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MaiqTheTrue

Zensunni Wanderer

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joined 2022 November 02 23:32:06 UTC 

				
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MaiqTheTrue


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Zensunni Wanderer

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 November 02 23:32:06 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 4, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t think anything he did amounts to a crime in most jurisdictions.  The DA can’t do anything if it’s not illegal to bang on a door.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 4, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


A much better solution is to create a Christian Hasidim which is, in a sense, a nation within a nation. A lot of the social technology they have developed can be grafted into a Christian setting: dress codes, mandatory prayers, mandatory (Christianized) rituals, a strong national identity as Christian Israel (this is already in the New Testament yet simply ignored in today’s theology). You can even gradually introduce Latin as a new internal language. Go back to original Christian house churches and you can reduce your community’s tax burden. Create your own kashrut which must be blessed by a priest. Etc.




We already have this in the form of the Amish and Mennonite churches.  They have their own German dialect, rules, and dress code.  But I don’t think you could completely wall off a community unless you cut off technology.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 4, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Depends on what gets declassified and why.  I’d at minimum want the information looked at by an outsider with a background in the relevant sciences so that we aren’t left with “Marjary Taylor Green sat in a closed session, came out and said Gorsch is telling the truth.”  She has no background to let her determine what she’s seeing.


With classified stuff, even if it’s UFO stuff, it might well reveal things of use to other military and spy agencies.  In order to study the airman pictures properly, you need a pretty deep understanding of the systems in the aircraft.  Which would also be very interesting to China.  Giving an astrophysicist clearance is probably safer.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 19, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean I’m able to predict that I don’t know those things because in that case, it’s a known issue for me.  I’m also not exactly up to speed on a lot of other topics, including things that I think I know.  And if everyone around me has the same blind spots and misbeliefs about a given topic, the chances of something getting on the screen that’s obviously wrong to an expert, or even a layperson interested in the subject goes up quite a bit.


I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t know much about the law.  Most people don’t.  The problem is that because of the popularity of legal shows and crime dramas, most people think they know the law.  Any draft readers will have the same ideas about the law you do.  And so it gets into police and crime dramas where most people think that’s how the law works.  Any knowledgeable lawyer or even anyone who’s been in a real courtroom knows that the courtroom scenes of most crime dramas are bunk.  Jury trials don’t work that way, at all.  The lawyers are not allowed to pontificate as they do in crime dramas.  The rules of what kinds of evidence and testimony and questions you can ask are far stricter than what TV has taught American audiences about criminal law.  It still shows up on TV every week.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 7, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’ll say this about almost any form of legalization.  Basically, it becomes available enough that children will have access to it.  It’s going to be common in homes much like alcohol and cigarettes are.  Which will lower the mean age of people getting access to it.  I’m not familiar with the effects of cannabis on a child, but I think any legalization scheme needs to understand this reality and be willing to put up with those negative effects.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You don’t have to go even that far.  Eating a lot of meat is a luxury (I think some small amount is necessary for health) so given that the choice is wants vs morals, there’s no good moral reason to choose to eat large portions of meat.


I don’t think that requires the trolley directed at humans, and I wouldn’t do that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 24, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think it’s best to reason from the idea of useful information/heuristics.  If you are using one on budgeting, I’ve always been rather a fan of using usefulness compared to hours worked.  If you’re getting clothes that aren’t just going to be used for one year and tossed is better than getting fashion.  And so if you’re only going to wear it three months once a week spending more “work hours” on that isn’t good.  If you’re buying entertainment, something you’ll use a lot is something to spend more on than something you’ll rarely get use from.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean that the state thinks it has enough evidence that he did what they’re accusing him of that it’s worth bring to a jury trial.  And that if convicted he goes to a real prison.


I think the prosecution is politically motivated and if he were anyone else he would never have been charged with these crimes because they’re pretty common in the political class.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 6, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m suggesting that killing somebody outside of a state of war without due process (with the exception of self-defense) isn’t part of the enlightenment western tradition.  It took a long time to get there, and we’re still working to get there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t think he’s talking about simply handing the land over, but instead the right of conquest, which is and always has been how things work without a powerful overseeing government to enforce other rules and rights.  Absent a power willing to enforce your right to a patrimony, the only other option is to be strong enough to enforce your claims.  I don’t think that’s a moral claim in either direction, it’s simply a statement of fact that there’s not really a way to prevent a stronger group from taking your land, your stuff or anything else they want without someone strong enough to stop them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
True, but allowing the pot to be stirred to the point of death threats and violence is probably going to make things worse.  If the gag order means that Trump cannot angry tweet his internet mafia into going after the judges, court officials, lawyers and witnesses, then there’s a good chance that the trial can proceed in an orderly manner and Justice will be done.


And if he’s tweeting about this without his attorney telling him not to, he has a terrible lawyer as this can only dig his hole deeper.  It’s not hard to see how him stirring up his base and tweeting the home addresses of those who will testify against him can be brought up in the trial and bias the jury against him.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What about potential intimidation.  My understanding of the reasoning is that Trump and/or his followers might threaten people involved in the case thus basically making it impossible to get witnesses to testify.  If Trump tweets out the name and likeness of someone connected to the trial, his followers might threaten them or damage property etc.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think we may not mean the same thing here.  What I mean by insurance is that it only pays out for people with a demonstrable need, rather than being a defined benefit that you get at a given age regardless of any need.  You can be perfectly able-bodied to the point of being able to hike twenty miles and climb mountains— if you’ve reached retirement age, under the current system, you get SS.  Likewise, you can be filthy rich have millions in assets— if you’re at the right age, you get the same check as everyone else.  My ideal system is based on turning people away who don’t need it either because they can still work or because they have enough money to not need money to retire.  I’ve little objection to paying for people who literally can’t work for various reasons but are too poor to afford to stop working.  Fair enough.  But we’re showering money on able bodied people who can provide for themselves which doesn’t make sense.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I disagree.  If you’re making a top level post, at least some effort should be required.  Merely posting “Thing happened, so what happens next” under a link to CNN.com is really good as a top level post.  Make a point, any point.  Talk about how old Congress is.  Talk about the political process of choosing her replacement, and the likely candidates.  Talk about the implications for some piece of legislation.  But drive-by posting is exactly what’s against the rules here.  I’m not even asking for length — just that you put more though into it than just hitting the new post button and spamming.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Our current plan is to give Ukraine every weapon we have, regardless of whether or not the Ukrainians are able to win the war, letting the war drag on while we essentially use up our weapons in Ukraine (which will probably lessen our ability to defend Taiwan (and thus secure our chips supply), lose credibility as it becomes obvious that we can no longer actually deliver on our promises, and Ukraine will probably lose Donbas anyway.


I think it would be better to cede Donbas and arm the remaining and build NATO bases in West Ukraine as a deterrent to further incursions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Except that a consent that isn’t really clear and can be altered or withdrawn on a whim without even having to make it clear to the other person is simply unfair to that person, especially if it can have very serious consequences for the other person.  If I can get your life ruined for a mistake, I don’t see how it can be fair that I not give you clear communication about when I don’t want you do do something.  If I will shoot you if you come into my yard, I’m at th3 very least an ass if I don’t tell you that if you step on the grass you die.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Productivity improves mostly by eliminating the overpriced workers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What I mean by without evidence is that generally when these kinds of arguments come up (and to your credit, you have given some evidence from the theories you work with) it’s done in a completely hand-waving fashion in which someone points out that the proposed mechanism for aliens coming here is in violation of well understood physics, and the other person simply replies with a variation on the theme of “we don’t know absolutely everything, and they’re a billion years ahead of us, so of course they can violate that law of physics.”


And this is why I especially as a layman think that speculative ideas that aliens or far future human civilizations will do things that violate known principles of physics are often just dressed up fantasy.  We don’t yet know that other universes exist.  Putting this in the end game of the Kardeshev scale as something that a trillion year old civilization can do isn’t scientific in the least.  Saying that we’ll definitely have transporter beams with no real mechanism isn’t science.  I’m not opposed to physicists who know what they’re talking about saying that we suspect there are things about our current theories are wrong.  They can often given very good reasons to think that they’re wrong and likely have at least an inkling about what’s going wrong, and if they’re going to posit a violation of the laws would at least have a plausible way to go about it.


And I think especially for aliens this is something to be careful about because first of all, we’re obviously biased in the sense of wanting them to not only exist but wanting contact with them.  We’re also biased in favor of the kinds of fantasies shown in books, tv shows and films about what this future is supposed to look like.  We’ve been treated to thousands of hours of tv that feature FTL travel, laser guns and reversing the polarity as solution to all that ails a spaceship.  These things color what we assume would be true about space travel.  Even alien hybrid speculation is often colored by the idea that our DNA could mix with an alien’s with no issues.  Except that you’re actually much more closely related to a brain eating amoeba in a lake than an intelligent alien.  We’re just used to bumpy headed aliens with an alien half and a human half.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, and I’d agree that in cases where what our experiments show breaks down that I don’t have a problem with putting a bookmark there and saying “we don’t yet understand this part” or something similar.  If the data shows a problem as recognized by people working in that field, then sure, I’d trust them to understand the problem and what it implies and what kinds of solutions make sense in that particular breakdown point.  On the other hand, breakdowns of specific theories in specific circumstances doesn’t issue us a blank check to put in whatever speculative ideas we particularly want to believe in.  We know about relativity, even if we don’t understand it perfectly I think it safe to say we understand a lot of it.  Our physics is good enough to be useful in 99% or more of ordinary interactions to fairly high degrees of accuracy.  We’re talking about edge cases, and yes they’re important, but it seems like using edge cases to imply that we don’t know what the laws are, when we have a pretty good approximation of those laws, and they work well enough to predict the existence of phenomena long before we can detect them by simple observations. In fact we predicted the existence of black holes long before we ever saw one and we knew quite a bit about their behavior beforehand.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
True, but the thing is that feudalism has been tried in lots of different civilizations and has proven pretty stable overall.  And I don’t see how such accountability is hard to conjure up.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 4, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Information in areas where you are not a specialist will always be no different than any other well informed person.  That’s sort of the point.  A lot of rationalists seem to take information from blogs and video and so on.  This is fine.  For most purposes, cosmology as explained by popular science communicators is just fine.  Where it becomes a problem is when you use that geeky layman understanding and pretend it’s more than it is.  It leads to a kind of arrogance where you assume you know all the relevant details without doing a deep enough dive to really know what’s going on.


Likewise, while I don’t think it’s necessary to go down to decimals of certainty, I do think, especially when reasoning about things, to have some idea of just how sure you are about a given conjecture.  If you’re not pretty darn sure then it shouldn’t be the lynchpin of that argument or prediction.  If you’re pretty sure, fine, give it importance, but I’d never advise making a major decision based on something that you’re less that 80% confident in.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I generally find the idea of rules in war to be completely disingenuous and actually kind of stupid.  The point of having a war is to win the war quickly.  And dragging it out on the pretense of following the “rules” (in quotes because really, the rules mostly exist for propaganda purposes and only matter in the context of things that countries we don’t like are doing and creating a causus belli for stopping them or arming enemies) doesn’t really benefit civilians as much as advertised.  A war that drags on for years longer than it has to because the tactics that would win it are “illegal” doesn’t actually protect civilians.  They live in a bombed out country with no infrastructure, a tanked economy, and completely disrupted lives (especially if they don’t live in heavily protected green zones).  The fields of Ukraine haven’t produced much since the invasion and what they have produced cannot go anywhere because of the war.  They have a deep recession that makes it hard for average people to live, most industries have pulled out and anyone with brains and a passport have left for better economic prospects elsewhere and won’t be returning.  Schools have been shuttered for the most part, so kids are missing out on years of school.  And so what’s left of Ukraine is a basket case even if infrastructures hadn’t been targeted.


If targeting infrastructure and so on could have decided the outcome of the war in a matter of weeks or months, all of that could have been rebuilt.  People could return and rebuild the economy and schools and run businesses and invented things in Ukraine rather than Poland.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 20, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think it’s an attention getting strategy along the lines of some of the crazier PETA stuff.  If you’re not getting attention, nothing else matters.  And like it or not, crazy gets attention.  If people weren’t talking about 5G nanotubes or whatever, the question of mandatory vaccination would have been a minor issue.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He gets very basic Jewish theology wrong.  There’s absolutely nothing in the Jewish Bible that suggests a human sacrifice for sins.  The lambs killed during Passover were not sin offerings.  These are pretty basic things to get wrong.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He specifically claimed to have been taught by Gamaliel.  It wasn’t just attending a university.


(https://biblehub.com/acts/22-3.htm) “ I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactness of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all you are today.”


That’s not really attending the same school.  That’s having someone as your teacher.