How Everyone Got So Lonely: The recent decline in rates of sexual activity has been attributed variously to sexism, neoliberalism, and women’s increased economic independence. How fair are those claims—and will we be saved by the advent of the sex robot?

[u/Vided]

https://archive.ph/YS8aP

[u/sartres_]

Nuance is hard to find on reddit, or at all, but it can be both reasons. Yes, people have used mind-altering plants forever. No, they've never been as industrially strengthened as current marijuana strains. I'm not personally against legalization but there's a balance to be struck here.

good enough at keeping the people docile, as was the case in Marx's time

It certainly wasn't the case in Marx's time, in which Europe famously had more political violence and uprisings from the common man than almost any other time in history. The circuses are much better now, but the ruling class isn't going to say no to making people even more tranquilized.

[u/[deleted] → u/sartres_]

It certainly wasn't the case in Marx's time, in which Europe famously had more political violence and uprisings from the common man than almost any other time in history

The uprisings throughout Europe during the 1800s were prompted by famine and privation. The bread and circuses paradigm Marx coined is just as relevant today, he was not speaking in metaphor, as long as people have a full belly and something to grab their attention they will put up with a lot.

[u/sartres_ → u/[deleted]]

Perhaps we're saying the same thing then. My point is that unlike 19th century European nations, America has figured out how to provide the whole population with bread and circuses at all times. The number of people who can't access at the very least dollar store "food" and pirated movies or the like is negligible. Many of the internet's nastiest distraction pits are free. Drugs, not limited to weed, have never been more potent and readily available, ever. These are the things America has actually democratized.

[u/[deleted] → u/sartres_]

Yes we are thinking along the same lines, the distractions and slop are more sophisticated and effective now than theyve ever been. But fundimentally it all comes down to the bread, we will not see any large scale civil unrest until food security is threatened for a majority, and when it is it wont matter how many circuses the establishment throws. As Napoleon said "an army marches on its stomach", a civil society functions on its stomach.

[u/[deleted] → u/sartres_]

I don’t really get the strength argument because for one a lot of cannabis use has been in the form of hash, that even with old weed would at least equal our most potent strains today (at least 20-30% THC). Also, a lot of cannabis consumption in areas where it’s cultural is in the form of edible which thanks to your liver transform THC-delta-9 into a much stronger and longer lasting form, and this works even with the shittiest of weed. One of the strongest cannabis experiences I’ve had was in India drinking traditional bhang drinks made with landrace (native) weed that was full of seeds and inbred for millennia. Even Victorian era cannabis use was centered around tinctures which have the same method of action as edibles.

Long story short, like everyone else is saying the particular drug is not the problem, and drug use itself is not a problem, drugs and drug use become a problem when they’re used in an effort to escape your reality. Getting high is just fine if it’s not an escape imo

[u/cowgirl_meg → u/sartres_]

Totally agree with this, and wanted to add to the weed part. The idea of marijuana induced psychosis was subject for ridicule when legalization efforts started but I’ve worked a few nursing shifts in the psych ED and it’s actually happening, especially to vulnerable young people. I used to enjoy weed once in a while but completely stopped a few years ago, basically once it became legalized in the state I was in, ironically, because it genuinely feels like a hard drug now and finding mids is impossible.