OK, our reality might have a purpose or meaning given by a god - but then what about that god's purpose/meaning? Was it given by yet another one higher up? You can keep going up layers like this and finding meaning on each one, but eventually there has to be a final one, a reality that was not designed by anyone. But why does it exist?
Some people may say that there's no proof that we actually exist. And maybe we don't, but the fact that we can think and experience things means that even if our reality is somehow fake, there has to be one that isn't. Because if nothing existed, there would be nothing at all. Not a void, just nothing, not even the possibility of existence. So something, at some level, must exist. But why?
"Because God created us" is not good enough for me, because it doesn't answer anything. If we exist because a god created us, that still means that a god existed before us. Why does this god exists then?
We'll never find out. Any answer we find will only open things up for new questions. And just like a child that is just starting to experience things, we'll never run out of questions.
Not necessarily selling below cost. They can save money in all sorts of ways:
charging brands to put their products in the best shelves
fridges and shelves with ads and product names (often provided for free by the brands)
bigger sales volume reduce cost of storage, reduce amount of expired products and as you said, also guarantee a better price when acquiring the goods.
they have much more data on what sells at what price
they know very well what kind of products people will check the price for and which ones they'll just buy in whatever store they are already at (so they put a lower price on product X to get people in the store and then a higher price on product Y to cover for it)
they own multiple store brands, with different price ranges, so they can make one store generate profit for both of them similarly to the previous point.
they do all sorts of sketchy stuff to get tax breaks, insurance claims and other stuff that may have give them some money back
they may sometimes move products between stores to sell everything that might be expiring soon
they have their own product brands that they can save money on
in some places they may re-package stuff to artificially extend their shelf life.
probably a lot more stuff I never even considered.
If you buy from some small Latin American or Asian brand there's a decent chance they might not be involved with child labor (but never any guarantee). For large brands, however, there's just no way to get enough cocoa without them putting a lot of work and resources into ensuring it is "clean". And they don't.
From time to time I get a ride from someone at work I have zero interest of becoming friends with. In those rides I get glimpses of a complete different reality where he and his friend group lives. It is horrifying and it completely matches the description of the parent comment.
For some people it is pretty common. For others, it isn't. The thing is: the people that treat it as a common everyday thing expect that to be the case for everyone - so if you interact with them routinely, you'd probably think that everybody is out to cheat at all times, but that's definitely not the norm.
I get that a lot with all kinds of services. Specially digital stuff. And for MMOs it is more common than not.
Recently the Path of Exile game stopped letting me purchase cosmetics because they changed their payment processor and the new one doesn't like my email address.
By the way, the study you mentioned had several issues, but one very important issue in specific touches the point you made: the study only had controlled groups for 14 months. After that they continued doing check ups on people but the data was pointless because they didn't know what the patientes were taking. The claim that the meds stopped working after a while was made by the NYTimes article only and it's based on not understanding this point.
Tbh I recommend assuming that anything you read in that NYTimes is probably wrong - the study behind it was ok-ish but the conclusions that the NYTimes made based on it are all over the place. And "surprisingly" the article also 100% agrees with several false talking points about ADHD that the church of scientology has been making since the 80s.
Some meds may have side effects, many may not work at all. None will have any lasting effects so if you stop taking them, you'll be right back where you are now. There's really no reason not to try.
Based on the article there's nothing random about it and it's not just any citizen. They ask it of people who served on nations that have active conflicts. So basically, people who might have been in position to commit war crimes.
Wait, so Israel is not even trying to distance itself from war crimes... Their actual point is "not all war crimes are equal and it's difamatory to label everyone who commits war crimes with the same 'war criminal' label"... Wtf is wrong with those people.
If you actually think about things and form your own opinions you'll usually be treated as "the other side" by everyone who signs and follows any pre-made set of opinions.
If you hate AI but thinks there is some specific situation in which it doesn't 100% suck, you'll be treated as a troll in anti-AI communities. If you're MAGA but disagrees with anything Trump says, you'll be called a leftist in conservative circles. If you're a fierce active defender of LGBTQ+ rights but thinks it's OK for a white American to dress up as a Mexican character for Halloween, you'll be ostracized in many left wing groups.
OK, our reality might have a purpose or meaning given by a god - but then what about that god's purpose/meaning? Was it given by yet another one higher up? You can keep going up layers like this and finding meaning on each one, but eventually there has to be a final one, a reality that was not designed by anyone. But why does it exist?
Some people may say that there's no proof that we actually exist. And maybe we don't, but the fact that we can think and experience things means that even if our reality is somehow fake, there has to be one that isn't. Because if nothing existed, there would be nothing at all. Not a void, just nothing, not even the possibility of existence. So something, at some level, must exist. But why?
"Because God created us" is not good enough for me, because it doesn't answer anything. If we exist because a god created us, that still means that a god existed before us. Why does this god exists then?
We'll never find out. Any answer we find will only open things up for new questions. And just like a child that is just starting to experience things, we'll never run out of questions.