Yeah I don't know if you noticed the white patch on the lower part of the terrarium, that to me looks like a mix of the plants root system and mycorrhizal fungi, so there should have been microbes present within the soil when it was first planted.
Do you have any recommendations on what books I should pick up? , I've only read about the authors you mentioned on https://plato.stanford.edu and also through some philosophy podcasts..
Do checkout "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?", It's a concise book that talks about capitalism and its effects on culture and public thought. I haven't read lost futures yet but I found this really good video discussing Mark's idea by Cuck Philosophy called "Hauntology, Lost Futures and 80s Nostalgia" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSvUqhZcbVg
I don't know what advice to give you regarding finding that "balance" in life and I don't even know if I'd be considered a founder but for the last 9 years I've been working as a freelance programmer, I was initially diagnosed with chron's disease in 2014 and was reclassified to having ulcerate colitis a couple years later. The first 4 years of living with this problem was a total mess, It was difficult to balance my work and personal life while managing my health problem. It held back my development as a programmer and my relationships with people. I was constantly filled with anxiety, anger and frustration, It felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel for me and I even considered suicide at one point. Over the last 9 months I started to experiment with taking psilocybin mushrooms as an alternative to anti depressants and I have found it to have helped me tremendously. It has helped me overcome the anxiety and fearfulness of this health condition, come to terms with the passing of my dad and grandparents and also has made motivated to have goals in life again. Things have been looking up since then and I've begun to turn my life around, slowly but surely.
I think protesting could work only if you just don't leave til your demands are met, the problem with protests in general is that people tend to organize it for just a day.
I'm curious about this, any references for me to read about?