Corona virus, China major city lockdowns, etc.

[Niya]

So, it goes both ways to a large extent, but I'm not fully in control. I can choose to walk through the door, and the door is open partly because of my actions, but never entirely because of my actions...in most cases. Of course, in this, as in pretty nearly everything else, you have to add the caveat that there are always exceptions.

Errr. You're kind of right here. Nothing you say here is false but I think it's very important to acknowledge that you yourself can take actions to give yourself choices that wouldn't have just been presented to you otherwise. Using your example of the your choice of where to get educated. Let's say someone was presented with a choice of going to some arbitrary University but they actually want to go to something like Yale. I believe it is entirely possible for this person to take a series of actions that will open up that choice for them. The only issue is are they willing to do what is necessary to obtain the outcome they want. This is essentially what I mean when I say we are solely responsible for what happens in our lives. We can have whatever we want as long as we are willing to do what it takes. I do not believe that a man cannot control his fate. He can if he has the grit to go after what he wants with unparalleled tenacity.

[Niya]

vaxbies

For some reason, up until now, I've been reading this as vax-babies the whole time I lurked this thread. It always made me laugh because of how funny it sounded in my head lol.

[digitalShaman]

Here's a little link to keep the spririts HIGH in this thread:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00946

[digitalShaman]

In regards to fate and life aso. I do strongly think that we do have a lot of effect on how well or bad our life turns out. not necessarily by decisions that we make but rather by how we accept and see the things that happen to us. I do believe that we are more of a leaf in the wind rather than having control about things that happen in our lives. There might be terrible events happening to you but if you still manage to see the good things that are and the good things that may come out of the bad experiences, your life will turn out right. There is the saying “In the end everything is good. And if it’s not good, it is not yet the end”. If you experience miserable things and you can’t get out of the miserable feelings these things create in you, your life will be miserable and more miserable things will happen. There are always more sides to a thing than only one, you must learn to see these.

[dilettante]

Gosh.

In the early pages this thread seemed more about becoming informed and staying safe and getting each other through this thing. Weird place we have come to.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Errr. You're kind of right here. Nothing you say here is false but I think it's very important to acknowledge that you yourself can take actions to give yourself choices that wouldn't have just been presented to you otherwise. Using your example of the your choice of where to get educated. Let's say someone was presented with a choice of going to some arbitrary University but they actually want to go to something like Yale. I believe it is entirely possible for this person to take a series of actions that will open up that choice for them. The only issue is are they willing to do what is necessary to obtain the outcome they want. This is essentially what I mean when I say we are solely responsible for what happens in our lives. We can have whatever we want as long as we are willing to do what it takes. I do not believe that a man cannot control his fate. He can if he has the grit to go after what he wants with unparalleled tenacity.

Ok, good point. If your goal is X, and you are willing to do what it takes to achieve X, then you can get there. In the case of Yale, though, I doubt there is anything any one person can do to guarantee that outcome without connecting with a bunch of other people and leveraging those connections. Grades alone won't get you in there. Money, alone, probably won't either. Both would help, but neither is sufficient on their own. I have one uncle who went there, though (or possibly two, I can't remember), so I might have been able to try to leverage the legacy connection, which was always important for ivy league schools. So, who you are born to can help with THAT particular goal more effectively than hard work or money. Inheritance is alive and well in the US. By the way, I seem to remember reading in the last decade, or so, that legacy acceptance is in decline at ivy league schools. Of course, what happened in the last decade or so doesn't make much difference to me, since college was a long time further back.

For that goal, like so many, the connections you make are the key to the goal. You do have a considerable amount of influence on the connections you make, therefore you have considerable influence on the outcomes you achieve, but it's not through hard work. When you get right down to it, the harder I've had to work on a job (based on calories burned), the less I've been paid. I worked for two summers on a golf course (it was utterly hilarious, almost like CaddyShack levels....but that's a different story). That was mighty hard work many days, but I've never been paid less.

[Shaggy Hiker]

In regards to fate and life aso. I do strongly think that we do have a lot of effect on how well or bad our life turns out. not necessarily by decisions that we make but rather by how we accept and see the things that happen to us. I do believe that we are more of a leaf in the wind rather than having control about things that happen in our lives. There might be terrible events happening to you but if you still manage to see the good things that are and the good things that may come out of the bad experiences, your life will turn out right. There is the saying “In the end everything is good. And if it’s not good, it is not yet the end”. If you experience miserable things and you can’t get out of the miserable feelings these things create in you, your life will be miserable and more miserable things will happen. There are always more sides to a thing than only one, you must learn to see these.

Since everything is perfect in being what it is, one may well burst out in laughter.

Or something like that. It was a quote from somebody who was quoted by a friend of mine in our high school yearbook.

[digitalShaman]

Gosh.

In the early pages this thread seemed more about becoming informed and staying safe

oh, it still is! haven't seen my link above? smoke more weed and you will be safe!

and getting each other through this thing.

and especially this is still true for this thread. "This thing" we all try to get through is just not the original disease anymore.

[wes4dbt]

I'm not denying your point though. There are big differences in cultures that someone from another culture cannot speak to personally. But when you speak of the generality of human ignorance such as believing in gods, demons, voodoo, etc. , you can speak about 95% of the population. Because it is true

If that's what you believe, then fair enough. I have no idea what motivates 95% of the world population. I definitely don't believe there's one single motivation, so I'll continue to be amazed when people make such statements.

[Niya]

"This thing" we all try to get through is just not the original disease anymore.

Yes....we have stumbled upon the real disease now.

[Niya]

I have no idea what motivates 95% of the world population.

That's easy. It is self interest. Once you understand that, everything else falls into place.

All the problems start because we allow people to convince us that they are not driven by this base desire. They don't advertise all those "wonderful" products to you every chance they get because they like you and want to help, they do it because it will make them rich. Self interest governs every facet of human behavior.

[sapator]

Catarrh? Tell me about that word. I like it. I feel like I have seen it before, but not well enough to be sure whether it was a real word or just a typo, so I looked it up. Very nice. Etymology for the win!

Still, I'm not sure quite what you are complaining about. That isn't a COVID thing. Of course, it depends a whole lot on your work situation, but I would be taking a sick day if I had a catarrh (see, I used it). That would be for two reasons: 1) I wouldn't want to pass whatever on to anybody around me (and they wouldn't want me to, either), and 2) I have enough stuff to work on at home.

I haven't had a good cold since before COVID showed up. One of the side effects of this pandemic thing is that I'm just not around sick people anymore, so I'm not catching anything.

No, I'm not complaining about the day off. The next time I need one I'll be sure to sneeze a couple of times outside HR door.Suddenly it will open and...GET OUUUUTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!
I've had days in the past that I was working with 38.5 fever so kicking me out for that was peculiar.

Vax-babies. Lol .

[Shaggy Hiker]

A nice fever can be quite entertaining.

[wes4dbt]

That's easy. It is self interest. Once you understand that, everything else falls into place.

All the problems start because we allow people to convince us that they are not driven by this base desire. They don't advertise all those "wonderful" products to you every chance they get because they like you and want to help, they do it because it will make them rich. Self interest governs every facet of human behavior.

What a sad view of the world. I see kindness and selflessness in many people.

[Niya]

What a sad view of the world.

I prefer an ugly truth over a pretty lie.

I see kindness and selflessness in many people.

Not enough people to make a meaningful difference.

[Eduardo-]

Don't waste your time whinging on about the dark, malign, forces shaping the world.

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5550854

[wes4dbt]

I prefer an ugly truth over a pretty lie.



Not enough people to make a meaningful difference.

No it seems you just prefer to believe people are ugly.

Most of the people I've met are not consumed by selfishness. Most people to some degree genuinely care others. They do make a meaning difference.

[Eduardo-]

No it seems you just prefer to believe people are ugly.

Most of the people I've met are not consumed by selfishness. Most people to some degree genuinely care others. They do make a meaning difference.

How many of these people you've met are ruling the world?

[wes4dbt]

How many of these people you've met are ruling the world?

That's a silly question. Niya sasid, "Self interest governs every facet of human behavior." So what does "ruling the world" have to do with anything. There are 8 billion people on this world. Are they all evil selfish bastards? Are you?

[Eduardo-]

That's a silly question. Niya sasid, "Self interest governs every facet of human behavior." So what does "ruling the world" have to do with anything. There are 8 billion people on this world. Are they all evil selfish bastards? Are you?

Ah, sorry, I was not following the conversation, just answered to that message thinking that was related to the far context we were discussing in earlier messages.

About your question, if you really want me to enter this topic... it is somewhat hard to explain without going into really deep stuff (biblical).

But it is more or less like this: people, or at least most people, are not inherently bad. Most people want to be good and do good, and there are lot of people that care for others and so (like you said).
But nature is ruined, and environment (mostly "the world", things we are also talking about here) have also a negative impact on people. So, let's say that in general people have a lot of problems.

That's more or less an approximation to what I think.

But I don't want to interrupt.

[Eduardo-]

YOU are shaping the world, so long as you lean into it.

Are you a solipsist?

[Eduardo-]

Are you also shaping us?
Why don't you make us to leave all these "conspiracy theories" if you can shape the reality to whatever you want?

And this "stuff" is already happening without the Metaverse, so just imagine what that's gonna be.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I'm sloppy, does that count?

[Shaggy Hiker]

Are you also shaping us?

Yes, but I'm one of many. My contribution is pretty minor, but hopefully not utterly insignificant.

Why don't you make us to leave all these "conspiracy theories" if you can shape the reality to whatever you want?

It's not some magic, snap your fingers and make it so, kind of shaping. It's just that the world we live in is shaped by the actions of all the people in it. If enough people feel it is selfish, then it will become selfish. If enough people fear and distrust, then that will be the world we live in. It doesn't happen over night, but it does happen over time. We can tear down faster than we can build up, so we need to work more on the building up unless you prefer to live in the rubble.

And this "stuff" is already happening without the Metaverse, so just imagine what that's gonna be.

Don't need to. The Metaverse was largely a construct popularized in a book by Neal Stephenson called Snow Crash. I read that several years ago. As some people in the media have pointed out, the book is a dystopian novel, but people like Zuckerberg saw that and said, "yeah, that sounds cool, let's do that." Technically, the Metaverse part of the book isn't the dystopian part of the book. The Metaverse is kind of the place where people went to escape from the real world. It would be more like if we made The Matrix as a way to escape from the misery that we were experiencing in the real world.

One thing to note about the dystopian parts that people want to escape from, whether it is the real world of Snow Crash, or the real world of The Matrix, is that they are all very urban and industrial. We pretty much know what we do NOT like.

[Niya]

No it seems you just prefer to believe people are ugly.

Most of the people I've met are not consumed by selfishness. Most people to some degree genuinely care others. They do make a meaning difference.

If you get a flat tire, most people you meet will be willing to help you rather than rob you. If you ask a stranger for directions, he is more likely to help you than to ignore you. If you're a dollar short while at the cashier, most likely one of the other people in the line will contribute that dollar.

However, don't let any of this fool you into thinking that people are not self serving at their core. The reason you tend to receive kind gestures from others in common situations is because it costs nothing to do them but has the potential to pay off far more than it costs. It doesn't cost much to help a dude change a tire but if that dude turns out to be the owner of a business you're going to apply to for a job then that no cost act could bear enormous fruit. So even altruism is self-serving on some level. You watch someone else's back because you want them to watch your back, you don't watch their back simply because it's the right thing to do. Humans are not this selfless.

If you want a good idea of how I view human beings, check out a movie called Circle. This movie perfectly shows exactly how I see most people. They are good until being good becomes too costly.

[Eduardo-]

Yes, but I'm one of many. My contribution is pretty minor, but hopefully not utterly insignificant.

It seems to me that you don't realize the different between changing the world (shaping) and discovering first how it is now.

We are also "shaping the world", but first we need to find out how it is now (the raw material).

So, in that sense that you said now, we are doing the same thing.
The difference seems to be that you seems to think that you can also shape the "raw material" (the current reality) with your mind.

I think you are a bit deranged (*), BTW.

(*) or whatever is the right word in English for a person not mentally sound.

Don't need to. The Metaverse was largely a construct popularized in a book by Neal Stephenson

I think you are disinformed (like with everything else).
Metaverse is a real plan now. They are just using that name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gElfIo6uw4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49t0SEOVvyI

(I didn't watch those videos, I hope they are similar to other ones I already watched).

[wes4dbt]

It doesn't cost much to help a dude change a tire but if that dude turns out to be the owner of a business you're going to apply to for a job then that no cost act could bear enormous fruit. So even altruism is self-serving on some level.

So the reason someone helps you change a tire is they hope to benefit from it. There's no such thing of helping someone just because they need help. Must suck to be you.

I was just at the grocery store, I wanted a dozen eggs but could reach them. I asked a lady standing next to me if she would grab the eggs for me. She smiled and said sure, grabbed the eggs and even opened the pact to make sure none were cracked. I said thank and then we proceeded to talk about eggs and chickens for a couple of minutes. I doubt she thought she would benefit from helping me, she was just a nice and friendly person.

This is a very common type of encounter for me. I don't think she would take a bullet for me nor would I expect her to.

[baka]

https://www.bitchute.com/video/7tBpLFnO11xx/

watching this series now. at ep3 the one I linked is about that big caravan with people from mexico walking toward USA.
it was all fake. and its shown in this video.
its not covid, but it show how much can we trust media?

[Eduardo-]

https://www.bitchute.com/video/7tBpLFnO11xx/

watching this series now. at ep3 the one I linked is about that big caravan with people from mexico walking toward USA.
it was all fake. and its shown in this video.
its not covid, but it show how much can we trust media?

I found those videos some time ago.

Alien invasion?

Where are we going baka?

[Niya]

Let me address this too:-

They do make a meaning difference.

Famine:-


Wars:-


Child Soldiers:-


ISIS sex slaves:-


More famine:-






More wars:-




Tell the millions of people around the world who's daily lives are represented in one of more of these images about how much difference good people are making. It doesn't amount to a flea on a dog's ass.

[Eduardo-]

I think you are a bit deranged (*), BTW.

(*) or whatever is the right word in English for a person not mentally sound.

It is not to insult you. I really think that someone that is not able to differentiate reality from a mental construct have big issues.

IDK how to help, and IDK if you want any help either.
Most crazy people think they are OK.

I am OK...

[baka]

"alien" is immigrants. not really space aliens.

[Eduardo-]

"alien" is immigrants. not really space aliens.

OK, I'll have to give it another look, but I think when I did a couple of months ago I saw something about aliens or reptilian conspiracy or something like that and I quit watching (not sure now).

[baka]

yeah. first ep was a bit odd
but ep 2 made sense. and ep 3 was about manipulating with "pre planned" situations to control people. create polarization.
I think it will be one of those series that will mess with you.
this can not be real, most be fake, another conspiracy. and sometimes, well this is interesting, omg what is this?

but I will give it a try anyway, since there where some interesting things she said.
will of course not just believe in everything, I will do my own judgment about it.

ep 1 is at the bottom of the list
its a 10 part series, after that its the sequel, a 20 part series, also found in stopworldcontrol (that is why Im watching it, since I saw it there, but I wanted to watch the first 10 episodes first before watching the sequel)

[wes4dbt]

Tell the millions of people around the world who's daily lives are represented in one of more of these images about how much difference good people are making. It doesn't amount to a flea on a dog's ass.

Certainly you know of the UN World Food Program, Red Cross, Doctors without Border and on and on. I don't know the exact number of people these humanitarian organizations help but the WFP alone helps close to 100million. Add in local charities, food banks, churches... it has to add up 100's of millions of people lives are made better. There are a lot more that need help. We have so much more that needs to be achieved as humans. But for some reason you want to claim they don't make a difference. I disagree.

[Eduardo-]

yeah. first ep was a bit odd
but ep 2 made sense. and ep 3 was about manipulating with "pre planned" situations to control people. create polarization.
I think it will be one of those series that will mess with you.
this can not be real, most be fake, another conspiracy. and sometimes, well this is interesting, omg what is this?

but I will give it a try anyway, since there where some interesting things she said.
will of course not just believe in everything, I will do my own judgment about it.

ep 1 is at the bottom of the list
its a 10 part series, after that its the sequel, a 20 part series, also found in stopworldcontrol (that is why Im watching it, since I saw it there, but I wanted to watch the first 10 episodes first before watching the sequel)

OK, I bookmarket it, thanks. I'm not sure if I'll have time to watch it in the next days, but I'll do when I can.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I think you are a bit deranged (*), BTW.

(*) or whatever is the right word in English for a person not mentally sound.

That's fine, I feel the same of you.

I think you are disinformed (like with everything else).
Metaverse is a real plan now. They are just using that name.

Nope, it's on you. Those videos are about current stuff. Snow Crash was published in 1992. If you can find some evidence that the book is NOT what Zuckerberg (and others) based the Metaverse concept on, I'd be interested in seeing that, since it has been reported that the book IS the inspiration for the Metaverse.

[Eduardo-]

That's fine, I feel the same of you.

As I said, that was not to insult you.

Someone that is not able to differentiate reality from a mental construct is in trouble. You should seek for help IMO.

[Eduardo-]

It is harder "to shape the world" to whatever you want with us, because we are writing here and can write things that are not according to what you want to shape, but it is very easy to do it regarding billionaires, because if you want "to shape" that they are all very nice people, they do nothing but good to humanity, none of them will come here to say anything. In first place because they don't know about this discussion, in second place because even if they knew, they don't care, and in third place, because if they came here to say something, they would say: you are right, we are all very nice people.

So, you are not really shaping anything, you are simply fooling yourself.

[Eduardo-]

I don't know what to say Shaggy Hiker, but no, it is not possible to shape reality.
Reality is what it is, independently of what anybody thinks. Nobody can "shape" reality.

That's is something... not normal way of thinking.
It is important to know what is real and what is not real.