I killed myself. Or rather, I tried to kill myself. I mean, I did kill myself, but then I was still alive, in a new universe. My memories from the previous universe survived when I woke up here.
It made me realize that I literally cannot escape. Even through death.
That has given me a sort of “burned my ships” commitment to life that has made me truly alive. I also realized that all other humans are also trapped in a quantum immortality situation that will last for eternity as far as I can tell, so my level of caring and compassion for others has also increased.
I know it sounds totally fucked, but by realizing that I literally cannot die, it made me realize how important every moment is. Because every choice is a seed of eternity. The value of doing things right just went infinite for me, and I’ve never been happier, more productive, more generous, more committed to doing things right.
Legalization would help more than anything. Full legalization of all drugs is the only drug war outcome compatible with conservative values such as personal responsibility and individual autonomy.
Collusion between a small number of players to control prices in a market is called a “cartel” and it’s a significant departure from the concept of a “free market”.
Cartels happen in markets that are not free, because in a free market that price fixing would lead to insulin sales being so profitable that new manufacturers would get into the game and the competition would bring prices back down to their normal levels.
One can argue whichever way they like for the overall benefit of the tight regulations we have on things like insulin production and distribution, but it is a fact that one effect of that tight regulation is extremely high barriers to entry, and hence the formation of price cartels such as we see now.
Well, under a free market system it can’t because of competition. Under a centrally-controlled system, greed can run unchecked in the environment of total control.