Oddbean new post about | logout
 "First, thank you for your time and effort you put into this conversation."

You're very welcome! I enjoy discussions of yours kind. 

"Probably the biggest misunderstanding we face here is that I refer to the free market. And you kindof indirectly present (justified and probably rightful) fear of interventions from the state (also via allied corporations)." 

We do not and have not had a free market. I'm not sure we will unless civilization collapses. I do not want that. I know that it would cause too much suffering for too many to be a good thing even if I am more prepared for that than most. Since we lack a free market, we have to deal with what we've got now, which is entirely dependent on chemical fertilizers, which the stupid conflict in Ukraine is interrupting the supply of, and this has been estimated to cause a few million deaths in the near term as prices and availability are moving in very unfavorable directions. 

Outside of that, you have the insidious bureaucrats restricting the use of chemical fertilizers in various places in Europe. I don't think that you can deny that there is a war for control of food production that is manipulating the market in ways that favor very few instead of the rest of humanity (though I don't really like talking in collectivist terms since I am exceedingly individuality oriented). 

"There are still things we should not forget and we should not sacrifice everything and everyone (like hugely reducing hunger and powerty) we've built just because some evil actors. That would make us equaly evil." 

Yes, except that in my limited knowledge, everything that we currently have is built on lies, and not just little fibs here and there, big, fat, juicy, crazy, insane lies. Any system that is built on lies will crumble. I am looking to exit that system and build my own network of capable, diverse, like-minded people who can handle the collapse of civilization. If it doesn't happen, so much the better. We'll be very hard to manipulate with hunger or propoganda or financial controls. 

"When someone calls to abolish chemical fertilizers or similar I tend to get triggered and also demand economic proves that it's doable and ideally I'd like to know the opprtunity costs." 

I'm not, nor have I ever or will ever call for banning chemical fertilizers. They are useful even in more holistic methods of food production. I do not think that most food production should rely on cheap chemicals from antagonistic or corrupt countries. Food, shelter, water, and clothing are the four basic pillars of our sometimes fail physical existence. I don't intend to allow others to dictate any of those to me. Yes, other people can make better clothes than I can, but... I'm going to be able to get by if need be, if the convenience isn't available. 

"If you'd like to continue in this conversation I have plenty to talk about 😂" 

Oh, you might be surprised at how much I can talk... LOL