The idea that a functional society can arise from a population that only does what it wants is, let’s say, unlikely. It removes checks and balances, so there is not really anything that prevents someone with huge resources to become a tyrant. What happens if someone with billions of dollars ignores the NAP to get their way? They can fund a private army, I can’t, so how can I prevent them from aggressing against me? Without a state law enforcement and legal system, there is no entity that can stop them. We would regress to a society of warlords, dukes and serfs.

Likewise it makes the country as a whole more vulnerable to enemies. If there is no central state to run the military, just a rag tag collection of powerful, self-interested groups, then could they successfully repel an invasion? What if they are bribed with power by the oppressors, and facilitate the invasion? Look at colonisation in Africa and the Americas to see examples of how that played out. Tribes played off against each other for the benefit of the highly coordinated invaders.

Libertarianism is a user-pays society, where if you can’t pay and can’t generate income (even if it’s no fault of your own) then you better hope someone takes pity on you and you receive charity, or else your remaining option is to just die. Our current system is a playground for the rich and a crushing, lifelong burden for the rest as we compete for relative scraps, Libertarianism would dial that up to 11.

Note that I live in a country where although government has its problems, there is quite a bit of pro-worker and pro-citizen law on the books, and government institutions are generally seen as competent and are trusted. If that wasn’t the case then perhaps Libertarianism would seem more appealing.

So they fucking should be, although being libertarian is only marginally less embarrassing anyway

I still can’t believe they’re legal. Interacting with your phone while driving is against the law but for some reason when it’s a part of your dashboard it’s a-ok?

Performing surgery on someone and putting up a sheet of drywall have very different stakes

It’s making my micro soft

They kick you out if you get too close to the animals genitals :(

Whoa Black Betty, 'bamala

The president of the United States affects the rest of the world but we don’t have a say in who it is, so I don’t know what you expect from us foreigners? Perhaps my country which is a staunch US ally and a fraction of the size should launch a coup?

Sort your shit out, America, because nobody is in a position to do it for you. We’re making jokes because it seems unreal that things have gotten this far and because there is no real way for us to influence US domestic politics.

i3 or something idk I use Cinnamon

Please tell me, scientifically, why you are so sure that people of faith are wrong?

Because they all offer competing and mutually exclusive hypotheses.

Christianity tells us that the one true path to salvation is by accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour.

Hinduism tells us that our next life will take place in this world, based on our actions in this life.

Islam tells us that Mohammed is the one true prophet.

Buddhism says that there are no prophets, enlightenment only comes from within.

They make contradictory claims, so by definition they can’t all be right, and they typically claim that they are correct and the other explanations are false, so even if one religion is correct, the rest (comprising of the majority of the faithful) must be wrong.

If you wanted to do something like this you could put the charger on one of those electrical plugs with a timer, or a smart plug that’s switched on when the battery reaches a certain threshold

Models are getting more efficient and hardware is getting more powerful, it’s completely feasible that open source, self hosted, GPT4 equivalent and better models will be completely viable to run as individuals for reasonable costs (hundreds, not thousands) in the not too distant future.

As always, the will and knowledge to use the tools falls to the individual.

Claudine Gay was right to resign, if the very top position at a university is occupied by someone with no academic integrity, then that will spread like an infection.

It’s more than just brushing and flossing, they grind off plaque etc. Preventative maintenance for teeth basically.

Who among us has not had that urge

Things like “MP approves funding for new hospital” don’t make headlines. Even moreso for any world headlines to rise above the din of American politics it usually has to be something pretty outrageous.

Guava juice in a wine glass?

Check out Silverstone cases, they have a few that are understated, and make them in a variety of form factors if you wanted to do, say, a custom NAS, server or media center build.

Life’s pretty good here in Australia. No neighbours on the border causing problems, weather is generally good, lots of wide open empty nature to get out of the city, average salary is $93k and unemployment is low, crime is low. Inequality is a problem although our Gini coefficient has actually lowered recently. There’s a lot of life to enjoy, and really the endless stream of negativity is only experienced through the media, not in real life, so I switched off the TV and just focus on what’s going on around me, enjoying the people, places and activities that I like, and things feel quite positive.

Turn off the news, it’s bad for the psyche.