The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

Post by Noughmad » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:14 PM UTC

lewhoo wrote: post #104

vpribish wrote: post #88

"Don't let your mind speak louder than your heart" - I think many have this so very wrong. Is support for fascism is a sensible, logical, well-thought-out policy? No, it's a heart-felt, emotional appeal to scared, proud, paranoid, crude, brutal people (who seem to be about half of our neighbors). surely the mindful decision is empathetic, constructive, and wise - not just base.

I don't think it's so simple. Support for fascism can seem sensible and logical if you let yourself think that between you and greatness stands a minority whose sole purpose is to prevent you from becoming great. You could argue it's not emotion but a calculation coming from struggle and an easy explanation for that struggle. Not every wrong assumption comes from emotion and we have the whole history of science to pr…

Post by riku_iki » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:14 PM UTC

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #99

riku_iki wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we may be too often missing the important part of being a decent human being. "decent human being" is too vague and easily manipulated term, so it could be better to follow hard metrics and data.

> "decent human being" is too vague and easily manipulated term, I don't think so. I believe the most common conclusions about what defines a decent human being are good ones. That is, the qualities that come to mind most naturally and frequently are truly benevolent. Because they are defaults, they outlast efforts to slant and curate understanding.

Post by squigz » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:16 PM UTC

MichaelZuo wrote: post #6

dimitrios1 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is more indicative of where one chooses to spend most of their time online.

It applies to HN too, the vast majority of comments probably don't have more than, at most, a few minutes of serious, focused, thinking behind them. And with how good LLMs nowadays, probably a numerical majority don't even contain anything worth noting.

Post by Noughmad » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:20 PM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #57

noah_buddy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t think of a single fact on its own that presents any danger. If anything, facts through the lens of ideology may become dangerous, but data on its own is like technology. Neutral without application, good or evil depending on situation.

Hypothetically if the world's scientists were to all prove that blacks were inferior to whites, what good would come out of that? I can't think of a single good thing that would come from that- the world would be worse for knowing such a fact.

Post by csdvrx » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:22 PM UTC

sericmotomoto wrote: post #33

superfunny wrote: post #5

Perhaps a better way to phrase this is "We think too much and care too little" - feelings, by themselves, are not some fountain of wisdom and insight. You can have feelings of revulsion or repulsion, feelings of disgust and anger. Feelings are ephemeral and easily manipulated.

But the same applies to caring, don't you think? You and all the others (not me tho ;]) can - and indeed do - care about anything. Caring, I believe, is just as ephemeral and easily manipulated and to some degree the result of emotions and input. Emotions on drugs are always a wonderful example, and people who keep going back to that guy who always has cocaine, which is of course, meant literally and figuratively. Ch…