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Is everything falling apart?

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Re: Is everything falling apart?

#791

Post by unsupp0rted »

Johnny555 wrote: post #462
unsupp0rted wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There definitely can be human civilizations that last indefinitely, so long as we stop keeping all our eggs in one basket, planet-wise. Once we get humans living far enough apart that information about pandemics travels faster than pandemics do, then we should be largely invincible, barring suicide from ennui. The larger our sub-galactic civilization, the more resilient it becomes to things like total war, total poli…

So as long as we do what no society has ever done, society can last forever?

We currently do what no society has ever done every day, and in larger terms every decade.

It's easily conceivable that 100 decades from now we could do this too.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#792

Post by BEEdwards »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #697
judahmeek wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every religion states that the other religions are lies, which means that, at the very least, the majority of religious people believe a lie as a fundamental aspect of their worldview. Thus, you apparently can be genuinely happier if your worldview is based on a lie. Still not worth it.

“ Every religion states that the other religions are lies “ Almost no religions state this, it might be an interesting thought experiment to steel-man your arguments :)

Yeah, that's why they are constantly trying to kill each other...

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#793

Post by cnelsenmilt »

scrubs wrote: post #497
oicU00 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah no doubt; I collate trends into reports for rich investors. Lately they have been focused on youth trends, and some numbers are wacky. 40% point drop in 16 year olds getting a license since the 80s as urbanization puts people closer to stuff and ride share appeared. Youth participation in sports, especially full contact sports, had been going down since before covid which just accelerated it, leading to forec…

I like these points: * We engineered away stability for JIT Yep. It would not kill us to recognize that globalization went 20% too far, and that supply chains in the US is good for us. We also have to deal with the fact that job loss v. cheaper goods has gone too far too. We need to swing back to a more US focused economy. Ex: I recently ordered brakes from a US company. They were out of stock of my model. I asked wh…

It's funny, because this should be a point of crossover for the (populist) left and the right. Basic nationalism on the one hand, "Buy Local" on the other. They all want the same thing, or close to it. The potential for alliance on economic topics like this is so blindingly obvious, and it's so frustrating that it gets derailed by "cultural" sideshows so that no one can talk to each other or realize they have the same interests ultimately.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#794

Post by lbj »

4ggr0 wrote: post #720
ttytg wrote: post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the point you are making, but I feel that using a female pronoun while discussing Thomas being male would have been the more jarring linguistic choice, given the subject.

I know what you mean. But pronouns which relate to social gender can be differentiated from sex/biological gender. To rewrite your original comment, "Lia Thomas, who was born male, was permitted to compete on the basis of her gender identity claims" would be a fine and understandable statement, I think. When talking about the person Lia Thomas, we are talking about a woman. She's Lia Thomas. Yes, she was assigned mal…

Thomas has said himself, that he does not care about pronouns, as long as he gets to destroy women sports, so I don't understand why you're so offended on his behalf.

Having said that, of course he's not a woman. No doctor in the world would disagree with me on that. You're deluded by some kind of ideology which puts even Idiocracy to shame. Snap out of it.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#795

Post by BEEdwards »

imapeopleperson wrote: post #766
pianoben wrote: post #758

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even if one's "guy" is in office, I don't think we feel the same about it the way we did even as recent as Obama, and his administration was when we really began to see the social cracks forming. I really don't see it that way - this isn't at all a new phenomenon. What feels different to me is the intensity and pervasiveness of division, but then again that could be attributed to being more generally aware of thing…

> In my view, our "tribes" broadly descend from pro- vs. anti-slavery camps Fact: George Floyd wouldn’t have died if he didn’t resist arrest. I’m certainly not pro-slavery, and agree people can be racist, but there is certainly something wrong if people can’t openly discuss taboo truths without being slighted as a racist themselves, utterly dismissed, or censored.

So in your "not pro-slavery" view police are allowed to summarily execute people on the street?

That's what your stated "taboo truth" amounts too, it's fine for police to kill people as long as you have judged them worthy of death.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#796

Post by xen2xen1 »

bsenftner wrote: post #347
xen2xen1 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A large number of folks think the world already ended, and we're just waiting on the collapse. That now both on the right and left.

I used to work in film, and every once in a while I get a script to read, passed around because it is "too good to be made". One such script I read about 2 years ago had the premise of an archeological discovery, rapidly verified and with duplicates found all over the world proving "the rapture" happened back in the year 1000 AD. The modern world realizes we're in the 2nd century of the 10,000 year reign of Satan. Al…

That's a great premise, and I say this with years of being pentecostal.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#797

Post by Johnny555 »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #791
Johnny555 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So as long as we do what no society has ever done, society can last forever?

We currently do what no society has ever done every day, and in larger terms every decade. It's easily conceivable that 100 decades from now we could do this too.

It's also easily conceivable that in less than 100 decades from now, global unrest or war will make us regress 100 decades. Climate change in particular is going to cause a lot of problems with feeding people.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#798

Post by imapeopleperson »

pianoben wrote: post #774
imapeopleperson wrote: post #766

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my view, our "tribes" broadly descend from pro- vs. anti-slavery camps Fact: George Floyd wouldn’t have died if he didn’t resist arrest. I’m certainly not pro-slavery, and agree people can be racist, but there is certainly something wrong if people can’t openly discuss taboo truths without being slighted as a racist themselves, utterly dismissed, or censored.

I'm not certain how that bears on what I wrote, and won't comment on it except to say that the American "pro-slavery camp" is not merely a synonym for "racially bigoted" - there's a whole world-view there in which groups of humans are inherently and fundamentally unequal, and in which might makes right, to a certain degree. On your topic of "taboo truths", personally I agree that we ought to be able to discuss things…

I’m trying to illustrate that using racism as a baseline to divide camps of thought is the root cause of the fracturing of society.

For example, I don’t understand how you expect a civil and good faith discussion by first labeling the opposing viewpoint as ‘pro slavery’ at the onset.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#799

Post by mikkergp »

cato_the_elder wrote: post #771
mikkergp wrote: post #738

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s it like to have such strong feelings about gender? I don’t have that, the idea that it’s all just a social construct is so embedded in the way I see the world, I just don’t see how anything about sexuality or biology are immutably connected to gender identity. To me the two are completely divorced from each other.

Interesting, doesn't that Lia Thomas photo [1] make you laugh (or make you angry if you care about college swimming)? [2] > To me the two are completely divorced from each other. Some of it certainly could be. But insisting that it's all just a social construct makes it hard to explain things which are prevalent and similar across different cultures. (e.g. females growing their hair, or them being generally "cleaner"…

I can observe that Gender is one of the strongest social constructs that we have. But I think most of the ideas around them; Men shouldn’t cry, women are better caretakers; are not inherent, they’re a function of inertia. You can probably find more examples of people who don’t fit the mold in one way or the other than people who do.

Also, women not being “woman enough” for sports has been an issue prior to the idea of transition. See Surya Bonaly and Caster Semenya

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#800

Post by [deleted] »

shrimpx wrote: post #498
ravenstine wrote: post #111

Everything is not falling apart, though certain institutions may be falling apart. In America, there's definitely been a breakdown of belief in its own institutions. Far more people are skeptical of things like journalism and Silicon Valley; it really wasn't that long ago that the former was constantly salivating over the latter, but now it's more of an openly vulture-carrion relationship because that caters to publi…

I always thought that the open ability to perform damaging speech against institutions and public figures in the west was “cool” — a major distinguishing factor between free countries and non-free ones. But I was also always a little skeptical of that ability. It seemed ok in small doses, just to prove we can do it. Now we’re grappling with the full import of nonstop destructive speech coming from all sides and being…

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