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Texas is freedom land

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joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
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Texas is freedom land

				
				
				

				

					9 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Do you remember the last time you were warned for toeing this particular line?


Yeah, you’re crossing it.


Unlike your extensive history of high-effort, high-quality comments on political polarization, there’s nothing here. Nothing to engage with, nothing to discuss. It’s snarling at best and a call to action at worst.


I’m going to go with a one-day ban pending discussion with the team.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Pyscho-Pass S01E01 - S01E03: The Social Credit System
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, it’s not an accusation. I just wanted Robert to know he had some things right.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Please review our rules. See also the top of this thread:




Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.




This is not a place to rant about how much you hate some group. It’s not a place for framing them in the worst possible light and stoking up outrage. Be polite. Be clinical. Describe people in ways they might reasonably describe themselves.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Pyscho-Pass S01E01 - S01E03: The Social Credit System
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He did elide quite a bit.


First, even though Psycho-Pass always uses the term “crime,” I believe we only see it predicting violence. I don’t actually know whether this is an in-universe distinction or a directorial one. Either way, the scanners don’t seem to predict things like harassment or conspiracy or covering for a criminal. It’s more like they measure how close one is to snapping and killing their neighbors.


Second, shooting isn’t the only recourse. We just see a lot of it because this is an action show about a SWAT team staffed by thoughtcriminals. Most of the pre-crime is handled by of Friend Computer telling people to take a week off work while the Prozac ramps up. I would expect anyone who got too worked up about shunning latent criminals to get their own scan


Third, the system absolutely does not work as described. There are a variety of exploits, usually technological. I think the factory thing was only possible because the workers were usually out of sensor coverage?But there’s one big exception which drives a lot of the plot. It’s revealed fairly early that some people are outright immune to the system and will show near-0 threat to all scanners. Including the ones that disengage police weapon safeties.


Fourth, seriously, it doesn’t work as described. It’s blatantly agentic because it’s made up of the aforementioned immune people, only transplanted into brain-jars. This is unapologetically treated as the lesser of two evils. I kind of hate it but it’s also kind of unique? At least it avoids the laziest sort of “greater good”.




Broke: only a purely rational panopticon can fix society

Woke: any sufficiently firm hand would decimate all the actual movers and shakers

Bespoke: only a council of disembodied psychopaths can fix society




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t think this is strictly true. Especially not for somebody as motivated as Scott. His “Bay Area House Party” series is parody, but San Francisco is ridiculously high-variance. It attracts all sorts of weirdos, especially if they’re making a lot of money.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
After seeing Scott’s suggestion, I was thinking along similar lines.


Consider the bill of attainder. The English occasionally used these to strip rebel lords of their lands and legal protections. When we rebelled, we specifically banned Congress from doing anything of the sort. Clearly, the Constitution didn’t want a few dozen (or, today, a few hundred) people to hold such a power.


How would a smaller group be any better?


I don’t think the outlaw status is compatible with a system founded on “certain unalienable rights.” At least not our particular set. We haven’t drifted so far from the founding ethos that we’d throw that away for one edge case.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
When Scott was taking Moldbug that seriously, I don’t think he was living next door. The whole point of the Internet is that discourse happens at turbo-speed regardless of distance.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, I guess I’ll take over for @Dean’s Zakalwe.


What’s the timeline? Next week? Next month?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks. This is definitely a disastrous position. I see what you mean.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


ferberizing




Looking up this term has convinced me that any research related to child rearing is absolutely insane. This should be the easiest thing to test. Instead, every article I saw was either unabashedly pro- or anti-Ferber, and bent over backwards to explain why the lack of clinical evidence supports their position. Then they go back to evo-psych.


(For what it’s worth, it probably works, so the pro-side actually has studies to cite.)


This is like reverse Gell-Mann amnesia. Maybe every field looks like this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I agree that cartels and international terrorists are bad comparisons. I’m trying to say that the Elks are also a terrible comparison.


The gap between “zero” and “200” is huge! There is a categorical difference between a club that refuses minorities and one that occasionally goes out and kills them pour encourageur les autres. Not incidental protests turned violent, not even organized patrols spoiling for a fight, but actual, premeditated murder. Putting them in the same category as some xenophobic philanthropists is doing the latter a disservice.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Can you name any other organizations that get close to 200 murders a year?


By your standard, most organizations mostly do nothing. They prefer legally and socially defensible activities like fundraising and complaining on Twitter. The big exceptions are outright criminal gangs where violence is instrumental.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
https://youtube.com/watch?v=PobQzVsj7GE


I didn't find the context, but yeah, on the campaign trail.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
More effort than this, please.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m…not sure there’s enough here for a top-level. What did you take away from this? Do you think this guy is right? Is that a good or a bad thing?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No, it’s not?


One guy is speaking for himself, maybe for his friends and family. The other is speaking for his outgroup. Even though they’re both claiming to explain leftists, their approaches are completely different.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Please don’t antagonize other users. If you’ve got to block them, go for it, but skip the flouncing.


For what it’s worth, I thought your original response was very well-put, and I hope you stick around.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You’ve really got to bring something to the table other than a rambling complaint about your outgroup. I guess it’s more restrained than the last time, so I’m going to go with a three day ban.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m not up to date on it. Was there a pivot after BLM? Or are you referring to the popularity of bodycam footage among a subset of the right wing?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And I notice that I usually hear the “prosperity gospel” argument made by people living extremely comfortable lives. Does this mean people who actually experience good things tend to find meaning in them?


Conversely, dead nonbelievers can’t really write books.


I don’t believe that the existence of traumatized converts says much about the rate of conversion. It definitely doesn’t show that they were right.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You could use that to justify anything.


I think models with epicycles are strictly inferior to models which don’t need them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


This rests on an implicit understanding / expectation that 'reason' / God's Plan should result in good things / not-having bad things in life, including not dying.




I think this is a common if not universal understanding, yes. It’s a corollary to giving Him credit whenever those good things happen.


I understand that there’s a theological motte where the praise is for His goodness in designing the world that included such temporal happiness, or that He only chooses such interventions insofar as they bring glory to His Church. I don’t believe this is what the average, lay Christian thinks when he wins a lottery ticket. You raise people on an entire Old Testament of transactional worship, a New Testament of miracles benefiting Christians, and two millennia of Whig history? They’re going to see God’s hand in worldly matters.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Speak plainly. Make your objections clear.


There’s nothing wrong with including a link to support an argument, but you actually have to make the argument first.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for April 15, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
hold up do any militaries achieve that last one? They’re not getting it from exercises. I guess OCS and the specialist schools are filters for personality traits that might signal competence. But it’s not like they’re anonymous, and they definitely don’t keep sending officers back to Ft. Benning every time they’re up for promotion.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for April 15, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think it sounds rad. Like an alternate-universe set of Metal Gear Solid sequels.


Little bit of Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Dead, too. Makes sense as it’s like cyberpunk but for necromancers.


Act III might be a bad fit for a game since it relies on taking away player agency, at least until the final decision. Visions of the Mass Effect “Reapers go away” buttons, except in that series, your character has always been making a difference. There’s a real risk of not just nihilism, but unfun nihilism. I remember almost dropping A Fire Upon the Deep, despite its amazing premises, because of how bleak it felt for the protagonists to run and run with no expectation of a turn. This kind of plot can be done, but it’s not trivial!


I can’t think of much mainstream fiction which handles that sort of AI race plot. Maybe Marathon approaches it on a very fantastical, seed-that-instantiates-the-AI level. Reminiscent of Hyperion Cantos, I guess.


For less mainstream stuff, uh.


    

  • Animorphs: the reckoning. The fact that fic of a children’s series veers into AI value alignment is, like, several layers of spoiler.
    • 

  • Pokemon: the Origin of Species, ditto. Actually, it might be spoilers that it dips into organized conspiracy territory, too.
    • 

  • The World as it Appears to Be, a bizarre Overwatch fic. I don’t even like Overwatch, but this was unreasonably interesting. Probably the closest to your Act 2/3 plot.
    • 

  • Ra, by qntm. Double extra plus spoilers that this one involves AI at all.
    • 



I’d say these are all amazing on their own merits, but I have weird taste. For all I know you’ve already read half of them if you hang out on /r/rational. I also never read any of the Twilight or Madoka Magica rationalfics, which have a good chance of conspiratorial AI takeoff plots.