For the love of God, please craft hobbies and an appreciation for life beyond abstract "utility" maximization. These freaks are so hyperalienated from their own existence that they can't conceive of themselves as anything other than an input. Sorry nerds, you won't find self-actualization by designing a marginally more addictive ad-software or another tulip bubble. Please stop eating the bugs and look at some art for a fucking change.

    • SuperZutsuki [they/them, any]
      hexbear
      19
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      A shitton of land is suburban wasteland and all the infrastructure to support it. Turf grass alone takes up 2% of all land in the US (from a quick search) and I imagine the stroads, strip malls, and single family homes with 3+ car garages take up another 3-5%. The problem has always been wasteful and destructive land use rather than scarcity. Imagine all the current suburbs as parks, farmland, or rewilded areas instead of ugly tract homes. I don't think infinite growth is possible or anything but cities should be looking to Shanghai and Tokyo as a blueprint.

      It's also hilarious to me that NIMBYs are so opposed to any form of urbanization because "muh property value" when the highest property values are in the most urbanized, walkable places.

    • ChaosMaterialist [he/him]
      hexbear
      10
      9 months ago

      I'm skeptical of abundance on a finite world nearing the limits of growth and being destroyed by climate change.

      What if I told you that we already have abundant housing, right now, as I type this out. And I'm not talking about our hotels, prisons, or "camp grounds", but actual livable units1. Enough to solve Homelessness in the US multiple times over2.

      It simply is not evenly distributed yet kropotkin-shining

      That said, pod hives could be easily established in any location. Want to live near a beach? Near a skiing slope? Near dense forest? Near downtown? There's pods for that!

      Oh I believe in seizing hotels for exactly this purpose.

      1 Census on housing, table 3, Vacant Year Round - Held off Market: 6,812,000 units. This is nearly 5% of the entire US housing stock, and almost half of the Vacant year-round units.

      2 Department of Housing and Urban Development homeless count in 2022: 582,462 people

        • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexbear
          5
          9 months ago

          It looks like you're talking past one another here. OF COURSE suburbs, golf courses, yachts, and other rich people bullshit needs to be bulldozed. Fuck that shit.

          In a GOOD world—where everybody gets a nice apartment, all their basic needs met, and we've transitioned entirely to renewable energy—we'll be living lives of abundance, rather than scarcity.

          Maybe I'm talking out my ass here, but in a world where the profit motive is gone, I cannot imagine we'd run into any hard limits on Earth for a long, long time.