An aging population means you need more money to provide the same level of pensions, healthcare, etc. And you have less working people to tax income from.
> We had one of the largest podcasts in the world and the hosting bills were killing us
Was this true even after you launched the payed GB subscriptions? It felt like you guys were the first ones to do something like that and I payed for it and would have payed more at the time, especially if I knew it would keep whiskey independent.
It seems like now other similar people like nextlander and action button are having success doing the same thing with Patreon. That seems like the solution to the problem you describe to me, just let me pay directly for the things I watch, it seems like there is an audience there who is willing to pay for quality.
The only thing that we can know 100% for certain is "I think therefore I am" or probably better worded "I am experiencing something therefore something must exist that can experience things". There are a lot of definitions of consciousness and sentience but I think the best one is talking about the "I experience" or the "I think" in those sentences.
All of our beliefs and knowledge, including belief that the world is real must be built on top "I think therefore I am". It seems weird to throw away the one thing we know is 100% true, because of something that is derived (science, real world observations) from that true thing.
Art doesn't have to be "good" or take time. Art can be whatever you want it to be, even if that's just a way to have fun and mess around. I think the authors view is that art is actually for the artist, not the viewer.
> I keep wondering if maybe the definition most people are using for "consciousness" just doesn't match mine
I think this is true, when we talk about consciousness we talk about it as if consciousness has the ability to control the body and speak and that our thoughts are controlled by our consciousness. I think illusionist arguments are very strong here against that. We can change how someone thinks or acts based off of physical stuff (like lead poisoning someone) therefore those things must mostly be physical.
I have come to the conclusion that conciseness probably is only an experiential thing. It might not be able to control anything but there is something fundamental there experiencing something. We cant know that the world is real: we could a brain in a jar, or in the matrix, or on a massive DMT trip right now. But we can know "I think therefore I am", probably better written I experience therefore I am. It seems very strange to throw out the one thing we know to be true, that we are having a conscious experience, in favour of something we don't know to be true, that the world is real and causing that experience.
Q: What are the song lyrics to she came in through the bathroom window by the beatles
A: She came in through the bathroom window Crawling through the dirt With her clothes all soggy And a dirty face
She came in through the bathroom window I helped her out She was just like a child So small and frail
I took her in and gave her some Food and drink And I made her warm But she just said
"She's got a ticket to ride She's got a ticket to ride She's got a ticket to ride And she don't care" ...