Stoic

I'm a simple man living in a complex world.

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

You should follow me on twitch, you don't have to watch anything, I just want to feel validated. https://t.co/ugkwQpMJOi

[RAT 🐀 @doctor4t_]

300 tick speed

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

@blacknredtext @Epicartworks 7 days to die isn't bad after the first couple days. I enjoy going hunting for food. Water is annoying, but my wife and I laugh about pooping ourselves after getting dysentery from the river water.

[J Hectic❗יוסף אורבך @LisReal_2401]

@beetlemoses It's too late, I've already imagined myself as a weary cowpoke resting against a creekside oak, and you as the irksome duck quacking from across the water

[Hank Green @hankgreen]

Just listened to a clip of Jason Calacanis talking about how most tech companies now "support Trump on various endeavors" with the exception of Anthropic and "this is america you're allowed to have an opinion BUT! This administration takes things personally, and they're full contact."

The overall thesis of the clip as I understood it was "Anthropic is a bunch of Democrats, they hate Trump, Trump hates them back. Why isn't Dario doing the thing all the other tech leaders are doing? Of course Trump is fucking with them."

OK.

I think it's fair to say that the average person would say that Jason Calacanis is more of a capitalist than me. Certainly he's made much more money than me and his job title contains the word "capitalist."

But what Jason is talking about being the new structural quality of the American economy here is not capitalism.

If the President of the United States picks OpenAI to win the AI race even though Anthropic's tech is better, that's not "Oh, y'know, this administration takes things personally!" shrug.

That's actually not capitalism anymore...it's a pretty well-understood different system called oligarchy. That becomes very obvious if you just replace any of the characters in the story with names you don't recognize.

Just in case it needs saying, oligarchy sucks. It is bad for innovation and bad for economies and bad for consumers and ultimately also often (eventually) very bad for the oligarchs! This is why we're supposed to be apalled when our leaders start actively encouraging oligarch-like behavior.

Because, look...funny thing about capitalism that I've noticed...most capitalists (there are some exceptions) have no real ideological allegiance to capitalism. They don't /want/ to compete. Competing is annoying, it's hard, you can very easily lose!

If they can make more money by getting the state to protect them than they can by innovating and competing, they will absolutely pick state protection.

Most capitalists will happily become oligarchs. Their allegiance isn't to any particular system, it's to margin.

Now, people to my left will say that oligarchy is, in fact, the final form of capitalism...it's where capitalism will inevitably ends up. I don't believe this because of how we have lots of examples of capitalist countries that are not oligarchies.

But watching it happen in my country (and watching influential capitalists shrug as it does) doesn't strengthen my position!

It is honestly kinda astounding to see such a staunch pro-market guy just say, "the administration is full-contact, Dario needs to play ball." We all get that that's not a defense of markets, right?

It's a defense of one guy distorting a market because he dislikes any power that is not his power. If you find yourself defending that, it is possibly because you, yourself, strive to be an oligarch. Be real careful with that. You can follow your incentives into an evolutionary dead-end. It happens all the time.

I've just been thinking about it all morning. Just a real jaw dropper.

You can watch the video here: https://t.co/eU29LH9xoR

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.

Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.

I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."

"They just come with the table, man."

They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.

This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.

I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.

"Did we…?"

"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."

Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.

My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."

Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.

I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.

Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.

I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.

Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

Why does this amber alert notification take me to an sketchy looking mp3 download site?

[vx-underground @vxunderground]

> Thomas Massie
> Gets Epstein files sort of released
> Makes government mad-mad
> Up for re-election this year
> Political opponent appears
> Look inside
> $30,000,0000+ of campaign monies from Israel lobbyists
> Endorsements from top officials in United States

[Apathy Overdose @Apathy_0verdose]

@SonnengottNika As long as it's cooked in the Air Fryer it's healthy.

[tmuxvim @tmuxvim]

I put a prompt injection into my LinkedIn bio and recruiters are messaging me in Old English and calling me Lord.

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

@MyLordBebo I hate unprotected left turns

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

@o_____o @ThatEricAlper You can freeze cakes and they keep pretty good if you store it right. Its a tradition for some couples to freeze their wedding cake and eat it on their anniversary. I did and it was still great.

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

Even opened the door for them, how polite

[Frases Barbie @barbie_context]

Una persecución policial en una carretera en Los Ángeles llegó a su fin porque el conductor del camión se dio cuenta de la situación y hizo esto

[Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump]

Gas prices are at crazy levels--fire Obama!

[Stoic @GuyStoic]

@blackpwdrtrding @QuiverQuant

[Nozz @TheNozzo]

@ChloeImagine Why not the third option?

[This Account Makes You Happy @FeelYouHappy]

A male Chinese goose attacked a man, so the man pretended the goose knocked him to the ground!

Then the male goose proudly returned to his mate, holding his head high and showing off his strength to her. 😅

[Libertarian Party @LPNational]

Knock knock