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Capital_Room

rather dementor-like

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joined 2023 September 18 03:13:26 UTC

Disabled Alaskan Monarchist doomer


				
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Capital_Room


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
rather dementor-like

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2023 September 18 03:13:26 UTC
				


				
					

					
Disabled Alaskan Monarchist doomer



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


because unlike manhood, it’s not something you have to achieve.




Sperm is cheap, eggs are expensive, lactation more expensive, and placental pregnancy yet more expensive still. Women are precious to the tribe, automatically, by nature; while men are the expendable sex, and have to earn their "value." Such has it always been, such will it always be.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Like we could say that 100% of mass shootings are done by someone holding a gun and it sounds scary and intense. That's also a completely factual point because they couldn't do the mass shooting without a gun.




I was thinking, too, that this figure was indeed tautological… and then I thought about it a bit more, and maybe not. I mean, it's plausible someone someone could shoot and kill four or more people in a single incident with a crossbow…


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you; that does indeed clarify what was previously too vague.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Sam Hyde has some advice about this.




And that would be…?


(I mean, this is totally vague — you don't even have a link — how is it not "low effort"?)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Man, I didn't think anyone else but me has read those. Yes, this was my absolute favorite series when I was a kid.




I also read the series as a kid, and while it wasn't my favorite, I enjoyed it.


I also haven't seen anyone mention the book that was my favorite read as a kid — enough I wore out my first paperback copy and had to buy a second — which also had a female author and was first in a fantasy-with-some-SF-elements (some might call it the other way around) series (not to mention more than one less-than-good film adaptation by Disney): Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.


(I still get a chill rereading the passage when Meg finally sees IT.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


What else would even be the point?




To destroy enemy centers of power.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not sure what you're referring to here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 18, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This. Very much this. It's why I can't stand listening to Eric Weinstein's nonsense about "new physics" and string theory being a government plot. There's not really much room left for the sort of radical revolutionary outcomes the UFOlogist types insist on.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, for my own history, getting assigned Strunk and White when I first got to Caltech was a good start, though I agree with the critics as to its tendency to being out of date, some clear hypercorrection in its linguistic prescriptivism, and the more style-oriented parts being not great outside of the formal academic context. From there, it's mostly just been reading lots and lots of linguistics papers.


I also know that several of my peers in high school learned several important bits of English grammar — including, for a few of them, the basic parts of speech — from taking Spanish class.


So the key, really, is to find things that, for one or another element of grammar, lay out something like 'this is how English does this versus how other languages do it.' Like that we use attributive nouns like every other Germanic language (and unlike the Romance languages), but are rather unique in mostly keeping spaces between the nouns: like "motor vehicle liability insurance" versus German * Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung*. Or else, those that cover historical evolution of the language: 'this is how Modern English does this versus how Middle English did it.'


Actually, some of the more introductory articles on Wikipedia for various grammatical categories aren't too terrible as a starting place, particularly for things like tense-aspect-mood and phrasal verbs (which is why you sometimes can end a sentence with a preposition, and "This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put" is an incorrect hypercorrection).


As for the rule of dialogue, there's any number of places to find it pointed out that the actual rule is against having two or more different people speaking in the same paragraph, not that there must be a paragraph break at the start of each sentence where a different person speaks — or worse, at the start of each quotation even mid-sentence. (This last is why I mostly avoid reading webfiction.)


(And the vocative comma shouldn't go away, because it's the difference between "let's eat, Grandma," and "let's eat Grandma.")


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Does anyone else get annoyed when they see someone complain about "grammar mistakes" that aren't actually mistakes, where this is mostly a product of the complainer's overly-simplified understanding of language rules (usually due to poor education)? Whether it's the incredibly-frequent egregious misunderstandings of the rule of paragraph breaks in dialogue, total failure to recognize the (admittedly dying) subjunctive mood, or mistaking an imperfective-aspect dependent clause in a past-tense sentence for a "mistaken" switch to present tense (because English grammarians refer to the active participle as the "present participle"), I keep finding myself getting quite irritated.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


On the one hand, replacing every American with a higher-IQ Chinese or Indian person might raise the GDP by 15%, but it's weird to say to say it would be good for "America."




I've seen people who would argue this, in two different types. First, there's the open borders set; the sort who, when someone talks about how current trends will, say, destroy France, respond with "What, is it going to sink into the ocean? Iberia will be turned into an island somehow?" To them, "America", or any other country, is just a chunk of land, an arbitrary geographic division marked by "imaginary lines," utterly independent of the people living on it. That the job of a country's government is to provide administration for the Universal Human Rights, both "negative" and "positive", of all people within its particular arbitrary domain, without discrimination — they have a duty to treat equally everyone who happens to be living there in any given moment, regardless of how long they've been there, or any arbitrary fiction like "citizenship." Further, their view generally sees the existence of separate countries as a historical mistake, a remnant of the xenophobia of our ancestors, who failed to see past superficial cultural differences to our universal humanity, and thus drew borders instead of politically unifying into a larger and larger multicultural polity that would come to embrace all humanity; and thus that existing nations should at the very least, in practice, be reduced to mere administrative subdivisions of a de facto or de jure one-world government.


(There's also a slightly more libertarian-leaning technocratic subset, who see the duty of the state's administration as less about the welfare state, and more about maximizing their territory's GDP. A corporation's leadership has a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, thus, if a CEO thinks firing the entire workforce of the company and replacing them with new hires will make it more profitable, he isn't just allowed to do so, he's required. Analogously, if a government thinks replacing the "legacy" population of the country with immigrants will increase total GDP, well then, 'line goes up equals world more gooder.')


Then there's the people who would reject the idea for other countries, but would make the case for America specifically, because the USA is not like other countries — "America" is an idea. America is a system of government, laid down by the Founders (some argue via divine inspiration), and enshrined in the (sacred) Constitution. Wherever those ideals exist, there is "America." So, yes, you can replace every American with a higher-IQ Chinese or Indian person, but so long as the structures of the federal government remain, so long as the Constitution is still there, then it's still "America."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Western democracies are designed to make it difficult for politicians to directly control the judiciary.




Which is yet another reason "Western democracy" needs to go. Bring in an Augustus who will solve this swiftly and decisively.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Has there been a non-Baltic Western state




Did you mean non-Balkan — meaning to hold the breakup of Yugoslavia as an exception — or did you really mean non-Baltic? Because I'm not familiar with any of the Baltic states having "dissolved."


Because you really shouldn't confuse those two.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think I found this on themotte but forgot the poster




I know I, for one, referenced it (indirectly) here eight months ago, but other people have probably mentioned it on the Motte as well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It seems like there are still pockets of competence to be found and an increasing motivation to overcome short term political obstacles and create some robust institutions




Increasing motivation does not imply increasing ability. It doesn't matter how much people want to overcome the political obstacles if those obstacles are totally insurmountable. And it looks to me like they are just that.




I think that even in the worst case scenarios of the U.S. FedGov starting to collapse, state governments are capable of acting as a backstop.




I disagree. First, because as FedGov starts to collapse, one of the highest priorities for uses of its fading power will be to crush any and all rivals, particularly state governments. And even without that, well, it might just be me looking at the government of my state, but I don't see this capacity.




If Starship is successful and we get some orbital infrastructure, its JUST possible we can get some self-sufficient or semi-self sufficient off-world communities.




I attended talks by the Mars Society back at Caltech in the early aughts, so I'm far from unfamiliar with the topic of space settlement — and the barriers involved. Barring some miracle, I don't see us getting any kind of long-term off-world presence of biological humans, let alone "semi-self sufficient communities" in the next hundred years.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I can understand why most republican policy is in the best interest of republicans, but I'm honestly stumped on this. Is it legitimately just ideological consistency? A willingness to suffer to Do The Right Thing?




I'd say it's that, despite all the talk of MAGA having wholly taken over the Republican party, much of the institutional core of the party is still the "what's good for Wall Street is good for Main Street" crowd. As someone in a several-hour-long Youtube video (on the county-level political map for Congressional elections, every two years, from the end of WWII to the turn of the century, with a focus on how, once you set aside the highly-granular and variable presidential elections — particularly the Reagan landslide — the South didn't really stop voting (D) until the 90s, as all the old "Dixiecrats" finally died, and the new generation of Dems were abandoning the working class for the professional managerial class and minorities) I once watched said, "the Republican Party was founded as the party of New England banking interests… and that's what it always will be."


I also recall, but can't find again, an interview with a GOP campaign strategist who got a bit too candid with the interviewer and ended up saying something to the effect that Republican candidates already know that their job is to make empty promises to working class rubes to get elected, then deliver for the "donor class" instead once in office, so his job, as strategist, is to help the politicians lie to those flyover rubes more effectively.


Both party elites are elites — while only Hilary may have said it openly, plenty of the top people in both parties consider blue-collar rural whites "deplorables" — R's are just the ones more reliant on winning their votes, and thus given more incentive to hold their noses and pander.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Even in that case, you can easily satisfy yourself using hookers. According to quick AI search the prices ranges from $20 per hour for street hookers to around $150 for average escort to $300 plus for high end hooker in USA.




This fails to "price in" the associated legal risks — reputational damage, arrest, fines, jail time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think the subset of the human species that has the necessary skills to achieve interplanetary spaceflight is probably going to figure something out in time.




What is your basis for concluding this? Because as I look at things, my view is that we most likely won't. (It seems to me like humanity has already peaked back in the late 20th century, things will never be that good again, and it's all downhill from here.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


non-human persons




Is there such a thing? I mean, AIUI, unless you're talking about the legal construct that is the "legal personhood" of things like corporations (and I don't think you are), modern US law says humanity is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for personhood; and, also AIUI, most countries aren't much different. (I've seen this discussed in the context of legal issues surrounding potential future contact with intelligent alien life, including the claim that the branch of the US Federal government with the proper legal authority over such contact would be the Fish and Wildlife Service.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Let the people who are of sound mind and have a stable commitment to end their lives




Except I've seen plenty of people argue that these are completely mutually exclusive — a "commitment to end one's own life" being itself proof positive of an unsound mind. I once had a therapist argue, in all seriousness, that the 47 Rōnin must have been clinically depressed — along with every other samurai who ever committed seppuku — because suicidal intent always means depression, without exception.


This can be used to turn your proposal to a clear Catch-22: you can kill yourself via "legalized but regulated" suicide so long as you're of sound mind… but the fact you're seeking to do so proves you aren't — the only people allowed to kill themselves, then, are those who don't want to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm confident we'll 'figure it out' because the drive to reproduce and the forces of natural selection are not going to give in so easily.




Who is "we" in this context, who are going to figure it out? The human species… sure, this (alone, at least) probably won't result in the total extinction of *H. sapiens. Societies capable (and willing) to maintain post-Industrial Revolution tech levels? I'm not so sure. The West? Even less sure.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


deeply oppressive traditional cultures more generally- have a lot of supporting social structures which are much harder to generate de novo.




On the one hand, yes, this. It's why the atheist Confucian Xunzi is rather more conservative than many of his contemporaries — social technologies are a fragile inheritance, the accumulated wisdom and social capital of centuries, and are not easily regained (if they can be regained at all) once lost. I, too, find myself frustrated by people who act as if generating such institutions de novo is trivial or easy.


But on the other hand, the second best time to plant a tree and all that. Sure, working to rebuild all those social structures is, again, a multi-generational project requiring a lot of hard work and sacrifice… but what's the alternative?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
"Sounds like someone's grandma" and "so offensive, it'll get you labelled as an misogynist and people will vanish at the speed of light" are not mutually-exclusive categories — far from it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


They have to realize the error of their ways and make efforts to fix them.




And if they, "the the dopamine-hacked", collectively don't realize the error of their ways?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


How do you all interact with LLMs?




I, for one, pretty much don't. I've never really figured out how — I'm not signing up for anything, let alone paying for something — or what webpage to even go to. But then, that's probably because I don't see any reason for me to put much effort into doing so, because I can't see any use for them in my life.