The non-voters had nothing to do with this. They literally did not participate.

Any real democracy would count the non-voters as part of the results. 20M not voting? OK then, any policies that affect everyone can no longer be enacted. No new laws. No new wars. Government can then maintain plumbing and provide public services, that’s it.

Why isn’t that the case? Why is it not a requirement for people to vote for government to have power?

Democracy…? Sure. Whatever hope you need to feel, friend, see you in the streets I hope.

I think we can pick one story and show one thing, and then another one to show another thing. Or hell, pick the first one again to say something different than the first time.

History is a malleable thing, and what you base your argument on is a version of it, not sure it’s the truth.

But the gist of what you are saying is that any people would have done what White folks did. Just give them time.

You know, I don’t believe that. White folks were exceptionally OK with genocide, we always have been. Intergenerational traum, I guess, from the millenias of tragedy of the Continent.

To presume that our white trajectory is the necessary trajectory for ALL PEOPLES, because ‘ecology’ (which is a scholarly discipline defined by who, may I ask) is… BONKERS.

I’m sorry, I am sure you are bright and you seem well-read and intelligent but the idea you propose as an infallibility for all humans is completely and utterly bonkers.

Thank you. Wow. I was basing that on something I saw or thought I saw in Cosmos (the 1980s version with Carl Sagan). Perhaps I was stoned when watching it. There is little better than to watch one of the Cosmos series while stoned - or the autotuned versions by Melodysheep (on YouTube).

For anyone who wants a quicker read on the above: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_greenhouse_effect

I shall have to revise my world view now. 🤯🤯🤯 Wow. I feel optimistic.

Tardigrades - they will likely survive then. And cockroaches, and other life. So even if we all + most animals die out, we will be like the dinosaurs, and life may indeed bounce back.

I mean… A shadow has been lifted from my soul.

Goddamn. I know it seems like I am joking but I am not.

Good news.

Yay humans.

Actually there is a serious risk that Earth turns into Venus. Perpetually self-reinforcing green house effect. All life on Earth, fried, for all eternity.

Edit: Well, until the sun blows.

FTP?

From an evolutionary perspective, only the ones who survive matter.

So in that spirit, the only way to create a society resistant to power consolidations is one that actively recognizes, seeks out and annihilates said power consolidations.

As otherwise, they will annihilate everything opposing them – as history tells us.

There are gentler social traditions to distribute wealth and power so as to avoid consolidation. Probably the post-colonial world is beyond that point.

A scary prospect, to be sure, but in the grand scheme of things… “The secrets of evolution are time and death” as Carl Sagan said in Cosmos.

I go with Njalla for torrents until I hear anything weird about them

No, Njalla at njal.la offers port forwarding

Also, the bell curve does not have a single bottom.

A bell curve counts the frequencies of a single parameter. A person, such as a teenager, does not fit on it.

Not at all

I think you underestimate the impact of technological progress.

Back in the day, you needed an army who could betray you. Tomorrow, you can deploy a fleet of self-governing robots to kill thousands. Of course, only accessible to the rich.

For ordinary folk, the future is looking grim indeed.

That’s not skill, it’s networks and resources you ALREADY HAVE.

Bears shit in the forest. This is not a ‘skill’. They shit in the forest because that’s where they happen to be.

It’s the same with billionaires, they were just born in that environment. You confuse bears shitting in the forest with a demonstration of skill.

If you place one out of context, it will shit on your carpet instead. Except then you will not consider it a ‘skill’ but something distasteful.

Power is like a black hole. This isn’t about wealth, it’s about power. It’s only concern is growing itself.

This is what I learned from the Lord of the Rings.

Becoming a billionaire is never about skill, or ‘spending time effectively’. Fast growth is also not a feat of a billionaire.

I think you are grasping for a superhero that doesn’t exist.

My school teacher taught me I should be surprised at things like this.

Luckily, I am no longer 12.

Hmm hmm. I’d recommend reading this: https://crimethinc.com/2019/04/08/against-the-logic-of-the-guillotine-why-the-paris-commune-burned-the-guillotine-and-we-should-too

It argues for why capital punishment is not necessarily a good route to go.

Yes, slavery. It’s been around for ages.

In 1962 there were no “lethal autonomous weapons”.