[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

That's a monster

[-] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago

Why? Are they... alright?

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The Golden Rule (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

An Easier Read:

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that's when you met me.

"What... what happened?" You asked. "Where am I?"

"You died," I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

"There was a... a truck and it was skidding..."

"Yup," I said.

"... I died?"

"Yup. But don't feel bad about it. Everyone dies," I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. "What is this place?" You asked. "Is this the afterlife?"

"More or less," I said.

"Are you god?" You asked.

"Yup," I replied. "I'm God."

"My kids... my wife," you said.

"What about them?"

"Will they be all right?"

"That's what I like to see," I said. "You just died and your main concern is for your family. That's good stuff right there."

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn't look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.

"Don't worry," I said. "They'll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn't have time to grow contempt for you. You wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it's any consolation, she'll feel very guilty for feeling relieved."

"Oh," you said. "So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?"

"Neither," I said. "You'll be reincarnated."

"Ah," you said. "So the Hindus were right,"

"All religions are right in their own way," I said. "Walk with me."

You followed along as we strode through the void. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere in particular," I said. "It's just nice to walk while we talk."

"So what's the point, then?" You asked. "When I get reborn, I'll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won't matter."

"Not so!" I said. "You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don't remember them right now."

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. "Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It's like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it's hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you've gained all the experiences it had.

"You've been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven't stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you'd start remembering everything. But there's no point to doing that between each life."

"How many times have I been reincarnated, then?"

"Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives." I said. "This time around, you'll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD."

"Wait, what?" You stammered. "You're sending me back in time?"

"Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from."

"Where you come from?" You said.

"Oh sure," I explained "I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you'll want to know what it's like there, but honestly you wouldn't understand." "Oh," you said, a little let down. "But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point."

"Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don't even know it's happening."

"So what's the point of it all?"

"Seriously?" I asked. "Seriously? You're asking me for the meaning of life? Isn't that a little stereotypical?"

"Well it's a reasonable question," you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. "The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature."

"You mean mankind? You want us to mature?"

"No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect."

"Just me? What about everyone else?"

"There is no one else," I said. "In this universe, there's just you and me."

You stared blankly at me. "But all the people on earth..."

"All you. Different incarnations of you."

"Wait. I'm everyone!?"

"Now you're getting it," I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

"I'm every human being who ever lived?"

"Or who will ever live, yes."

"I'm Abraham Lincoln?"

"And you're John Wilkes Booth, too," I added.

"I'm Hitler?" You said, appalled.

"And you're the millions he killed."

"I'm Jesus?"

"And you're everyone who followed him."

You fell silent.

"Every time you victimized someone," I said, "you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you've done, you've done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you."

You thought for a long time.

"Why?" You asked me. "Why do all this?"

"Because someday, you will become like me. Because that's what you are. You're one of my kind. You're my child."

"Whoa," you said, incredulous. "You mean I'm a god?"

"No. Not yet. You're a fetus. You're still growing. Once you've lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born."

"So the whole universe," you said, "it's just..."

"An egg." I answered. "Now it's time for you to move on to your next life."

And I sent you on your way.

The End

Edit: Original by Andy Weir

[-] [email protected] 68 points 5 months ago

This rhetoric seems similar to that used by Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics. They applied 'economic therapy' to left-leaning economies in the late 1900s which involved rapid privatization of nationally owned industries. Negatively affected many otherwise healthy countries including England, Russia and Chilie.

The Shock Doctrine does a round robin of these events; highly recommended.

Project 2025 is about privatizing branches of government while citizens are too busy dealing with the fallout of economic collapse.

[-] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago

The surgeon yelled

WITNESS!!

And thrust the heart into their chest.

224
Chimney Demolition (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The blasting of a chimney at the former Henninger Brewery in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Sachsenhausen on December 2nd, 2006.

Finalist of Wikipedia Picture of the Year 2008.

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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Bike Bros (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Watch Your Language (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
[-] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just imagine how many not so obvious, or nuanced 'facts' are being misrepresented. Right there, under billions of searches.

There will be 'fixes' for this, but it's never been easier to shape 'the truth' and public opinion.

[-] [email protected] 106 points 1 year ago

Render the json as polygons?

[-] [email protected] 58 points 2 years ago

Programming happens in the mind. Whats on the screen is a pale and lifeless polaroid devoid of the moving, complex soul of real code.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago

I'm thinking an interface like papers please with some more expression and color.

You start as a hermit. Farmers and peasants come to you with problems and you craft spells, hexes and curses to cast on them. Sometimes you give them what they want, sometimes what they need and sometimes you throw a fireball. Maybe some rapid responses are required.

You gain a reputation and move from your shack into a town, and then into a castle where you become a court magician. Higher stakes, more options, more magic!

Get creative with how elements combine and have long lasting or delayed effects!

[-] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago

You don't need to put it in your pocket. Just throw it on the ground and kick it along as you walk.

[-] [email protected] 40 points 2 years ago

10 years later...

I don't mind ads that interrupt gameplay, but i hate when they require you to smile at your webcam and say "i love corporation!" and give two thumbs up. Other than that, the gameplay is monotinous enough to help me forget who i am and that the world is burning.

[-] [email protected] 33 points 2 years ago

It's worse when trains do this.

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