The more things change the more they stay the same.

There are multiple housing problems and they’re all probably way more complicated than anyone wants to acknowledge. The highest priority “housing problem” right now imo is that there are people who don’t have a safe place to sleep at night.

In order to solve that problem you need

1. Safe housing to provide to those people
2. A system for assigning those people to the housing.

Building/acquiring housing costs money. If the government isn’t doing its job and spending money to solve this problem we need to

1. Hold them accountable through voting
2. Take matters into our own hands as a community and attempt to contribute to a local solution in whatever capacity we’re able to contribute (donations, volunteering, organizing). Once we have legitimate trustworthy organizations that are doing a good job solving the problem then we can hopefully proceed by driving more support for them.

Creating a system to assign individuals to housing is probably the more “difficult” part because there needs to be some sort of consensus on the mechanics of prioritization. I personally think we should prioritize housing for individuals and families with children, but after that I don’t know who we should serve next.

Specifically the most acid trippy chapter of the Bible that describes the end of the world.

That’s super cool, I’ve wanted to do something similar like this but never have had the opportunity.

Gotcha. I guess I don’t really see “God” as a sentient being exclusively, so applying characteristics to him has always been a challenge.

I’m not trying to be funny, but would you also characterize “nature” as being an asshole?

I’m using the same structure as the original comment to make it easier to compare/contrast.

The fact that it’s causing you mental unrest means you need to report to the main office for a Voight-Kampff test. The tortoise lays on its back, it’s belly baking in the hot sun trying to turn itself over, but it can’t. Not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?

No, see. Tooth decay, carnivorousness, and everything else were seen as neither good nor bad until Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and gained consciousness. Prior to that, everything was still absolute chaos, but without a knowledge of good and evil there was no way to make value judgements.

Things are the same as they’ve always been. The only thing that has changed is your perception.

Hot take: All criteria used to classify ideas and objects into distinct categories can eventually break down. The only reason to pursue the creation of classification systems is to facilitate communication. If we get to a point where we start throwing chairs at each other I’d argue were no longer willing to communicate, and so arguing about whether something is “this” or “that” is no longer a priority. The priority should become attending to the mental and emotional wellbeing of the individuals in the absence of labels.

I don’t think solid state batteries provide as much benefit in smaller devices.

Literally the type of line I’d use as a litmus test to see if people were cool.

Empathy is a hell of a drug.

Yeah, you’d need to be able to see Fallen Destiny in the background.

We need an open source electric car.

Exactly how old are you? Because I remember when my entire Tekken experience was locked behind a $0.25 to $0.50 microtransaction.

People willfully pay for things they enjoy. It’s a fundamental aspect of any economic system. I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time coming to grips with that.

Eh. I was being dismissive of people’s genuine concerns. I didn’t earnestly engage with the topic at hand. I was definitely in the wrong and deserved to get downvoted.

I updated a reply I made to another comment in the thread, and I figure I’ll drop it here as well.

As someone who played Payday 2 and had a ton of discussions with my friends about that game’s ever changing monetization models I feel like the ultimate conclusion I came to was “capitalism is exhausting.” And I mean that in the very literal sense that capitalism will result in the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial exhaustion of everyone who doesn’t hold capital. This is not good, but good things can come from it. As more people start to realize the system is broken more people will want to change it. So I was being dishonest, I actually do have a lot to say about video game monetization models, but generally I think capitalism is a self-correcting problem and if you want to reduce the amount of harm caused by greed the only real option you have is to consume less and convince other like minded people to consume less.

The other thing I have more to say about is Tekken 8. Not the character customization feature, but about the story mode which is possibly the best videogame story I have ever experienced. I won’t bore anyone with the details, but the story in T8 is the conclusion to a multigenerational feud between a grandfather and father, and a father and son. It is the end to what could have been an endless cycle of hate and violence. And this ending is only possible because Jin decides to face his demons, forgive himself, and forgive his enemies.

This lesson in my mind is literally the most important lesson for a person to learn, and so I’m willing to forgive the inclusion of microtransactions of it means that some kid somewhere who is struggling with accepting who they are can play this game and come to the realization and sense of peace that Jin and I did.

My dismissal of the “badness” of microtransactions was a result of a belief in the potential “goodness” of the game overall. Obviously these sorts of moral calculations are all relative, but if anyone wants to talk about this more I would love to.

Right, I understand. I was just expressing my thoughts on the article.

I don’t have a strong opinion regarding game content rating systems, except that I don’t know how to quantify how much “good” they contribute to society.

And I don’t have much to say about video game monetization models, except that companies will always try to use a model that they think provides them with the most benefit.

The most interesting thought this article made me think of was “I wonder what kind of hats I’ll be able to put on Kuma.”

Edit: I’ve been thinking about this a bit more because I do think my dismissive attitude towards microtransactions in general is alarming. My comment was dishonest and flippant.

As someone who played Payday 2 and had a ton of discussions with my friends about their ever changing monetization models I feel like the ultimate conclusion I came to was “capitalism is exhausting.” And I mean that in the very literal sense that capitalism will result in the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial exhaustion of everyone who doesn’t hold capital. This is not good, but good things can come from it. As more people start to realize the system is broken more people will want to change it. So I was being dishonest, I actually do have a lot to say about video game monetization models.

The other thing I have more to say about is Tekken 8. Not the character customization feature, but about the story mode which is possibly the best videogame story I have ever experienced. I won’t bore anyone with the details, but the story in T8 is the conclusion to a multigenerational feud between a grandfather and father, and a father and son. It is the end to what could have been an endless cycle of hate and violence. And this ending is only possible because Jin decides to face his demons, forgive himself, and forgive his enemies.

This lesson in my mind is literally the most important lesson for a person to learn, and so I’m willing to forgive the inclusion of microtransactions of it means that some kid somewhere who is struggling with accepting who they are can play this game and come to the realization and sense of peace that Jin and I did.

And if anyone wants to talk about this more I would love to.

Tekken 8 has done a good enough job with their game and character customization system that I wouldn’t mind spending some extra money for cosmetics I enjoy.

No. Peace of mind comes from trusting, not from knowing.