Politicians calling for war/violence against others should be the first ones willing and required to fight and die for their cause. 

Until this happens, I’m not going to listen to anything a bunch of armchair warriors have to say about the danger some poor people 2000 miles away pose to me. 

If it isn’t universally clear yet though that “freedom” is nothing more than the most recent catchy excuse to subjugate poor people and steal their resources, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be the least surprised. People have a seemingly insatiable appetite for stupidity. 

 I will show your freedom to say whatever you want on the internet more respect than you have shown me. 

Have a great day! 

 <water pistol aimed at the sun.jpg> 

 You are correct. I am very doubtful that attempts to restore personal freedoms via a captured and entirely corrupt legal system will produce meaningful results. 

What such efforts might do however, is provide people with a false sense that they (or, even better, other people) are “doing something about it” when in fact it is just more of the same bullshit. 

Furthermore, I think that Lyn’s approach will not only be non-productive, but worse, it risks being counter-productive by lending legitimacy to an illegitimate process and system and distracting from the true changes that need to occur quickly. 

I have no idea if Lyn has children or not,  but if she doesn’t, that probably will do more for the planet and humanity than any of the efforts she describes above. 

The entire system must go and the only non violent way I see to achieve this is via mass refusal to participate in it any longer. 

Of course others are allowed to offer up their ideas as well. I will continue to live mine though, and practice what I preach, unlike the parents who say they will die for their kids and then do nothing but surf Facebook and post edgy memes about the sorry state of the world. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 And yet here you are posting on the internet. Sorry but this is hypocrisy. 

None of us wants to give up our lives. Fortunately, we don’t have to in order to fix the mess we’re in. Just stop consuming useless products, stop producing yield for anyone but yourself, stop using USD, and stop having children until the current system collapses or capitulates. 

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

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

 By the way? What’s the right way?

And also, if you know the right way, why aren’t you willing to fight this battle yourself? Why do you seemingly expect that your offspring should fix the things that you clearly haven’t been able to? Does that seem fair? 

 This would be fine except that I don’t see anyone fighting meaningful battles now apart from those building #bitcoin and #nostr. And sadly no, this is not gonna cut it. 

What I do see is a lot of complaining, hand wringing, and misplaced anger. I see mostly cowardice and kicking of the can down the road on behalf of parents who literally have the most skin in the game. 

 I appreciate your response. Thinking about a problem is the first step towards solving a problem and most people are already failing at this step. They are so distracted that they are either fighting the wrong enemy or trying to solve the wrong problem. 

As far as whining about whining being useless, I agree. This is why I am putting forth my thoughts on both what the problem is and what actions can be taken to solve it. I do everything I propose myself. 

So in case it wasn’t clear, I view the current problem as the fact that our global political, legal, and financial systems have all been captured by a small governing elite who have firmly entrenched themselves to live off the labor from the rest of humanity. This has been going on for millennia. They have skillfully implemented systems to protect themselves including massive military and police forces, powerful propaganda and cultural programming engines, and extensive sources of distraction to keep us divided and afraid (social and almost all other forms of media/mass communication). 

For the people in the back or TLDR:

THE GLOBAL ELITE ARE OUR ENEMY.

My proposed solution:

1. Stop buying their products. Buy local products made by people you know where possible and only bare essentials where you don’t. 
2. Stop producing yield for them. If you work for a large corporation, quit. Learn how to grow your own food, source your own energy, and make something useful for others. You will be far happier. 
3. Stop using their financial system. I prefer #bitcoin but use bottle caps if that works for you for all I care. Don’t entrust your savings and time to a failed system that doesn’t give a shit about you. 
4. Stop having children. Seriously. Stop fucking producing more slaves at your own expense. This is not a world worth living in. Stop it. The current system is too powerful and all the good intentions and quality parenting in the universe will not save your child. STOP deluding yourselves. 
5. Stop voting. Voting brings legitimacy to their failed system and perpetuates the illusion of choice. Politics is just distraction from the outright theft of our time and resources. It has no legitimacy as all politicians are owned by the elite or will be pressured into doing their bidding anyway. 
6. Participate in the legal system only to the extent that it allows you to be free. Pay your taxes. Don’t resort to violence. If you follow the steps above, we can break our chains without harming each other. The true enemies will be the ones pointing their fingers at some poor bastard 2000 miles away. 
7. Share this (or your own) advice everywhere you can. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 Why one day? Why not now? 

When are we going to ACTUALLY going to do something about this? 

Oh that’s right, never. 

 In case people do want to actually do something about this, the answer does not lie in the political system. It does not lie in the legal system. Sorry Lyn, but you’re flat out wrong. 

These systems have been fully and completely captured. To try to change things using the tools of the state is simply absurd.

The way to change this is to vote with your feet, your wallet, or your genitals. 

Move out of the US, ditch the US dollar, refuse to produce yield for anyone but yourself (become self-sufficient), and for fucks sake (yes I know), stop producing more slaves for the masters. 

This is all the leverage we have left. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 I can understand where you’re coming from since these are the tools you are familiar with. The examples you give though are equivalent to small battles that have been won in the context of a much larger losing war. Ask yourself whether, since the 1990s, privacy laws have improved or worsened as a whole. 

I’m sorry, but I maintain that using the tools of the state won’t work. 

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

 I don’t think we are enough either. That’s why I live the way that I do. 

The very bad times are here already. I just want to do what I can to not make it worse for others. 

 Bulgarian split squats for the win. 

Gotta hand it to the Eastern Europeans when it comes to leg day. 

 I agree with you 100%, revolution and massive amounts of human suffering will be necessary to reset humanity to any semblance of freedom. Whether they realize it or not, parents are voting for this suffering, except they are not willing to do the suffering themselves. They expect their children to do it instead. 

How millions of parents wake up everyday and live with themselves and this vile kind of cowardice is beyond my comprehension. If I had forced someone into existence, and witnessed what the world has become, I would be long dead, having found it necessary to do something, anything, and everything to atone for my grievous mistake. 

 Well I am sorry for your child but understand how hard it is to not fall for the pro family propaganda that is shoveled down our throats from birth. 

You are correct that I do not have children and could never conceive (pun intended) of having any in this reality. I was lucky (in a sense) to see the falseness in such things from an early age and find a partner who agreed with me on the topic. 

The fact that you are even able to think about such issues as a parent though is truly impressive and admirable. While I don’t wish the guilt you must feel at times on anyone (which is why I advocate so loudly for going childless from the start), I do think it is very important for parents to process the fact that they bear all of the material responsibility for their children’s existence. The government and religious leaders that promote reproduction sure as hell aren’t going to take any of it on. Part of that responsibility should be, in my opinion, telling your children about the guilt you feel, and urging them to not reproduce by extension. At least as long as it takes for the world to wake up to what is going on around it. 

I truly do appreciate your willingness to discuss such difficult things in a civil and thoughtful manner though. Taking the next step though, I really do wonder how you are not rioting in the streets these days? I mean, as someone with almost no skin in the game myself, I am rendered so livid on a daily basis by the exploitation and abuse of humans around the world that it is a struggle to not do so myself. The true targets of my ire though are not my fellow plebs, but our so called global leaders and elite who so smuggly and openly oppress us. Do you just feel completely powerless? Are you more afraid of your own suffering than that which your child will potentially endure by your inaction?

I recognize how tough these questions are. Thank you again for being so willing to see past any offense, and help me gain a better understanding of the issue. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 As usual David, I appreciate your thoughtful and measured response. This is awful stuff to think about as a parent I know, since children are permanent once born and the dissonance involved must be massive as the person who chose to have them. 

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that parenting already involves massive sacrifice. It is an awful job that results in no direct benefit to the parent other than intangibles and maybe a resource to care for you in old age. As I’ve posted before, it’s like the ultimate form of taxation, since it imprisons parents to a particular geography, forces you to be obedient to the state (or they take your fucking kids away), and costs an absolute fortune in terms of the best years of your life and earning potential. 

That said, WHY OH WHY do people still do it? The state of the world is beyond TERRIBLE. Why did you bring another batch of slaves into existence when you can clearly see the walls closing in? I know you value human life but your kids will only suffer a worse fate than you, being constantly surveilled and exploited to within an inch of their lives. Do you not feel this way yourself? Do you not want to protect them from this? Do you think it will somehow magically get better or that your kids should solve the problems you and your generation have created and ignored?

I just read that here in the US, the average American only has one healthy birthday after the age of 65. Most are working full time until they are older than that. We are so beyond FUCKED in this country and in this planet yet people are still breeding and arguing over who can use what bathroom or what some senile fucking moron has to say about it.

Do you know that all of our technological advancements over the last 2000 years have only led to more working hours and less leisure time? Is this not concerning? Does this make any sense? Sure, our ancestors didn’t have Wi-Fi, cars, or air conditioning, but they had freedom of movement and ready access to the abundance of nature. When they woke up they only had to leave their shelter and find some food and water (which was everywhere) before being able to enjoy the rest of their days. Now, they wake up, go to work or school to produce yield for the masters, eat poisoned packaged food that will kill them off quickly when they are old and no longer productive, and spend what little time they have to themselves consuming propaganda so they can be optimally watched and marketed to. 

We are allowing this imbalance get even worse and are pawning the hard work of fixing it off onto the next generations. 

My working theory is that humanity has literally gone blind to the reality of the world. We have been bred over millennia now to be a maximally distractible and docile working class. Although it has human nuance, this phenomenon happens eventually to all species who outgrow their resources and it serves to accelerate their species’ decline and restore balance to nature. Humans have brains though and so could avoid this. It is really, really awful to watch. 

If I were to be a parent, I would only do so if I were willing to die for my kids. It only seems fair. Given the abhorrent state of the world, I guess I just don’t understand how I haven’t seen ANY do so yet. I suppose they are all just too tired or distracted with Facebook updates and soccer practice. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 The only things that are left that can actually make a difference are saving outside the current financial system (in #bitcoin for example), rallying around free speech tech (like #nostr), and refusing to have more children. 

 Oh and we can also choose to stop paying attention to the bullshit and buying their garbage products and experiences. 

I’d love to hear other suggestions. 

 If you’re not getting offended on #nostr, you’re doing it wrong. 

#getoffended 

 Hear me out but I cringed a little when I read “work as hard as possible”. 

The nice thing about #bitcoin for me is that it has eliminated this kind of thinking. Fiat has instilled in us the notion that we need to be greedy, to get as much as we can as soon as possible. #Bitcoin, on the other hand, if bought/saved regularly over a long period of time, will make you wealthy enough to live comfortably when you can no longer work, no longer want to work, or chose to work less. 

The Fiat mindset serves the masters purposes very well when you think about it. We are most productive with our labor when we are young and therefore the system of work would tend to “reward” those who sacrifice those precious able bodied years in favor of future IOUs (like money).

I’m not advocating for a YOLO mentality which is just plain stupid in my opinion, but I do worry about attitudes that favor future wealth over any enjoyment of life in our youth. You are not guaranteed an old age at all. The key I have found is balance, which is not all that surprising. With #bitcoin, you need to save less, not more. This is so that you can have more of your life back now which is currently being stolen from you by the Fiat system. 

In other words, be careful to not fall for just another version of the get rich quick mentality. This is how the Fiat system is advertising #Bitcoin and it’s just another attack vector. 

Good luck!

#bitcoin
#thinkdangerously 

 Hyperoxia produces many harmful free radicals and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Other than decompression sickness, hyperbarics should mainly be used for wound therapy where perfusion to a limb is severely impaired due to peripheral arterial disease or treatment of air embolus where the goal is to shrink the size of the embolus. 

What purported benefits have you been promised I wonder? Could it be that someone is preying on your vanity or fear of aging normally? 

 Anatomy of a fall was pretty good. 

Lots of stuff to think about there as far as the disturbing nature of modern legal systems and how they tend to promote/profit off human suffering. 

 I tend to think that self-sufficiency is pretty necessary to human happiness. Those who would steal our agency (or diminish our sense of responsibility for our actions) are likely not our friends. 

We live in a world where most people have been convinced that joy is something that must be bought from those “knowledgeable” enough to package and sell it. The so called “experts”, as you nicely point out in your post. 

Conversely, I have found unlimited joy by seeking it from nature, good relationships, exercise, art/creativity, introspection/personal growth, efficiency, accomplishment, perspective, and yes, self-sufficiency. There may be other sources and maybe some of those above won’t work for everyone. Doesn’t matter. 

These things that bring me joy cost very little money and often even save me money. They also don’t hurt me, lead to addiction or abuse, or harm anyone else. 

While I suspect you may have stopped reading by this point, suffice it to say that despite our sometimes major differences, it makes me happy to see you putting some of the same things I value into practice. It also doesn’t bother me that you find joy in things I don’t. We don’t all have to be same all the time. 

Have a great day and please give those sweet dogs lots of pets. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 Conversely, better money (like #bitcoin) may bring more happiness (than fiat). The fact that fake fiat money doesn’t bring happiness is really not that surprising. 

I agree though, that money remains a necessary but insufficient (by itself) source of human happiness. 

 Well put. :)

So what can be done about such people/institutions in your opinion? 

 Thank you for sharing your perspective as I appreciate learning about the ways others perceive the world around them. 

I personally don’t strive for meaning and have found that to be a worthwhile path for myself. Trying to find meaning for me  often led to exploitation by those who were merely selling their own ersatz version of it. 

Once I abandoned the quest for hope, meaning, and purpose (which are pretty intangible concepts when you think about it), I actually found more joy in my life. 

While I would always recommend going through the exercise of trying to see things from a different perspective, I must admit, this one is pretty tough to do. There is a lot of cultural programming around these concepts, probably because so many people make money and gain power/status via other people’s quest for them. 

Thank you again for considering what I wrote and the genuine reply. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 We are nothing more than pathetic savages who can’t help but hand over control of our lives to those claiming to have the “answer”. 

Such is the depth of our fear of the unknown or being wrong, that we would rather bring suffering and death upon others than come to accept the mere possibility that we are meaningless and without hope or purpose in a vast and uncaring universe. 

Government is worse than cancer, but maybe humanity itself is the ultimate problem. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 I don’t believe there is any form of human government that can claim immunity to our collective human weaknesses. 

The current one in the US has been predictably captured by greed, end of story. The ridiculous distinction between “right/left” and ongoing claims of “democratic process” are beyond irrelevant advertisements at this point. 

The USA is plainly in a terminal debt spiral now, where the productive members of society are increasingly being squeezed to support a growing proportion of government dependents. There is no exit from this, as history has shown over and over again, that does not involve absolutely staggering amounts of human suffering. 

I have tried hard to imagine a scenario where humanity does not end in tragedy.

As living creatures though, this is just our fate. All species exist for a time, come to outgrow their resources due to some evolutionary advantage, and then either die off completely or evolve into something else. That we celebrate such a cruel and random system has always confused me. I suppose we have no other choice. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 You will often read and react to my posts but I’m ashamed to say I rarely return the favor. I admit to having a knee jerk reaction at this point to posts about religion and faith. 

You clearly care deeply about what you write. As someone who was not exposed to Christianity until my adult years, I struggle to do so, but I tried hard to read what you wrote from a perspective very different from my own. As I can only imagine why these topics matter to you (being of a separate mind and body, not that I’m judging them to be unworthy topics), I find these type of mental exercises useful. 

After all, your human experience is no less valid than mine, and cannot be, at least according to the way I conceptualize human life and experience. 

That said, you seem genuinely bothered by the issues you see with the world and our human place in it. In short, you care enough to think about it in whatever way you are capable and I understand THAT. We come at it from very different sides of the issue, but I think we agree mostly on the fact that something is just not right with the current state of things. 

I see and feel your pain in this regard. 

Thanks again for reading and considering what I write and I’ll try to do a better job of doing the same. 

 Imagine a world where instead of needing a PhD in economics to save for the future, normal people could just expect their money to preserve and grow their wealth over time. 

One of the things I appreciate most about #bitcoin is the fact that it is so incredibly simple and eventually makes anyone claiming to be an expert in such things look like an asshole. 

Money doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be complicated. 

The entire financial system, like government itself, exists to perpetuate the illusion that it is somehow useful and necessary.

I’m just glad I might get to see both burn to the ground in my lifetime. 

 How many tanks have you needed lately? 

 Patriotism is just more engineered distraction. For most of human history, we did just fine without any government at all because we realized the fact that it doesn’t make things better.

Like organized religion, politics, etc, nationalism creates a problem and then sells everyone on its own self-serving and self-enriching solution. 

It’s an admittedly brilliant trick, but we nevertheless keep falling for it over and over again. At this point, we are nearly powerless to stop this continued government over reach. 

#Bitcoin, #Nostr, and refusing to produce more slaves for the masters are the only forms of viable protest left. Even these are unlikely to succeed though, since most of us have been so well programmed as to not even perceive their utility/necessity. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 This is good advice with the small exception that being realistic about one’s own situation is also important for growth and positive change. It is also critical for avoidance of false happiness traps like consumerism, religion, reproduction, politics, etc. 

Humans are filled with biases that make them prone to wishful or magical thinking. So much so that entire cultures have been built around them. 

The reality at this point is that we have collectively destroyed our world and now live in an overpopulated shit hole under the constant influence and surveillance of a ruling class. 

Over and over, humanity has happily traded our most precious freedoms for the promise of someone else’s certainty and “truth”.

This is reality. And we are just too dumb and scared now to face it. Furthermore, our ability to even see the walls of our prison has been carefully bred out of us over millennia. 

So don’t go falling for another trap by trying to treat realism with antidepressants. It will just numb you, like alcohol, drugs, sex, food, etc, when what you actually should do is figure out a way to be happy without fooling yourself that the world is all sunshine and lollipops. 

Find a way to truly get outside (this is getting harder and harder to do), engage in daily mental and physical exercise, maintain good relationships and eliminate bad ones, practice introspection and seek personal growth, seek out art and creative pursuits, accomplish your own worthy goals, find perspective, become efficient, and develop your self-sufficiency. 

There, a recipe (I’m sure there are others) for humanity to pull themselves out of the mess they’ve gotten themselves into. No one will listen though, and we’ll just keep running head first into our masters chains. We are just silly anxious creatures after all. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously
#realism 

 Not sure what you mean or if I agree with you but appreciate the original thought. 

Well met, fellow human. 

 It is the only platform I have chosen to be on, that’s for sure. :) 

 Ssshhhh… don’t wake them from their precious dreams. Life is a blessing and God will protect the faithful remember?

Lol.

But seriously, good for you for beginning to see the prison walls we all live inside. I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 And body armor. 

 Fair point and for what it’s worth from my own sycophantic perspective, I think you do a nice job of representing difficult topics and opinions on #nostr directly. You’re not all circle jerk topics only (to me anyway), although we both do our fair share of that as well I suppose. 

I guess I personally am just at a point in my life where the thing I value most is maximizing honest human interaction. I’m done worrying about changing others, making more money, reputation, ego, etc. 

Ironically, even though I represent most of the same opinions I express here in my real life, I’ve just found anonymity to be a great tool toward finding more honest and genuine feedback. 

 Governments want people who are dependent on government. 

If you think about it, all education programs should start with basic survival skills, then build on from there. 

That way, the more specialized you get, at least you can always fall back on more basic skills. 

Instead, now we teach kids how to avoids pedos on the internet and make viral TikTok videos as opposed to how to grow food or build a fire/shelter.

We are almost at the complete dependency level our masters have been breeding/engineering us towards for millennia. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 Very interesting and likely quite accurate observation. :)

Dissonance is an incredibly powerful motivator after all. 

 I disagree with life being a privilege. To me, it seems more like a curse versus never having existed in the first place. 

That said, none of us had any choice in the matter thanks to our parents, so I’m damn sure going to keep making the best of it. When it’s my time or if things get bad enough though, I’ll have no problem going back to nothingness. 

 Very real possibility. 

And don’t get me wrong, I value Meditations above almost every other philosophical text mainly because it seems like (we can’t really know for sure) some thoughtful old guy’s notes to himself on how to find joy in his life rather than something intended to impress his philosophy inclined academic buddies. 

I just disagree with the notion that life is this special beautiful thing most people tell themselves because they are afraid or haven’t found a way to be joyful without such a notion. 

 Anonymity is the single most valuable thing any of us have and yet most will throw it away at the first opportunity. 

Sure, fame may get you laid once or twice or give you a few extra dollars (gross) in a bank account. But almost every famous person I know ends up spending most of their time and money trying to regain their anonymity, which is sadly impossible. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 You’ve been reading my mail. :) 

 God to me seems to be the term anxious humans use to explain what they are unable to. 

Rather than simply acknowledging and accepting that there’s stuff we haven’t figured out yet and maybe are incapable of comprehending altogether because of our biologically limited perception, these anxious creatures have to resort to magical thinking, aka faith. 

This would be all well and good, but some smart but terrible people long ago figured out a way to exploit this anxiety by claiming to know which version of God (ie: the unknown) was the real one (or ones).

Since faith by definition means belief without evidence (or belief with only evidence the faithful can perceive - lol), it was really easy to sell people on their version of God and then get the faithful to do all manner of crazy shit in defense of their beliefs.

Such is the nature of man, sadly. We are willing to wage war, elevate rulers, and sacrifice all manner of freedoms so long as we don’t have face the unknown or admit when we are wrong. 

Pathetic really. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 You seem to be saying that because science cannot explain everything, there must be a God. 

Why can’t there just be things that we don’t/can’t understand? Why are humans so unbelievably afraid of the unknown? 

Are there things a dog can’t understand? Is the SHA-256 algorithm evidence for God to cats everywhere? Oh wait, God only exists for humans right?

Darn, now that I think about it, I’m not supposed to be having any of these thoughts at all. Questioning the existence of God is in itself a big no-no for the faithful correct? And, just checking, God will never provide any actual evidence for their existence since faith is all that is needed right? 

I can’t imagine any flaws whatsoever with that kind of belief system. 

JFC. Believe whatever fairytales you need to tell yourself to make it through your life but just know that it is entirely possible to live a happy and fulfilled life without such nonsense. By being susceptible to this kind of shit, you’re just making others rich and yourself weak. 

Peace be with you. 

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

 This is me as well. 

My universe begins and ends with my experience of the world. I think this is true of everyone since shared consciousness is not possible. 

Altruism, which is the most generous interpretation of the “want to be part of something greater” mentality, is just another experience that some people find enjoyable. It turns into selfishness when put into in practice, just like everything else, or else people wouldn’t behave that way. 

This explains why it is very easy for altruistic tendencies to devolve into preaching or imposition type behaviors. 

Also, that our social conventions and cultural programming value “altruism” is the first sign that something is not quite right about it. 

#grownostr
#thinkdangerously 

 You seem like a thoughtful person. 

For this reason, I would like to suggest that instead of pursuing single truths, you pursue as many options for the truth as possible, and focus instead on the ways in which each may be flawed. 

The concept of a single truth is often very limiting if your goal is knowledge or wisdom. 

Just a suggestion, not a criticism. Of course, feel free to ignore.