It’s a rare book that is so dense yet so enjoyable (to me at least).

I’ve got Debt on my list, too; I’m looking to read everything those guys put out. It’s such a a shame that Graeber passed away, he still had so much to give to the world.

You’d certainly enjoy The Dawn of Everything then. The authors do make some cheeky academic jokes about parts of Diamond’s work that they disagree with, but they also point out where they think he was right.

I just finished The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow, and it’s a remarkable look at state formation, prehistoric societies, the process by which cultures differentiate from each other and form their identities, the origins of farming and why it was (or wasn’t) adopted around the world, and so much more.

If you have even a passing interest in prehistory, it’s a must-read

Think of it like your email provider: you can still get email from Hotmail even if you have an AOL.com account.

Where this analogy breaks down is that some instances have defederated from others. This means “we don’t want your data, and we won’t import it.”

But if you pick an instance that is widely federated then you can see and interact with most of Lemmy.

Corey Robin wrote the best criticism of Rand, IMO:

Since the nineteenth century, it has been the task of the left to hold up to liberal civilization a mirror of its highest values and to say, “You do not look like this.” You claim to believe in the rights of man, but it is only the rights of property you uphold. You claim to stand for freedom, but it is only the freedom of the strong to dominate the weak. If you wish to live up to your principles, you must give way to their demiurge. Allow the dispossessed to assume power, and the ideal will be made real, the metaphor will be made material.

Rand believed that this meeting of heaven and earth could be arranged by other means. Rather than remake the world in the image of paradise, she looked for paradise in an image of the world. Political transformation wasn’t necessary. Transubstantiation was enough. Say a few words, wave your hands and the ideal is real, the metaphor material. An idealist of the most primitive sort, Rand took a century of socialist dichotomies and flattened them. Small wonder so many have accused her of intolerance: When heaven and earth are pressed so closely together, where is there room for dissent?

Far from needing explanation, her success explains itself. Rand worked in that quintessential American proving ground—alongside the likes of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck—where garbage achieves gravitas and bullshit gets blessed. There she learned that dreams don’t come true. They are true.

Reactionary ideology is absolutely associated with the far right.

Conservatism is a reactionary ideology.

Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. Submission is their first duty, and agency the prerogative of the elite. Though it is often claimed that the left stands for equality while the right stands for freedom, this notion misstates the actual disagreement between right and left. Historically, the conservative has favored liberty for the higher orders and constraint for the lower orders. What the conservative sees and dislikes in equality, in other words, is not a threat to freedom but its extension. For in that extension, he sees a loss of his own freedom.

-Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind

Should have been “Milky Whey.”

I want to ride on a dirigible so much.

Hermes Conrad. He’s got a level head and knows his way around a bureaucracy.

Especially when there’s a free passing lane.

I made that exact mistake a couple weeks ago, and it was just like you say. Biggs doesn’t have nearly as many of those bitter ones, either.

No. It’s another form of government that has its own issues, but not all authoritarian regimes are fascist.

On the other hand, neo-feudalists are reactionaries because they want to return society to a mythical past where a heirarchy of elites rules over their subjects. Fascism, neo-feudalism, and conservatism are all subsets of reactionary ideology, but they are not the same thing.

So… Bring my HEV suit and crowbar?

I feel like I could get flintknapping down pretty well.

Still my favorite entry into the series.

I remember I thought the reflections looked real when I was a kid, and I couldn’t imagine how graphics could get much better.

“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” Trump wrote. “Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”

Notably, it’s for property crimes against President Musk.

This piggy committed the worst crime possible against the US, then would send citizens to a concentration camp for upsetting his owner.

Red Baron was my favorite flight sim of the era. Crazy advanced, especially compared to what consoles of the time were capable of doing.

I hope you like it! KSR’s whole collection is worth a read; he’s my favorite living author.

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson is an alternate history about if a plague had wiped out 90% of the European population before the renaissance and how the would could have shaken out instead, focusing primarily on Arabic and Chinese culture.

It follows a small group of people who are reincarnating through the ages, all the way up to modern times. It’s an amazing novel, and very approachable if you’re even vaguely into history.