Yup, all boils down to faith in the currency. For something like the dollar, it’s backed by faith in the US government. For something like Bitcoin, it’s backed by faith in the resilience of the blockchain and the value buyers place on it. Emperor Norton minted his own currency which was accepted all around San Francisco based purely on the fact that people accepted it.

I wanted to be a mechanical engineer growing up, I was always playing with Lego and building little mechanisms. Then I had a physics teacher who got into the subject of physics vs engineering. He told the class about his brother who was an engineer for some electric motor company, and how his team would spend 18 months fiddling with the parameters of a motor, and they’d throw a party if they increased efficiency by 0.5%. I couldn’t disagree with his assessment that that sounded boring and soul-draining.

It sounds like the perfect job for a certain kind of person, and I am not that kind of person.

Me too

Really? Who’s her dad?

Dennis, there’s some lovely filth down 'ere

Not really? What’s your excuse for not curing cancer? I just don’t see what else you expect him to do in this situation.

Not saying it isn’t an emergency, just not sure what else Walz specifically had the power to do. What power does a governor have in this situation? Even sympathetic members of Congress can’t do much, Republicans have too much control.

Honestly I think using his popularity and positive reputation from the campaign, calling out the weirdos on the right, to continue that frank criticism is one of the best things he actually can be doing. That plain sincerity resonated with people. Unless you have a specific response he can engage with in his capacity as governor, it seems like his best move is leveraging that popularity to speak truth to power on a national scale. I’m not sure what else the Governor of Minnesota has the power to do.

I’m not a Senator or in Congress.

Neither is he, he’s the Governor of Minnesota. What does he have the power to do, officially?

A general strike might help, but what do I know.

Most people are one or two weeks of missed pay away from being homeless and hungry. Unions have dues so that strikers can pay their bills during the strike. Any strike that lasts long enough to actually do something is going to require a huge cache of resources and significant organization.

What do you suggest?

I get the joke, but in seriousness he was actually quite opposed to Jackson’s march toward authoritarianism.

Oh, I thought he was talking about Davy, since he famously opposed Jackson’s executive oversteps. Either one’s fine I guess.

Consciousness exists. This implies that either consciousness is some emergent property of sufficiently complex interconnected systems, or it’s some universal force that complex interconnected systems “channel”.

If it’s emergent, it seems less presumptuous to assume that the most complex interconnected system of all, the universe itself, would develop consciousness. That universal consciousness might as well be called “God”. If it’s a universal force, it might as well be called “God”. Anyway you slice it, a universal consciousness seems inevitable from a sober metaphysical analysis.

Lots of people have ascribed lots of culturally specific attributes to the universal consciousness which are obviously quite silly. The core statement that “I am that ‘I am’” is really the only meaningful attribute we can identify.

Are you suggesting that someone whose favorite book is a collection of Hitler’s speeches is going to follow Hitler’s methodology? I dunno, kind of a stretch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant

This isn’t partisan, you’re fighting human nature here. Most people aren’t that politically engaged. How many people were surprised Biden wasn’t on the ballot?

Most people aren’t following politics, they follow a vibe that they think about every few years and then go on not worrying about. Things have to get really bad before the average person thinks critically about their political representation beyond sports tribalism.

Every convert is +2, don’t disincentivize that.

A great article with some excellent points:

Those who defend strategies, practices, and rituals in an identitarian way even if they don’t lead to concrete impact are part of the problem, regardless of the seniority of the traditions and identities they embody. Losing for decades, martyring oneself for nothing, having moral superiority should not be a source of authority on how politics should be conducted, because it does not generate competence on how to achieve political victories.

[S]pontaneism must be fought in every way possible. First in its most obvious form, that is, the idea that if there is a widespread complaint in society, sooner or later this will lead to action which in turn will lead to change. Second, in its more insidious form, that is, the idea that understanding a political phenomenon, a problem, or an issue, is enough to achieve a solution.

Nothing is too “right-wing.” Nothing is “a thing for capitalists.” The end justifies the means. To be ineffective is a form of privilege. Being picky when choosing allies, being maximalists, and being purists is the luxury of those who engage in politics because of their beliefs rather than out of necessity.

If you didn’t vote for Harris, you accepted that allowing genocide and converting Gaza into a Trump resort was preferable to voting for slightly less genocide. The genocide has only gotten worse because Harris lost. Clownshow ethics.

Fuck French toast because it is decadent but usually entirely to much.

Marry waffles because they are perfect and precious.

Kill pancakes.

People will seek out alternatives and there will be enough that aren’t disillusioned with electoralism that go for that option.

A baseless claim unsupported by anything but your own wishful thinking. I’d love for that to happen, but I’m not fool enough to gamble on it.

Without organization sufficient to convince at least a third of the country that a specific party is viable, you cannot beat a strategic party with principles alone.