netstack
Texas is freedom land
No bio...
User ID: 647
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
Yes, at least the child will have a mother figure but you have knowingly taken it away from its actual mother, forever.
I figured they were fighting over that bit: whether or not giving birth is enough to get the special status of “actual mother.” It’s a substantive disagreement but also a definitional one.
Okay, I see what you mean by “instance.”
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
Whoops. The original version of that sentence was
because a chatbot mentioned “socioeconomic conditions”
I understand that you’re suspicious that Grok fell back on PR-speak. I’d suggest that AI is unusually likely to give PR-speak even when there are compelling underlying reasons.
I don’t think vaccine risk is zero
Right, but if you’re scaling based off the COVID vaccine risk, I think you’re going to get an overestimate. At the same time, you’re definitely rounding the benefits down because you don’t see how your kid might be exposed. So I guess I’m arguing both ends. 40+ years of clinical data across a lot of the planet means the Hep B shots are safer than most medicine. But it’s not eradicated, and having the immunity gives your child more options regarding the medical profession and even foreign travel. I think a similar logic holds for the other differences from Denmark’s schedule.
For what it’s worth, my personal opinion is more about the categorical imperative. If everyone refused on free-rider grounds, the world would be a much worse place. Even if it was only your particular social stratum, you could do serious damage to our herd immunity. Vaccine risks are linear with number of people. Epidemics, though, are exponential.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
…how so?
It looks more like someone giving a counter example to a proposed definition. Nor does it say anything about the general principle of conservatism.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
Funny. I have the complete opposite problem. To me, the adopter is obviously the “actual mother,” and merits all the accolades and judgments we heap upon a woman who raises her own child.
I can see how the transactional part is unsavory in the same way that I might find an imperial harem objectionable. Commoditizing anything reproductive gets my hackles up. But that’s still not an objection to the legitimacy of adoption.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
I don’t think eugenics had a single policy miss. With the technology of the day, basically every eugenic intervention was draconian. There was no PGS, no embryo selection. Governments settled for banning miscegenation and sterilizing undesirables.
The big exception would be immigration restrictions. I’d say those are still widely accepted with some caveats.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4mo ago
I’m also going to ask you to reconsider.
I realize I may have little credibility with you. Maybe this comes across like those cave diver signs. But I seriously think there’s nothing on this hill worth dying for. You’re accepting a mild risk for literally zero benefit.
The main differences between our and Denmark’s schedules appear to be COVID, Hep A and B, rotavirus, and varicella. I could make cases for most of those. Rotavirus is vaccinated in most countries; I don’t know why Denmark declined. Varicella has lower uptake, either because of cost or because it’s risky when only children are covered. On the other hand, I had it as a small child. It sucked, I still have a couple minor scars, and I get to be at risk for shingles in the future.
We’ve given ~84% of children immunity to Hep B worldwide. Between that and Universal Precautions, your child will probably be fine without such immunity. Though it’ll still be wise if he or she goes into medicine, works with the less fortunate, or wants to visit Africa or Southeast Asia. And it’s generally better to be prepared.
These vaccines aren’t novel. Everything except the COVID shots has been on our schedule since 2001. We have had decades to learn about potential side effects. We’ve also had significant political shifts. Assuming that it’s all fake and gay because of the Current Thing is a mistake. Assuming such because of a chatbot’s medical opinions is worse.
Skip the COVID shots if you want, especially if you don’t have any old or obese relatives watching the kids. But please stick with the rest of the standard schedule.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Never heard of it, but it sounds like a hookup app for Catholics.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
I'll be damned. I figured Napoleon III was too busy worrying about the Prussians to go after the colonies. That alone makes this more plausible.
Speaking of Prussia, what happened to Wilhelms I and II? Did Germany unify and end France's continental ambitions? Did we get any world wars?
I think those determine the fate of British and French colonies more than anything else. Depending on how the late 1800s go, you might even manage to dodge macro-scale communism, too.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
It took me faaaar too long to realize how poorly Hearts of Iron's AI handles convoys. I can't imagine what it's mangling on the less visible fronts.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
What, no love for Deep Purple?
edit: wow Golden Brown does not scan well at all. Agonizing.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Okay, there's a local radio station which does user suggestions on Sunday nights, and I think I have my submission.
Previously I was going to go for something more folksy.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Less sneering, please. Regardless of how you feel about the order, you should be civil about it.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
I was actually thinking of pulp magazines. But yeah, there was definitely some demand for word counts.
I suppose I don’t actually know what the common pricing models were for whole novels in the 1800s and 1900s.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
The physical media of film made their runtimes readily available, and purchasers had a vested interest in learning that information since they were scheduling showings or programming.
Neither really held for books prior to the word processor. Well, maybe for pay-by-the-word magazine authors.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Yes and no.
It’s a different approach to triggering the sense of “coolness” which underlies a lot of fiction genres.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Nah, the Silmarillion is still closer to wuxia.
The strongest heroes are still credibly threatened by a sufficiently large pile of orcs. Their greatest deeds are fundamentally mortal achievements, not cosmic ones, with one exception: the creation of the Silmarils.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Yeah, getting hit with a VD is a natural fear at plenty of college parties.
And I can’t wait to accuse other posters of promoting prostitution!
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Do you know where I can read such an updated 40MC translation?
I started it ages ago and was enjoying the premise, but wow.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
There’s a difference between strategy and reflex. I think what you’re seeing from Hollywood is the latter. Mass media hasn’t yet come to terms with the fact that it’s Balkanizing.
Producers want to be culturally relevant. Audiences want to feel like they’re witnessing the next big thing. Both are measuring success by the moviegoing culture of their childhoods. Neither has adapted to the realities of modern movie distribution, which has made movies much more accessible but also softened their cultural impact.
The easiest way for producers to defend their egos (and budgets) is cherry-picking. Conveniently, technology has also increased the accessibility of reviews, diluting the influence of movie critics. As it turns out, it’s much easier to discredit Internet randos than critics with skin in the game. “Racism” is occasionally a convenient way to gerrymander a line around the loudest critics of a film.
Audiences buy in whenever it is in their own interest. The obvious examples are all-female reboots and 80s nostalgia grabs, but I’ll add another genre: the Christian drama. It doesn’t matter if Fireproof is critically panned; it fills a market niche. They’ve got their own awards and their own box-office success.
Hollywood doesn’t want to play to that model because it spent so long as the cultural touchstone. Hence, racism.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
5mo ago
Couldn’t say. In a rare exercise of self-awareness, I never actually told a doubter to stick with it through Arc 8. But if someone had read that far and then asked if it were going to get better, I’d confidently tell them no.
Worm had me from the beginning. It was also my gateway from Potter fanfic to a broader world of rationalfic, and then the LessWrong and Scott spheres. So I guess I was pretty invested.
I do think it had the Tvtropes page that said something like, “for those skeptical of high school fiction, it quickly moves on to the far more pleasant setting of a bombed-out city.”
Hey, we’re talking about opioids, not PCP!
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