However there definitively have been times that were better before they got much worse, and I'd argue that today is one of those times

On big difference today has compared to, say, 10 years ago, is that 10 years ago there was much more hope for.. well.. hope. Today? Well, things are going to get much worse before they get better, if they ever do.

There is nothing that says the future must always get better just because historically it for the most part have. Sometimes the most rational thing to do is to indeed prepare for the possibility that things will get much worse. Otherwise you end up with a situation like how people today wonder why more Jews didn't move out from pre-war germany

Because knowledge is a preventative measure to being manipulated

People also say that knowing that historical events happened don't benefit them, would you agree with that too? These things are a lot more nuanced than just what direct benefit they give you. Knowing the basics of how our world works, including how nature works, is useful.

You have no idea how many times I had to explain evolution to people because it was relevant to the conversation and where they were tricked by some weird bullshit. Gaps in knowledge are exploitable, but not only that, the more you know, the higher your capability of connecting concepts together in a sound manner is

Knowing how evolution works has been generally useful in my life, and I am very happy I know how it roughly works, and the field I'm in is nowhere near biology or chemistry or nature

Then again, discord is not outright fascist. Yes it's a shitty company, but shitty companies are the standard

Twitter though? I feel as if a lot more people could go "if you want to ever talk with me again, go here" and people would follow. It's a bit harder to argue for staying on twitter when all of this shit is going on

Then again, a lot of my friends are still on twitter despite me telling how fucking dangerous that site is now, so eh. I don't really get it, though. Then again, I have little sympathy for people who complain that something is too complex just because it doesn't do literally everything for you. A lot of people are just addicted to convenience, despite it harming them in the long run

I guess it's good to hear that things are changing for the better, I emigrated from Poland when I was a child to Norway and my perception of Poland is a far less favourable one lol

Though my entire polish family are also very religious and conservative so

The pythagorean theorem or the theory of evolution is not "super niche knowledge"... Do you understand how foundational the pythagorean theorem is? Or how important knowing the theory of evolution is to understand how nature works?

And the periodic table of elements is literally the building blocks of our reality. Sure, less critical knowledge then the other two, but still vital in my opinion

I mean, how much scaremongering about "chemicals" and stuff could be resolved if people just knew the very basics of chemistry?

These things very much tie into being a rational citizen of the world that actually knows how the world works and doesn't live in fantasyland. This is literally just stuff to ensure that we share a common fundamental view of reality

I think if humanity is on the stage of transmitting human knowledge throughout the galaxy today's technology would be the equivalent of how we look at the first steam engine today

When people get scammed in traditional currency, you can revert the transaction. You cannot revert anything with blockchain, and that's a feature, which means if you get scammed out of your bitcoin, there's nothing you can do. That money is lost, and the scammer keeps it.

Well, sure, now you have a currency that doesn't rely on trust

...now what? How are you going to spend that currency if you don't trust anyone? How will you ensure you get what you bought? How will your property get protected? Hell, how do you get others to agree that your crypto is the one they should use?

It's trust all the way down. Removing it from one small part of the chain isn't going to fundamentally change things

It's not distance to mirror, it's the focal length. The focal length of our eyes is static

Yep, with the re-election on trump, USA just took a big leap towards the dystopia of 1984

You know, I think it's interesting how this used to be considered the nutjob's territory just a bit over 10 years ago. And now, at least for the USA, this might be the thing that keeps you out of jail.

It's kinda frightening

Sounds all well and good until you don't have any responsible adults around you

I'm in my late 20, I was failed as a child and teen. Not because I had too much freedom, but because the adults did not treat me with respect, like a person, and were not responsible. I mean, my parents were straight up abusive, but it's not like anyone else helped

I would have unironically been better off alone