possibly a cat

I feel attacked.

By my own Python hammer.

OS - obfuscated source

Kirby is perfect. They are my hero. And they could eat all of your heroes.

It's positive liberty vs. negative. We sacrificed one to give away another, and have the gall to call it freedom when we really mean the freedom to oppress.

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Perhaps a safety vest as well. You know, for access.

It is, and it's hilarious.

Not everything is the worst. Just the important things.

Culture is not a static system. Elements may be destined to be counter-rational for now, but a better of awareness could also destine us for a more fair and effective system in the future. Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that determinism dictates it never will.

Doomguy is actually a post-doomer:

He knows that the mega-corporations are evil and that the world's future is hopeless. He knows he isn't going to save anyone.

But he keeps killing the demons, because it's simply the right thing to do. It's who he is. Why did he get sent to Mars in the first place? Because he spoke up about the injustices he witnessed in the Marines. And as every Marine knows, that's the worst possible thing you could do for your career trajectory.

But doomguy doesn't care. Because doomguy doesn't believe in other Marines, in corporate bigwigs and other cultists, in the scientists naively working towards enslaving the galaxy, or in ignorami such as you or I. Doomguy has been liberated from the chains of hope.

Now he lives a simple path, following his own dharma: Doomguy sees fucked up shit, and he fucks it up.

A true role model for those seeking reason in a life bereft of hope. Doomguy teaches us how to find meaning in the process, rather than the outcome.

Flowers can grow even in the most barren desert, and a Zen master can arise among even the most despondent. The demons cannot bear one with such control over the elements of their own faith and despair. And so, generation after generation, they taught their spawn to fear the coming of doomguy: The one who would overcome the trappings of hope and ego to selflessly deliver justice against his masters.

Only one who would sacrifice it all could destroy it all - to pursue ruin as progress - and only one who truly spites the mortal coil can offer such a sacrifice. Doomguy is the best of us.

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Now if only we valued nature itself, or our continued ability to appreciate either.

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No original thinkers, only the self-proclaimed. The circle jerks will be legendary.

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The ice melts from above, the ice melts from below, our lovely ice buffers will be gone before we know.

And then what do we get?

A lesson on heat of fusion, and what happens when the ocean can't soak up 90% of our extra heat anymore.

After that comes death. For the oceans, for their fish, for the crops, and for us.

Maybe we could stop it and maybe we couldn't, but we won't come together and we won't think critically about our own action: We won't stop it. Life isn't some neoliberal swill like The Ministry for the Future - just look at the failure and fraud in the carbon credit industry. Economic incentives won't suddenly cause cooperation, they'll just get soaked up by corrupt parties with nothing to show for it. And there is nowhere near enough anti-capitalist sentiment left on the planet for an alternative to arise.

The burnout in climate science is real. The more people learn, the more they understand the scale of the problem, and the more they understand the impossibility of saving the planet. Meanwhile they are defending attacks from both sides - naive masses who are gaslit on corporate greenwashing on one side, and the executive and investor class on the other side. (At least the naive ones think they're doing a good thing, when they are spreading the very hopium that lulls us into deadly inaction.) When the data indicates that collapse is already here, what's the point of obsessing over it if no one will listen to you and no one wants to fund you (at least, not to speak the truth)?

The North Atlantic is likely undergoing a regime change. When El Nino conditions end, the North Atlantic will likely not return to its baseline metrics. Meanwhile, ice extent (and therefore also albedo) recovery is dismal in the Antarctic this winter. The permafrost will continue to thaw releasing methane, glaciers will melt causing upheavals, and the boreal forests will continue to burn and release their carbon and accelerated rates. 2024 is going to be a rough year with El Nino in full swing, but the truth is that every year from here on out is going to be 'interesting.'

Random order:

1. Amelie (Darjeeling Limited is runner up for this one)
2. Apocalypse Now
3. Koyaanisqatsi
4. Perfect Blue
5. Inception

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M

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My first thought too, but in a way YOLO is the same concept as expressed through the working class' consciousness instead of the elite's. They definitely materialize as opposites though.