Trying to wrap my head around everything that happened today and honestly some of these developments are massive:
The "wait, his own party?" stuff:
- Trump's tax cut bill is getting blocked by REPUBLICAN lawmakers. His own party is saying no.
- A US trade court just ruled Trump overstepped his authority with those "Liberation Day" tariffs. Like, the courts are literally telling the president he can't do that.
The "this could have been WW3" stuff:
- India and Pakistan (both nuclear powers) had a ceasefire brokered after Pakistan literally struck Indian airports and missile facilities. We came way closer to nuclear conflict than most people realize.
- The fact that this is holding despite violations is honestly miraculous.
The "this will change everything" stuff:
- Lab-grown meat just hit mass production. Not plant-based fake meat – actual biologically identical meat grown in labs with 70-90% less environmental impact.
- We're talking about potentially revolutionizing how humans get protein without killing animals or destroying the environment.
The "economic weirdness" stuff:
- Mortgage rates are going UP despite Fed rate cuts, which makes zero sense and historically signals credit market problems
- The VIX (fear index) hit its third-highest level EVER in April 2025 – only 2008 and 2020 were worse
- Productivity is up 3.5% but wages only grew 1.1% – AI is making us more productive but we're not seeing the benefits
The lab-grown meat thing especially feels like one of those developments that in 20 years we'll look back on as a turning point. Like "remember when we had to kill animals for meat?"
Anyone else feeling like we're living through multiple inflection points simultaneously? Between the geopolitical stuff, the technology breakthroughs, and the economic weirdness, it's like watching history accelerate.
Edit: The India-Pakistan thing especially needs more attention. Nuclear powers don't usually have active military conflicts and then just… stop. That's historically very rare.
https://skimz.ai
Posted by cfata7_
25 comments
Before you know it they’ll have the internet on computers
productivity is constantly improving, but judging by minimum wage, wages have stagnated the last few decades.
May you live in interesting times. Seems we are all entangled in that one. 🙂
Looks like meat is back on the menu boys
The bill needs more context. The bill is being blocked bc they didn’t think it cut enough. Sure there’s a couple that are blocking it bc they know it’s bad but a lot of them are just being terrible and want more cuts
Pakistan/Indian ceasefire isn’t so weird.. Indians struck due to terror attacks, then signed law saying further attacks justified war
The fed cut rates?
Sadly, too many people do not want to know what is happening around them. They would rather be blind to it all. Good or Bad. It’s easier for them to deal with life if they do not have to actually understand what is happening.
I only recently really realized this. They just do not care as long as their bubble is ok.
The most immediately satisfying story is that Senate Republicans are holding up the reckless tax cut bill.
Although I don’t doubt that they will both manage to make it worse and to pass it, for now I’m enjoying how much vulnerable House Repugs exposed themselves and the fear that it could have been for nothing.
Any waffling they do now should be remembered during the next election.
The meat story will have a lasting impact. It will likely start as an expensive, trendy option and sooner than we think replace traditional production.
I have always “felt bad” to an extent to have caused animal deaths due to my appetite—although I’m not going to pretend that I was one of the ethical vegetarians who might have craved meat as much as I did but who decided that they couldn’t morally accept responsibility for the animal’s plight. I hope those who have refrained will now (or soon) be able to expand their menus.
Ecologically I can’t really visualize how much healthier this will be for the planet.
I do think we should remember that for our own health limiting meat consumption will remain important. This is not magical meat that won’t clog our arteries.
As the process is refined and hopefully becomes cheaper it will be great if parts of the planet where people most desperately need protein benefit as well.
Raising meat is a very inefficient use of grains which are used to feed animals. There may need to be an adjustment in the specific crops grown or handling after harvest, but this is yet another way that artificially grown meat can help feed a hungry planet.
I have a friend who studies astrological stuff but in a deep way. She said that for years people who are into the subject have been predicting the 2025 will be a watershed year, absolutely tumultuous, there will be a ton of natural disasters, political conflicts, but there will also be some huge technological developments that will shift fundamentally how the world operates. If all the predictions hold true, the world will be better off after all of this crazy.
She told me this 2 years ago.
So do we stop breeding cows now? They are a huge environmental impact. But what about the ranchers and all the people who work in the meat industry?
We’re more than a quarter of the way through the 21st century and despite all the progress we have made across the world, a lot of how we operate is still stuck in 20th century modes and mindsets. We are definitely at a point where if things aren’t already being dealt with directly, the universe is forcing the issues that need dealing with because change is inevitable.
And frankly, it’s about damn time we confront our present realities rather than pining for past ones. It’d be great if we didn’t have to struggle through the evolution, but if we come out better on the other end and learn from all of this, it will be worth it in the end.
Stay strong y’all, and see you on the other side of the struggle 💜
Montana banned lab grown meat.
Yes. You also missed the report that we’re likely to get a year above 2% warming by 2029. This is nightmare fuel for climate change when you think that all efforts were supposed to try to stop us from hitting 1.5% and, if not, then 2% was decades away, at 2050. This shit is accelerating faster than we expected.
I disagree with India/Pakistan needing more attention. Not because it is not important, but because it is. The more the world shifts attention to it, the more likely it is to escalate imo. There are governments working on it in the background, but increased public attention will get us in a situation where one of the two will have to escalate in order to “save face” or some other ego reason.
> * Mortgage rates are going UP despite Fed rate cuts, which makes zero sense and historically signals credit market problems
This isn’t weird. It’s understood, and even predictable. Mortgage aren’t primarily correlated to the Fed Rate. They correlate with yields on Treasury bonds, which are going up. The interest demanded by our lenders for US debt must be higher to sell the bonds because US debt is not the solid low-risk investment it used to be. There’s increasing doubt in the bond market that the U.S. can continue to service its principal debt.
Lab grown meat, “Remember when we could’ve all starved because some food animal caught a disease?” Like the current bird flu, and the highly fatal African swine fever. Also dermo and MSX in some populations of oysters.
Also, “Remember when we used to bring ecological devastation to the oceans for REAL FISH even though we could already make fishlike foods out of other ingredients?” I am really looking forward to synthetic eel meat.
Welcome to Trump’s America
Spam
20 years later: lab meat causes cancer probably /s/
Do you have a link for this story about lab-based meat?
>* Productivity is up 3.5% but wages only grew 1.1% – AI is making us more productive but we’re not seeing the benefits
it sounds to me like you’re assuming that AI is the reason for that productivity increase. Is there any evidence of it?
Lab grown meat should replace factory meat and fast food but let’s keep cows around for luxury products like the occasional ribeye steak.
You are not even counting the AI breakthroughs of the last week. Google’s Veo3 is able to make very convincing video scenes including high quality sound effects and perfectly synchronized dialogue. Totally mind blowing.
This might be crazy, but I think TACO dude REALLY wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, hence his “anger” with Putin and meddling all over the globe despite his clear “nationalist focus”.
It’s sickening but maybe it will stop him from starting a war?
Of course there is always the chance that he’ll do it by accident coz he’s dumb
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