Stop whatabouting a brutal invasion war in Europe. It may be all fun pseudointellectual masturbation to American grad students, but for us here it's our neighboring country ignoring agreed-upon borders and killing and destroying westwards.
Longtermism is a cardboard halo. A thin excuse to act in complete self-interest while pretending it is good for humanity.
The further into the future we try to think, the more different factors and uncertainty dominate. This leaves you room to put in any argument you feel like, to make any prediction you feel like. So you pick something vaguely romantic or appealing to some relatively popular opinion, and hey you're golden.
I am approached by a beggar. What do I - the longterminist - do?
I feel like being kind today. My longterminist argument is that every bit of happiness and relief today carries compound interest into the future, and by giving this person some money today, they are content and don't have to resort to thievery, which again makes another person have a safe day and have mental energy to do a lot of good tomorrow. The goodness becomes bigger every step, over time. I give them $100. It's pretty obvious, really.
They smell and I don't want to deal with that right now. My longterminist argument is that helping out beggars actually just perpetuates a problem in society. If people can't function in society without random help, it's just a ticking bomb of a humanitarian disaster. Giving them money just postpones the time until the crisis is too big to ignore, and allows it to grow further. No, this is a problem that society needs to handle right now, and by giving money to this person I'm just helping the problem stay hidden. I ignore them and walk on by. It's pretty obvious, really.
My wife left me and I want other people to hurt like I do. My longterminist argument is that unfortunately, these people are rejects of society and I can't fix that. But we can prevent them from harassing productive citizens that work hard to create a better future. If fewer beggars make commuters sad and it gives a 1% improvement in productivity, that's a huge compound improvement in a few hundred years. So I kick him in the leg, yell at him, and call the police on him and say he tried to assault me. It's a bit cold-hearted, but it's obviously good long term.
Immigrant friends during the first few months: - I'm really impressed with how much focus Scandinavians put on "hygge" and interior design that makes it pleasant to relax inside. I wonder why.
Same friends two months into winter where it is dark most of the day, everything is cold, walking on the ground will break your bones if you aren't careful, and the rain and sleet will soak your shoes and jacket and they will never really dry out until June: - Yeah okay I get it now.
Well... No, the ring is Sauron's for legal reasons. You own a picture of it on the shared ledger.
Okay, so I can expect this picture to be under my control and ownership at least?
Well... No, you don't "own" own it, and it's not the picture either, really. It's just a number. But! The number points to a row in Opensea's database of pictures.
Okay, so I have ownership and control of that picture in Opensea's database?
Hahaha no, they can remove it or change it and you can't do a thing.
Software Developer pro tip: Never ever get involved in any effort to rebuild the old system in new tech.
Make a new, smaller system to take new market instead of the old system? Good.
Suffer for years through an endlessly growing checklist of things that must be in this new thing because they were in the old thing? Arguing with sales whether you have to again rush out a fix for a customer that is important and absolutely depend on this integration with Microsoft Bob that nobody in the dev team even knew existed in the old system until the customer complained? Have release schedules set years in advance and constantly pushed because this thing will never ever ever be accepted as a replacement of the old system? Bad.
I'm a bitch, I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother. I'm a sinner, I'm a saint, I do not feel ashamed. I'm your hell, I'm your dream, I'm nothing in between. You know you wouldn't want it any other way.
I thought it would be released by now. Maybe they should see a doctor.