Thank you for sharing! Let me know if I’m reading into this too much; If you haven’t already I would strongly encourage you to do some reading around Marx’s theory of alienation and understand that is what I’m referring to by the term “alienation” because it sounds to me like that is your root problem here.

I don’t have enough time because of my communications studies

That’s called being alienated from a productive activity, computer science, due to economic coercion. It probably is “smarter” to focus all your time and energy on your degree but that will absolutely make you sad, depressed and a perfect obedient automota. Understanding the forces that are you pushing you in that direction will better help you to navigate them.

if I’m watching videos that walk me through how to code a game step by step

In my opinion modern tutorials are the absolute worst when it comes to alienating individuals from their creative abilities. From everything you’ve said tutorials sound more harmful to you than AI usage.

I was really just talking about laziness

I generally find that within a broader culture of protestant work ethic “laziness” is generally just negative branding for “not overexerting oneself to the point of harm”. I would encourage caution around that term.

From what you’ve shared let me propose a slightly different approach:

Focus on dealienating yourself from your means of production, your creative potential, your sense of self and sense of community.

Do not use any tools you do not control, generally understand and have the ability to modify/configure. Importantly learn to build your own tools. This doesn’t mean no AI assistance but it does mean you are restricted to whatever you can run locally, that is is open source, and importantly you can read documentation and understand how it works. A game engine is a tool for defining a game executable which is a tool for turning data into entertainment. Godot, opencode, llama.cpp, blender, gimp and audacity are some good tools to start with.

No tutorials: learn to take an idea you have and design, architect and implement it in your own. It will be hard. The first couple of times will be a frustrating spaghetti mess. Do not be afraid to start over. Do the same with the art and audio.

Learn to listen to yourself and your body. When you get stuck on a problem learn to push through and build up that frustration tolerance. Be lazy where it matters. If your goal is to learn how to design and architect a project then it’s fine to delegate the code writing. If your goal is to learn to write code better then it’s fine to delegate to architecture and design. Same for art, music, etc.

Lastly you keep speaking very disparagingly of your peers. Stop it. Talk with and work with them. They will likely be going through similar things as you and together you can work to dealienate yourselves. It will be much more fun making a game with others and makes it so you can delegate to a person and help them instead of delegating to an AI.

I’d like to relearn computer science, learn how to code, use Linux systems, and so on… but how?

The question I am left asking is “why”? What is your goal/reasoning for relearning computer science? I can’t really provide any concrete suggestions without that.

Showing my age a bit, but I’ve had similar conversations around interpreted languages, IDE hand-holding and the “Arduino-fication” of embedded development. While there is significant value in understanding the inner workings of a thing and getting a solid grasp on the “deep magic” you can’t know everything. If your goal is to bake an Apple pie you don’t need to understand particle physics to the point of creating an universe.

AI has really brought out in me is a reluctance to do things

I would suggest strongly evaluating that reluctance and where it’s coming from, it’s unlikely to disappear just because you stopped using a specific tool.

Today I’m in college, and everyone uses it in graded group projects; no one follows the university’s guidelines,

Yep. You’ve run into the nasty secret of the “adult world”. The only way to get ahead is to lie, cheat and steal your way to the top and anyone who believes otherwise, or claims it was different back in their day, is lying to themselves too. I do my best to try and live a good and moral life even when it would be smarter to just be performative instead. It’s a balance your gonna need to figure out for yourself unfortunately.

They shouldn’t but almost always are.

They alsoshouldn’t be shocked to discover that it’s a long and storied tradition that continues to the present day and yet.

Why is this controversial? Because it implies the American democratic system is anything but? This is the objective facts that everyone was saying behind closed doors while telling the media to blame “southern black voters” or “Bernie bros” or whatever.

Also it wouldn’t have mattered if he wasn’t independent. That’s not how the game is played and he did a reasonably good job of exposing that, probably through via his own naïvety more than anything, but still.

The DNC’s strategy in 2016 was to explicitly and intentionally elevate the Clinton’s vacation buddy Trump at every opportunity during the primaries because they believe he was too ridiculous and wouldn’t do well in the general election.

Do not buy it, but Donna Brazile’s book “Hacks” does offer some interesting perspective on the whole situation and how all of them are directly and knowingly responsible.

Oh no, this absolutely was a crime and absolutely illegal.

Unlawful, but a moral, responsible and respectable action. One which any reasonable and sane person would likely do the same.

the pre-existing conditions rule alone is huge.

Which has had what effect?

Better health outcomes for those with “pre-existing conditions”? Because that isn’t the case, and unless diabetes suddenly changed to be more aggressive and deadly I don’t see any externalities that would explain the data. Do you?

Better financial outcomes? There was a small period between 2013-2018 where this was arguably true, for specific people. But it does show in general trends enough to maybe be true for a time.

The metrics you’re talking about might not be from the ACA effects, but from other issues hitting the health care industry over time.

Yes, and disentangling those is hard. However, the implicit assumption you’re starting from is that the externalities were significantly greater. I would agree that is somewhat true for COVID and it’s downstream effects, but there isn’t anything else I can really point to. Do you have something?

that dwindled because the facilities couldn’t support the demand because of closures or not enough staff. That’s not the ACA.

You sure? Because I can draw a pretty straight line between the ACA and private equity gutting healthcare facilities for the tax credits and direct payments that were promised by the heritage foundation.

it did make a difference for many people

By what metric?

I hear it repeated a lot with many anecdotal examples and rationalizations but by every quantifiable metric healthcare post 2010 is much worse than before.

The next step is realizing that Obamacare, Build Back Better, and pretty much every “win” from the “resistance” is written by or re-packaged from the exact same group of people.

Did you gloss over where I said “I can play that game too.”? The point was to hold up a mirror for you.

You could’ve tried substantiating your claims.

You could’ve tried defining a metric of comparison.

Instead you accuse me of not being “open-minded” to your mindless mantras that you hold close and refuse to evaluate.

You still have not provided a metric that can be used for any basis of comparison. I can play that game too!

Internet

You mean the computing project that is built on fundamentally anarchist ideas that is currently being appropriated and destroyed by capitalist interests?

gmo food

You mean the field of science pioneered by Nikolay Vladimirovich Timofeev-Ressovsky in fascist Germany and expanded on his return to the USSR?¹

medicines you take

I live in a capitalist country. I can not afford medicine.

the media you consume.

I can tell that’s the media that you seem to exclusively consume, but that is far from the universal experience you think it is.

Chinese companies

This is not the contradiction you think it is, look into it more.

Capitalism works to encourage innovation.

It is deflecting and this is the thought terminating cliche I called before you used it.

China is communist when it’s convenient for your position and capitalist when it’s inconvenient? Define your terms and stop with the goalpost moving. I defined metrics for 2 of your arguments which you susequently immediately dropped and deflected to some other cliche. Your turn.

By what metric do you compare?

^1 I am intentionally misrepresenting some things here, but surprise me and demonstrate some research skills.^

you can’t actually face any facts that explore other possibilities.

Would you like to provide any?

Proof of innovation is all the innovation that the western capitalist countries have achieved.

You used the word twice in your definition which is unmeasurable and vague. What is your metric for comparison?

China has specifically copied the US capitalist model to create technological innovation.

And there’s the deflection.

you’ll just insult me for pointing such things out.

You are insulting yourself by confusing vapid bullshit with evidence of anything. You insult those around you with your simple minded repeating of the party line. You have demonstrated no research, a lack of basic mathmatical literacy, applied no critical thinking all while being grossly overconfident in your pre-existing conclusions based on nothing but hot air.

You are still welcome to prove me wrong but you’re going to need something tangible, not just repeated Ayn Rand mantras.

What is your metric for “innovation”? How much you wanna bet that as soon as you define it and do a real comparison your thesis falls apart again?

Your belief on “quality of life” is vapid bullshit.

Your belief on “oppressive and authoritarian” is vapid bullshit.

Do you have some other thought terminating cliche else that you’re going to try and deflect with?

authoritarian and oppressive policies

What is your metric for “authoritarian and oppressive”? I lean towards incarceration rate and judicial+extrajudicial deaths per capita. Now do the China(authoritarian communist) vs USA(freedomian capitalist) comparison.

The USSR collapsed financially, so it doesn’t make a good example of anything.

That’s what we call cherry-picking. Post-USSR Russia has a significantly higher quality of life than pre-USSR even after the “financial collapse”. I strongly encourage your to read into Mikhail Gorbachev and how his move toward democratic socialism led to the “financial collapse” and the kleptocracy that began with Boris Yeltsin.

This always fails because humans are assholes regardless of the governmental system.

So why do you insist on rewarding the absolute WORST of ‘human nature’?!

nose diving quality of life for the majority

Uh, you really should look at the history of quality of life during the communist transitions of both China and the USSR. The incredibly deadly, massive famines that are often pointed to as ‘failures’ are closer to a reversion back to the norm.

The massive poverty reduction often cited as “see capitalism works!” Is >75% China’s communist conversion. Even the world bank admits this! How the hell does a nation of peasant farmers transitioning into the most industrialized and modernized nation on earth, and largely eliminating global poverty, constitute a “nose diving quality of life for the majority”!?

As they say: capitalism is the worst system, except for all the others.

They being idiots with a complete lack of media, historical, political and/or mathematical literacy!

It turns out reality is a bit different than the 5th grade textbook you keep regurgitating.

That is an incredibly naïve and reductionist perspective.

Kinda!

What you’re describing is the “all models are wrong, some are useful” problem.

the gpl and other copyleft licenses lowkey have the potential to strike at the heart of capital

The problem is they are legal fictions enforced and upheld by a state that is fundamentally controlled by capitalist interests. If they played by the rules of their own game you would be correct, but they have shown repeatedly that the rules are irrelevant only the outcome matters and the outcome you are hoping for is not one they will allow.

Every story has two sides, and unfortunately the victor often writes the first history. However I do encourage reading the real LOTR story as told in the last ringbearer.

rewards innovation tied with risk taking.

No, it encourages a very specific kind of risk assessment. One where those who are ahead are obsessively defensive, risk averse and obsessed with controlling and mitigating any possible risk because they understand that taking the smallest risk could result in an insurmountable setback. Meanwhile those behind aren’t taking reasonable or rational risks, they’re gambling out of desperation. It’s an ecosystem that stifles innovation without external influence.

catering to the desires of the population

Profit, by definition, is the differential between the product/service offered and the payment received. Not even in the most Any Rand reading of capitalism does the producer ‘cater’ to the consumer. The producer manipulates the consumer to their own benefit.

Most other systems do not naturally promote innovation.

Which systems and can you explain why not? Even I can admit capitalism does ‘promote innovation’ via desperate, near suicidal gambles that occasionally work out. That’s such an absurd statement! Even the most conservatist theocratic state naturally promotes innovation in many ways. It’s a matter of degrees, and capitalism is about as close to top of that list as the US is to any metric outside prisons and military.