Basman

My impression as a European is that Americans are kind and outgoing people but as soon as something remotely political or controversial is brought up they get very combative and outspoken. Sometimes I have to remind myself that all the crazy political talk on social media is largely if not entirely an American thing. Its a little embarassing to be honest.

Black and white thinking is more simplistic, which is why people do it and why it spreads more easily. The human brain is the most energy demanding organ of the body. We are instinctually driven to preserve energy and conciously thinking about things is simply less energy efficient, which is why consciously thinking and contemplating things is relatively uncommon. You can deduce a lot from different situations and people if you just kind of pay attention and try to connect your observations in a meticilous fashion. It doesn't require the intellect of a geniues, just that you try. Most people rarely really "think" about stuff or ask a lot of questions. Atleast consciously in a deliberate way.

I believe men tend to reject women with high bodycounts for various reasons when looking for a long-term monogamous relationship. A high bodycount can indicate that they are less reliable and stable in a long-term relationship. It makes sex less intimate and special if you are just another body. It decreases the odds of STDs. Why virginity matters specifically to someone, it could be a cultural thing where it is seen as virtuous. It could also be a fetish. Vice-versa, experience is attractive in men because it makes you more capable of being a good leader. It also indicates that past women found you attractive. A man being a virgin past a certain age can be seen as unattractive for the aforementioned reasons. I woulnd't really call it a double-standard as much as just a difference for why it is less acceptable for women to have a high bodycount compared to men (though culture can definitely reinforce certain attitudes). Men can't get pregnant and therefor women have much more to gain by being selective. It be the other way around if men got pregnant instead.

Actually, humans are its own genus called Homo. There used to be multiple species of humans existing at once, but us Sapiens are the only surviving species. At one point there where nine species of humans existing on the planet at the same time. We humans tend to take for granted that we are the only living species of our genus. Humans are classed as Hominids though, the family that includes all the great apes, so it is correct that humans are primates. But humans are a different branch to the other brances that include Chimps and gorillas, on the bigger branch that are hominids. One thing that is interesting to point out is that humans are the only generalist species out of the surviving hominids. Every other species is habitat dependent and endangered as a result, no thanks to us. Perhaps these species of great apes survived the rise of humans while every other human species didn't because they weren't in direct competition due to being specialized to a certain kind of habitat not suitable for farming. But now that humans do more than just farm and are encroaching on their habitat finally, their specialist tendencies are making them susceptible to extinction. Humans have a long history of annihilating other species long before any advanced technology existed. Sorry, you spiked my interest in human taxonomy and ancient history and I couldn't resist.

With the rise of students using ChatGPT to cheat on their assignments, I've been thinking about the nature of cheating relative to learning as a principle. I believe that you can't cheat learning on a fundamental level (no?) because cheating is to circumvent the learning process all together. By cheating, you are finding a way of not doing the work required by your tutors while making them think you have, I.E. trick them into thinking you you've done your homework. In the real world, if you want to do something you don't know how to do, you have to learn. And there is no "cheating" that learning. You either learn or you don't. There is no one to trick. School, you can cheat because on a fundamental level you are fulfilling the expectations of someone else, an institution, -who's interests you may or may not percieve as being alligned with your own. If you are a dumbass kid, you might feel like school sucks and is boring. Why not cheat? The issue I'm getting at is that cheating seems to be the result of learning being facilitated by a beurocratic system (school) that only recognizes learning as fulfilling certain criteria. Handing in your assignments and doing standardised tests. Cheating is inherently a result of how the system itself functions. Cheating is essentially a symptom of a flaw within the system. Your being graded on the work you hand in. The fact that you are being "graded" at all. Grades aren't a property of learning but of a system that tries to facilitate it. What ChatGPT highlights is how our current way of learning is insufficient. The problem is that a lot of our emphasize is on reproducing information. The reproduction of information is increasingly becoming an obsolete with technology. In a sense, I think it is good news that ChatGPT is ruining how schools have been doing things. They are in a sense forced to teach in a way that is more true to the principle of learning, which can't be cheated. I do appreciate however that it is a challenge to somehow facilitate learning on a national scale for millions of children and adults and somehow make it concistent. I'll give that school is good at teaching you to read and write and add 2+2. I believe a better financial situation for education is a low hanging fruit for improvement. I'm not particularily knowledgable about the education system but it is something I've been thinking about for years, how it operates currently relative to true learning. It is no joke that we forget the majority of what we "learn" through out school besides the bare basics. It's more a process of socialization more than anything else in my experience. What are your thoughts on the matter?

To get out of a rut you have to do something that is different. If you are feeling depressed, I'd recommend some physical activity. It could be starting to go for runs, swim or join a martial arts club. A physical activity that involves others like a martial art has the added benefit of stimulating you socially. I joined a Wing Tsun club during a depressive/suicidal phase in my life and it was the best decision I could've made at the time. I got more out of that than any self-help gimmicks. If you don't know what to do with yourself, I'd recommend you talk with a safe person about your goals and aspiration and your current situation. Talking to someone is in my experience a requirement to really get over a slump in one's life. It doesn't take more than a couple of things to make an impact on your life but it does require taking action. Avoid setting a high bar for yourself, or you risk demotivating yourself. Instead, you want to have a low-to-moderate high bar in terms of results. A Low standard for building momentum and a moderate standard for building on that momentum. A high standard with no momentum increases the risk for failure and remember, action taken with a low standard is more action than no action. A standard less than perfection allows you stay concistent, which is way more important than trying to be sexy. This is all to say to not be too hard on yourself. Lastly, on the topic of porn-consumption, I find it to be overstated in most cases personally. I also think it is a gimmick. People who care about their masterbation habits tend to be "losers" in the conventional sense. They tend to be poor financially and have little to no dating life. Most people I'd wager, given the success they want would rather spend time doing their hobbies or being with their families than watch excessive amounts of porn. People who still compulsively watch porn to the point where it damages their relationships even when they are succesfull you could say have a genuine problem. Most "no-fapers" are just bored in my opinion. No-fap is also a gimmick and therefore a waste of your time to focus on. Avoid gimmicks. Focus on actionable steps.

I agree. It has sarcastic and passive-agressive energy. And that is besides the fact that he looking slightly to left (his right), a sign of being a liar.

TLDR: Central Amsterdam gets millions of tourists all year round, who all tend to congregate around a very small area. The local government wants to move the Red Light District and "centralize" Amsterdams prostitutes in a single mega brothel somewhere else in town. As a Dutchy who has lived in Amsterdam Centrum, over-tourism is a huge problem for the local population and the city's culture. The goverment has worked for years to combat it, for example they once renamed the beach in Haarlem to "Amsterdam Beach" to draw tourists away. Or another example, they banned ads that target young british men (lads). The problem is, like previously mentioned, most tourist emass around a very small part of town. De wallen, or the Red Light District, doesn't necessarilly gain from the tourism as the crowds tends to make potential customers self-conscious. The prostitutes are not there to be entertaining to tourist but to feed their kids and pay off their student loans. They could potentially gain a lot more from centralization. Edit: De Wallen especially suffers from being treated like a big playground by tourists. It is harder to form long-term relationships where the majority of people are by nature transient in the literal sense. Too many tourist is in of itself simply obnoxious to deal with it and it wears you down. You're constantly dealing oblivious people who struggle with basic traffick rules. Thoughts?

In my opinion, putting that sort of financial pressure between family members is asking for trouble. It seems like it already has strained your relationship with your dad. If parents offer money for your degree, it is better to go the whole way and just pay off the entire degree instead of these half-measures that lead to long-term complication. Ah well. It is best to pay of the loan. Like the previous posters have said, paying it off in a year or two is probably wise. That interest is mighty. I don't know what it is like in your country, but perhaps you are viable for interest delition or any other measures for low-income folks.

Always been bumpy

The problem is not that prostitution is too undignified for centrum. It is the tourists who are undignifying the city the local population. They turn centrum into a big sad mall. Also, it is false to think of the proposed areas to move the prostitutes as "far away". Theses places are not outskirts and they are relatively fast and easy to get to. The prostitutes are being proposed to get moved because their presence hypes up Amsterdam to an untenable level for the area. The vast amounts of tourists that come to De Wallen aren't interested in buying sex (90% if not more). They are there to just "see it" in combination with the history and the architecture of the area. It is a tourist attraction. Centralizing the sex workers could help filter out the "chaff" who are there to just absent-mindedly look around, possibly help boost their income as well kill some of the hype of Amsterdam.

Mad. Never said I hated them tf. I was a vegan once. Speaking of projection.

I went to a vegan restaurant an everyone inside was grumpy and miserable Litteraly.

Humans are clearly omnivores. There are no primates or past human species that where obligate carnivores or herbivores. It is a strength of our species. It means that there is more for us to eat and our physiology doesn't have to overly specialize, locking us out of being a generalist species. As to what is preferable, it depends on you. Some people prefer certain diets because of how it makes them feel, but I'd be sure to take dietary trends on the internet with a grain of salt. Social media rewards extremism and outrage, making certain attitudes more visible. You have to ask yourself if a proposed diet is being propogated because it is generally true or because how the influencer manages to sway the algorithm to their favor.

The Youtuber in question was just looking for content for his drama channel. It is not hard to dismiss all of Actialized as a cult. Mostly only people within the Actualized niche genuinely care. Most who watched that video are just there for the entertainment

I can relate to the feeling of needing money but hating work too well. I don't have much experience when it comes to career stuff but I've heard of a guy who wanted to make video games but didn't have short-term career prospects. He ended up becoming a night-shift plumber because of how it alligned with his personality and it afforded him lots of downtime which he used to make games on the job.

Well said. That's the basic issue here. Its always funny to hear and read comments from people who get salty over people cheating not understanding how the system inzentivizes cheating to a certain degree.

@Osaid What do you think about AI making cheating easier? Doesn't that undermine how the entire system functions? How so? what exactly needs to change, in your opinion?

That's interesting. Not something I really have considered before.

In my opinion, awakening stuff is on the higher echelon of the hierarchy of needs. Personally, I'm trying to just figure out how to do basic survival still. Introspection is helpful but I'm not going to weigh myself down with any expectations to be more "enlightened" than I am. I sometimes have my inner musings on the nature of reality, which I'll entertain if they ever come up but I don't feel any need to embody any type of spiritual awakening. If I do fel that motivation, it is usually because I think it'll help me solve my problems somehow which is probably the wrong mindset. I just take things as they come, one thing at a time.

I mean, that is what it is.

@Mesopotamian By games, do you mean manipulation in the abstract sense?

Most death threats are meant to just shake you and are just irational individuals lashing out emotionally. Its an attempt to try and get under your skin because they didn't like what you said. People get upset over nothing on the internet all the time. Its stupid. If a person is sending you a threat, block them. Its not worth having that shit clutter your mindspace. If you think it is serious, notify appropiate authorities.

Lingustic gender neutrality makes more sense in english and other germanic languages. Being gender neutral in latin languages is going to be a lot less practical because of how they are fundamentally structured. It is quiet drastic to expect others to change their language to conform to a small minority of the population. Especially considering. IMO, Its something you're more likely to spend time thinking about than actually dealing with it in your life unless you actually spend time with individuals where it would supposedly be apropiate to use gender neutral terms. Its effectively slang.

Comparison is inevitable, but you can use it that envy to take greater ownership of what you want. You can't really change your envy without addressing what exactly it is that you want. Make it an explicit goal then break it down into actionable steps. How can you work towards your goal today? Sometimes we just lack perspective. You might think that you should've gone to college yesterday, but that is simply not the case. We all lead different and unique lives. Another person's life doesn't say much about your own necessarilly. One positive of starting college later is that you start when you are more mature and more clear on what you want. When you are 20-24 year old, you're still very much inoculated with your childhood mentalities.