I'm 24m from Ireland. I try to do a bit of everything and like to try be open minded and easy going.
I like the idea that I can meet people I would otherwise never meet irl. I love people and what made you the person you are today. What would you like to do and if you have a few aspirations that conflict with each other.
I like to do a bit of everything so that I've experienced as much of life as I can.
I like playing bass and making garage music with my friends, design and 3d printing, understand why I do and act the way I do, sports (volleyball, kayaking and swimming), movies and anime (One Piece, Jjk and AoT).
I'm also going traveling for two months to central Europe, so any tips would be welcome.
I like who I'm trying to be and that I've made mistake because I'm human. I really want to know what makes you the person you are. Specific memories that are always on your mind but never come up in conversation.
I can be a bit overwhelming, that's why it's probably good that the conversation is through text haha.
You can ask me or tell me anything, because I'd like to talk to you.

TLDR: AI is replacing my special interest as an artist and I believe AI programs are going to plunge us into an even worse dystopia. I am feeling dead inside.
I want to preface this all by making it clear that I will NEVER end my own life. Yes, I may feel like doing it, but I ultimately never will as there are far to many people in my life who would be destroyed if I did.
Introduction
Who am I? I’m a 20 year old lady with mild autism. I am an artist and have known since I was little. I have been working to improve my skills for so many years and am currently in university studying animation. Art and animation are the only things I am really good at. My autism makes life mostly unenjoyable. My art has been the one thing keeping me going all these years.
The Problem
You have all definitely heard of AI art generators by now. I was shocked when Dall-E 2 was unveiled in April last year. We all thought AI could never be creative or make art. Yet all these creative AI’s pretty much came out of nowhere in quick succession last year. Mid journey, chatgpt, stable diffusion, text to video programs, you name it. It just happened all at once.
My concerns should be obvious. These AI systems can make art and even write stories. They can do it at lightning speed and at the cost of electricity. This puts anyone who writes or draws for a living in a terrible position. Companies and individuals will surely go for the quicker, cheaper option. Even if it is slightly worse in quality.
My autism would make getting any other job an actual nightmare so I have been incredibly disheartened by these developments. Not to mention that many creatives are like me and are on the spectrum too. They are often socially awkward and find regular life difficult. Many of them will have their entire future’s ruined by these systems.
I still find it hard to believe that art of all things is getting automated. Art, writing and more. All the creative tasks are getting taken from us. Sure, they can still be hobbies. But that just leaves us with more soul crushing work. And not to mention that future generations will have it even worse. Why would anyone want to bring kids into such a depressing world where all the things we enjoy are monopolized and automated?
A Dystopian Future
Not to mention the other, possibly worse side effects of this new technology. AI voices, videos and images are getting better every week. Imagine how easy it will be to generate a fake video of someone doing or saying something horrible that they didn’t do. And the technology will likely be so good in just a few years that we will have no way of knowing if it’s fake or not. Sounds like the worst kind of dystopia. Some people may doubt that the tech will ever get that good. Well we never thought that AI would be able to creat art, yet here we are. Just look at how much AI images have improved since April of last year. Or heck, 3 months ago!
But back to job/purpose loss. This worries me just as much as the paragraph above. Art is the only thing I have really ever excelled at. And I am now realizing that I probably won’t be able to make it my career. Yes, I do animation so that probably has a while longer. But at the rate the tech is progressing I wouldn’t be surprised if AI takes over animation and VFX in under 10 years.
Where I’m At
I am not exaggerating when I say I am crushed. Truly this time though. I have been through many things that destroyed my spirit, it’s pretty much guaranteed for people on the spectrum. I was bullied my entire childhood, denied being able to be in a relationship due to my sensory issues, isolated from society and more. Yet the one thing that kept me hopeful was being able to show the world my art and make a living off it.
And now it’s gone.
Now anyone can have top tier skill. Anyone can generate anything in any style. Even if I make a new style, someone can just feed my drawings into a machine and infinitely clone them. My skill doesn’t matter anymore. The one thing I truly had going for me is basically worthless. And if not now, in a few years. I have no purpose anymore. I feel worthless. Even though I have more friends and family that love me then most people, I feel worthless now. Even if there is still room for human artists, we simply can’t keep up with the speed AI produces stuff. We will be drowned out by AI works.
I knew I would likely never make big bucks by pursuing art and animation. Unless you run a massive studio you don’t get mega rich. But I knew I could earn enough to comfortably live off my work. With things like YouTube and Patreon it seemed feasible as long as I worked to become good enough. I wanted to start doing commissions online. I wasn’t expecting to get rich, but I was so excited and happy to get started. Then this all happened. I already see many artists online talking about how they’ve lost their jobs or how nobody commissions them anymore.
People often ask the question "Where would you be and what would you be doing if money didn't exist?". Well, the life I had planned out WAS what I would be doing if money had no value.
To be honest, I don't like where the world in general is going. We're spied on every moment of our lives, people are being increasingly fake and we can't provide for our families. Then there's cancel culture, political correctness, wokeness, decaying attention spans and instant gratification. All of which didn't really exist just a few years ago.
Questions You May Have
I want to dedicate a section to answering some questions I can see people having for me as to clear up any confusion.
“You’re Being Dramatic”
I can see why someone might think that. But imagine if you’re entire purpose and passion suddenly became pretty much worthless and you had to face the rest of your life without it. Seriously, imagine it. You’d be devastated. Also, all the things I’ve mentioned here either already have happened or are likely to happen.
“AI will never be as good as human artists”
Maybe it will never be as good as the top 1% but it’s already better then most artists out there. And if it’s this good now then imagine where it’ll be in 5-10 years. Not to mention that even if it is slightly worse, most people will chose it over a human artist simply due to the speed and cost.
”You Must Adapt And Use The AI’s In Your Workflow”
I will. I will do anything to keep my dream alive. I’ve played around with various AI tools to enhance my workflow. But in doing so, the enjoyment is gone and my original visions destroyed. Not to mention that AI will dramatically devalue all creative works, so I may not be able to earn enough to keep doing art as a career.
“These Are Just New Tools”
Maybe now, but they’re already replacing tons of artists, voice actors and more. Also, the end game for these ‘tools’ is to completely remove the need for any skill or talent. An AI image generator makes all the decisions for you, while you type in a text prompt. These systems are replacements, not tools. If you were a brick layer you wouldn’t see a brick laying machine as a tool. You would see it as a replacement.
"You Only Care About Making Money"
Read the part where I went over this. Yes, I am afraid of not being able to make a career off art. But I'm also scared of not being able to get noticed and having my work devalued. If everyone's an amazing artist, nobody is. Also, my parents are wealthy enough to be able to comfortably support me and my two siblings for the rest of our lives. But I don't want this. I WANT to work hard and feel accomplished for doing so. And These AI systems take that away.
“We Can Fight The Companies Developing These AI’s”
Sure, but what will that achieve? The technology is out there and it won’t go away. Even if every government in the world banned these AI’s overnight then they would still be developed in secret. I know some people are suing AI art generators over copyright infringement for using their art to train the AI’s. I personally do not see the court systems ruling in favor of the artists. It will most likely be seen as fair use.
“There Will Always Be A Place For Human Made Art”
I do agree on this. One tiny positive is that physical art such as paintings and sculptures may have a resurgence due to digital art being devalued. But this will likely be a tiny niche.
“This Is Just Like NFT’s”
No it’s not. Everyone knew from the beginning how stupid NFT’s were. We knew they were a pyramid scheme destined to collapse. And they did. AI art and their similar tools are not something that’s going to go away. They are rapidly developing and getting better. They’re going to be more and more widely used in the future.
”You Only Care When Your Own Job Is Being Replaced”
Not true. I have felt very sorry for those who’s jobs have or are being automated. When I first heard of self driving cars I immediately felt dread for truck drivers and anyone in a similar position. I actually will go out of my way to not use the self service checkout in order to help keep the store employees employed.
”Do You Hate AI Bro’s?”
No. I don’t hate anyone who uses or is excited about this new tech. I can totally see their perspectives and we shouldn’t dogpile them. My issues lie with the developers of this technology and the people online saying “LOL GO DIE IN A FIRE ARTISTS! YOU’RE WORTHLESS NOW!”. You’re allowed to love this tech, but actively routing for someone’s downfall is very horrible and childish. I wouldn’t think anything bad of any group of people who were about to have their professions made obsolete.
Conclusion
I am truly broken this time.
I don’t see this getting better. We are entering into an even bigger dystopia then before. I have never felt more hopeless then I do now. I’m only 20 and I’m tired. My spirit has officially been crushed. And yet I’m meant to stay in this game for another 60+ years.
I have been depressed before in life, but this has made me completely suicidal. Never before have I actually felt like ending my life. Yet this has pushed me over the edge. Though I will ultimately never do it.
I want nothing more then to wake up and for this technology to be gone. I would do anything to go back to even just 2021 when it seemed like these systems didn't exist. How I wish technology wouldn't have 'progressed' past that point.
All of us now just happened to be unlucky enough to be born into the most boring dystopia. I have no idea how to find happiness or purpose in any of this. But I will continue living because what else can I do?
If anyone has any questions or wants to discuss things then I will answer them.

So Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a prion disease which affects deer and elk in the central parts of the US and Canada. It's highly contagious and has no cure, and the prions which cause the disease can linger in the watesoil used by infected animals for ages, infecting future deer. While this disease thankfully hasn't made the jump to humans, that is a valid concern as well.
How can this disease be stopped, both in terms of geographic expansion and in terms of deer populations in infected areas avoiding it? Are deeelk/etc. at risk for extinction due to this disease?

We have decided that one hotfix in the last few days just simply isn’t enough, and that we had to have another one. But in reality, some fairly significant bugs affecting majors slipped through the last release, so here’s round two of the fixes for you all!

• The KR4 team

Changes
Notable Additions

• Implemented Intro Screens for more countries, with the eventual aim to have unique screens and images for every country in the mod.
• Converted several Intro Screen texts to be now over multiple pages.
• Added Path Guides in the intro screens for Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Commune of France, the French Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italian Republic, Jabal Shammar, Japan, Liangguang, Lithuania, Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, the Qing, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Shandong, Sichuan, South Africa, Ukraine, the Union of Britain, United Baltic Duchy, White Ruthenia and Yunnan - more will be added in following patches, with the intention of all countries eventually having them.

GFX

• New portraits
  • Austria: Franz Böhme
  • United Baltic Duchy: Archibald von Keyserling
  • Cuba: José Agripino Barnet
  • Commune of France: André Boris
  • Hunan: Tang Shengzhi
  • Left Kuomintang: Wang Jingwei
  • Poland: Aleksander II
  • Taiwan: Jiang Weishui
• Added new intro pictures for Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Patagonia, Uruguay.
• Added a new flag for Papua.
• Tweaked the country selection screen.

Other Changes

• Western & Southern Europe
  • Added French endonyms to Catalonia.
  • Added André Boris to the general roster of the Commune of France.
  • Adjustments to skills and traits of the Commune of France's Diego Brosset, Louis Buisson, Georges Catroux, Henri Frenay, Aubert Frère, Maurice Gamelin and Jean-Edouard Verneau.
  • Reworked the Socialist Republic of Italy's "End of the Cultural Revolution" event to give player agency over if Mussolini dies.
• Eastern & Southeast Europe
  • Reduced the weekly stability loss from Bulgaria’s Royalist Resistance spirit.
  • Clarified the “What is a Hetmanate” event for Ukraine, stating that it refers to the Hetmanate as it currently exists, not in its earlier forms.
  • Added a tooltip about the consequences of when Ukraine arrests Petliura.
  • Improved the tooltip for a NatPop Ukrainian national focus.
  • Nerfed Ukrainian consumer goods bonuses.
  • Reduced Ukrainian war support and stability bonuses from advisors.
  • Changed the bonuses for Ukraine’s "Autarkist Revolutionary" advisor trait.
• East Asia
  • Anqing’s Sun Liren will now prefer to go to an anti-concessionist Qing, rather than the Left Kuomintang, should Anqing have been defeated.
  • Dzungaria is now transferred to Mongolia if Xinjiang fails to contain their raids, instead of granting a wargoal that could potentially trigger a war between two major factions.
  • Shanghai is now always AutDem after the Legation Cities collapse.
• South Asia & Oceania
  • Added 100 convoys to Insulindia’s naval tree.
• Miscellaneous
  • Added a new loading screen quote by Dmytro Dontsov.
  • Clarified the requirements in several game rules.
  • Removed several typos and text inconsistencies.

Fixes
Notable Fixes

• Fixed Germany kicking itself out of Mitteleuropa.
• Fixed Hungary not being released after the Treaty of Budapest for PatAut Austria.
• Fixed imperial Russia not being able to complete its focus tree.

Other Fixes

• North America
  • Fixed reference to dead Smedley Butler in a Combined Syndicates of America post-war event.
  • Fixed Combined Syndicates of America demobilisation mission remaining active even if attacked by the Entente.
• Central America & the Caribbean
  • Fixed a bug with Puero Rico’s game rules.
• Western & Southern Europe
  • Fixed not being able to give Malta to a puppet Italy in the Fate of Malta.
• Central & Northern Europe
  • Fixed Czechia giving Slovakia back to Austria when Austria is PatAut.
  • Fixed not being able to give Croatia to Hungary in the Fate of Croatia.
  • Fixed Poland not starting as part of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.
  • Fixed the United Baltic Duchy getting an instant core on Latgale.
• Eastern & Southeast Europe
  • Fixed Bulgaria’s research slot focus bypassing if the “National Catastrophe” national spirit was removed elsewhere.
  • Fixed a bug with Ukrainian volunteer recruitment, should they already have the division template.
  • Fixed Ukraine’s post-war national focus tree not unlocking if Transamur reformed Russia.
  • Fixed Ukraine getting the wrong industrialisation spirit when its industrial score is above 90.
  • Fixed a broken tooltip in Ukraine’s “A Visit from the VSZV” event.
  • Fixed Ukraine not always being able to remove Nationalist Agitation.
  • Fixed Ukraine not getting the Small Pact national spirit.
  • Fixed the "Promises of Land Reform" mission for Ukraine giving far more stability than it should.
  • Fixed Revolutionary Bloc Ukraine being unable to start a revolution if France fell in the war, even if other Internationale members were still fighting it.
  • Fixed socialist Ukraine not being able to join the Internationale if socialist Russia had already merged its faction with the former.
• Africa
  • Fixed Ethiopia getting blocked off in its Railway event chain.
  • Fixed Natal not turning into South Africa if a player Entente took Cape Town in the Third Boer War peace conference.
  • Fixed David Ivon Jones’ description being too long.
• Caucasus & Middle-East
  • Fixed Karabakh being given to Azerbaijan instead of being retained so it can be decided by the Fate of Karabakh event.
  • Fixed not being able to give Karabakh to Russia if both Armenia and Azerbaijan were given previously.
• East Asia
  • Fixed the French endonyms for Guangzhouwan.
  • Fixed Guangxi getting a wargoal against itself.
  • Fixed broken tooltips in a few Chinese events.
  • Fixed Chen Jiongming not being correctly moved to Sichuan when he forms his government in exile.
• South Asia & Oceania
  • Fixed the Dominion of India Balanced Economy spirit being an inferior version of the Five Year Plan spirit.
  • Fixed two Dominion of India foci having identical effects.
• Miscellaneous
  • Fixed several endonym mismatches.

We hope you enjoy playing Kaiserreich as much as we did making it!
- The KR4 Team: 84F8D8, Alpinia, Arvidus, Augenis, Blackfalcon501, Carmain, Chazem, Chiang Kai-shrek, Chiron29, Cody, Conchobhar, DuoDex, El Daddy, Fedex, Flamefang, Gaboemi, Gideones, Hamfast, hildagrim, Ido, Igor050301, JazzyHugh, Jeankedezeehond, Jonny BL, Juliet Wehrwolf, Kano, katieluka, Kennedy, kergely, KFateweaver, Klyntar King, Krčo, Luwofe, Matoro, McOmghall, ~mw~ // miwaco, NukeGaming, Owenomaly, PPsyrius, Pelmen, RagnoStrangeros, Rnk, Shiroe, Sonny O’Cad, SuperGreenBeans, suzuha, The Alpha Dog, The Irredentista, The Italian Jojo, Vidyaország, and Zimbabwe Salt Co.

Does anyone know of any shortcuts to make the missions more bearable. I know a couple like if you can blow up the limo and take the guys wallet in the 2nd set, and in the high society leak mission there's sometimes an aircraft on the beach but if not I jump into the military base and take a jet. Also if you turn around fast enough after the cutscene in the south central leak you can kill the vagos leader immediately. Are there any other shortcuts I can take in these missions?

Nowhere to run to for peace. No one who cares. The more you suffer, the clearer your perception becomes. The more spoiled you are, the more childish you are.
They focus so much on petty things and care nothing of the important things. There's no way for them to understand unless they live in my head to explore it. Instead I'm labeled as insane so that they can move on with their lives and continue being demons, end of story, no justice. They'd rather spend their time saying that homosexuals or this or that nonsense are ruining our world or whathaveyou it's all ridiculously absurd. The Jesus like figure will be seen as the antichrist and the cruel ignorant psychopathic sadist will be seen as Jesus the savior himself. It's pointless to even complain but I might as well I guess... the only answer to such a world, when you've suffered so greatly at the hands of these demons, seems to be suicide. They refuse to leave you alone, the happier you are, the more they pick and prod until you have no happiness anymore. They're all like this, they have no real empathy. Everything they provide is an image. Some people do have it all I guess, but I know for sure I don't.
Living mischaracterized is super fucked up. There's no justice and there's no escape, they continue to attack and attack, there's no forgiveness, they don't relent. They don't want understanding, if you've been chosen to be killed off they'll do what they can to kill you and that's all they'll do. None of them help, none of them offer advice. They believe themselves to be so intelligent and so helpful but no, they don't offer real help. The therapists, the p$ychiatrists, the teachers. They're all the same. Holding up a corrupt system, not offering the real truth.
They don't get it and they never will, any problems you have as a result of their slights they will justify as you being weak or whathaveyou. This is just how they are. They aren't aware of it. They can seem intelligent as can be and still be so blind to themselves. They're so quick to abandon you and throw you in the trash even just for making a mistake, even if you could have been the most helpful person they've ever known -- someone who could've helped them to become absurdly rich. They're a part of a hivemind and if you're whatever it takes to be aware enough to be aware of this, something so niche, you're on your own. In my case I'm labeled as a paranoid schizophrenic. Given "medications" that forbid me from ever seeing psychedelic visuals. Given permanent side effects. Gaslit and abused by the very people who society says are supposed to help me, laughed at by my p$ychiatrist, the special agent on my case, the p$ych nurses and so on. It's some kind of an open secret that people are fucked in the head and no one cares. This is just how it's always been and apparently I'm the oddity for not being born like them. I'm a failed experiment that's actually extremely useful just not appreciated by the demons. Sad story, the end? I worry that suicide is the darkness spoken of in the bible. Yes suicide sounds so nice, an escape for once, but it seems like such a lie. As if once I kill myself, I will continue to have a consciousness and realize eternally "Holy shit. I'm awaiting judgment. I'm going to hell." 1000 years later, after spending all that time in the darkness... judgment time -- maybe I was in hell all along and this is one of Satan's sick games. The way people act, it would make sense that everyone is just an illusion. There's nothing that I can do right by them. Maybe if I was born better looking, taller, into a richer family, then they'd love me. The people of this world can't recognize a good mind and they don't appreciate someone who's kind. They want a cruel scumbag or a good looking person and that's it, either you met the absurd cut or you're born to be a punching bag and a slave.
My unique experiences in life have led me to the truth, but what good is the truth for me now? It doesn't remove the pain. It doesn't gain me money. People aren't interested in knowing someone who's truly intelligent anyways, it's just a "wall" to them they'd like to call it. They can call it arrogance or whatever they want to call it to appease their own emotions and continue to live on ignoring the truth. Being unable to "turn off" is seen as a mental illness to them. If they could just stop turning off however, I swear that we'd live in a utopian society, because rather than increasing chaos, we'd increase order. Rather than doing so, people continue to engage in chaos and create unsolvable problems. Not only is human nature fundamentally chaotic but they live as if they're absolutely certain that Jesus is going to swoop in and save them from anything. Have 20 kids, don't worry, just pray to Jesus and he'll make everything okay. Meanwhile it's actually the people who work and pay taxes who support those cockroaches of theirs who shouldn't have even been born. Now I'm the bad guy for asking that people please fuck off and stop procreating so chaotically. I'm this or I'm that. I'm the problem. Now I'm like Hitler. I'm evil. Blablabla. Everything's my fault, I need to be people's personal Jesus. If I get anything nice like a sports car then I'm just a rich spoiled asshole, not a broke ass motherfucker who had a car for a few months and then sold it. I can't do anything right. I'm not allowed to enjoy myself because I'm me. It was obviously a sign of mania to purchase a car and then sell it. I have so many problems right, I'm deranged, I need meds right? I can't function without meds but I've been doing it for 4 years right? I'm not allowed to even make a few bad purchases and learn from my lessons. No, there is no recovery for me, I'm just an insane sicko. Everyone else is normal though, or obviously, humble enough to accept that they "need help" right? Of course. It's just my huge ego. It's so huge. I think I'm so amazing, I need to hate myself, but I also need to love myself. Also everyone is the same but we're all super diverse and diversity is great but not if you think you're useful, you're not useful, you're just an average joe, you're not smart, you're dumb, it's dunning-kruger. Stop thinking so positively, it's so annoying, you're always optimistic, you need to be realistic, wait no you need to be normal, no you need to be pessimistic, wait no that's depression stop being so pessimistic. Your optimism is mania. Your neutrality is boring. You need to be more interesting and energetic.

There's a reason why were seeing so many public freakouts of so called "karens" on the internet. Why there's so much seperation and perversion between people nowadays.
OOGA BOOGA.
Yes.
Humans are more similiar to apes than we like to admit.
We are wired to throw shit at each other for our own amusement. Wearing a suit and a tie and talking about the macro-economic developments of the third quarter doesn't change that.
As soon as the power grid goes out and people don't have any water and food you'll see the mask come down.
Life is painful when you believe the lie that we live in a society that rewards the one with the highest productive output for the benefit of our society.
That our government cares about us, that we're all in this together and this is not a "one wins/one loses" game. And that it's ENTIRELY your fault, and your weirdness, why you don't fit in.
I am one of those people who cannot cope with this society. It's demoralizing. It rewards psychopathic traits. Not just on social media but in real life.
The more I grow up, the more I observe how it all boils down to status.
!You're socially awkward?
You're not weird. You're the average person.
You could be a total piece of shit person and dress like a wealthy person, signalling status and people will treat you better than you deserve. Watching social experiements where people pretend to be famous, walking around with bodyguards just shows this. Suddently everyone is this fake celebs biggest fan.
!You rap about violence and drugs? (literal murder)
You'll be worshipped by a large proportion of this society. You fulfill their shiny object syndrome. A bunch of depressed, fake happy people, scrolling and worshipping truly weird people. People who put satanic references in their songs with life's totally foreign to most. Who's weird?
My empathy is reserved.
Reserved for my family, friends, and people who were unfaily treated by the system.
Like the children in the congo who had to mine the cobalt used in the laptop I am writing this on.
I have empathy. When walking outside for example and looking at a stray dog I want to help and am motivated to work my ass off, to attain power and influence in this backwards society to help it. But when dealing with rude people in public, and other people's ego's, their personality, their world view and need to feel important by starting shit with me or giving me mean looks. I could not care less if they died from a heart attack right infront of me.
When being numb feels better than feeling attached to your surroundings, then that's a problem. Or perhaps its not. Perhaps it's a blessing, if able to be controlled.
From what I've seen most people wouldn't really care if I was the one catching the bad luck. As long as the lion is fed, and they have a seat on the tree, it will not shake their little world. Afterall, they don't know me. I am not part of their circle.
I bet some would even record a TikTok like "YOOOO, GUYS YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SEEN."
#prayforhim #empath
Again, psychopathic society. It makes me want to meditate in the forest naked at night during winter, become and absolute BEAST phyiscally and mentally, untouchable, just to be able to be secluded from them and give money to people in need. I've been there before.
For my sanity I refuse to be anything other than stoic, dealing with people. It's all a psycho babble bullshit mix of needs and wants. Fucking, eating, shitting. It confuses me and its draining. I find it hard to read in-between the lines.
My honesty is often not appreciated or seen as rude or weird. People's chitty chatty small talk just seems so fake.
Why care, when only my parents, truly care about ME?
The only times when I truly connect with people is when going through hardship together. I think this might even be what creates true bonds. And love.
A psychological and emotional connection allowing us to depend upon each other for survival.
I am done people pleasing and caring how I come across.
You might relate...
FUCK. I've been so socially anxious at times that I could not even stand in the subway without looking in all sorts of directions, trying to look away from people in attempt not to stand out or come across as creepy.
Either this society is just sick, or I am sick. either way
From now, most people might not even lift a micro-expression in my face.
I focus on my breath in every situation.
Asses my moves, for financial freedom.
Nature is calm and peace. Perfecting a craft is purpose. Creating art is relief.
I think I am at the point where in a movie, the villian-arc would begin
But Zen is the way.
We're all gonna make it Brah
#deep

From here:

Thus, LGBT has never been just a coalition of groups, but is also a series of stages of sexual “liberation” from societal restraints, in which each group represents the breaking down of the next sequential moral/cultural barrier: lesbianism (L) being the easiest first step in the normalization of unnatural sex, then male homosexuality (G), then all forms of multiple partner sexual relations from bisexuality to polyamory (B) and then the de-normalization of binary heterosexual identity itself (T).

What does "de-normailization" even mean?

Sadly, with transgenderism also comes pedophilia, because the tactical framework for normalizing transgenderism is making gender self-determination for children a legally enforceable civil right. Assumed as fact in all their rhetoric and public policy arguments is a child’s inalienable right to self-assess their “true” gender identity and to force society, especially parents, to honor it. But “children’s rights” has always been the back door to the normalization of adult/child sex, “The repeal of all laws governing age of consent” being one of the last unachieved agenda items of the 1972 Gay Rights Platform (Section 2, Item 7). And in terms of defeating public opposition, it’s a relatively small step from the right of a child to choose sexual mutilation to the right to choose their sexual partners of any age or type.

There is one problem, that the actual platform for that year was this. There were many "Gay Rights" organizations the one he is thinking of was from a [Chichago based one](file:///C:/Users/Jacob's%20PC/Downloads/PDF.pdf), but they weren't all the same.

But, importantly, pedophilia is not the worst aspect of transgender normalization: the worst is the transhumanist worldview in which children who become cognitively divorced from the reality of the natural order regarding sexuality and physiology willingly become guinea-pigs in the Yuval Harari’s nightmare of human cyborg experimentation because they no longer have any sense of authentic humanness.

This is Evocating the term "Trans" obviously. And what about intersex children, would you force them to be 'natural"?

There's a reason why were seeing so many public freakouts of so called "karens" on the internet. Why there's so much seperation and perversion between people nowadays.
OOGA BOOGA.
Yes.
Humans are more similiar to apes than we like to admit.
We are wired to throw shit at each other for our own amusement. Wearing a suit and a tie and talking about the macro-economic developments of the third quarter doesn't change that.
As soon as the power grid goes out and people don't have any water and food you'll see the mask come down.
Life is painful when you believe the lie that we live in a society that rewards the one with the highest productive output for the benefit of our society. That our government cares about us, that we're all in this together and this is not a "one wins/one loses" game. And that it's ENTIRELY your fault, and your weirdness, why you don't fit in.
I am one of those people who cannot cope with this society. It's demoralizing.
It rewards psychopathic traits. Not just on social media but in real life.
The more I grow up, the more I observe how it all boils down to status.
!You're socially awkward?
You're not weird. You're the average person.
You could be a total piece of shit person and dress like a wealthy person, signalling status and people will treat you better than you deserve. Watching social experiements where people pretend to be famous, walking around with bodyguards just shows this. Suddently everyone is this fake celebs biggest fan.
!You rap about violence and drugs? (literal murder) You'll be worshipped by a large proportion of this society. You fulfill their shiny object syndrome. A bunch of depressed, fake happy people, scrolling and worshipping truly weird people. People who put satanic references in their songs with life's totally foreign to most. Who's weird?
My empathy is reserved.
Reserved for my family, friends, and people who were unfaily treated by the system.
Like the children in the congo who had to mine the cobalt used in the laptop I am writing this on.
I have empathy. When walking outside for example and looking at a stray dog I want to help and am motivated to work my ass off, to attain power and influence in this backwards society to help it. But when dealing with rude people in public, and other people's ego's, their personality, their world view and need to feel important by starting shit with me or giving me mean looks. I could not care less if they died from a heart attack right infront of me.
When being numb feels better than feeling attached to your surroundings, then that's a problem. Or perhaps its not. Perhaps it's a blessing, if able to be controlled.
From what I've seen most people wouldn't really care if I was the one catching the bad luck.
As long as the lion is fed, and they have a seat on the tree, it will not shake their little world.
Afterall, they don't know me. I am not part of their circle.
I bet some would even record a TikTok like "YOOOO, GUYS YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SEEN."
#prayforhim #empath
Again, psychopathic society. It makes me want to meditate in the forest naked at night during winter, become and absolute BEAST phyiscally and mentally, untouchable, just to be able to be secluded from them and give money to people in need. I've been there before.
For my sanity I refuse to be anything other than stoic, dealing with people.
It's all a psycho babble bullshit mix of needs and wants. Fucking, eating, shitting. It confuses me and its draining. I find it hard to read in-between the lines. My honesty is often not appreciated or seen as rude or weird. People's chitty chatty small talk just seems so fake.
Why care, when only my parents, truly care about ME?
The only times when I truly connect with people is when going through hardship together. I think this might even be what creates true bonds. And love.
A psychological and emotional connection allowing us to depend upon each other for survival.
I am done people pleasing and caring how I come across.
You might relate...
FUCK. I've been so socially anxious at times that I could not even stand in the subway without looking in all sorts of directions, trying to look away from people in attempt not to stand out or come across as creepy.
Either this society is just sick, or I am sick. either way
From now, most people might not even lift a micro-expression in my face.
I focus on my breath in every situation.
Asses my moves, for financial freedom.
Nature is calm and peace. Perfecting a craft is purpose. Creating art is relief.
I think I am at the point where in a movie, the villian-arc would begin
But Zen is the way.
We're all gonna make it Brah
#deep

I've been struck with the inspiration to try to sequence a shredding guitar solo in eurorack. My tentative plan is using a basic 8-step sequencer (the Berlin School by Frequency Central in this case) for short phrases and just modulating the hell out of its clock division and transpose CV inputs with my Voltage Block, while possibly using an offset for performance control of the filter cutoff and envelope triggers. Not sure what I'm going to use for pitch-bending yet. It's going to take a ton of fine-tuning to get the nuances right and capture the humanness of it, but I know at fast speeds I want it to sound like heavy metal, not like chiptune.
Are there any other important qualities I need to worry about capturing? Has anyone done this, and if so, what tools did you use? I'm open to suggestions about different hardware sequencer too, not necessarily a module.

The influence of AI on equality and discrimination in society can be complex and multifaceted. While AI has the potential to address certain forms of discrimination and promote equality, it can also perpetuate existing biases and create new challenges. Here are some key points to consider:

1. Reducing Bias: AI algorithms can be designed to mitigate human biases and make decisions based on objective criteria. By removing human subjectivity, AI systems can potentially reduce discrimination in areas such as hiring, lending, and criminal justice. However, achieving this requires careful attention to data selection, algorithmic design, and ongoing monitoring.
2. Amplifying Bias: AI systems learn from historical data, and if that data contains biased or discriminatory patterns, the algorithms can perpetuate those biases. This can occur in various domains, including recruitment, facial recognition, and predictive policing. Biased AI systems can disproportionately impact marginalized groups and perpetuate systemic inequalities.
3. Data Quality and Representation: AI algorithms heavily rely on data, and if the data is incomplete or biased, the outcomes will reflect those limitations. Lack of diversity in training data can result in algorithms that perform poorly for underrepresented groups. It is crucial to ensure diverse and representative datasets to mitigate biases and improve fairness.
4. Transparency and Accountability: One challenge with AI systems is the lack of transparency in their decision-making processes. Complex algorithms and black-box models can make it difficult to understand how and why certain decisions are reached. This lack of transparency can undermine accountability and make it challenging to address discriminatory outcomes.
5. Ethical Design and Regulation: Addressing the impact of AI on equality and discrimination requires proactive efforts. Ethical design practices, including diversity in development teams, ongoing audits, and external regulation, can help identify and rectify biases. Building frameworks and guidelines that prioritize fairness, transparency, and accountability is crucial.
6. Socioeconomic Impacts: The adoption of AI technologies can have socioeconomic implications. Automation, driven by AI, may lead to job displacement, which can disproportionately affect certain groups, potentially widening existing inequalities. Efforts are needed to ensure inclusive policies, reskilling programs, and equitable access to new opportunities.

In summary, AI has the potential to both reduce and amplify discrimination, depending on how it is designed, deployed, and regulated. By recognizing and addressing biases, promoting diversity in AI development, and ensuring transparency and accountability, we can work towards harnessing AI's potential for creating a more equitable society.

Dawn of a new faction... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Memory Transcription Subject: Tarva, Governor of the Venlil Republic
Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 7, 2136
Today was the day…
The ambassadors from all the other species have remained on Venlil Prime as honored guests. We all have been patiently waiting for humanity’s ambassador to arrive to address to us the new plan Meier devised for us. There was a lot of nervousness from us… We knew there were bound to be demands made by humanity in regards to their homeworld’s attack…
The ambassadors gathered on the landing platform as we patiently waited for the human shuttle to land. Cilany was there all the same, looking to get the story on what is about to unfold. Just then, we heard something entering the atmosphere. And not long after we heard the sound, We looked out over the horizon to see the human shuttle. It closed distance remarkably quickly and began to descend onto the platform before us…
It opened the hatch and…
It’s Noah…
Easy Tarva! Now is not the time for any of that! You can talk to Noah later, when you don’t have to worry about making a scene.
Noah stepped out with a strange headset around the back of his neck, and to our surprise 6 drones followed. First Meier and his extra heads, now Noah and these drones? Please creator, don’t tell me Noah has gone all crazy.
Noah stepped before us… “Hello… You all are bound to remember me from the summit on Aafa?”
Cupo responded in kind, “You are a difficult person to forget Noah, Hah!”
Noah wasn’t laughing…
Cupo coughed a bit before addressing Noah again, “Apologies… I must say I wasn’t expecting you to return… I figured you hate us.”
“OH I DO… with quite the burning passion as well…”
Noah stared into the Mazic’s eyes with a mixture of emotions. He was calm in his delivery, but hatred and disgust were the most prominent emotions in his voice…
Cupo seemed to flinch at the comment, and stepped back a bit.
“Let’s just get this over with…”
Noah spoke with a tired tone as he went to walk through the ambassadors and into the building, we all shuffled after him… Noah took his position at the podium and watched as all of the 90 ambassadors took their places to stand before him… He seemed to sigh before he sent out two drones to receive something from his ship. They went out the door, and not even a minute later the drones returned with a large television and positioned it behind Noah…
“I want you all to listen to this…”
The screen turned on… and immediately we were greeted by Strange and miscellaneous images. There was a message playing, It started with a man named Kurt Waldheim… a secretary general of the UN from long ago. There were many people that spoke up after him. In all kinds of languages that the translator had difficulty translating, all of them were warm and friendly… all of them human. So many humans long ago, seeming to greet the audience with a sense of hope and excitement.
After all that, we watched as countless images showed themselves in a slideshow format… accompanied by beautiful and emotional music… after that, sounds of earth… before the travesty…
Birds chirping, wind blowing, cities bustling, children playing…
What is this?
I looked around to the other ambassadors and saw many with tears forming in their eyes, with myself all the same. The others that weren’t crying were on the verge of tears, or expressed horror. The Tilfish and the Harchen seemed the most distraught out of everyone…
The recording was cut… and Noah turned to address us with a pained expression. “Do you know what that was? That was our first… and our greatest message that we ever produced… all of that which you all just watched was put onto ‘The Golden Disk’. This disk was placed upon a space probe called ‘Voyager’. It’s goal, to find alien life, and let them hear our hopes and dreams to meet them. To become allies… to become friends… And that is all we wanted with YOU… you ruined our dream… you ruined US.”
A tear was seen flowing down Noah’s cheek… This is too much… This is all they wanted. And we didn’t reciprocate in any way.
“I’m sorry… but we won’t ever be able to forgive you for what has been done… So instead of wishing for OUR forgiveness? You are to meet our demands in order to atone… that’s all you can do…”
…
Atone…
“From all species who weren’t present during the battle of earth… except the Yotul… you are to pay a single tribute of 25 percent of your yearly alloy production, as well as a tribute of 20 percent of your total food reserves… We need this more than ever now…”
Wait what?
The Duertian spoke up, “Wha-why aren’t you demanding anything from them?!”
Noah responded in kind, “Because even if they wanted to, they literally couldn’t. They have few, if any, ships to send to our aid… We can overlook the Yotul in that regard… YOU are not excused. We are also willing to send eight of our mobile shipyards for them to use to build up their own defenses. Rather than being ignored and CHASTISED by you lot!”
The Duertian was quickly silenced, she silently accepted defeat in that regard… The Yotul beamed in utter joy at the news. Noah continued, “From the supposed ‘allies’ that swore to help us… except the Yotul… you are to send medical supplies to us and pay a tribute of 27.5 your yearly alloy production for the next eight years.”
…
WHAT?!
Noah held out his hand to quiet us down before we began to speak out against this condition. We were the ones that were willing to accept humanity over anyone else! Why were we being forced to pay more?!
He spoke up to gain your attention, “THE REASON? Humans function under a pack mentality… and to abandon the pack when you are needed most is a great offense. You might’ve as well just killed us yourselves…”
…
That stung a lot…
It made more sense now. We were pledged to assist humanity and didn’t follow through on that promise in any way, this eight year annual tribute was to compensate for the false promises we gave…
“And lastly? The Tilfish and Harchen…”
Noah spoke of those two, and the ambassadors tensed up ever so greatly… “For 40 years you are to remain our vassals… you will provide 65 percent of your yearly alloy production for as long as you remain vassalized… your government will be reformed as we will it.”
That actually surprised me… I was honestly expecting worse of a punishment for them.
“Your tributes are to be delivered to the Alpha Centauri system, the closest system to earth… we still do not trust you so closely to our planet. That will be something you will earn again in time.”
It was all very reasonable, and understandable. I was glad we managed to convince Meier and the rest of humanity to spare us with some level of mercy… It’s nice to know that humanity isn’t all the monster we feared it’d become…
“Next order of business? We are going to tear down federation propaganda and completely disband extermination offices and predator disease treatment facilities and replace them with our own institutions on each of your planets. These departments are to be funded by your governments and will be set up and operated by humanity until the operators are to be replaced… Humanity will be willing to hire alien life into these government funded organizations… organizations being, a police force bound by human practices and policies, animal control, and a PROPER facility for treating mental illnesses… mental illnesses which you refer to as ‘predator disease’... anyone that opposes these changes will be dealt with hostility.”
That was a lot to take in… The Zurulian spoke up, “But exterminators and treatment facilities are how we keep our societies from dang-”
“SHUT. UP. ZURULIAN!”
Noah spoke with so much venom that I almost froze up again. “Those kinds of people do not protect you. They are federation puppets meant to control you… to make you obey the federation, keep their dogmatic beliefs and barbaric practices unquestioned. We will NOT tolerate anymore of this self-inflicted brainwashing upon you…”
The human spoke boldly against the institutions that the federation has built upon our home worlds… we were to meet these demands… and I personally welcomed it.
“Lastly? We wish to form, The Human Protectorate… We aim to create a senate for our faction soon enough, with all species, both vassal and ally included. We will defend you and you will remain loyal to us… in return for your loyalty we will seek to re-establish your lost cultures, as well as return to you all the people stolen away from you by Dominion as Cattle. Stolen away from you by the Federation. Once all your debts are repaid? We wish nothing more for your loyalty to the faction we wish to create with you…”
…
Wow…
That was a pledge of devotion that I, nor anyone was expecting…
“Do you all agree to the terms humanity has set forth?”
There was a collective nod as we all had a newfound anticipation and drive.
“I think we can all agree with your human terms… this will be a glorious achievement for us all!” The Duertian spoke with a glee in her voice.
“Good… ambassadors will be sent to each of you along with our defensive fleets when they arrive… I… am to remain Venlil’s ambassador…”
…
Oh Yes~!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(LORE DUMP!)
:: The plan devised by the New UN council received a massive majority vote, with 86% agreeing with the course of action that would be taken... especially the one against the Krakotl once they get to Nishital~. ::
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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У Сполучених Штатах "дуже стурбовані" повідомленням про інформацію руйнування Каховської ГЕС в Херсонській області, що під контролем рф, і намагаються дізнатися більше про потенційний вплив від цього. Більше інформації тут на сайті
Тваринам зараз допомагають так служби:
UaAnimals, Організації Berliner Tiertafel та Humane Society International та UPAW / Хвостатим заручникам війни – https://www.facebook.com/UPAW2022/ Save pets of Ukraine – http://surl.li/bvyqf Ukrainian Rescue Appeal – https://www.facebook.com/groups/480671290390692/ Happy Paw – https://www.facebook.com/HappyPawFund/?fref=ts “Допомога українським тваринам” – https://www.facebook.com/groups/cynologyevents/about Платформа допомоги тваринам у різних регіонах України – https://upaw.org/
Плюс ви можете відкрити картку за власним бажанням від банк 🎯ПУМБ і з неї безкоштовно переводити гроші на будь яку картку по Україні сайт ось
https://tinyurl.com/bdhky7py
Картка від СпортБанк купуючи все з кеш бек і потім повернуті гроші можна від кешбек відправити на благодійність, картку де оформити ось https://tinyurl.com/rejf6vvb

Note to self 92,
I was researching the foundation of Arhada city-states, just to get a general sense of what they looked like, and I found a very informative and fascinating read. The name is "A Tale of Two Cities: the development of early Arhada city states (0-500 AD)" and it's supposed to be the early work of some important professor at the Horean International University. Unfortunately, I'm still banned from borrowing at the Uni's library because I've held that book on Early Ibandr for a bit too long – I'll just copy the abstract and some passages for future reference.

This essay analyses the emergence of the first large-scale polities within the Arhadan cultural sphere, putting together the writings of notable scholars and the archaelogical record at our disposal. The title, "A Tale of Two Cities” was chosen in reference to the sites of Kamābarha and Amadahai, two settlements which would continue to act as major actors in the region throughout the following centuries. Because of their prominence, these two cities have been chosen as case studies through which we will examine the political, cultural and social characteristics of Arhada city states in the formative period. Those first few post-dawn centuries see the emergence of other important centres, but these two examples prove to be the earliest, the most consistently documented and the only ones who maintained their preeminence in post-formative eras.
The text is divided into three main sections: the first detailing the general characteristics of urban, social and political developments within the region, the second and third delving into the specific nuances that these developments acquire in Kamābarha and Amadahai, respectively.
I thank the department of Tritonean studies at the Horean International University for their help in procuring material for this research, and Dr. Amaha Geherun for her invaluable guidance and insight.

[...]

2.a Palaces, urban settlements and their spatial characters.
Scholars of late Tritonean prehistory usually divide the development of Arhadan settlements in three main phases; the Stilt House Period (SHP), which lasted roughly until 750 BD, the courtyard house period (CHP), which covers the millenium between 750 BD and 250 AD and the palatial house period (PHP), emerging from 250 onwards, with the development of the first palatial complexes and the first signs of wide-reaching palace economies, large scale political networks of reciprocal exchange, and true suzerain-client relationships. These three periods are named after their defining building types: the main characteristic of the SHP, unsurprisigly the one for which we have less documentation, were the small, square wooden constructions built on stilts along the lake shores and wetlands, next to the paddies. This period is the longest, stretching from the early development of zizania, cattail and sagittaria cultivation; with the construction of more specialised agricultural works and the consequent emergence of a higher level of inequality within Arhada settlements, we shift to the CHP, wherein successful family units migrated away from the lakeshores into dry land and extablished a new building typology, the multifamily courtyard house, acting as a higher status dwelling. The palace is nothing more than the natural evolution of the Courtyard-house type: it is merely larger and with cellular buildings constructed within the confines of the courtyard. The general layout consists of three outbuildings: a shrine, where the clans held religious functions both for the families and for the community at large, a granary, where the harvest would be stockpiled for distribution in lean years, and a treasury, where specialised group of artisans, usually the women of the clan, created and gathered family hierlooms, which obtained a near-sacred value and acted as further insurance against difficult harvests (See chapter 4a).
The palatial typology is fairly standardised: the frame, the courtyard building, is usually two or three stories high, with the ground floor being dedicated to common rooms, the middle floor containing the apartments of the clanmen and women and the last floor, built under a steep thatch roof, hosting lower-status inhabitants: servants, guards, favourites. What is more variable, however, was the disposition of buildings inside; shrines especially assumed different typologies: the constant is in their verticality and consistent central-plan type. From pictographic and sculptural sources, we can also note that canopies, usually defined by square-plans with four columns at the four corners, were important places of gathering, where tobacco ceremonies and clan meetings were held in the hot summers of southern Tritonea.

[...]

While it's interesting to consider the palace as a singular architectural and typological phenomenon, no discussion about the palatial type is complete without a mention about its relationship with the city at large. Built atop a hill (the term Nabaradjân, 'house of the hill', is, in fact, synonymous with palace), it acted as a centripetal force for the expansion of villages and cities, with important buildings being constructed radially from the central point of the palace and all other houses, small scale orchards and other structures being built in between. As architectural types specialised and key public buildings began to be built outside of the confines of the palace – granaries first, then shrines and storehouses – the radial composition of cities began to be even more clearly visible – in later periods those secondary "nodes" would create other radial sprawling points. "Radial cities, early settlement patterns in Arhadaland", by Dr. Amaha Geherun, provides an in-depth study of the spatiality of early, late and imperial Arhada cities.

Reminder to get that book as soon as I get paid this week – couldn't find it at the library.
This chapter had a very nice drawing (It looked better in the book) that showed an estimate of the plans of Kamābarha (A) and Amadahai (B). Amadahai was smaller, but it had quite an impressive quay leading straight into the city. The Mound of Kamābarha, on the other hand, was perhaps the most interesting thing about the city: it's one of the few ancient sites that the author had studied with an asymmetrical mound layout. Overall, I found the differences in Tritonean urban planning and that of Early Ibandr quite fascinating.

4.a Political Networks, the first states and the "Bead Bracelet" Structure.
With the growth of palaces, we can truly see the evolution of Arhada settlements change from villages, to cities, to city-states: each palace acted as a key driver for a city’s local economy; from within the various clans of the palace, the men of the clan oversaw and organised works in the paddies, allocating human resources and ensuring the harvest was safely stored in the granary. The women, on the other hand, handled the production of specialised crafts - pottery, textiles, painting and dye production being the most common ones - which would form the bulk of the treasury. This setup, which contributed to a general labour specialisation even outside the confines of the palace, greatly contributed to the growing influence of palaces in the surrounding sub-urban territory.
Archeological and archaeo-anthropological studies show that the early Zizania aquatica strains cultivated by Tritonean farmers were prone to failures, with some estimates indicating a one in six chance of failure. This insecurity was the main driver for the construction of granaries, and, later, the use of the palaces treasure as a sort of insurance against bad harvests. There is ample tangible evidence of extra-urban exchanges of luxury trade goods between palaces around the southern lakes - with them, came birchbark contracts (and, more rarely clay tablets), documenting the exchange agreements between villages. Sadly, we have very few documents of this kind, but just enough to get a clear picture of what these signified.
What looked like simple exchanges based on favours and giftgiving - which basically amounted to “I owe yous” with a precious gifts attached - quickly developed into more deliberate agreements. We find pictographic contracts detailing the exchange of zizania for corvée labour or zizania in exchange for a larger repayment over a period of several years. Often villages would repay their benefactor by providing labour until they were able to return the same quantity of zizania – other times, contracts operated over a fixed period of time. The maturation of these systems culminated in semi-permanent ties between villages and a construction of hierarchical client-patron relations. The short term contracts between polities, exchanging part of the harvest for corvées, valuable goods or interest on the repayment, became more and more drawn out, until finally long term relationships were established.
The term "Bead Bracelet network", introduced by Dr Lagor Daham in her seminal work "Early Political Relationships along the Southern Tritonean lakes: new models of political unity", is used to refer to these long strings of villages sharing some form political affiliation, each village being the client or suzerain of another one within the chain. The water-based agricultural tradition of Tritonea conditioned the developments of their urban centres as lines running paralel to the lakeshore, each with some influence over their adjoining woodland and wetlands: the creation of these ties would then follow these lines, creating complexes of neighbouring villages with varying degrees of freedoms and duties towards one other. these ties and contracts, which would be overseen by clan matriarchs, would connect all villages within a single network to the highest one.

I had to copy the map in the book, because I was having a hard time visualising it. There was also a more schematic version of it. Apparently, villages owed "fealty" (though I'm sure that's the wrong word) to bigger villages wich in turn owed "fealty" to bigger ones. It wasn't really a feudalistic setup, though. Land belonged to the single villages, who cultivated it directly – but they were essentially client cities, providing labour or artisanal goods to their suzerain, provided they would keep their granaries full in lean years. Another quote on this, and some interesting notes on the contracts between polities:

In truth, most of these ties would not be very long lasting, and could break immediately if either of the parties was unable to maintain the foundational promises of the agreement. This usually resulted in small scale warfare in which the suzerain's victory would result in an even more restrictive contract and the clients victory would signify temporary freedom from the expansion of its neighbour's political influence. Kamābarha and Amadahai were the first to estabish stable and well-maintained networks of this kind, mostly due to the fact that their prosperous positions – Kamābarha in fertile and rich land, Amadahai straddled between two lakes, controlling trade and expanding at a fast pace along two lakesides – allowed them to maintain control over nearby polities thanks to the consistency with which they were able to provide their side of the bargain and distribute parts of their abundant harvest to their clients.

[...]

The terms of the contracts themselves were extremely heterogeneous – and could be easily changed and misinterpreted. Being pictographic in nature, with imagery tied to Arhada proverb glyphs, they served more as visual aids to help the matriarchs remember the exact terms of a contract. It's a widely held belief that it's a need for specificity in birchbark contracts that led Arhada women to the development of true logographic writing in the following centuries.

This note I found particularly interesting! I'll have to read more on that.

7. Trade and external relations
One final point to be made, before we delve into the specific configurations and internal histories of our two cities, has to do with trade systems within the Arhada cultural sphere. Arhadanists and scholars of Tritonean history speak of the Formative "Northern pottery", "Middle pottery" and "Southern pottery" schools: the Arhada territory fell squarely between the Middle and Southern areas, with Kamābarha being connected to the Kemithātsan polities along the southern shore of the Sihodjivôdjo (Middle school), and thus having an closer relationship to northern and western cultures into Xanthean territories, and Amadahai being connected instead to southern cultures such as the Zonowōdjon, beyond the lake, with whom they entertained relationships in a network that extended south, beyond Tritonea proper, in the territories of the Aluwa. As such, our two case studies present very different cultural traits and influences – it must be noted, however, that the deep interrelation of Arhadan cities through the connective tissue of the lakes serves as an avenue for the exchange and merger of these two very different cultural impulses.
The Arhada themselves were great exporters of finished products. Indigo dyes, pottery, hemp-cattail blend textiles and pecan oil, used both in cuisine and cosmetics, were ubiquitous items throughout Arhada territories; preserved fruits were common southern commodities; brass products from the zinc-abundant copper ores along the Green River, were Kamābarha's most valuable export. It's interesting, however, to analyse what was imported into their territories during this period, so that we can better track the changes in material culture throughout the early formative. Contact with the nearby Kemithātsan is evident in the spread of glazes in Middle Pottery school sites. Even in Souther Pottery sites we can begin to observe more Middle style artefacts, and we have evidence of kilns being built – many scholars believe these kilns were actually built by Kemithātsan artisans who relocated in the south. From the Kemithātsan they also obtained picked goods and wines, whose production was more specialised. Maple – a prised product in the south – was also obtained through northern trade routes.
Southern trade relationships were more tenuous at that time – Arhada groups migrated into Zonowōdjon lands around 500 AD, and while intermingling did occur at an early stage, we have evidence of a rather fraught relationship, with several Arhadan led attacks into the southern regions, certainly with the aim of clearing coastal land for more intensive agricultural production. Sanaboborôn, another formative site which would develop in the later quarter of the 1st millenium AD, emerged in the wake of these attacks, following different dynamics when compared the other early Arhada cities. This development, which lies outside the themes of this research, is brilliantly explored in another seminal work by Dr Lagor Daham, published in the collection of essays "Dawn of War: Martial history in formative Horea". While tensions and distrust with neighbouring Tritonean peoples slowed trade between the eastern and western southern lakes, polities such as Amadahai and Sanaboborôn found fertile ground with trade further down the continent. Crossing the Gorgonean-Tritonean mountain range they would encounter the Aluwa people – corals were an especially prised trade item, but spices such as peppers and citrus peel were also brought north, where they would enter the diets of elite Arhadans.

One last bad drawing for today. I saw this map and I was truly impressed with how developed trade networks were at that time, especially for people who did not have horses or chariots. I'm afraid I'll have to read through second half of the book tomorrow, the library's closing now – end of note.

The overwhelming majority of younger people think chatGPT=magic, and that it means they need to stop doing everything themselves. For example, on the chatGPT sub, there was a guy who said chatGPT saved his life because it told him that he needed to see his doctor because his urine was red, and it was massively upvoted. I think this is the result of the new generations having zero resiliency, a low level of common sense and independent problem solving ability, due to being brought up having everything given to them, and never facing any consequences for their actions.
People are using chatGPT to make their cover letters, I mean how can you expect to keep a job if you don't know how to write a cover letter? There is a reason that it is required.
Garbage in=garbage out. It is a paradox: if people had all the answers, they wouldn't need chatGPT, so why would you use AI that just parrots back based on your faulty input? Why not spend your time actually organically adding to your own knowledge base/learning/experimenting things in the real life yourself and organically growing, rather than turning into a vegetable and offloading all of your cognitive tasks onto a computerobot, which will prevent you from organically learning/growing, and will make you deteriorate? Reminds me of the movie Wall-E.
Using GPS/maps and losing our sense of direction one was thing, it was a small price to pay for the convenience. But with this new AI people are literally offloading ALL of their knowledge onto it, and it is going to made their organic knowledge across all domains deteriorate. I don't see how this can be a good thing. The worst part is that it automatically assumes each of the sources/premises it uses to form its output are correct, and this will NEVER be the case. ONLY a human can use critical thinking to manually check each source to see if it is valid or not. So this means every output needs to be manually checked anyways, but people are not doing that, they are blindly accepting the output. This will further deteriorate levels of critical thinking in society.
Perhaps the most bizarre phenomenon is people using this robot for therapeutic purposes. Not only can it damage them by giving them wrong info/telling them what they want to hear in the moment (based on their faulty/biased input) instead of proven techniques/holding them accountable and helping them actually change in the long run by addressing their faulty/self-destructive cognitions, like an actual professional, it is bizarre because one of the main reasons for so many mental health issues these days is technology itself reducing human interaction. How on earth is doubling down and talking to a robot that mechanistically generates output text going to fix this issue, isn't it a clear paradox?
Is this a generational thing? I don't think I see any boomers, GenX, or early millenials doing this. It seems to be mainly the younger millenials and genZ doing it.

Hello all, A bit long on my part, but David's video says it better. If you want to watch the video and not read my long post. I get it hahaha :D
I wanted to post another awesome video from David Dole about Privatization of public healthcare. -- Fantastic New Ad Warns Against For-Profit Private Health Care --
Please watch the video it touches a lot on what I have been saying about just how bad a for profit system is. The Ad that David refers to, is the first time I have seen it. The ad nicely touches on just how much you feel like your life is not worth anything if you don’t have any money. You don’t feel human, you feel like a cog in the wheel and if you can’t perform. Who gives a shit there is another person to take your place. This is not humanity. Private healthcare is a system designed to take compassion and empathy out of the equation and focus on what really matters. Corporate profits.
Note: Healthcare is not guaranteed under the charter of rights and freedoms. It should be, but its not. We do have the Canadian HealthCare act which helps to prevent complete privatization, but its not perfect and needs to be drastically expanded.
Being honest, my spider-sense tells me that if Pierre Poilievre gets into office at the federal level, he is going to remove the Canadian Health Care act and allows for completely privatization.
Why would Pierre Do this: He is the same type of conservative as Doug Ford. Plus, he voted against extended dental care for kids in Canada. A bit rich from a person whose entire career and lifestyle is currently funded by. (Opposition leader also gets a government paid home).
Pierre also believes that privatization is the way. Even though there is decades of research showing that not to be the case. Pierre has also brought in bills that would limit worker rights in Canada, and further reduce the ability for unions to fight for their members.
Here's an article: Poilievre has pushed hard for US-style ‘Right-to-Work’ laws
So, its not to far to assume that based on Pierre and other conservatives in the federal house that they would repeal and remove any protections against public health care.
Honestly, Privatizing healthcare is a terrible idea as the video explains. Some have suggested a UK style hybrid, but that's heavily regulated. That is not what Ontario and Federal conservatives want. They want a complete for-profit system that puts profits over people. Shareholders over people, cutting corners to save money and more. Medical bills account for 40% of bankruptcies in the US. 23% of Americans Have Medical Debt ,and 26 000 Americans die each year because of lack of health insurance.
Note: This does not mean it will be the same in Canada, but the profit motive is very strong.
I do not agree with privatization in any way shape or form.
Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. I don’t understand any public support for a system that clearly benefits the vast few only. We need to bring back the compassion that are brains are capable of. We need to realize that this idea of a “me” “me” “me” society doesn’t work. “WE” need to be able to take care of each other and realize that we can’t survive without one another.

In fact, the current social security system effectively guarantees every citizen a basic income, but not completely unconditionally. But in most developed countries, able-bodied citizens can avoid work and live on social benefits (as well as free services and charities) indefinitely. For example, in Germany the supreme court restricts job center penalties, effectively removing the legal requirement to seek employment.
In US cities there are poor districts where people have been unemployed for generations. They have an income comparable to a "basic income" and sometimes even a better standard of living than those who work. UBI supporters are confident that with such prosperity, high ambitions, a desire to learn and a desire to strive people will awaken. Nothing of the kind is observed. There is an increase in crime, drug addiction, illiteracy and political apathy, which is sometimes replaced by aggression. It is to be expected that this behavior will continue even after the introduction of the UBI.
Fair criticism of this welfare system abounds, so we do not repeat it. This system suits the rich elite, as it prevents the discontent of the population. But most importantly, welfare recipients are virtually excluded from politics. No, nobody forbids them to go to the polls. But most of them don't vote and don't care about politics. There is even a subculture of welfare recipients who despise those who work for "human unworthy" wages.
Some billionaires see the flaws in the current social security system and support UBI experiments and discussions. From their point of view, a complex and inefficient bureaucracy should be replaced by a simpler and more efficient one. More importantly, the UBI should limit the consumption of majority and unleash the unrestricted growth of wealth and power for “chosen few”. At the same time, many wealthy people consider it their duty to provide "basic conditions" for all people. This attitude is reminiscent of the position of animal rights activists who demand "humane" treatment of animals.
Workers can participate in the political struggle and defend their interests as long as they are needed by someone. And what political impact would have, for example, a strike of unemployed or a union of pensioners? Due to technological progress, the share of labor in public production is decreasing, while the share of capital is increasing. Accordingly, the political influence of the working people tends to zero.

UBI and democracy

Does the recipient of UBI need democracy? He has no property and no political power. And he is ready to vote for any populist who promises an unrealistically high UBI. Something similar was in ancient Rome, where the rebellious people demanded "bread and circuses" and elected an emperor who promised it.
If a person owns property, there is an interest in protecting it. This implies the demand for law as a universal regulator of social relations. Legal relations are based on institutions, and not on the arbitrariness of the authorities. Therefore, there is a need to create a distributed management system (separation of powers, collegiality, the principle of consensus and compromise in decision-making).
Democracy originated in the Greek city of Athens as a gathering of free citizens (without the participation of slaves) to resolve current political issues. In the English kingdom, the first "democrats" were the feudal lords. More later, most men have got the right to vote - as a result of a long struggle.
While women were housewives, no one thought about women's suffrage. With the development of capitalism, they filled the workshops of the factories and were severely exploited. They got the right to vote as a result of fighting for their rights - and only because their work was necessary for employers and society.
Why do I mention democracy and voting rights? To emphasize a simple idea: to be a full-fledged member of society, whose opinion matters, one must either be an owner of the means of production or an employee - to offer capital or labor. While the share of labor in public production is steadily declining, so is the political power of workers, not to mention the power of UBI or welfare recipients. Thus, the majority is at the mercy of a minority of owners.
And let me emphasize once again that the political power of the population of developed democracies is weakening. It is no coincidence that the well-being of the people has been declining - slowly, but declining over the last half century. And at the same time, labor productivity grew rapidly, but the wealth of the super-rich grew even faster!
A hopeless picture of gradual impoverishment and degradation emerges - for the majority of the population. Scientists have already noticed that the IQ of the population of developed countries has stopped growing in the 20th century! But drug addiction and mental disorders are on the rise…

Citizens' dividends

But there is a way out! If no everyone can be hired worker, then everyone can be owner of the means of production! We are talking about dividends of citizens - unconditional payments for all citizens - without preconditions and obligations - funded by taxes. It seems that this is the same as UBI, but there are also significant differences:
Dividends beneficiary feels itself as one of the owners of production facilities and natural resources and participates in the disposal of these resources - through political activity. UBI recipients don’t care about it. Dividend recipients become politically active and financially comprehensive citizens - they are the middle class and the backbone of democracy. On the contrary, UBI recipients are formed into dependents who do not care where the money comes from and who earns it and how.
Important - property rights do not change: bankers and capitalists remain the owners of their fortunes, but the tax burden increases, especially for the super-rich - due to progressive taxes. Citizens receive dividends from the country's production capacities through the tax system - they cannot interfere in the activities of enterprises or banks.
Also, there is no guarantee how big the dividends will be. That depends on economic activity, on tax policy and, above all, on the "Social Contract". This opens up scope for constant political struggle. In this struggle, it is impossible to split the people and pursue a policy of "divide and rule" - dividends are equal for everyone and unite all!
No elite will voluntarily agree with the idea of citizens' dividends, as this is a direct infringement of their exclusive right to appropriate the "surplus value" from the exploitation of people, natural resources, means of production and information. The recipient of dividends is practically equal to the shareholder, although the dividends of citizens are financed by taxes. Moreover, it may turn out that the share of the poor in the "national pie" may increase, while the share of the rich - shrink!
Therefore, the introduction of citizens' dividends is only possible as a result of organized struggle of broad coalition of parties, movements and People...

Hey so recently I’ve (17F) been kind of going through it after a really hard breakup and the people around me have been telling me that i’ve been acting really rude and hurting them with my sort of “brutal honesty”. I think after the breakup I became really cynical and It’s just so hard to come out of it. I haven’t said anything rude explicitly, but it’s probably my tone and general disinterest in people.
Especially with my family, I recently got into a heated argument with them about how they ruined my childhood (even though they’ve changed now) and i can’t be happy because they were verbally abusive and never supported my ambitions.
My mother told me that as a daughter I have a duty to stay kind to my father. And that in every other household, the daughter is kind to the father. She told me this after my father confronted me about my unhealthy sleep patterns, and i had raised my tone while I was telling him that I need some time to fix it.
The truth is I understand that they’re concerned but i’ve just become so cynical to the point where i argue and criticise everything. I started telling them that they don’t understand me and they can’t expect me to act a certain way just because someone’s else’s child does. This then turned into a whole rant about how the world and the universe has turned its back on me and the only person i have is myself. My mom told me I was being selfish. She was clearly concerned but I kept arguing about how I’m so tired of being kind to everyone and then them stepping all over me. I was just too frustrated to care about what she was saying.
My mom texted me later once things cooled down, telling me that she’ll support me and she believes in me no matter what, even when she thinks i’m being irrational. I understand that she cares but it frustrates me when people call me irrational because i’ve spent my whole life trying to prove myself and have succeeded. But I’ve done this at the cost of losing myself. Everything i’ve done was to please someone else. And i don’t want to live like this anymore. I want to be kind, but I also want to be kind to myself. I want to be kind to my future self. In the future I don’t want to look back and regret that i didn’t live my life the way I wanted to.
Some days are hard. Some days make me happy. But it’s inconsistent. I wish there was one particular reason justifying how I feel. But I just feel like a pot overloaded, used and thrown to the bin. I’m jealous of the way some people are able to bounce back so quickly while I seemingly pine over a ‘small’ obstacle such as a breakup that wouldn’t affect someone else as much.
I should probably elaborate on the breakup. Society would call him toxic but he had a messed up family and I thought we had a mutual understanding because he’d always share everything with me. I always thought i wouldn’t date so young but I made an exception for him. I thought he felt the same way I did (my first mistake lol). I gave him everything. My time. My counselling. My body. And most importantly, I compromised on my own future goals for him. Turns out, he never loved me like that. (He said he wasn’t made for a serious relationship, whatever that means). I broke up with him once i finally decided to stop ignoring my intuition. Which was really hard for me to do because I still had intense feelings for him and we were very close. This door slam felt more like pushing a 10 ft metal door with one hand lmao. It’s been around two months since the breakup, I feel better but my perception of humanity as ‘seriously messed up’ has not changed.
I am lucky to have two very good friends in my life. An infp and an istj. They’re the complete opposite but together they make me feel understood and loved. (my infp with her idealism and my istj with her practicality). They are the only people I trust, even more than my parents. Sometimes I feel like these two friends are enough for a lifetime because it’s so hard to make a new person understand me. But I also want to be open to making more friends. Cynicism is not helping.
Anyways, before I go off on a tangent, my point is that I love my parents but I don’t exactly trust them. I’m paranoid that the past will come haunting back and they’ll use my vulnerability to their advantage (again) and verbally hurt me. Whenever I tell them this, they tell me I always look at the bad and never the good. How do I tell them that I appreciate them for how hard they’ve worked to provide for me and my brother, even when they’ve lacked in the emotional department. I get so uncomfortable showing any kind of emotion towards them, so it’s hard to express what I feel.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I truly appreciate it.
TLDR: How tf do I get out of this ni-ti loop and stop being cynical.

The overwhelming majority of younger people think chatGPT=magic, and that it means they need to stop doing everything themselves. For example, on the chatGPT sub, there was a guy who said chatGPT saved his life because it told him that he needed to see his doctor because his urine was red, and it was massively upvoted. I think this is the result of the new generations having zero resiliency, a low level of common sense and independent problem solving ability, due to being brought up having everything given to them, and never facing any consequences for their actions.
People are using chatGPT to make their cover letters, I mean how can you expect to keep a job if you don't know how to write a cover letter? There is a reason that it is required.
Garbage in=garbage out. It is a paradox: if people had all the answers, they wouldn't need chatGPT, so why would you use AI that just parrots back based on your faulty input? Why not spend your time actually organically adding to your own knowledge base/learning/experimenting things in the real life yourself and organically growing, rather than turning into a vegetable and offloading all of your cognitive tasks onto a computerobot, which will prevent you from organically learning/growing, and will make you deteriorate? Reminds me of the movie Wall-E.
Using GPS/maps and losing our sense of direction one was thing, it was a small price to pay for the convenience. But with this new AI people are literally offloading ALL of their knowledge onto it, and it is going to made their organic knowledge across all domains deteriorate. I don't see how this can be a good thing. The worst part is that it automatically assumes each of the sources/premises it uses to form its output are correct, and this will NEVER be the case. ONLY a human can use critical thinking to manually check each source to see if it is valid or not. So this means every output needs to be manually checked anyways, but people are not doing that, they are blindly accepting the output. This will further deteriorate levels of critical thinking in society.
Perhaps the most bizarre phenomenon is people using this robot for therapeutic purposes. Not only can it damage them by giving them wrong info/telling them what they want to hear in the moment (based on their faulty/biased input) instead of proven techniques/holding them accountable and helping them actually change in the long run by addressing their faulty/self-destructive cognitions, like an actual professional, it is bizarre because one of the main reasons for so many mental health issues these days is technology itself reducing human interaction. How on earth is doubling down and talking to a robot that mechanistically generates output text going to fix this issue, isn't it a clear paradox?
Is this a generational thing? I don't think I see any boomers, GenX, or early millenials doing this. It seems to be mainly the younger millenials and genZ doing it.

D6x6 Battle Royales

D6	This battle royale's participants
1	are chosen from among the top performers in a militaristic training camp anyone can enroll in.
2	all bear diagnoses of terminal illnesses.
3	are all mandated to have been unemployed for a significant period.
4	are 18 year olds picked by lottery when they come of age.
5	have all public records of them stricken away when they're chosen.
6	are criminals plucked from death row.

D6	This battle royale is held as
1	an exemplar of the Social Darwinist ethos of its society.
2	modern gladiatorial entertainment for a bloodthirsty public.
3	a substitute for war - each participant or group of participants represent a nation.
4	a test for combat-enhancement drugs which the participants are guineau pigs for.
5	a grand poetic reminder of the centrality of death to life.
6	a mass sacrifice to the ever-hungry Mother Earth.

D6	This battle royale is held
1	on a platform suspended from a gigantic aerostat.
2	in a world's fair-esque enormous, elaborate, and delicate construction.
3	in the subterranean infrastructural maze beneath a megalopolis.
4	in a city that was abandoned and sealed off after a dirty bomb was detonated in its core.
5	on a deserted island too far off the coast to swim back from.
6	in an overgrown nature preserve.

D6	This battle royale's participants are armed
1	with axes, swords, spears - medieval melee weaponry.
2	with whatever weapons and supplies they purchase with a limited budget from a catalogue prior to the contest.
3	with cutting-edge experimental weaponry.
4	with mines, poisons, and other weapons of deceit.
5	with nothing - they must fight with their own teeth and nails.
6	with guns and grenades looted from pre-placed caches onsite.

D6	This battle royale is complicated
1	is one participant being given intimate knowledge of the others' weaknesses.
2	by activists trying to shut it down as unforgivable barbarism.
3	by foreign infiltrators.
4	by rumours of a grand prize hidden within the arena.
5	by extraordinarily wealthy people who've gambled on its outcome throwing their vast resources behind interference.
6	by a bunch of participants banding together and refusing to kill each other.

D6	The reward for the winner of this battle royale
1	is wealth and privileges beyond their widlest dreams.
2	is nigh-immortality after brain transfer into an artificial body.
3	is executive control over the next contest.
4	is command of an elite army unit.
5	is a harem of genetically-ideal individuals.
6	is the right to kill any single person of their choosing without legal consequences.