this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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you aren't rewarded by the oligarchs we give all our resources to, in return for the occasional table scrap, climate change, and the possible end of the species. which is what we've trained to see as 'success'.
you can still be successful.
But die of starvation and a shitload of other things.
if you're cool enough; theyll probably at least take a shot at killing you, sure. so just not pissing off the most violent thugs is success? doing tricks and getting rewarded with table scraps from the people who steal everything from everyone is success? being part of the engine of horror and misery that keeps anything from ever getting better is success?
I'm just trying to figure out what people mean when they say 'success' here.
Not being the underdog of everything, having a somewhat enjoyable life.
so, having the advantage? winning? enjoying yourself? so minions and treats?
not, like, building a sustainable future, or doing good for the people you love, or living by what you think is right, or forming deep and meaningful relationships?
Being at least as good as my parents. They ascended to the middle class, so I have to continue this trend or I will be considered a loser by my family.
okay. what is the middle class? how much longer does it exist for? which of the new emerging classes will qualify as equivalent or better to you? what if shit goes full on 'parable of the sower'; one of the more chillingly plausible apocalpses in fiction?
what horrors must you wreak on the world to do that? what if all classes but the very peak have fewer rights and privileges, and you're a part of that happening? what if you achieve middle classedness by maintaining the same amount of resources as you do at present, but devastating the total available resources, making your shit position the new middle?
what is an acceptable cost? what can you cut out of your life to have that? what about raping and pillaging and living in fear but having a really nice house and most/all of the treats you want? how many degrees out from rape and pillage, where you still make the world measurably worse to get a disproportionate slice of it and have to live with moral compromises that give others a legitimate interest in your downfall, is acceptable to you? would you be a software engineer at palantir? monsanto attack lawyer? corporate raider? the asshole whose job it is to think of ways to deniably advertise tobacco to children?
what about building a world where that distinction is meaningless, and you have other better things? is that a part of success? can it be measured against 'success'? does justice matter? love? harmony with other intelligent life? personal growth and development? doing something that will outlive you, or maybe even the relevance of this quarter's earnings report, if you're really ambitious?