Greedy Goblin

Friday, November 18, 2016

Making small difference > watching history

I have trouble focusing on games or even home chores. I enjoy greatly to watch political news, see how the latest events unfolded. I endorsed Donald Trump when 99% of the pundits, journalists and politicians called him a joke. I've been supporting my own PM for years, one of the four in-office leaders who endorsed him. I took some serious trolling for these, as you can expect. Not as much as Ann Coulter, but still. After watching my predictions coming true and history is being made right front of my eyes, it's hard to just stop watching the 9145th "SWJ cries over Hillary lost" videos.

But the thing is that I did not made this history. Sure, I might influenced a few votes, considering that I have nearly 2K readers from the US and sure I predicted it. But let's be frank: if I didn't born, Trump would still be president-elect (and Orbán Hungarian PM). It's great to be right when so many were wrong. But one day I'll surely stop being. I should do something instead that can outlast me. I have to make peace with that it won't be a World-shattering event. I won't be the next KellyAnne Conway or Ann Coulter. But it's no excuse to not do something smaller.

Showing people a rigged matchmaker looks almost nothing to showing rigged national polls. Showing people how corrupted devs abuse them in a game looks almost nothing to making New York Times send a letter to subscribers humbly promising that they'll be fair and unfavored reporters from now on. But little is much more than nothing. Maybe you will be a President somewhere. Hell maybe you'll be the first female POTUS. And maybe learning not to trust corrupted devs, question official results and refusing to carry morons and slackers contributes to your great journey.

That is worth blogging for. So no more liberal tears videos or laughing over "pundit trying to explain how he was right while everything he predicted was wrong" articles. I have a huge dataset to work with, so off I go working with it. See you on Monday with data!

20 comments:

Smokeman said...

Dude. We can't all be Buckminster Fuller, Benjamin Franklin, or Nikolas Tesla. In fact, insignificantly few of us can do that.

And even if we CAN do some amazing shit with our lives? We can't do it when we're really young... it takes practice, drive, and determination. Literally, a life's work, to get there.

My "Magnum Opus" so far was the Silent Death: Online game almost 20 years ago. Was it an "awesome game" by today's standards? Oh, hell no! But it was innovative in it's time, and it drove a zeitgeist of people trying to recreate it even to this day.

This is a massive victory for me. I made people think. I made them try. I put out a system that made people learn to program so they could do it better. And as far as I am concerned? The world is a better place for it.

Unknown said...

I dont know, for me life dont need any kind of justification. (Like I should do something to better the world, so my existence would have purpouse)

For all I care, people can do whatever they want, as long as they act rational to avoid destructive behaviour. So if someone spend his whole life, without doing anything "great" this it okay.

But somehow our society demands from everyone to aspire to become role-model, president, great inventor or celebrity. That is kinda bullshit attitude that leads to silly systems like communism (We need to work together, to do something great as society!) instead of free-market capitalism that just states, You can do whatever the fuck You want, as long as You have money.

Anyway, glad You are back with data. Discussing numbers and statistic is much more constructive.

Esteban said...

I realise this is a hard sell to a committed right-winger who believes in individual aspiration and human hierarchies, but you do not matter. Humanity matters. Who ends up accomplishing a thing, and getting credit, does not matter. It matters that the thing gets accomplished.

I would not ordinarily not engage in this way - which, given your views and the tenor of your blog, borders on trolling - but you seem to have bumped into an inkling of this idea when you reflect on your own individual irrelevance to global events. You identify it as a problem; it is not. Your hope of mattering lies increasingly in cooperation, not competition.

The Western world is going through its last spasm of the selfish mentality. Trump, Brexit, resurgent nationalism and neofascism around Europe, do not amount to a great vindication of the worldview they represent. They are the final panic of those left behind by human progress, who think they can bunker up against humanity coming together using laughably outdated ways - ethnic purity, scapegoating, trade protectionism. It's little more than a violent myoclonic jerk.

I write this with confidence because this time around, there is no evil empire to outcompete or a revolutionary leader to squash. Globalisation is simply humanity slowly transitioning as it always has to a more stable, lower-energy state. It's not a tide that can be turned.

Sacula said...

It's already happening Gevlon. Ford says they are keeping their plant in the US.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-18/trump-says-ford-called-to-say-keeping-lincoln-plant-in-kentucky

Tithian said...

"The Western world is going through its last spasm of the selfish mentality. Trump, Brexit, resurgent nationalism and neofascism around Europe, do not amount to a great vindication of the worldview they represent. They are the final panic of those left behind by human progress, who think they can bunker up against humanity coming together using laughably outdated ways - ethnic purity, scapegoating, trade protectionism. It's little more than a violent myoclonic jerk."

That would be valid if you were talking about minorities. But Brexit and Trump exist because the majority voted for them. Nationalism was a minority in Europe, but it started from single digit percentages and steadily grown to double digits. The fact that you thing these people are just 'left behind progress' is exactly feeding them into becoming even more hardcore. These condenscending attitudes aimed against entire portions of the population, by a minority no less, does not work any more.

I can speak as someone living in a country with a 'left wing' government; the left is dead, at least in Greece. It was growing due to populism between its ranks ("we are the cure for everything, vote for us") but all that is happening now is more people than ever going towards the right wing, and the fascist party is steadily going towards double digits (Keep in mind that parties here get generally 15-25% if they are to be considered very successful, 3% gets you into the parliament).

So yeah... no. Expect the radical right to grow even more in the future.

Unknown said...

Esteban...

The enlightenment, liberalism & the concept of individual rights turned the tide against the aristocracy, so why wouldn't it be able to hold fast against the Neo-Marxist technocracy you propose? Why should I sacrifice my time, energy, and even rights, to support some globalist technocrat that only has his own self interests in mind, but disguises it as the common good? Screw that and screw you!

Jim L said...

Ford was never planning on closing the plant. They were just planning on moving part of the production to Mexico which they are still doing.

Anonymous said...

But somehow our society demands from everyone to aspire to become role-model,

pretty much this. If you can't show that you waste money, time and brain cells on insignificant mass hoarding of certificates you are worth nothing! Right now look into the last 2-4 months don't have some paper to prove your smart, funny, wicked, logical yet creative or some " " cert .. better hang yourself.
So of we go every few months, into shity and expensive seminars/webinars/coachings/etc beating everybody by getting awesome grades and the next cert. In secret we hope to finally have that network connection or getting that b.partner to hit big bucks big time.
I have a CS degree and worked dev stuff and quit some years ago and started working in a none-dev/none-IT job. After 5 months working I'm basically worthless on the IT market now. If you don't run X side projects, write for Y blogs, maintain Z charity shit opensource stuff or hit the appstore every fucking second with the next insignificant moron app .. better drink bleach.

Aspiration as a motivator stopped working some many years ago in my early twenties. It hit me watching some old documentary about Amazon untouched tribes. I compared their days with my day juggling too many IT-dev-specific bullshit and always on the edge for not that much compensation. Be always flexible .. that buzzword meaning 24/7 hell. whenever and wherever you phone explodes in warnings/errors be in panic mode within seconds and 100% reliable to fix whatever remote tech needs my undivided attention too.

we are 7b people. We live all very boooring lives and now, thanks to moron devices like smartphones, take pictures and comment our daily boring existence with more worthless words. like it is the best overhyped next gen shit in ever. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy too about "living" but I'm not willing to commit to narcissistic egocentric behaviour just to be socially acceptable, so some company doesn’t hesitate to hire me so I can pay my fucking rent.

TL;DR; Aspiration - Be _VERY_ careful what you wish for!

maxim said...

Imagine yourself lying on your deathbed.
Now imagine yourself thinking at that time that the best thing you ever did was point out the flaws of LoL matchmaking.
How does that sit with you?

Me? I have teached hundreds of kids to understand and write programs and will teach thousands more :D. If i were to die tomorrow that would already be a life well lived.

Gevlon said...

@Maxim: you mean pointing out a multi-billion dollars scam and show thousands of people how to think critically about "great e-sports"?

Unknown said...

Uuugh, I hate that bullshit attitude of "what you gonna think on deathbed". First of You may no longer remember Your life due to alzheimer or other mental ilness. Second of, life is not a race or charity contenst.

Get out with that self-righthous "I help someone so I am a great person!", no, You arent. You choice the career of a teacher if not You, someone else would teach these kids how to code. Nothing is special about YOU doing that job.

Once again, life dont need justification. Let people do whatever they want and dont put on them stigma that they have to be "usefull to the society", they dont have to. We created societies so we, us an individuals can have better lifes (everyones enjoys trade and exchance of labor!) not because we wanted to do something good. So let us be selfish, goal-oriented and pragmatic people instead of saints-wannabes that always leads to some catastrophe like communism, fascism or other form of "society before people".

maxim said...

@Gevlon
I meant what i said.

You haven't pointed out any multi-billion dollar scams yet. Your claim to fame in that regard is World of Tanks, but how much of their multi-million capitalisation is due to the rigged matchmaking is anyone's guess.
Your latest targets (IWI etc) were worth, by most generous estimate, tens of thousands dollars at most.

Also LoL is the first actual esport you have tackled and you are yet to prove both your ability to "think critically" about it and whether "thinking critically" is enough to get you anywhere in an esport. All i saw so far is you complaining about the ladder reset rules, which is, frankly, beneath any sort of serious player.

Anonymous said...

Imagine yourself lying on your deathbed.
How does that sit with you?

why wait? you can be dead the very next second. stroke or tumbling down a staircase ... google "rekt thread" and watch some 4chan archived threads full of chance based deaths. If RNGod commands it, we are deadmeat in seconds.

For me if I can avoid it I will not die in a deathbed. sure if chance commands it, so be it. but as far as my illusion of control and planing and thinking goes; I decided with 13 to kill myself at some point in the future. Two indications I saw: 1) mental; If I start to forget to go to the toilet - I would off myself 2) body; If for example I go to the toilet and fallover and lay in my piss until the morning or until help comes - I would off myself. Well I did refine the triggers significantly but the two basic indications still hold true. today I wouldn't wait that long. because I want to organise some last things before I go and for that I would like to have some mental capacity and body strength .. to make things easy on family and friends. I hated how every death I followed didn't consider their loved ones at all. Sure a Will and lofts and garages full of shit the dead idiots didn't use two decades ago .. so why leave it for family and friends to handle?

With 13 I thought of my legacy. I decided that as long as my basic needs are covered I'm ok to die. I don't care about toys, money, prestige or any state of thought. I only care about hunger, thirst, pain, taking a good dump, (after puberty) good wank (after some failed relationships and some more life experience) unconditional love for my kids and have no lose ends with them, no lose ends with people I care about like family, friends and good relatives and a good laugh once in a while.

I don't care if my existence full of work, hobbies and a boring living does anything for someone. As long as I'm 100% content with it, it doesn't matter if I die now or in several years.

Eaten by a Grue said...

@maxim, there is a flaw within your reasoning. I think you are too caught up in a needless adversarial context. It sounds like what you do is great. But there is no harm in Gevlon carving out his own niche.

And in fairness, Gevlon may be doing a very small service, but potentially for thousands of people. You do a great service, but for fewer.

Anyway, there is no point measuring worth here. Live and let live.

maxim said...

@Anon
Quite a wall of text for a comment that wasn't even aimed at you :D
I actually do have some experiences similar to those that you named as "suicide triggers". Oddly enough, these just resulted in me wanting to get more done with my life.
As for thinking how my death affects my loved ones - i am much more interested in how my life is going to affect them. As for their ability to carry on without me, i'm sure they'll manage.

maxim said...

@Eaten by a Grue
I am not sure "reasoning" is the right word for it.

I just don't want Gevlon writing his blog as a favour to the collective reader. I want him to write his blog for himself, because that way his content is going to be much much better and he will do a lot more for the collective reader.

Which means the question worth talking about here is not "what do readers need this blog for", but rather "what do i need this blog for".

Anonymous said...

My prediction is that if/when the factories come back, they will replace the foreign cheap labor with robotics and automation. Certainly true for lo-tech manufacturing that China does for walmart. The days of leaving school and going to the local factory with dad and working there for 45 years is over. Populism is good to protest from the sidelines, but what does it actually offer to solve the problems?

Anonymous said...

Quite a wall of text for a comment that wasn't even aimed at you :D
well, you're welcome :)

As for thinking how my death affects my loved ones - i am much more interested in how my life is going to affect them. As for their ability to carry on without me, i'm sure they'll manage.
Reading my text again it is heavily fixated towards the end of life. I'm just saying to die is like taking a long vacation everyone have to checklist stuff like getting the pets cared for, finish/delegate/tidy work and private commitments etc. The same holds true for the never ending vacation at the end of my life.

I thought too that affecting other lifes is interesting. But I concluded that it is not that important. First and foremost me being 100% ok with me alone is paramount. For affecting other minds, that's why I try to have as less as possible "lose ends". For example it is ok to leave my 16yo youngest son behind, as far as that is possible with his pubescent mind. There is no stuff between us that rubs our relationship in a bad way. As far as I can tell he has his toolset for life for several years now and will manage just fine if I got hit by lightning tomorrow.

"suicide trigger" thanks for coining that phrase, I'm not english, its a good one :) it is exactly that. With 13 I saw my grandmother drown on water in her lungs from cancer. I'm lucky my parents didn't shield me from any of it and supported me in pain, grief and questions as best as they possibly could. That is now three decades ago. She had a will and right until the last month on her deathbed didn't pay any attention to her inevitable death. Family Drama aside, I found it highly irresponsible of her towards the loved ones she left behind. And I didn't want my death to be such a negative mess for the people I leave behind. Back then my young mind thought of it like taking a dog for a walk or cleaning out the refrigerator once in a while. Stuff in life has to be maintained, stored, or trashed .. and like taking a longer vacations you will have to organise a bit so you can pickup right where you left everything when coming back.
So it isn't that heavy of an emphasis on the end, more like: "I live in a way that anytime should be ok. But if randomness lets me I want to plan/choose some things I want to take care of personally in the end".

maxim said...

... Only you won't ever come back. And at some point it becomes more important to build new stuff than to maintain the old.

I'm all for being all clean and tidy, but what you are describing comes across more as being already dead on the inside, just waiting around for the other shoe to drop.

Anonymous said...

@maxim. Ok, I think therefore I .. am ... dead(on the inside)? only capable of thinking in absolutes? Splitting your attention appropriately for what ever you deem important right now, in this very moment, is very individual. And if your own or someone elses death happens to be that attention. I asure you you won't be dead on the inside.
Read it again and read "TRASH". I don't really wait and I don't really prep. but hey YMMV.
Thinking about death doesn't make you dead inside. like thinking about northkorea doesn't make you a supreme kim fanboi.

On that note be a bit more confused and ok with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCaacO8wus