For me, it would have to be:

• Factorio
• Rimworld
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Tetris DS
• Disco Elysium

Considering that we could just end up with covid 2 tomorrow it seems that any answer is going to be arbitrary so might as well give an optimistic one. The West’s slide to the right is prevented by a leftist surge as parties such as Labour and the Democrats realise that they can’t win by trying to attract the right, and so instead double down on progressive policy - which works for them as they’re able to reform their image and start really appealing to the people.

AI slop starts to falter as it feeds off of self-produced training data until it becomes literally incomprehensible, meaning that it can be easily ignored or not understood by the majority of people, as well as being banned on the rising stars of the internet: federated social media, independent streaming services (think Nebula, Dropout), and newly-independent news sites, like Giant Bomb.

The climate change issue is now taken more seriously, as the generations unfamiliar with the internet who could be sucked into misinformation rabbit holes start to die off, and policymakers who have grown up understanding the existential threat it poses to all of us take power.

The workplaces of large corporations start unionising, even illegally at first, and establish strong community centred power bases which are used to demand better treatment not only in the workplace, but also to bargain with the government. A focus returns to the local community.

(I know all this is very wishful thinking, but figured the thread could use some more positivity 🫶)

Dated someone for a couple of years in my teens. Had multiple people assume they were a virgin because “it’s bad enough that you’re dating them, but your standards can’t be that low right?”

Thanks for the detailed response! It’s helping Camus’ writing make a bit more sense, still not 100% convinced but this is getting me closer.

Wow, really interesting, thank you!

Adorable picture :) Unfortunately my cat has found a purpose - being a bastard and knocking over anything she can, and loudly demanding attention at 2am. She’s still wonderful of course!

I hope that I can come around to the absurdist perspective sooner or later, it does seem quite appealing to me, but I’m still yet to be convinced by Camus’ argument that the rebellion against the absurd has any more value than your other options. How would you say you find that sort of value?

It’s interesting, I think I’ve tried engaging with Stoicism before, but it feels to me that it kind of ignores how sometimes the romantic should take control? I can’t remember which Stoicist (Epictetus I think?) said that we should be so detached that the death of a child should feel like a glass breaking, but I don’t think I would be able to rationalise and internalise that personally. Do you think there’s space for strong feelings in Stoicism?

Love this way of looking at it tbh, definitely meaning is something that humans come up with, just trying to fine a convincing answer personally. Really appreciate you commenting, feels good to engage with such a lovely community :))

I don’t think I necessarily agree with the way you present truth, but it’s an interesting line of thinking. I do definitely agree with your opinion on the bonuses life has to offer!

Yeah I think I’m in the same boat as you here to be honest, as I can still acknowledge that a negative emotional impact on those I care about also negatively impacts my emotions, so that provides me with some grounding in the topic. Loose grounding though, especially if you take the idea that there is no meaning to its limits.