Increase productivity?

deleted by creator

China kind of depends on who you ask and how you look at it. Some historians argue that if you remove a euro-centric bias, WW2 really started with the 2nd Sino-Japanese war in 1937. Or you could look further back to territorial disputes and skirmishes between Japan and China going back to 1931.

India was a British colony until 1947 and participated as part of the British Empire.

Trains, bicycles, and walkable infrastructure would be far safer, cheaper, and more sustainable.

They’ve increased in other countries too. The PS5 digital edition costs £70 more today than it did at launch. In 2024 Sony increased the Japan price of all PS5 versions by ¥13,000.

The tariffs aren’t helping, but this has been a trend for years. The gaming console market is not very volatile- prices changes in the US usually happen once every few years, not every few months. The tariffs keep fluctuating all over the place and I would not be shocked if there are more pricing adjustments for consoles specifically next year.

That’ll get you… The lowest storage tier Series S. Or a Nintendo Switch OLED. Yay.

Nah it’s the GPU market. Cryptocurrency briefly exploded and now AI is sucking up all of the GPU manufacturing capacity. Back in 2019 I got my RX580 for $175. The AMD 9070 that released this year is a tier down from that and had an MSRP of $550, but an actual price more like $650. The sweet spot of value PC building has shifted from $750 to $1,500 in just a few years. Some of that is just general inflation that affects all parts, but roughly half of that increase is just from the GPU.

It’s impacting consoles too. Consoles uses to get cheaper over time, with both price drops to existing models and new, cheaper models being released (Sony’s Slim models, things like the Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, the DSLite, etc). Looking at this generation… The original PS5 with a disc drive debuted at $500 in 2020. The “Slim” version also debuted at $500, and just got a price increase to $550. They released a PS5 Pro at $700, and just increased it to $750.

Nintendo is doing it too. The Switch was $300 for its entire life, and now that the Switch 2 is out consumers would typically expect a price cut to move the existing stock. Instead, Nintendo raised the price to $330. The OLED model went from $350 to $400, and the Lite went from $200 to $230.

And of course Microsoft is in on it too. It’s more complicated to write up since they have different storage variants of the Series S|X, but for example a Series S 512GB was $300 at launch (For some reason I remember seeing them for $250, but maybe that was a Black Friday sale or something). Now it’s $400!

Flashback of following Delphine to Kynesgrove to kill Mirmulnir Sahloknir

Lol I’m not denying any sort of privelege. I grew up on the borderline between lower and middle class as my mother’s fortunes changed. But trying to analyze my personal life experiences is just a terrible, meager excuse to dismiss the historical value of asceticism. It’s the equivalent of dismissing socialism because “capitalism made your iphone!”. I’ve had to scrape by with an empty bank account and max’d out credit cards, relying on whatever was left in the pantry and whatever gas was left in the tank to make it until pay day. But it doesn’t matter if I’ve had those experiences or not- the message from this author is not dependent upon just how poor some random member of the audience happened to be at various points in his life. Yiu can’t make any sort of actual argument here and are trying to “win” by personally attacking me, as if that’s going to accomplish anything for anyone.

And yes- not having money can be incredibly stressful. But…once again look at the comic. First of all, the author acknowledges that this is not a perfect lifestyle, but makes it clear that the characters are not as stressed out about financial difficulties as you might expect. And if you stop to think about it…

What bills do they need to pay exactly? What is it you feel they should be so stressed about that you’re judging them for being satisfied? In rural areas like this they likely have well water and a septic tank. We already know they don’t have heat. They probably don’t have a natural gas hookup. The comic says the pay for electricity, but heck there are plenty of ways around that if you want. If you ever go out to rural places like these you’ll see cheap solar panels all over the place where it doesn’t make sense to run main voltage electricity, and in the hills you’ll find people running micro hydro. I am imagining they inherited the trailer and land or somehow managed to buy it in the past- trailers are cheap and land in rural areas is cheap. Property taxes… Maybe, but what no permanent construction on the property that’s going to be miniscule. Maybe cell phone bills? But with all the alternate forms of income I mentioned it’s not that much of a stretch to think that they could scrape together the money for that, if they wanted.

I’ve acknowledged elsewhere here that I was lucky, and college degrees have become more expensive and less valuable since I graduated. So I’m not sure why you seem to be accusing me of accusing poor people of being lazy. In fact that kind of goes against everything else that I’m saying here- the people in this comic appear to be living a virtuous and satisfying lifestyle without all the trappings of wealth and capitalism. I know people who live similar lifestyles and are quite happy.

You’re the one judging poor people here. Suggesting that wanting to live like this is immature or a sign of mental illness. The truth is that tons of people live like this and are happy. And while it’s not a lifestyle I personally want to embrace, there are lessons to be learned from studying other lifestyles. It’s important to ask what it is that we are spending money on, what we are working for, and what the opportunity cost of labor is.

There’s a huge different between being privileged and being bourgeoisie. Or else the proletariat would be virtually non-existent.

And poor people, including people in trailer parks, can get 2 degrees and a corporate job, and buy a house. It’s difficult, and especially the part about secondary education has gotten worse over time.

You’re just a slave to desire, to avarice, to greed. Convinced you can work yourself to death and that one day the benevolent overlorda will reward you with happiness.

Itt: tons of people judging these characters for being happy.

I’ve seen plenty of people who seem fully functional to an outside observer. Nice clean clothes, well-spoken, full-time job running in the rat race, own a house in the suburbs. You notice their car is parked in the driveway, not the garage because it’s a hoarder house. I’ve cleaned out multiple hoarder houses in my day, and they were all in really “nice” suburban neighborhoods with no trash in the outside.

I also know plenty of people who are perfectly happy and functional but are known to leave the occasional plastic bag or empty bottle lying around. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re depressed. Not to mention some of that “trash” is probably being recelycled. That coffee can is almost certainly being used to store something. That tire is just a spare for the trailer- no need to waste precious storage space keeping it inside when it’s literally made to be outdoors for it’s lifetime.

Pretty much every billionaire is doing tons of drugs but they never get the same judgement. Cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, all sorts of designer stuff. Using prescription stuff recreationally like Adderall and Ritalin. Or buying up all of the diabetes medication that has weight loss as a side effect so they can eat luxuriously without worrying about gaining weight. Is it really “coping with their situation” or is it possible that they have nothing to cope with and are just enjoying their lives?

I’m bourgeoisie now? What means of production do you seem to think I own? Privelege? Well sure, everyone has some level of privelege - we could talk more about how the subjects of the comic are white, cis, heterosexual, and one of them is even male! But none of that is relevant to the message.

When I was a teenager I wanted things. The latest videogame, the new movie, the new novelty item from the fast food place, the new technological gadget that promised to make my life better. I wanted to go to college and get a job, work hard, get rich, get a big house with a pool and a huge yard and have 3 kids.

Are philosophers like Lao Tzu, Socrates, Diogenes, Aquinas, and most schools of Buddhism all a “teenaged mindset”, or are you just trying to infantilizs and undermine anti-consumer sentiments? Are you saying what you truly believe, or just parroting what the advertisers have told you?

I think Hades is the best overall, which has been mentioned here. Everything from Supergiant Games is great. I’ve seen Disco Elysium mentioned too, which is also great.

But I think one game that is underappreciated and not mentioned here is Horizon: Zero Dawn. Ashley Burch won several awards for her performance as Aloy. I think part of the reason it gets forgotten is that the facial animations in cutscenes are bad, at least in the main game, which led to people just not liking the cutscenes very much. The DLC’s animations are pretty good though.

What is in this comic that implies they are not planning for their future? It is simply not addressed in the comic because that’s not relevant to what the author is trying to convey.

I’m in my 30’s, have 2 degrees, have had a soul- rushing corporate job for more than a decade. I’m quite happily married. We bought a house when we were 23- younger than Carly here in this comic.

Part of that success was that we were willing to buy a cheap house. An old house in a rough neighborhood, a bad school district. A fine trade-off because we didn’t want children. We didn’t need a gigantic house, or a brand-new construction, or to live in a trendy growing neighborhood.

I make 6 figures, which for where I live is more than twice the average HOUSEHOLD income. As I’ve grown older I have seen how all of these expensive things, all these desires, are unhealthy. There is very little left that I want to buy. What I really lack is time. I spend ~10-11 hours 5 days a week either actively working or getting in/out of “work” mode. I have molded my sleep schedule around work. It consumes my life, dealing with inane corporate nonsense in exchange for that paycheck.

I stopped desiring new and expensive things a long, long time ago. I have had a bad knee for more than a decade. My retina somehow detached itself several years ago, and while it was re-attached that eye is only half as good now as it was before. The fancy 70" 4k TV hanging in my living room became difficult to focus on and I don’t use it much anymore, preferring smaller and closer screens. And I have been incredibly lucky- I have not been in a car accident, I don’t have any chronic diseases, and aside from my knee and eye I am in good health. Most people my age have several conditions that require medication and regular appointments to manage. I know full well that my own flesh will continue to fail me. It is quite easy to “piss away” your entire life by trying to “build for the future” that never comes.

I’ve traveled. I’ve gone to tons of festivals and concerts and movies and comedians. I’ve eaten at fancy restaurants and sampled expensive wine (my mother-in-law is a licensed sommelier). And yet, when I look back on my life my favorite memories are the simpler ones. Snippets of conversations with people I care about. Moments playing with our cats. Afternoons I spent completely alone, laying in the sun on my back porch, listening to the birds vying for mates or the squirrels fighting over food. Playing guitar and writing music.

“Stay in school” only worked when that paid off. I would still recommend finishing high school, but profit motives have made secondary education in the US a much more nuanced and individual decision in the past couple decades. I will say that it’s a good idea to avoid weed, alcohol, or any other recreational drugs until you have become as established as you want to be. There is a balance to be found between avarice and sloth.

“Employment” is a very modern post-industrial concept.

Well in the modern world we have the internet. OnlyFans is remarkably profitable for a lot fo people. But there could be other gig work like driving for Uber.

Traditionally, people like this “get by” doing odd jobs. Seasonal agricultural labor, babysitting, sewing and tailoring, helping people move things, repairing engines or farm equipment (fuck John Deere), gardening, hunting, fishing. Burt’s Bees is an example- the dude spent time in the army, was briefly an independent photographer, settled down and decided to live a very humble lifestyle with a bit of beekeeping, selling enough honey to survive. Eventually a homeless woman convinced him to partner up and use the wax to make candles, which led to them growing the business and eventually selling it and retiring.

It’s so odd to me that when indigenous peoples live these sorts of lifestyles, the world largely sees it as an important part of our collective cultural history. When white people have the right branding then it starts to become okay, like the Amish. Or when we read stories about white people who did it just a few generations ago they are reversed and get popular TV shows like Little House on the Prairie. But when white people in a trailer park do it they must be lazy or stupid.

There have been many wealthy individuals throughout human history. None yet have had their wealth save them from death.

Is it worth giving up several decades of the prime of your life as a wage slave in order to eek out a couple extra years in the Twilight of your life?

Are the desires we chase in the industrialized world really worth chasing?

This lifestyle is what has worked for mkar of human history. The lifestyle they are escaping is the source of violence the source of climate change, the source of suffering in the world.

Where is the poverty? The author explicitly stated that they “get by”.

This comic is condemning consumerism, not romanticizing poverty.

The people who are truly living these simple lifestyles aren’t trying to sell you anything, so you don’t hear about them. There HAS been a bit of an uptick the last few years with “cottage core” and “trad-life” influencers, but from what I’ve seen that is mostly the same capitalist grifters you see everywhere just trying to use the concept of humility to sell books and overcharge for “artisanal” products.

I’ve spent some time in trailer parks and known people like this who just… Aren’t ambitious. You just don’t hear about them because… Why would you? And the ambitious are constantly screaming into society, drowinging out everything else.

The comic is not “glorifying” poverty. It IS doing some handwaving by saying the couple “get by” somehow. There are plenty of people who live in cities, are completely sober, work multiple corporate jobs, and still live in poverty.

Calling weed “21st century opium” is an incredibly uninformed thing to say. Cannabis cultivation pre-dates cultivation of the opium poppy by somewhere between 3,000-5,000 years.

Saying “you shouldn’t do it if you want to have a life” shows that you missed the whole point of this comic. Because that statement of yours is highly dependent upon how you are defining “have a life”. The people in the comic are fulfilled, happy, and enjoying their lives. The source of problems for a lot of (I would argue most) people in the modern post-industrial world is the constant economic competition: getting a better job for better pay to buy and consume better things. The subjects of the comic have escaped that cycle.