Apparition of Jack

This might be a controversial topic, but with the increase of global instability over the last few years alongside the broad changes to society in general (the internet, global trade etc.) I think now more than ever is the right time to genuinely seeing the UN as a government in its own right, and not just a limited forum for discussion / international policy making. Take a look at the recent violence in the Middle East. Can we honestly say that, say, having both Hamas and Israel vehemently fight to assert their nationalistic claims is leading us to a better world? Even for their own citizens? Of course the most radical in each of these countries will never see eye-to-eye, but for the broad groups of people caught up in the crossfire, what good does it serve them to have governments wage war unchecked to assert obscure nationalist claims going back thousands of years? Or how about the massacres in Syria? The cause and responsibility of these massacres seems murky at best, and in a nation still reeling from a decade-long civil war and now being carved up by dozens of competing powers (Turkey, Israel, Iran, Russia, the US, the EU etc), is it really so insane to think that some sort of international governing body committed to democracy and the rule of law would lead to worse outcomes for the people in Syria? The challenges of the 21st century are sometimes too great to comprehend, so how is relying on the same nationalistic dick-waving humanity has done so for the last 10,000 years going to solve any of them? Are we not one people? One species? One humanity? Does it really, genuinely matter if it’s Russia, or Iran, or a bunch of Sunni radicals who control some small strip of East Syrian coast? What else is our endgame? Constant shit-flinging endlessly, dragging each other down over arcane disagreements that serve no purpose other than to puff up the egos of a handful of people? In a world where literally everyone is now online, where everyone can talk to anyone else anywhere on the planet at the drop of a hat, is it really so crazy to think we should start using our collective human resources to build a co-operative, prosperous society that respects law, democracy and arbitration? Are our ties to our limited pieces of land so great that we’d rather die in a rocket crater, flag in hand, than prosper with our neighbours who might look slightly different to us? At what point do we say that cooperation and agreement is better than division and bloodlust? How many more random massacres, pogroms, bombings, wars, riots, assassinations, invasions are we going to brook until we say enough is enough? What’s the point of all this bloodshed? Where does it leave us? What does it accomplish? There has to be a better way, and there is; and that way is for us to genuine look to genuine world cooperation. Thank you for coming to me ActualizedTalk.

@nerdspeak Do you believed that COVID poses a health risk?

I see Musk as a symptom of the digital age. I think he, like countless others, drank the sci-fi kool aid and genuinely because that just some vague idea of “technology” is enough to solve humanity’s deepest social, economic and philosophical problems, without anyone genuine appreciation of the difficulty of such endeavours or how crucial love and compassion is to uplifting the world. He’s good at selling the *idea* of a techno-utopia, even if he doesn’t genuinely understand the full perspective of how to get there. Look at his Hyperloop for instance - it was marketed as the “transportation of the future”, like something straight out of I, Robot. Even the aesthetics of it proved this - it was covered in fancy sci-fi style lighting to make it look “futuristic.” The fact that it was just a generic tunnel that we’ve had since literal caveman days wasn’t important - all that mattered was that it have the *idea* of the future, even if it was never going to be the future itself. Also look at his “robotic helpers” at his recent tech showcase - they weren’t AI-powered robots serving drinks, they were, again, literally just remote-controlled machines controlled by someone off-premise. Again, the fact that it wasn’t actually “the future” wasnt important, all that mattered was that it *felt* like “the future.” Musk, fundamentally, doesn’t sell technology or progress, he sells *vibes.* And in a world with enough gullible fools who genuinely think AI will take us to Mars so we can all have sex with sexbots in space, those vibes can make someone incredibly powerful, even if they come at the cost of, well, destroying the *actual* future in the process.

We should make the UN a genuine ruling international body. First give it jurisdiction over problem areas or areas with signifiant international crossover (Jerusalem, Kashmir, NYC, etc) then expend from there. Why are we so afraid of an international government?

The thing is, even this is subordinate to his desire to harvest money from society. I do think he is, on some level, sincere in wanting to expand space exploration, but not if it comes at the cost of his own power/wealth. As it stands, the Artemis Program and SLS/Orion rockets being developed by NASA are our best bet at becoming an interplanetary species in the next few decades, but because they are run by public servants and not “enlightened corporate techbros” (lol) he absolutely can’t stand that thought and is trying to destroy it as a result. He’s unironically the greatest threat to space travel since, well, I’m not even sure lol. Greed is one hell of a drug.

If he’s so keen on getting people to space, why is he calling for the ISS to be deorbited? Why is he saying a moon base is unnecessary to get to Mars (it isn’t, it’ll be an important step)? Beyond just that, why is he trying to defund national parks, Medicare, veteran benefits etc? None of these things are bad for the economy and the only explanation for these actions is that he’s a greedy asshole who can’t stand the idea of rival powers (in this case, the federal government.) How has he genuinely made the lives of regular people better around the world? Electric cars and satellite internet are cool but they aren’t revolutionary ideas that’ll create a more compassionate, just society. Why has he barely contributed to charity? Why does he publicise the names of innocent federal workers for his supporters to send death threats to? Why does he refuse to let the mother of his children see her kids? Why does he censor journalists at the behest of authoritarian governments? Why does he pressure state governments to cancel meaningful railway projects in favour of his hyper-loop that won’t ever exist? Why does he bust unions and treat employees like disposable utilities? Etc etc. All of his actions don’t indicate someone who’s fundamentally trying to uplift the world, but of someone with delusions of grandeur who’s convinced himself he’s the next Einstein when he routinely gets basic sociology and engineering wrong. He’s excellent at marketing himself and creating investor hype but that’s just typical Stage Orange bullshit. He’s really not the sort of selfless Gandhi or even Nikola Tesla he presents himself as.

Elon Musk is a solipsistic devil who on some level genuinely believes he’s in some sort of simulation where he’s the main character and his goal in life is to suck as much wealth out of this simulation (money) as possible because that’ll lead to immortality. Not only is he a deeply unserious and deluded fool, without going into it too much I genuinely think there might be some sort of darker forces attached to him if you want to get into the woo-woo perspective. With that being said, as reckless as he is you shouldn’t demonise him, he might be a terrible person but he’s still a human being. But a force for good he is not.

Collective American ego backlash due to 40 years of neoliberal economics. “Life has gotten hard and mean because we thought the benevolent billionaires would make us all rich; when that didn’t happen we decided to bully Canada and Denmark instead “ That’s all this is. Trump is a manifestation of the stupidity of America’s collective psyche. It won’t work forever though; eventually the truth with set fire to all of his bullshit.

I’ve heard this repeated to me my whole life. I don’t buy it. Americans are arrogant af. What they claim is a “culture of ambition” I call entitlement, selfishness, bullying and wilful ignorance. Americans seem to be ambitious in everything other than helping their fellow man. You’re more rewarded there for being a devil who fucks over countless lives in the pursuit of profit than a conscious humanitarian who aims to uplift humanity. Of course this is true for most of the world, but Americans dial it up to 11. Get back to me when Americans “strive” to create sustainable energy, a universal health system, a renewed investment in democracy and a bunch of cool, pro-humanitarian projects (social AI? Space exploration? etc.) Until then, I’ll ignore them for the sinking ship they are.

Ask it if it considers Musk a threat to democracy ;p

@Leo Gura I can’t really express my sentiments towards your ideas beyond something along the line of “less head, more heart.” It’s good to be able to analyse societies from the depths of Tier-2 thinking but at some point you’ve just gotta move beyond that and say we’re all just people and we all just need kindness, right?

What do you call saying a CEO’s life is worth more than a homeless persons, if not financial utilitarianism?

People have innate value, Leo. Even a blind homeless man in a wheelchair. You can’t put a monetary value on human life.

That billionaire’s name? Albert Einstein.

Being homeless sounds like quite the challenge. All the more reason to be kind to people.

Having the United States annex a sovereign nation with a completely different political culture will surely lower the price of eggs!

Ask Elon Musk if he’s willing to abandon the billions of dollars of government subsidies he gets in the name of “gutting waste.”

The reason the world has experienced unprecedented levels of peace, trade and prosperity since WW2 is because of the rules-based international order that was established after it. Wars are extremely destructive to economies, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to encourage a world where conflicts are resolved diplomatically, not militarily. If every country that had a gripe with another country (as Russia does with Ukraine) felt it could declare war, the world would become a far more chaotic, dangerous and impoverished place overnight. Russia broke those rules. Russia needs to be resisted because it can’t be allowed to show the world that settling minor diplomatic disputes with force is acceptable anymore. If Russia gets what it wants from Ukraine, what’s stopping China from invading Taiwan? Or North Korea invading South Korea? Or hell, even something like Ireland invading the UK? Borders and modern states exist for a reason. Sovereignty has to be respected least we all turn into colonial warmongers again. Just letting Russia roll over Ukraine because of some fake concern for Ukrainian civilians is foolhardy. Oh yeah, and if Russia is so “desperate for peace” as they claim, they could just… stop the war and go home. They’re the aggressors; without them, there is no more violence. But they won’t, because they’re led by a madman with delusions of grandeur.

After I’ve finally had my two coffees in the morning

@gettoefl Pain is guaranteed to all of us. No need to increase it unnecessarily.

This is why I’m a huge proponent of building a society that makes sure everyone’s basic needs are met unconditionally, so that the basic tension between survival vs truth-seeking isn’t there. Of course, not everyone would immediately go and become devout philosophers if suddenly people weren’t scrambling just to make sure they had shelter and healthcare, but at the same time I do think a lot of people would genuinely pursue more advanced, higher-consciousness states of living if they had the material opportunity. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and all that. Hard to reach enlightenment when you’re struggling to feed yourself.

@Leo Gura Other than a bag of cocaine, probably

Surely this will lower the price of eggs!

Elon Musk’s “DOGE” stooges trying to access the information of federal employees and locking them out of the system when they protest. Scary stuff.

@Basman My favourite theory for why Trump wants Greenland so bad is because it looks big on Mercator maps. The guy is dumb enough to make that a key motivation lol