The Cyborg Complex (Fitness Related)

I wanted to clarify, if I haven’t already, that I’m not naive enough not to realize that many, many people make a very great deal of money or that cost of living and pay vary according to location. The podcasters I was listening to were speaking specifically about and to psychotherapists, which is what I assumed you were talking about in response to me, Myth. It is possible to make good money as a therapist in or near an urban center if you create a brand and start bringing therapists in as paid employees with non-compete contracts, but it’s not easy for a number of reasons that are not for this thread. As an individual therapist in an urban center I would imagine one would probably top out at just over $200K, and THAT is assuming one keeps to a 45 minute session and really stacks people, which happens to be a subject well covered in the therapists’ version of Cyborg podcasts - “If you go more than 45 minutes you’re throwing money away!” It’s all about choices.

Turn man/woman into machine. Plot every waking moment end human interaction for agenda-based needs. Fine tune every fiber of one’s being.

Hence the term cyborg I use.

One of the most interesting conversations that I’ve had was when I worked in the mental health field and we discussed that the next ‘evolution’ of us as humans was the sociopath, they’re simply the next, most efficient ‘model’ of human off the line. Terrifying but, I think, probably more accurate than not.

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My friend and I know a guy who went the New Age-Self-Help-Fitness pipeline business and we both feel he became sociopathic. My cousin once didn’t see him for some time and after speaking to him told me that something about him had changed and he was “off”, “plastic”. When I’d see him about town on his laptop in a Starbucks or library, I’d enthusiastically approach him because we actually had some fun times together in the past, he was on severely limited time and he’d cut me off. I felt like exclaiming, “I wasn’t going to take up your whole freaking day!”

Most self-help people gurus come across as sociopathic to me. Just imagine constantly gauging one’s own words, manners, and affect and doing the same for others, and publicly expressing one’s emotions, angst, and inner turmoil. It’s creepy.

Actually purchase offers for private businesses are usually preceeded by mutual non disclosure agreements. Your friend’s firm is likely legally bound not to share anything that happened during negotiations (whether the sale closes or not).

If I was your friend and owned those businesses I wouldn’t want you sharing anything covered by NDAs regardless of how vague it is. Might be prudent to pull the sensitive info down.

You never know, one of the guys on the other side of those deals might be a degenerate weight lifter like us and see this info.

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@EmilyQ there are plenty of female cyborgs. Sorry for the delay. Your post is interesting and I still want to write a lengthy reply, but I’ve been so busy with my son and events.

Yawn…

As Nassim Taleb said, the goal is maximum free time, not maximum productivity. In the former case you do whatever the fuck you want. In the latter case you’re a slave.

The whole point of having enough money is doing whatever the fuck you want at a given time, not starting your work day at 3 am.

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For some guys, they love whatever it is they’re doing. I honestly think guys like the rock, Richard Branson, Gary Vanerchuck (spelling) love what they do. They’d rather be out doing business than anything else. Good for them.

There’s lots of other guys who act like that’s what they want for Instagram points or to sell their “consulting” services.

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Yes, as Jordan Peterson discussed this at length in his videos about the (false) gender pay gap - there’s a very small number of mildly sociopathic workaholics who are ready to dedicate themselves to their work at the expense of everything else (Elon Musk being a good example) - the vast majority of even highly educated professionals cannot do that.

I’ve had the misfortune to interact in my line of business with several such individuals and they were highly functioning sociopaths. No hobbies, no other interests, they spend every waking second thinking about their job. Their estranged children are an abstract concept that their PAs communicate with, and I strongly suspect that even their vices are acquired only to further their business interests, making them supposedly more relatable to business partners.

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image

I just started watching Billions. Damn it’s entertaining as fuck.

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“It’s time for you folks to sharpen your pencils, and you better come back with one Traci Lords of an idea. And if you need that fucking defined, here it is: a barely legal, market-dominating, brilliant cocksucker of an idea.”

Mike “Wags” Wagner (David Costabile), Billions, Season 2: Risk Management

Ahahahahha

I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but this song reminds me of this cyborg concept.

Cool groove either way.

When I was thirteen to sixteen, I looked up to Rollins a lot. I saw him speak live in Manhattan when I was nineteen or 20. I still listen to some old Rollins band and Black Flag stuff too.

Perhaps some tolerate shitty relationships, but there are many that choose shitty partners. And although these individuals can be blamed for their stupid decisions, I blame the American adult establishment at large for such a situation. There was actually a time in which American families did the proper vetting of potential mates for their children. Fortunately some communities in the country still do this, as well as arranging marriages, which I used to look down upon, but upon I now look highly. There are no “bad boys” in these communities. Looking back on my teenage years, and seeing how some of the creepiest and perverted boys made their ways into the households of girls as you as fourteen years old, I am astonished by how dizzy or uncaring some parents were.

This is a whole other discussion I can go on about which probably warrants another thread.

I’ve been a fan since way back in high school too. That old Black Flag was some rough and dirty (not in a profane way) music. It reminds me of a jagged banged up piece of sheet metal.

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I know this is a bit old, and sorry if it derails the thread, but it does seem to be wide ranging.

I just finished teaching A Streetcar Named Desire, and on most levels, when read, most of my friends agree Stanley is pretty reprehensible.

However, every year, I have several female students discuss how hot Stanley is after watching the movie (a young Marlon Brando) and this spilled over into the English Department today. Two of my female colleagues admitted how hot Stanley is and how women tend to like bad boys.

In fact, one admitted that she would like Stanley to beat her over the head and drag her to bed. The other admitted that she understood, there is just something about a bad boy that women like.

Put into today’s environment, with the movement to girl power and the shift to Aquarian age, this is troubling to me.

Thoughts?

Are they liberals or generally agree with the “Me Too” stuff?

Magick - appreciate the question as it makes me analyze my own shit.

All teachers are liberals. I realize that is a broad brush to paint with, but we are all pretty much libtards.

I grew up pretty right wing Republican, more fiscally than socially, but am now pretty much a centrist.

I think most liberals kind of agree with #metoo, and to be honest, back in 1983 a girl took me home when I was really drunk and did not ask permission before having sex with me, so I guess I could get on that train. But for dudes, it just wasn’t that traumatic.

But, what came up in conversation was the aggressive consent these days. I was unaware of this, but they both were. Apparently you have to ask a woman if it is okay if you kiss them.

Let’s call the two colleagues D and S.

D mentioned, shortly after stating that she wanted Stanley the caveman to bash her over the head and drag her to bed, that today, if your are leaning in, and her eyes are slowly closing while she puckers up, a man is supposed to ask, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

She found this both ridiculous and appropriate, “I mean really, I am half an inch a way, puckering, my eyes are closed, but he has to ask if it is okay to kiss me. That is ridiculous.”

But, she concurs, appropriate.

So, new world order I guess.

Both then talked about how the younger generation is having a lot less sex than the older generations and I think that is a shift. I think the most sexually active generation is the older baby boomers at this point - no need for birth control, love generation, less worries about STD’s, I guess still not thinking about enthusiastic consent.

Confusing times for sure.

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[quote=“The_Myth, post:223, topic:253629, full:true”]
I think most liberals kind of agree with #metoo, and to be honest, back in 1983 a girl took me home when I was really drunk and did not ask permission before having sex with me, so I guess I could get on that train. But for dudes, it just wasn’t that traumatic.[/quote]

My personal belief is that many people nowadays overstate “traumatic” events. The incident you recall is text-book sexual assault nowadays. If that happened in college then the girl should be expelled or otherwise be given severe punishment.

Biden being “touchy-feely” is not the same as the same as being groped by someone or other form of inappropriate physical contact.

Yet, if you read the accounts described by the women, it might as well have been the same.

That’s what I fear- turning to the extremes all the time to get the point across leaves you with no breathing space.

Sure, nowadays what Biden did will likely be inappropriate behavior. But there are clear and obvious levels to inappropriate behavior. You cannot lump them all together, or else you’re going to start having to call your awesome Democratic governor to resign for blackface.

Or call your awesome Lieut. governor to resign for sexual assault allegations.

[quote=“The_Myth, post:223, topic:253629, full:true”]
But, what came up in conversation was the aggressive consent these days. I was unaware of this, but they both were. Apparently you have to ask a woman if it is okay if you kiss them.[/quote]

This subject interested me greatly when it became popular during the Obama admin and the letter sent to colleges.

There’s so many hypothetical situations that are just stupid to imagine.

Like, if both the guy and girl are buzzed and then they kiss- did they both just commit sexual assault on one another?

I honestly believe a lot of young people in relationships these days will find that they committed a ton of supposed inappropriate behavior on one another.

Fifty Shades of Grey was the best selling paperback novel ever, beating out Harry Potter. So rough sex, or the idea of it is popular with women.

To be clear your female coworkers wanting rough sex with Brando means it wouldn’t be rape (if they explicitly state “I want you to hit me and take me to your place”).

I doubt they truly meant they wanted to be raped, considering the meaning of the word rape is sex you don’t want.