A lot of these types read sci-fi dystopia books and think, “yeah that would be really cool actually.”

Yeah I went through a phase of reading biblical history when I had my faith deconstructed, and you quickly realize how many different Christianities there were. As well as the political context for why these sort of ideas were able to spread in this specific part of the world at that time in history. I think the version of the story told in Jesus Christ Superstar actually does a decent job with the structures of authority and their conflicting interests. To me Jesus was likely a very charismatic “nobody” who gained a following by expressing sentiments that were kind of already floating around, until it caused a problem for the authorities who needed to keep the peace or risk Rome intervening. Whether Jesus actually said what’s in the Bible isn’t important, we know people thought he said that stuff and that it resonated strongly with many. We can infer things about people at the time based on what they ascribed to Jesus.

I finally got a preliminary diagnosis days ago from my family doctor after learning about inattentive 2 years ago and thinking “oh jeez that me,” but for life have joked that I probably have some kind of adhd, and had a career and lifestyle that accommodated it reasonably well. What changed was progressing in my career and the responsibilities of daily life, and my many many tricks not being as effective. I was always able to skirt by and being a “smart kid” caused it to go unnoticed and allowed me to just barely exert enough effort to succeed.

When I finally decided to book an appointment to get the ball rolling, I got one within 2 days, and had a month of lisdexamphetamine 30mg to try within an hour after the appointment, and a followup booked with a task to keep a journal of noticable changes. Amphetamines are basically the only class of drug I’ve never tried recreationally or been prescribed. I knowingly took the first one later in the day than I should have cause I couldn’t wait to try it, but after feeling the effects for the first time during the day in to the evening I didn’t even mind that I couldn’t sleep. The feeling is like a blanket of calm energy and I’ve been amazed at how immediate it was and what I’ve already been able to do just by the 3rd day taking it. Some of this could be me expecting it to do these things and will see how the whole month goes but it’s already such a difference.

Google was really valuable before web services were so monopolized and consolidated like they are now. It’s almost more useful to use the specific websites search function for many things now. Before this, you could run searches and it would have all these personal and small websites indexed. Oh look, here’s a guy who lives his whole life as Peter Pan and has a website about it, cool… now it’s just a profile on some social media site same as anyone else.

I found that stage very boring cause they’re basically a slug and it’s the same cycle on repeat, was on parental leave and had way more time to myself than I did just working a normal job. Back to work toddler stage was the most financially draining because of daycare but the government reimbursement program made it very affordable. It’s definitely more fun when they’re able to communicate and have opinions and stuff, and never had a serious problem with behavioral issues. They just can’t regulate their emotions or know what they are really so you have to teach them all that.

I’d say for the most part the downsides I hear from younger people without kids are sort of based on naive anxieties that any new parent goes through. Financial concerns are legit although the US is notoriously bad for supporting new parents. We had 18 months fully paid parental leave to split for example. The real downsides are that it takes more intention and planning to do things, but there’s even an upside to that in that you condense a lot of what you enjoy and use the time way more effectively. It’s like well maybe that thing isn’t really that important, and this other thing really is important. It puts a microscope up to your daily life basically and I think that’s what causes the anxiety for people who envision what having kids is like.

It definitely shakes the snow globe of life up and I wouldn’t even say that’s a good thing for everyone, but also nobody is better or worse because of whether they have kids or not. I hate those remarks parents have sometimes like “oh they don’t have kids so you know” and you can feel that distain and jealousy in their voice.