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I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

itsmevox.substack.com

291–300 of 528 posts

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#291

The site is full of people, who believe in capitalism like a religion, slave their life to labour while being paid enough to feel good and better than others.

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Yeah it's one or the other...the communist, the enemies, the infidels, it's a blind ideology, almost dogmatic, but that is exactly what is needed to slave labor millions..same folks talking about AI/robotics automating all the value creation preaching capitalism which is clearly unsustainable economical arrangement.

But anyway, you are clearly one of the people I'm describing.. unfortunately, it is unsustainable system both from an economical and environmental perspectives. And I won't argue about mental health, which you would probably label as lazy commie or something.

Are you excited to go to Mars? like heaven but for capitalist?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By this logic, everything produces something, therefore everything is productive. Yes. That word is only useful insofar as you say or imply a goal. Candy Crush is not productive in gathering food. Most people imply the goal to be money. I'd rather imply enjoyment. See my OP.

And yet, you seemed to have been using it the way the rest of us are in this discussion, right here: You are worth so much more than your productivity. I think the issue here is that everyone else is having a discussion about economics, how we efficiently allocate scarce resources as a society, and the role that individual productivity plays in that allocation. You're having a discussion about enjoying your life. Whi…

Even if you're bad at productivity, even in the sense of producing enjoyment, you're still worth so much more.

My OP was explicitly about not taking economic productivity as the be-all-end-all of someone.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#293
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never understand how people think a personal anecdote contradicts a more general point attained by evaluating collected data that would include those anecdotes. e.g. The claim: Planes are a very safe way to travel. Followed by someone jumping up to say: I know a person who was injured in a rough landing. Note I'm not claiming either the individual or family is the atomic unit here just pointing out that your con…

HN commenters do this all the time. A lot of people here treat comments as mathematical or logic proofs. They see a statement like "Planes are a very safe way to travel", and their minds go to: ∀x(X(x)⟹(Y(x)) and then they make it their mission to find the falsifying x sub 0 example.

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Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not trolling. They are stating the simple, undeniable fact that there is more than enough to go around and if we had a more equitable distribution of resources, we could take care of everyone with disabilities 10x over with plenty to spare.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about this mythical "excess". I can't afford housing. Millions like me can't. There is no excess. Unless it's being hoarded by the capital class.

I mean, it is very obviously being hoarded by the capital class! there has been tons of writing on the subject, no one can credibly deny that that's what's happening right now.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#295
post #250
post #5

> If your worth is not determined by your productivity, then what remains of you underneath it all? Everything else. You are worth so much more than your productivity. I'm glad I never got sucked into the protestant work ethic, since defining yourself based on your labour and the value you generate from that sounds woefully narrow-minded (this doesn't feel like quite the right word, but close enough). It's probably h…

Interesting that you highlight classics, is the implication that it's more ... productive for your personal development to read classics than trashy thrillers? As someone who spent four years reading 'the' Classics at uni, I doubt it's very true you comment wouldn't read quite so well if you swapped classics for posting cat tiktoks and hanging out with strangers you bump into in the street. But what makes that inferi…

> Interesting that you highlight classics, is the implication that it's more ... productive for your personal development to read classics than trashy thrillers?

No. You can play Candy Crush for all I care if that's what gets you more enjoyment. The classic were just what were on my mind when I wrote that comment.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that when you get more for less, it kills the incentive to do more. This is a really glaring problem, and people go to really great lengths to either sweep it under the rug or hand wave it away.

> it kills the incentive to do more I'm an employee. I don't really benefit from doing more. When I do more, someone else makes money. In my experience that someone else is just as likely to lay me off for a cheaper worker as they are to give me a raise The incentives our system produces are already really skewed, and it would be nice to see them skew the other way for once

It seems your complaint is a lack of recognition, and maybe redistribution would provide vengeance for this injustice. But that is different than "we ought to start giving raises to people who do less work, not more" which is what "skewing the other way" seems to imply.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#297

> Everytime you meet someone new and they ask “What do you do?” they’re not asking about your passions, hobbies, or the mundane human tasks that take up most of your time; but how you make money, how you turn yourself into income. 1. That's your assumption. They could really ask out of interest. They couldn't care less if that's your main source of income. 2. In some cultures this question will never be asked. 3. If…

A lot were taught to follow their passions too, so they can have the presumption that what you do for a living == your passion.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#298

The author blames capitalism and religion while greatly indulging in his pride, I think. It is so much beneath him to ask for help from others, he’d rather change the world so that he doesn’t have to ask — instead of expressing some humility. I also have a lot of pride in myself, and I feel deeply for the author. However it looks to me that he’a banging on the wrong door, and instead of waiting for all the people in…

Its also got nothing to do with captialism. Plenty of captialist systems have regulation to cover this.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#299

The idea that "hard work, discipline, frugality" are Calvinist and Protestant inventions may be the most preposterous thing I've read today. As if the rest of the world or previous eras valued self-indulgence and wasteful lavishness. Or that an unproductive member of society wasn't always scorned or at least viewed negatively by those having to produce.

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Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#300

The idea that "hard work, discipline, frugality" are Calvinist and Protestant inventions may be the most preposterous thing I've read today. As if the rest of the world or previous eras valued self-indulgence and wasteful lavishness. Or that an unproductive member of society wasn't always scorned or at least viewed negatively by those having to produce.

https://www.britannica.com/money/Protestant-ethic

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