falling-star
1mo ago
It's one thing to know statistically people are doing pedophile shit in other countries or at home without being noticed by police. It's another to know a prominent guy is doing it for years and inviting the famous and powerful to participate. He did it for years before getting caught the first time, then he got a slap on the wrist. Then he did it for more years, got caught, then got killed before he could say who else was involved. That's where the zeal comes from.
falling-star
2mo ago
One of the biggest things I had to deprogram myself of was the idea that consent is all that matters in terms of sexual ethics. Giving someone what they ask for can be the wrong thing. But that doesn't make it rape.
falling-star
2mo ago
This feels like a fully general argument against government secrecy.
falling-star
2mo ago
I'm still plodding through Blood Meridian. The prose is so goddamn beautiful, but I can't engage with it unless I'm close to 100%. Was listening to The Dead South and they gave me the urge to pick it up again.
falling-star
2mo ago
His front door.
falling-star
2mo ago
Hello motte friends. Just want to post and say I'm doing pretty good. Happy even. I'm appreciating my ordinary life. My startup recently ended up in an accelerator and that's really cured my work related feelings of alienation. Been putting deliberate effort into improving relations with my friends and family. That's paid off very quickly. I'm not feeling the whole glowing high power level I felt the week I wrote detailed logs of everything I did, but that's alright.
I'd like a lover to keep, and honestly a wife is starting to sound appealing. Work keeps bringing me to New York, things seem a lot easier there. Big hopes, good vibes.
falling-star
2mo ago
I'll take you up on that deal. No venmo though. Crypto is the preferred way to take money from internet people. I take Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Monero.
falling-star
2mo ago
I made my own currency for my party. I borrowed a friend's 3d printer. Neither of us really knew how to use 3d modeling software, but we were able to fumble through modifying someone's game token into a coin with my initials. We made 48 of them, two of the prints were kinda fucked up and discarded.
Coins were distributed evenly at the start of the party and everyone pitched in as new guests showed up. Observed uses were:
- Making someone a mixed drink (1 coin)
- Getting something out of a car (1 coin)
- Cleaning up someone else's spill (3 coins)
- Messing with the party playlist (1 coin)
- Rights to last bits of food/drink (1 coin)
- Gambling on outcomes of others' games (Max pot size 12 coins)
Seems like people valued them at 1 coin == 1 favor. Next time I want to experiment with different denominations and see if more price granularity develops.
falling-star
2mo ago
Great post. I've had a lingering suspicion that most social conflicts are between the same impulses we've had for thousands of years. Maybe I gotta finally read the Republic. Is there a translation you recommend? Any prerequisite baseline level of familiarity with Greek?
falling-star
2mo ago
They frequently pre-screen applicants before they ever go in front of an engineer or manager.
falling-star
2mo ago
I'm really on board with your first paragraph but not your second. Despite being used like it, bail is not and should not be a form of punishment. It's a way to convincingly vouch that you'll show up to a trial.
I have very mixed feelings about bail funds. I lived in Seattle and watched them repeatedly bail out violent criminals who would go on to do entirely foreseeable violent crime. At the same time, these people haven't been convicted of anything. Knowing someone's guilty is enough to put them on trial, but not enough to keep them in jail.
falling-star
2mo ago
Holy mother of based. Sometimes things do happen.
falling-star
2mo ago
They don't show more agency, they don't do those "bad" things. Agency is actively making choices that don't strictly follow others. This is the same mistake as thinking someone too incapable to commit crime virtuous.
falling-star
3mo ago
I'm Gen Z. They're still playing Street Fighter/Tekken and rambling to me about Dragon Ball Z.
falling-star
3mo ago
I'm going to be in Manhattan for a week on a business trip. What should I do/see outside of working hours?
falling-star
3mo ago
Often you're not getting just money from a VC fund. You're also getting their prestige, connections, and """mentorship""". Sometimes the legitimizing effects of those secondary things is worth more than the money you raise in the first place. Many prestigious and well connected funds have minimum check sizes that are quite large.
There are other incentives to raise more than you need. If you have a failed startup on your resume, people will use how much it raised as a proxy for how far it got. There's also some weird recursive perception things where raising money improves the perceived value of the company. This can frequently result in your stake rising in value more than it's diluted.
falling-star
3mo ago
I like frogs.
falling-star
3mo ago
I'm going to be more kind to my friends and knit a hat that looks like a frog.
falling-star
3mo ago
I ended up getting a fake Rolex as a gift. Person giving it to me said they inherited it and honestly didn't know if it was real or not. I can't find anything that looks the same on the Rolex website, and other parts of it feel off. Still considering getting it fixed up and wearing it in public. What's The Motte's advice on the fake Rolex? Wear it anyway and tell anyone who asks it's a fake? Spend $700 and get a legitimate watch?
falling-star
3mo ago
I really wish we had the level of UI accessibility of that game combined with the deep mechanics and settings of alpha centauri. Friends have played beyond earth with me, nobody wants to play alpha centauri.
falling-star
3mo ago
The vibes are great, the mechanics are deep, the controls and discoverability were dogshit. Or maybe I'm just too zoomer brained.
falling-star
3mo ago
Snuggies are too loose to be attractive. I'm a big fan of the onesie. Feels great to hug a gal in one.
falling-star
4mo ago
Would you say it's immoral for someone to intentionally burn themselves so they could get a cool scar? What about smashing their own (non shared) things in a fit of rage?
falling-star
4mo ago
Was that based on anything or just a typical smear job?
I think you're onto something, but there is an element of reeling people in with these sorts of evil initiations. I think the jailbait entrapment is the first step. Then they either get girls that are progressively younger, or they encourage the mark to act progressively rougher, or both. There's probably some level of drug use to facilitate this. Something like cocaine or amphetamine would decrease inhibitions, increase aggression and sexual desire, and numb feelings of empathy.
I agree with you that there's a cabal of ghouls operating high up in the realms of power. But I think this cabal is better modeled as a self perpetuating group of evil elites actively seeking out other elites to corrupt and blackmail into joining. I don't think it makes sense as a "you must be this evil to join" club.
Regarding taste... I think there are a lot of evil appetites that increase as they feast. Many of the people strung along or blackmailed into extreme sadism or pedophilia may come to like it over time. Then they go on to perpetuate the cabal.
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