If your US phone connects to anything in China is a crap shoot.

There is nothing wrong with expecting rich, 1st world, countries to pay for their own defense. The US has been subsidizing them, and their generous social benefits in turn, for too long.

Sounds like they were in quite a pickle.

"I'll give you $5 if you sniff it."

Yup. You look through history and FAR worse shit has happened in the past, even the recent past. The present though is what everyone has to deal with and that is your burden to bear best you can. Like you said, you see this sort of thing go in waves.

I know this sounds like a pat on the head but you also have to count your blessings in life and not just obsess over the things that are wrong with it or you'll always be miserable and never able to find any happiness. To say "everything is shit" is as unrealistic as saying "everything is wonderful".

"Do you believe our species will ever reach some form of enlightenment"

If there is anything history has taught me is that we repeat the same basic behavior over and over and have done so as far back as we can see. We are essentially very intelligent monkeys, obsessed with social status, manipulation, altruism and cooperation mixed with hostility and exploitation. I think the basic sociology of humans is baked into our DNA and the very nature of animal life. People have always imagined they can create some utopia on earth but it always ends up a failure because of the very nature of man and the impossibility of even defining a utopia for everyone.

If you are Elon Musk it is looking amazing right now.

Don't talk to strangers.

Searching things is easy so don't post something without checking it. People now don't make the slightest effort to verify a rumor or conspiracy crap.

0-255 was good enough for me an my grandpappy.

Why do people feel the need to have a $60K+ massive behemoth? 99% of the time if I glance in the bed it is spotless. It is probably only used for commuting and carrying groceries. It might haul a load of mulch once a year. The things are so high that if they hit a car they are going to ride up over the hood and crush you. At least my state finally got its act together and banned those goddamn frontend lifted trucks that made it impossible to see anything within 50 ft and guaranteed a deadly collision. Now I know someone will say "But I need it for my building job/farm/etc", you are the exception, the vast majority sold are not being used for that.

"reasoning that these vehicles are safer for drivers in the event of a crash" Sounds like an arms race. Soon we will be driving armored personnel carriers.

It is bad enough they make them with ridiculously loud exhausts as bad as muscle cars and fart exhausts. Electric cars and trucks quieting everything can't come fast enough.

Being able to communicate to other people is sort of an important thing that could feel frustrating.

You can always find someone on a social media site who actually holds that belief