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[Rolan7]

We have so much desert though (also huge national parks, and Alaska), so I'm not sure that's entirely fair?  But I'm not sure how best to compare.  Western Europe has unfarmable land too of course.

[itisnotlogical]

Yesterday I got a call to talk about a job application, but I missed it and decided to call them back tomorrow as it was already late when I noticed. This morning, I wake up and my phone service has ended, and I probably won't be able to get a card until it's too late to call them.

They have my physical address, they can send me a letter. They have my email, they can email me. I presume they're not going to do a phone interview for a bloody grocery job. What's so damn important and sensitive that they need to talk to me on the phone, something that requires both of us to be available at the same time?

[JoshuaFH]

I was thinking of doing something creative, but I can't get over that it's invariably just going to be shit, just complete shit. Whenever I get the feeling to buy the supplies of something I need to do something creative, the niggling feeling that I'm just an untalented, lazy shit pops back into my head, and I've already wasted money, over and over again capriciously noncommitting to one idea, then giving up, then another, then giving up, then another, then giving up.

It's not that it's too hard, it's just that it's hard to care. It's so hard to convince myself that I care about anything. One of my first ideas was to try to learn how to draw by hand, and the first instruction of my learning guide was to draw a self-portrait to gauge your future improvement, and I gave up right there because I don't want to look at my Sorry Damn Face long enough to draw a picture. How can I not be so critical of myself, when I'm staring at the asshole's face?

I just wish I could care about anything enough for it to act as any kind of guiding ambition in life. That'd just be the best, but I don't know if that would ever be possible, so I just have to sit back and feel upset that I was even born, only to live such a destined unfulfilling and miserable life.

All these feelings just dredged up because I saw that stupid Visual Novel Builder, Tyranobuilder, on Humble Bundle, and I think "I wonder if I could make anything even half-decent" only to remind myself that that's just straight up impossible. It's sickening. It's retarded. It'd just be another waste of time and money. And now I'm just here torturing myself over nothing again. Just fuck me.

[Willfor]

I was thinking of doing something creative, but I can't get over that it's invariably just going to be shit, just complete shit. Whenever I get the feeling to buy the supplies of something I need to do something creative, the niggling feeling that I'm just an untalented, lazy shit pops back into my head, and I've already wasted money, over and over again capriciously noncommitting to one idea, then giving up, then another, then giving up, then another, then giving up.

It's not that it's too hard, it's just that it's hard to care. It's so hard to convince myself that I care about anything. One of my first ideas was to try to learn how to draw by hand, and the first instruction of my learning guide was to draw a self-portrait to gauge your future improvement, and I gave up right there because I don't want to look at my Sorry Damn Face long enough to draw a picture. How can I not be so critical of myself, when I'm staring at the asshole's face?

I just wish I could care about anything enough for it to act as any kind of guiding ambition in life. That'd just be the best, but I don't know if that would ever be possible, so I just have to sit back and feel upset that I was even born, only to live such a destined unfulfilling and miserable life.

All these feelings just dredged up because I saw that stupid Visual Novel Builder, Tyranobuilder, on Humble Bundle, and I think "I wonder if I could make anything even half-decent" only to remind myself that that's just straight up impossible. It's sickening. It's retarded. It'd just be another waste of time and money. And now I'm just here torturing myself over nothing again. Just fuck me.

With that attitude, yes. You will have success in whatever creative endeavor you start about 10 years after you start it, and if you never start then it's inevitable that you'll never accomplish it. It's because there is no magic behind "creativity". There's inclinations to it, certainly, but inclination is not required. Only work is required. That's the secret behind every single person's success in any creative field. You're only seeing the finished product though, and not the years of failures they leave behind them. You have to be prepared to fail a few times before you hit something. And the worst lie, the one that keeps people from ever doing anything, is that you have to start out good. You didn't start out knowing how to walk, you learned that. You didn't start out knowing how to read well, you learned that. You didn't start out knowing how to do math well, you learned that. You don't start out knowing how to do something creative, you learn that.

[Bohandas]

I seem to have developed a compulsion to pick at my scalp until it hurts or bleeds.

[Rolan7]

I chew the skin around my fingernails, or pluck out my facial hair.
Someone I know picks at his cuticles, until they bleed...  Doesn't even know he's doing it.  I used to help by pointing it out.
It's weird what people do when bored or nervous.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Western people already breed at less than replacement levels. Immigration is the only thing preventing declines already. "Everyone is breeding like rabbits" is bullshit, sorry that's just a made up problem that doesn't match the reality of the issues. USA, UK, Australia are on the high-end of advance Western nation's fertility rates, and none of them even produce enough babies to replace the previous generation now.

It most certainly is not a made up problem, because we're already so far over the mark of acceptable population it isn't even funny. Not replacing the previous generation is great, but we need to do so by a greater value, say 50% no children 50% one child, in order to drop the population from 7 to 1 billion in a meaningful timeframe.

[hector13]

Western people already breed at less than replacement levels. Immigration is the only thing preventing declines already. "Everyone is breeding like rabbits" is bullshit, sorry that's just a made up problem that doesn't match the reality of the issues. USA, UK, Australia are on the high-end of advance Western nation's fertility rates, and none of them even produce enough babies to replace the previous generation now.

It most certainly is not a made up problem, because we're already so far over the mark of acceptable population it isn't even funny. Not replacing the previous generation is great, but we need to do so by a greater value, say 50% no children 50% one child, in order to drop the population from 7 to 1 billion in a meaningful timeframe.

_^Genocide..?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Yeah, no. My misanthropic resentment towards the last three generations aside, our only meaningful recourse is to either get people to stop fucking or stop reproducing. The former is impossible, so it's gotta be the latter. Even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, attempts at genocide would just make things worse.

[Graknorke]

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Suppression_Field

GabeN provides.

[i2amroy]

Yeah, no. My misanthropic resentment towards the last three generations aside, our only meaningful recourse is to either get people to stop fucking or stop reproducing. The former is impossible, so it's gotta be the latter. Even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, attempts at genocide would just make things worse.

I might have just missed this, but where exactly are you pulling that 1 billion number from? Everything I've seen has shown that we could sustainably survive with quite a bit more than that just fine if we're careful.

[Jopax]

Yeah, no. My misanthropic resentment towards the last three generations aside, our only meaningful recourse is to either get people to stop fucking or stop reproducing. The former is impossible, so it's gotta be the latter. Even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, attempts at genocide would just make things worse.

I might have just missed this, but where exactly are you pulling that 1 billion number from? Everything I've seen has shown that we could sustainably survive with quite a bit more than that just fine if we're careful.

That bolded bit there. Humanity is so far showing no signs of doing that, because we're too selfish and shortsighted for that. And by the time the shit hits the fan and people realise that we should be more careful and prudent with the resources at our disposal it'll be far too late for a nice and mostly painless solution. I'm hoping it doesn't happen in my lifetime, because however power fantasyish a collapsing society would be I don't hold many illusions about my ability to survive it, or even the willingness to survive it because the world will most certainly become a giant shithole at that point.

[GiglameshDespair]

So what are you doing about it?

[Jopax]

Not much tbh. As in, doing as much as I can without drastically altering my lifestyle, which isn't that wasteful to begin with I think. The most that I do spend I guess is the electricity from my laptop and that is kinda too big a part of my life to let go (also partially because my meager income depends on it).

And I guess my main reason for not doing more is why bother? What point it would be for me to abandon any and all wasteful practices if there's a million other people who are going to do the complete opposite of that on a daily basis?

If my sacrifice is ultimately pointless then I'd much rather not make it at all :/

[Graknorke]

Wow I'm pretty pathetic. It's worse because I know it but still won't do anything about it, because doing things is what useful people do.
Who wants to throw a pity party?