Flapling
7mo ago
Richard Hanania and Anatoly Karlin were two prominent people on the dissident right who switched from "of course Ukraine is going to collapse" to "of course Ukraine wasn't going to collapse". As far as I know (I largely stopped following them after that) they still think that Ukraine, NATO, and the GAE have a bright future.
Flapling
7mo ago
I voted for Biden, but it was a close decision and one I now regret (even though I live in a state where my vote wouldn't have made a difference). I think it's more likely than not that the election wasn't stolen, but I'm not willing to dismiss the possibility out of hand, especially because Democrats consistently oppose efforts to make elections more secure, such as requiring ID or forbidding others from mailing in your mail-in ballot.
Flapling
8mo ago
For future reference, this quote is from https://www.scifiwright.com/2012/12/how-to-find-god/
Flapling
8mo ago
What are your guys' favorite solutions to tab/reading overload? I come across a lot of things I would like to read, and every few weeks my mind gets frazzled about processing my backlog. Currently I add articles to Pocket, and I wrote a script to sync those to Anki notes, which in theory I should be reviewing instead of going into my browser. But the Anki notes now have a backlog too.
Flapling
10mo ago
At the current state of technology, it appears that embryo selection won't publicly offer selection on intelligence anytime soon, and the projected gains (of 2.5 IQ above mean) are pretty low for so much effort. However, Gwern's calculation of 9 IQ points above mean would be much more worth it, but that supposes much better IQ GWASs than are currently known to exist.
I wouldn't wait for 3-5 years - I think at least 10 years would be required for a better IQ PGS and for it to become even minimally widely available. A lot depends on how young your girlfriend is - geriatric pregnancy (age >=35) isn't fun, probably involves ova of lower genetic quality, and is not guaranteed to succeed, even using IVF, so if she's in late 20s and up, it doesn't seem worth it to wait. If she's mid-20s and below and you're willing to wait 10 years, it might be okay.
My philosophy is, have kids now (assuming you're ready), and then if embryo selection matures, you can select a superbaby at that point. Kids are not really that ruinous as long as they don't get into real trouble, especially if you don't have to pay for their university.
Flapling
10mo ago
Both serfdom and slavery existed in the Middle Ages, the latter usually applied to pagans captured in war (hence the name "slave", from Slavs, who were pagan until around 1000 AD). Actual serfs (as opposed to slaves) were called "coloni" (basically, tenant farmer). The word "serf", on the other hand, derives directly from the Roman word for slave (servus) via Old French; this word was during the Middle Ages applied only to slaves, but as slavery disappeared, it was applied to the coloni instead.
Flapling
1yr ago
Thank you - that was exactly my thought about Scott's post. Sometimes the most intelligent conclusion you can reach when you analyze the difference in denotation and connotation between two terms is that they ultimately don't have a stable difference in meaning, and I think that's the case for geek vs. nerd - I've read many people attempt to define a difference, but nothing has ever stuck.
Flapling
1yr ago
In addition to its traditional usage by Southern Americans as well as black Americans from all over the country, "y'all" has recently (within the past 10 years) come into favor among upper-middle-class Americans who wouldn't have been caught dead using it a generation ago. These are most often woke young women who ostensibly prefer "y'all" over the previous preferred alternative, "you guys", because "you guys" is not gender-inclusive (no one seemed to care about that before). I think another contributing factor is getting the chance to sound more black - they feel uncomfortable with using the n-word while singing rap lyrics, so this is the next best thing.
Flapling
1yr ago
Your experience with deposits is interesting. I've also lived in California (South SF Bay) for a while, and I easily got my deposit back at both my apartments (I own now). There may have been $200 deducted of cleaning fees and miscellaneous items that were overall justified, but the rest of the deposit (equal to 1 month rent) was promptly returned. Of course, I had a FAANG job and was renting apartments from corporate landlords that were above the bottom of the market (although not particularly fancy or near the high end - these apartment complexes were decades old and had appliances, kitchens, floors, and the like reasonably up to date, but still definitely builder grade). So I wonder if you were a student, renting from a small landlord or at the lower end of the market, or just in a different area of the state.
Flapling
1yr ago
Marxism believes that capitalism is a necessary prerequisite to full communism. In that sense, anything capitalism does to destroy tradition is something leftists should welcome with open arms and in fact rush to bring about, even if it means a temporary increase in inequality. Leftist collaboration with corporations is therefore not hypocritical at all.
Globalist American Empire https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=GAE - pronounced exactly as it looks. Globohomo (for global homogenization) is a related epithet.
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