What is self-reliance? - Transcript
Added 2024-10-09 13:34:36 +0000 UTC
Interview Witch: What is self-reliance?
Sisyphus: A punishment.
Medusa: A curse.
Frankenstein’s Monster: A trauma.
Mother Nature: An insult.
Bigfoot: I sit in the forest, roasting mushrooms someone else taught me were edible, on a fire someone else taught me to make, and call myself self-reliant.
Dragon: I sit atop a pile of gold dug up by other people, that I can use to purchase products made by other people, and call myself self-reliant.
Gold Robot: I make my own decisions. They're entirely based on data and rules I obtained from external sources. But I make my own decisions.
Mermaid: I used to sit here alone and call myself self-reliant. but I always relied on content made by other people for entertainment. And, if I'm honest, for company.
Baron Munchausen: You misunderstand. Self-reliance is not about never using the creations of others. It's about being able to do things for yourself, without the cooperation of others.
King Kong: Such distinctions always elide the role of power. If you don't rely on cooperation, you instead rely on compulsion.
Ouroboros: The wealthy consider themselves self-reliant because their income doesn't depend on the state. As long as you don’t count all the state created and enforced laws their income does depend on.
Werewolf: I've never understood the lone wolf thing. If a wolf leaves their pack it’s to find a new mate, to form a new pack. It's a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Not a Pipe: The self is merely the brain's representation of itself. Self-reliance is a feedback loop, with nothing to feedback.
Godzilla: The physical facts of our existence only become identity when we build a narrative around them. The self is a story, and stories are made to be shared.
