It mulled in the background for about 30 years to process, and then I came to the conscious conclusion that out of all the possible equally pointless reasons to hang around, for me satisfying my curiosities and improving the world for my fellow experience-capable-beings are the ones I want to do. Of course I still slip into mind-numbing distractions a lot, that’s just being human in the world we live in.

That, and that practically, what are the options anyway? No point in ending it early, or wasting your finite life on something you don’t actually want.

My choice of philosophy is absurdism, honestly because I think it sounds more fun than “optimistic nihilism” or “existentialism”. IMHO there’s a whole host of philosophies that basically suggest the same guide to living well, with different emphasis (for example):

1. Figure out what you want (<- 20th century existentialism)
2. Do it the best you can (<- stoicism, confucianism)
3. Don’t let the other stuff distract you (<- stoicism, buddhism)

buttmonkey → b8y

I’d read b8y as “baby”, so absolutely ❤ this. Was this intended, am I an idiot for not reading the others as anything?

I’m going to steal this.

As a woman diagnosed at 40+, when responsibilities finally overwhelmed my coping mechanisms, this rather irritates me. “No you don’t have this condition we’re just starting to take seriously, for which there are medications and which entitles you to at least understanding if not accommodations in the workplace. You have ~lady hormones~. Are we going to acknowledge perimenopausal women might face challenges and benefit from workplace adjustments, but are still capable people? Silly hormonal thing, of course not.”

Ameglian Major Cow

Why I think so or why it gets me weird looks?

Healthcare is expensive. For public healthcare, it’s always a balancing act between how much to tax, and how to distribute taxed funds. I don’t want sky-high taxes (already live in Finland, not exactly a tax haven); and 100k€ spent on e.g. education is better than 100k€ on a treatment that will likely give someone a year more of life.

For insurance, same, I just don’t want to pay as much as “truly full coverage” would cost. I’m fine dying if a year of keeping me alive would cost over 50-100k$ to the shared pool, whatever it was, and would want to share the pool with others who feel like me. I wouldn’t grudge more costly premium plans for other people though.

I’m all for healthcare “rationing”, that is cost-effectiveness analysis for both public and insurance-funded healthcare and setting a cap that will exclude even some evidence-based interventions.

Buffa and other comic opera. More dumb plots, less experimental music!

In a similar vein, fund a few events for local groups for the less well-to-do to go see a local band. Just get the money in circulation in a way that keeps it local, and does some good (for myself or others) without consuming too many natural resources.

Agreed, that wasn’t my implication. I just didn’t know which to leave out. 😅 I like to think the less age-appropriate/more amusing aspect must be coming across a random middle-aged person that asks, wide-eyed and hesitant, “could I pet them?” while you’re just out for a walk. But it’s not like wouldn’t get my grubby hands on the doggo as soon as given permission, that’s the goal.

Asking strangers for permission to pet their dogs.

Petting strangers’ dogs.

I contacted the EU DMA team a while back. Part of the response:

We have taken note of your concerns and, while we cannot comment on ongoing dialogue with gatekeepers, these considerations will form part of our assessment of the justifications for the verification process provided by Google.

So at least some part of the bureaucracy are aware of it.

How is “average lemmy user” defined? I probably know more about eg. tea than the typical/median user. But there may be a true tea expert here that pushes the average up by a lot.

Briar, SimpleX, I2Pchat on desktop, maybe LXMF/Reticulum/Sideband over I2P if you want to get techy.

People knowing when they die at the latest will probably mean more than it being 50. At some point after abt 45 life becomes either (finances allowing) a hedonistic spree, gracefully putting your affairs in order, and/or an anxious nightmare watching the hours tick by. Not sure if people will come together enough to demand a kind of pension to allow for a year or two of calm for that, but anyone that can, will take it anyway.

People will focus on their health a little less when there’s no time for many lifestyle-related illnesses to manifest.

The speed of scientific development slows. People have less time to learn, experiment, and mentor the next generation.

Shoutout to https://standardebooks.org/ if you read from Gutenberg and would like a cleaner ebook format.