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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   24690 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026

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I think we’ll invent a new entertainment form of ‘challenge math’ or something where the idea is you try to figure out a proof you haven’t been exposed to competitively even if AI has the answer, and it’ll be like a game. Either way, I really don’t think this is reason to end it.

OTOH, when manuscript traditions and horses went obsolete, we didn't make this stuff major competitions. Calligraphy is now an art form that most people never encounter and horses are a luxury despite the government giving them away for free.

Horse breeding was and is controlled by humans. The dial was simply turned down as demand fell over 50+ years between around 1900 and 1950. Working horse lifespans are maybe 20 years. The human equivalent would, at worst, be something like a one child policy for successive generations and/or cratering birthrates which we already have.

despite the government giving them away for free.

Trump's trying to swing midterms with the "free pony" program again?

No, there’s been a free pony program for a while. The bureau of land management has free ponies if you want one.

You have to go find it yourself for that one though, don't you? Kind of like how there are 'free fish' in Central Park?

(ED: or ducks even)

No, they will literally ship you a free pony that they rounded up in the desert. It causes a public outcry among the sorts of people who keep track of government programs to cry about when they euthanize them or sell them to quebecois butchers.

Huh -- I had heard of permits or whatnot but thought you had to go get the horse yourself -- surely shipping is not included!?

What a country!

(that said I've heard that such horses are pretty impractical to train most of the time, so yeah people are probably eating them or something...)

Plenty of horse-involving sports still

We still use calligraphic scripts ornamentally, right? On books and signage and such.

Though I’m more exposed to East Asia where there is probably more of a calligraphy scene and more calligraphic script (even if printed) as decoration or for style.

There’s cursive script(not the same thing) used ornamentally very heavily, but most people in the west never run into calligraphy. Ever. You can hire an artist to do calligraphy for you if you’d like, but it’s quite rare.

I suppose my background is colouring this, then, especially since I dabble in calligraphy.

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