domain:savenshine.com
MathWizard
Good things are good
12hr ago
Sure, but my example is basically a disproof by counterexample. In this example, prices don't match utility, therefore, the statement "prices always match utility" is logically false. It's really easy to disprove an "always" statement with a single example, even a hypothetical one, because an "always" statement is such a strong claim that it's almost never true. Utility value and market value are different things: sometimes they will be equal, sometimes they will not. I'm not saying they're never equal, I'm not saying they won't usually be close, especially in an efficient market. My point is that markets in the real world are not always efficient, therefore the two values are not always equal in the real world. This should not be controversial.
sarker
It isn't happening, and if it is, it's a bad thing
12hr ago
OliveTapenade
12hr ago
Pretty much the same as past expansions. If you play FFXIV for the mechanics and don't care about story, I recommend Dawntrail as more of the same.
If you haven't played FFXIV at all...
It is a WoW-style MMO, and specifically, modern-WoW-style, where party finder tools make it easy to engage in fundamentally linear mechanical challenges. It's not like classic WoW in that you do not experiment with different character builds or party comps much, since all class builds are pre-set, and party comp does not matter very much. It's also not a game for you if you enjoy the social challenge of MMOs, so if you're into classic WoW but dislike modern WoW, I'd suggest that FFXIV is probably not for you.
That said, if you like the WoW theme park model, with lots of directed challenges, FFXIV does that very well. The hardest challenges, though, are much more about optimisation and execution than they are about innovation or creativity.
Skibboleth
12hr ago
A focus on reducing obesity and preventing sickness would be a welcome change.
Reducing obesity is a goal, not a policy. Obama focused on reducing obesity. Didn't achieve much. What is the Trump administration and the GOP going to do? What policies that are both effective and palatable to a) Republican voters b) Republican elites do you expect them to pursue
What changes would you propose?
Tax sugar (or Ozempic4All, if you're feeling pro-injection and like free healthcare). Invest in public transit and rework urban planning (15min cities are back, baby) so people drive less (fewer car accidents) and have more active lives (-obesity, +basically every other aspect of human health).
Of course, these are already ballot box poison (and that's before we even try to do anything about suicide, where massive social engineering might be more politically viable than restricting access to guns). Which points back to what I was originally saying: low American life expectancy is revealed preference re: lifestyle. Policies to address these issues have been floated repeatedly and outside of a few locations they've been shot down.
(Not a clue, re: drugs. There's some proximate interventions you can do to reduce OD deaths, but that's just nibbling around the edges of the problem)
Cities like Chicago and DC have done literally everything that establishment figures say is good, and look at the results.
Can you be more specific? Which establishment figures, which policies?
Sidebar: I would note that the stereotypically very liberal states like CA and NY have the highest life expectancy; the worst states are in the ultraconservative Deep South. Again, I don't think this is really about policy (cf. Idaho, which is also extremely conservative), except perhaps insofar as state governments could spend money on ameliorating the consequences of Southerners' unusually unhealthy lifestyles but don't (generally with the support of their electorate).
I am not aware. Here in Seattle open air drug markets are tolerated and people who have been arrested for dozens of crimes (including violent crimes) are frequently released onto the streets without trial. It's hard to imagine a more lenient system.
Well I'm pleased to inform you that the world did not start three years ago, nor did America's durable problems with drug use and violent crime, nor its unusually harsh sentencing practices. The US has mass incarceration. It, rather notoriously, has more prisoners per capita than almost anywhere on Earth, including actual totalitarian regimes. It doesn't seem to have had the desired effect. Unless you can do something about the processes that produce new criminals, the problem isn't going to go away just by throwing more and more people in prison.
Dean
12hr ago
But here in America, we're rarely exposed to the British working class.
Out of curiosity, what did Harry Potter qualify as?
hydroacetylene
13hr ago
I wonder if Gaetz is a maximally unacceptable figure put forth to make the still-controversial real appointment more palatable.
FD4280
13hr ago
Is the gameplay any good by modern standards? After a long hiatus from both, EverQuest felt horrible, but WoW Classic held up pretty well.
quiet_NaN
13hr ago
I am not sure that the utility value concept is coherent.
So all the farmers quit one day and the rest of the economy stays the same, magically. People will likely decide that they want food more than they want shelter, move out of their rented buildings and spend their rent on what food there is to be had, establishing a utility value of food.
Except now the people running the waterworks also go on strike, and there is a water shortage. Very quickly, people decide that they would rather drink than eat. Nobody would waste precious water to irrigate crops.
And then some acute threat of violence looms, and people will trade their precious water so that they are not ripped apart by velociraptors in the next minute.
Depending on what their most urgent need is, that piece of bread is worth 1$, or a kings ransom, or nothing. So what should its utility value be?
cjet79
13hr ago
I think they also do algorithms based on time spent watching a thing.
But I feel like your approach is backwards anyways. You should be liking the interesting and enlightening content. Some people will specialize in it. It's better to follow them.
cjet79
13hr ago
I love how flexible the game is. It does feel like they designed things with certain play styles and strategies in mind. But you can usually just overwhelm the "optimal" path with enough resources.
We did not optimize on Nauvis. I went after it with three players initially which is almost overkill for the early gameplay. Someone working on core factory, someone working on resource gathering and extraction, and then someone killing bugs.
I feel like if you are naming build strategies and talking about complex circuit network setups then you are at the top of the play curve.
Supah_Schmendrick
13hr ago
My grandfather taught me to solve chess puzzles with him from old magazines, kicked a soccer ball and threw a baseball with me, took me to the local small community college's football games and tried to explain what was going on (in retrospect he failed mostly because the gameplay was so sloppy it defied normal football analysis). Took me to local small-town orchestra concerts, went on small hikes in the hills, etc., talked with me about my favorite books, dinosaurs, etc.
Oopz
13hr ago
Okay the world is getting crazy.
About 10 years ago I made the decision to not fully allow any one algorithm to curate what content I consume. I also made the decision to not like videos, tweets, posts and other content as I was worried that when you like something the algorithm decides you want to see more of something which inherently means you want to see less of something else. I had fomo for new novel information I guess.
However there is just too much information. And every field is advancing at a rate never seen before. I need to keep up. I need to keep digesting this wonderful juicy magnificent information that my ancestors could only dream of. I NEEED IT ALL. I need to know everything. Just the fact I've avoided algorithms (not completely) for 10 years means that I have a wide range of interests and it's allowed to make novel discoveries about our world just from the comfort of my bedroom. We live in quite unbelievable times really.
Please guys how do I curate information from all over the internet ?
How do I watch the internet from above?
How do I collate information from 4chan, crypto, Data secrets lox, Productivity, history, biohacking, Lesswrong, AI , UFO, Singularity, Robotics, Ray Peat, Paranormal, Biophysics, Genetics, Epigentics, Quantum Computing, Looksmaxxing, Slatestarcodex, YouTube, Apricity, scientific studies, Substack, Astrology, Neurofeedback Autism, etc, without losing my mind?
(Partial answers and Speculative answers welcome.)
(Also if you think there is a better place to ask this question please let me know. If you think there is a better way to ask this question please let me know.)
Amadan
I will be here longer than you
13hr ago
You're going to need to provide more than just a Twitter link to post a new thread.
cjet79
13hr ago
Vulcanus is a great first planet. It is most similar to Nauvis gameplay, but even lower maintenance. You can basically get infinite copper, iron, and sulfuric acid within the drop zone.
Meta is go big and build massive factories. Which is good cuz the enemies on the planet require an extensive expenditure of resources.
There is also some minor opportunity for space mining. Little asteroids will come at you above Nauvis. Early game that just means iron, carbon, and ice. But a free trickle of iron after an initial investment isn't bad.
The_Nybbler
Does not have a yacht
14hr ago
Yes, and it has to be this way because anyone providing me a necessary service must be paid less per person that I am paid. Otherwise I can’t afford those necessary services.
Err, no. This would only be true if those people were providing you AND ONLY YOU the necessary service. In actual fact, farmers, truckers, and shelf stackers provide services to many people.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
14hr ago
It doesn't matter how "competent" they are, the Justice Department will simply ignore them, along with Gaetz, and keep on as they are now. None of Trump's appointments will have any actual power over the agencies, whose personnel will prove impossible to fire. The only way the "Deep State" is getting removed is in body bags:
FBI has to be removed permanently. They are dangerous. They have committed enormous crimes, which if unpunished, will be repeated sooner or later. They have to be eliminated, or we lose.
First step is Trump’s truth commission, and RFK Junior’s gold standard science (restoring the scientific method).
First we have to expose and prove the crimes. Then it becomes possible to do what is necessary to prevent repetition. Whether Trump is able and willing to do what is necessary remains to be seen. The judges that staffed the FISA court have to die. They are too dangerous to live.
If the FBI and the rest live, Trump, Musk, and any namefag so incautious as to have spoken the truth will die.
Musk knows what the time is. Does Trump?
Once elite cooperation collapses, then it is time to win or die.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
14hr ago
Well, I wasn't familiar with Gaetz before this, so I'm mostly going off the reactions of others to his appointment. There's two things I find interesting.
The first also holds for many of Trump's other appointments, it's just the most stark in the case of Gaetz and Justice. And that's the take that he'll be useless as AG because he's not an insider, he's going to try (and fail) to tell people at Justice to do things they don't want to do, and that he'll get nothing done as they refuse to obey him, since they'll only "obey" an insider who only "orders" them to do things they already want to do. Pretty much admitting to what I keep saying (as does Yarvin): that, regardless of what it says on some musty old bit of paper, the Permanent Bureaucracy doesn't actually answer to their appointed "heads," nor the elected politicians that appoint them; that they set their own policies, and maintain them regardless of how the votes go, and that Our Democracy™ is mostly a sham. (Again, my only hope for the second Trump term is that the utter uselessness of even a Republican "trifecta" finally convinces enough right-wing Americans that no amount of voting can halt the leftward slide, and thus the only things to do are either give up, accept defeat, and lie down to rot; or else grab their friends, grab their guns, and march on DC to put bullets into Swamp Creature heads.)
Second, that Thomas G. Moukawsher at Newsweek and the Dreaded Jim have both compared Gaetz to Caligula's horse Incitatus, albeit with opposite valences of approval, and very different predictions of outcome:
If Senate confirmation still matters, all is lost. I don’t think it matters any more, but to maintain the pretence of still mattering, the Senate will confirm him, so that they can continue to pretend to matter.
Matt Gaetz has been compared to Caligula’s horse, in that he is wildly unpalatable to the Senate. The difference being that Caligula’s horse was unpalatable because incapable of functioning as a Consul, while Matt Gaetz is unpalatable because far too capable of functioning as Attorney General.
Our Senate will confirm him, as the Roman Senate confirmed Caligula’s horse.
and?
Take a look at Matt’s many Youtube videos of his finest moments. When the senate votes “confirm” despite all that, it will be a lot more amusing than Caligula’s horse.
and:
FBI has to be removed permanently. They are dangerous. They have committed enormous crimes, which if unpunished, will be repeated sooner or later. They have to be eliminated, or we lose.
cjet79
14hr ago
I see it as a sort of tragedy of the commons. You can have a better view and a better time at a baseball stadium by sitting down, but this is conditional on everyone else sitting down as well.
The politicization of economic value is super super tempting. I think it is inevitable to some degree and I'm fine with it happening. I think it would be best if it happens within Dunbar number limited groups of people of about 150. Let a small company or group of people determine among themselves how to politically split up economic value. But make them compete in a more global system where value is determined by the erldritch invisible hand.
There is a sweet spot of not being subject to the eldritch forces, but also it's a benevolent eldritch force that will ruthlessly optimize for the things we are willing to trade for. So I guess I agree with your assessment, I just dislike the people that band together to deny reality, aka Marxists.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
14hr ago
Oh, I absolutely agree with that. Being treated with such casual disregard would almost certainly feel just as bad for the recipient as actual hatred.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
14hr ago
A lot of what I've spent time on is fortifying Nauvis. I had the misfortune to get a desert world, so I set about building walls and turrets basically first thing. Then the biters were evolving to the point normal ammo wasn't enough, so I had to get red ammo, turret upgrades, etc. Then by that time my starter resources were low so I had to expand the walls to include new resources... you know how it goes. I would say I probably spent half of the time in my save either building defenses or researching defense upgrades.
But hey, I am going to go to space today unless things really go sideways. The defenses are solid, I have machines building rocket launch pads and fuel, I'm finally ready. It'll be nice to finally get to Vulcanus (my planned first planet)!
MaiqTheTrue
Renrijra Krin
14hr ago
I think it works as an appeal to victimization and greed. The belief that you’re being exploited is something that comes up anytime you end up with any sort of hierarchy. It’s something that humans are just unwilling to accept unless it’s them at or near the top of the dominance hierarchy. So rather than accept that there’s a reason that they’re not at the top of that hierarchy. Incels certainly have theories about what kinds of external factors make them unfuckable. The kid cut from the football team will likely believe in some sort of favoritism hold him back. In the workplace we have a hard time accepting that we actually don’t deserve to be the boss.
The other appeal is greed. If those at the top are unfairly exploiting them, it’s “only fair” to ask that some of those ill-gotten gains go to them. So they stand to gain if they can leverage the power of the state to basically steal from their betters.
jeroboam
14hr ago
I asked Grok. It spit out lots of similar "false" stereotypes including this one:
Women are naturally better at nurturing and childcare: While some women might excel in these areas, many women do not feel an innate drive for motherhood or might not exhibit traditionally nurturing behaviors.
When I pushed back strongly, it did admit that women are, in fact, more nurturing then men but refused to do it in an unqualified way, always adding "it's important to remember" platitudes to the end.
So much for a based AI any time soon I guess.
OliveTapenade
14hr ago
I feel a bit conflicted about some of that, to be honest.
I beg your pardon for not using spoilers here, but since I already spoilered Dawntrail in the top level post and we're talking about the previous expansion, I'll assume it's okay. People worried about FFXIV spoilers should skip this!
So, on we go:
I take Shadowbringers/Endwalker as something of a duology, and one that noticeably retcons Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and the Ascians. If you take ARR at face value, its depiction of the Mothercrystal has different implications to what we eventually find. In ARR, the first glimpse we get of Hydaelyn comes with her introduction: "I am Hydaelyn. All made one." That is a strange thing to say in light of SHB/EW, where Hydaelyn instead becomes a being of division, fighting against Zodiark's mission to make all one. But she was clearly something different back then. It's just that most people don't care about this, because ARR-Hydaelyn was in the distant background and not very important, and SHB/EW knocked it out of the park story-wise.
However, it becomes even more evident with the Twelve, which disappointed me because previously they seemed to be portrayed quite positively (recall that 1.0 ended in an act of communal prayer to them!), and the religions around them were likewise presented sympathetically. Even the Ishgardian church, though flawed, didn't have those flaws reflect upon Halone herself, with the Scholasticate quests suggesting that the way forward is to be more true to Halone's teachings, not less. In general FFXIV has been quite positive and sympathetic towards religion (witness the militantly atheist Garleans who hate all things of faith, in contrast to the way the heroes are generally politely reverent, even with other people's religions, like the kami in Stormblood), so I hoped for that to continue.
Well, the Endwalker raid isn't hostile to the Twelve, as such. The Twelve are all genuinely good and presented sympathetically. However, I feel a bit that, like Hydaelyn herself, they are reduced by being suggested to be born of the Ancients, and the story of the raid itself isn't inspiring? The gods want to leave the world for... some reason... so they choose to vanish?
I interpret this as being related to a more general theme in Japanese games, and especially Final Fantasy - the death or at least vanishing of the gods. The espers and magic leave the world in FFVI. In FFVII, an evil corporation whose name is literally "captures gods" (神羅) plunders the spiritual realm for profit. In FFX, the dominant religion is false and the divine beings of this world need to be slain. In FFXII, the closest there are to visible gods, the Occuria, must be thrust back so that humans can take control of history. And so on. It's even more visible in other JRPGs, where killing god or the gods are common endgames.
My theory is that this is because of Japanese history and the shock of industrialisation. The kami were real, and the people were surrounded by these spirits of nature, and relationships with those spirits needed to be maintained for overall harmony. But then the Westerners come along, bringing new technology, Japan rapidly industrialises, and suddenly human power massively exceeds that of the kami. We don't need the spirits any more, and indeed we can do things they never dreamed of. It's a massive cultural shock. What is the place of the gods in the new Japan? Western industrialisation took a few centuries so there could be a process of adjustment, but for Japan it was a very rapid shock. Naturally a lot of Japanese media starts exploring questions like, "Are the gods gone? Is the time of the gods over? What does that mean for us now?"
FFXIV does not consistently suggest that everything to do with the gods is gone forever. If you talk to the Watcher on the moon, he says that in a sense Hydaelyn will always be with you. The Twelve themselves, at the end of their raid, talk about returning to the Lifestream, but they also wish to be reunited with Oschon when he's ready to go too, so it doesn't seem like they're embracing annihilation. In this year's Rising, Deryk/Oschon cameos and says, "In every festival is imbued the hopes and dreams of mortal man. You implore the gods to listen to your pleas, and they hear you. They still do." So it hasn't gone quite as far as saying that the gods are all dead and now you're in an atheist cosmos. There may be something more (I remind myself again that Venat feels a kind of immanent divine presence, after all), but the game is not willing to authoritatively name that presence.
But it's still in this awkward place where it seems that faith is good, but any specific object of faith is undermined somewhat.
Anyway, I understand your disappointment, and I think I'd agree that FFXIV has already hit its highest point. Still, a decade is a pretty good lifespan for an MMO, especially if I compare FFXIV to what FFXI did with story, and sometimes a graceful winding-down is preferable to endlessly trying to escalate and becoming WoW.
Corvos
14hr ago
Which sounds good to me. If I were the billionaire in question, I might get cold feet worrying about expectations from everyone else. @MotteInTheEye is correct that any number of people can claim to have made an important, maybe necessary contribution to my life and my consequent windfall, and might start sniffing around for their own rewards. Being known as generous can be a problem. @2rafa mentioned once that the very-rich of her acquaintance almost never give money to acquaintances for precisely this reason.
I have a much nearer and deeper fear. You are correct, evolution will out, women are liars and biological determinism will make sure that pandas that refuse to fuck all die out.
However, governments around the world, especially in what we think of as the liberal western/developed first world, are addicted to the expanding growth of their sclerotic, overweight bureaucracy, while running a state full of economic dependents.
I an deeply, deeply concerned with what they will inflict on me in the name of keeping things going once tax revenues dry up and the economic expenditures of supporting their old and infirm grow stupendous. Singles tax will be the first of many, it won't be the last.
Oh, and privately I don't relish having to compete with increasingly older and more wealthy men for an ever-shrinking pool of young women.
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