mrcompletely

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@exchgr there's always people choosing to spend their lives attacking the idea of free will, ironic as that is, it's just now weirdly political since it's tied into the tescreal fantasy-philosophy a couple different ways

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@exchgr lmao so... Constraints exist? I can't will myself to fly, so fuck it, I'll just eat this shit sandwich, not like I have any choice

Exquisitely smooth brained thinking there

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@openculture Ballard among the all time greatest at this specific thing

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@nnedi ok but please do not die

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@chopaganda he's always been such a baby-man. That's what's so classic. It's not like this is Clint Eastwood. So he's been simping for manly men this whole time while being softer than cotton candy?

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THAT?

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@bourgwick well shit, I hate the overused term but this sounds like textbook enshittification: user lock-in and carefully chosen minor seeming policy changes that have massive impact

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@bourgwick that's fucking terrible. The lack of export functionality is pure lock-in and a really cynical choice on their part. I've built asset export systems. They're not that hard.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@bourgwick good lord. Audio file sizes are vanishingly small in the modern storage economy. The level of cheapness there is pretty insane.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@ElleGray HOLY SHIT IT DOES

I was gripped, on the edge of my seat by letter four!

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@thbevilacqua real nice work

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@TheRoot @latest damn I thought this said Michelin Man like the weird tire guy

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@sue "folk" is exactly it - a folk theory

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@indubitablyodin what if the idea of inevitability in an evolving system is the wrong one? I'm pretty sure it is. When societies change, it's typically chaotic and can go a lot of ways; the way it does go can seem inevitable in retrospect, but it's usually just a frozen accident, a chaotically chosen outcome. I certainly agree with your point that a lot of rich assholes and some of their idiot minions would like to return to the lord and manor times and that it's not impossible on some level.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@indubitablyodin well said. Belief in inevitable change to a future perfected state is just religious thinking under a different name. It's irrational and enervating.

In order to understand the transformation of societies from one stable state to another through a chaotic transition I would look to complexity theory and in particular the idea of fitness landscapes and the "phase change" transitions between local minima.

The implications of neofeudalist thought are very dark -

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@indubitablyodin - feudalism itself turns out to be a flawed, kind of bullshit folk history concept anyway, but in its own terms, feudalism requires an external threat for the lords and their armies to protect the peasants from in exchange for fealty and work. In the neofeudalist model that threat is climate refugees. Without climate refugee "barbarian hordes" their model makes no sense. So they're actually incentivized towards climate driven social collapse. What a bunch of dicks.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@TonyStark the only thing I have to add (given some very good existing replies) is that this is how the other side has been successful. That's the proof. They realized that with a binary system but fragmented electorate only coalitions could win reliably over time. So the business and evangelical wings forged an alliance in the Reagan era. Bankers don't really give a shit about abortion and preachers don't care about banking regulation. But they vote for each other's issues and they win.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@TonyStark (the other thing they did was started at the bottom and built a ground game. This means both taking power in local politics and taking control of the party apparatus itself. I think leftists & progressives should follow these models too. Tired of the same old bullshit from the donkey party? Take that shit over starting at the precinct level. It'll take time but it will actually work if enough people buy in. But "I'm taking over the Democratic party from the inside" won't get you laid)

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@TonyStark it's just not sexy. Taking over party functioning has an accountant vibe. Everyone knows it really needs to happen and hopes someone else will do it. But again we see how effective it is for the far right. Controlling the apparatus gives you all kinds of structural advantages.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@TonyStark @Okanogen I just like to ask, would you like to reliably win some elections or not? Yes or no? Demographics tell us that no matter how hard the other side cheats and gerrymanders, if we mobilize everyone, we'll win and keep on winning. But internal left debates are typically won by taking the more extreme position, by being more "pure." That purity testing serves the fascist agenda, which is why they're constantly feeding it via provocateurs and trolls.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@MJ @Okanogen @TonyStark we need many, many more people like your Nana imo. It takes the masses and years of sustained effort, and some places will face more power than others. I'm not saying it's easy, just that it's possible. It took the right wing fully two decades to assert real control over the R party but now they run the whole thing.

mrcompletely, 13 days ago

@arghdos sick finds today