That’s an issue that can come up, when your inside guy for market manipulation with all the power necessary for the scheme is also an impulsive narcissist, who never was that bright to begin with, but is also clearly losing some mental faculties due to age, too.

I do think you could be right, but I also think it is a proper dilemma, that it is impossible to really know. An immature attempt at revolution can be impossible to tell apart from a proper revolutionary moment, and a genuinely well-advised conservative “let’s not hastily break something” can be impossible to tell apart from useful idiots for reactionary movements, while living in the historical moment those things are happening. I think, to some degree at least, we just have to accept that uncertainty, and that the course of history is not simply determinable in the chaos of the lived reality.

Doesn’t mean, that there is nothing at all to be analysed, no visions to be had, just that ultimately, every single historical movement will have to live with the reality of “crossing the Rubicon”-moments, where no amount of knowledge, no amount of theory, no amount of smug analysis can really tell the outcome.

I, personally, think advancements beyond social democracy should be possible already - I think the basic ideas laid out in the Gotha Critique (overcoming of monetary system through non-exchangeable production/distribution with a voucher-like system), in combination with advancements in Cybernetics already made within the 20th century (as well as computers to better implement the Cybernetics on top of that), could provide for a system, in which necessary labour can be jointly coordinated, with the aim of reducing work days and increasing value in everyday lives, along with a richer use of free time (think: education, makerspaces, creative hobbies like art and programming) beyond socially necessary labour.

But can I be certain? No. Do I think it is worth fighting for? Definitely.

For an adversarial relationship, as the one between EU and China, it was still one overall based on understanding and a degree of predictability. That just ends up being more attractive than an ally turning into a rabid dog and stabbing you in the back.

I think no one should be surprised by this.

I think blaster fire in Star Wars was inspired by how tracer rounds looked in WW2 footage. That, or my brain just hallucinated a memory about reading something, I wouldn’t rule that out.

But 2 large economies tried to impliment communism… while engaged in a cold war against much more entrenched ideologies, while having corrupt leaders and they didn’t do it well.

And while - which I, personally, think is the biggest reason - starting from pre-capitalist economies, thus materially having to do what capitalism did (rapid industrialisation, disenfranchisement of peasantry, accumulation of capital), and ultimately following what Marxism would have guessed: Their ideology forming around their material reality of having to accumulate capital from labour while trading on the world market. So it basically became its own kind of welfare state/social democratic capitalism, with a bit of “but communism will arrive eventually, we promise!”

Once that material dynamic is entrenched, no amount of ideological purity can simply correct it from the top, you can’t change material society by implementing an ideal onto a reality. It has to develop materially and dialectically, through the process of the old system failing (in unbearable ways), necessitating revolutionary changes.

Personally, I like “Scaled” and “Hot” the most, but I also check “New” to discover communities that may otherwise get lost (and, to ban spam/bot/troll accounts along the way as well) - and lastly, I also have a look at “Top/Day” at least once a day, to see what’s the “talk of the town”.

It definitely feels like we had some growth in proper, organic activity. Just a few months ago, it definitely felt like “Top/12hrs” was the best one for the amount of content that was being posted. But for a while now, “Hot” and “Scaled” feel much better than that one.

In the same way biofuels are: Technically yes, but still not that great of an idea outside special applications. (One I could imagine would be someone wanting to live completely off grid using filtered frying oil in an old-but-ridiculously-sturdy diesel generator)

Oh boy! Can’t wait for the functioning court system and laws to punish this obvious and ridiculously amateur insider trading!

It’s beginning to feel more and more like the 90s in the Eastern bloc: An old, dying system for sale to those in the know and with the right corrupt connections.

Pretty much the exact same story here, only my obsession was more with PC-DOS RPGs like Ultima, Wizardry, Goldbox games, thanks to my father and older siblings influencing me there.

Yeah, but here is the tragedy to all that: It is still also deciding, which things get the capital investments necessary to exist, and the livelihood of people has been entangled with that shitshow to an absurd degree.

Sometimes I almost love that I am already at subsistence level disability payments (in a European Welfare state, so thankfully, not in danger of starvation or anything) without any real wealth beyond day-to-day living expenses, there’s not that much for me to lose every time this shit happens.

Fun fact: When choosing my starter for the first time, all I knew about Pokémon was: “It’s a game I saw someone play at school once and it kind of looked like an RPG and I love those!” I genuinely just went with what looked cool to me and had no idea there were “actual” dragon Pokémon.

Also +1 on [email protected] noting, that Gyarados is the cool dragon in Gen1

As a bullied kid that back then just wanted a cool dragon, I protest that insinuation!

At this point, I am convinced it’s a pump and dump scheme, still ongoing, too. It only takes a few people in the know of when and where the news break about the tariff supsension, to seriously make a killing on the market, on the backs of others. Trumpists can now also (for a while) feel like their God has saved them again and never steered them wrong, or curse their momemts of doubt, when they did not buy yesterday, as their prophet called for.

It is a mixture of incompetence, impulsivity, but I am certain at this point, a huge chunk of it is outright corruption and cult tactics.

Which is why, generally, taxing wealth and having the state invest it in supportive infrastructure and subsidising is the preferred option for developed economies that want manufacturing (back).

Sweeping, protectionist tariffs are usually a painful measure of necessity, if you have an economy without any developed industrial or service sectors, where initial investments are basically impossible due there being no taxable wealth and no market incentives, because of global players always being more profitable and cheaper, than any beginning industry that has to go through growth processes and learning experiences. (More selective tariffs or outright import/export bans of course also have their place for a multitude of political reasons, e.g. the EU not wanting a lot of artificially cheap and lower-health-standards US meat)

[email protected] would love to have this crossposted, I am sure.

Yeah, remember that German philosopher? Immanuel Kant, whose last name is pronounced “cunt”? Who ended up kicking off the whole process of modern and ultimately postmodern philosophy? Who most likely had autism (non-judgemental) and some really weird habits (mostly non-judgemental, don’t hit your servants, dude) and ideas (somewhat non-judgemental, if you’ve never seen a person with darker skin in your life, don’t write about them).

It was all in the name!

Speaking of philosophers and licking cunts.

Why was the US funding FOSS projects? That strikes me as weird, inappropriate and suspicious.

A mixture of the elements within the US that actually believed the stuff about personal rights and democracy still existing behind the more sinister realities, as well as it being in the same pot of funded projects like Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty and the likes, which always were a mix of just outright propaganda organs, but also providing the scaffolding of free media access for some regions in the past.

So, it’s complicated, ultimately rooted in a mix of the cynical US wanting to support dissidents in other countries, and the idealist US also having people actually believing in personal freedom and privacy, even within their government/state structures.

Also, just in general, a lot of FOSS projects get funding from governments, US or otherwise. If I remember correctly ReactOS got a lot of funding from Russia, for example, because they saw a potential way to get away from Microsoft in it.

From what I gather, there was no open influence wielded over those projects, I at least don’t remember the OTF forcing a backdoor onto Tor Browser for the CIA or something like that - thankfully the open source structure makes that easier to control - but the weakness becomes apparent now, of course, because funds could now be withdrawn, as the government turned fascist.

Kind of, I wouldn’t really call them an international organisation in the way I would be imagining, see how easy it was to cut their funding when national interests turned openly fascist. Their affiliation with the US government above more independent, international organisations meant, that they would support privacy and a free and open internet, as long as it helps dissidents in other, non-aligned countries, but quick to cut it, if it reaches their own doorsteps.

We actually always just went with coffee, even as teenagers. I guess as early millennials, we weren’t yet the energy drink generation.

I 100% agree, though: alcohol beyond a beer or two isn’t recommended for a LAN at all. Although I guess I have a “fond” memory of sitting there, playing Left4Dead with friends at a LAN, when one who didn’t play himself at that moment piss-drunkenly leaned on my shoulders from behind, slurring directly into my ear: “You have to shoot them! Shoot them! You have to shoooooot them!!”

Not the one you answered to, but I think I can understand the idea of US funding having been a toxic source of dependency, and it being better in the long run to get money elsewhere. That “elsewhere” is a good question, though.

Just me, personally, my dream would be an international fund, carried by the UN or maybe an independent NGO, that can get funding from both private and public funds, that prioritises free internet access the way the WHO prioritises health. But I think that’s still far off.