The Reddit algorithm kept pushing me propaganda with messages of “be angry” and “be scared.” I could feel my mental health deteriorating in real time whenever I had the app open.

And, well, the world we live in is just angering and frightening enough without some corporation making it worse for me so they can make a buck off the clicks.

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Kenya. I have friends there, which would help.

I’d definitely be the obvious foreigner, given that I’m pale and ginger, but that’s worked in my favor when traveling before.

I’m also supposing here that there wouldn’t be quite so many other American expats to compete with.

Rereading Le Guin’s Earthsea saga.

Personally, I think she might be on par with Tolkien and actually surpasses him in a few ways. The 4th book (about a tired mom just trying to get by and care for people in a fantasy world) is the best one, but you need to work your way there.

I’ve been using the same net and tarp for like 15 years and on more trips than I can count.

No problems yet, just a few repairs that cost next to nothing.

That most camping gear is horrendously expensive and over engineered.

Get old and used gear, repair things, and make your own if you can.

A good bug net and a tarp are going to be just as effective as a modern tent, and breathe better.

For a backpack, those old aluminum a-frame packs are so easy to repair, and you can clip/tie things to the frame.

There are a lot of great answers here, but I’d like to add one that I think is often forgotten in these conversations:

Purposeful incompetence around supposedly non-masculine skills.

It drives me up the wall every time I hear some dude talk about how they don’t know how to do basic tasks of living because the women in their lives take care of it for them.

Guys who act like laundry, cooking, dishes, changing a diaper, gardening, grocery shopping, etc. require arcane knowledge they just don’t possess.

Wander into the woods and never return, probably.

Why would AGI threaten the existence of the Amish and/or change laws regarding property rights?

I throughly enjoy my time at the gym. 6 days a week I lift weights, run or swim a little, and then soak in a hot tub.

I’ve found that it makes me feel better, and not just physically. I’m less stressed with regular exercise than I was without it.

It’s also time I get to spend totally alone. Yes, other people are around, but I have headphones on and don’t have to talk to anyone. I teach for a living, and so it’s just nice to have a little time each day where I don’t have to be “on.”

Seeing yourself get stronger is also feels fantastic in ways that I don’t think really make sense until you do it. I could only bench 95 lbs when I first started lifting; now I’m pushing 225. That’s something I’m proud of.

Local to Chicago (I think?) but everyone here can tell you what comes after 800-588-2300.

I used to live in walking distance from a national forest.

Next to a lake in that forest was a little patch of moss and tree cover that you could only reach by crossing a natural bridge made of downed trees. Less of an island and more of a ball of roots with enough moss to be soft to sit on.

As far as I know, I was the only person alive who knew about the spot. I’d spend whole days there enjoying the quiet.

Saiyaman Saga was Sick, if you’re sticking to DBZ.

https://youtu.be/TYezZ5pIT2A

I’ma keep it real with you homie…

The whole projected future of living in pods and eating bugs is a propaganda scare point from people who want to manipulate you for profit.

Any media that tries to present it as a real possibility should be held at arms length.

I was cutting slices out of an apple with a comically large Bowie knife.

My roommate said, “Hey, that looks pretty dangerous.”

I said, “Nah, bro, it’s perfectly safe.”

Somewhere around the middle of that sentence, the knife sliced through the apple and into my palm.

He had to drive me to the hospital for stitches.

For work, I teach philosophy.

The impact there has been overwhelmingly negative. Plagiarism is more common, student writing is worse, and I need to continually explain to people at an AI essay just isn’t their work.

Then there’s the way admin seem to be in love with it, since many of them are convinced that every student needs to use the LLMs in order to find a career after graduation. I also think some of the administrators I know have essentially automated their own jobs. Everything they write sounds like GPT.

As for my personal life, I don’t use AI for anything. It feels gross to give anything I’d use it for over to someone else’s computer.

My aunt.

It’s not her politics (they’re awful, but she at least keeps them quiet). It’s more that she’s a combination of excessively chatty and dull.

She will talk about absolutely nothing for hours on end.

Do you know if the doctrine he’s been taken in by is religious or secular in nature?

I ask because I could recommend some books you could get him that just might get the kid to think a little harder about things.

For context, I teach philosophy and religion for some community colleges and have been looking for ways to get these Gen Z alt right boys to quit the propaganda.

While a lot of them seem to be lost causes, there are some who can be challenged to read outside their sphere, so long as what I give them isn’t too overtly “other.”

Depending on what he’s into, there might be some authors who know how to talk to an oppositional reader.

I’d say that you could replace quite a few high level academic administrators for these same reasons.

They already behave like AI; but AI would be cheaper, more efficient, and wouldn’t change every 2 years.

And I mean that as an insult to admin, not a compliment to AI.