A bloodline ending is also probably incredibly common. But, not once in our direct ancestors has a bloodline ever ended.

That's actually one of the things that got me thinking about this. My family has a tradition that the first born son always gets a certain first name. My dad's the third-born male, so he didn't get the name, and didn't pass it down to me. But, his oldest brother did, so it's my cousin's name.

My cousin's probably not going to have kids. Or, if he does, they'd be happy little accidents who aren't part of the family and don't get the first-born-son name. So that name and that tradition dies with him. It's a bit unfortunate because over time that first name has become less common and I like the name. So, for the first time in centuries(?) there won't be someone with that name.

I thought about it a bit, and realized, it's probably actually fairly common. When you're the end of a chain like that, you might feel pressured because everybody before you had carried on the tradition and passed on the name. However, that has to be the case, because if your father or grandfather had failed to pass on the name, you wouldn't be around to see it.

There are probably "bloodlines" ending all the time. But if you're part of a "bloodline", it probably feels like a big deal because everybody until you has ensured it survived.

(Having said that, "bloodlines" are a dumb concept, since each parent provides about 50% of the DNA. So, even if you're a "Trey" and share the same name with your dad and grandfather, you only share half your DNA with your dad and a quarter with your grandfather. In a sense, you could say that the strength of every bloodline is cut in half with every generation. That is, unless you're breeding with blood relatives, and then the bloodline may be strong, but the genetic disorders are even stronger.)

Similarly: we all come from an unbroken line of people who had children.

It may be that throughout history not having kids is common. Gay people who never had children may have been common. Ugly, poor or unpleasant people who never managed to find a partner may have been common. Asexual people may have been common.

Straight people who had sex but never had kids were probably not common, just because good contraception wasn't available.

Still, if you're a person who, for whatever reason, is not going to have kids, none of your direct ancestors can understand that life.

I wonder if that's true. Kings also had the best possible medical care (of their time), and ate very well. OTOH, the inbreeding probably hurt their longevity.

The rise of steam power during the industrial revolution didn't just result in people working fewer hours. Workers were much more productive than before, but they didn't automatically get shorter work weeks.

Getting an 8-hour work day required the workers to form powerful unions and go on strike. Those strikes were broken up by private security and cops. People were killed. But, eventually, decades later, the rich people with power were forced to negotiate and 8 hour days were the norm.

I have known individual workers who had skills that were in high demand which gave them leverage. They negotiated deals like 4 day work weeks, or 30 hour work weeks because they could.

But, for the average worker to get a shorter work week, it's going to take collective action. It's probably also going to require that blood be spilled. Unless people are angry enough to getting beaten or maybe killed, nothing's going to change. Step 1 is joining a union.

Being "in the Epstein files" doesn't mean "was on the Island" or "had sex with children". It means their name was mentioned in the files. Often that's because they exchanged emails with Epstein. But, there are people who are "in the Epstein files" because their names were mentioned in an email. There are a few unfortunate people who were "in the Epstein files" because they were mentioned in passing, something like "did you see X's new comedy special?" or "I liked the new book by Y".

In his case, he was in the Epstein files because he sent emails to Epstein, essentially begging for an invite to a party.

It's a SpaceX RCS module stuffed into something that looks like a car.

It's strange how sometimes, rarely, "being in the Epstein files" can actually prove your good character.

C: You build a horse. Well, it's not really a horse, but it can do almost all the essential horse-things. It's incredibly fast and compact. Oh, and now someone else owns it.

Yeah, this looks like AI slop. The racks aren't tall enough, the aisles are too wide, there's no cooling / networking / power on top of the racks, the Blinkenlights are too white...

The end goals and results are the same. That’s what matters.

Ah, so an airplane is an advanced form of motorcycle, because the end goal is transportation.

Similarly, an oven is an advanced form of garden because the end goal is to provide food to eat.

Feudalism and capitalism are both forms of government, so they're related, but one is not an "advanced form" of the other in any meaningful way.

Transhumanists are human. Holding a certain belief, even if it's an awful one, doesn't make you an alien or reptile or something.

That's a pretty room, but it doesn't seem ideal for a library. If you're trying to study / concentrate it would be loud: too many people, a big open space with hard surfaces, etc.

If you were waiting to meet up with a friend at the library, that's a great room for that -- as long as when that friend arrives you're allowed to talk to them at a normal volume. But, you don't need a room that huge for just meeting up at the library.

If you were allowed to just hang out and chat at normal volume, that would be nice. Especially in places with awful, cold winters, a big, open space like that would be so nice when you're always stuck inside. But, with all those hard surfaces people would get louder and louder to make themselves overheard over all the other noise.

If the library hosted events of various kinds, that would be an amazing event space. Science fair type things, science demonstrations, a reading by an author followed by a Q&A, a charity ball, etc. It just seems not ideal for quiet reading, studying, etc.

Their "holidays" were "holy days" where they had to go on long pilgrimages, etc. It wasn't the day where they sat at home and did fun things, they were the days where their religious duties trumped their farm work duties. And, when it came to their "time off" those were the times when they were mending pots and pans, sewing up holes in clothes, and other housework that they didn't have time for when they were out in the fields.

You're so defensive!

It's nothing about "the next best option". The problem is they seem to think that capitalism caused this issue, when really it has been a part of every form of government that has ever existed, and was significantly worse under feudalism.

I don't think the government itself particularly hates unions. A lot of government workers are unionized. The problem is that rich people are either getting elected or are buying elections, and the rich-friendly reps are passing more and more laws that weaken unions.

I came across an article recently by some reporters who had "snuck in" to a police union meeting. It's interesting what they saw. One quote:

"When it comes to police unions, what we run across is the left is very suspicious of us because we’re police, and the right is suspicious of us because we’re in unions. We get it from both sides."

https://therealnews.com/beards-and-loathing-a-cop-union-convention-comes-to-las-vegas

Sure, just like wood is an advanced form of metal.

Yes, because feudalism was famous for its short work weeks.

But, when the word guessing program gains consciousness, it will be capable of doing the job of every worker in the world, and eager to do those jobs, and anybody who owns Anthropic shares will be a trillionaire in an economy that totally works and is healthy. So, better invest now!

Possible, but not the hand position I'd first picture for that kind of scenario.