NewKidOnTheBlock

Can't dissagree with that, although again, easier said than done. Just wanted to sprinkle in some daily dose of motivation and positivity, as always

The doors are that way

I see we're going back to 2015 with that answer

And the God said: "Let there be an awesome genius individual with an overgrown schlong!" And there was NewKidOnTheBlock

That's a very good point, most modern cities are designed to accommodate cars and road transportation. However, I personally trace the origins of modern architectural ugliness all the way back to the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. Since then, we've started burning resources at disgustingly fast rates, heavily meddling with the natural environment, and constructing buildings that prioritize function and utility over art and beauty. We began using materials like steel and concrete as the main building blocks for everything. And etc. In my opinion, when it comes to beauty, the Renaissance was goated. The medieval era wasn't far behind, with Romanesque and Gothic styles that still emphasized beauty and art. Of course, that’s not to say the regular parts of cities back then weren’t shitholes, because they clearly were shitholes, but goddamn, when people in that era actually put in some effort, they created masterpieces. We don’t make buildings like that anymore.

Yeah, I've noticed, it's always been pretty blatant, in-your-face propaganda. But with the recent rise of AI-generated images, text, and videos, it's reached a whole new level. Now they can create entire propaganda videos featuring fake people or impersonators of real individuals "confessing" to things they never did. It's turning all our media into a cesspool of misinformation. Just take a look at this video from The Times of India, it's clearly AI-generated. It supposedly depicts a Ukrainian soldier who fought in Pokrovsk, but it's easy to tell it's fake once you notice the unnatural movement patterns and the monotone voice. They probably removed the Sora logo, and that alone was enough to convince a lot of people it was real. Most people really are that simple. India, clearly doesn’t give much shits and plays its own game, since it's strong enough to do so. That might partly explain why one of their media outlets published such an obvious fake. Or maybe it's just incompetence and amateurism. Would not surprise me in this case LOL

The luxury isn't even that pretty, or isn't my cup of tea at all at the very least. Cause it has a very modern tint to it, and all modern architecture is ugly to me. And this is a modern city in the middle of a desert, with practically no nightlife cause the alcohol is forbidden. What a great place to be in LMAO Btw veganism checks out lol

Lmao

@zazen I get your point about different power centers checking each other, and I agree with that in principle. Same with the idea of a multipolar world, being that balance is better than domination. But from where I stand, there’s no question which bloc I’d rather live under. I’ll take the system that gives me choices: what to buy, what to believe, how to live. Freedom isn’t perfect, but I’d rather deal with its flaws than live under a system that doesn’t allow it at all. The problem with your version of multipolarity is that it seems to rely on states like China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea as the ones checking the West. But those are authoritarian regimes that crush dissent and strip people of basic freedoms. If we’re talking about real alternatives, I’d rather see countries like India play that role, since at least there’s pluralism and democracy in the mix. And yes, money and resources have always shaped geopolitics. That’s not unique to the West, and it’s not new. Russia and China are more imperialistic than the west is nowadays, and pretending otherwise is just bias. The difference is that in the West, corruption and abuse can still be challenged, for example by citizens, media, courts, civil society at large. Not perfectly, but the mechanisms exist. In authoritarian systems, they don’t. So sure, multipolarity sounds good. But the real question is: which poles do you actually want shaping the world? For me, I’ll take the imperfect freedoms of the West over the "stability" of authoritarianism any day. There was once a multipolar world made up purely of feudalistic and later absolutist monarchies. That world existed for a long time, sure. But using it as a counterexample to my point that corruption is prevalent in all human-made systems is pretty ironic, since it’s not mutually exclusive with anything I’ve said. Feudalism was a system built on fixed hierarchies and rigid beliefs. Capitalism, at its infancy, stood in direct opposition to feudalism and offered a far freer alternative, with no theoretical limits to upward mobility for the individual. There were literal violent clashes between classes before capitalism eventually prevailed. Yet you seem biased against systems that allow more freedom, claiming they simply make corruption more available. Meanwhile, feudalism was extremely strict, while capitalism opened the door to greater liberty. So which way is it? Is authoritarianism or libertarianism more fertile ground for corruption, and which one represents progress in your view? Because from where I’m standing, you’ve clearly contradicted yourself on this LOL

Bros pilgrimage to Mecca accidentally destabilized Mamluk economy lol

So the 2 most important things you have as a human go to shit. Great. Not suprised at all of course, but reminding myself of what's gonna happen always makes me cheery LOL

I can definitely relate to that to some degree. But upon any further inspection, all meaning behind these activities starts to melt away. That's how you know it's all BS LOL