neoatlantiscodex

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Taxation is Theft

This is usually spouted by Libertarians, who think it's perfectly valid for a society where people constantly shoot each other, and LITERALLY are opposed to the government banning companies from putting toxic coal tar byproducts into their children's cereal. And they will usually scoff at the "we live in a society" reply.

Most people have no idea how many taxes we pay, as most of them are not payed directly. You pay income tax, but your boss pays the payroll tax to hire you.

Yes, your boss is TAXED to hire you.

You also don't pay your income tax directly, it gets withheld. If you could get this pay, you could not only derive interest off of it, you would also understand just how much money you are paying the government. The government also understands that nearly EVERYONE would be in arrears, (late) at some point in their life, and as such, nearly everyone in the country would be under some sort of tax-based sanction. Instead they take your money right away, and when you need a bit extra this month, you have to get a credit card.

Pension is an income tax. Your boss is legally required to take it off of your paycheque, give it to the government, and the government promises to maybe give some of it back. Note: Most men die before recouping the money the government withheld for their pension.

Unemployment is an income tax. Like pension, it is, by mandate, taken off of your paycheque, and given to the government. With the government promising to MAYBE give some of it back. Didn't fucking help me, even when it would have helped THEM.

Alright, you have 70% of your pay in your bank account, after deductions. Now you have to pay 12% on EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE. So, ~%62.

Now, you have to pay rent. You own you say?

Lies.

You pay rent. Your rent is often artificially inflated because of government impedance on the market, normally doing the exact opposite of the stated goal of improving prices. And then the government takes property tax. But, you rent, you don't pay property taxes, don't you?

Where do you think your landlord gets your money? If a landlord has to pay a tax, they have to pass it onto their renters.

Dividend tax is required, or else the rich would basically pay zero taxes. But Capital Gains exists. If you buy something and sell it later, and it's appreciated in time. You know, an investment. You know, a way to hedge your money against inflation, you pay tax on that. At the very least it should be corrected for inflation.

If you live in a house, and your neighbours start mowing their lawns, the value of your house goes up. Your property taxes go up.

Let's say your parents die, and leave you the bulk of it.

Inheritance tax.

Let's say the bulk of it is a house with full equity, (payed off mortgage), but no liquid assets, well, you have to pay tax based off it's assessed value. You don't have enough money to pay the tax right away?

Well, either you sell it and use the money to pay the tax, or the government takes your house.

Let's say your parents would rather you be happy now, then waiting for their death, and just give you a house?

Two words: One of which is tax.

Gift Tax.

The UK doesn't have a gift tax, but their inheritance tax includes gifts made up to 7 years before your death.

Gift Tax in the United States -- Wikipedia

There is a minimum, but it's a lot less than the cost of a car.

If you give someone money for tuition, and they use it to pay tuition, the gift might still be taxed.

This is a brief summary of all of the various taxes the average person pays without thinking, but there is one final, ultimate tax.

Carbon Tax: The Tax on Everything

Because everything requires energy.

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Heat Pump

Heat Pump is the standard industry and layman word that completely belies it's importance.

Geothermal is technically accurate, but we already use the term Geothermal for something completely different.

There are two main parts of every heating and cooling system.

The heating or cooling, and ventilation. Ventilation of an average residence can be done with a couple fans that use the same amount of power as an average light bulb.

Now, the problem with this logic is that the heating and/or cooling is the entire point of it, and absolutely necessary.

Unless you use a heat pump.

If you go 6-8ft below the earth, in pretty much every - single - location on the planet, it's just below 70˚F. Alaska uses 10ft as a standard for building foundations to get beneath the frost line, so you might have to go to 12ft. And then you just need enough room for circulation. You circulate air or water through the ground, and it comes back around 70˚F. If you want a specific temperatur, you might need to "boost" it, provide some heating or cooling, but dramatically less than if you were heating or cooling.

Some estimates for Texas have over 50% of an average household's energy usage in the summer being used for air conditioning.

Over - half - of household power usage - in Texas.

Or live like hobbits. Subterranean house. Garage and light well on the top floor.

But wait, there's more! You see, the water does the same thing. Deeper, but it's easier to go deep in the open water than it is on land. Even with floating islands, they will likely have to be anchored to the sea floor. Heat transfer with water is much more efficient, and the main reason it's not always used in heat pumps is that in certain regions water can freeze.

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Why Mushrooms are Starting to Replace Everything

Specifically the Mycelium.  The technology has continued to develop, and it’s now an $85M/year industry.  Effectively replacing plastic and fibreglass.  It’s now even replacing fake leather.

But, it’s entirely biodegradeable and non-toxic, (fibreglass can cause major issues if you breathe it, or even rub up against it).

It’s also being used as a fake bacon, which I am ambivalent about.  Mushrooms are the only thing other than meat that provides all of the essential amino acids for the Human body to produce protein.

It’s also being used for furniture and bricks to build with.

And one thing that is a little Mankind Was Not Meant to Know, is using LIVING mycelium to control robots.

Runtime:  15:21

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The Paradoxcial Effect (law)

Essentially, a law that creates the opposite of the intended/expected effect.

The most clear example is that of robbery.

Let's say murder is a capital offence. Pretty much every sovereignty that has capital punishment has them for murder, rape, and treason.

And a politician looks at the robbery rate, and decides to make that a capital offence. For those that don't know, robbery is a violent crime, while theft is not. So, in a robbery, someone's life is 100% in danger, and prima facia, this makes sense.

But, from the perspective of the robber, this means that killing their victim will:

Not increase the severity of their sentence.

Remove witnesses.

So, from their perspective, there is now no downside to killing the victim.

Another really common one is rent control. By supposition, rent control is nothing more than a price ceiling.

By itself, with inflation, this can dramatically reduce the profitability of housing. Of course, this can be curbed by limiting inflation and tying maximum rent increases to inflation. And before someone claims that reducing the profitability of housing is a good thing, that results in less housing. Which causes rent to increase.

In practice, rent control is a giant web of regulations that make it difficult, time consuming, or even impossible to build. I remember an account of a open pit dump in California, and someone wanted to turn it into a modern, managed dump. This is dramatically better for the environment, and the quality of life for anyone living in the same regional district. After 10 years of fighting with California, they left and built a new dump in Arizona. Some cities only have housing that is 100+ years old, because no one can build new housing. And when they build new housing, it's often luxury, because luxury housing is often exempt from most of the rent control regulations.

In California, every - single - person in the state can object to any new construction, and there are people that treat this as their dayjob.

Car-centric infrastructure is another great example, as building car-centric infrastructure does not make life better for people driving. Single-occupant cars are the least space efficient method of travel. It offers the most expansive freedom of any mobility, and some people require it. Motorcycles aren't much cheaper, and much more dangerous, and some people simply do not live in a place with a good alternative to go to and from work. Every full bus is equivalent to 50 cars, and even if it's only half-full, that's 25 cars off of the road.

And the simple answer is that if you make public transit useful, people will use it, even if it's expensive. Whereas places with terrible, but heavily subsidized public transit are not being used. Because they are terrible.

Of course, the contrapositive is also true, as punishing cars removes people that need cars. And one of the most common uses of cars is delivery trucks. And even if you allow deliveries, but not cars, you effectively lock-out the surrounding area from doing anything in the city, dramatically reducing the potential market of both sides.

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These Ugly Big Box Stores are Literally Bankrupting Cities

And excellent explanation for all of the reasons big box stores are bankrupting cities.

TL;DR: Big box stores pay 1/100th of what a medium density mixed usage building pays in property taxes, while costing dramatically more in services.  A single Walmart can require a 4 lane road with central turning lanes, and 4 or 5 entrances, effectively mandating a 7-8 lane road.

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How Self-Healing Solar Panels Could Change Everything

Solar panels are largely crystalline structures grown in labs.  They’ve found a way to use the energy from the sun to cause the crystal to melt and regrow, in place.  This dramatically increases the lifespan of solar arrays, which is especially important in space.

Runtime:  14:42

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"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.

Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.

In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.

To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.

Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:

One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.

Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.

A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.

The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.

Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.

Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).

The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.

Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.

“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”

She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"

-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025

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All Day Trading Will Be Illegal

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Atlantian Military

Symbol: Heraldric Hippocampus (horse body, fish tail, wings)

All stations in Atlantis have a Base Azure and Chief or either Argent or Or. Silver for the local/canton level. Or for the national level.

Military stations bear a shield, while civilian stations bear another shape, like lozenge or oval.

Individual military units have their own shields, but still all have a Chief of either Or or Argent, along with a Base Azure.

The overall symbol of Atlantis is the Sea Lion (Sealion with a Lion's mane).

- - -

The traditional development of the military has been by drought-wrought land-dwellers.

Even England, half an island that controlled the high seas had a military designed heavily around moving on land. Largely because France is right there, and they are French. There were also minor things like the civil war and the Wars of the Roses. And, you know, the Scots and Welsh.

Atlantis won't rule the waves, we will BE the waves. And more importantly, under the waves. Atlantis will also a confederation, akin to the Swiss, with each Canton being largely sovereign. For those that don't know about Swiss Confederation, they literally took the US Constitution, and made it even more stringent. Each Canton is responsible for immigration, and every man is giving his service rifle upon completing his service, (with the seer swapped out to render it repetition-only).

National

Army

Symbol: Enfield

Shield: Purpure, Chief D'Or, Base Azure, an Enfield Vert

Airmobile infantry. Atlantis will have islands, and will need to rapidly deploy troops to any of the disparate points in our territory.

Which, yes, means the entire army will be airborne or air mobile. This likely means we will have a much smaller army compared to our size, but, by contrast, the other branches will be over-presented.

Navy

Symbol: Heron

Shield: Argent, Chief D'Or, Base Azure, a Heron Sable

The surface fleet. The entire fleet will be designed to survive in the deep waters, but will also be designed to support all other branches. An over abundance of supply ships, floating dry docks, mega barges, oil-rig like platforms, etc. They will also maintain a number of aircraft carriers.

Skyere

Symbol: Amphithere

Shield: Bleu-Celeste, Chief D'Or, Base Azure, Amphithere Recursant

Air picket fleet. Air force designed to patrol Atlantis as a whole, and beyond if necessary. Based off of fixed bases, either islands large enough to support a full air force, or floating constructs.

Local

Each Canton will be responsible for military protection in their close area.

Marines

Symbol: Glatisant

Shield: Vert, Chief D'Argent, Base Azure, a Glatisant Gulles Passant

Equivalent to the army in a local area. The very nature of Atlantis means they will have to have their own small ships.

Pellagy

Symbol: Seawolf (orca with wolf legs)

Shield: Sable, Chief D'Argent, Base Azure, an Orca Sable and Argent

Local submarine service. Submarines will be essential, as if you do not hide under the seas, small ships simply cannot survive in the open ocean. It will also need to protect any submerged locales.

Skyry

Symbol: Ray

Shield: Bleu-Celeste, Chief D'Argent, Base Azure, Ray Argent Recursant Papelonné

Close air support for each Canton.

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The Cultural Power England Has is Unreasonable

You might say that England had the world's largest empire.

Briefly. And during this time there were several other European colonial empires.

You might say that it's because of Hollywood's cultural hegemony. They've only had their hegemony for 100 years. Not only is that being broken, but most countries don't consider something less than 200 years as old.

Before Henry VIII, the only thing about England that was at all notable with Europe was:

Animal Husbandry

Chivalry

After Henry VIII, England was known for battleships.

But, when it came to Chivalry, there were two main chivalric romances:

The Paladins of Charlemagne

The Knights of the Round Table

Charlemagne is called the Father of Europe. He created most of what we consider European, and is the reason Europe is Christian.

Before anyone tries to argue about Byzantium, remember that their best military force were pagan vikings that literally had the right to loot the emperor's chambres when he died.

Arthur is someone we can't even prove existed, and the timeline would only make sense if Merlin was teleporting about space-time willy-nilly. Of course, according to the stories, Merlin DID teleport about teleport about space-time willy-nilly, or at the very least have a very different relationship than we do.

The best knights are usually limited to:

Richard the Lionhearted

William "the marshal" Marshal

el-Cid

Richard had knights basically act like space marines. Knights normally have 6:1 advantage again enemy forces, (both on foot, or both on horse), in the open. Richard basically added a 0 to that. The woman he married initially rejected him. He rode over to where she lived and pulled her off her horse. How did she react? By telling her father she would not marry anyone else.

William the Marshal was the third some of a minor noble. When he was young, he was ransomed. His father refused to pay his ransom. William survived by befriending his captors, and proving his martial abilities. As a kid. He went on to become the hottest commodity in Europe, with everyone offering him bribes of brides to settle in his fiefdom. And he did this by winning tournaments. While tournaments were rugged, (and often fatal), they also had better record keeping than messy battles. This means William Marshal is the one we have the most historical evidence for how well regarded he was, and how widespread that was.

For el-Cid, most of the Reconquista was a series of wins and loses. This is how most war works. Even WWII was almost won or lost with several individual events. el-Cid was all wins. Not quite as impossible as Richard, but even Richard lost sometimes, (once to William the Marshal). el-Cid was pretty much solid wins. Like, the team that gets to the finals, and the playoffs are so uninteresting, because it's so obvious who's going to win.

The French love Balian, but the problem with that is that they are French.

England is, (or at least was), a libertarian paradise. France is a managerial technocracy. They excel at big, bloated bureaucracies. England and France has a long standard feud, but the moment you look at the history, it's a question about why England ever stood a chance. And not only did they stand a chance or barely survive, but win against France more often than they lost. Hell, the one time France managed to conquer England, England became even MORE libertarian.

Most cultures throughout history when given the choice between freedom and safety pick safety. Safety only lasts as long as the government holds it's promise, while the free can keep their own safety.

When England stands up, the world stands down. The love of freedom is so powerful that it resonates in countries that made the opposite choice. It's gotten to the point that freedom is considered the default moral opinion nowadays.

Of course, instead of fighting against freedom, the modern response is usually "but..."

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Zealandia | Earth's Forgotten eighth continent

New, mostly sunken continent just dropped.

Runtime:  2:24

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For those that don't know, the Hilux is the choice of terrorists everywhere. Those that have money have range rovers, those that don't have Hiluxes.

I could explain how good the hilux is, but top gear does it better than me.

Also, Libya attacked Chad. Libya had expensive modern tanks.

Chad had Toyotas.

Guess who won?

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Market Hegemony

For those that don't know, a Hegemony is not a country that conquered it's neighbour. It's a country that does not need to. Take any country near the US / China / Russia. Take any country near Sparta.

Competition is absolutely crucial to Capitalism. Monopolies are anathema to Capitalism, but Monopolies are pretty easy to recognize. Oligopolies / Cartels are a different story, along with vertical integration.

The best way to explain this comment is a pretty simple phrase: The is no shopping cart in the US that does not meet the standards of Walmart. This is because Walmart is so expansive, it has so many stores, that any shopping cart manufacturer would be foolish to not follow their standards. As such, Walmart has complete control of the shopping cart market.

For Oligopolies, (a small group of sellers):

How do you deal with oligopolies?

That one is actually pretty easy, lower the barriers to entry. In such a situation, a large corporation is less agile, and would have trouble keeping up with changes in the market. Note: Changes in the market happen all of the time. There are also some sneaky practices, like renting shelf-space.

Major companies will have their shelf-space - literally - rented by megacorp suppliers. If you go down the toothpaste aisle, with a hundred options, 94-95 of those options are from one of 2-4 companies. You'll then have one tiny section dedicated to non-megacorp toothpastes.

So:

Prevent large corporations from buying their rivals. I mean, imagine if Disney could not buy Star Wars?

Prevent them from renting shelf-space.

Regulation that supports small stores rather than large ones. Large stores have large footprints, and could only exist through public largesse. So, yes, our cities are creating regulation that supports megacorps.

Since every canton is nearly sovereign on their on, we have another weapon we can use: canton registration.

Legally, there is no such thing as an transnational corporation. What there is is a main/HQ, with every other branch registered in every - single - country, and in federated countries, in every single province/state.

Corporations will beg, they will wheedle, they will wine and dine, and they will bribe.

And the answer is NO.

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How Deep Sea Water is Now Drinkable

Using deep sea pressures to solve most of the problems with reverse osmosis.

Reverse osmosis takes power to draw the water out of the ocean, more power to filter it, and produces salt that you cannot put back into the water without devastating local wildlife.

Drawing it from the deep abyss uses the pressure differential to dramatically reduce the energy cost.  You don’t need to pump the salt water, and as such, you don’t need to get as much water as you can.  This leaves the water at a decent salinity, so it can simply be put back without issue.

Runtime:  13:29

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Limited Resources

With Trump's tariffs, the Democrats are patting themselves on the back by coming out in favour of the parody of Capitalism they have in their minds. You see, they are against tariffs, and therefore, they are for Capitalism, because Capitalism is Free Markets, right?

Wrong. Capitalism is about WELL regulated markets. Regulations doesn't mean we get to add as many rules as we want, it means it's our job to make sure it works like a well lubricated machine. As Ultramarines would say, a spinning cog of the Imperium, (passionless and therefore efficient).

One of the most important regulations is about limited resources. Fresh water, space, arable land, fresh air, etc. The Capital-L Libertarians and Megacorporations think that it should go to the highest bidder. Communists, Socialists, and Fascists all think this is how Capitalism works.

The answer to who needs fresh water the most is:

Farmers

People

Corporations

If corporations want their own fresh water, they can desalinate their own, (and dispose of the salt in a way that in no way affects the local wildlife). If they want to use public water, they have to share.

If the average person doesn't have potable water, their health is immediately affected, (for poor water), or they will die in a day or two, (lack of fresh water). They should also have enough water to shower, wash their laundry, water their hobby garden, wash their dog, flush their toilets, and just live a good life. Plants clean the air, and keep the air moist, prevent large temperature swings, (warmer at night, cooler in the hot day).

Alright, how does this affect tariffs?

If Neo-Atlantis is going to live, it will have to live as a trading nation.

I mean, I can respect Andrew Ryan's massive glass balls for doing the impossible,

but, if you actually want to build Rapture, you will need to survive off of docking fees. That's how you build Neo-Atlantis. It's not going to spring out of the aether by the shear power of plot.

Contrary to popular belief, tariffs are the norm, world-wide, throughout all of history.

You had to pay a fee just to get into most cities for most of Human history. Tariffs, transit fees, surcharges, duties, etc., are all the norm for all Human history. Hell, Neo-Atlantis will likely be taking most of it's revenue from docking fees.

Of course, like all taxes, if you charge too much, you reduce economic activity, and thereby lose income. Docks have limited capacity, and require significant resources to maintain. Law and order must be maintained around any ports. Piracy must be abated, (because it never went away).

Hell, it's not a matter of if China will try to conquer us, but when.

That said, the whole point of these policies is to foster trade. Less pirates means more trade.

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Communism vs. Capitalism

A common phrase, but completely misleading.

Communism and Fascism are economic, political, and moral systems. Capitalism is an economic system.

So, what were the factions?

Soviet Union:

Communism

Communism

Communism

NATO:

Capitalism

Liberal Democracy

Christianity

Despite what anyone says, the West's moral is entirely based on Christianity, and Liberal Democracy != Democracy.

And this is why Christians falsely criticize Capitalism as rampant consumerism, because Capitalism was NEVER meant to be a moral system. It was also never meant to be a political system.

And this is why Capitalism without Christianity feels hollow. The only way you have of showing your position in society was money, and as such the pursuit of money became the only goal. Which was ironically pushed by Communists.

You see Communism wants to break up the family unit, and put women into productive economic work. It was/is Feminism and Communism that undervalues the contribution of mothers.

It turns out, shocking, that children raised without mothers or fathers grow up with major problems. We love saying fatherless behaviour, but mothers rarely act like mothers nowadays. Children are raised by outsiders while the women engage in what is falsely labeled as economically productive work. Basically, the line-goes-up theory of economics, which is too vacuous to be given any intellectual validity.

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WALL-E

One of my favourite movies. Everything is done fantastically, but one of the big things I love about it is that the Utopian and Dystopian aspects are the same.

For those that haven't watched WALL-E, GO AND WATCH IT.

First off, Earth.

What happened to Earth is that a megacorporation took over every aspect of society. And, in all honesty, they weren't that bad. They were not evil in any way other than their omnipresence. They aren't shown doing the typical evil corporate dystopian things. We don't see them turn the working class into slaves, no evil robots, nou panopticon, nothing.

And they still destroyed the world.

But, luckily for me, none of it was Capitalism. Monopolies and oligopolies are not Capitalism. And when one gets close to taking over the government, it's closer to Fascism than Capitalism.

The next is externalizing costs. Basically, poison. One of the keep aspects of Capitalism is that profit follows risk. The reason they can hoard their profit is that they took all of the risk. If you externalize the risk but keep the profit, you are a thief. The big costs that are being externalized are the destruction of nature and poisons, in particular, forever chemicals.

Forever chemicals are entirely man-made and not found in nature. These have no natural mechanism to break them down, and as such, literally last forever.

Plastics are almost this, as there are natural mechanisms being discovered, (i.e. mushrooms). They can be turned into artificial bitumen, but you don't really get energy out of it. It should be noted that plastic recycling is not really a thing, and 99% of the plastic sent out for recycling is exported to the third world to either be burnt, or left on the beach for the tides.

On the other end, monitoring companies for poison effluence is expensive and demanding.

Now onto space. The company did something truly remarkable, admit fault. Yes, it was way too late, and only because there were no governments left to punish them for it or force them to ameliorate.

So, the company builds colossal, fully automated space cruise liners. Every (surviving?) person on Earth would get a fully catered space cruise. This sounds great, until you remember that the difference between Star Trek and Judge Dredd is the Human need to contribute. You end up with Humans nearly atrophied from existence. Kids are not raised by Humans, but machines, and Humans never leave their hover beds.

The hover beds were designed to allow weak and infirm family members to the family in whatever they were doing, and...

it was just so convenient they never left, ever. Humans never stood on their own two feet, to the point they literally forgot about all of the physical luxuries of the cruise ships. They were in paradise, where they lived off providence instead of tilling the soil, and their bodies rotted from atrophy. It wasn't until the very existence of Humanity and Holy Terra was in jeopardy that they - literally - stood up.