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The Permanent Upper Crow

permanent-upper-crow.jasonwu.ink

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Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#31

Post by the_af »

shaftway wrote: post #20
the_af wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your reply reminded me of the free game Oiligarchy by Molleindustria (which made quite a few indie hits in my opinion). In that game, if you played "well" you ended up destroying the world. The only winning move was, indeed, not to play.

I think OP is referring to the 80's movie WarGames - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames At the end a strategic defense computer is asked to play Tic Tac Toe against itself and suddenly "learns" about no-win scenarios. Then it does the same with nuclear launch scenarios, and finds that they're all no-win. It decides that nuclear war "is a strange game", and "the only winning move is not to play".

Thanks, I caught the WarGames reference. Is there anyone not familiar with it? It's one of those pieces of widespread internet lore (though, of course, I actually watched the movie too, back in my youth).

I very intentionally meant that it also applies to Oiligarchy [1], an actual game (not a movie) where the winning move was not to play :)

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[1] https://www.molleindustria.org/en/oiligarchy/

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#33

Post by kbutler »

The real message is that, even if you don't get rich and can't buy that clothing item that is 10x your nest worth, your work can provide for your needs and your family - rent, groceries, helping extended family...

(Worked at a couple of startups, didn't get rich, but had good experiences, paid for family needs, and put aside investments for the future.)

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#34

Post by bix6 »

ricardobayes wrote: post #13
xattt wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I realized I couldn’t decline, I left the website and left the top hat on the table.

That's easier to do in a video game, but I guess the real life analogy would be to sell it all and move off-grid to Alaska?

Sell what all? Isn’t everything just for rent now?

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#35

Post by tjohns »

ricardobayes wrote: post #13
xattt wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I realized I couldn’t decline, I left the website and left the top hat on the table.

That's easier to do in a video game, but I guess the real life analogy would be to sell it all and move off-grid to Alaska?

I'd argue it's not about selling everything. Instead, avoid buying things by default and trying to keep up with the Joneses. You don't need to move to the wilderness, you just need to choose to escape consumerism.

For example:

- Do you really need a new car, when a lightly used one will do just fine and will be more economical?

- Do you really need to upgrade to a new phone every year when your current one is still working fine?

- Do you really need to buy premium clothes from the mall when the ones from Target are much cheaper?

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#38

Post by mossTechnician »

tjohns wrote: post #35
ricardobayes wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's easier to do in a video game, but I guess the real life analogy would be to sell it all and move off-grid to Alaska?

I'd argue it's not about selling everything. Instead, avoid buying things by default and trying to keep up with the Joneses. You don't need to move to the wilderness, you just need to choose to escape consumerism. For example: - Do you really need a new car, when a lightly used one will do just fine and will be more economical? - Do you really need to upgrade to a new phone every year when your current one is still w…

How does that go for Americans who cannot afford to pay for a $400 surprise expense out of pocket?

https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/sheddata...

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#39

Post by jxf »

thegrim33 wrote: post #14

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

This is filthy undercrow talk!

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#40

Post by jxf »

mossTechnician wrote: post #38
tjohns wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue it's not about selling everything. Instead, avoid buying things by default and trying to keep up with the Joneses. You don't need to move to the wilderness, you just need to choose to escape consumerism. For example: - Do you really need a new car, when a lightly used one will do just fine and will be more economical? - Do you really need to upgrade to a new phone every year when your current one is still w…

How does that go for Americans who cannot afford to pay for a $400 surprise expense out of pocket? https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/sheddata...

Let them eat crow.
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