The only hell you might get from pirating and other "easy sources of excess pleasure" is the hedonic treadmill. I'd say Steam sales are more likely to cause this at this point but we're definitely seeing the effects of easy entertainment on the general population. Brainrot and all that. It's not fire and brimstone but the world ain't looking great. But personally I'd take notes from Buddhism rather than Christianity as the latter is way more preoccupied with what happens after this life (the religion of kicking the can down the road).

lol @ gale, very on point

That the idea of a constant Barbie-box description "self" is a fiction. Failure to discover "who I really am" wasn't proof that I was faulty, just the normal human experience before cultural and social conditioning.

I'm against it because of the questionable ways AI gets trained (stealing art or books for example) and also because of the environmental impacts.

With the unethical training habits and energy consumption from megacorps, in addition to just being brain-killing slop, AI generated content should have no place in social media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice

Damn. I wanted it to be real.

It's gonna be rough but I for one welcome EU to make use of USA's mistakes. Just need to make sure that populism doesn't gain any more foothold here.

Chop wood and carry water.

Weird only to a mind that's used to being constantly bombarded with low quality entertainment, lulled into comfortable numbness with mostly unnecessary material goods. While this is overly extreme (and potentially hazardous... though that being 4chan it's probably exaggerated, if even true), most people would do well to take periods of disconnecting entirely and have minimal entertainment available. Zen Buddhist retreats are great by my experience. Yoga Retreats are nice but you need to weed out the ones that are really just masturbatory Wellness holidays for rich white women. Vipassana retreats are probably good too tho I personally haven't been to one of those. But just starting meditation would be great. https://www.wakingup.com/ is a low bar access point with guided meditations but also a lot of great philosophical discussions from several different branches of thought (notably Stoicism and Buddhism but others too). And you can get it for free (request scholarship) if the price seems steep.

That's fucking great news. If there ever was a time I wish Finland copied something from Sweden, this is it.

Here's hoping.

Communication. Communication. Communication. Don't try to strategize. Don't try to manipulate the situation to your desired end. And most of all, do NOT "should" him. He is under no obligation to meet your needs or figure them out for himself, and same goes for you. It's just a question of if he is naturally inclined to meet your needs and act according to your values after you clearly communicate them to him. If he is not inclined, then it's up to you to decide how far you're willing to level with him or if you would be better off pursuing a relationship with someone else.

Learn to distinguish your subjective STORIES from what you are actually feeling. For example "I feel like you don't love me" is NOT a feeling. Putting "I feel" in front of some statement does not magically make it valid. "I'm scared this relationship might not last", also not a feeling. Any sentence starting with a "You..." is a story. More truthful: "when you don't message me in X amount of time, I feel insecure, and I start to worry about the future of the relationship". Now you're just speaking candidly, honestly, saying what is actually happening. You're not putting blame on him, just acknowledging something that hopefully everyone can agree is happening (he's not messaging you), and saying what the impact is on you emotionally, and what kind of thoughts it triggers in you. He's following some girls on social media? Can everyone agree that's happening? Okay, how does that make you feel AND, distinct from those feelings, what does it make you think? Please also flip it to positive "when you give me flowers, I feel love and I think this relationship is going well." Clear, straight-forward communication without shoulding. You can also do it on something that hasn't even happened "I'd love to go on a vacation together some day, if we work together for that goal, I believe I'd feel secure, and I'd believe you love me" (you're young and still learning your likes and dislikes, so please be aware that sometimes some ideas don't turn out as great as you hoped, and that's okay). Feel free to try to find a way to make the conversation more natural but stick to the same logic.

You may want to look into this: https://pastebin.com/ZHhS044M

And especially this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication

Understandable tbh, they clearly don't have a lot of intelligence to share.