• 14 Posts
  • 17 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 30th, 2023

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  • The easiest and most effective solution would be to just get Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter/X to crack down harder on misinformation.

    Optimally, there should even be a sort of “social reputation ranking” system in place to disincentivize online misinformation and hate speech by tying it to real-life ramifications. We sort of already have something like that for job applications, and I’m proud of that, but if we could extend the enforcement and implementation of this kind of thing to, say, transportation, real estate, or banking, that would certainly be a commendable step in the right direction. Ranted about the mask and vaccine mandates in 2020? Good luck buying that car.

    Too bad an increasing and worrisome number of these platforms are being owned by right-wing shrinks. Heil Spez and Heil Musk.






  • I also think it’s foolhardy to naively assume that once the older generations start dying off due to old age, things are just automatically going to become better and more progressive without us having to lift a finger. Wrong! I’ve observed conservative brain rot already starting to infect my peers. And while I’m fortunate and privileged enough to live in a progressive blue state that (relatively speaking) cares about the Earth, unfortunately, very few communities around the globe have such luxury.

    I think better trust in government is what we need. But the way things stand, we are so not ready for this. And if democracy doesn’t work in getting people to accept and comply with climate regulations that are bound to follow - and at this point that’s much more of a “when” than an “if” - leaders maybe shouldn’t be afraid to use force.

    Hopefully at that point, we can keep a lid on things better than we did during COVID. But who am I kidding.











  • Something I’m noticing is that while America continues their pattern of climate denial and destructive hyper-individualism, China - for all its flaws - seems to be leading the charge on the single greatest existential challenge of our time.

    China is rapidly expanding renewables and green tech. They’re on track to become the world’s renewable superpower. While Americans absentmindedly whine and complain about society improving, China gets right to work on constructing a green national infrastructure to actually address the root causes of the crisis.

    China understands collective action and planning are the only way humanity can overcome existential threats. China’s top-down governance, however authoritarian some claim, efficiently marshalled resources to minimize devastation during the COVID pandemic, but what’s possibly more important is their collective culture, the populace’s eager willingness to listen to the authorities, and make personal sacrifices for the benefit of society as a whole. None of that “freedumb” nonsense or pearl-clutching. Imagine if the US mandated decisive actions, not “choose your own experiment!”

    This is serious; we cannot rest on our laurels and we cannot go back to brunch. We haven’t the luxury of half measures. Rather, we need the appropriate sort of complete and holistic mobilization asap to transition to greener, more sustainable models. To survive impending eco-collapse will require global equity, not privileged nations hoarding pie while the rest burn. We’d be wise to learn from China’s example. Obviously they’re not perfect - no one is - but I think their climate policies reveal what truly ambitious climate action looks like: bold, large-scale interventions that prioritize the collective good over individual freedoms.