No problem, you’re welcome. I also paid a small car’s worth of money to a fascist oligarch while borrowing the fruits of your work. I, too, am very happy with this.

But look at the bright side, you too can now pay a small car’s worth of money to a fascist oligarch and then get some source code that may or may not be close to my proprietary stuff. You know, the one made from your stuff without attributing. This is fine.

It doesn’t have to be libido alone, but someone aged 80+ might have lived large chunks of his live in a relationship, and is quite likely to be a widower. It makes sense that they are lonely and want what they had for a large part of their life.

I will now reuse your work without attribution and claim it is the AI’s fault. Easy.

A few things that I haven’t read here:

1. Everyone at work is stressed. Everyone wants to be somewhere else, but has to pay bills. Therefore, don’t take it personal if people are angry, frustrated, snap at you or don’t want to talk. Many of the people that come across as mean and unfriendly are nice and chill off the clock.

2. Likewise, accept if people keep their distance. Consider how much distance you want to keep, and how much you trust which coworker. Again, nothing personal, just the way people are. As someone said so nicely, often, politeness is more important than friendliness.

3. Shared suffering is bonding. “Sucks today, eh?” is a complete sentence and shows that you are on their team. Be careful around talking about specific people or talking politics. And if you do, start slowly. Feel out the other person first, and always consider how big the chance of them being a backstabbing bootlicker is, and how much damage they could do to you in that case. Don’t be paranoid either, but don’t blindly trust strangers.

Honest advice: meet some non-wannabe-rich people.

Many people are interesting, smart, funny and empathetic. Many other people also suck. The trick is to filter. There is a reason you have a door in front of your place.

If you consistently run into the people that suck, try meeting other people. People based on a different filter.

All kinds of things can be a filter. A sports club, a neighbourhood, a job, a political party, a bar… Pick one that you feel comfortable with and that has a higher chance of meeting the good people.

I am not going to Starbucks, because fuck that corporate US shit. I am happily paying $10 to a local kebab place, because I earn about $15/h after taxes and insurance, and there is no way I am going to make a decent kebab with fries in under an hour, plus it helps some random Arab guy earn a living, so why shouldn’t I?

But, consider this: you don’t need a holodeck for that. When everything is in reach, the previously desirable becomes trivial.

In the same way, putting garlic on your food is nice. Having garlic ready to be spoon-fed to you 24/7 is stupid. The convoluted becomes desirable again.