DradisPing
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User ID: 1102
DradisPing
5d ago
It wouldn't need to start with newborns or permanent deformation. The nobles didn't need to start until it was proven to be reasonably safe.
You can still cause permanent, but less dramatic, skull deformations in teens.
So it could have started with elaborate ceremonial headwear for teen slaves. After they noticed the permanent changes they started doing it for aesthetic reasons to younger and younger slaves. After they noticed benefits they reserved it for themselves.
DradisPing
6d ago
Neat post, but I think you're downplaying the likelihood of independent discovery.
It's actually quite easy to deform the head short term with headwear. For a modern example look up gamer dent / headphone dent.
The path could be just just "upper class wears elaborate headwear" -> "upper class notices head shape changes" -> "upper class starts doing it on purpose". I can imagine that happening in multiple places independently.
DradisPing
16d ago
You're thinking of Hillsdale College.
DradisPing
17d ago
So I think she's being inaccurate. I wanted to go with dishonest initially but that isn't the right word... she's not purposely being deceptive exactly, she's just trying to piece together a plausible sounding argument to get the outcome she wants and hasn't thought it through.
Feminists have been talking about the importance of female role models for women for over 40 years. Probably much longer. They also constantly throw in "as a woman" or "a woman's perspective". It isn't possible for her to have missed it. Particularly since her talk about patriarchy shows she's no stranger to gender discussions.
She just takes it for granted that women need female role models and men can't fill that void. However she isn't willing to accept that men want male role models and women can't fill that void.
DradisPing
17d ago
I was never satisfied with the Wilf - Miller debate. I felt that Wilf was out debated.
Specifically Wilf didn't get into the weirdness of the Wuhan lab. It's known that Chinese researchers stole flu virus samples from the lab in Winnipeg and brought them to Wuhan. That's important because it implies that the Wuhan lab had a habit of keeping virus samples around without putting them in the official database.
Perhaps it was just to get ahead in publishing virus research, perhaps it was some CCP bioweapons program, perhaps they were stolen samples from an American bioweapons program. It doesn't really matter.
The debate is important because in the case of a lab leak then we're at a point where it's clear that modifying infectious human viruses has killed far more people than it's saved. It should probably be completely banned for the next 30 years or so.
DradisPing
17d ago
The social status games in DC are actually incredibly important to understanding what happens and doesn't happen there.
I phrased that as a bit of a fun jab, but for a verifiable example some of the injunctions against the USAID defunding / merging with State Department were granted by judges with wives who were active in NGOs receiving USAID money. With all of the lawsuits its a jumble mess to sort through, but I believe they were eventually overturned. So that does give some evidence that the legal reasoning was motivated to begin with.
DradisPing
17d ago
I suppose Presidents have largely not felt a need for it.
The thing is that's clearly not true. Right now it's common to set up tents on the lawn to host large events.
I think opposition being motivated by exclusivity is a weird take.
It's counterintuitive, but that's why I wanted to post it. Right now the East wing isn't suitable for a large event so it isn't an option. Once there is a larger venue people will have to face the reality that there is a more prestigious option, but they don't qualify.
DradisPing
17d ago
So on a lighter note the Trump ballroom is continually in the new. The two most interesting questions about it aren't addressed often enough.
Why isn't there a Presidential ball room already? Also why is there so much opposition?
What you need to understand about DC is that there are multiple power structures. Many of which aren't connected to directly to the President or WH.
The ballroom creates an issue because it will immediately become the most prestigious ballroom in the area, and arguably the US.
Right now rooms used for prestigious events are also commonly used for much less prestigious events. There's no cachet in just being at an event in any of them.
The WH ballroom changes things. There are a lot of powerful connected people who aren't going to get an invite to the WH ballroom anytime soon, even under a future Democratic presidency. So it's a blow to their egos, and they are very upset about it.
There are DC judges evaluating suits trying to find a justification to block it, and their motivation is primarily that their wives aren't going to be invited and they're going to hear about it for the next 10 years.
Of course the second reason is that by naming traditions of DC, it should be referred to as the "Trump Ballroom" for the next 100 years. And that is clearly no bueno.
DradisPing
23d ago
I think it's a monetization issue. OpenAI needs to optimize it's revenue per compute. The slop videos take a ton of compute and the users won't spend much on them.
In contrast if they can give Disney a tool with more precise control it's worth a lot to Disney.
Look at a movie like American Sniper. It has a scene where Bradley Cooper is holding an obvious doll because the baby was acting up on set. Afterwards they decided that the expense, delays, an quality issues of fixing the scene with CGI didn't make sense.
If they could have spent $500k in tokens to fix the scene they would have.
Giving directors and editors a tool to tweak things has a lot of value.
My understanding is that circumcision isn't much of a mystery, it has practical benefits in the desert. Sand in the foreskin isn't comfortable if you can't spare water to get it out.
There are other theories about why it spread more broadly, but those are more speculative.
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