Random Update

Life is not about how much you make per hour, its not about being better then the other, i see so many dumb people and they are happier then me, ignorance is bliss imo!
Poker can give you the moneys! but i think its a shallow work, its a souless game to play for a living, i think poker greatest quality for me is having that backup plan if all goes wrong.

Feel free to become active in the weekly MMA threads here.

Also, there's a big MMA thread for betting at Sherdog that I'm active in (I can give you the link if you want it)*. If you lost your passion for playing poker, betting on MMA or even just watching it casually is a good way to fill up your time.

i've always thought playing poker for a living was pretty immoral, i've asked ethical experts outside of poker and they seem to have the same thoughts. Good to see i'm not the only poker player who thinks the same. Im pretty conflicted over the game because for one there is a lot of fun trying to solve the game, but you're also taking advantage of peoples gambling problems/ignorance.

As far as capitalism goes it's never existed. Every western country is state capitalist because of reasons you stated (protects its corn industries, while enforcing the 'free' market in poor countries.) The US state created things like the internet, its military, for example. Japan protects it's rice industry just so they can get more votes from rice farmers, this deprives the poor country from being able to make money exporting rice.

in new zealand we have a system where we use the state to make things, we created our own bank for example, to protect our selves from Australian bankers. We do not call it anything though, we don't call it capitalism/state capitalism, you never even hear a citizen speak of the word because it is not taught in schools/media. I had to read books and watch American priests(the media) to learn what it is. lassie faire capitalism to me, even though it would be better than state capitalism still seems like a fanatical ideology because it doesn't focus on the right questions of what creates a better society. It's just a model on how to make money efficiently in a non oppressive society.

But i mean almost every political philosopher in the last 200 years has expressed complete disgust with what capitalism was in practice (except for ayn rand but she is as much of a philosopher as hitler).

As far as money goes it's just a medium for human nature. You can create money doing good or bad things.

Personally i think chasing money/accumulating power and especially overworking makes humans stupider, as does depriving them of any money. Trying to acquire power/money drives them away from creative endeavors and introspection, and without introspection they will enslave others and think its ok. Look at our creative industries and look at how much they focus on marketing and acquiring money instead of producing creative content.

Personally i think chasing money/accumulating power and especially overworking makes humans stupider, as does depriving them of any money. Trying to acquire power/money drives them away from creative endeavors and introspection, and without introspection they will enslave others and think its ok. Look at our creative industries and look at how much they focus on marketing and acquiring money instead of producing creative content.

i think about this all the time. but in a different light. For whatever evolutionary reasons, humans or at least I become extremely depressed when I do nothing. Or very little. Perhaps there just aren't that many creative outlets here in America. I tried putting in 3-4 hours of Khan Academy for everything I enjoyed when I had "absolute freedom" after college. But I just couldn't. But now working ~50 hours a week, I definitely make the remaining free time i have left to be extremely "productive." Ryan Gosling once conveyed a similar sentiment something along the lines of "if more ppl did more physical labor or work, they would be happier"

also, I still play poker rather frequently (3-4 times a week) although for shorter duration (1-3 hours) without the depressing desperation that I used to have.