Assuming you mean mental/sensory blurring and not the thing you get from exhaustion or low sugar or blood pressure:

Yeah, and I think it is linked to meditation and all that shit. As a kid, I used to blur out the voices in a packed bus to pass the time and calm down, for example. Fun little exercise.

I had very similar experiences with psychedelic drugs, and while I am not really into medidation, I occasionally use it as a sort of starting point to, I guess, do a bit of a mental break. First I let the eyes “relax”, then if I’m lucky, the ears and then the brain. If you do that for more than a few minutes, you can end up in some funny mental places.

Dude, that is my hone town in a nutshell. Nothing to say until they get a few beer in. And I do feel that myself, I was never a heavy drinker or even an alcoholic, but when I am with people that are interesting, nice, friendly, but not someone “like me”, I have such an easier time talking to them and being part of the group when I’m a few drinks in. I hate it, it’s part of the reason why I am usually very careful around drugs: they fucking work too well.

Have you seen my cigs? I left them somewhere between the burger and the vodka bottle. And maybe you’ll find my weed while you are looking? Oh, by the way, can I have your number?

No, it’s just illegal. But so is paying someone in cash while he receives ALG, so yeah.

To add to that, things can be a bit messier in small companies, both for good (boss has a good year and just gives you money / sends well-paid work your way) and more often for bad.

I have to admit I did " free trial work" and was not hired afterwards, twice. First time I was essentially just hanging out with the other workers for a day, to see if I was a good fit (apparently not), second time I actually helped for a few days, and then their preferred hire did agree to join. Got paid under the table though, and I was unemployed, bored and the job was fun, so I am not too salty.

All my proper long term jobs were with larger companies with strong unions and collective agreements though. Can recommend, it may not look necessary if you make it past the “lower ranks”, but I hate negotiating and “job x is rated as pay level y” makes things so much easier

No, machines don’t need intelligence to fuck us up. Remember that one famous cold war incident were the Soviet computer (falsely) thought the Americans had launched nukes, and if it wasn’t for one brave guy refusing to launch, we would all be dead now?

But I still don’t think “AI” by itself is that big of an issue. The biggest problem I see is propaganda, increased automation leading to a class of replaceable, poor workers like at the beginning of the industrial age, and “thinking fatigue” caused by reliance on the bullshit machines.

But actually kill us? Nah. That is still reserved for the classics, like nuclear war, climate change, or maybe some good old-fashioned plague. Who knows, I haven’t heard of any major volcanoes lately, too.

Routine does not always help. But being around people helps. Helping other people helps. Even if you recognise that all your efforts are ultimately futile. Think of it this way: we all die at the end, anyway. At the very latest when the sun goes poof, or the universe becomes lukewarm, equally-spaced emptiness. But if you help make someone’s life a little bit better, then that is still good. And if we all help to make someone else’s life better, then maybe life wouldn’t be so miserable.

On the how: join a group that aligns with your values and has people you vibe with, from NGOs like Red Cross or voluntary firefighters, to a soup kitchen, or an animal shelter. Maybe even a political party or movement.

Yeah, do as I say not as I do. I am a coward, lazy, cynic misanthrope myself. But when things become too much, I found this often makes me feel better.

The machine uprising is bullshit. Sorry.A few gigabytes of linear algebra are not remotely sentient. It is a remarkable Chinese room, but it is a Chinese room after all.

Behind the bullshit are the usual faces. Rich fuckers, imperialists, egoists, people who want to be praised as living gods while their serfs suffer. History of mankind in a nutshell.

If you want to be scared, be scared about WW3, climate change, ecosystem collapse, that kind of thing. Or even the trivial-ization of propaganda with AI. But the AI is not the issue, we had propaganda telling you your fellow human is an animal before, worked just fine.

What helps? Go out, do things. It feels futile, it probably is, but it helps. Go volunteer, help a political movement, that kind of thing.

Uh, my buddy has a few grams left. Although I am more of a Sativa guy myself ;)

Maybe. But I am talking about both above the table and more shady government programs. Ever wonder where the guys at Pegasus and friends get their exploits from? They aren’t all super great hackers, they buy a lot of stuff, or so I heard. After all, for someone without money, it is a hard decision to be paid a year’s wages right now or to go the responsible disclosure route, and potentially get nothing.

And iirc the advertised price for juicy bugs in common platforms and apps was quite substantial. So, according to demand and supply, the price for such exploits was rather high, and is now significantly lower.

What, they are coming for EE now? Fuck. I thought I was safe for a while on the basis of “surely they won’t have the hallucination machine design and test the multi-million $ project”

To be fair, such bugs can easily be worth quite a bit more. If it can indeed automate finding RCEs and similar for everyone with a few $10k, then that’s suddenly way more accessible than paying a guy in a basement somewhere a million in shitcoins for that RCE.

Heart, mind and cock. Beautiful.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tino_Chrupalla Abschnitt Außenpolitik

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/afd-russland-aktuelle-stunde-bundestag-100.html

https://de.euronews.com/2025/11/09/afd-insa

Gut, viel davon ist sicher Parterhetorik. Aber so groß ist der ideologische Unterschied zwischen Trump und seinen Silicon-Valley-Milliadären und Putin und seinen Gas-Oligarchen auch nicht.

Abgesehen davon ist die AfD eben auch kein homogener Block. Dass sich manche mit Musk und Maga und andere wieder mit Medwedjew treffen, ist nicht unmöglich.

Shared interests. Weak EU is good for non-EU blocks.

Plus, even the fascists are not homogeneous, with some of them actually believing in patriotism, and others selling out to the highest bidder (like China)

Siemous

If you can go with multiple names, I do like my parents’ reasoning: pick one interesting/local name that we like, and one that works in many cultures/languages. Something like Pierre Henry.

My alcohol and caffeine history is pretty typical, grew out of drinking and found a reasonable relationship with coffee and tea.

Now weed gives me hangovers and the potential for bad trips. I have never been a regular stoner, and I am considering limiting myself even further (every few months). Psychedelics even less, but that kind of comes by design, if you are a responsible person.

There is no way in hell that I am touching opiates or amphetamines for recreation. I know I am someone who enjoys drugs, and I don’t know if I had the willpower to stop if I start.

All in all, quite happy with the status quo. Everything in moderation, even the moderation.

Ah, the classic tolerance break. Beloved by stoners and coffee drinkers alike.

Just drink herbal tea then, I guess.

Having said that, I do feel coffee, and I am not going to stop. But herbal tea is my go-to if I want something warm and tasty late in the evening

Yeah, as a guy, I don’t want Aids (or the myriad of other things) either. It’s protecting both sides, wtf. Both people here are obviously fine with hookups, so both are a potential risk after all.