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hunter

(38,310 posts)
26. I don't have a smart phone, never hope to have one. Good God, what kind of hell is that?
Sat Dec 26, 2015, 03:51 PM
Dec 2015

A dog on a leash.

I'm a dumpster diving Luddite.

I bought a new car once in the mid 'eighties. Won't do that again. I drive a different car now, as little as possible. Fill the gas tank once every couple months, whether I need to or not. This $800 car is older than the car I bought new when I was young and too full of myself. For some sick reason I live in a culture that refuses to treat non-drivers as fully functional adults. Otherwise I wouldn't have a car.

The last new computer I bought was a Raspberry Pi for $35.00. Beyond that, in spite of my fascination with computers, I haven't ever thought to buy a new computer. I can usually find or make what I need in someone else's discards. I first signed onto the internet in 1979, haven't been away since. 90% of the internet is crap and always has been.

90% of work is crap, which is Sturgeon's Law

Or, "Four–fifths of everybody's work must be bad. But the remnant is worth the trouble for its own sake," if you'd prefer Rudyard Kipling's framing in terms of 1890's levels of automation. My Neanderthal Ancestors no doubt worked just as hard as they had to, life was very much easier at times and much more difficult at times than any internet voyager experiences today.

But there are now maybe a billion people living today suffering lives that suck compared to the life of any Neanderthal.

Technology, what of it? We're apes, always will be. Maybe if we humans are lucky our intellectual descendants will be something more, but they won't be human. More likely we end up as a curious layer of trash in the geologic record of earth.

I'm trained as an evolutionary biologist. What's the world going to look like in 100,000 years? We're all equal on those time scales.

I don't respect wealth. The wealthier someone is, the more likely they are to be some kind of sociopath.

90% of the uber-wealthy are very clearly sociopaths, some more harmful to their fellow humans and the earth's natural environment than others.

I'm a hypocrite in many ways, not a hermit living in a cave, but there's a shortage of caves lately, or even places to plant a small garden and otherwise live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

In my opinion the world would be a much better place if more people used birth control and avoided unnecessary work.

If a person must be busy, than they ought to teach, practice medicine, create art (science is an art too), help those who need help, plant a big garden, but otherwise participate as little as possible in this global economy that is destroying the natural environment and turning people into tools and slaves.

I may yet die a homeless person on a park bench, My current "net-worth" is sub-zero, I've been a sick homeless off-my-meds person at times, but it's the thankfully rare experiences I've had "selling out" that always grind more on my conscience than all the other crap I've experienced in this life.


Health costs shouldn't say free for Canadians. They pay of course. It must be much brewens Dec 2015 #1
The wording like that always bothers me hibbing Dec 2015 #10
Everything is free. So far as I've noticed, nobody owns the human species, or the planet earth. hunter Dec 2015 #17
Nothing's free. All requires labor (intellectual etc). I don't work for free except volunteering. nt Bernardo de La Paz Dec 2015 #19
How much are the tomatoes in my garden worth? hunter Dec 2015 #20
Feel free to walk across the Pacific to China to mine Neodymium to make your own smart phone Bernardo de La Paz Dec 2015 #21
I don't have a smart phone, never hope to have one. Good God, what kind of hell is that? hunter Dec 2015 #26
Yep libodem Dec 2015 #2
Very nice! Enthusiast Dec 2015 #3
+1 daleanime Dec 2015 #8
That's probably THE economic chart the elite don't want the sheeple to see. forest444 Dec 2015 #11
Chart starts in 1970, after US had led wage rises for decades. France & Japan very war damaged Bernardo de La Paz Dec 2015 #18
Good chart. We're also No. 16 in education. News of Canada's No. 1 middle class appalachiablue Dec 2015 #4
Thanks for sharing that excellent article, appalachiablue. Enthusiast Dec 2015 #5
For sure. It's interesting how the article states that Canada has a strong service appalachiablue Dec 2015 #7
DITTO. malokvale77 Dec 2015 #9
There was an excellent post here in the last couple days which I've lost unfortunately appalachiablue Dec 2015 #12
$30 an hour if only one family member works TexasBushwhacker Dec 2015 #16
Factor homegirl Dec 2015 #23
Nice. Wondering about education . . . snot Dec 2015 #6
Hadn't seen that. malokvale77 Dec 2015 #13
By George you're right! Scuba Dec 2015 #14
LOL malokvale77 Dec 2015 #15
Pffft! Enthusiast Dec 2015 #25
Contemptible? That one in particular. Enthusiast Dec 2015 #24
k and r and bookmarking niyad Dec 2015 #22
likewise! Oldtimeralso Dec 2015 #27
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