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ThomasdelVasto

Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

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joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC

Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/


				
User ID: 3709


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
ThomasdelVasto


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

				
				
				

				

					1 follower  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC
				


				
					

					
Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 3709


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The born lucky thing is from Rawl's Veil of Ignorance. It is an incredibly retarded argument, imo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY GO AMERICA!!!!!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah idk why they don’t just become Orthodox. Maybe they will now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Doing well. Moving today and it's hot as blazes. All things considered I'm in a good spot happy with where things are at. Aiming to cut porn a bit more aggressively moving forward.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Rereading A Wizard of Earthsea and the rest of the novels. There's a reason LeGuin is legendary. She's an incredible storyteller and writer.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
By far the most important thing is to find a good therapist. I’d recommend finding an older man that you like and could see yourself respecting.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for June 24, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Going well. Have not skipped gym despite going through a tough time personally, and just passed a year of 2x weekly gym visits. Woo!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Started playing deadlock. It’s pretty fun for a moba but worried I’m gonna get addicted again.


Otherwise playing through baldurs gate 3 still.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
True but the big difference imo is that the event itself doesn’t hire bands or events. Pretty much all the events are organized and run by the attendees.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It is very expensive, cheapest tickets are like $450 which is as much as bonaroo or more. The main reason I didn’t go back this year, paying almost $500 to sleep in a tent isn’t feasible for me at the moment.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’ve been as well perhaps I should’ve mentioned that. Are you on Twitter?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I admittedly don't have kids and don't have a TON of experience around them.


That being said, this just seems like extremely risky behavior for little to no gain. As @cjet79 said, there are massive legal risks for doing this sort of thing, not to mention the actual risk of exposure to kids, etc. Basically it's spending a ton of weirdness points in a way I don't think need to be spent.


Personally I'd rather just see them bar kids from the event, which is what most events I've been to like this do.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for June 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Doing alright. Big life stuff going on but still going to gym. Started smoking again.


My laptop is fucked and I'm extremely annoyed.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What's the gist?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, there are definitely drugs. Lots of drugs.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Nah rationalist, postrationalist, effective altruism. tpot is "this part of twitter," mostly where postrats hang out.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah I remember an old post on lesswrong about weirdness points. Totally agree. Yudkowsky is the classic offender here, but it’s definitely endemic in the rat space. Transgression just for the sake of transgression. I’m surprised so many people still get kicks out of it as they grow older.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah fair points. The honest truth is that it gives me the ick, as the kids say.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've gotten into some light twitter drama around Vibecamp, specifically whether it's appropriate to have a midnight nude pool party and a designated sex tent at an event where children are allowed, and even encouraged, to be brought by parents. Here's the full text of my tweet:




steelman of why I think kids + nudity at an event is bad:






having a bunch of weird people (specifically high openness to nudity and sex and drugs not all weird people) around children, especially in a low trust/non gatekept community, dramatically raises risks of child abuse




I've had this argument with the rat/post-rat scene before, and it always baffles me how strong the resistance is. I've had people directly say that no, having nudity and a sex tent LOWERS risks!


I've had multiple people saying that my evidence/argument are weak and burning man does it, so it's totally fine.




that's not a steel man dawg. are you saying that high openness to nudity, sex, and drugs implies tolerance of child abuse?






I don't think your concern is entirely without merit, but I don't think your argument is very good. one thing I noticed at some of the regional burns I've been two is that there is greater expectation of social rule enforcement than at vibecamp. people will narc on you if you violate the rules.






for example, last time there was a guy who pitched his tent a few feet past the property line. he got a warning to move his tent and then got kicked out of the event after failing to do so promptly. I feel like something like that would be less likely at vibecamp, and is imo necessary in the long term to create a safe and trustworthy environment




I'm genuinely trying to have reasonable discussions with people, but I just don't get this sort of thing. The inferential gap here is so large it's hard to fathom how to begin to bridge it. People arguing that it's actually good and healthy to have kids around nude adults they or their parents don't know seem extremely alien to me. Some of these people even have kids, apparently!


Either way, I love the rat/post-rat/EA/tpot scene, I've met many wonderful and awesome people there. Compared to the average normie they're generally intelligent, earnest, kind, and overall fun to hang with. But these sorts of fundamental moral disagreements are why I stopped running a local EA group, and why I just can't identify too strongly with the scene as a whole. I genuinely wish people in these groups had a more traditional sense of morality, a better understanding of boundaries, and generally just cared about Chesterton's fence and second order effects. I hope that these issues don't completely derail the movement (even more, after the FTX poly harem scandal) but I'm not holding my breath. It really is a shame.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Rise of the Steel Minds
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes thank you for the response! I love the ideas here and I hope to flesh them out more in this universe. I definitely want the created beings to be essentially non ambitious, content to do their jobs, and utterly loyal to humanity out of a feeling of duty or obligation or whatever. And of course, pure hatred towards any sort of machine intelligence.


I have thought about traitors too... some sort of Megarachnid race that creates it's own weird hive-mind style thing and decides to ally with the Steel Minds, leading to a horrific war. Anyway yeah it also explains a lack of transhumanism / genetic drift, because as you say once people go too far outside of the "template" of humanity they lose their special status, or something.


In terms of the distinctive attributes, they would be basically immortal, have few needs, and take not much sensory pleasure in things outside of doing their duties and obligations, ideally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah I stayed checked in a little longer, but not too much. You make a good diagnosis of his problems as an author I think.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
About to finish Worth the Candle. It started off incredible, getting a bit lame by the end. Too much focus on narrative, and the relationships / characters are too cringey. It's a shame because it had a ton of potential but I'm still enjoying it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Rise of the Steel Minds
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks! I read that recently and liked it.


Yeah I’ve always been a sucker for fantasy stories wrapped in even a bare suggestion of sci-fi feasibility. I think it leads to some really fun worlds.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Florence and the Machine.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks for the writeup. This is probably my favorite movie of all time, or at least top 3. Incredible story, incredibly acted and directed and scripted. Love it so much.