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Complex Numbers #1076413 added September 7, 2024 at 7:20am
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Spit in the Ocean
Well, the one most overwhelmingly important thing I have already done is: avoid bringing another human into a far-from-ideal world.
The second most important thing is that I attempt to bring knowledge and comedy into an ignorant and largely humorless world. In that, I fail most of the time, but at least it makes me feel good to try.
And there are other things I do. I recycle, to the extent that I'm able. I help out with causes, when I can be sure that it's going more to the cause than to the organizer. I try to minimize my water use, and refrain from littering. All of that amounts to spit in the ocean, and it doesn't even make me feel good to brag about it. And for every infinitesimal improvement we can make individually, millions of times worse stuff gets done by other people, governments, and big corporations. "Every little bit helps," my ass. You think it makes a difference if you give a dollar to a billionaire? No, they only notice if you try to take one.
If there's anything that the pandemic years drove home to me, it's that any effort we make has to be a collective effort—and that it will never be a collective effort. There will always be those who deliberately make things worse. If an asteroid were about to hit the ocean, and the only way to avoid it would be for everyone to, I don't know, jump up and down at the same time, at least half the population will continue to sit on their asses, out of ignorance, apathy, a death wish, or maybe just plain spite. "The other political side wants me to do this, so I absolutely refuse to do it."
So you're jumping up and down... for what? Some marginal improvement in your fitness? So you can say you're at least trying to help? I mean, in that particular case, I'd probably do it, just on the off-chance that everyone else will, too. But they won't.
Yeah, some people are in a position to make improvements now, and I wish them the best. But I'm not in that position. What we need are big, systemic changes, not that one extra dollar.
I can travel less, reducing my carbon footprint.
I can move to a plant-based diet, helping the environment while reducing animal suffering.
I can drive less, walk more. (I know this because I spent over a year without a car.)
I can volunteer my time to causes I care about.
I can mentor youth, sharing my vast intelligence and infinite wisdom with the impressionable younger generation.
Yes, I can do all these things.
But I won't.
FINAL DAY! We get to give out a free Merit Badge every day this week. Want one? Anyone who comments here before 11:30 pm WDC time today could get today's. (I'll need that extra half-hour to pick a winner and send the badge before midnight.)
To clarify:
 When I say "comment," I mean comment. Not review. Though reviews are always welcome.
I also mean "here," not on the newsfeed post.
MB recipient will be chosen at random.
Maximum of one MB per commenter for the week.
If I don't get comments, I'll pick a previous commenter, and maybe not at random.
The MB will be the one I commissioned two years ago, "Complexity," which is a publicly available MB.
I appreciate all comments; this is just a little incentive. |
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