In 2017 Idiocracy is a Documentary

[feathers]

After giving it a thorough investigation and much meditation Melissa McEwen has concluded that the LV shooter was motivated by misogyny.

http://www.shakesville.com/2017/10/ever ... qus_thread

As if the man's aggression would have been directed at women alone. Try 'misanthropy' or 'sociopathy', Lissa.

[Steersman]

<snip>
Fine. But not everything is a model - which are abstractions. You think an engine - not present in a glider - is a fact? Or an abstraction? You think engines exist outside your mind, or exist only inside it - like abstractions, like symbols?

Think you're completely missing my point. Or refusing to address it. Those are objective criteria - the weight and density of gold and its atomic number, whether a person is providing unpaid labour or not ("volunteer"), having an engine or not ("glider"), producing ova ("female") or sperm ("male"). The labels - the words we use to denote those criteria - are the symbols or abstractions. Refusing to accept that dichotomy, that linkage, looks rather like solipsism, like postmodernism.

Of course engines exist outside our minds. Reality exists. The point that you're missing is that our understanding of reality, our models, are based on evidence but are not evidence.

Doesn't seem a particularly credible argument; seems little more than an unevidenced opinion, an ipse dixit. You might note the term - "based on" - shows up in a legal dictionary, and another one which suggests the base adds weight to an argument, is evidence in its own right that justifies various conclusions:

base on: 1 [base something on something] to use particular ideas or facts to make a decision, do a calculation, or develop a theory
The prosecution’s case is based largely on evidence from ex-members of the gang.
Green politics are based on the belief that the resources of the planet are finite.
Prices are based on two people sharing a room.

And in this case of models, the evidence is that the models appear to accurately predict how "reality" evolves under particular conditions. Which justifies their use, and gives evidence that the models probably correspond closely to that "reality".

The point is that you can't simply know if something is a glider or not a priori, without checking for an engine, and that there is no Perfect Idea of "Glideriness" that exists in reality, only a model that we create to differentiate between different things in reality.

Not quite sure why you think that is a problem. But your argument really does suggest that you are, again, engaging in reification, that you're losing sight of the difference between the reality and the abstraction: "Glideriness" is simply the lack of an engine in something that has airfoils etc- which is manifestly real and which is a "Perfect Idea" of that - while "glider" is a label, an abstraction, to denote that fact. Methinks you're conflating the two, losing sight of the dichotomy. And that you're kind of over influenced if not "corrupted" by some Platonic philosophy, possibly that associated with essentialism.

Similarly you can't simply put together an a priori argument for the existence of an Ultimate Cause without evidence.

That seems a rather different kettle of fish, and seems based on extending or extrapolating definitions past their point of application.

[MarcusAu]

Finally there is hope for the fascist future of Britain...

http://screenrant.com/v-for-vendetta-tv-show/

[MarcusAu]

Meanwhile in the (so-called) real world...

[feathers]

So far, all of the Nobel Prizes in science have gone to white males. Has there been any REEEEEEing about it yet? Any efforts to rename the Nobels after Rosalind Franklin?

I mean, c'mon, would you want to win a price instituted by the heirs of a white cishet male who pretty much founded the Swedish arms industry?

[Kirbmarc]

BLM jumps the shark yet again.

BLM has lost any sort of focus or aim, they're just a way to channel resentment and attention-seeking behavior from wannabe censors.

The disruption was livestreamed on BLM at W&M's Facebook page. Students took to the stage just a few moments after Gastañaga began her remarks. At first, she attempted to spin the demonstration as a welcome example of the kind of thing she had come to campus to discuss, commenting "Good, I like this," as they lined up and raised their signs. "I'm going to talk to you about knowing your rights, and protests and demonstrations, which this illustrates very well. Then I'm going to respond to questions from the moderators, and then questions from the audience."

It was the last remark she was able to make before protesters drowned her out with cries of, "ACLU, you protect Hitler, too." They also chanted, "the oppressed are not impressed," "shame, shame, shame, shame," (an ode to the Faith Militant's treatment of Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, though why anyone would want to be associated with the religious fanatics in that particular conflict is beyond me), "blood on your hands," "the revolution will not uphold the Constitution," and, uh, "liberalism is white supremacy."

The protest against police brutality, which is a real problem, would be have been much more effective if it hadn't been thouroughly racialized and made ALL about race right from the start. Black people are MORE affected by police brutality, but they're not the ONLY ones affected by it (unlike in the case of, say, segregation/Jim Crow laws or slavery).

Completely racializing the issue, and making it all about every grievance that people have which is even tangentially related to race, was a huge strategic mistake, as it was attacking the people who were more likely to support the idea of fighting police brutality (interrupting Bernie Sanders and now attacking the ACLU).

As it stands now BLM will likely accomplish pretty much nothing but alienating possible allies and people sympathetic to the cause of dealing with police brutality and looking like complete buffoons in the process. This won't help to reduce the number of people shot by the police, which was the main aim of BLM, at least in the beginning.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

This won't help to reduce the number of people shot by the police, which was the main aim of BLM, at least in the beginning.

:D :D :D

And I mean it!

[MarcusAu]

Sorry Phil - perhaps I am missing something.

[Kirbmarc]

This won't help to reduce the number of people shot by the police, which was the main aim of BLM, at least in the beginning.

:D :D :D

And I mean it!

Well, at least the STATED main aim of BLM.

[Hunt]

I hate to inflict this on everyone, but I'm afraid I must.

https://www.tor.com/2017/10/03/this-fut ... r-in-2017/

Well, actually she's right. They're slaves. I have no problem with slaves killing slavers. It's the extension of that to BLM I have a problem with.

Deckard is the bad guy. In the end Batty saves his life. That's not something Deckard would have done if the situation was reversed.

The director's cut didn't have Deckard's maudlin VO telling the audience about Batty's love for all life, etc. Who knows the exact original intent of the scene, maybe just to give Batty a person to hear his final soliloquy. Replicants are slaves, but not human slaves. They have no empathy, which is what the Voight-Kampff machine measures. The comments in that article are way better than the article and show just how idiotic much of it is. Typical SJW trying to reveal the TRUE MEANING, that all the rest of us schmucks missed due to implicit racism. There is no Black and White (ahem) in BR. Deckard is knowingly horrible, and he doesn't like how horrible he is, but he does what he does anyway. All through the movie there are plaintive shot of his face as he deals with what he's doing. He boozes and tries to escape it. BUT the replicants are no angels either. Put it this way, as a human, you wouldn't want to meet Roy, Leon, Priss, or (especially) Zhora in a dark alley.

[Shatterface]

None of the humans in Blade Runner show any empathy towards each other. The replicants do. None of the humans appear to have any connection to each other or any sense of a relationship. Deckard lives alone: the directors cut removes any reference to his ex-wife. Tyrell, Sebastian, Chew; all loners. We are told Tyrell had a niece, not a wife or daughter. Only the replicants connect with each other. Batty grieves for Zora and Pris. They are on Earth because they want 'more life, fucker', not revenge. All the murders they commit are to get them to Tyrell.

Just because SJWs are trying to appropriate Blade Runner doesn't make them wrong about the replicants. The original voice-over explicitly equates the term 'skinjob' with 'nigger'. SJWs are repeating things fans, Ridley Scott, David Peoples, and the cast have been saying for decades as if they are the first people to think of it. It's the fact they think their interpretation is novel that's the problem.

[feathers]

But if it is sitting on the moon it can't be propelled forward by the engines so it is no longer a plane.

You have to be joking. It can no longer fly while it's there, but that doesn't change the elements of the thing that would permit that if it were placed in a different environment. You think a plane is less so if it's sitting on the bottom of the ocean?

I have a sneaking suspicion the bear is hosing you by your own retards, or something.

[feathers]

An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a powered, fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine or propeller.

That is the definition it doesn't say "if it is in the appropriate environment" any more than the definition of a woman says she still is one after she stops ovulating. Try to at least be logically consistent.

Yup, the Bear did.

[feathers]

[.img]https://imgur.com/JugfGB7.png[/img]

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/life/p ... e29629855/

And Im sure he'll love her sooooo much in his adult years

New shooter in the making.

[Ape+lust]

Here are samples of that moronic staredown thing Shives likes to do. You know, when he's berating you (yes YOU, dear viewer) for your failures and shortcomings, and suddenly he just stops and radiates loathing. For a ridiculously long time. Ooooh, so scary.

These are from final minute of his Mythcon video. The second staredown is the last thing you see.

https://imgur.com/6B9k2mb.gif

https://imgur.com/He7kH0U.gif

[deLurch]

So Richard Carrier has put his two cents in on Mythcon.
http://archive.is/Yraqi

Richard shows *some* growth. But he is still strongly drawn to virtue signaling (pea cocking) like a moth to a flame. He tries to find some middle ground for himself, while still finding someone to demonize like the great satan to prove how good he is.

As to the feminist Melissa Chen, I wonder if Carrier knows how much the slymepit would have lapped up her talk on protecting the values of the enlightenment (and bashing post modernism). I suspect if Melissa Chen ever got popular, she would be about as welcome in feminist circles as the feminist Christina Hoff Sommers.

Oh well. Some growth is better than none.

[Ape+lust]

So Richard Carrier has put his two cents in on Mythcon.
http://archive.is/Yraqi

Richard shows *some* growth. But he is still strongly drawn to virtue signaling (pea cocking) like a moth to a flame. He tries to find some middle ground for himself, while still finding someone to demonize like the great satan to prove how good he is.

As to the feminist Melissa Chen, I wonder if Carrier knows how much the slymepit would have lapped up her talk on protecting the values of the enlightenment (and bashing post modernism). I suspect if Melissa Chen ever got popular, she would be about as welcome in feminist circles as the feminist Christina Hoff Sommers.

Oh well. Some growth is better than none.

Yeah, Carrier can grow like a motherfucker when it serves his interests. Right after he was banished, he wrote an article criticizing the "flawed epistemology" that caused FtB to decide he was a lying harasser. It was an almost point by point rebuttal of an article he wrote earlier that demonstrated Shermer was guilty of sexual assault. In Shermer's case: in an imperfect world you must go with the information you have. In suddenly enlightened Carrier's case: it's insane to reach conclusions on important matters with incomplete information. In both instances he was utterly certain of himself, yet he never referenced the older article or acknowledged that he was wrong.

[gurugeorge]

The unsubstantiated conspiracy theory re. LV that I'm liking the most is something that came up on /pol/ - basically, Paddock was a spook or connected to spooks, probably the FBI, who were setting up some kind of entrapment scheme re. ISIS - either a gun-running entrapment scheme, or some sort of preparation for a massacre that would have seen the ISIS guys caught red-handed; but ISIS got wind of it, completed the massacre and killed Paddock.

I like this because a botched entrapment with Paddock as a spook fits with Paddock being a peculiarly blank slate and ordinary guy (spooks tend to be like that) AND it fits with ISIS' insistence that they are responsible (their claim that he'd been radicalized a month before doesn't fit, but then they'd be trying to save face on that score, while still proud of the massacre). It also fits with there seeming to have been other people involved (as recently admitted), as well as the persistent "other shooters" rumours.

It also fits with it being a full hour between the last rounds of the massacre itself and the SWAT team finally beating the hotel door down. The security forces' major attention immediately after the massacre would have been on looking for the other people involved - they knew by that time that Paddock was dead, and the ISIS guys gone, so there was no urgency getting to Paddock's hotel room.

[gurugeorge]

Here are samples of that moronic staredown thing Shives likes to do. You know, when he's berating you (yes YOU, dear viewer) for your failures and shortcomings, and suddenly he just stops and radiates loathing. For a ridiculously long time. Ooooh, so scary.

These are from final minute of his Mythcon video. The second staredown is the last thing you see.

https://imgur.com/6B9k2mb.gif

https://imgur.com/He7kH0U.gif

LOL, that last image is a cry for help if I ever saw one :)

[AndrewV69]

I have read these books. They are on my re-read list. A review that I recommend if you wish to determine your possible interest:

Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle: Science, Commerce, Freedom, and the Origins of Modernity

You should really read the review, even if you never read the books.

[Hunt]

So Richard Carrier has put his two cents in on Mythcon.
http://archive.is/Yraqi

Richard shows *some* growth. But he is still strongly drawn to virtue signaling (pea cocking) like a moth to a flame. He tries to find some middle ground for himself, while still finding someone to demonize like the great satan to prove how good he is.

As to the feminist Melissa Chen, I wonder if Carrier knows how much the slymepit would have lapped up her talk on protecting the values of the enlightenment (and bashing post modernism). I suspect if Melissa Chen ever got popular, she would be about as welcome in feminist circles as the feminist Christina Hoff Sommers.

Oh well. Some growth is better than none.

He never actually states why he thinks Sargon is so vile, except that he misrepresents his interviewer and has yahoo fans. Sounds like a real Hitler. He just thinks Sargon is vile and if you don't think so, then you must be vile too.

Sounds like someone's a bit jealouuuuus.

[Hunt]

Oh well. Some growth is better than none.

Are you sure we want to encourage Richard to grow?

[Barbie's Boyfriend]

If any of y'all wanna comment on a Steve Shives video:

[deLurch]

The unsubstantiated conspiracy theory re. LV that I'm liking the most is something that came up on /pol/ - basically, Paddock was a spook or connected to spooks, probably the FBI, who were setting up some kind of entrapment scheme re. ISIS - either a gun-running entrapment scheme, or some sort of preparation for a massacre that would have seen the ISIS guys caught red-handed; but ISIS got wind of it, completed the massacre and killed Paddock.

I like this because a botched entrapment with Paddock as a spook fits with Paddock being a peculiarly blank slate and ordinary guy (spooks tend to be like that) AND it fits with ISIS' insistence that they are responsible (their claim that he'd been radicalized a month before doesn't fit, but then they'd be trying to save face on that score, while still proud of the massacre). It also fits with there seeming to have been other people involved (as recently admitted), as well as the persistent "other shooters" rumours.

It also fits with it being a full hour between the last rounds of the massacre itself and the SWAT team finally beating the hotel door down. The security forces' major attention immediately after the massacre would have been on looking for the other people involved - they knew by that time that Paddock was dead, and the ISIS guys gone, so there was no urgency getting to Paddock's hotel room.

Not buying it without evidence. If other people were involved, the people going in and out of that room would be visible on the hotel security cameras. Also if it was planned entrapment, would there be a team ready to bust in if/when anything goes wrong?

My gut instinct right now is that this was a self-spoiled rich psychopath ala James Holmes without the proper treatment.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The protest against police brutality, which is a real problem, would be have been much more effective if it hadn't been thouroughly racialized and made ALL about race right from the start. Black people are MORE affected by police brutality, but they're not the ONLY ones affected by it (unlike in the case of, say, segregation/Jim Crow laws or slavery).

I don't know what you consider 'police brutality', but wrt arrests or OIS, the rate blacks experience them in direct correlation to the rate that blacks commit crimes.

Of course BLM would make it all about race from the start -- BLM was started by a handful of poncy marxists and grounded on Critical Race Theory.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The unsubstantiated conspiracy theory re. LV that I'm liking the most is something that came up on /pol/ - basically, Paddock was a spook or connected to spooks, probably the FBI, who were setting up some kind of entrapment scheme re. ISIS - either a gun-running entrapment scheme, or some sort of preparation for a massacre that would have seen the ISIS guys caught red-handed; but ISIS got wind of it, completed the massacre and killed Paddock.

I like this because a botched entrapment with Paddock as a spook fits with Paddock being a peculiarly blank slate and ordinary guy (spooks tend to be like that) AND it fits with ISIS' insistence that they are responsible (their claim that he'd been radicalized a month before doesn't fit, but then they'd be trying to save face on that score, while still proud of the massacre). It also fits with there seeming to have been other people involved (as recently admitted), as well as the persistent "other shooters" rumours.

It also fits with it being a full hour between the last rounds of the massacre itself and the SWAT team finally beating the hotel door down. The security forces' major attention immediately after the massacre would have been on looking for the other people involved - they knew by that time that Paddock was dead, and the ISIS guys gone, so there was no urgency getting to Paddock's hotel room.

Not buying it without evidence. If other people were involved, the people going in and out of that room would be visible on the hotel security cameras. Also if it was planned entrapment, would there be a team ready to bust in if/when anything goes wrong?

My gut instinct right now is that this was a self-spoiled rich psychopath ala James Holmes without the proper treatment.

That all "fits" only because the public knows almost nothing about this. And, like every conspiracy theory, it's ridiculously overcomplicated.

I'm intrigued by the two smashed windows, but won't jump to conclusions. Entirely plausible is that Paddock was suffering from some late onset mental illness, perhaps from a brain tumor.

[John D]

The protest against police brutality, which is a real problem, would be have been much more effective if it hadn't been thouroughly racialized and made ALL about race right from the start. Black people are MORE affected by police brutality, but they're not the ONLY ones affected by it (unlike in the case of, say, segregation/Jim Crow laws or slavery).

I don't know what you consider 'police brutality', but wrt arrests or OIS, the rate blacks experience them in direct correlation to the rate that blacks commit crimes.

Of course BLM would make it all about race from the start -- BLM was started by a handful of poncy Marxists and grounded on Critical Race Theory.

Most Americans are pretty pro-police. The only reason BLM got any traction on the police brutality topic was because they framed it around racism. As soon as the discussion turns to police brutality in general the media and the public lose interest.

Americans mostly feel that cops are okay. They have a really tough job and most are fairly honorable. Americans also think there are a number of bad cops that do evil. But, the methods used to improve cop performance are up for debate. As soon as you talk about details... what to do precisely... the discussion grinds down. All we have agreed to pursue are body cameras.... and it is clear that cameras usually help the cops.

BLM has blown its wad. They are done. Just like the prior "movement" called Occupy, they had no leadership and no clear message. Just a bunch of commies and anarchists. The media loves this shit because they get eye-balls to watch, but eventually people get bored. Most Americans think BLM is a joke.

Lots of Americans... both white and black... think that blacks have a rougher time than whites. But, again, the devil is in the details. There are really no serious ideas about what to do with the problem. Large scale discrimination under the law has been dead for decades. The few remaining topics, like gerrymandering, or "racist" insurance rates, or "racist" hiring is very hard to change. The idea that we should keep discussing racism is a trap. We will just continue to stare at the problem with no solutions... we just keep picking open the wound... and it will never heal. Thanks Obama!

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Fucking Hell, Sticky Dicky is one prolix fuck.

[MarcusAu]

Oh come on John - even you would have to admit that the problem of Police brutality would be resolved if the police force was abolished.

...and yes this has been suggested by at least one activist.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The protest against police brutality, which is a real problem, would be have been much more effective if it hadn't been thouroughly racialized and made ALL about race right from the start. Black people are MORE affected by police brutality, but they're not the ONLY ones affected by it (unlike in the case of, say, segregation/Jim Crow laws or slavery).

I don't know what you consider 'police brutality', but wrt arrests or OIS, the rate blacks experience them in direct correlation to the rate that blacks commit crimes.

Of course BLM would make it all about race from the start -- BLM was started by a handful of poncy Marxists and grounded on Critical Race Theory.

Most Americans are pretty pro-police. The only reason BLM got any traction on the police brutality topic was because they framed it around racism. As soon as the discussion turns to police brutality in general the media and the public lose interest.

Americans mostly feel that cops are okay. They have a really tough job and most are fairly honorable. Americans also think there are a number of bad cops that do evil. But, the methods used to improve cop performance are up for debate. As soon as you talk about details... what to do precisely... the discussion grinds down. All we have agreed to pursue are body cameras.... and it is clear that cameras usually help the cops.

BLM has blown its wad. They are done. Just like the prior "movement" called Occupy, they had no leadership and no clear message. Just a bunch of commies and anarchists. The media loves this shit because they get eye-balls to watch, but eventually people get bored. Most Americans think BLM is a joke.

Lots of Americans... both white and black... think that blacks have a rougher time than whites. But, again, the devil is in the details. There are really no serious ideas about what to do with the problem. Large scale discrimination under the law has been dead for decades. The few remaining topics, like gerrymandering, or "racist" insurance rates, or "racist" hiring is very hard to change. The idea that we should keep discussing racism is a trap. We will just continue to stare at the problem with no solutions... we just keep picking open the wound... and it will never heal. Thanks Obama!

'shot its rod' but yeah, you sum it up in a nutshell.

[shoutinghorse]

The unsubstantiated conspiracy theory re. LV that I'm liking the most is something that came up on /pol/ - basically, Paddock was a spook or connected to spooks, probably the FBI, who were setting up some kind of entrapment scheme re. ISIS - either a gun-running entrapment scheme, or some sort of preparation for a massacre that would have seen the ISIS guys caught red-handed; but ISIS got wind of it, completed the massacre and killed Paddock.

I like this because a botched entrapment with Paddock as a spook fits with Paddock being a peculiarly blank slate and ordinary guy (spooks tend to be like that) AND it fits with ISIS' insistence that they are responsible (their claim that he'd been radicalized a month before doesn't fit, but then they'd be trying to save face on that score, while still proud of the massacre). It also fits with there seeming to have been other people involved (as recently admitted), as well as the persistent "other shooters" rumours.

It also fits with it being a full hour between the last rounds of the massacre itself and the SWAT team finally beating the hotel door down. The security forces' major attention immediately after the massacre would have been on looking for the other people involved - they knew by that time that Paddock was dead, and the ISIS guys gone, so there was no urgency getting to Paddock's hotel room.

:nin: .. Page 178. 36th post. ;)

[jet_lagg]

It's tautologically true that since we do exist, the universe logically necessarily must be conducive to our evolution, but it's not tautologically true that the universe had to be the type of universe that would lead to such beings as us existing. Or, to put it another way, the fact that the type of universe that exists happens to be the type of universe that, right from its inception, allowed for the possibility of things arising in it that could cognize it, is what's puzzling.

<snip>

We have a profound philosophical disagreement, because I say that shouldn't be puzzling. But if we move away from abstractions I can sort of get to your position. The physical constants could have ended up any number of ways, but some of them need to land on very specific values to create the conditions necessary for life. Those are the values we observe, and that does start to look a lot like us having won a thousand coin tosses in a row rather than the logically necessary fact of us being in a place where it's possible for us to be instead of somewhere else. I agree winning a thousand coin tosses in a row is spooky and mysterious. I'm still not on board with the God of the philosophers though, because positing a multiverse just seems more elegant.

[Ape+lust]

Here are samples of that moronic staredown thing Shives likes to do. You know, when he's berating you (yes YOU, dear viewer) for your failures and shortcomings, and suddenly he just stops and radiates loathing. For a ridiculously long time. Ooooh, so scary.

These are from final minute of his Mythcon video. The second staredown is the last thing you see.

https://imgur.com/6B9k2mb.gif

https://imgur.com/He7kH0U.gif

LOL, that last image is a cry for help if I ever saw one :)

Careful, he'll block you so hard you won't pass gas for a week. It's his only weapon and he sprays it like a machine gun.

[shoutinghorse]

What's the betting Shives practices that death stare in the mirror for hours. Full De Niro "you lookin' at me"

[jet_lagg]

Yeah, Carrier can grow like a motherfucker when it serves his interests. Right after he was banished, he wrote an article criticizing the "flawed epistemology" that caused FtB to decide he was a lying harasser. It was an almost point by point rebuttal of an article he wrote earlier that demonstrated Shermer was guilty of sexual assault. In Shermer's case: in an imperfect world you must go with the information you have. In suddenly enlightened Carrier's case: it's insane to reach conclusions on important matters with incomplete information. In both instances he was utterly certain of himself, yet he never referenced the older article or acknowledged that he was wrong.

This. I defended the guy for a while after joining the pit, but that article was my breaking point (well, that and "coming out" poly after cheating on his breadwinner wife for years). He's either intentionally dishonest or pathologically incapable of self reflection. Either way he's a liability.

[gurugeorge]

It's tautologically true that since we do exist, the universe logically necessarily must be conducive to our evolution, but it's not tautologically true that the universe had to be the type of universe that would lead to such beings as us existing. Or, to put it another way, the fact that the type of universe that exists happens to be the type of universe that, right from its inception, allowed for the possibility of things arising in it that could cognize it, is what's puzzling.

<snip>

We have a profound philosophical disagreement, because I say that shouldn't be puzzling. But if we move away from abstractions I can sort of get to your position. The physical constants could have ended up any number of ways, but some of them need to land on very specific values to create the conditions necessary for life. Those are the values we observe, and that does start to look a lot like us having won a thousand coin tosses in a row rather than the logically necessary fact of us being in a place where it's possible for us to be instead of somewhere else. I agree winning a thousand coin tosses in a row is spooky and mysterious. I'm still not on board with the God of the philosophers though, because positing a multiverse just seems more elegant.

Oh I agree that it's one possible solution, that's why I'm not 100% gung-ho about the God of the Philosophers myself - my only aim was to make clear that it's not out of bounds either, it's a viable solution to the scenario of one necessary universe that we as conscious beings find ourselves in.

The problem with all the mechanistic/materialistic explanations is that they all end up at "shit happens." It may indeed be the case that shit just happened, but "shit happens" is hardly a complete rational explanation. The God solution at least gives a possible way of looking at why shit might have necessarily happened the way it did. IOW, it's a fully explanatory solution with no "shit happens" dangly bits.

So I'm comfortable with there being no completely satisfying explanation for the universe, because as Kirb has been saying, it might just be in some sense our parochial glitch to seek a complete explanation; but I appreciate the beauty of the GotP solution as a complete explanation.

[Kirbmarc]

The protest against police brutality, which is a real problem, would be have been much more effective if it hadn't been thouroughly racialized and made ALL about race right from the start. Black people are MORE affected by police brutality, but they're not the ONLY ones affected by it (unlike in the case of, say, segregation/Jim Crow laws or slavery).

I don't know what you consider 'police brutality', but wrt arrests or OIS, the rate blacks experience them in direct correlation to the rate that blacks commit crimes.

Of course BLM would make it all about race from the start -- BLM was started by a handful of poncy marxists and grounded on Critical Race Theory.

Police harassment, excessive force, abuse of "stop and frisk", unjustified shootings, unjustified police stops, abuse in prison by correctional officers, lack of concern for civil liberties and rights. Those are real problems, that people who aren't CRT fans but actual supporters of civil liberties are pointing out. And the causes are all there to see: police militarization and the privatization of the justice system.



Those problems affect in a particular heinous way vulnerable, poor and lower-middle class people who can't afford to pay for lawyers and sue the police for damages. Cops are wary of causing trouble to rich, influential people but with people who aren't able to put them in legal danger there's more leeway.

A lot of people in those communities are black, or Latino, or Native American (especially since police tends to have a stronger presence in urban communities, where a lot of poor minority communities live), but it doesn't mean that poor or lower middle class urban whites are somehow exempt from the bad consequences of the troubles with American police.

Unlike polite offers for coffee in elevators or mean words on the internet or women with big boobs and small bikinis in video games police brutality is a real problem that affects people's lives in a significant way, not only because of unjustified deaths, but because of unjustified damage to property, violation of civil rights, injuries and lack of confidence in the justice system (which leads to an increase in an unreported crime).

BLM was supposed to be about denouncing excessive force in police confrontations with suspects which led to shootings. It was OK to point out that this affected minorities to a disproportionate level, but making it ALL about race and about how everyone who's not 100% about making it all about race is a white supremacist was dumb.

[jet_lagg]

Saw this on Richard THE KING Sanderson's twitter feed.

https://imgur.com/4IKwJDj.png

The woke pre-adolescent stories have been a source of comedy on twitter since at least this time last year.

https://i.imgur.com/YrDuhye.png

[katamari Damassi]

Here are samples of that moronic staredown thing Shives likes to do. You know, when he's berating you (yes YOU, dear viewer) for your failures and shortcomings, and suddenly he just stops and radiates loathing. For a ridiculously long time. Ooooh, so scary.

These are from final minute of his Mythcon video. The second staredown is the last thing you see.

https://imgur.com/6B9k2mb.gif

https://imgur.com/He7kH0U.gif

After I watched this video, my phone rang and a whispery voice said, "Seven days."

One week later... I was blocked.

[Ape+lust]

Danielle is operating in his favorite mode today. He's the wise old sage, laying down the law and telling young'uns whut's whut. IOW, he's full of shit.

https://imgur.com/hc4KLLA.png

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery - then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

-- Jesse Jackson, indecent person.

[Ape+lust]

After I watched this video, my phone rang and a whispery voice said, "Seven days."

One week later... I was blocked.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :clap:

[Shatterface]

Not buying it without evidence. If other people were involved, the people going in and out of that room would be visible on the hotel security cameras.

Not if they use Predator technology recovered from the wreckage at Roswell.

[HoneyWagon]

None of the humans in Blade Runner show any empathy towards each other. The replicants do. None of the humans appear to have any connection to each other or any sense of a relationship. Deckard lives alone: the directors cut removes any reference to his ex-wife. Tyrell, Sebastian, Chew; all loners. We are told Tyrell had a niece, not a wife or daughter. Only the replicants connect with each other. Batty grieves for Zora and Pris. They are on Earth because they want 'more life, fucker', not revenge. All the murders they commit are to get them to Tyrell.

Just because SJWs are trying to appropriate Blade Runner doesn't make them wrong about the replicants. The original voice-over explicitly equates the term 'skinjob' with 'nigger'. SJWs are repeating things fans, Ridley Scott, David Peoples, and the cast have been saying for decades as if they are the first people to think of it. It's the fact they think their interpretation is novel that's the problem.

Remember a lot of the people on Earth were those unable through money or genetic issues to LEAVE Earth. People that could leave, left.

[Shatterface]

Police harassment, excessive force, abuse of "stop and frisk", unjustified shootings, unjustified police stops, abuse in prison by correctional officers, lack of concern for civil liberties and rights. Those are real problems, that people who aren't CRT fans but actual supporters of civil liberties are pointing out. And the causes are all there to see: police militarization and the privatization of the justice system.

Like I've said elsewhere BLM and it's supporters talk about institutional or systematic racism when they want to sound clever but that's not what they believe. They think it's about racist cops.

Cops enacting policies which disproportionately effect black people - largely because they are poor - are an example of systematic racism. Understood that way black cops are part of a racist system. It wouldn't matter if they were actually racist or not. The racism is embedded in the legal process and not the heads of individual cops.

But BLM see the problem as one of racist cops who must renounce their racism rather than, say, campaign for the decriminalisation of drugs or for an end to petty prosecutions carried out simply to raise revenue.

[Shatterface]

Remember a lot of the people on Earth were those unable through money or genetic issues to LEAVE Earth. People that could leave, left.

Tyrell didn't. Earth is still home to the filthy rich, albeit living in their huge arcologies. The book makes it clear the androids are offered as an incentive to emmigrate off world. The colonists aren't necessarily wealthy anymore than those who colonised America.

[John D]

Police harassment, excessive force, abuse of "stop and frisk", unjustified shootings, unjustified police stops, abuse in prison by correctional officers, lack of concern for civil liberties and rights. Those are real problems, that people who aren't CRT fans but actual supporters of civil liberties are pointing out. And the causes are all there to see: police militarization and the privatization of the justice system.

Like I've said elsewhere BLM and it's supporters talk about institutional or systematic racism when they want to sound clever but that's not what they believe. They think it's about racist cops.

Cops enacting policies which disproportionately effect black people - largely because they are poor - are an example of systematic racism. Understood that way black cops are part of a racist system. It wouldn't matter if they were actually racist or not. The racism is embedded in the legal process and not the heads of individual cops.

But BLM see the problem as one of racist cops who must renounce their racism rather than, say, campaign for the decriminalisation of drugs or for an end to petty prosecutions carried out simply to raise revenue.

IMHO, part of the reason that most people think BLM is a joke is because they are disorganized and don't have unified goals. I have seen many BLM folks discuss decriminalization of drugs. But, then in the next breath they tell white people to donate their homes to black folks when they die. BLM is a free-for-all of ideas. And, of course, the internet amplifies the worst BLM ideas and buries the good ideas (what few good ideas they have).

I am a fan of pro-active policing. This is the use of stop-and-frisk type tactics, as well as other actions by police. New York City's use of pro-active policing has probably saved more black lives than anything else in America. Blacks do almost all the crime in NY. This is just a fact. In the trade-off between security and aggressive policing, I tend to favor aggressive policing. Hell, I vacationed in NY in the 1980s and it was a fucking nightmare..... worst place ever. But... well.... and am just a cis-white racist shitlord trying to avoid being mugged on the street.

[feathers]

Here are samples of that moronic staredown thing Shives likes to do. You know, when he's berating you (yes YOU, dear viewer) for your failures and shortcomings, and suddenly he just stops and radiates loathing. For a ridiculously long time. Ooooh, so scary.

These are from final minute of his Mythcon video. The second staredown is the last thing you see.

https://imgur.com/He7kH0U.gif

Probably haunted by the Ghost from Shives Past:

https://images.encyclopediadramatica.rs ... Nude_2.jpg

[feathers]

After I watched this video, my phone rang and a whispery voice said, "Seven days."

One week later... I was blocked.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep
but I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep.

Do you hear, Katamari? Miles to go before I sleep!"

[Ape+lust]

Probably haunted by the Ghost from Shives Past:

https://images.encyclopediadramatica.rs ... Nude_2.jpg

That thicket is about eye level to his wife :lol:

IOW, he actually caught somebody with that thing :shock:

[Ape+lust]

https://imgur.com/VqoYCVq.png

[Kirbmarc]

Police harassment, excessive force, abuse of "stop and frisk", unjustified shootings, unjustified police stops, abuse in prison by correctional officers, lack of concern for civil liberties and rights. Those are real problems, that people who aren't CRT fans but actual supporters of civil liberties are pointing out. And the causes are all there to see: police militarization and the privatization of the justice system.

Like I've said elsewhere BLM and it's supporters talk about institutional or systematic racism when they want to sound clever but that's not what they believe. They think it's about racist cops.

Cops enacting policies which disproportionately effect black people - largely because they are poor - are an example of systematic racism. Understood that way black cops are part of a racist system. It wouldn't matter if they were actually racist or not. The racism is embedded in the legal process and not the heads of individual cops.

But BLM see the problem as one of racist cops who must renounce their racism rather than, say, campaign for the decriminalisation of drugs or for an end to petty prosecutions carried out simply to raise revenue.

Also if the focus was take away from only and primarily race and onto a combination of race, income and urban areas the whole thing would be much more easy to promote. Rand Paul is a right-wing libertarian and he's more or less on board with facing the issues of police militarization. That'd be a promising start if the BLM leaders had a pragmatic plan.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

BLM was supposed to be about denouncing excessive force in police confrontations with suspects which led to shootings. It was OK to point out that this affected minorities to a disproportionate level, but making it ALL about race and about how everyone who's not 100% about making it all about race is a white supremacist was dumb.

Again, minorities are not affected disproportionally regarding commission of crimes. It's specious to say otherwise.

Again, BLM was founded by Marxists who invoke Critical Race Theory, and who have made a slew of outrageous and patently false assertions, along with lunatic proposals such as reparations and the abolishment of all jails & prisons. Anyone who thought it was supposed to be about anything else, wasn't paying any fucking attention.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Probably haunted by the Ghost from Shives Past:

https://images.encyclopediadramatica.rs ... Nude_2.jpg

That thicket is about eye level to his wife :lol:

IOW, he actually caught somebody with that thing :shock:

Why did the words 'needle' and 'haystack' immediately jump into my head?

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Cops enacting policies which disproportionately effect black people - largely because they are poor - are an example of systematic racism. Understood that way black cops are part of a racist system. It wouldn't matter if they were actually racist or not. The racism is embedded in the legal process and not the heads of individual cops.

And that's a just-so story devoid of actual correlative evidence.

[Kirbmarc]

BLM was supposed to be about denouncing excessive force in police confrontations with suspects which led to shootings. It was OK to point out that this affected minorities to a disproportionate level, but making it ALL about race and about how everyone who's not 100% about making it all about race is a white supremacist was dumb.

Again, minorities are not affected disproportionally regarding commission of crimes. It's specious to say otherwise.

Again, BLM was founded by Marxists who invoke Critical Race Theory, and who have made a slew of outrageous and patently false assertions, along with lunatic proposals such as reparations and the abolishment of all jails & prisons. Anyone who thought it was supposed to be about anything else, wasn't paying any fucking attention.

I'm not saying that minorities are necessarily targeted disproportionally regarding commission of crimes(although I've seen evidence that there is some disproportionate sentencing going on, especially for petty crimes/misdemeanors or drug-related non-violent crimes, which is probably due to class and lack of good lawyers), I'm saying that they're targeting disproportionally regarding their percentage in American society, which breeds resentment.

Also minorities tend to be poorer and live in worse social environment due to ghettoization so I'm not surprised that they commit more crimes. There's plenty of opportunities to get good jobs, good stuff and hobbies if you're moderately well-off, not so much if you live in a slum, and absence of positive authority figures plus peer pressure might lead many to commit crimes, especially drug-related crimes. So maybe something should be done to tackle poverty, disenfranchisement and ghettoization.

Furthermore while some BLM figures are BLM fans with stupid ideas like abolishing prisons or reparations or abolishing the police other have less silly ideas like de-escalation, de-militarization, stopping the privatization of jails and prison, and community policing, and if they had taken control of the movement away from the Po-Mo lunatics they might have promoted a better way to deal with real issues.

Ultimately at least SOME of the BLM concerns are born out of real issues, unlike those of people who think that video game violence and naked pixellated women are a serious concern, or those who think that internet trolling is an important issues, or that atheist cons are part of "rape culture" because some people use them to hook up with others, or that college campuses are a good substitute for the justice system.

[Ape+lust]

...and who have made a slew of outrageous and patently false assertions...

One of my favorites being when Deray McKesson thought his life mattered so much that Fox snuck a blue-vested ape into its $150 million Apes movie just to mock him :lol:

https://imgur.com/OsMTo29.jpg

[Matt Cavanaugh]

...and who have made a slew of outrageous and patently false assertions...

One of my favorites being when Deray McKesson thought his life mattered so much that Fox snuck a blue-vested ape into its $150 million Apes movie just to mock him :lol:

https://imgur.com/OsMTo29.jpg

Apes could not ride horses.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Apes could not ride horses.

Err...we do.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Starting to think Pat 'transParent' Green has some serious anger management issues. (It also dawned on me that Green is practicing the trans version of Munchausen's by Proxy.) He's going off again on the E.D. of the pro-LGBTXYZPDQ Open And Affirming church program. Essentially more of: 'Bad Ally! The floggings will continue until morale improves.'

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/transparen ... ng-part-2/

Commenter 'Etranger', who I've encountered before & is a decent, thoughtful person, is making some common sense observations -- and being dogpiled by uber-sensitive trans harpies.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Apes could not ride horses.

Err...we do.

It's the pelvises.