Read on Twitter
New Years is a great time for gratitude, so here is a thread with some reflection on "free shit."
Basically: if you're an adult human then you've received an ASTRONOMICAL amount of "free shit" and have no right to complain about anybody else doing the same. Let's see examples...
Basically: if you're an adult human then you've received an ASTRONOMICAL amount of "free shit" and have no right to complain about anybody else doing the same. Let's see examples...
1. Language. You likely live in a country/world where the vast majority of people speak a language you also speak, meaning you can instantly and effortlessly communicate with most strangers.
Do you have any idea how much labor it took to build that world? And your personal
Do you have any idea how much labor it took to build that world? And your personal
contribution to that effort was next-to-nothing, and yet you benefit for free on a massive scale, every day.
2. Science/technology. Sure, you maybe paid for your own phone and such, but did you pay for the 10,000 years worth of tinkering/experimentation that made it possible to
2. Science/technology. Sure, you maybe paid for your own phone and such, but did you pay for the 10,000 years worth of tinkering/experimentation that made it possible to
produce a computer the size of your palm within your lifetime? No, you inherited hundreds of generations worth of knowledge, and you benefit for free. (*At most* you compensated the last tiny fraction of research, done by some current patent owners.)
3. Folk knowledge in general. Forget fancy phones, how about cooking? How about knowing which foods aren't poison? How about knowing how to systematically grow crops on a large scale, or even grow them at all? This is knowledge created long before we were born, that we all
benefit from, free of charge. We only pay for the materials/labor we use.
And of course, 4. Your upbringing, i.e. most everything you had before age 15 or so: your meals, your clothes, your shelter, your education, your acculturation and socialization, and so on.
And of course, 4. Your upbringing, i.e. most everything you had before age 15 or so: your meals, your clothes, your shelter, your education, your acculturation and socialization, and so on.
You wouldn't be who you are today if you hadn't received a MASSIVE amount of free shit.
And you know what? That free shit is your birthright, you damn well deserve it. Every single person does, just for existing. It's what we owe to each other. So stop knocking it.
Happy NYE.
And you know what? That free shit is your birthright, you damn well deserve it. Every single person does, just for existing. It's what we owe to each other. So stop knocking it.
Happy NYE.
