i shop bulk as much as i can, eat oatmeal for breakfast daily, and after i had my gall bladder removed i got in the habit of eating 2-3oz portions of animal protein no more than 5 times a week. i spend a bunch of time in the kitchen every week but it definitely softens the blow. it also helps that i have a couple of cheap staple meals i can make for less than $5 per serving.
i also shop around for value. i live near 4 different grocery stores so i dont spend a lot of time doing it, but i do make a run to grocery outlet every month in order to get discounts on bigger items but it can be hit or miss.
I’ve been slipping over to Aldi or Costco for produce. Sure I have to buy more at Costco, but the price is there are still lower per pound than they were at my grocery store before inflation.
I make a lot of stuff from scratch I don’t rely on a lot of mixes. The price of bulk flour and the price of bulk rice hasn’t gone up nearly as much as Purdue chicken breast.
The ramifications are that the USA would lose its position as world hegemonic power.
But that’s happening anyway. I’ve heard Ray Dalio’s argument about China being the next country up in a big cycle of hegemony, and it makes a lot of sense.
The basics are that in a period of upheaval, the US currency will devalue making the US’s ability to project power weaker, creating a reduction in the monopolarity of military power, and an eruption of military violence. It will begin as proxy wars and end up as fighting between the old and new hegemon. The new hegemon’s currency will take over as the most trusted currency of international trade.
There’s a lot more detail to the whole thing, but that’s somewhat of the gist.
The US took over the hegemon role from Britain, which won it from Spain, which took it from Denmark, if I’m remembering this right. Each of those transfers of world hegemony involved that same collection of connected events:
old power has global military dominance
their currency becomes international standard
projected power is costly
somehow hyperinflation happens
reducing purchasing power and ability to maintain the global military presence
they pull back to save resources
new hegemon gathers influence in un-covered places
fighting breaks out as result of more symmetric power distribution
it morphs into old hegemon vs new
new hegemon wins
triggering change in dominant currency
fueling their expansion from “new hegemon” to “the hegemon, duh”
We all grew up in the “The US, duh” era. When that was the answer to which country was top dog, which country would adjudicate in global questions, which country’s citizenship you want your kids to have to be safe and successful, etc.
By the end of our lives (I’m speaking from age 41, so y’all’s experience varies on this), by the end of my generation’s lives, we’ll probably be in the early part of the “China, duh” part.
But we’ll have a few decades where it’s the “Well actually, it’s China now” era. Where China’s on top, not only economically but morally and culturally, as a trusted world authority and the government the aliens meet with in the sci fi movies. But that it’s noticeably new.
Just like there was basically the “Britain, duh” phase, where anyone on earth would use “The King of England” any time they wanted to conversationally refer to the most powerful man in the world. It was just known.
That simulation, so to appear believable from the inside, would have to be based on the real universe, or would look to simplistic//trivial from the outside. So, this pushes the question to a more complex situation, but doesn’t seem to help to resolve it. Right ?
That simulation, so to appear believable from the inside, would have to be based on the real universe,
Would it? What if the real universe is nothing like the simulation? Couldn’t a completely unknown species have created the simulation and just imagined a fantasy world inhabited by strange little creatures called humans?
From my viewpoint it is very difficult to imagine an alternate universe encompassing cosmological observables widely different from ours which would lead to such deep scientific theories and controversies as we have inside of it. On the other hand if there was such a complex and rich universe, where all this would be trivial to imagine//make//simulate, then, making it would not seem to be worth a simulation. Finally, this simulated universe theory was often cited for the purpose of some advance archaeological work (implying fidelity to the original). So, I am not saying your hypothesis is impossible, only I view it as improbable.
On the other hand if there was such a complex and rich universe, where all this would be trivial to imagine//make//simulate, then, making it would not seem to be worth a simulation.
I don’t get this, are you saying that if it’s so simple to do, why would anyone do it?
I don’t understand that conclusion at all.
Think of this scenario: an alien race had no concept of “Art” and they found a child’s scribbles. It’s completely blowing their mind because nobody had ever thought of doing that. Some other alien hearts about it and doesn’t believe it because, “if it was so easy for them to make Art, why would one waste good talents on scribbles?”
What if designing simulated universes is just something kids do for science projects, and we are the result of the imagination of a particularly demented one?
Still possible, but now I will just say that I don’t like it. Maybe you wouldn’t like it yourself. Oh yes, there is also Occam’s rasor saying the simplest explanation, etc…
Yes. I think a lot of our mental health problems are a result of insecurity. Like, we have a civilization based around civility. But then we have people fighting for their lives within it. And we get on those people’s cases for being warlike, but they’re literally living in a state of nature.
But I also think that poverty isn’t the only source of mental illness at a societal level. I think aspects of our culture make it worse. For example, the expectation that life should be easy fucks people up badly.
My mental health has improved enormously as I’ve taken more responsibility for myself. In many ways, my own mental health issues were an extension of the fact that my mother would respond to me crying by comforting me. There’s a significant part of myself that believes that if I fall apart, it will trigger affection.
Realizing that I have no rescue coming has helped me stabilize myself.
But yes, we definitely don’t take care of people right. Earlier today a pregnant friend showed me her eviction notice, and I just felt so sad. It’s not even a legal matter. It’s a cultural one. That anyone, at any time, would consider profit above allowing a pregnant mother to stay sheltered, is beyond me.
She’ll be staying with me, in my 250 SF apartment, because I’m not a moral imbecile like her landlord is.
It’s a sacrifice. My privacy and decompression time is very important to me. More important to me, I’d wager, than the $$ this landlord gets from that one apartment. But I’m not a fucking moron, and I know that my own peace of mind is less valuable to me than the stress levels of a pregnant woman are to the entire lifetime of the child inside her.
Like what the fuck is this guy thinking, to evict a pregnant woman? What the actual, ever-loving fuck? I want to slap him and be like “Dude are you awake? Do you not see the precious human life in your hands?”
An acquaintance who’s pregnant is having a hard time, including being evicted. I told her she can stay with me for a while while she saves money. Hey boyfriend was trying to step out at first, and she wanted to let him at first. I encouraged her not to do so, not to let him go, not to try and pretend it didn’t matter. It totally matters.
Suddenly this guy’s done a 180, and he’s now unlocking parts of himself he didn’t know existed. I feel like I played a small role in that too, by encouraging her to not play nihilistic chicken with his childish instinct to run. They’re both in their 20s, and I’m in my 40s. I don’t have a family of my own, but damn it feels good to help out a little at the formation of a new one.
I was worried. The part of myself that doesn’t like to be involved in anything or take a stand on anything, that just likes to smoke pot and play video games, was complaining that I’d lose my sanctuary. But over the years I’ve learned to trust my abolish to handle the unknown, and just force myself forward. So I did that in this case, and now I get to help.
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