Jaycifer

I would consider this to be two separate, semi-related concepts asserted together, one that consciousness is an illusion, and one that you are a different person each day.

The first point draws many questions; consciousness is an illusion of what? What mechanism causes the illusion? How does it cause it? Why does the illusion exist? And you may note that you could replace illusion in those questions with consciousness and be left in a similar (though still distinct) place. So simply calling consciousness an illusion seems to me to kick the can down the road without actually addressing the problem.

As for being a different person after a lapse in awareness, I’d like to take it a step further and say that you could be considered a new person with every change in moment. It’s easy enough to look back 10 years and say “yeah, that’s a younger me, but they’re not the same as me I can just see the path that led to where I am now.” Getting closer, you may feel different today compared to yesterday depending on various factors (sleep, diet, events), but are you a different person because you slept and had a lapse of awareness, or because the state of your mind and thoughts have shifted? When your internal monologue (or equivalent thought) asks “what is this guy talking about?” Is it not thinking “what” in a brand new context given the words it is responding to, forming a new beginning to a thought that puts the mind in a unique state primed to then enter a new state of “is?” And if the mind is in a unique state of novelty, could the person attached to the mind be considered distinct from the person that existed before?

There is a reason the word revelation exists, it indicates when a person has a novel thought that changes their perspective or way of thinking, altering who they are. Would they not be a new person despite being aware of the process of their change? Due to the above points I don’t think new personhood only occurs at sleep, but constantly. The rate of change may quicken or slow, but the change is always there.

“Sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a man in the process of changing.” -Stormlight Archives

No, I think it’s unfortunately much more normal for American men at least to be exposed to something espousing toxic masculinity and get into it for a time.

For me it was 2015 reddit in r/kotakuinaction and r/theredpill, for my buddy it was Atlas Shrugged, and there have been more since.

By unsubscribing from r/kotakuinaction, Ayn Rand, or whatever manosphere-equivalent thing you flirted with as a naive teen or young adult.

“Waltuh, we gotta take down-“

We’re getting pretty close to an effectively popular vote-based system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact

I have never watched the movie, don’t know that I’ve ever seen an image from this scene, but instantly recognized it because I’ve read people complain about it so many times online.

I can’t speak for them, but when I get angry and frustrated it can come through as aggressiveness, and I am very angry and frustrated with what has been done to the HHS (to say nothing of the rest of the US federal government). At this point, I would double check the source of any health claim, and ignore it if it comes from the HHS in 2025 to now. I’ll be getting my health information from the NIH or Health Canada for the time being. I don’t know that they are as well funded or reliable as the HHS has been historically, but at least the guys in charge of them are not literally insane on matters of health.

There are only a couple pieces of writing advice I see people consistently agree on:

1. Write something consistently, even when you don’t want to. If you’re a full time writer, that might be at least one page a day. If it’s just a hobby, it could be less. The important thing is to keep what you are writing somewhere in your head to keep the creative juices flowing eventually.

2. Read. Read good books/stories to give you an idea of what to do and what’s been done when writing. Read mediocre or even bad books/stories to give you an idea of what not to do and what’s been overdone in writing.

3. Learn about or experience some stuff to help spark ideas for writing.

So you’re saying there is zero nuance on the internet ?! ;P

I’ve been a fan of Fountains of Wayne for most of my life, I like the way he writes lyrics about ultimately mundane, everyday experiences. Mexican Wine, Someone to Love, and Action Hero are pretty good examples.

I hadn’t heard of this show, but I just watched the video for “Antidepressants are so not a Big Deal” and it had a similar thing going on, I may give it a try.

Always happy to find something Adam Schlesinger had a part in!

“Stroke it, stare at it, destiny comes all the same.”
-big, bald, purple-headed fella

I agree with everything else you said, but oftentimes the reason an item is cheaper on Amazon is they have a clause that in order to sell on Amazon the item cannot be cheaper on another platform. Amazon controls enough of the market that sellers still need to sell through them for volume, but it’s just a way to lock customers into the platform by exploiting sellers.

Relevant video: https://youtu.be/dSYq0lvia4o

May we all receive de-liverance from such a fate.

Nah, screw those demons. I’m gonna murder those demons!

That’s the same flawed argument often used to shoot down minimum wage increases. Income increases to the poorest people historically does not lead to unsustainable inflation.

Why are you assuming an extra shitty apartment that cost $500 wouldn’t be built, now that the unhoused person has some money to pay with?

Oh my gosh, that’s amazing