I once saw an episode of a TV show on exactly this topic. The way they simulated social pain was by telling three people they were playing a game of catch together on a computer but, in reality, each person had its own game with 2 NPCs that would eventually just leave the player out and start throwing the ball among themselves and I just think that's so mean but kinda funny.
If Jensen's brain had ads I would have actually empathised with him instead of sardonically yelling "oh, fuck off" when he said "I never asked for this".
That there will be no turning point. Once the mechanisms for fascism have been established, unless an actual revolution happens, the next government will always abuse them.
I don't think it matters. Democrats aren't gonna seize power and be like "Oh, my God! Would you look at all these mechanisms to abuse power! Better get rid of them!"
I, for one, welcome our new Austrian overlord. In all seriousness, though, we like the guy. He was a foreign invader so it was never gonna work out but the dude was alright. Here's a list of things he did (or rather tried to since the country was at war and it was basically impossible to enforce anything):
Jackshit of what the conservatives wanted him to
Put a limit on working hours
Abolish child labour
Pardon most of the peonage debt and forbid sale of peons (so basically abolish slavery)
Abolish corporal punishment
Restore communal lands to indigenous people
Then he got executed and we had to wait about 50 years and go through a dictatorship to get all of that. He also just generally invested a lot into infrastructure.
Also, I was in Vienna last year, and this is a thing:
It wouldn't exist if not for Maximilian's brief run as Mexican emperor and I just think the world wouldn't be the same without a burrito chain named Max & Benito.
What's upchuck?