i am grateful that if i touch a burning stove, i feel pretty immediate pain, and so rarely lose a finger. 1/

to say that is not to say i like or advocate pain. but it's much better when pain is immediate and connected to remediable actions than when it comes mysterious distant from causes. 2/

much of the bad shit arrogant fools are now doing to the US state will, most assuredly, cause much more pain than a burnt finger, but that pain will be distant, and get caught in the epistemological woodchipper of tribalized motivated reasoning. 3/

we will never know and our capacity to act wisely, adaptively, effectively will be impaired by all the uncertainty and disagreement. 4/

i like pleasure, but i'm not grateful that a hit of fentanyl is pleasurable. i don't think that makes me anti-fun. i dislike pain, but i am grateful when i experience pain that can unmistakably warn me and guide me from experiencing much greater harms. /fin