Which begs the questions: What comes next? How does late stage capitalism “end”? Will it collapse in on itself? What will replace it? I don’t know the answers to these, but it certainly feels like we’re entering (or about to enter) the “find out” phase.
ColonelSanders
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Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 16th, 2023
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While corporate greed has been a problem since the Reagan administration, we’re seeing an unprecedented jump in greed these past couple of years by companies all suddenly trying to squeeze out every last drop from people. Netflix with it’s disabling of user password sharing, Twitter and all it’s checkmark BS (with this login wall being the latest example), Reddit and it’s API changes, and YouTube experimenting with blocking people who use adblockers. All to name a few. It really is spiraling out of control and unchecked, but sadly we lack a proper government (at least in the US, though there may still be some hope in the EU) to stand up to them.
Humans are gonna human unfortunately. Biologically I’m not convinced we are capable of eliminating war because humans are competitive by nature. To the point that there will always be one group or another trying to force its ideals onto another.
I’ve often thought about “what if we could snap our fingers and every weapon beyond that of a spear (technologically) was vanished, and any/every attempt to fashion something deadlier would fail/poof out of existence as well.”
That might stave off large scale war but there would still be tribal warring on a smaller scale I fear. Plus a ton of other issues that would arise from suddenly having no guns/missiles/projectiles/etc.
Government: “Hey, do you think we should crack down on these corporations pouring 50-100 tonnes of pollution into the ecosystem/atmosphere by increasing their carbon taxes, making it illegal to buy/sell said tax credits to/from other corporations, and creating/enforcing stricter environmental regulations on those companies?”
Government employee stuffing a wadded envelope into their pocket: “Erm, um, on second thought, wouldn’t it mean a lot more if the average consumer stopped using plastic forks and put their cans in the recycle bins? That’s gotta be at least 1.5…tonnes right there.”
Was going to say, I’m all for changing my habits/thought processes based on scientific data/evidence, but I could’ve sworn this debate has been raging on for some time now. First it was declared that it causes Cancer, then it was declared well no there’s not really enough evidence to support that, and now we’re back to it does. But I have yet to see a definitive link in any study and even this article says “possibly.”
Now, that being said I still avoid aspartame when possible, opting for Stevia whenever I have the choice. I just fear that this kind of back and forth tends to erode credibility through unsubstantiated whiplash with the general public.
The sad thing is that the masses that are still on Reddit at this point dgaf and will likely stay on Reddit forever. There’s a real problem of Apathy in today’s culture when people are just jonesing for their fix of daily content/memes, or at the very least nothing that disrupts the status quo. They don’t give a fuck about “ideals” or what corporations do or farm from them so long as their instant gratification and daily intake of said content remains unchanged.
I suppose it depends on what a person considers a hidden gem because everyone’s tastes are different. I’ll list a few categories and at least 1-2 of my favorites in those categories that I’ve found on Steam and are currently on sale:
Exploration/Base-Building:
- Grounded
- Raft
- Rimworld
- Subnautica/Subnautica: Below Zero
Story based/Farming/Romance:
- My Time at Portia*
- My Time at Sandrock
Visual Novels:
- Basically anything made by PixelFade (Ace Academy, Ethereal Enigma, Crystalline). One of the few English-based VNs that are fully voiced in English and have a pretty decent plot/story. Interactive with different choices affecting different outcomes and even some minigames at least in EE.
- Nekop-er, Hush Hush. Ok, listen. I’ll admit there IS an 18+ DLC for this but it’s not necessary to enjoy the game. It honestly has a pretty interesting story/premise and I did get pretty heavily emotionally invested in the characters.
*Note that MTAP has been fraught with issues. Although these issues don’t necessarily make the game unplayable, and it’s still enjoyable, be aware that it is was Pathea’s (the studio) first such attempt and as such they were still learning. Their second game Sandrock has solved a lot of the issues and it’s not necessary to play the first one
I suppose it depends on what a person considers a hidden gem because everyone’s tastes are different. I’ll list a few categories and at least 1-2 of my favorites in those categories that I’ve found on Steam and are currently on sale:
Exploration/Base-Building:
- Grounded
- Raft
- Rimworld
- Subnautica/Subnautica: Below Zero
Story based/Farming/Romance:
- My Time at Portia*
- My Time at Sandrock
Visual Novels:
- Basically anything made by PixelFade (Ace Academy, Ethereal Enigma, Crystalline). One of the few English-based VNs that are fully voiced in English and have a pretty decent plot/story. Interactive with different choices affecting different outcomes and even some minigames at least in EE.
- _Nekop_er Hush Hush. Ok, listen. I’ll admit there IS an 18+ DLC for this but it’s not necessary to enjoy the game. It honestly has a pretty interesting story/premise and I did get pretty heavily emotionally invested in the characters.
*Note that MTAP has been fraught with issues. Although these issues don’t necessarily make the game unplayable, and it’s still enjoyable, be aware that it is was Pathea’s (the studio) first such attempt and as such they were still learning. Their second game Sandrock has solved a lot of the issues and it’s not necessary to play the first one
I’m active on here so I don’t have to be, IRL!
Yeah I mean, it’s all still going to be relevant (the Reddit stuff) at least until after the end of the month.
https://kbin.social/m/lemmy@lemmy.ml/t/76632/Almost-OVER-90-of-the-accounts-on-lemmy-are-now
Can confirm. Something I couldn’t admit to on Reddit but idgaf here: am an Amazon employee. Not a driver or FC worker either, white collar desk jockey. Internally Amazon is forcing all departments to come up with at least 250k each in cost savings by years end all in an effort to pad their bottom fucking line (and you better believe not a single one of us is going to see a goddamn dime of those savings). All the while still making profit every quarter but telling employees they don’t consider inflation when doing annual raises and making us do the work of multiple people. It’s fucked up the sheer amount of greed that corporations are going through right now basically cannibalizing themselves to earn more profit every quarter.
If it’s any consolation, I went through something similar. There’s a subreddit community that I was a part of for a long time that I loved deeply, it was a very warm and inviting place. When the sub went on blackout and took a poll to extend indefinitely, I made a passionate plea to the sub to really consider what’s at stake, even though so many of them felt like it was pointless. I wasn’t rude, I wasn’t callous or pessimistic, I just wanted people to know that whether something seems hopeless or not isn’t the point at all, but rather taking a stand for something you believe in should be the point.
I was promptly met with a barrage of downvotes and someone replying to me spewing vitriol and telling me to ‘touch grass’, with another person just shrugging and saying they just want things to go back to the way they were (by ending the blackout). It’s weird but I was honestly pretty hurt by that response. This community that I came to know and love turned on me the moment I suggested we take a stand.
Apathy is, unfortunately, a real problem in our world today. Too many people aren’t willing to do even the bare minimum to protest or protect their rights. They would sooner just fall back into what is comfortable (or worse, they just give up before even trying because they have already lost hope) and have decisions and actions be made for them rather than risk losing that “certainty.”
I remember reading a comment that said they half expected this to be a ‘Door in the Face’ technique (or a different one with a different name, can’t recall) wherein Reddit was being a clever sales person by starting high and then going low, because the true goal was to just introduce a pricing plan to begin with. If they had just started with a pricing plan, there’d be pushback and they might have to rescind it, but if they started with something ridiculous and then walked it back/lowered it to something reasonable (their goal the entire time), they could save face and say “hey Reddit we heard you loud and clear and you’re right!” and Reddit could go “We did it Reddit!” - I thought that seemed very plausible at the time.
Then I thought maybe it was just Hanlon’s Razor. They were just being stupid. Turns out it was a little of both malice and stupidity.
I’ll never forget the sound of the siren’s call as it wafted sweetly over the waves, gently washing over me like a warm blanket of security. That dulcet tone that cried, “You’ve Got Mail!”
Ok, but only if I get to make the next post that complains about people complaining about people who complain about Reddit. Or…something.