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Everything posted by Basman
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I believe that they can proliferate the spread of STDs, for one, but I don't see how free sex is inherently bad for society. I think a bigger consequence of the society we live in today on relationships is the fact that we don't require relationships in order to survive like we used to do. We don't rely on our community directly so there is no reason to get married or form a deep intimate bonds beyond the pleasure of it. Most people are motivated by pain, so without necessity committed relationships decline, as you can see with the younger generations today. Cultural norms that emphasize pair bonding are arguably vestigial in the world we live in today.
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How exactly would AI kill humanity?
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Basman replied to MellowEd's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
This is an age old question. "why did god create this evil thing", etc. "Good" here is only being measured by what is beneficial to human survival. It is a very narrow and myopic perspective if you think about it. What you consider good is only good because it is good for you. Likewise with things that are "bad". Hell is only bad because it is bad for you. What if hell is the cosmic equivalent of the digestion system and you are the harmful bacteria getting obliterated by white blood cells? You don't complain when this happens in your own gut because it is beneficial to you. In fact, you would consider this necessary and "good". It is only "evil" from the perspective of the bacteria. If god is beyond man than it is safe to assume that what is good in eye of god is beyond normal human comprehension. -
After some light research, it seems like running does not cause knee problems. In fact it helps improve the knees. Running related injury tends to come from overuse.
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Jogging is one of the strengths of the human physiology. Unless you have certain physical problems, you could theoretically jog for extreme distances compared to most animals despite animals being faster. I have a structural weakness which leads to pains if I jog a lot, otherwise I would do it a lot more.
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I used to fast regularly. Anecdotally, I can't say if I experienced any direct health benefits. It does have the benefit of saving money and time since you are not eating. So it is like nofap in that way. No observable benefits besides the completely obvious, the time you are saving from abstinence, be it food or masturbation. It might have been beneficial to helping me reflect more on my life since I was basically committing a day to being more mindful.
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Basman replied to blankisomeone's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
The smart phone sector isn't very ethical in general, unfortunately. Apple may be worse than others but it is not like it is very high above the floor in terms of being ethical comparatively. It is better to just focus on what products you like the best and use them for as long as possible. Apple is however very anti-consumer and blatantly so in addition to the ethics of making smartphones. Apple products are priced at a premium above what competitors price their products with similar levels of quality. In addition to all the proprietary stuff, I see little reason to even give Apple the light of day. Apparently their Macbooks are pretty good for writers, that would be the only exception. But yeah, pretty much. -
Page count: 194 Published: 2016 If you ever been to an airport bookstore, you might have seen this book in the self-help isle once. It is a strikingly beautiful hardback with an exotic name that draws the eye. I have the version that has the painting of a blooming branch stretching across the light blue color of the cover. It is a looker of a book. The book is about examining why people from certain demographics tend to live much longer that the general average, with a particular focus on the Okinawans from Japan, hence the Japanese concept of "ikigai". It briefly delves into various lifestyle factors that contribute to a long life. It touches upon diet, mindset, career, physical exercise, friends, community and several more. You can boil down the core principles that this book claims to be essential for healthy (and therefor long) living to three core ideas; physical health, community and purpose. There are many factors that make you live longer but those are the three core themes. For example having an intense life, a tight knit community, diet, etc. -All factors that contribute to health, happiness and longevity. The concept of "ikigai" was first introduced to me through this book. It is similar to life purpose as a concept but it has a more broad definition. Basically, ikigai = What you love + what the world needs + what you can get paid for + what you are good at. It is usually presented as a Venn diagram. I like this concept and I'm sure you can do a lot with it if you sit down and contemplate it (which I should do some time). It is a pretty short book that only briefly touches on a lot of different concepts. It doesn't go more into the depth than the general basics. But that also makes it easier to read and re-visit on the go. This book will not make you an expert but it will introduce you to general ideas and concepts that could make your life better, most of which are simple in premise. While relatively innocuous, the concept I've internalized successfully for years now since first reading it is only eating till I'm 80% full. It is simple but small things add up. And it is not like you need to be an expert in order to understand the principle of regular exercise either, for example. I occasionally pick it back up to remind myself of an idea, which is a testament to this books accessibility to readers. I find that it helps me feel more inspired to lead a more healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. It is not deep but that is to its advantage in my opinion. Not every book needs to be a master manual. It is however not an essential read either though I did enjoy reading it and having it on my shelf.
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I believe I came off as too harsh in my initial response and it was probably not very helpful. I apologize.
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Basman replied to thierry's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Spiral Dynamics is an exploration of tendencies and interplay among different demographics. It is based on and and is about averages. Treating it like an astronomy hoe is of course silly and contrived. It is just a model of understanding and people aren't literally "stages". When applied to large groups is where spiral dynamics really shines. I wouldn't be able to make out heads or tails of the current Israel-Palestine war without spiral dynamics, at least not to the same degree that I do now. -
The idea of "brainwashing" yourself subliminally to be more confident is a ridiculous farce. Stop beating yourself up or try to convince people to like you. Other people can't make up for you choosing to not have any self-worth.
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To expand on concepts in sci-fi that are inherently fantastical, the force in Star Wars is a great example of such. The force is mystical and is more allegorical from a story telling perspective. The force shouldn't be explained because being mysterious makes it more interesting.
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When you write a story it is more important that the rules of the world you are building are internally consistent rather than true to life. Every sci-fi story has at least one element that is inherently fantastical to a certain degree. Scientific minutia can be interesting but it is ultimately tertiary in the grand scheme of things. You don't have to explain everything.
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Fighting is a consequence of conflict. Conflict happens as a result of finitude. When opposing parties want different things with the same thing but that thing is too finite to fulfill both parties desires, conflicts ensues. Resources are an obvious example. In the Savanna, competition among predators is fierce due to there being so many of them at the same time which has lead to an emphasis on the ability for animals to brawl each other as opposed to simply catching prey. Many predators have evolved to quickly gulp down their prey (often while it is still alive) to minimize the risk of having their kill stolen. The cheetah is an example of a predator that is losing out in this competition because it is too small to fight back against kill stealers. Even vulture bully cheetahs. In contrast, the male lions primary task is to bully and kill the competition. They will seek out the young of competitor species in order to kill them. Lions are very successful species compared to cheetahs. A clear example of survival and conflict going hand in hand. If catching prey was easy and opportunities to eat where less finite, survival would be less fierce and there would be less violence among the animals comparatively.
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I've heard him described as an "id" for boys. Someone who is buff, says what ever he wants, gets lots of women, drives fast cars, rich, etc. Being unabashedly obnoxious and gratuitous is attractive on a primal level to many guys. He offers himself as a father figure of sorts which draws in the "losers" who like a role model and belonging.
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Dry chicken is the result of overcooking and letting all of the moisture escape. Under cooking is the opposite extreme and bad for you because of salmonella. A well cooked, juice chicken will always be delicious. I think it has more to do with how much you eat. Dense food is easier to overeat because it takes a while before you start feeling full and vegans tend to eat less on average.
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Ain't no way You mix bread in with your cooked veggies and eggs? It'll get soggy!
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I used to be vegetarian for 1-2ish years. I kinda got fed up with the basic diet plan of meat+whatever that is normal here in the west. I'm overall happy to have had the experience as it enriched my pallet. Though I eventually stopped caring about abiding by a strict diet and just ate what I liked, the experience expanded my horizon as I discovered food can be very delicious without meat. One of my favorite dishes is vegetarian, paneer korma. Vegetable based food often have very round and mellow tastes with interesting textures. Though they require a lot of saute and spices to bring home the flavor. When I used to be vegetarian many people would challenge me over it, expecting me to be insufferable about it. I never cared about animals in that way and I think lauding morals over others makes you a pompous cu**. Bro, how dry do you want your chicken? it looks like bread.
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Women have never been just "receivers" of anything in human history. Women in traditional roles provide a more innately social resource as opposed to a physical one. That's the difference. You can completely disregard traditional gender roles when planning your career. Just focus on your life purpose, the kind of impact you want to have, etc.
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Basman replied to Growly's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
I only ever stumbled on gore when browsing social media during the early 2010s. You'll eventually stumble onto something, then you can't look away. The imagery is haunting, even after all this years I can still remember vivid details. My life hasn't been improved in the slightest from that stuff. I think it is really just a rush to people and its gross to make other peoples suffering your entertainment. -
Page count: 448 Published: 2018 Disappointingly, 12 Rules isn't 400 pages of self-help advice but more like a part essay on Jordan Peterson's philosophical/political worldview and part self-help advice. The book isn't written succinctly and to the point like a conventional self-help book with clear objectives, instead you get pages of anecdotes, personal stories, Christian mythology and musings on political trends like Feminism, 20th century totalitarianism and lobsters. It reads a bit like a JP stream-of-conscious. You'll have 40 pages of anecdotes on Adam and Eve and the juxtaposition between state and individual for a chapter about "straightening your back". When Peterson wants to, his advice can be brilliant. Certain chapters like Rule 6 (set your house in perfect order before you criticize others), that are shorter and more to the point where very effective at teaching me their relevant principles. Especially when Peterson used personal stories to cement a point, as opposed to Christian mythology or abstract political theory. The principles in his book can improve your life if you can internalize them, and I have learned things that improved mine, but I think the lack of clarity and its boring writing makes it a tough read. There is good cream in there but its caked in-between layers of chaff. It can feel like the self-help aspect is just a pretext to talk about something else. 7/10
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You are anxious about your life purpose because you are overthinking the "how" question. Acting your vision is much more important than trying to plan it. If you want to play chess. Just play more chess. It doesn't have to be life changing chess. If your lucky, it might come but that isn't as important as just playing chess, no? You can't perfectly predict how things unfold. Therefor just focus on the act of your purpose and see how things go. You don't have to be rich and famous for it to be worth it to pursue your passion.
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At the closing of every year, I like to fill out one these, a Year Compass. I've been doing it since 2019 and it is been good to both reflect on how the year went and what I want the next year to be about and what goals I'd like to maintain. It'll also look good over years and decades, as I'll accumulate basically a log of my life. This year I felt like I matured a bit and became a more mature and even keeled person. Less in my head. Though I didn't accomplish much in terms of concrete things, I've made good progress on Leo's Life Purpose Course after a long time of deliberation. I've discovered that making art is very important to me and I've been practicing a lot. Here are some 2024 goals of mine: Fully finish at least one drawing per week Get a gym membership and exercise weekly Finish the Life Purpose Course Meditate daily What are some of your 2024 goals?
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Basman replied to LoneWonderer's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
Hikikomori are on average more likely to be autistic. It signals an inability to cope with the pressure to conform to Japanese norms as well as the prevalence of technology that allows such a lifestyle. Hikikomori are probably always traumatized. I believe it is kind of like homelessness, in that when you lose your social connections and slip off the radar nobody notices you and the problem festers. -
If the point was highlighting that the assumption of long-term human survival is inherently erroneous than I missed that. Your post read more like fiction than an essay, But what people do you think assume such, that humanity will be preserved eternally? Most people I know barely think of tomorrow let alone hundreds of years into the future.