Carson + Paul is obviously the best choice. Heal the world + never worry about being sick or getting STDs + end the drug war. Only downside is spending three hours a day praying, which is honestly the easiest downside to deal with.
Also I think Paul’s running mate bonus is supposed to say “decriminalization” in the last paragraph.
Kasich is better than Carson I think. If you have a legion of 11 million loyal followers willing to heed your beck and call you could do pretty much anything and it would be a lot more fun than standing around all day touching people and feeling guilty every second that you’re doing anything else
I’m trying to figure out why Ted’s running mate bonus is supposed to be a good thing lol
I mean you could probably earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a day curing AIDS and cancer if you really just wanted to use it on yourself. Which is arguably just as good if not better than having 11 million loyal followers.
Or you could tax the ohioans just a few dollars a day each to earn a hundred times more.
Assuming “Ohio” means the legal state of Ohio, and not “the territory which currently forms the state of Ohio”, Kasich/Paul is totally OP and broken.
First, I legalize individuals and communities choosing which state to belong to democratically. The other states may whine, but governance only with the consent of the governed doesn’t violate basic rights, so with Paul I can totally do it.
Then I end the drug war. In Ohio, because I’ve legalized states setting their own drug laws.
I decriminalize states setting their own immigration rules, and open the borders in Ohio, defining ohioans as “anyone present in Ohio, or who announces their decision to join Ohio, or who has previously fulfilled either condition and has not renounced their ohioanness” (thus, making me immune to assassinations as anyone who would try to do it would have to travel to Ohio, become ohioan, and stop wanting to assassinate me and start wanting to protect me instead).
Then I implement a basic income in Ohio (for those who have been ohioans for a sufficient amount of time, as I have previously suggested). And all the other cool stuff, in Ohio.
Everyone would give anything for the cause, so I ask the people to be excellent to each other, and otherwise be free to do whatever they want as long as they don’t deprive others of the same right (but if they wish to give to charity they really should prioritize EA instead of Make-a-Wish). Crime in Ohio plummets to zero, and so does poverty, deprivation, and coercion. The economy gets an immense boom from the immigrants, and the abolition of zero-sum and negative-sum bullshit games, and all people working together for their prosperity, like a weird libertarian (or, in fact, full-blown anarchist in all but name) version of North Korea’s propaganda films come true.
The obvious consequence is that a lot of people would want to be a part of Ohio. Just as planned. It won’t take long until Ohio has a population of approximately 200 million and covers a vast fractal shape encompassing most of the major cities.
Then I become the president of the US in the most overwhelming election since Washington, seize control of all brances of the government, and turn my Paul powers to international law instead. Rinse repeat with a bit more restraint to not provoke a nuclear war, and I’ll soon have acquired most of the Americas, the major liberal cities of Europe, and vast swathes of territory in Africa as well (I’m deliberately not touching Russia or China because that way lies armageddon), in this only-nominally-stateful community of freedom and dignity.
It’s immune to invasions because open borders mind control magic, it’s immune to terrorism because surely you wouldn’t want to hurt your fellow ohioans, it’s immune to pretty much everything except ICBMs. For ICBMs my policy will be a clear and ruthless MAD if attacked, but otherwise non-interference in the affairs of the other superpower and the little regional Shitholistan with a superiority complex propped up by its ridiculous nuclear arsenal. In fact, I can afford a comparably submissive foreign policy, letting Russia pick the arctic oil and China get whatever gas fields it wants because our anarchist regime is too rich to care about such slim pickings.
We’re going to outer space instead. All the labor and ingenuity currently wasted in pointless things will be redirected in a program of technology and space colonization (and AI research but I’m assuming no FAI because it kind of cuts everything short and turns things boring). We’re going to cure all the diseases, conquer the Moon, Mars, and everywhere. We’re going to win.
A wise man once asked: “Why does everything always end in world domination with you guys?”
The rationalist answered: “Have you ever tried giving us a scenario that did not have world domination built in?”
To the US I came seeking fortune But they’re making me work til I’m dead The congressmen have it so easy The bankers put gold on their bread The people of the world are so hungry But think what a feast there could be If we could create an anarchist state That cared for the people like me:
I am the man who arranges the blocks That descend upon me from up above. They come down and I spin them around Til they fit in the ground like hand in glove. Sometimes it seems that to move blocks is fine And the lines will be formed as they fall - Then I see that I have misjudged it! I should not have nudged it after all.
Can I have a long one please? Why must these infernal blocks tease?
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. Come Ohioan! To the every last one! An individualist regime of peace and love. I work so hard in arranging the blocks But the landlord and taxman bleed me dry But Ohio will rise! We will not compromise For we know that the old regime must die.
Long live freedom, burn the flags! We salute the orange and black!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. The food on your plate no concern of the state An individualist regime of peace and love. I have my choice in arranging the blocks Under promethean rule, what you say goes. The rule of the game is our rights are the same And my blocks can make my own-shaped rows.
Long live Ohio! It loves you! Sing these words, you know what it’ll do…
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are made by the men from Shitholistan. They came two weeks ago and back there they won’t go Now they’re working to our world conquest plan. I am the man who arranges the nukes That will make all the Putin keep away The hopes have come back, and ‘Murica is Black! Let us point all our dollars at EA.
We shall live forever more! We can start an altruism war!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are building a highly secret base. Hip hip hurray for the AS of A! We are sending our men to outer space.
This is #amazing, you are #amazing, 10/10.
Note to self: Sing this when I have microphone access.
Orange and black is just the general symbol I use for free market anarchism to distinguish the anarchism of Utopian Ohio from anarcho-capitalism (yellow and black) and anarcho-communism (red and black). A utopian “would you kindly be excellent to each other” anarchism would have basically the best features of both.
Mutualism is one form of these free-market anarchisms but I don’t personally necessarily subscribe to it because the labor theory of value and “same work for same work” break horribly (even some red-black people I’ve talked to about the theory agree that it has bad incentive structures), and occupancy-and-use also has some pretty significant issues.
I don’t do theory on that level because that level is pretty much only good for eulering people, but “I’m opting out of the capitalism debate so +free market, -crony capitalism, +anarchism” is roughly the direction I’m intensely gesturing in for the purposes of moving towards a society of A Bit Less Bullshit. (Somalia is a surprisingly less-bullshitty place considering that it’s a third-world Shitholistan with an islamist infestation and a civil war, so not having the state make things even worse by propping up robber barons seems to have at least some empirical support (I suspect it’s doing relatively well because they don’t have sea slugs in the desert). And Turkey needs to let Rojava try their thing without fucking with other people’s experiments. Because you know who fucked with other people’s experiments? Stalin. Be smart, don’t be like Stalin.) And every red-black I know calls me orange-black so I’m not protesting because at least that way they don’t outgroup me into yellow-black.
So there’s this thing that happens when people are in a group, especially when that group is dedicated to feminism or SJ, where people decide that the outgroup has bad dynamics and they’re going to reject them.
A few examples: “Men are privileged in our society, therefore, we’re going to make sure that women do most of the talking and planning in this group. Male allies can listen and agree, but mustn’t talk over the women.” “Allistic people’s social norms are bullshit, we’re going to work in accordance with the social norms that feel right for autistic people like us, and allistic people who feel uncomfortable can piss off.” “We’re completely opting out of binary gender, people can identify as anything and use any pronouns they like, and if people won’t use my nounself pronouns, they’re rude.”
Now let me be clear: I think this is a value-neutral thing. It’s not bad to reject outgroup norms in favour of your ingroup, and it’s not necessarily bad to expect people interacting with your ingroup to abide by your outgroup’s norms. For example, if your ingroup has a norm of expecting rational, coherent arguments, and someone comes in spewing badly-formed Nazi apologism, no one is going to be too happy. But I think some varieties of feminism have dominated the landscape of the left long enough that they’ve changed the norms to the point where they’re Not Okay anymore.
For example:
“It is acceptable to say things like ‘men are worthless and disgusting’, or even ‘kill all men’, as long as I say after the fact that I was joking. Never mind that it hurts men of colour, trans men, depressed men, and men with scrupulosity issues.”.
“Male allies are never allowed to contribute to discussion or debate, because they have nothing of value to say.”
“Trans women are not really women and are going to be excluded from all women’s spaces (or even worse: ‘are even more disgusting than cis men and [insert grossness here]”. Or the flipside of that, “trans women are more important than cis woman, should have final say in all discussions about what it means to be a woman or what it means to be trans, and are never wrong, even when they’re saying things that are patently false”.
“People need to fuck people who they’re not attracted to, or they’re transphobic.”
“Trans men are worse than cis men because they chose to take on masculinity and should [insert grossness here]”, or, conversely, “trans men are more pure than cis men because they weren’t raised with male privilege, they’re not really men, and thus are allowed to talk because they’re not icky cis men.”
“It’s acceptable to use ableist slurs, fat-shaming, various other forms of body-shaming, and even (if the person saying these things is truly terrible) suicide baiting, as long as it’s against nerdy cis men.”
“Consent ethics is so intuitive that anyone can understand it and it’s a requirement of being a decent person… what do you mean you’re autistic?! What do you mean that social rules aren’t intuitive to you and you need explanation on how to follow them? I don’t need to explain myself to you, creep!”
And so on, and so on, and so on.
Sometimes it feels like, in trying to fight oppression and discrimination, we have gone too far in the exact opposite direction. Within our own communities, we’re perpetuating dynamics that are the exact opposite of the ones we’ve been fighting, where certain people don’t get to talk because of their genitalia or their trans status.
Let me be clear, I think the dynamics we’re trying to get rid of still exist in the outside world- I mean, the backlash to the two new Star Wars movies having female leads is enough to prove that.
But within the community? You’ve got trans guys afraid to come out because they know that they’ll be ripped to shreds by angry people- or worse, feeling guilty about being trans because they’re afraid identifying as a dude will make them a bad person. You’ve got cis guys- especially gender non-conforming cis guys- feeling guilty and disgusting about who and what they are, with no way to change it and no way to tell people what they’re doing is not okay, and unscrupulous people like monetizeyourcat trying to get them to transition for political reasons. You’ve got people playing Oppression Olympics just to be heard, people lying about their gender or trans status or race so that people will listen to them, abusers using their status as oppressed victims to make their Less Oppressed partners look bad… it’s a mess.
Determining a hierarchy of who gets to talk and who doesn’t, perpetuating violent ableism, judging people’s worth based on their genitals or appearance, telling people that they should die based on things they can’t help- aren’t these the things we’re trying to fight? Isn’t the goal to give everyone a fighting chance to be heard?
Previously guilty to a couple of these, nowadays working to eradicate them all.
Okay, for the good of all who aren’t aware of the context, here goes:
The word fedora comes from the title of an 1882 play by dramatist Victorien Sardou, Fédora being written for Sarah Bernhardt.[10] The play was first performed in the United States in 1889. Bernhardt played Princess Fédora, the heroine of the play. During the play, Bernhardt – a notorious cross-dresser – wore a center-creased, soft brimmed hat. The hat was fashionable for women, and the women’s rights movement adopted it as a symbol.[2][11]
Ada, Countess of Lovelace (néeByron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.[1][2][3]
And “red pill” is obviously from the Matrix by the Wachowski sisters.
The irony is in claiming women haven’t invented anything important while one’s cultural signifiers have been either invented and pioneered by women, originally been made for women (or girls), or both at the same time.
Carson + Paul is obviously the best choice. Heal the world + never worry about being sick or getting STDs + end the drug war. Only downside is spending three hours a day praying, which is honestly the easiest downside to deal with.
Also I think Paul’s running mate bonus is supposed to say “decriminalization” in the last paragraph.
Kasich is better than Carson I think. If you have a legion of 11 million loyal followers willing to heed your beck and call you could do pretty much anything and it would be a lot more fun than standing around all day touching people and feeling guilty every second that you’re doing anything else
I’m trying to figure out why Ted’s running mate bonus is supposed to be a good thing lol
I mean you could probably earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a day curing AIDS and cancer if you really just wanted to use it on yourself. Which is arguably just as good if not better than having 11 million loyal followers.
Or you could tax the ohioans just a few dollars a day each to earn a hundred times more.
Assuming “Ohio” means the legal state of Ohio, and not “the territory which currently forms the state of Ohio”, Kasich/Paul is totally OP and broken.
First, I legalize individuals and communities choosing which state to belong to democratically. The other states may whine, but governance only with the consent of the governed doesn’t violate basic rights, so with Paul I can totally do it.
Then I end the drug war. In Ohio, because I’ve legalized states setting their own drug laws.
I decriminalize states setting their own immigration rules, and open the borders in Ohio, defining ohioans as “anyone present in Ohio, or who announces their decision to join Ohio, or who has previously fulfilled either condition and has not renounced their ohioanness” (thus, making me immune to assassinations as anyone who would try to do it would have to travel to Ohio, become ohioan, and stop wanting to assassinate me and start wanting to protect me instead).
Then I implement a basic income in Ohio (for those who have been ohioans for a sufficient amount of time, as I have previously suggested). And all the other cool stuff, in Ohio.
Everyone would give anything for the cause, so I ask the people to be excellent to each other, and otherwise be free to do whatever they want as long as they don’t deprive others of the same right (but if they wish to give to charity they really should prioritize EA instead of Make-a-Wish). Crime in Ohio plummets to zero, and so does poverty, deprivation, and coercion. The economy gets an immense boom from the immigrants, and the abolition of zero-sum and negative-sum bullshit games, and all people working together for their prosperity, like a weird libertarian (or, in fact, full-blown anarchist in all but name) version of North Korea’s propaganda films come true.
The obvious consequence is that a lot of people would want to be a part of Ohio. Just as planned. It won’t take long until Ohio has a population of approximately 200 million and covers a vast fractal shape encompassing most of the major cities.
Then I become the president of the US in the most overwhelming election since Washington, seize control of all brances of the government, and turn my Paul powers to international law instead. Rinse repeat with a bit more restraint to not provoke a nuclear war, and I’ll soon have acquired most of the Americas, the major liberal cities of Europe, and vast swathes of territory in Africa as well (I’m deliberately not touching Russia or China because that way lies armageddon), in this only-nominally-stateful community of freedom and dignity.
It’s immune to invasions because open borders mind control magic, it’s immune to terrorism because surely you wouldn’t want to hurt your fellow ohioans, it’s immune to pretty much everything except ICBMs. For ICBMs my policy will be a clear and ruthless MAD if attacked, but otherwise non-interference in the affairs of the other superpower and the little regional Shitholistan with a superiority complex propped up by its ridiculous nuclear arsenal. In fact, I can afford a comparably submissive foreign policy, letting Russia pick the arctic oil and China get whatever gas fields it wants because our anarchist regime is too rich to care about such slim pickings.
We’re going to outer space instead. All the labor and ingenuity currently wasted in pointless things will be redirected in a program of technology and space colonization (and AI research but I’m assuming no FAI because it kind of cuts everything short and turns things boring). We’re going to cure all the diseases, conquer the Moon, Mars, and everywhere. We’re going to win.
A wise man once asked: “Why does everything always end in world domination with you guys?”
The rationalist answered: “Have you ever tried giving us a scenario that did not have world domination built in?”
To the US I came seeking fortune But they’re making me work til I’m dead The congressmen have it so easy The bankers put gold on their bread The people of the world are so hungry But think what a feast there could be If we could create an anarchist state That cared for the people like me:
I am the man who arranges the blocks That descend upon me from up above. They come down and I spin them around Til they fit in the ground like hand in glove. Sometimes it seems that to move blocks is fine And the lines will be formed as they fall - Then I see that I have misjudged it! I should not have nudged it after all.
Can I have a long one please? Why must these infernal blocks tease?
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. Come Ohioan! To the every last one! An individualist regime of peace and love. I work so hard in arranging the blocks But the landlord and taxman bleed me dry But Ohio will rise! We will not compromise For we know that the old regime must die.
Long live freedom, burn the flags! We salute the orange and black!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. The food on your plate no concern of the state An individualist regime of peace and love. I have my choice in arranging the blocks Under promethean rule, what you say goes. The rule of the game is our rights are the same And my blocks can make my own-shaped rows.
Long live Ohio! It loves you! Sing these words, you know what it’ll do…
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are made by the men from Shitholistan. They came two weeks ago and back there they won’t go Now they’re working to our world conquest plan. I am the man who arranges the nukes That will make all the Putin keep away The hopes have come back, and ‘Murica is Black! Let us point all our dollars at EA.
We shall live forever more! We can start an altruism war!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are building a highly secret base. Hip hip hurray for the AS of A! We are sending our men to outer space.
I’m not sure where Tetris came into this, but this is amusing as heck.
Because after writing it I realized that it was such a perfect match for this very important song that I just had to include it:
Seriously, I did not consciously try to make it fit, then I was like okay this is obviously such a brilliant shitpost that I just couldn’t not do it. Even the ordering of things is mostly the same.
It’s kinda stupefying how many people when they learn something about other human beings that they had never heard of anything like it before and never imagined anything like it before confuse “I just learned” with “this is brand new and is an aberration that has never existed in the entire universe before now. I must decide if it should be allowed.”
Also how few people react with “wow, that’s cool. I live on a rock in space with these creatures just like me who do things I could never have imagined”.
Sometimes I feel like people say “diversity is interesting” but they really mean “I like when I learn a new thing that is still enough like all the old things to be comprehensible to me”
Like do you actually think it’s great that this world has people who suspend themselves from body piercings and people who sexualise balloons and people who dress up as dogs for fun on the weekends? Because I legit do. Or do you just think it’s quirky that some people have pink hair?
My moral philosophy rests upon a foundation of making more variety in the Universe so we all have decent lives. I might, possibly, never suspend myself from body piercings or wear an animal costume, but I’d be a monster if I stopped people from doing that sort of thing. Yes, I do take acceptance, enabling, and encouragement to an extreme (had serious conversations with @woodswordsquire about whether creatures that experience suffering constantly should be made in morphological freedom utopia), but in a Universe where humans tend to be horrible to anything that’s a bit different, there needs to be some balance.
It’s kinda stupefying how many people when they learn something about other human beings that they had never heard of anything like it before and never imagined anything like it before confuse “I just learned” with “this is brand new and is an aberration that has never existed in the entire universe before now. I must decide if it should be allowed.”
Reblogging especially for this. These kind of people are Worst Humans and should stop doing it.
Also, please don’t make constantly suffering creatures in morphological freedom utopia. Morphological freedom utopia is not for suffering-creation purposes.
A deadly powdered drug is catching the attention of U.S. lawmakers, and it isn’t heroin or cocaine.
It’s pure caffeine powder.
A single teaspoon of pure caffeine powder is equal to around 28 cups of coffee, and “very small amounts may cause accidental overdose,” according to the Food and Drug Administration. Overdose symptoms “can include rapid or dangerously erratic heartbeat, seizures and death.“
The powder is sold in bulk bags over the internet, and it’s nearly impossible to measure out safe doses using everyday kitchen tools. “Volume measures, such as teaspoons, are not precise enough to calculate how many milligrams of caffeine are in the serving size,” according to the FDA.
A teaspoon of pure caffeine powder is equal to around 28 cups of coffee.Source: Jessica Hill/AP
Senators want to ban it: In a letter sent to the FDA on Tuesday, Democratic senators campaigned for a federal ban on the sale of pure caffeine powder, theHillreported. The senators reportedly said the FDA has been a “bitter disappointment” in dealing with the dangerous product.
The lawmakers’ concern stems from two overdose deaths from pure caffeine powder in 2014.
The first was Logan Stiner, a high school senior who died after using caffeine powder to boost his energy — but misjudged the dosage, according to the New York Times. The second was James Wade Sweatt, a 24-year-old recent college graduate who reportedly died after consuming a blended drink containing caffeine powder.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is among the lawmakers seeking a federal ban on pure caffeine powder.Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
What the FDA has done so far: In a statement following Stiner and Sweatt’s deaths, the FDA recommended that people avoid pure caffeine powder. And in 2015, the agency sent “warning letters” to five distributors of the powder, “because these products are dangerous and present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury to consumers,” according to a statement.
But it hasn’t been enough, the senators argued.
“It is disturbing that despite two unintended and untimely deaths associated with powdered caffeine, the FDA has done little to regulate these products or adequately enforce the standards in place to protect Americans,” their letter read, according to the Hill.
“These products do not provide a way to measure a safe dosage per FDA recommendations, and are sold in quantities that could easily kill hundreds of individuals if ingested incorrectly,” the letter also stated.
Caffeine kills in other ways, too: We’re talking about energy drinks, like Rockstar and Red Bull. A November study found that consuming just one energy drink causes a significant spike in blood pressure — a risk factor for stroke and heart attacks, Mic reported at the time.
The FDA has also investigated a number of deaths in recent years linked to Monster and 5-Hour Energy shots.
“I bet a lot of people don’t realize how much caffeine they’re getting,“ Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist and director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at NYU Langone Medical Center, said at the time.
*two people under the age of 25 die of doing something ridiculous*
“lawmakers cracking down on new drug of choice for youths”
“I bet a lot of people don’t realize how much caffeine they’re getting,“
Wow, I guess what we’d better do is crack down on the one mechanism of caffeine distribution where you do know exactly how much you’re getting.
It’s an uncalled-for meddling proposal, I’m the first to agree.
But taking caffeine powder is honestly a pretty dumb way to do it. I can think of any good reason to choose it over pills, and you’re much more likely to take the wrong dose by mistake.
And I say this with a large bottle of caffeine pills right in front of me on my desk. People have an irrational aversion to caffeine pills because they’re more obviously drugs—even though you can go into any coffeeshop and get more caffeine than is in a normal pill.
I think the main use I’d have for powder would be in making things that aren’t caffeinated be caffeinated. This *does* entail some sizeable risk of a dosing error if you’re not careful, and caffeine is not very forgiving, but it’s also probably pretty neat to be able to have an arbitrary power of caffeination. Caffeinated ice cream? Done. Caffeinated chocolate dessert? Done. Caffeinated scrambled eggs? No one can stop you. It’d be a cooking ingredient.
The ban idea is silly. It’s already buried away on the Internet where you need to know you’re looking for it to find it, it isn’t like there’s pouches of it in supermarkets convincing foolish people in a hurry to grab it and accidentally take 20 coffees at once, and that deals with about 99% of any problem.
Even from a consequentialist viewpoint, they need a remaining problem they’re solving first and the candidate they propose isn’t much of one.
Completely agree that banning seems an overwrought reaction to the situation, but I’m going to second the recommendation to just use pills b/c it’s a lot easier to get the dosage right. If you want powder, you can always grind the pills yourself, my roommate used to and it seemed pretty easy.
Yeah I’m kind of confused – what is caffeine powder doing for anyone except occasionally killing people?
I am wary of the cooking ingredient idea – at best it’d be a largely frivolous/novelty-value seasoning which is lethal if you swallow a tablespoon of it, which seems like pushing “high risk, low return” to comedic levels
Still seems like at most this calls for a big warning label or restrictions that only allow it in “would have been banned stores” or something.
Sell standardized 3-10% (not sure which concentration would be optimal) caffeine powder in regular shops for safer dosing by unskilled people, reserve pure powder to the same stores selling pure heroin. Seems ridiculously obvious to me.
Carson + Paul is obviously the best choice. Heal the world + never worry about being sick or getting STDs + end the drug war. Only downside is spending three hours a day praying, which is honestly the easiest downside to deal with.
Also I think Paul’s running mate bonus is supposed to say “decriminalization” in the last paragraph.
Kasich is better than Carson I think. If you have a legion of 11 million loyal followers willing to heed your beck and call you could do pretty much anything and it would be a lot more fun than standing around all day touching people and feeling guilty every second that you’re doing anything else
I’m trying to figure out why Ted’s running mate bonus is supposed to be a good thing lol
I mean you could probably earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a day curing AIDS and cancer if you really just wanted to use it on yourself. Which is arguably just as good if not better than having 11 million loyal followers.
Or you could tax the ohioans just a few dollars a day each to earn a hundred times more.
Assuming “Ohio” means the legal state of Ohio, and not “the territory which currently forms the state of Ohio”, Kasich/Paul is totally OP and broken.
First, I legalize individuals and communities choosing which state to belong to democratically. The other states may whine, but governance only with the consent of the governed doesn’t violate basic rights, so with Paul I can totally do it.
Then I end the drug war. In Ohio, because I’ve legalized states setting their own drug laws.
I decriminalize states setting their own immigration rules, and open the borders in Ohio, defining ohioans as “anyone present in Ohio, or who announces their decision to join Ohio, or who has previously fulfilled either condition and has not renounced their ohioanness” (thus, making me immune to assassinations as anyone who would try to do it would have to travel to Ohio, become ohioan, and stop wanting to assassinate me and start wanting to protect me instead).
Then I implement a basic income in Ohio (for those who have been ohioans for a sufficient amount of time, as I have previously suggested). And all the other cool stuff, in Ohio.
Everyone would give anything for the cause, so I ask the people to be excellent to each other, and otherwise be free to do whatever they want as long as they don’t deprive others of the same right (but if they wish to give to charity they really should prioritize EA instead of Make-a-Wish). Crime in Ohio plummets to zero, and so does poverty, deprivation, and coercion. The economy gets an immense boom from the immigrants, and the abolition of zero-sum and negative-sum bullshit games, and all people working together for their prosperity, like a weird libertarian (or, in fact, full-blown anarchist in all but name) version of North Korea’s propaganda films come true.
The obvious consequence is that a lot of people would want to be a part of Ohio. Just as planned. It won’t take long until Ohio has a population of approximately 200 million and covers a vast fractal shape encompassing most of the major cities.
Then I become the president of the US in the most overwhelming election since Washington, seize control of all brances of the government, and turn my Paul powers to international law instead. Rinse repeat with a bit more restraint to not provoke a nuclear war, and I’ll soon have acquired most of the Americas, the major liberal cities of Europe, and vast swathes of territory in Africa as well (I’m deliberately not touching Russia or China because that way lies armageddon), in this only-nominally-stateful community of freedom and dignity.
It’s immune to invasions because open borders mind control magic, it’s immune to terrorism because surely you wouldn’t want to hurt your fellow ohioans, it’s immune to pretty much everything except ICBMs. For ICBMs my policy will be a clear and ruthless MAD if attacked, but otherwise non-interference in the affairs of the other superpower and the little regional Shitholistan with a superiority complex propped up by its ridiculous nuclear arsenal. In fact, I can afford a comparably submissive foreign policy, letting Russia pick the arctic oil and China get whatever gas fields it wants because our anarchist regime is too rich to care about such slim pickings.
We’re going to outer space instead. All the labor and ingenuity currently wasted in pointless things will be redirected in a program of technology and space colonization (and AI research but I’m assuming no FAI because it kind of cuts everything short and turns things boring). We’re going to cure all the diseases, conquer the Moon, Mars, and everywhere. We’re going to win.
A wise man once asked: “Why does everything always end in world domination with you guys?”
The rationalist answered: “Have you ever tried giving us a scenario that did not have world domination built in?”
To the US I came seeking fortune But they’re making me work til I’m dead The congressmen have it so easy The bankers put gold on their bread The people of the world are so hungry But think what a feast there could be If we could create an anarchist state That cared for the people like me:
I am the man who arranges the blocks That descend upon me from up above. They come down and I spin them around Til they fit in the ground like hand in glove. Sometimes it seems that to move blocks is fine And the lines will be formed as they fall - Then I see that I have misjudged it! I should not have nudged it after all.
Can I have a long one please? Why must these infernal blocks tease?
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. Come Ohioan! To the every last one! An individualist regime of peace and love. I work so hard in arranging the blocks But the landlord and taxman bleed me dry But Ohio will rise! We will not compromise For we know that the old regime must die.
Long live freedom, burn the flags! We salute the orange and black!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. The food on your plate no concern of the state An individualist regime of peace and love. I have my choice in arranging the blocks Under promethean rule, what you say goes. The rule of the game is our rights are the same And my blocks can make my own-shaped rows.
Long live Ohio! It loves you! Sing these words, you know what it’ll do…
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are made by the men from Shitholistan. They came two weeks ago and back there they won’t go Now they’re working to our world conquest plan. I am the man who arranges the nukes That will make all the Putin keep away The hopes have come back, and ‘Murica is Black! Let us point all our dollars at EA.
We shall live forever more! We can start an altruism war!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are building a highly secret base. Hip hip hurray for the AS of A! We are sending our men to outer space.
The CEO of Bioviva USA Inc, Elizabeth Parrish, claims to be the first human in world history to have successfully reversed the effects of natural ageing - thanks to experimental gene therapy provided by her company.
Parrish first underwent gene therapy in 2015 - one designed to protect against muscle mass depletion that is inherent to ageing and another to fight stem cell depletion due to age-related diseases.
Originally meant to prove that her company’s gene therapy was safe, the results - should they prove to be effective in the long-term and withstand due scientific scrutiny - would be the very first successful demonstration of telomere lengthening in any human.
Another first world problem: ageing…
I think you’ll find this is a human world problem!
Low median age just means society has a lot of young people, it doesn’t mean that those young people won’t get old.
You will notice that average life expectancies are all below 80 years, I wonder why that is. Perhaps because people, all people, universally, get old and die?
Reducing malaria and HIV deaths in Africa will increase ageing related deaths, and those people already in their 70s would no doubt be interested in solutions to this problem that the first world might happen to develop.
In this decade, this will probably cost six digits.
In the next, five.
In the next, four.
By that time millions of people will have been murdered by their governments through their refusal to provide anti-aging therapies through public healthcare even though treatment for aging-related diseases, nursery homes etc. end up ultimately costing far more. Others will die because states will seek to regulate and ban this technology because people are owned by the collective mob and bodily autonomy is subject to popular approval. Many will perish because the tragedy of poverty assigns their lives literally insignificant value. Some will be denied life through the pressure of
After that, after the systems have taken their collective heads out of their asses, when people no longer need to sneak off to Shitholistan to receive treatments, when the bloodlust of the moralists has been sated and when technology has brought the horrendous expenses down, just like it has done with genetic sequencing, death might finally feel the first blows of its own aging.
We will rejoice in this retaliation. The greatest murderer of them all is the only one deserving execution, and one day it will stop escaping justice.
The dragon-tyrant will fall.
And with strange aeons, even death may die.
Uhh, I think this is just a bit of fiddling with the telomeres to account for someone with a genetic disorder. This may not actually do anything for anyone else.(or for anyone, actually) Even if it does, I suspect it won’t be much.
The important thing is that they are working on it, and achieving some outcomes. Rejecting anti-aging is far, embracing it is near, and these things help us get from abstract moralistic far mode to “I want more life, motherfucker” near mode.
