687 karma · joined January 6, 2022
Octopuses are incredible because we've found the opposite. Octopuses are solving pretty complicated puzzles oftentimes for fun the same way people do. Cows don't. Cows do have social bonds closer to humans, though.
People have been getting informed through documentaries for decades. People have been getting informed through books for millennia. People have been sharing experiences through discussion before recorded history.
People share knowledge through countless mediums and that's how we learn and grow. Saying this is dystopian is goofy and makes no sense. Chill out, lad.
Even then, some places like Afghanistan don't change much--and they're still completely unbeaten by modern militaries.
Thinking of things in terms of raw GDP is what is getting the west into a total mess. For years now people have said Russia won't do anything and couldn't possibly be a threat because their GDP is so low. China will never be a major player because their GDP per capita is so low.
But that's, frankly, stupid. People in Switzerland pay $20 for a sandwich. People in Vietnam are paying $0.75 for a sandwich that tastes twice as good. People in China are getting locally made phones with the equivalent of US pocket change and riding high speed trains for the cost of a slow and janky NY subway trip. GDP means absolutely nothing outside of international trade within the global sphere. GDP didn't help America beat Afghanistan, one of the absolute poorest countries on earth. It didn't help them beat North Korea or Vietnam either. They still haven't succeeded in removing communism from poverty-stricken, bottom of the barrel GDP Cuba. If Russia decides to keep moving into western Europe, their GDPs mean nothing. Seizing that land just means Russia gets all of what those countries have, forever, without the high price tag.
GDP isn't motivating angry dictators to invade. They're doing it because they can.
They see how easy it is and do it again and again until one day they're bombing your home because you're in their territory.
Things that consume CO2 are less common.
But that is a good thing to think about. We don't know what industry will be like 200 years from now. I guess boring deep into the earth for methane and other gases to burn would be one way. No matter what happens, resources on this earth are limited, though.
In, say, America or Western Europe, you'll call the cops and they'll say "uh huh okay" and you'll just have to hope they'll launch an investigation. ATM skimmers are a common problem and basically jack shit is done about them. Muggings still happen and people aren't often caught.
In poorer countries, especially ones where basic infrastructure like banking is inaccessible, often it's easier to just tell a neighbor what happened. The community will go out and "get justice" on your behalf.
I'd honestly feel much safer stealing a whole paycheck in the US than I'd feel trying to steal a dollar in Kenya. Scams are still happening, but the risk is much higher if you're caught hurting someone from your community.
You’re given a small set of tools and it’s incredibly easy to build off them.
People online said they made multiple trips to the embassy and paid loads trying to get it done in person. Some random internet comments said this shady-ass site could do it cheaper, faster, and with no questions. They were right.
Felt like I’d never get my passport back when I sent it off, though.
In the US, unless they have a solid case and offer a plea bargain, you’re better off not talking to cops and staying silent until they give up. In Japan, once you know they have somewhat of a case, you’re better off making it easy for the police and immediately apologizing. They mostly just drag people who don’t comply and haven’t really learned their lesson (it’s assumed you won’t be dumb enough to make the same mistake twice).
Most first time drug cases end with an apology, crying, and being let go. Americans make the mistake of thinking not talking will help, so police hold them until they do. It can help in bigger crimes, though, since if the evidence is hard to prove, they’ll just hold you for a while and hope you’ll confess, but if not, often let you go instead of risk losing at a trial.
In all honesty you can basically apologize out of a lot of crimes and police generally don’t bother with anything else unless there’s video evidence, they catch you in the act, or you’re a high profile person involved in a high profile act.
Just never get caught with drugs in your possession, and if you get caught with personal amounts, apologize and cry. Not kidding.
My country had a massive glut of milk overproduction this year. Well beyond what the country could drink, use in other products, or even export.
Know what happened? Some companies reduced milk container sizes from 1000mL to 900mL and prices went up.
Should houses collapse when the builder goes out of business? Should people be banned from living in them or making custom repairs because "What about the company's creditors!"
Precluding a third party from performing after market-maintenance on a dead product and forbidding a current user to continue using something they paid for isn't capitalist--it's anticapitalist and purely spiteful.
Just that once someone buys a product, they get to keep it and continue using it. But oh no that’s communism the world is ending! lol
Shameless how they think anyone would be gaslit.
I've clicked on a few out of curiosity, immediately recognizing they were garbage from the description text, and it's just endless SEO links and completely random text.
You'd think one of the richest companies on earth could make a freshman intro to CS-level spam filter. If they can't, then they truly do hire the most incompetent people on earth. If they won't, then they hire the evilest people on earth.
Taxes are just one factor in the price.
For culinary history it's definitely useful, but I haven't found much generally practical info.
That's just what capitalism is. There is no ideal world where people max out their earnings and say "haha i'll be a friendly competitor and work for the benefit of the people :))))". People with vested interests will always push for less regulation, and the consequence of a successful push is never "everyone is better off and paying less!" Other developed countries have more regulation and lower prices. That's simply a fact.
Searching for some certain cooking methods gives me endless blog spam that's usually not even remotely related to what I'm looking for and full of stories about a fictional childhood in a country the author has never been to. Meanwhile a reddit search will have a to the point comment summing up the method in 2 lines, as well as a bunch of people arguing about it.
As an American, my longest waits and worst care were all in the US. I pay just a couple bucks in Japan and get far better, far faster care. Pissing blood from a major kidney infection and hospitals politely turning me away because my insurance was out of network and "oh this is too expensive for you. Try (next hospital that rejected me)" wasn't fun. Never had an experience like that outside the US. Here it’s “Do you have an appointment? No? Okay, we’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Not sure why Americans believe this meme, but it's very apparent that someone hasn't spent any significant time outside the country and is informed exclusively by facebook fearmongering when they say that. It's always "yeah, I know a guy who knows a guy who read an article saying the UK is worse!" America has massive delays for procedures already--the excuse doesn't work anymore.
But yes, the delays in Japan and the cost are a fraction of the US, and it's because there's more regulation. It's wonderful.
Countries with more regulation and more control by the state have... prices that are a fraction of the US. Surprise. Just like countries with stricter environmental restrictions have fewer clear-cut forests, less polluted water, etc. Unbridled capitalism means more money at the top at the cost of everyone else. There's a balance to be found between making money and having some restraints.
FUD isn't even an applicable term.
Environmental destruction is a huge problem and usable sand is a limited resource and often in delicate environments. It’s not the 19th century anymore—people today are more aware that taking resources has consequences.