I saw a video recently about Gen Alpha kids and the mistakes their parents are making raising that generation.
One of the arguments is that the parents of Gen Alpha were abused and had nasty parents and so they're overcomensating.
Is it really that way, though?
Gen Alpha is largely raised by the millennials and a few early zoomers. They in turn were raised by the boomers. The boomers were actually raised by parents who weren't very good on account of the modern era's ending through the depression and the world wars basically traumatizing generations of people.
As a result, the boomers often raised the millennials with a very gentle, permissive, and protective style in contrast with the authoritarian and often abusive and neglectful childhoods they had. The boomers were, after all, the "latchkey kids" but also the generation to get the belt, and they are the ones who changed that.
The boomers get a lot of flack, but in some ways they've seen a whole change in the world. Yes, they grew up in the postwar boom, but they came of age just as that age was ending. They've been living in basically a world that has never stopped decaying around them. Early on when they were doing their basic childcare, many of them still had some benefits from the dead age before them, but their kids did not.
So what the millennials and early zoomers brought to the table would be this higher level of parenthood based in the postmodern era that rejected the modernist methods of raising children, paired with a lack of resources to implement that higher level of parenthood. This explains why they'd take shortcuts like using tablets or even buying adult makeup for children and pre-teens, because they don't have enough resources in terms of time, attention, or money to provide the boomer parent style upbringing.
One of the arguments is that the parents of Gen Alpha were abused and had nasty parents and so they're overcomensating.
Is it really that way, though?
Gen Alpha is largely raised by the millennials and a few early zoomers. They in turn were raised by the boomers. The boomers were actually raised by parents who weren't very good on account of the modern era's ending through the depression and the world wars basically traumatizing generations of people.
As a result, the boomers often raised the millennials with a very gentle, permissive, and protective style in contrast with the authoritarian and often abusive and neglectful childhoods they had. The boomers were, after all, the "latchkey kids" but also the generation to get the belt, and they are the ones who changed that.
The boomers get a lot of flack, but in some ways they've seen a whole change in the world. Yes, they grew up in the postwar boom, but they came of age just as that age was ending. They've been living in basically a world that has never stopped decaying around them. Early on when they were doing their basic childcare, many of them still had some benefits from the dead age before them, but their kids did not.
So what the millennials and early zoomers brought to the table would be this higher level of parenthood based in the postmodern era that rejected the modernist methods of raising children, paired with a lack of resources to implement that higher level of parenthood. This explains why they'd take shortcuts like using tablets or even buying adult makeup for children and pre-teens, because they don't have enough resources in terms of time, attention, or money to provide the boomer parent style upbringing.
I have transcended my corporeal body. Now I will play Xbox. No bloody 360, no bloody one, no bloody series s, no bloody series x.
(Checks my character sheet)
I don't think I have "racial immunity to influenza". Increased resistance to laser weapons, but not to influenza.
I don't think I have "racial immunity to influenza". Increased resistance to laser weapons, but not to influenza.
One of the most interesting ideas about post-apocalypse is the idea that it doesn't mean the end of the world. Humans will always rebuild community, because without it we die. So the question becomes, "What does community look like after this civilization ends?"
Such an unrefined culture. They don't even know that "If the van is a-rockin' don't come a-knockin'."
The iraqi information minister for the EU.
"There is no censorship in Europe. Never!!"
"There is no censorship in Europe. Never!!"
I picked up a kiln a few years ago for just that sort of thing. I think it's a really cool idea.
The little guy loves blowing out candles, so I got a large candle, but it's obviously a bit unstable, so I made a candle holder out of PLA. Here you can see the two parts. I started with a stock half sphere, and took away a cylinder from the center. I added a bit of a bevel to the cylinder with a slider.
(Is this fireproof? Not at all. You better believe it needs to never be allowed to burn that low)
(Is this fireproof? Not at all. You better believe it needs to never be allowed to burn that low)
My second vehicle was a '92 F250 Turbodiesel Extended cab longbox with a manual transmission.
Really useful vehicle to have, but driving in the city was a little Hell. I know exactly what you mean.
Really useful vehicle to have, but driving in the city was a little Hell. I know exactly what you mean.
People think it's a bad idea, but when I was early in my career, I really wanted a daihatsu copen -- lovely little (and I do mean little) sports coupe. Not great for a family or anything, but for a single guy who wants a cheap sports car that sips gas, it was a great moment.
That's one of the plot threads in my last book. "No that's definitely wrong" oh ok thanks ChatGPT
Except LLMs are epistemically conservative and only know what they were trained on.
Except LLMs are epistemically conservative and only know what they were trained on.
I bet it ends up being Ukraine and it's because all the men were shelled by Putin, though I'm sure Russia itself isn't doing much better.
"youth unemployment" is something near and dear to my heart because I know how hard it is to take off if there's no available runway.
I came of age during a recession (the 2001 recession right after the dot com bubble burst. It caused my rust belt town to finally get massive layoffs at the local factory), and to me, youth unemployment meant losing a year of earning because all the people laid off from the town's factory ended up working menial jobs to keep the lights on. It had big effects on my health because I basically surfed the internet in my parents basement for a year, and also kept me from going to college for much longer than I would have liked because I wasn't able to save enough for college.
Ironically, I did eventually end up getting a full-time job, and it was at a job that paid significantly less than minimum wage. In spite of the illegal wage, I was happy to have it because at least I could save money for college.
I came of age during a recession (the 2001 recession right after the dot com bubble burst. It caused my rust belt town to finally get massive layoffs at the local factory), and to me, youth unemployment meant losing a year of earning because all the people laid off from the town's factory ended up working menial jobs to keep the lights on. It had big effects on my health because I basically surfed the internet in my parents basement for a year, and also kept me from going to college for much longer than I would have liked because I wasn't able to save enough for college.
Ironically, I did eventually end up getting a full-time job, and it was at a job that paid significantly less than minimum wage. In spite of the illegal wage, I was happy to have it because at least I could save money for college.
The Roman Catholic Church literally has its own country. They can accept unlimited unvetted immigrants if they like, put them up in those giant golden towers at the Vatican.
A haiku about the lives of pets:
Cherry blossoms fall
our pets brief lights touch our days
time then lays them down
Cherry blossoms fall
our pets brief lights touch our days
time then lays them down
He can take some of our "trades workers" who have no business working in Canada. The ones who weren't trained in Canada.
The vote splitting argument is dangerous.
If we say "don't split the vote", why stop at YP? Why should the greens be allowed to split the vote? Those left wing votes "belong" to labour!
And why should reform be "allowed" to "split the vote" on the right? Those right wing votes "belong" to the conservatives!
Soon you have the US two party system. Vote team red or team blue.
Reality is, other parties are important because those votes don't "belong" to any party. Either the bigger parties earn your vote or some other party does.
Even parties that don't win a single seat can have an outsized influence if voters are indicating satisfaction with certain underrepresented policies or dissatisfaction with certain overrepresented policies. On the right, reform only got like 5 seats in the last UK election, but they've fundamentally changed the discussion on the right, for example.
It's true, reform did split the vote on the right, and they're the reason labour is in power right now, but just as you can't drive a car by saying "left" or "right" every hour or so, you can't run a national government that way. A lot of people on the British right are sick of pressing the "right" button election after election and getting functionally left politicies.
With respect to progressive policies, this sort of feedback is actually essential because progressives are constantly in a process of creating policies, and quietly dropping old policies that end up being bad and pretending they were always right wing. Without a feedback mechanism, perhaps progressives would still be nationalist eugenicists.
If we say "don't split the vote", why stop at YP? Why should the greens be allowed to split the vote? Those left wing votes "belong" to labour!
And why should reform be "allowed" to "split the vote" on the right? Those right wing votes "belong" to the conservatives!
Soon you have the US two party system. Vote team red or team blue.
Reality is, other parties are important because those votes don't "belong" to any party. Either the bigger parties earn your vote or some other party does.
Even parties that don't win a single seat can have an outsized influence if voters are indicating satisfaction with certain underrepresented policies or dissatisfaction with certain overrepresented policies. On the right, reform only got like 5 seats in the last UK election, but they've fundamentally changed the discussion on the right, for example.
It's true, reform did split the vote on the right, and they're the reason labour is in power right now, but just as you can't drive a car by saying "left" or "right" every hour or so, you can't run a national government that way. A lot of people on the British right are sick of pressing the "right" button election after election and getting functionally left politicies.
With respect to progressive policies, this sort of feedback is actually essential because progressives are constantly in a process of creating policies, and quietly dropping old policies that end up being bad and pretending they were always right wing. Without a feedback mechanism, perhaps progressives would still be nationalist eugenicists.