explaining what I fundamentally believe superficially

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like neurology, and activism.

Stranger: I am doing great, listening to music, relaxing

You: me too

You: in a way

You: definitely the music

You: Ike's Mood 1 by Visioneers

You: chill song =J

Stranger: I'll check it out now

Stranger: chill song indeed! liking it so far =) thx for sharing

Stranger: Andrew Block - All I Need ft. Ivan Neville (The Noisy Freaks Remix)

Stranger: so, what led you to omegle?!

You: just trying to find people with similar interests

You: mostly activists of any kind

Stranger: oh, well what are you into?

You: extreme poverty or just anything effective

You: yourself?

Stranger: the same kinda, anything really, every and anything that helps either people or animals, or the environment

You: sometimes any kind doesn't truly do good though

Stranger: can you elaborate on that?

You: bad aid

You: there's actually a book with the that exact title

Stranger: could you give me a small description?

Stranger: yay :D

You: remember the Haitian earthquake?

You: recently

Stranger: yep

You: taking an economic POV, a little coldly, but realistically

You: the crowding out effect was and still is evident

You: actually, the whole Haitian economy is an ideal example of this

You: economic reaction

You: so

You: when wealthy people unload lots of free food, the local farmers and trades people

You: can't sell their goods for a fair price

You: or at all

You: they're crowded out

Stranger: ahhh, I understand!

You: and then there's just plain bad aid

You: for example, this church group went to...

You: I forget which African village and country, but

You: they went there

You: built a latrine, and left

You: now it's just a crumbling concrete box thing

You: first it wasn't needed

Stranger: savages

You: and second, no upkeep

You: (probably from the first reason)

You: =)

You: then there's charitable money that is "good"

You: but could be used a lot better, for real "good"

You: e.g., giving to Make A Wish Foundation vs SCI

Stranger: yeah

You: Schistosomiasis Control Initiative

Stranger: well I am not sure about the organizations anyways you know? I mean.. probably most of the money goes for production etc etc

Stranger: so I strive to get rich in a way and help myself

Stranger: like real time

You: what?

You: production?

You: of what?

You: there are plenty of effective ways to put your money to use

You: GiveDirectly is one of them

Stranger: operating cost* sorry

You: that information is on their 990 form

You: and it's summarized on sites

You: such as GuideStar

You: all this info is available

You: hell, there's even sites now (Givewell.org) that sifts through this data

You: and recommends the cream of the crop

Stranger: wow! thanks for the info

Stranger: you seem very knowledgeable about this topic

You: well, just more than the average bear

Stranger: since when are you spending your money in this way?

Stranger: and what organization is the best?

You: I give to Kiva and GiveDirectly

You: Kiva is no where near the best, but I have the option to get my money back

You: (microlending)

You: I'm only a student

You: don't have a professional job to consistently give from

Stranger: how old are you?

You: 21

Stranger: and where are you from?

You: Wisconsin US

Stranger: ah!

Stranger: since when are you into this?

You: had an existential crisis at about 8

You: but

You: didn't really look into things until I wrote about them

You: AP Composition class in high school

You: 4-5 years ago

You: I was trying to answer the Meaning of Life

Stranger: ahh... so you do not suffer existential crisis?

Stranger: what made you change?

Stranger: "found" the meaning of life?

You: I contemplated suicide at age 8; I didn't have a reason or real purpose in life

You: I tried to figure out what I was suppose to do with my life

You: and then I was going to focus on doing that better

You: but I couldn't decide on whatever that was/would be

You: so I concluded to delay suicide for two reasons

You: I wasn't old enough to decide, and a later version of myself may disapprove

You: and I was in such good circumstances

You: I lived in a house, both my parents had jobs, I ate three square meals a day

You: etc etc

You: I didn't know what poverty was

You: I didn't know what to call those people

You: but all I needed to know

You: was that they existed

You: so ya

You: my big monologue

Stranger: beautiful, in a way, thanks for sharing

Stranger: my questions remains though.. what is the meaning of life for you, right now?

You: I can sum it up in two sentences

You: two quotes no less

Stranger: sure!

You: one by a mathematician & engineer, and the other by a poet

You: "I don't know why we are here--but I'm pretty sure it's not to enjoy ourselves."--Ludwig Wittgenstein

You: "We are here to help others; why the others are here, I have no idea." WH Auden

Stranger: interesting

You: I actually stole that

Stranger: I see it partly in the same way

Stranger: stole?

You: TED talk

Stranger: but you didn't steal it? I mean you cited the authors haha

You: I said it exactly like the TED talk was done

You: prefaced it

what to say to an intellectual

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like intellectual.

You: Hi

Stranger: Hi

You: what's something that you enjoy thinking about?

Stranger: astronomy, cosmology idk

You: awesome, I know mostly nothing about them!

You: what can you teach me?

Stranger: you can download the books for free on the internet

Stranger: I'm an amateur haha

You: just something unique

You: that you know?

You: such as, what do you find interesting?

thoughts

You both like thoughts.

You: what are your thoughts on life?

Stranger: live a better person each day

Stranger: life sucks for mostly everyone today, but as for me, I don't want it to end too soon

You: ha, I might agree

Stranger: good to know. what's your thoughts on life?

You: not necessarily meant to be enjoyed

You: I don't mean that everyone is a hedonist and that's somehow bad

You: just that, pleasure isn't all it's chalked up to be

Stranger: depends on what kind of enjoyment to abstain from

Stranger: mhm. if you get wasted in pleasure, you miss out on the success

You: maybe so

You: sometimes

Stranger: what draws you to omegle?

You: matching interests

You: people's pov

You: learning new things

You: useful maybe even practical things

You: I'm game for anything

Stranger: if you weren't on here right now, where would you rather be?

80 year old

http://logs.omegle.com/32f0a2d

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like activism.

You: what specific cause(s)

You: do you care about?

Stranger: poverty, world hunger, avoidable diseases

Stranger: the usual ones

Stranger: baically, why people still dont have access to basic resources when we have enough resources world wide to feed everyone

Stranger: why a few people hoard all the resources while others dont have access to them

Stranger: why drugs are created to heal people, but dont get to the people who need them the most

You: wow, I'm impressed

You: I could say that I care about the same things, just in different words

Stranger: lets hear your words

You: extreme poverty, effective altruism, consequentialism, telos, etc (more pretentious words)

You: so

You: where are you in life? such as, how old are you?

Stranger: 80

Stranger: its funny. the young want to seem older, and the older want to seem younger

You: maybe just everyone wants to be 30

Stranger: im pretty sure 30 year olds want to be in their 20s. because at 30, time is running out on freedom, and thats when you have to get a family and kids and a house etc. all the things that tie you down and suck out your freedom

You: so what was/is your type of work?

Stranger: nothing significant. was a banking clerk all my life

You: does wisdom come with age?

Stranger: no. wisdom comes with experience. technically that is age but its not really

Stranger: nothing beats a true living and breathing experience

Stranger: you can read about something all your life and memorize all the ins and outs, but experience is a whole other beast

Stranger: and ofcourse its to do with your reaction to the experience as well. a really old person can experience something for years and not be wise, while a 14 year old kid can be wiser depending on how impactful that experience is on them

Stranger: but now im just ranting

You: ha

You: okay, but some things you can't experience though

You: or some things are better to read about

Stranger: of course. but it helps to be grounded and empathetic

Stranger: maybe experience isnt the right word for all the situations. a better word would be exposure

Stranger: so you can have a very sheltered old person who does not expose themselves to the world, or a really young person who exposes themselves to the world

Stranger: one is wise, the other is not

Stranger: anyway, i meant to ask. how does one in a technical field like engineering feel so strongly about activism?

You: how?

Stranger has disconnected.