Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is your opinion on this quote? “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
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Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
221–230 of 264 posts
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#222I'm an atheist, but most of what I have heard from popes in recent years seems like sound and possibly needed advice. Also, even though I feel AI and robotics are very important for progressing humanity, I think that much of the world has long since lost a proper sense of intrinsic human value. It's really gone from overt exploitation to slightly more mild exploitation where we pretend the system is really merit base…
This is a great point, further to your point on AI. Another perhaps worse offender is our focus on "the economy", at times the focus is always on "what about the economy?!" Forgetting "the economy" is merely a tool intended to improve the human condition. Sometimes I feel people lose sight of this original intention, be it unintentional or otherwise.
/Forgetting "the economy" is merely a tool intended to improve the human condition
Paraphrasing and old soviet joke -- and I also saw the human whose condition it improves
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
When it’s necessary for the pope to tell the orange one to calm down about wiping out a civilisation, you know things are bad.
Are you talking about the 40 years of 'death to America, death to Israel' calls from the Islamic Republican of Iran? The same regime that bragged 'we defeated/destroyed Persian culture/civilization' when they took over Iran?
Iran's prior government was a US-supported monarchy and torture regime, with Israel also credibly accused of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing, rape and torture. Arab resentment of American and Israeli occupation is justified much in the same way as the occupied Raj demanding death to Britain.
Today, the Likud regime recycles this same language specifically to foment racial violence in occupied territory, which should be sanctioned by America but isn't: https://www.jta.org/2026/05/14/israel/death-to-arabs-chanted...
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Ah yes, the total failure of checks notes 5 million copies of Slay the Spire 2 sold. Let it go. It's not healthy. Witch hunts like this are not helping anyone with anything, other than influencer grifters.
>Ah yes, the total failure of checks notes 5 million copies of Slay the Spire 2 sold.
You forgot these gems:
+-----------------------+------+--------------------+---------------------+
| Game / Publication | Year | Estimated Loss | Layoffs / Fallout |
+-----------------------+------+--------------------+---------------------+
| Concord | 2024 | ~$400,000,000 | Studio Closed |
| Suicide Squad: KTJL | 2024 | ~$200,000,000 | 50%+ of QA Cut |
| Skull & Bones | 2024 | ~$150M - $200M | Heavy Global Cuts |
| Star Wars Outlaws | 2024 | ~$100M - $150M | Massive Studio Cuts |
| Hyenas | 2023 | ~$100,000,000 | 240+ Staff Cut |
| Saints Row | 2022 | ~$100,000,000 | Studio Closed |
| Highguard | 2026 | ~$80M - $100M | Studio Closed |
+-----------------------+------+--------------------+---------------------+
| MEDIA & JOURNALISM STATUS UPDATES |
+-----------------------+------+--------------------+---------------------+
| Game Informer | 2024 | Brand Dissolved | Shuttered by Owner |
| Polygon | 2025 | Sold / Gutted | Mass Editorial Cuts |
| Eurogamer Network | 2026 | Multi-Wave Cuts | Core Teams Laid Off |
| Giant Bomb | 2025 | Dismantled | Core Talent Left |
| Inverse & The Verge | 2026 | Verticals Closed | Sections Abolished |
| Launcher (Wash. Post) | 2023 | Verticals Closed | Division Shut Down |
+-----------------------+------+--------------------+---------------------+
See the last two columns? Those are rookie numbers, we gotta pump those numbers up till we send them all to Doordash and Chili's, then the gaming industry can start to heal.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Human value has rarely existed. Pre-industrial world didn't have much human value. Your were a lord or a serf. There was not much in between. A lord's life had value, a serf's value was nothing. Post-industrial world needed human capital. Hence, the need for human value. If you notice most of this "need" has arisen out of then need for industrial expansion. Post-AI will be interesting. Will we go back to pre-industri…
> Pre-industrial world didn't have much human value. Your were a lord or a serf. There was not much in between. A lord's life had value, a serf's value was nothing. Not true. Serfs had rights that varied a lot between societies and over time. Religions mostly teach a value of human life, and Christianity teaches equal value: "when Adam devlved and Eve span who was then the gentleman", or "the first shall be last and…
In fact, the value of those lives - in terms of their souls - was quite explicitly equal. Numerous pieces of Momento Mori and Apocalyptic artwork reinforced the notion that beggars, nobles, and even popes would appear equally before Jesus for a moral judgment, with the same chance to be found worthy or damnable.
And "the Conqueror Worm" would make sure all of them faced the same afterlife treatment, whether they were buried in silks or naked in a pauper's grave.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Human value has rarely existed. Pre-industrial world didn't have much human value. Your were a lord or a serf. There was not much in between. A lord's life had value, a serf's value was nothing. Post-industrial world needed human capital. Hence, the need for human value. If you notice most of this "need" has arisen out of then need for industrial expansion. Post-AI will be interesting. Will we go back to pre-industri…
The concept of fundamental human rights is certainly new, but our notion of intrinsic human value (and intrinsic value of other life and things) arises from our empathy, which at least in its degree is perhaps our most important defining trait as a species. (Our empathy may have been a prerequisite for the emergence of our intelligence.) Conflating the two is why some people have trouble understanding why religions l…
Dogs show empathy towards not only dogs and humans, but even baby birds and rabbits - animals which one would expect to be viewed as pure caloric units, sans empathy.
Whales show empathy towards their young, and towards humans.
Male "loner" lions have been known to show empathic protection toward human and antelope young in the bush.
It's increasingly hard to define a clear difference between Humans and "mere Animals"; empathy is emphatically not a clear difference.
To date, fear of vacuum cleaners may well be the only known difference.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you talking about the 40 years of 'death to America, death to Israel' calls from the Islamic Republican of Iran? The same regime that bragged 'we defeated/destroyed Persian culture/civilization' when they took over Iran?
Iran's prior government was a US-supported monarchy and torture regime, with Israel also credibly accused of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing, rape and torture. Arab resentment of American and Israeli occupation is justified much in the same way as the occupied Raj demanding death to Britain. Today, the Likud regime recycles this same language specifically to foment racial violence in occupied territory, which shoul…
What does that have to do with the Islamic Republic's bragging of conquering/ending Persian civilization in the name of Islam? A group should not celebrate conquering/ending a civilization. Especially so called religious leaders.
Iran is not Arab and is not occupied by Israel.
In your second statement you seem to callout the behavior, yet you defend it in the first? Calling for the death of random societal/structural groups, be that entire countries/societies, ethnic group, etc, is unacceptable behavior. It is especially unacceptable when it is done by powerful political leaders. It is outright evil when it is done by religious leaders.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#228I'm an atheist, but most of what I have heard from popes in recent years seems like sound and possibly needed advice. Also, even though I feel AI and robotics are very important for progressing humanity, I think that much of the world has long since lost a proper sense of intrinsic human value. It's really gone from overt exploitation to slightly more mild exploitation where we pretend the system is really merit base…
> I feel AI and robotics are very important for progressing humanity Why? And what does “progressing” mean, exactly? I’m not trying to be combative or flippant, I’m genuinely asking because the rest of your comment is a great argument for the opposite view. I’d argue humanity will “progress” when we collectively learn to treat each other and our environment with respect and care. When we have a sense of community wit…
“Progress” can be of the Steven Pinker kind, where the long term trend of things like infant mortality, deaths from violence, etc. are going in a direction that most people would agree is good.
> Technological advance could be a boon for humanity if those were our shared values, but as it stands it seems pretty obvious that what it does instead is consolidate power in the hands of those who should never have it.
Why can’t it be both? I’m optimistic that AI and robotics will produce innovations that will benefit all of humanity, even if the financial gains are concentrated among the few.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#229To get a sneak peak you could read Antiqua et nova from January last year. It focuses on the anthropology and also what sets human intelligence apart from simulated intelligence.
Someone on HN wondered if that text could be the Magna Charta for the AI age.
Re: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great point, further to your point on AI. Another perhaps worse offender is our focus on "the economy", at times the focus is always on "what about the economy?!" Forgetting "the economy" is merely a tool intended to improve the human condition. Sometimes I feel people lose sight of this original intention, be it unintentional or otherwise.
When Media Talking Heads say “the economy,” what they are really talking about is just rich people’s investments and old people’s retirement. Basically, for reporters, the economy = only stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
You might consider whether this is a little too reductive. After all the values of the stock, bonds, and mutual funds are directly related to the profits and capital flows through and health of the economy.
The economy is complicated and those high-level indexes are gross simplifications of a mass of complexity, but they're not entirely unrelated to whether people have money to spend and whether our liberalized economy is functioning. In fact, I'd suggest that our economy is increasingly suffering from the population's inability to participate and drive the maximal capital flows and prosperity that are possible. There is an additional distributive and concentration problem which we have been solving even more poorly lately.