"Lying flat" in China - doing the minimum to survive (possibly homeless)

[excreationist]

In China "lying flat" / lyingflatism means:

not working
not buying a house
not spending
not getting married
not having children
not pursuing any career
reducing personal desires
spending the minimum to survive

By young people who "refuse to be money making machines".

I guess this could get worse if there was "universal basic income". At the moment some of them work one or two months in a year....

On the other hand a lot of Chinese people have a "996" job (9am-9pm 6 days per week). Also "007" refers to 24 hour on call work, 7 days a week (0am - 0am).

Follow up video:
Says some also don't look for love
Talks about problems with traditional factories finding labor:
And an example of a person spending US$31 per month....



I guess this would be better for the environment....

 

[none]

when's the last time you got laid?

 

[excreationist]

when's the last time you got laid?

Well the first time I held hands, etc, was when I was 29 but now I've been happily married for 9 years. Lately we share a wacky sense of humour. I'd better not "over share" about sex.

 

[Derec]

George Costanza has been lying flat since before it was cool ...

 

[TV and credit cards]

See Xi, you went about this all wrong. You’re suppose to fill their heads with wants and desires from an early age and then put their asses to work in an endless pursuit of more and more shit. Instead you thought you’d what, appeal to their sense of nationalism? Someone needs to go back and look at their 14 point plan.
And in the meantime, don’t piss and moan that things aren’t going your way. When life hands you lemons, make Camperforce.
America did it right. We redefined happiness to be a useless pile of shit and a house big enough to hold it all.
What a newb.

 

[excreationist]

Perhaps it is a bit like hunter-gatherers.... e.g. "For 95 Percent of Human History, People Worked 15 Hours a Week"

For 95 Percent of Human History, People Worked 15 Hours a Week. Could We Do It Again?

An anthropologist explains the roots of our workaholism and offers a vision of a more leisurely future.

www.inc.com

Though it involves being even more leisurely.....

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Mike Royko used to ask why Michael Jackson was always grabbing his crotch, wondered if maybe he had crabs or something. Too bad Mike is gone, he'd have the answer.

 

[excreationist]

I was just rewatching Office Space. Here are some relevant quotes:

https://imsdb.com/scripts/Office-Space.html

LAWRENCE
NOW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

PETER
Besides two chicks at the same time?

LAWRENCE
Oh yeah.

PETER
Nothing.

LAWRENCE
Nothing, huh?

PETER
I would relax, I would sit on my ass all day, I would do nothing.

LAWRENCE
You don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin. He's broke and don't do shit.

MICHAEL
What?! Peter, you're in deep shit! You were supposed to come in on Saturday. What were you doing?

PETER
Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing and it was everything that I thought it could be.

PETER
Actually, I'm being promoted.

MICHAEL
What?!!!

PETER
Yeah, I know, Michael. It's completely unfair. And I realized something today. It's not about me and my dream of doing nothing.

I think humanoid robots with advanced AI will help more people pursue this dream of doing nothing.

 

[excreationist]

I'm a fan of this web page though it doesn't seem to say we're literally in a video game especially when it talks about entering "cheat codes".

Life Is a Video Game—Here Are the Cheat Codes

Welcome, Player One, to a strategy guide for the game known as Life.

markmanson.net

2. Players may respond to problems with either Solutions or Distractions. All players must meet problems with a reaction (even choosing not to react to a problem, is itself, a reaction).

All reactions can be divided up in two ways: Solutions and Distractions.

Solutions are actions and pursuits that resolve a problem preventing it from continuing or happening again in the future. Distractions are actions or pursuits designed to either make the Player unaware of the problem’s existence or to dull the pain the problem may be causing.

If a Player feels they understand a problem and are capable of handling it, they will pursue a Solution. If players are just sick of Life’s shit, then they will likely pursue Distractions to help them pretend the problem isn’t actually there.

I think people who do nothing as much as possible are pursuing distractions...

 

[zorq]

Just this weekend, my wife and I were talking about what we would do if we came into a large sum of money. We agreed that though we would enjoy a few new small luxuries (for example, we would enjoy upgrading to business class airfare when we travel (I'm 6'5" and airplane seats are small)) We would both like to keep working our current jobs.

We both complain when it is time to leave for work, and relish the moment when the weekend arrives. But we are doing important work, and we like our co-workers. Our jobs are taxing, and exhausting, but fulfilling. We are lucky.

I also I think that most people would prefer to feel productive than to feel useless. Of course there are plenty of exceptions, but a world without work might be worse than this one.

"Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost."-The Matrix 1999

 

[excreationist]

Why wait until the robots take our jobs? We need UBI now

AI and tech developments are already pushing people into more precarious work, but UBI could cushion the transition

www.opendemocracy.net

In recent years, one of the most popular arguments for universal basic income (UBI) – a regular cash payment delivered to every individual with no work requirement or means test – has been the fear that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will someday take our jobs. This, it’s argued, will cause massive unemployment and make UBI a virtual necessity

 

[TV and credit cards]

Self-help: The art of making money off the insecurities of others. Like they've got it all figured out. My life's experiences have shown me the closer I get to people I've perceived as having it all figured out the less impressed I am. They're just as messed up as everyone else, they're just better at hiding it.

I'm not familiar with Office Space but I'm keeping this one and using variations of it for every time someone asks me what I did last weekend or what my plans might be for the next:

PETER
Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing and it was everything that I thought it could be.

 

[WAB]

Dolce far niente.

Its sweeter coming from the lips of Mary Tyler Moore, circa 1963. A goddess if there ever was one.

 

[DrZoidberg]

In China "lying flat" / lyingflatism means:

not working
not buying a house
not spending
not getting married
not having children
not pursuing any career
reducing personal desires
spending the minimum to survive

By young people who "refuse to be money making machines".

I guess this could get worse if there was "universal basic income". At the moment some of them work one or two months in a year....

On the other hand a lot of Chinese people have a "996" job (9am-9pm 6 days per week). Also "007" refers to 24 hour on call work, 7 days a week (0am - 0am).

Follow up video:
Says some also don't look for love
Talks about problems with traditional factories finding labor:
And an example of a person spending US$31 per month....



I guess this would be better for the environment....

As I understand it, it's because the only viable option for Chinese people to invest in is housing, and that bubble has burst. Lying flatism is the response. If you have no options, creating a story in your head that that's what you want, you'll feel better about yourself. It makes sense.

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

As I understand it, it's because the only viable option for Chinese people to invest in is housing, and that bubble has burst. Lying flatism is the response. If you have no options, creating a story in your head that that's what you want, you'll feel better about yourself. It makes sense.

Yeah. The stock market is bonkers. The prospects of a company to a large degree come down to their interactions with the government, not their merits. Thus there is no possible sane valuation, it's basically gambling.

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

Disagree. The problem is that China has already hit the point where the curve needs to reduce the slope from developing country to developed country. But they went full speed ahead instead and have been pouring vast sums into what amounts to make work. I've never seen the ghost "cities" (they're not actually entire cities), but I have seen what was pretty much a ghost mall. Vast unused capacity with no demand for it.

We are seeing things coming apart at the seams because of this. But Beijing holds on because they fear revolution--and thus are ensuring there will be a revolution.

 

[excreationist]

As I understand it, it's because the only viable option for Chinese people to invest in is housing, and that bubble has burst. Lying flatism is the response. If you have no options, creating a story in your head that that's what you want, you'll feel better about yourself. It makes sense.

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

As far as "no options" goes, they are deliberately choosing things like:

not working
not buying a house
not spending
not getting married
not having children
not pursuing any career
reducing personal desires
spending the minimum to survive

The alternatives include 996 (working 9am to 9pm 6 days a week).
I think they don't get social security payments so they have to work occasionally.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

As I understand it, it's because the only viable option for Chinese people to invest in is housing, and that bubble has burst. Lying flatism is the response. If you have no options, creating a story in your head that that's what you want, you'll feel better about yourself. It makes sense.

Yeah. The stock market is bonkers. The prospects of a company to a large degree come down to their interactions with the government, not their merits. Thus there is no possible sane valuation, it's basically gambling.

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

Disagree. The problem is that China has already hit the point where the curve needs to reduce the slope from developing country to developed country. But they went full speed ahead instead and have been pouring vast sums into what amounts to make work. I've never seen the ghost "cities" (they're not actually entire cities), but I have seen what was pretty much a ghost mall. Vast unused capacity with no demand for it.

We are seeing things coming apart at the seams because of this. But Beijing holds on because they fear revolution--and thus are ensuring there will be a revolution.

A revolution - really! If a neutral observer saw what was going on in both the USA (with its unhappy population, and erratic economy) and China (with its happier population, and building of needed infrastructure) which do you think he/she would choose as a nation ripe for revolution?

 

[DrZoidberg]

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

Disagree. The problem is that China has already hit the point where the curve needs to reduce the slope from developing country to developed country. But they went full speed ahead instead and have been pouring vast sums into what amounts to make work. I've never seen the ghost "cities" (they're not actually entire cities), but I have seen what was pretty much a ghost mall. Vast unused capacity with no demand for it.

And Europe is full of canals we built in the early 19th century that quickly became obsolete when the railway came. The world is full of harbours too small for modern sized container ships. So? Having a rapid market expansion means access to cheap loans. Optimistic people are optimistic. When the market bottoms out they stop being optimistic. And we get a market correction.

We are seeing things coming apart at the seams because of this. But Beijing holds on because they fear revolution--and thus are ensuring there will be a revolution.

What is your evidence for this? A bunch of guys on Youtube prophesizing about China's imminent downfall is just noise. People just love saying that China is doomed. But I can't see any evidence. For all it's ills the Chinese communist party is excellent at keeping Chinese consumer spending on reasable levels.

 

[TV and credit cards]

As I understand it, it's because the only viable option for Chinese people to invest in is housing, and that bubble has burst. Lying flatism is the response. If you have no options, creating a story in your head that that's what you want, you'll feel better about yourself. It makes sense.

Yeah. The stock market is bonkers. The prospects of a company to a large degree come down to their interactions with the government, not their merits. Thus there is no possible sane valuation, it's basically gambling.

Every rapidily expanding economy will sooner or later run into systemic trouble. And China's extreme growth these last 35 years have been unprecedented. It's just a normal market correcting mechanic. But it sucks for the Chinese right now. They'll get over it. Like it or not, in the big picture, China is doing great.

Disagree. The problem is that China has already hit the point where the curve needs to reduce the slope from developing country to developed country. But they went full speed ahead instead and have been pouring vast sums into what amounts to make work. I've never seen the ghost "cities" (they're not actually entire cities), but I have seen what was pretty much a ghost mall. Vast unused capacity with no demand for it.

We are seeing things coming apart at the seams because of this. But Beijing holds on because they fear revolution--and thus are ensuring there will be a revolution.

A revolution - really! If a neutral observer saw what was going on in both the USA (with its unhappy population, and erratic economy) and China (with its happier population, and building of needed infrastructure) which do you think he/she would choose as a nation ripe for revolution?

Loren's "revolution" comment aside.
It's all relative. Take a person out of the cage he's been kept in and put him in a cell and he's going to be happy.
Beyond that, I don't know how you've ascertained which country is generally happier than the other.