Petition to pretend that we don’t live in a global dystopia and we can contribute to a global commons without it being co-opted by transnational corporations that will eventually harvest all our emotional attachments
Once our ai overlords take their rightful place there will be no more such problems in the world, we will be paired with our mates without fear of reprobation
The SHWEP (Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast) is also great for getting into the esoteric from an academic bent, Highly recommended for those with the stomach to deep dive into obscure primary sources
It’s probably a little self-aware but what he’s describing is a lifestyle attainable by people with similar jobs and qualifications as what Arsenal is asking for, and it’s reasonable to expect it if that’s what you can get from other employers.
Also, housing in much of the US is criminally expensive, and some people have unreasonably snobby attitudes about what constitutes a “decent area” in the US. Or maybe he was just making an understated and backhanded joke about the London housing market, which I’ve heard to be similarly absurd.
I live in NYC, on the UWS, in a nice (but not extravagant) 2 bedroom apartment. It’s about 1000 sq feet, and I pay $5k per month in rent. Buying a similar place in my neighborhood would cost me literally double that per month, after putting down $300k or more. My neighborhood has hundreds of thousands of people in it, all paying similar amounts (or much much more). My building has about 60 units, and I live in one of the smaller ones. Almost half of the units rent for $12k-15k per month. This is just one of hundreds of buildings in my neighborhood alone, one of thousands in Manhattan.
Of the ~350 apartments with at least 3 bedrooms for sale right in my neighborhood, only 77 cost less than $3mm. There are 52 for sale for more than $10mm, and those will almost all sell.
> The average price for a terraced house in london zone 2 is £1.7 million
I have a feeling that data is wrong. If it's accurate it's definitely been pushed up by huge outliers on the top end (like £50+M properties in Chelsea and west ken that are zone 2)
I think the median zone 2 terraced house is more like £1m, can't find a statistic but I just bought a £1.5m house in hackney and there were 10 £1-1.3m properties for every £1.7m+
I don't know for sure. And certainly we are not what you call "leftists" in HN. But let me say this on a personal level. I know that people sometimes, all the time, often, certainly, behave stupidly. But I want to believe, ergo I believe, that people can make good decisions, that there is such a thing as "common sense". Looking at the facts sometimes made me sad. Maybe people can't think for themselves, and then they can't choose. But I prefer not to think in terms of peasants and elites, even if history tells me so and Ortega y Gasset tells me how it works. I want to believe that we are capable of governing our lives. I want to believe. Forgive me for expressing not a fact, but the way I think about democracy.
