?

2024-04-15 16:21:02

If you’ve ever been to the beach and looked out over the vastness of the ocean, or to a mountain range and gazed below at a grand valley vista, you’ve likely experienced the sensation of being “small” by comparison.
This very powerful and nearly universal human response (it crosses cultures, political ideologies, ages, races, etc) to the scale of the natural world tends to put a lot into perspective. It seems for many to cause empathy for one’s fellow man, who appear equally as small when viewed in such light.
This is why governments and many others who seek to control you don’t want you to go outside. They want you to live in cities, consume their propaganda, and produce yield for them. They want to destroy and limit the natural world because it brings out the best in us and tends to make us realize that we don’t need others telling us what to do (and watching us) all the time.
They want us to bring more and more people into the world to squeeze us into ever smaller spaces so that our perspectives become equally as narrow.
A narrow perspective lets “leaders”convince us that it is okay to hurt others who are more like us than we are like our leaders.
What a shame.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-13 18:00:36

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I don’t believe there is any form of human government that can claim immunity to our collective human weaknesses.
The current one in the US has been predictably captured by greed, end of story. The ridiculous distinction between “right/left” and ongoing claims of “democratic process” are beyond irrelevant advertisements at this point.
The USA is plainly in a terminal debt spiral now, where the productive members of society are increasingly being squeezed to support a growing proportion of government dependents. There is no exit from this, as history has shown over and over again, that does not involve absolutely staggering amounts of human suffering.
I have tried hard to imagine a scenario where humanity does not end in tragedy.
As living creatures though, this is just our fate. All species exist for a time, come to outgrow their resources due to some evolutionary advantage, and then either die off completely or evolve into something else. That we celebrate such a cruel and random system has always confused me. I suppose we have no other choice.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-04-07 15:28:47

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How many tanks have you needed lately?

2024-04-05 14:19:43

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This is good advice with the small exception that being realistic about one’s own situation is also important for growth and positive change. It is also critical for avoidance of false happiness traps like consumerism, religion, reproduction, politics, etc.
Humans are filled with biases that make them prone to wishful or magical thinking. So much so that entire cultures have been built around them.
The reality at this point is that we have collectively destroyed our world and now live in an overpopulated shit hole under the constant influence and surveillance of a ruling class.
Over and over, humanity has happily traded our most precious freedoms for the promise of someone else’s certainty and “truth”.
This is reality. And we are just too dumb and scared now to face it. Furthermore, our ability to even see the walls of our prison has been carefully bred out of us over millennia.
So don’t go falling for another trap by trying to treat realism with antidepressants. It will just numb you, like alcohol, drugs, sex, food, etc, when what you actually should do is figure out a way to be happy without fooling yourself that the world is all sunshine and lollipops.
Find a way to truly get outside (this is getting harder and harder to do), engage in daily mental and physical exercise, maintain good relationships and eliminate bad ones, practice introspection and seek personal growth, seek out art and creative pursuits, accomplish your own worthy goals, find perspective, become efficient, and develop your self-sufficiency.
There, a recipe (I’m sure there are others) for humanity to pull themselves out of the mess they’ve gotten themselves into. No one will listen though, and we’ll just keep running head first into our masters chains. We are just silly anxious creatures after all.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously
#realism

2024-04-03 04:17:23

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Not sure what you mean or if I agree with you but appreciate the original thought.
Well met, fellow human.

2024-03-28 13:16:41

@npub17u5…t4tp @npub1a2c…w83a @npub1sg6…f63m @npub1cn4…3vle
Do any of you post things anonymously on here just to see how/if people react differently?
Obviously the responses are fewer, but I’m curious if you too try to filter out the inevitable sycophants.

2024-03-25 17:08:24

Have you ever noticed that many of the people and institutions who say you need hope, meaning, and purpose to live a happy and fulfilled life are also selling their version of them?
Hmm.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-25 16:43:29

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I disagree with life being a privilege. To me, it seems more like a curse versus never having existed in the first place.
That said, none of us had any choice in the matter thanks to our parents, so I’m damn sure going to keep making the best of it. When it’s my time or if things get bad enough though, I’ll have no problem going back to nothingness.

2024-03-25 14:02:15

Religions hate this one simple trick:
Humans don’t need hope, meaning, or purpose to experience joy and happiness throughout their lives. None of those things are real anyway and all depend upon someone/something else defining them for you.
“But I was promised joy and happiness in an eternal afterlife if I just believed this fairytale strongly enough!”
Lol. I’ll have joy, happiness, and agency in my life now thank you very much, instead of the promise of it in some imaginary plane of existence I’m just supposed to trust is waiting for me when I die.
Aaaand let the self-soothing mental gymnastics begin.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-23 14:45:09

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The corollary is “you don’t have to set yourself on fire to keep the world warm”.

2024-03-23 14:35:34

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God to me seems to be the term anxious humans use to explain what they are unable to.
Rather than simply acknowledging and accepting that there’s stuff we haven’t figured out yet and maybe are incapable of comprehending altogether because of our biologically limited perception, these anxious creatures have to resort to magical thinking, aka faith.
This would be all well and good, but some smart but terrible people long ago figured out a way to exploit this anxiety by claiming to know which version of God (ie: the unknown) was the real one (or ones).
Since faith by definition means belief without evidence (or belief with only evidence the faithful can perceive - lol), it was really easy to sell people on their version of God and then get the faithful to do all manner of crazy shit in defense of their beliefs.
Such is the nature of man, sadly. We are willing to wage war, elevate rulers, and sacrifice all manner of freedoms so long as we don’t have face the unknown or admit when we are wrong.
Pathetic really.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-21 16:05:12

“It is a true giant who makes others feel as tall.”
-Me.

2024-03-18 00:30:25

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This time my vote will matter dammit. This time will be different.
Right??

2024-03-17 14:16:08

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Alternatively, perhaps civilizations perish because humans were never suitable to being civilized in the first place.
We were meant to be free. We were meant to have our own space and plenty of resources to live comfortably.
Now there are just too damn many of us which has inevitably led the few to exploit the many.
I recommend “The Dawn of Everything” for a nice discussion of this issue.
Cheers!

2024-03-16 22:52:14

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Ok - I’ve got some time. :)
So first off - thank you again for taking the time to think about something that often results in only a knee jerk response. While I am certainly not the appropriate judge of anything, I nevertheless really also appreciated the fact that what you wrote started with a very insightful review of why someone may disagree with your position. I mean, wow, I have come across very very few people who have the capacity to reason like that. It legitimately made me excited to read the rest of your reply and I’ve genuinely been looking forward to it for the last day or so while I’ve been busy with other things.
That said, I’m hoping you won’t mind clarifying your position on faith relative to Bitcoin. Are you saying that faith is similar to Bitcoin or Fiat? Because I see faith and fiat (they literally are the same word) as much more aligned. As a result I have many of the same issues with faith based reasoning as I do with the fiat economy. Fiat and faith alike seem to me to solve a problem that I’ve never had nor perceived. Clearly lots of other people do find value in them though given how pervasive both are. So I definitely concede to having a minority opinion.
In your next paragraph you seem to be saying that your belief in Jesus helps you with the negative feelings that can come from making mistakes. If that’s the case, I can understand the perceived value of that, but couldn’t you also just forgive yourself for being imperfect? I believe that we are all immensely flawed creatures and when I screw up, I just try to accept/admit my fault and learn from the experience of failure. I don’t see how religions answer to this problem could result in more personal growth than my approach since mine deals with entirely intrinsic factors as opposed to (at least some) extrinsic ones like Gods will, etc.
Your next section gets to the issue of who or what is responsible for us being moral creatures who have the capacity to treat each other well or badly.
Religion to me seems to like to take credit for the good in people while blaming the bad on a lack of faith. This is very problematic line of reasoning for me, who, as an entirely non religious person has dedicated my life to helping others. God didn’t put the good in me and not did the absence of faith cause me to do the bad things that I have done.
If history tells us anything, it’s that religion and faith can be dangerous in the wrong hands (as you started out by so insightfully saying).
So my request of you would be to please just think about this a little more. If for no other reason than to try out a different perspective, consider that you may just be a decent person who has learned from your mistakes like me. Of course if attributing this to a God is your version of humility or if it still brings you other forms of comfort/contentment then great. Just consider that all the positive feelings you describe above can be achieved without belief in things you cannot explain. And by extension, you can be just as happy without subjecting yourself to the risks associated with blind faith in something.
Thank you so much for a great and fun discussion. :)
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-14 15:14:44

Faith=believing something to be true with the only evidence being perceivable by those who follow the same faith.
In other words, being really really gullible.
People used to worship the sun. They had faith and believed it was a god. People used to worship the moon. They had faith and believed it was a god.
Then some smarter humans figured out that one was just a star and the other a big rock that orbits the earth.
There are countless such examples of false gods and prophets throughout history and yet each time, the faithful believed they had found the “truth”.
I believe more in the human capacity for ignorance and inability to admit when we’re wrong.
But your religion is different, sure.
#grownostr
#getoffended
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-11 02:01:14

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Ah I think I see where you are going. I think you’re saying that because birth rates are coming down that could mean that there is a concerted effort on behalf of some centralized authority to reduce the human population.
Let’s just say that if that is the plan, I am 100% on board with it. And I apologize because you are absolutely correct in your earlier post that I would definitely advocate for such an anti-human reproduction policy. I do think the world is grossly overpopulated and would favor reducing our numbers to the sub 50 million mark through generations of birth rate controls (even though I know this will never happen so peacefully). War, famine, or disease will likely (and very unfortunately) be needed instead.
That said, sadly for people like me, I think reducing the human population is entirely at odds with what governments want. And as I mentioned before, their policy, propaganda, and cultural programming all support my argument that they are very much pro reproduction. Just like religion and other systems of control, all governments depend upon an unchecked supply of slaves to feed the illusion of their necessity. The birth rate coming down is not a sign of government interference to me. Instead it’s just a sign that more people are realizing that only a fool or dreamer would bring children into this hell hole. It’s just regression to the mean.
In my opinion, nothing emboldens government and authoritarianism like a really dumb, poor, scared, and fertile population. People with kids are after all the easiest to threaten and control. If I’m the government, all I have to do is use my monopoly on violence to threaten to separate you from your child and you will comply. Wanna die for your kids? Even better cuz now the kid is entirely under the government’s control.
Anyway, I still want to thank you for indulging my curiosity. Even though we are on opposite sides of this argument, I appreciate you taking the time to explain your side of it. I freely admit that I don’t know shit about fuck for certain.
Cheers!
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-10 16:17:42

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Bravo Sir. Bravo.

2024-03-10 15:47:59

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Ah. Interesting.
You genuinely perceive there to be an anti-human agenda? Not trying to be difficult, genuinely curious since this is a very different point of view than my own and I’d love to understand if/why I’m wrong.
From my side of things, I see the human population trend as having steadily and somewhat exponentially increased over the last 100 years and can personally attest to witnessing population explosion in my own lifetime. Current projections are for 11 billion humans as “unavoidable”. This seems quite at odds with a systemic anti-humanism.
I also see evidence everywhere of governments doing everything they can to support childbirth from tax breaks to outright pro parent propaganda. Motherhood/fatherhood is nearly universally intensely culturally programmed to be revered and seen as a source of meaning and purpose. I see the clear incentive of government to do such things as being an ever increasing supply of workers to support their crazy, self-serving house of cards economic policies which rely on perpetual growth to keep them in power.
Please help me to understand your point of view better. I will be happy to adopt a different perspective if I’ve been wrong about this.
Thanks in advance.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-10 15:28:15

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It’s even worse when you consider that our very biology is working against an accurate perception of the world and the state of human suffering.
When things get bad, only fools and dreamers who are unable to see the mess they are in have children and pass along their foolish DNA.
Those who can see the mess say “I’m obviously not bringing a child into this!” and their perceptive DNA gets lost forever.
What this yields is an overpopulated world filled with easily manipulated fools and dreamers who can’t see the mess they are in, and who happily go about bringing even more defective human life into existence.
Sound familiar?
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-03-10 04:54:17

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Please explain. Am curious.

2024-03-10 04:08:24

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Welcome to my life friend. :)

2024-03-10 02:51:58

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Careful with that kind of thinking.
Next thing you know you’ll be refusing to bring more slaves into the world and figuring out ways to painlessly kill yourself when the government thugs come to jail/torture you and take what’s yours.
Protest with your genitals (refuse to have kids), your voice (use #Nostr), and your wallet (save in #Bitcoin).
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-02-25 03:27:32

Not sure who on here needs to hear this, but the only votes that matter are the one you make with your wallet and your genitals.
Just say no to Fiat and to producing more slaves for the Fiat masters.
What freedoms we have left are pathetic and base, but fuck it, we few can still resist.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-02-13 03:20:36

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Thank you for a nice reply. :)
I can’t remember where I read it but I like the idea of there not being singular “correct” answers to human problems. Instead I like to imagine a whole bunch of possible solutions or approaches, each with their own imperfections. Intelligence or wisdom in this model becomes about learning the “wrongness” in as many approaches as possible, instead of only learning the “rightness” of one.

2024-02-13 01:47:23

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I think I understand where you are coming from and often share your frustration.
That’s why I like the expression “the butterfly only remembers its time as a butterfly, never as the caterpillar”.
Give people time. Most will sadly likely never come to the same conclusions as you. But some will. You were also wrong at some point about something and had to have the time and space to figure it out. Give others the same courtesy and be helpful when/if the opportunity presents itself.
The thing that can really never be overstated though is always leave room for error in your most core beliefs.
If the thought of being proven wrong about a core belief fills you with anything other than sheer excitement, you may still have a ways to go yourself.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-02-09 16:57:30

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I think the obvious answer here is both.
We all have it within ourselves to be kind, selfish, helpful, rude, etc.
That said, can an animal be good or evil? Cuz we are just animals after all. The distinction may be a false one on the surface.

2024-02-08 13:26:11

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What do you mean by moving forward? I agree that belief and a desire to explain/explore the unknown drives humanity towards technological advancement and new knowledge/theories.
I don’t think that this has moved us in a good direction though. I think it is part of a larger evolutionary shift that is actually going to lead/has led to our downfall.
The planet (or universe for that matter) doesn’t care that our species can make fire or build an interplanetary spaceship. Nothing has meaning or purpose on the cosmic scale and we just fool ourselves and make others rich by believing otherwise.
For this reason, I’d be careful assuming that our species is moving forward when we have lost the ability to control our numbers or coexist with ourselves and other life on the planet without massive systems of control and surveillance.
Sure we have internet/cars/toasters/etc now. But I can’t do anything without someone watching what I do and trying to profit off it.
We have lost so much over the last 10000 years and we’re just too fucking stupid to see it.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-02-07 21:18:03

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The ideal government is the one that doesn’t exist since there are too few humans to require one.
Barring this, the ideal government is one that seeks to prioritize and protect individual freedom above all else and whose participation in/allegiance to is entirely voluntary and transparent.

2024-02-07 21:07:34

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Sure, I like to discuss stuff like this. I personally don’t believe in God, so the short answer is no.
There are too many examples throughout human history of people attributing stuff they can’t explain to a God, only to find out later that it was just something they didn’t understand.
I have a much easier time believing that humans are just ignorant and prone to magical thinking than the existence of some being in the sky that decides everything.
That said, I don’t mind if others find comfort in that kind of thing. I just expect for their beliefs to not affect me in any way, like mine shouldn’t affect theirs.

2024-02-07 13:56:22

@npub17u5…t4tp
Thank you for your recent efforts to highlight some of the more interesting/difficult aspects surrounding freedom of speech. This is a great altruistic use of your popularity and intellect in my opinion although I’m sure it has its downsides for you on occasion.
I agree that the trend is quite solidly and disturbingly in the direction of sacrificing freedom of speech so as to protect the delicate feelings of the majority. This is the vehicle that has allowed the ruling class to create all the tools they could ever want to silence dissent.
For this reason, it is very important to me to see difficult conversations like the ones you started here on #nostr. In fact, if I’m not getting offended on #nostr, I’ll probably stop using it.
I’ll take the occasional offensive image that I have to mute/ignore or crazy person rambling on about some nonsense that is real only to them (like most of my own posts), in order to have some sense that censorship doesn’t yet exist here.
Thanks again.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously
#getoffended

2024-02-02 14:20:50

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War is like a reset button for the global elite. If too many people start to smarten up, just spin up a conflict or two. The distraction and fear always work to keep the plebs in line.

2024-01-16 15:44:46

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Unless you’re the one playing them to extract the joy that can only come from physical exercise, sports worship is just more mindless brand tribalism like loving Apple products, worshiping a God, or supporting your chosen political party.
Granted, it is incredible what pro athletes can do, but it’s almost never healthy or good for them to subject their bodies to that kind of strain. That is to say nothing about the terrible ways in which fame and sudden wealth can ruin a young persons life.

2024-01-10 16:00:20

#Nostr is a great place for controversial opinions. In fact, it may be the only place where genuine discussion of complex topics can still be undertaken without censorship.
If you’re not getting offended by some posts on here, you’re not doing it right.
Similarly, if all you’re doing is posting circle jerk content and memes that appeal to #Nostr’s known user base, you are also not doing it right.
Just my unpopular opinion.
#getoffended
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2024-01-01 17:33:41

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The gym is one of the very few places where I find being around other people tolerable.
Especially when I see really unfit people making an effort, however tentative or small. Sure they have made bad choices in the past and likely will again, but at least for the time they are working out, I can appreciate the obstacles and inevitable insecurities that they had to overcome to be there.
Even the most vain wannabe influencer working out in full makeup and a g-string (or the roided-out grunting douche bag) is being tricked by their vanity into doing something at least somewhat good for themselves.
That said, anyone who records video (other than for the purposes of discrete form assessment) can fuck right off and die in a fire for all I care.

2024-01-01 01:21:29

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While I do have a lower time preference, I have no desire to leave any trace of myself whatsoever, let alone a legacy.
Also, I will produce precisely zero children, very much by choice.
I also happen to be very pro-Bitcoin which seems completely at odds with your assertions.
Of course, you are as entitled to your opinion as anyone else, but be careful about thinking every bitcoiner fits into the same box as you.
In fact, you may benefit from considering one of the main strengths of this technology is that we can all disagree and the protocol doesn’t care or discriminate at all.

2023-12-30 16:33:05

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I understand the frustration you are referring to. Sadly, I really don’t think the majority of people want to think for themselves. We (humans) seem instead to have such anxiety at the mere thought of actual freedom that we hastily give it away to the first charlatan who promises to know and share with us the “truth”. Whether we practice our cultural programming, religion, politics, brand loyalty, etc, examples of such behavior are everywhere.

2023-12-28 14:25:32

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How so? Genuinely curious since I’ve reached a different conclusion so far. Would love to hear an alternate point of view.

2023-12-28 03:54:07

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Reproduction in an already overpopulated world.

2023-12-24 15:29:29

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It is nice to see a technology that isn’t trying to peddle influence but rather the sharing of ideas and need for conversations and debate about complex topics.
An influence culture generally relies upon having people agree with something, usually some single false “truth”, when the reality of life is often far more nuanced and individualized.
Neither the influencer nor the influenced win in these paradigms btw, because there is no real growth happening, just an inevitable and endless cycle of confirmation bias and progressively narrowed thinking.
#Nostr is likely not immune from this type of thing, but it is nice to experience something different for a change.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-12-23 18:07:27

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Yep. :)

2023-12-22 02:57:32

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This poor idiot probably has a lifetime of suffering ahead.
The first aid btw, is substandard.

2023-12-22 02:56:11

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Or, ya know, science. :)

2023-12-18 14:08:11

Having grown up very poor, it has become obvious to me over time that the perspective poverty offers relative to my now very comfortable life has been a necessary condition for my overall happiness.
Had I grown up middle or upper class, I would have faced many of the same challenges (school, figuring out jobs, relationships, etc) but would have struggled only to regain the security that I knew as a child, not capture said security for the first time.
Poverty also means that you have to become pretty creative to still find joy in life (you can’t just buy an ersatz version), and this was truly useful for me. It was how I found nature, exercise, creativity/art, good relationships, accomplishment, efficiency, etc. All the actual sources of joy that life has to offer.
Also, since humans do far better with improving circumstances than deteriorating ones, poverty has been a distinct advantage for me over many middle class people I have known. My life has been a steady state of leveling up instead of just a slow grind or decline towards death.
I am becoming more aware that people who have only known wealth and security simply don’t know how to be happy, so they do the things society tells them will bring happiness (like having kids, believing in God, consuming garbage products and experiences, practicing brand and political tribalism, etc).
They then get trapped by the system that knows exactly what it’s doing. The kids they bring into the world keep these people distracted and obedient, as do their political and religious leanings, and the debts they incur to afford all the other garbage they bring into their lives. They are creatively barren, and most can’t even start to think for themselves, let alone begin to examine their own behavior so that they may one day escape the prisons they live in.
It’s sad to watch really, and there’s really nothing that can be done about it.
Good luck out there.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-12-10 11:11:50

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Congrats and welcome.

2023-12-06 13:30:15

Hope can be a form of procrastination.
#grownostr

2023-11-26 22:14:05

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For something so very, very natural, it never ceases to amaze me how naive about and afraid of death and dying we are made to be.
I’m sorry your experience was such that it left a negative lasting impression. The palliative care ward in US hospitals (I sure hope no one else so callously refers to it as the death ward) is simply a place for people who choose comfort-based over life-prolonging treatment. Yes most are near the end of their lives but not all. Trust me that we all reach the point where living as well as possible outweighs living as long as possible. A good physician understands this but it is sadly not a well taught concept in US medical schools. The goal in the US after all is usually to exploit the sick and infirm for as long as possible.
Acceptance of death and dying and an understanding of what it involves is a closely guarded secret because if more knew that it was nothing to fear, we wouldn’t make such good captives.
#grownostr
#deathanddying

2023-11-23 13:53:28

It can be hard to separate what is depression, a personality disorder, or simply realism.
If you can’t find joy in anything in your own life, you are likely depressed and this can probably be fixed by restoring a chemical balance with medications such as SSRIs etc.
If you can’t find joy in your life and can’t stand it when others find joy in their lives either, you probably have a personality disorder. Unfortunately, these are almost impossible to treat and other people likely think you’re an asshole.
On the other hand, if you can acknowledge all of the meaninglessness and futility of human existence yet still find joy in the few things that make life bearable (such as exercise, nature, good relationships, efficiency, accomplishment, art/creativity, etc) and don’t mind it when others find joy in things you don’t, you are not depressed.
You are simply a realist.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-11-19 15:57:39

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Now that’s a fun project.
Yours or someone else’s?

2023-11-19 15:35:24

Another amusing paradox of human existence revealed itself this morning.
Because there are so damn many of us, even when you finally figure some stuff out for yourself and get to or near the point of beating this pointless game called “life”, you still are left having to contend with like another 8 billion idiots in this world.
Then you have a choice to make. You can a) let it get you down as you witness others dither about their silly paths, b) find joy in the misery that is nearly everyone else’s existence and feel superior, or c) try to not let it bother you and instead focus on the things about existence that aren’t so bad like exercise and nature.
I admit to still doing all three at times. If I were still stuck living life in future mode, I’d probably try to choose option c more, but present-living me is content to now just have an awareness of the issue.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-11-10 06:40:42

Life is far more interesting when you try to find the stuff you are wrong about as opposed to trying to convince others about the stuff you think you are right about.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-10-31 11:43:44

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These are called “wedge issues”.
The magicians are using misdirection and distraction to steal from us.
War is another great example.
A tale as old as time unfortunately and people fall for it still. I call such people “wedgies”.
The problem is not just the magicians though. The bigger problem is the rest of us who keep falling for the same tricks. At some point, we will have to accept that humans are just plain stupid and most actually want to be controlled.
#thinkdangerously
#grownostr

2023-10-30 02:06:21

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Have had the same thing happen and yes, suspect it’s vpn related.

2023-10-25 13:21:11

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Thanks for the link. Greed can certainly be an effective source of motivation. However, it is mostly a subconscious one, and for whatever reason, that kind of thing bothers me. Perhaps it’s the fact that subconscious sources of motivation are easily exploited by things like advertising, marketing, etc. I personally don’t have anything against being consciously greedy as, in this sense at least, it represents more of a personal choice.
I’m still working all this out for myself, but so far it’s been a good thought exercise.
#grownostr

2023-10-22 16:48:40

My latest goal for myself is to understand and reprogram the greed that has been instilled in me since birth.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to go out and sell all my possessions and give away all my wealth. This is more about a life goal of total awareness of why I do things, how I think, and how I came to be this way.
The fact that I (and so many other humans) are so motivated by the concept of “more” is really interesting when you think about it and it guides so many of our life choices and day to day actions.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-30 14:37:26

The power and peace that anonymity brings is so impressive.
In a world where everyone is always trying to shout louder than everyone else, #Nostr is like a quiet comfortable room, where you can sit, gather and work through your thoughts with others, and leave no trace of yourself when you exit.
What freedom.
#grownostr

2023-09-28 14:52:02

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The variation within groups is almost always greater than the variation between groups.
In other words, your arbitrary ideological labels of left/right, libertarian/authoritarian, etc are just to suit a narrative you have already created for yourself.
It’s all distraction. These labels and your fascination with them means you are distracted by them and that they are working as intended.
Free yourself from this noise. The truth is, there are assholes in every camp, even yours. Most people are dumb (but not terrible) and just want to live their lives. The sooner we all identify with this truth instead of stupid arbitrary political divisions the better.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-28 14:42:46

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Umm. No.
All people, including me, are deeply flawed and you don’t need to think you are perfect to be happy. In fact, seeking and correcting imperfections is often a major driver of happiness.

2023-09-28 14:13:55

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Influencers by definition shepherd gullible people to products and ideas. This is the opposite of what #bitcoin and #nostr needs, which is nothing.
Both work fine as they are. What you are describing in terms of growing #nostr would be to inject a bunch of servile Fiat minded users into this space.
While obviously all are welcome here, and there are already a fair number of sheep among us, organic growth of people who think for themselves is what is already happening with these freedom technologies. This won’t and shouldn’t happen quickly. The fact that the technologies exist is all that is required.
People will discover both #bitcoin and #nostr at their own pace, and most never will. This is the hard pill for many here to swallow but it is nevertheless the most likely outcome.
The vast majority of humans are dumb and so distracted by the prison they live in that the questions of “what is money” and “what is free speech” will never rise to any level of consciousness.
Just be happy that you found a way out. Let others do so at their pace. If you are able to convince them to do something, they will be just as likely persuaded by someone else preaching a shitcoin.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-24 00:43:31

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I’m curious about the moral guidance, community, and helping others aspect you raise.
Do you feel your chosen religion emphasizes those things? Do you feel you would not be a moral person, help others, or have a community without religion?
How do you know that religion, and not you as just a decent human being, is responsible for acting morally, helping others, and maintaining community?
This is one of the biggest lies that religion spreads. It tells people “see how great religion has made you?!” when in fact, good people will be good with or without religion, while bad people will be bad with or without religion. It takes credit for the good that already exists and blames the bad on people who “lack faith”.
Religion is completely pointless but fools people into thinking they’d be lost without it. And often for someone else’s gain.
No thanks.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-22 16:04:41

Religious reasoning in a nutshell:
“There are things that humans cannot explain or understand so my chosen God must exist.”
In other words:
“I cannot understand or explain certain things, but I am sure that the reason behind everything I cannot understand or explain is my chosen God.”
Ergo, they can magically explain everything after all!
They call this “faith”.
I call this narcissistic idiocy.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-22 15:37:18

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Great post.
I see those shortcuts to reward as the entire basis of our economy.
I don’t mind them to be honest as I personally don’t want to spend any of my few good days on earth doing things the hard way. I value efficiency tremendously as it essentially allows you to add useful time back to your life’s clock.
It’s interesting that you bring up pornography as a shortcut. Another nostrian has done the same (bringing up the topic recently) and their point was how much pornographers have done to protect free speech and adopt/develop freedom technologies.
Obviously some take things too far and well beyond my personal tastes, but I’m inclined to agree. Furthermore, I think free consenting adult pornography is probably one of the best things to ever happen to human kind.
If you consider what levels of oppression various religions have imposed over sexuality throughout history, the fact that we collectively now have access to unlimited resources to release our sexual energy is something I find very worthy of celebrating. Historically and even now, that energy is often repressed and used to control and manipulate people to do awful things. The worlds various fundamentalist religions being the obvious examples but all do in their own sneaky ways.
This is to say nothing of the myriad ways pornography can prevent cheating or help couples explore and/or enhance their sexualities in low risk ways.
As far as things that could make pornography better, I think eliminating middle men (and women) and empowering performers directly via technologies like #bitcoin will continue to help remove some of the abuses that continue to exist in that realm. Again, if some woman/man wants to post their naughty bits on the internet for attention and of their own free will, I say go for it. They are actually doing something positive for humanity in my opinion and that is a rarity these days.
#pornography
#thinkdangerously
#grownostr

2023-09-20 15:37:53

If you work in healthcare, you eventually realize that life is pretty meaningless. Suffering, on the other hand, is very very real.
If you are suffering today, I’m so sorry. Your parents are ultimately to blame.
#grownostr
#childfree
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-16 17:36:05

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And unfortunately, many maximalists are still guilty of preaching a certain Fiat value as their main endpoint.

2023-09-16 17:32:34

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Agreed.
The get rich quick mindset can’t fade soon enough as far as I’m concerned.
Seeking fiat wealth, or measuring success in fiat terms is antithetical.

2023-09-13 15:40:31

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Many “facts” are just prevailing theories.
Humans would be better off if they considered everything they consume from any source of media as being an advertisement. Religion, politics, etc. All advertisement and someone else’s get rich quick scheme at your expense.
We are being sold to constantly.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-13 15:31:57

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Since we had no choice in being born, I fully agree with making the best of being alive while we exist.
Even though the vast majority of people don’t see it and will never experience it, the key to subjective happiness as you describe it (I maintain existential happiness is impossible without delusion, chemical help, or psychosis), is quite simple.
Exercise and health, self-reliance, avoidance of vice, good relationships, expertise in your field, living within your means, the outdoors, creative and intellectual pursuits, and the occasional hedonistic act. There it is. The secret to a subjectively happy life. For all to see.
Now if you could get people to listen to this, instead of the other bullshit they are sold, our ersatz economy would collapse instantly. :)
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-09-02 22:56:07

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Hey that’s my strategy!

2023-09-01 22:06:44

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Ah I think I see what you mean.
But should we be deciding this for others since it amounts to our own arbitrary assessment of the value of human life?
If I take your optimistic view, what guarantee do I have that my kid will have the same outlook?
Seems unfair to impose my potentially flawed judgment/preferences on someone else who has no say in the matter.

2023-09-01 21:47:27

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It depends on what you mean. Some people will age slower than others but that doesn’t necessarily make the process of declining any easier. In fact it may make it harder.
The first time a human experiences a permanent disability it is nearly universally devastating, and it is an experience almost all of us will have at some point.

2023-09-01 20:56:14

Human life is a state of perpetual want/dissatisfaction. This is coupled with/related to an endless ability to accommodate to new “normals”, such that as soon as one want is satisfied, a new baseline is created and a new want takes its place.
I see this perpetual accommodation collide with the realities of aging all the time. As our bodies fail, worse than not meeting our ever increasing wants, we actually are forced to regress to states that are inferior to our baseline. Not surprisingly, humans do NOT adjust to this well which explains the high rates of depression among the elderly.
So really, I can summarize human life as follows:
You are born. If you are lucky, you are healthy and your parents meet your basic needs. This becomes your new baseline.
Then you grow throughout your childhood and teenage years and experience an ever growing series of wants - toys, electronics, cars, friendships, romantic relationships, etc. This becomes your new baseline.
Again, in this best case scenario, you reach adulthood, and the parade of ever increasing wants continues: independence, marriage, job, career advancement, house, family, vacations, etc. Again, this becomes your new baseline.
Then, uh oh, you start getting old or you get sick. Suddenly, all of those assumptions and hard wired systems that continuously moved the goalpost forward get violated.
You start losing function. You start losing independence. You start losing relationships. And it just keeps getting worse as time marches on.
Eventually, a critical malfunction occurs within your body and you cease to exist.
Throughout your lifetime, again in the best case scenario that being human has to offer, you will have experienced no peace, an abundance of dissatisfaction punctuated by only brief, ever fleeting moments of satisfaction, followed by the slow and miserable decline towards your inevitable death.
Put differently, childbirth, to me, is analogous to condemning someone to a life sentence of misery and suffering (with maybe a handful of brief pleasant experiences), followed by a death sentence.
I cannot imagine doing that to another person.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously
#getoffended
#childfree

2023-09-01 16:24:36

If you know something is broken (let’s call this “A”) and have found a better alternative (let’s call that “B”), why would you keep measuring “B” in terms of “A”?
Seems pretty dumb, no?
#grownostr

2023-08-27 17:14:07

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You post some interesting stuff Sir.
I will spend some more time reading through your posts.
“The unexamined life is not worth living” has some truth to it in my opinion.

2023-08-27 13:58:54

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Do you smoke? Stop smoking.
Are you obese? Lose weight.
Are you supposed to wear a CPAP mask/have you been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea? Wear a CPAP.
Do you have seasonal allergies? Use a nasal steroid, oral antihistamine, or both.
Or you know, healing crystals and essential oils are popular on social media.

2023-08-27 04:03:55

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Maybe they just don’t want to talk about it in person though.
I always deny owning any in meatspace.

2023-08-27 00:45:25

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This is a very measured and reasonable response. Thank you Sir.
For the most part, I write stuff to work out thoughts in my own head. I certainly don’t claim to know what’s best for anyone other than myself.
If one’s goal is maximum happiness, there are likely many paths to get there. :)
Thanks again for the reply.

2023-08-26 17:26:39

It’s interesting to me that humans generally seek “meaning” in their lives once their basic needs are met.
And we do all kinds of crazy shit to that end like believe in fairytales and force life upon others.
Why do we even need meaning though? It’s just so arbitrary when you think about it.
Just as reasonable in my opinion is to abandon the quest for meaning and instead just try to enjoy life for what it is: a largely random series of experiences that can be either pleasant or unpleasant based solely upon our perception of them.
I think the latter approach requires a lot more agency and effort. Since we are fundamentally lazy though, it’s just easier for many to rely upon reptile brain instincts like reproduction or alternatives to thinking for oneself like religion to check the “but my life has meaning!” box.
A meaningless life can be pretty awesome though. And you won’t have live with the guilt and mental gymnastics required for having kids or believing in some silly God to enjoy it.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-08-26 01:42:36

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Unpopular opinion: not buying this book. At least not unless it’s offered for sale in sats exclusively. Sorry Lyn. Doubt you’ll miss the Fiat.

2023-08-25 15:30:35

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The true enemy is usually the one pointing a finger at some poor person 5000 miles away.

2023-08-24 23:11:46

Serious question for anyone willing to answer.
If you believe in God, how do you chose which ones you do or don’t believe in?
How do you view people who believe in different Gods? At what point do you say, no that God clearly doesn’t exist, but mine does for sure?
Genuinely curious.
#grownostr
#thinkdangerously

2023-08-24 23:02:41

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I try hard to understand what any of this means because I like to try to understand perspectives other than my own. But in the end, I just can’t see why people make such a big deal over any of it. I mean seriously, people throughout human history have died fighting over this kind of thing?
I have had a great life so far, like really great, and I’ve never once needed to believe in anything like this. Where does the need to believe this stuff come from? I’d really love to understand even just that part of it.
Even beyond all the mystical nonsense and absurd inconsistencies, it’s probably hardest to get around the fact that every religion just seems so… unnecessary.

2023-08-24 22:32:29

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Put differently, the second you’re sure of anything, you should know you’re wrong.