I get pissed off enough when I have to do stupid anti-money laundering facial scan BS.

That doesn't sound great to me (read: broken), because it means its not evenly accessible across your society. I wouldn't count that as a good system to be honest.

I have limited experience with the New Zealand and Japanese medical systems, and from a similarly arms-length engagement with them, I think I would prefer them over everything I've read about the US system. You still have the same issues with having to advocate for yourself, but you can at least get access to good healthcare across the board - and if you go private (which as a late 30s / early 40s guy, cost around NZ$60 / month), you can get access to care at private facilities much faster than via public.

It is most definitely imperfect, but it _is_ designed to be accessible to everyone.

I remember a particularly fun conversation where a very wealthy individual (one of the said 'elites') was in a conversation with a lead scientist from one of the CRIs here, and starts going off on a tangent about the energetic components of ley lines and their personal significance to him. Similar views against vaccinations etc etc.

Because of the definition of elite centering around money, power and 'hard' education (e.g. a PhD in a hard science), I've found those people to generally be more shallow but hyper-focused in fewer areas. They may very well achieve highly in that given area, but tend to be uninteresting and unbalanced in most other areas.

I've similarly observed those people to as emotionally unbalanced as the rest of us, but in some cases more childish and petulant when they feel they've been wronged in some way.

Maybe what we're both describing are the extremes of the curve, I'm not sure.

Dunno. Just feels like it reinforces my view unfortunately. But a good call out anyway.

Beyond their ability to extract money from anyone around them, I fail to see what is 'elite' about the group of people we currently assign the same classification to.

I'm probably just salty that I'm not rich, is all...

I... don't understand. Why do you think this is true for women but not men?

If wolves started encroaching on human settlements and were attacking life stock or worse people, I don't think the solution is 'kill all the wolves'. It's about re-location, better boundaries, and honestly stopping expansion-at-all-costs as a societal philosophy.

If you're talking about feral domesticated dogs - which tend to roam urban areas, then I'm largely in agreement with you. However we're talking about native species which is currently threatened and without intervention will be driven to extinction.

That said, I'll try a few new episodes and see if it clicks.

You don't have to save all the rhinos, defeat every poverty, slay every social cause or overthrow every tyranny. If anything it's arrogance to assume you can, or even should - that your specific brand of saving anything is even correct.

If you look at most people that do well for themselves and have good lives, they live narrow focused lives in domains they care about. They're very much the main characters of their own lives, but also recognize there are other characters running around doing their own things as well.

I think using the term NPC would be more apt if you're referring to someone that's purely on autopilot and not making any effort to ensure that they're leading a life that is meaningful to them.

But I did like the idea of them not being entirely clear about their own motivations, even to themselves - and that is a dangerous cave to play it.

It's practically the same reason for all of Southern African conservation - to stop species going extinct from the continual human expansion.

Also shows a lack of understanding of the dogs themselves, as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night. You're at much bigger risk via leopards and lions than wild dogs.

I really like the idea of small scale social media, that's focused on small groups of like minded people and communities, but damn Facebook is a cesspool of not-that.