Great post. I was thinking along the same lines. Got a domain and host and am starting up a site to offer based help. I would like to stay in touch and incorporate your ideas. Will let you know soon how it is progressing and when it will be ready.
I have a question about the economics portion. Our household has a fair chunk of assets managed through Vanguard. I thought they were legit, but what do I know. Do you have any suggestions for alternatives?
I shouldn't diagnose and did not mean to be disrespectful.
I got that impression because he is gifted with an uncanny grasp of numbers (mathematical physics, economics, finance), he seems more interested in ideas than people or things (he has spent decades on a unified theory), and he has a reflexive involuntary repulsion to hypocrisy or unfairness even if social norms dictate it is better to compromise or to go along to get along (hence his rejection of academia).
His perspective is fascinating to me.
Regarding BTC (and distributed networks), he seems impressed by the technological implications and believes the prospect of new wealth will attract people. Whereas the host seems impressed by the monetary implications and believes the prospect of new technology will attract people.
Like some of us, he is on the spectrum and can respond bluntly when struggling to communicate a point. I chuckled when he referred to the host's response to some point as, "snap-to-grid intellectualism." He wasn't ugly about it, but he could not suppress his frustration because he wanted the host to think deeper and wider.
Unrelated to the topic but FWIW here is Mr. Weinstein discussing BTC yesterday if you want a sense of his ideas. Seems to strive for intellectual rigor IMO.
Pareto principle +
Spiritual deprivation +
Wicked psychopaths with advanced training in human behavior ==>
How this happens
OP Listen to QuestGiver.
We are in a psychological war.
Put on the Armor of God.
Forgive yourself. Forgive your loved ones.
may the Holy Spirit spark the fore of God's love in your heart and give you peace. In Jesus name, I pray for OP and fam.
POTATUS has such bad ideas, it is a blessing that he is too inept to actually implement them.
There will be disruption for a bit, but the only lasting consequences of his regime will be to make people more doubtful of big tech, big media, career politicians and race hustlers.
I want to become more persuasive. Therefore I am trying to find the best arguments for the neoliberal/totalitarian mindset.
My initial approach was,
Life is unfair!
This is something most of us could accept.
Why is life so unfair?!?!?!?
That a good question. In fact the "answer" may be the driving force of the(ir) argument.
If you believe that life has always been harsh, brutish, and short- then you are able to appreciate the progress that has been made over a relatively short period of time across much of the planet.
However, if you believe
That's just the way it is. Get used it.
or worse
It's so-and-so's fault. UR oPpResSEd!
then Your Individual Power is reduced and so is your empathy for other Individuals
in which case why not believe a group of "officials" could govern like angels if only everyone stopped
ignoring the experts
denying the science
being racist
believing conspiracies
using oil
eating meat
praying
We are winning if for no other reason then that they are losing so spectacularly. We will continue to gain strength and resolve (and tendies?) as they languish and disapparate. Soon.
May we remember that power can corrupt when the power is finally restored to the People.
We may have dodged a bullet with respect to the biological attack launched (prematurely, ineffectively) in 2019.
There will be more if the baddies are not removed.
This could also have been a grand exercise.
Demoralization
Destabilization
Crisis
Normalization
Minimum wage - in reality - appears to me to be negative infinity. I picture some liberal arts students paying to jump through arbitary hoops for ever-increasing (tuition, etc.) costs as the probability of some of them ever receiving compensation for creating actual value approaches zero.
"Minimum wage" on the other hand is a bumper sticker.
Univerisal basic income sounds different and may actually be different. I would like to at least consider it in theory for a moment before I write it off as a similar clap trap.
As a thought experiment, let's assume your first sentence is factual.
Why do you think they want UBI?
Why do you think the average person thinks the average person thinks they want it?