It's obviously too easy for me because I already know my answer

One paradox of power is that using it can change the incentives of the people who depend on it.

If a country benefits enormously from access to a particular market, supplier, currency, technology or security partner, building alternatives may initially seem unnecessarily expensive.

But each time that dependence is used as leverage, the calculation changes.

The alternative doesn't have to be better. It only has to become less expensive than the risk of having no alternative.

That raises a less obvious question:

Is there a point at which exercising economic or geopolitical leverage begins to accelerate the creation of the very alternatives that eventually weaken that leverage?

And if so, how would a powerful country know when it has crossed that point?

Many people show empathy for those who are less fortunate than others but are not happy for people when something good happens to them. Specifically, they are not happy for those who are doing better than them.

If someone is truly empathetic, wouldn't they feel happy for others too?

I genuinely don't understand why there are so many unwritten rules about how a person is supposed to act.

Someone is too loud, they're judged. Someone is emotional, they're considered weak. Someone is confident, they're arrogant. Someone doesn't want marriage, people immediately assume something must be wrong with them.

And somehow everyone has an opinion on what you're supposed to be like before they even know you.

Why can't people just have their own personalities without everything being turned into a set of expectations? If someone is respectful, kind and comfortable with who they are, why does it matter whether they fit whatever idea people have in their heads?

Sometimes I feel like people claim to be accepting but still expect everyone to behave in a very specific way.

Don't you ever feel like there are at least two versions of you in the future? One where you are perfect according to everyone else's standards... except your own. And the other where only your standards are fulfilled?

Sometimes, I honestly think life would have been better years ago. Things seemed a lot simpler. People weren’t constantly on their phones, and you didn’t have the pressure of social media and everything being online all the time.

But at the same time, I know we have things now that people back then could only dream of. Technology, medicine, entertainment, being able to talk to anyone instantly, etc.

I think I’d still choose the past just because life seems like it would have been a bit more peaceful.

What would you choose?

The Doomsday Clock is now "85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to catastrophe," with an eye on nuclear war, climate change, biological threats, and AI. Former OpenAI employee Daniel Kokotajlo, now a part of the AI Futures Project, has said that he thinks it is 70% likely that AI will annihilate the human race with poison gas within 8 years. It's not just your imagination: we are in an especially bad time in human history, and possibly the end of it.

I don't think it is productive or rational to try to argue with all these experts across all these topics, unless you are yourself incredibly well-informed on them. The end of a species on Earth, even one as successful as us (well, compared to dinosaurs, we've been around for two seconds), is not an outlandish idea, although since things have been fairly non-catastrophic for most of us since we were born, it feels unintuitive. But this is real.

So, what does that mean? What should we do? Here are the only options I can think of:

1. Deny or ignore it and live like it's not true.
2. Accept it fully (or focus on the small chance that none of these disasters will go down as feared), stop worrying about it, and live for the present.
3. Do everything in your power to try to prevent these disasters, through work, activism, or however you think best.
4. Lean hard into being as realistic a prepper as you can and try to escape the catastrophes (if living in a bunker does it for you; myself, I'm not that obsessed with being alive).

My issue with #3 is that, although I believe in one-drop impacts like protesting, donating, boycotting, etc., I'm not kidding myself about the fact that I am tiny. I can't prevent these things; I can't even slow one of them 1%. If we are going to do something about all this, we have to do it as a huge global crowd, and I don't see that happening. I'm the sort of person who fights even when there's no hope, and there is hope still; but I don't want to devote every waking moment to these things, since my impact is insignificant and almost more idealistic than productive.

At the same time, if I work on something like writing a book, it's far worse than doing it when I have x years to live: the book, and all the humans who might read it, probably won't be around. When I think about my personal goals from that angle, I start to conclude that I should genuinely just follow my inclinations, goals, and dreams in order to be true to myself, which doesn't require longevity or external validation.

So I think I'm currently falling into a combination of #2 and #3, where I'll do small things continuing to try to push back, like not using LLMs, boycotting destructive companies, signing petitions, donating to good causes, voting in local elections, etc. If anyone knows of anything that would make a bigger impact, let me know. And the rest of the time, I'll just try to meet myself as fully as possible by meditating, learning, acquiring skills, interacting with people, and creating. This "best response I've got" is only somewhat satisfying.

Would like to hear other takes. (Again, debate over whether "everything is gonna work out fine" is not the point of this post.)

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I have some health concerns that are scaring me a little and I thought to myself instead of agonizing over the possibility that those health concerns will kill me I should just try to become as ok with dying as I can be.

If you feel like you might judge others for something they do or are actively doing and stuff but act opposite to that thought that u get are u considered to be a fake person for doing something opposite to what's in your head or actually a good person for not acting upon the thought?

Metacognition is said to be effective for correcting an individual's cognitive biases. However, how can one prove that the metacognition itself is unbiased?

Another proposed approach involves adjusting one's cognition based on the thinking of another, yet there is no guarantee that his/her cognition is unbiased.

Ultimately, is "unbiased cognition" merely the average of the biased cognitions held by every individual in the world? If so, does the attempt to avoid cognitive bias mean the deindividuation of individual thinking?

(English is not my native language, so I use automatic translation. There might be inappropriate wording.)

Is my nervous system just messed up if I can't accept that the answer to something in my life is the answer, even if I don't feel outright excited?

I am 18 and I just started college this week, as well as acquired my second job. I also have been going through some health issues for this entire year, and they seem to be resurfacing this past week. I don't have a car or a license yet, and I don't really have a lot of friends or a huge support system.

I know for a fact, I get really bad seasonal depression. Since I was little, every summer has been hell. This summer was AWFUL because ontop of that I had college, and work and a car to think about. Life has just been a lot, and I know life isn't supposed to be easy. But is it supposed to feel like pulling out teeth all that time?

I didn't have any classes today so all I needed to do was study/homework and clean. I did... Glad of those things. Most of the day I spent in bed, asleep or watching yt. Every time I tried to get up, I just sunk back down. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself, because that makes it worse. So I laid in bed most of the day until I was ready to eat, and start working. When I was done working (half of my work) I did some laundry, and then sunk back down.

And I just now started cleaning my room at 6pm, and my dad came in here bitching about it. Which is valid, what did I do all day? Nothing. I scrolled. I need to put a better timer on my social media for days like that, I know I could do better. But Everytime I got up, I looked around, and just couldn't get out of bed.

My condition makes it hard for me to shower a lot of the times, so I can't really do that, and I've just been fatigued. But that's ALSO my fucking fault because I haven't kept good track of taking my medicine. The past few months have just been hard on me, with starting adulthood, and all of these responsibilities on my plate now, like hospital and college payments, and pharmacy orders, and trying to find affordable cars while trying to finish my driver's Ed course.

This is probably stupid but, how do you differ what is me being overwhelmed and upset, and just plain laziness? Because i don't think to myself "I'm not doing this because I'm upset" I don't even think I think anything, I just try to get up and it feels impossible to move from one task to another when I'm at home.

Am I lazy? And if so, how do I break out of those habits? I know no one said life would be easy, so is it just supposed to feel like you have a weight attached to you? If so that's okay too. I just need to know how to be better, I want to be better.

I'm not so sure if I'm completely exact by calling myself a people pleaser, but I hit the criteria. Cuz whenever someone asks me a question, no matter if I'm busy or not, I mostly always reply, even if I've seen the message late. Whenever someone asks me a favor that isn't hard, I comply. Whenever I borrow someone else's things and lose it by chance, I give them a replacement such as a ballpen, if it's within my ability. Because I wanna treat other people of how I wanna be treated. I ask myself, If I do this to others, wouldn't they be sad or annoyed? If I put myself into their situation, wouldn't it be annoying? How is that being a people pleaser? Also, I'd like to add that I'm not the type of person who constantly pick fights. I'd rather just go with the flow and avoid banters. That's why I hardly scold people around me. I just want a quiet, fulfilling life with not that much mishaps. But maybe they called me a people pleaser coz' I bottle up my frustrations and because they rarely see my reaching the limit of myself and getting angry. I'm like this because of how I grew up, too.

Seeing the news, every new day feels like a lower descent into madness. We are all pretty much living paycheck to paycheck or are a single emergency away from financial ruin, kids literacy rates are apparently dropping, our entire healthcare system is a dumpster fire, tons of people don't have health insurance, families are starving, jobs are garbage, not even going to get into US or world politics (but OMFG what an absolute nightmare), weather is becoming increasingly deadly and destructive, and data centers and AI are this looming new awful threat. Since I'm obviously the type to catastrophize, I try to keep some perspective and remind myself that history has been full of crazy and scary times. Do you think things are worse now? Because as bad as it is, I definitely couldn't handle mideval Europe or basically any time before central air conditioning and anesthesia for surgery. But somehow, I can't seem to shake this feeling that we are approaching some sort of Event Horizon. What are your thoughts on how bleak things are right now?

I'm 19 and I have a very supportive mother and family that I can rely on for support and I never understood why this american society looks down on it, being able to live with your parents instead of suffering out there alone is actually a flex. I'm very comfortable with the way my life is, I work a part time 2 days a week on weekends and get paid a decent amount every week. I can actually use my money for personal enjoyment and I can buy the things I want like games, clothes etc since I'm not out there living alone being "self reliant" just to barely survive. I don't have to worry about my entire paycheck going to bills while having none left for myself, I see a lot of young adults around my age or early 20s who are living by themselves and are constantly stressed out even to the point of mental breakdowns because they don't know if they'll be able to afford food and rent and I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that shit. my mom takes care of everything for the both of us and all I have to do is just contribute to the household like buy groceries, laundry detergent and help around with chores. if my mom needs something I got her, if I need something she got me. not to mention I have a lot of free time to do the things I enjoy doing. I can hang out with friends, play the game, and just relax without worrying if I'm going to starve. people stay with their families in eastern nations and support each other and that's how it should be. living as a group reduces loneliness, is more efficient, and aligns with the way humans are meant to live. this whole american thing of separating from your people at a certain age to live as lone wolves never made any sense to me and I really hope this practice dies off.

Imagine there was a physical or online space that anyone could go to when life feels difficult - whether you're overwhelmed, lonely, angry, grieving, confused, burnt out, or just having a really shitty day.

It could be for a 10yo, a 25yo, or a 65yo.

If you could design this place from scratch, what would you want to find there?

What would actually make you feel safe, supported, or a little lighter?

It could be anything: a place to vent anonymously, someone to talk to, professional help, grounding exercises, music, books, activities, food, silence, community, or something else entirely.

What would your ideal version of this place look like?

What are human relationships even for? Any relationship which involves two people with full emotions is just like, you make a mistake you make a decision the other person is more concerned about how it affects them and how it's potentially not good for you, there's no unconditional positive regard in human relationships, it's only there in a therapist-client relationship, then why tf do we even need these close relationships when they don't understand and accept you for who you are without letting their emotions and insecurities define you?