erwgv3g34
My Quality Contributions:
User ID: 240
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Reminds me of the Charity Centers from "Down And Out In Christania" by AntiDem (and, less optimistically, the terrafoam projects from Manna by Marshall Brain).
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Obligatory link to Gwern's outstanding review of McNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War:
It’s not well-known, but one of the most consistent long-term sponsors of research into intelligence has been the US military. This is because, contrary to lay wisdom that ‘IQ only measures how well you do on a test’ or book-learning, cognitive ability predicts performance in all occupations down to the simplest manual labor; this might seem surprising, but there are a lot of ways to screw up a simple job and cause losses outside one’s area. For example, aiming and pointing a rifle, or throwing a grenade, might seem like a simple task, but it’s also easy to screw up by pointing at the wrong point, requires fast reflexes (reflexes are one of the most consistent correlations with intelligence), memory for procedures like stripping, the ability to read ammo box labels or orders (as one Marine drill instructor noted), and ‘common sense’ like not indulging in ‘practical jokes’ by tossing grenades at one’s comrades and forgetting to remove the fuse - common sense is not so common, as the saying goes. Such men were not even useful cannon fodder, as they were as much a danger to the men around them as themselves (never mind the enemy), and jammed up the system. (A particularly striking non-Vietnam example is the case of one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever, the Port Chicago disaster which killed 320 people - any complex disaster like that has many causes, of course, but one of them was simply that the explosives were being handled by the dregs of the Navy - not even bottom decile, but bottom duo-decile (had to look that one up), and other stations kept raiding it for anyone competent.)
Gregory’s book collates stories about what happened when the US military was forced to ignore these facts it knew perfectly well in the service of Robert McNamara & Lyndon Johnson’s “Project 100,000” idea to kill two birds with one stone by drafting recruits who were developmentally disabled, unhealthy, evil, or just too dumb to be conscripted previously: it would provide the warm bodies needed for Vietnam, and use the military to educate the least fortunate and give them a leg up as part of the Great Society’s faith in education to eliminate individual differences and refute the idea that intelligence is real.
It did not go well.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Try pitching it to BRAVE Books? They are an explicitly conservative and Christian children's book company.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
If you are a single young man who is willing and able to fight, you are probably fine. If you are married with a wife and kids, do you really want them around those people?
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Never ask a man his salary, a woman her ago, or a white nationalist his girlfriend's race, as the meme goes.
On the other hand, Asians are honorary Aryans, something I can only aspire to.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Here in South Florida at least a lot of waitresses are illegal immigrants who don't even get paid any wage at all; tips are literally all they get. If you are already violating labor law by hiring someone, you might as well go all the way.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Seriously? Your advice to someone born in Venezuela or in Mexico is to stay and use their skills to fix their countries? Those places are like San Francisco on steroids. The government stops any value from being built or protected, and if against all odds you do manage to build some wealth it will immediately get stolen from you by the government or by criminals.
Just because it is in our best rational interest to stop them from immigrating doesn't mean it isn't in their best rational interest to try escape from those hellholes. Even if, democracy being what it is, a large enough number of them will turn first world countries into more of the same, much like Californians escaping to Texas and Florida vote for the same policies that made them leave.
From "Policy Debates Should Not Appear One-Sided" by Eliezer Yudkowsky:
Saying “People who buy dangerous products deserve to get hurt!” is not tough-minded. It is a way of refusing to live in an unfair universe. Real tough-mindedness is saying, “Yes, sulfuric acid is a horrible painful death, and no, that mother of five children didn’t deserve it, but we’re going to keep the shops open anyway because we did this cost-benefit calculation.” Can you imagine a politician saying that? Neither can I.
There is no line. There is no path to citizenship for random people.
I don't want infinite immigrants, either, but I've always found it disingenuous the way some people act like their only problem with immigrants is that they are coming in illegally and jumping the queue instead of waiting their turn. The implication is that there is some kind of workable immigration process everyone can apply for and that the only reason not to do so is because you are too impatient to wait a few years or too dismissive of law and authority to bother going through the proper channels.
This is totally false. There is no path to immigration for the vast majority of people. If you support enforcing current immigration law, you support denying millions the chance to live and work in the U.S. for no other reason than they were born outside of it, condemning them to a much worse quality of life in countries full of poverty and violence, and you need to own that.
I support it, because allowing unlimited immigration combined with a welfare state, affirmative action, and NIMB zoning is unsustainable, but I'm not missing the proper mood; I feel bad about it, but it has to be done.
(Caplan would chime in with the keyhole solution of denying the immigrants welfare and civil rights, but he's delusional if he thinks that's politically stable)
You are using the terms in a narrower sense than normal. The Pax Romana is traditionally defined from the ascension Augustus in 27 BC to the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD, 206 years. The Pax Britannica from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the start of World War I in 1914, 99 years. And the Pax Americana from the end of World War II in 1945 until the Current Year, 80 years and counting.
Especially good periods seem to last about a decade; the Roaring Twenties can be dated from the end of World War I in 1918 to the start of the Great Depression in 1929, while the 90s range from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to September 11, 2001. Not sure how to date the 50s, though.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
I'm not sure it would help very much if they could only consume American media; we are not in the times of the Hays Code before the rural purge when media tried to be morally uplifting.
If African immigrants assimilate into ghetto hood culture through rap and hip-hop, or if female immigrants assimilate into the false life plan through romance novels and movies, that's worse than useless.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Any love for fanfic? In increasing order of wordcount:
- Time Braid: "Sakura thought she was a capable kunoichi until she died in the Chuunin Exam. Now she's stuck in a loop, dying again and again while she struggles to understand her strange predicament. How hard can it be to pass one stupid test?" [204k words, complete]
- Luna is a Harsh Mistress: "When Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, she didn't go alone, but with her loyal army. Now they're trapped in an alien environment, with tensions high and the air running out. If they don't work together, their princess will soon be alone after all." [230k words, complete]
- Emperor of Zero: "When a former French Emperor is summoned by a pink-haired girl, the history of Helgekinia is forever changed." [275k words, dead]
- Myou've Gotta be Kidding Me: "An aspiring rationalist gets punted into Equestria - and instead of being turned into a cool griffon, or powerful dragon, or even a standard pony... discovers he is now a milk-cow, part of the herd." [283k words, dead]
- The Moon's Apprentice: "Twilight Sparkle failed her entrance exams for Celestia's school. Worse, she is a danger to both herself and others, resulting in her magic being suppressed. Dreams crushed and now one of the weakest unicorns, a nightmare comes to her." [412k words, complete]
- Message in a Bottle: "Humanity's space exploration ultimately took the form of billions of identical probes, capable of building anything (including astronauts themselves) upon arrival at their destinations. One lands in Equestria. Things go downhill from there." [514k words, complete]
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: "Petunia married a biochemist, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. Then came the Hogwarts letter, and a world of intriguing new possibilities to exploit. And new friends, like Hermione Granger, and Professor McGonagall, and Professor Quirrell." [662k words, complete]
- Changeling Space Program & The Maretian: "The space race is on, and Chrysalis is determined to win it. With an earth pony test pilot and a hive full of brave-but-dim changelings, can she be the first pony on the moon? / Mark Watney is stranded- the only human on Mars. But he's not alone- five astronauts from a magical kingdom are shipwrecked with him." [797k words, complete]
- Purple Days: "From one day to the other, Joffrey Baratheon wakes up a changed man. Far from the spoiled boy-child known to the court of King's Landing, the Joffrey that comes out of his room three days after the death of John Arryn walks with the stride of a veteran commander and leader of men. A scholar, a sea-captain, a general, a lover. This is the story of how he became that man, and how he came to know his purpose through a cycle of endless death and rebirth that saw him explore both his self and the known world from Braavos to Sothoryios and from Old Town to Yi-Ti... and beyond." [810k words, complete]
- To the Stars: "Kyubey promised that humanity would reach the stars one day. The Incubator tactfully refrained from saying too much about what they would find there." [937k words, ongoing]
Film is the archetypal example of higher budget and better tech ruining an artform. High budgets means you can't afford to take risks, so every theatrical release is now a sequel or a remake of an established IP aimed at the lowest common denominator of American and Chinese teenagers. Better tech allowed the masterful animatronics and practical effects of the past to be replaced with green screens and CGI, with disastrous results.
What was the last truly great American movie? Probably the Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Last Samurai. No Country for Old Men is overrated. And the less said about the MCU and the Star Wars sequels, the better.
Worth the Candle is incredible; best novel I've read in years. Unfortunately, Alexander Wales removed it as part of his Amazon publishing deal. Fortunately, it's still on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Have you tried indie games? They really feel a lot more like 90s games than the latest AAA entry in a well-known IP. Some recommendations:
- The Battle for Wesnoth (2003)
- Cave Story (2004)
- Iji (2008)
- Kingdom Rush (2011)
- Kingdom Rush: Frontiers (2013)
- Kingdom Rush: Origins (2014)
- Axiom Verge (2015)
- Deep Sleep Trilogy (2019)
- Don't Escape Trilogy (2019)
- Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive (2019)
The last 3 are on sale right now for $5.28; unless you hate point-and-click horror, it's a steal.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Does pizza count? By now, most people's image of pizza is the American pepperoni style rather than the original Neapolitan Margherita style.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Nope. I can follow the derivation, but there is no way that would have occurred to me in an hour, or however long his class was. Shota Gauss (who sounds like a great Fate character) is smarter than me.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Huh, I just did it like this:
001 + 002 + 003 + ... + 049 + 50 + 100
+ + + +
099 + 098 + 097 + ... + 051
--------------------------------------
100 + 100 + 100 + ... + 100 + 50 + 100
--------------------------------------
100 x 49 + 50 + 100 = 4900 + 150 = 5050
It is truly ridiculous how Hollywood has managed to meme 18 into the canonical age of consent around the world despite it being lower in 39 states and most countries you could mention (Japan: 16, Russia: 16, Canada: 16, UK: 16, Spain: 15, France: 15, Germany: 14) just because that's what it happens to be in California.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Ramona's danger hair definitely classifies her as casual sex material rather than wife material; she is not the kind of girl you bring home to mom.
erwgv3g34
9mo ago
Truly a thinking man's fetish.
I can't tell if you're calling George's words or Tolkien's "cope", but if it's the latter then I think you're mistaken. Tolkien was Catholic, and his setting reflected his beliefs. Death is absolutely a good thing in that framework, because you get to be with God, and that is such a profound joy that all else pales in comparison (even being in an 18-year-old body until the heat death of the universe).
Only because Christians rarely bother to spell out what day-to-day existence in heaven actually means. When they do, it ranges from the boring (eternal rest and praising God) to the pedestrian ("Heaven is a city 15,000 miles square...") to the horrifying (profound joy at being in the glorious presence of God is just religiously flavored wireheading).
Transhumanists sometimes write about what heaven on Earth might look like (Star Trek, The Culture, Friendship is Optimal, etc.) and if we fall short, I don't see the Christians doing any better.
One thing I've noticed in spending time with old people (proper old, not @George_E_Hale lol) is that they are often quite ready to lay down their cares and rest. And the young never quite understand it because they just haven't been through enough of life to get to the point where death seems like a welcome end to things (with some exceptions, like very depressed people). But it's a very real thing, and to be honest I can understand it a lot more now at (almost) 40 than I could at 25.
Well, I'm 35, and I still don't see it; my reasons for being weary of life are all fixable. I'm tired of getting old, but that can be fixed by being eternally 18. I'm tired of watching my friends and family die, but that can be fixed by making them all eternally 18. I'm tired working a job I hate, but that can be fixed by making AIs do all the jobs. I'm tired of having lost the love of my life, but that can be fixed by forking her and modifying the copy just enough that she will want to be with me until the last star grows cold and the universe comes to an end.
You know, simple solutions to simple problems.
Alan Turing was famously chemically castrated by 1950's UK.
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