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Notes -
I think you're onto something personally. I also have a slight lean toward esotericism, not a very hot take incoming but I feel we are missing much regarding consciousness and the capabilities of the mind. Perhaps that even relates to your discussion of UFOs as well.
I used to be very materialist, but I'm a lot more open-minded now because I think there's freedom of choice at the most fundamental level when we are building our models, and there's nothing wrong with constructing a theory of reality that allows for immaterial phenomenon. I don't believe we should shove so much stuff under the Occam's Razor rug. We don't have to choose some subjective "simplest" explanation, we can choose whatever explanation and mental model/theory that happens to be useful at the time, and experiment with and construct different models, we can be creative with our mental models of reality just because we can. And also, because we might just live in a crazy/esotericist world where being willing to change your model of reality is what allows you to maintain maximum utility across different times and circumstances. I don't know if I explained that well, maybe it sounds like crazy rambling.
Anyway, I agree it seems like we're heading for some kind of event horizon. One point I'd disagree with is birth rate collapse being "spooky": it seems to be more first-world countries experiencing this, with cultural causes that have been discussed on this site a decent amount, no? Although to your point, I suppose it is unusual how successful the spread of those behavioral shifts that decrease birth rate was.
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