That’s awful! I hope one day your situation improves. That sounds so difficult. (Bc this is the internet, have to clarify: not sarcastic!)

Personally I’m fundamentally disconnected from any meaningful relationships with living things (people, animals, plants, the landscape) and addicted to the internet as a replacement. The only times I haven’t felt the way you described is when I had social scaffolding around me. (And the wherewithal in terms of time and energy to pursue “self-actualisation.”)

I don’t know, I always think about an extremely competent woman living a self-sufficient traditional lifestyle with all the skills to survive who just stopped eating after her grandchildren had to run away abroad. A life is a complex thing and it takes a lot of things to be tuned just right for a person to be functional. It’s even too simple to say “we find meaning in social relationships” or whatever, we just need the right system of incentives and comforts and pleasure and pain and there’s no single formula.

I was self-actualising when I had love, understanding, time, and money. Now I’m missing some parts of that package, and none of them are things you can just will into existence, especially not at the cost of other things.

I don’t have it in me to be grateful for positive things, I can only praise the absence of problems.

1. That I don’t need to go outside to use the bathroom
2. That my wager that if I just wait long enough my skin will clear up and I don’t need to spend a small fortune on products has paid off
3. That I don’t have chronic physical pain

I am always teetering on the edge of doing this, not because I think it’s a good idea, but just because I really, truly love fruit…

If you desire romantic companionship, start by making non-romantic friends?

I tend to agree. For me, an otherwise unfulfilled person looking for a fulfilling successful romantic relationship is kind of like a poor person trying to become a millionaire. You should take care of your basic needs before aiming for something that, probably, few people ever realistically get to have.

That said, overwhelmingly, what I want is friendship (love and understanding) but it’s much, much harder to find ways to meet people for friendship than a romantic relationship. There is no friendship app on the same level as the dating apps. People who want to get in my pants text back much more reliably than potential friends I meet even irl. I shouldn’t complain because having a lot of suitors is a pleasant problem to have but I work unsociable hours and on more days than I care to admit, the only human contact I get outside of work is on dating apps, which is not a happy situation for me.

It’s precisely bc it’s such a huge topic that i’m reaching out for help lol! Region doesn’t matter but my immediate interest is closer to the aesthetic than the academic side of the spectrum atm, so I’m looking for visual highlights more than other kinds of salience/importance. I just need a rundown of what’s iconic (or looks like it ought to be)

Why are you guys using spyware when signal is right there. Drives me crazy!!!

Had to scroll down so far to find ESL. This is a truly excellent tool for a language learner if working as intended. If it were available to create graded reading materials in many different target languages it would be worth its weight in gold.

Oh hey, I saw something by accident that I can contribute here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWKQIqzotLQ

It’s a video response from Chomsky’s current collaborators telling off these journalists for announcing a private health matter to the public & making it harder for Chomsky & his family & emphasising that even now into his 90s he is doing cutting-edge much-discussed intellectual work and that is the real news.

Yes, I don’t think I have another app but more features on some apps I use (Smartdock, Joplin, Librera, Rimusic) would be slightly life-changing.

I really, really like this.

This is the single best piece I’ve seen about mental health in mainstream media. Thanks for sharing

I recently read that rather than “global south” and “global north,” some people opt for “global majority” and “global minority.” I like that, it reflects how I’ve always tried to think of it.

Wasn’t GiveDirectly one of EA’s big things and precisely what you’re describing here? Unconditional cash transfers

he knows nothing and genuinely thinks he’s doing a good job.

seems like the first step to improving is being given information on how you’re doing, and the second is being mentored/trained?

sorry to be a hater but I’m gonna be a hater. if you don’t know what it’s like to live without curiousity or awe you are either a child or an extremely fortunate person. to fight against incuriousity and a dulling of the senses is a full-time job unless you are extremely lucky with how much free time you have, the people around you, the events in your life you experience, etc. this is extremely haughty. “tell me what it’s like” it fucking sucks! annoying

What do you use for TTS? I’m interested in both a service that’ll turn a PDF into an audiobook and that reads a document line-by-line. I use Librera for the latter but the FOSS voices available on F-Droid leave a lot to be desired.

Can I ask how you ended up there in the first place? I can scarcely think of a more interesting place on earth.

How integrated are you into the local community? How well do you speak the local language? I’m a foreigner living abroad and I would never trust either my own perception of this place nor 99% of other foreigners’ perceptions.

Surprised by how hiɡh up Mexico is!