Latest news with #utilitarianism
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Three Things That Just Aren't Worth It
By its very definition, 'waste' means using your time, money, and resources on things unlikely to return value. It's an opportunity cost. By inverse, skipping wasteful things spares you from those stupid headaches. You invite more happiness and efficiency into your life. In 2024, a friend announced on her Facebook feed, 'If you plan on voting for Biden, just unfriend me now!' Shortly thereafter, she appeared in a comment section, all-caps replying to people over election issues. Each comment got more corrosive and insulting. People were name-calling and going deep into bitter 37 reply threads. A week later, she made another post ranting, 'Facebook is so toxic. I have found out who my real friends are. Time to take a break from this place.' Yet she was the one who invited this toxicity into her feed. To be fair, we live in an important swing state (Florida). Tensions run extremely high during elections. I've seen friendships dissolve over elections that went well beyond clicking 'unfriend'. John Stuart Mill, the father of modern utilitarianism, once wrote, 'So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses stability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it.' More plainly, Mill saw that emotion entrenched people's beliefs. He inferred, 100 years early, that internet arguments are futile. Without underlying respect, two people can never hope to convince each other of anything. And in the veil of internet anonymity, respect is fleeting. Let's face it: Most internet users are only interested in being right. So don't bother reasoning with them. It's like arguing with a drunk person. The funny thing? When I've gone to writer meetups, the nastiest, most aggressive online writers who argue 24–7 with readers, are often the shyest in real life. They are meek. They stand in the corner during cocktail hour, smiling and not saying anything. And so I say to you — is it really worth going through your day, angry about what a stranger said to you online? Just as so many people are banefully toxic, many of you keep these exact people in your everyday life. You reason with them. You give them second chances. They cheat on you once again. They flake on dinner plans. You get begged into trusting them and being their friend/partner again. Only to get burned, over, and over, and over again. I never thought I'd be one of those people who got burned and then was talked back into being friends with that person again. I was just reading about a woman and her abusive partner. She described going back to him repeatedly after he apologized. I sat reading the story pleading to myself for her to stop doing it, even though this story took place in the past and that she was now free. On paper, these decisions are always so easy, especially from the outside. There's no emotion or shared history to cloud your judgement. The healthiest thing I ever did was face this hard reality: just because I love and care about a person, doesn't mean they should be in my life. My open-door policy and being too forgiving were ruining me. I was losing my spine. I was becoming a person I hated, letting other people completely walk all over me. Walking away is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It hurts and feels like having a death in the family. But if you don't cut toxic out, they'll just bring more havoc to your life. You'll be looking back 10 years from now wondering why it took you so long to figure things out. This chapter should have been closed in middle school. The number of unintended pregnancies continues to hover around 50% in the United States. Granted there are very real needs around education and access to contraception—there's also quite a bit of willful ignorance at work, as I've seen firsthand. People continue to wing it on birth control, or opt out entirely, using highly unreliable methods that just create an enormous problem they have to contend with (women especially). My friend told me a interesting story. He was 18, and still in high school. He was parked in front of a pharmacy during a storm. He needed to buy condoms but was so embarrassed and scared to do it, worrying about being judged. He kept sitting there, delaying and delaying, watching the rain hitting his windshield. He tried to pretend the rain was the reason he couldn't go into the store. Then, he had an epiphany, and realized, 'If I am not mature enough to buy condoms, I should not be having sex.' I thought it was a rare and candid moment that you rarely hear from a person. It's never my goal to call an unintended child a 'problem'. However, these surprise babies create a world of other problems for people who aren't ready to be a parent. They end up co-parenting with someone they can't stand — or hardly knew. They end up in a legal battle over visitation. I see friends, still dealing with drama co-parenting a kid they had more than 10 years ago. And then there's the cost of daycare, food, and the infinite list of unexpected problems you have to squash each day. Every tiny aspect of your life is forever changed because you didn't spend a few extra bucks on protection. After my divorce, I was absolutely stunned by the number of single parents I saw on dating apps. It felt like 1 in 3. Every other profile was a car selfie with a kid in the backseat. Sure, it might feel good to break rules and be naughty. Just mark my words — there's a haunting feeling that sinks in later. The affirming question I try to repeat to myself with risky decisions is, 'Will I be glad I made this decision, hours, days, or months from this moment?' I don't always get it right. But it was that exact question that helped me quit smoking. I knew I'd never look back and think, 'I wish I'd just smoked for a few more years.' Life is full of wasteful activities. Avoid them and you'll be ahead of the pack. Getting tied up in internet debates. Just move on. Trying to save dying friendships and relationships. Cut out toxic people. Treating birth control like a game you can wing it with.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Three Things That Just Aren't Worth It
By its very definition, 'waste' means using your time, money, and resources on things unlikely to return value. It's an opportunity cost. By inverse, skipping wasteful things spares you from those stupid headaches. You invite more happiness and efficiency into your life. In 2024, a friend announced on her Facebook feed, 'If you plan on voting for Biden, just unfriend me now!' Shortly thereafter, she appeared in a comment section, all-caps replying to people over election issues. Each comment got more corrosive and insulting. People were name-calling and going deep into bitter 37 reply threads. A week later, she made another post ranting, 'Facebook is so toxic. I have found out who my real friends are. Time to take a break from this place.' Yet she was the one who invited this toxicity into her feed. To be fair, we live in an important swing state (Florida). Tensions run extremely high during elections. I've seen friendships dissolve over elections that went well beyond clicking 'unfriend'. John Stuart Mill, the father of modern utilitarianism, once wrote, 'So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses stability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it.' More plainly, Mill saw that emotion entrenched people's beliefs. He inferred, 100 years early, that internet arguments are futile. Without underlying respect, two people can never hope to convince each other of anything. And in the veil of internet anonymity, respect is fleeting. Let's face it: Most internet users are only interested in being right. So don't bother reasoning with them. It's like arguing with a drunk person. The funny thing? When I've gone to writer meetups, the nastiest, most aggressive online writers who argue 24–7 with readers, are often the shyest in real life. They are meek. They stand in the corner during cocktail hour, smiling and not saying anything. And so I say to you — is it really worth going through your day, angry about what a stranger said to you online? Just as so many people are banefully toxic, many of you keep these exact people in your everyday life. You reason with them. You give them second chances. They cheat on you once again. They flake on dinner plans. You get begged into trusting them and being their friend/partner again. Only to get burned, over, and over, and over again. I never thought I'd be one of those people who got burned and then was talked back into being friends with that person again. I was just reading about a woman and her abusive partner. She described going back to him repeatedly after he apologized. I sat reading the story pleading to myself for her to stop doing it, even though this story took place in the past and that she was now free. On paper, these decisions are always so easy, especially from the outside. There's no emotion or shared history to cloud your judgement. The healthiest thing I ever did was face this hard reality: just because I love and care about a person, doesn't mean they should be in my life. My open-door policy and being too forgiving were ruining me. I was losing my spine. I was becoming a person I hated, letting other people completely walk all over me. Walking away is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It hurts and feels like having a death in the family. But if you don't cut toxic out, they'll just bring more havoc to your life. You'll be looking back 10 years from now wondering why it took you so long to figure things out. This chapter should have been closed in middle school. The number of unintended pregnancies continues to hover around 50% in the United States. Granted there are very real needs around education and access to contraception—there's also quite a bit of willful ignorance at work, as I've seen firsthand. People continue to wing it on birth control, or opt out entirely, using highly unreliable methods that just create an enormous problem they have to contend with (women especially). My friend told me a interesting story. He was 18, and still in high school. He was parked in front of a pharmacy during a storm. He needed to buy condoms but was so embarrassed and scared to do it, worrying about being judged. He kept sitting there, delaying and delaying, watching the rain hitting his windshield. He tried to pretend the rain was the reason he couldn't go into the store. Then, he had an epiphany, and realized, 'If I am not mature enough to buy condoms, I should not be having sex.' I thought it was a rare and candid moment that you rarely hear from a person. It's never my goal to call an unintended child a 'problem'. However, these surprise babies create a world of other problems for people who aren't ready to be a parent. They end up co-parenting with someone they can't stand — or hardly knew. They end up in a legal battle over visitation. I see friends, still dealing with drama co-parenting a kid they had more than 10 years ago. And then there's the cost of daycare, food, and the infinite list of unexpected problems you have to squash each day. Every tiny aspect of your life is forever changed because you didn't spend a few extra bucks on protection. After my divorce, I was absolutely stunned by the number of single parents I saw on dating apps. It felt like 1 in 3. Every other profile was a car selfie with a kid in the backseat. Sure, it might feel good to break rules and be naughty. Just mark my words — there's a haunting feeling that sinks in later. The affirming question I try to repeat to myself with risky decisions is, 'Will I be glad I made this decision, hours, days, or months from this moment?' I don't always get it right. But it was that exact question that helped me quit smoking. I knew I'd never look back and think, 'I wish I'd just smoked for a few more years.' Life is full of wasteful activities. Avoid them and you'll be ahead of the pack. Getting tied up in internet debates. Just move on. Trying to save dying friendships and relationships. Cut out toxic people. Treating birth control like a game you can wing it with.
Irish Times
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Times
In an impressive leap forward there's a faint sense of Jeep to the new Dacia Duster hybrid
We should all aim for utilitarianism. Especially in a world gone apparently mad with populism and tariffs, the picking something that's simple and useful is going to be a whole lot better use of your cash than going for something that's pointlessly gaudy. I often reckoned that if the disastrous disease of badge-snobbery were ever subject to a vaccine, the only cars anyone would ever need to buy would be a Citroen Berlingo or a Skoda Octavia. To that abbreviated list, I reckon we can now add the Dacia Duster hybrid. I drove the updated Duster late last year, in four-wheel-drive 1.3-litre turbo petrol form. And I liked it, with some reservations, primarily to do with a driving position that felt a touch too awkward for anyone with long legs. The overall silhouette remains familiar, as does the surprisingly compact size, but the detailing is far grander, and more overt than ever it used to be Well, the hybrid version fixes that, mostly because for now it's the only Duster with an automatic gearbox, and so your left leg has more freedom to move and get comfortable. The Duster's styling, which evolved almost glacially across its first two generations, suddenly leapt forward with this third generation. The overall silhouette remains familiar, as does the surprisingly compact size, but the detailing is far grander, and more overt than ever it used to be. READ MORE There are slim headlights and the bonnet so bulging with towers that appears to have been lifted from a castle wall (an effect heightened by the 'sandstone' beige paint of our test car, and a neatly finished boot lid with the rear lights that remain, cost-savingly so, on the rear pillars of the body and not on the boot itself. Certainly, this Duster looks more exciting than it used to, but I do somewhat mourn the loss of the cheery simplicity of old. Inside, Dacia – as it has with the larger Bigster SUV, which arrives this summer – has built the Duster's cabin out of plastics that would be alarmingly cheap if only they hadn't been stamped with some neat little patterns and fine fingerprint-like lines. This definitely helps to lift the cabin ambience and makes the Duster appear a little less cheap than it is. [ Dacia's boss wants to move upmarket, but without a big shift in prices Opens in new window ] Mind you, perhaps cheap isn't quite the right word any more. This Duster hybrid, in Journey specification (one down from the range-topping Extreme) costs €34,090, which no longer seems exceptionally cheap. You could have a Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid for less than this, but then a fairer space and practicality comparison might be the Corolla Cross, which is more expensive. Good value, certainly, but you can definitely detect a faint drift upmarket, as Dacia wants to move somewhat away from its bargain-bucket roots and to become less of a cheap brand and more of an outdoorsy brand; a sort of better-value European alternative to Jeep. Dacia claims fuel consumption of 5.1 litres per 100km, and on the test 5.5 litres per 100km was achieved That's why the Duster comes with chunky bumpers and wheel arch extensions, made from a recycled plastic called starkle, which has a faint pale fleck in the material. It's also why you can buy accessories such as a fold-out camping bed that clips into the boot, and a tent that attaches to the rear of the car. Well, it's nicer than a caravan at any rate. The hybrid engine performs pretty well. It's the same 1.6-litre 140hp unit that's found in the Renault Symbioz and Nissan Juke (although the Symbioz is soon to get the updated 1.8-litre hybrid from the Dacia Bigster), and it comes with a complicated four-speed automatic gearbox that also incorporates two electric motors. These four cogs and two motors whirl around each other in a dance that's inexplicable to anyone but a qualified engineer, but it all seems to work okay. Acceleration is leisurely at first, but it picks up quickly enough for most purposes. If you're expecting GTI speed, prepare to be disappointed. You won't mind the fuel economy though. Dacia claims 5.1 litres per 100km, and I easily managed 5.5 litres per 100km, so this Duster may not be the cheapest to buy, but it's certainly cheap to run. Carbon dioxide emissions of 114g/km mean that you'll only have to pay €190 for a year's tax. [ Dacia Bigster may have a cheesy name but it could be the brand's grand fromage Opens in new window ] Dacia's tilting at Jeep may or may not be a mere marketing puff, but there's certainly a faint sense of kinship to Jeep in the way the Duster drives. It's not a particularly brilliant car to drive – the steering's too light and at low speeds the suspension is too clonky – but there's a sense of up-and-at-'em enthusiasm, the same as you find in Jeep's better cars. It's a sensation that makes you feel as if you're setting off on something of an adventure, even if you're just popping out for milk. It's extraordinarily likable. The Duster is practical too. The boot can hold up to 517 litres, and the boot floor comes with multi-adjustable panels so that you can divide it up into sections, or have underfloor storage. Best of all, the solid luggage cover fits under the boot floor when you don't need it – a trick which too many others still miss. Dacia has built the Duster's cabin out of plastics that would be alarmingly cheap if only they hadn't been stamped with some neat little patterns and fine fingerprint-like lines It's not all good news. The back seats are tolerably roomy, but the shallow side glass makes the rear of the Duster feels more claustrophobic than it really is. That shallowness extends to the windscreen, so taller drivers may feel as if they're ducking slightly to see out. And while Dacia's reputation for reliability is good, we noticed some annoying cabin rattles in our low-mileage test car, and the cruise control packed up and refused to come out and play. Small things, but irritating. Even so, I just can't help but like the Duster. It feels, as do most Dacia models, essential – a car that gives you the things you need, but none of the fripperies that you can live without. That sense of sensibility – that utilitarianism – just gives me warm and happy feelings. The Duster Hybrid may not be a car I couldn't live without, but it's very much a car I'd be happy living with. Lowdown: Dacia Duster hybrid Journey Power: 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 36kW motor and 1.2kWh lithium-ion battery producing 140hp and 148Nm (engine) + 205Nm (e-motor) of torque and powering the front wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission. CO2 emissions (annual motor tax) 114g/km (€190). Fuel consumption: 5.1l/100km (WLTP). 0-100km/h: 10.1 secs. Price: €34,090 as tested, Duster starts from €25,990 Our rating 3/5. Verdict: Engagingly simple, usefully utilitarian. Some quality glitches though and prices are creeping up.
