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2 points

What kind of democracy are we in where this many people are hoping for a case to go to SCOTUS because the justices were both chosen by, and politically aligned with, the POTUS? It keeps me up at night thinking why anyone would think it is okay to root for a biased SCOTUS decision; then when they have the unmitigated, unadulterated gall to remain unbiased, Trump supporters are not only upset, they say that the SCOTUS is now fraudulent.

(BTW: To clarify, since I know how Trumpers are: any Trump opposers are left-wing Biden lovers, I am independent and I think both choices were equally terrible so I did not vote. If I could vote for anyone, I would have voted for Mike Pence--who I also think is terrible, but he would have been the best option, IMO.)

2 points

The similarity of this game--the knowledge of which I possess solely based on your description--is not without the boundary of what is expected in any healthily functioning society, barring a couple protocols (one of which being a leader extending their post unless otherwise outlined as being permissible in their country's constitution/national laws). So, to say "dishonored is non-fiction" would, naturally, suggest to me that our reality is so absurd/unreal that it resembles a game intended to be based on fiction. I am not saying that my suggestion is the entailment of what you are saying, rather it is how I process it (especially due to your use of the word "uncomfortable" when asking if the game is close to reality).

So, a clarification is needed to prevent my overthinking everything: In your opinion, should saying the game resembles our reality be a compliment to the production team for appreciating modern and historic laws/protocols on how to function in a pandemic, or is it an insult to the governments resembling Dishonored that their responses to the pandemic could've been constructed by a mere child who is a fanatic of the game?

(SN: Glad to be back and see you're still here!)

1 point

Wow. I have been gone a few years and I see nothing has changed about you, Atrag. You are the same walking ad hominem machine as you have always been.

1 point

Obviously. If Nike believed they would lose money for their shareholders (although they have lost a few points), they would not have made this highly controversial move.

Harvard(666) Clarified
1 point

Is it fair to narrow in on law enforcement officers? I think his position, although not explicitly stated, is regarding civilians.

1 point

The entire story is false. Michael Jordan did part ways with the Nike brand. Stop debating over something that did not happen.

2 points

Assuming the blind man understands that he is blind, and what that entails, I would assume that he understands that there are things that exist that he could never know due to his condition. I would also assume that the blind man understands that there are others who will have the ability to see what he cannot. Given those two assumptions, I would suggest that the blind man not contend with that which he understands he is incapable of disproving.

1 point

"By your definition, every deliberate killing would be genocide (even mercy killings, etc.) - it isn't."

By my definition, every collectively deliberate killing of a specific racial group may be considered a non-standard form of genocide.

"A) You have separated deliberate from its use - it is not that the killing is deliberate, it is that the systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group is deliberate."

There are several differently phrased definitions of the word genocide.

Genocide - the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group.

"B) one killing is not a systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group"

If 1,000 Nazis killed 1,000 Jews, obviously with each Nazi killing 1 Jew, would that be considered genocide? You see, it is not one lady killing one baby, it is hundreds of thousands of women killing hundreds of thousands of babies. The collective action done to a particular racial group, though done by the same racial group, is what I am suggesting may be considered a form of genocide.

5 points

I suppose I would not be able to prove such a concept to a person who is afflicted with a condition that occludes them from seeing the evidence for the existence of that concept. The Judeo-Christian god (who I am assuming is the analog), however, presumably created humans to have the ability to recognize his existence, or the evidence thereof.

1 point

The act of killing their offspring is deliberate and results in the "destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group;" therefore, the act can be considered an anomalous form of genocide.

1 point

A blind person denying color seems a bit absurd as 'color' is a concept that is inconceivable to a person who cannot see light.

Harvard(666) Clarified
1 point

So, essentially, you've rendered the concept of Nihilism invalid?

1 point

Firstly, not all zoos do not only house endangered species. Secondly, most zoos do not have any program for minimizing the impact of whatever is causing the endangerment--they're simply exploiting animals for monetary gain. Inbreeding white tigers (a rare mutation) to sell to other zoos does not aid in the advancement of the species.

1 point

I do believe that a high IQ standard for government officials is necessary for an optimally functioning society; however, in practice, there are too many factors that would make the system flawed such as, without limit:

(1) Social Skills - A substantial amount of highly intelligent people are poor communicators--not that they cannot get their point across, rather, they may have difficulty delivering information in a way that is comprehensible to commoners (i.e., the general public). Currently, most politicians either think of (or are introduced) ideas of some critical, societal change, and they have researchers and scientists to run the numbers/data for them while they deliver the results to the public.

(2) IQ test validity - While an IQ test does a very good job at measuring pattern recognizing/deductive abilities, both of which are essential for intellectually rigorous tasks, it does not measure things such as decision making, discipline, impulsivity, empathy, dedication, sanity, irritability, diligence, etc., all of which are necessary for functional leaders.

There are more, but I would just be expounding on things that I have already mentioned. Further, all of the contentions can be (and are) a part of the contemporary government system, I am simply just pointing out how such a paradigm shift would not change much of how things are run. Intellectual capital should be allocated, however magically possible, to the general public. Insomuch as the people make poor decisions, be they health, finance, etc., the inevitability of a suboptimal nation--which I am sure is what the purpose of an "iqocracy" would be to fix--will remain.

1 point

First of all, what basis do you have for claiming the sole purpose of a particular human function?

An intraspecific function is anything which is specific to the species and its advancement in terms of its continuation (surviving).

Second, our ability to express complex concepts goes far above and beyond simple survival and reproduction [...]

Not if the expression of complex concepts can be deemed necessary for survival.

humans are the only organism to have deliberately and significantly altered their circumstances, and complex language is a crucial element of doing so.

I wouldn't term it deliberate given the primary factors that preceded the alteration were uncontrollable. Human evolutionary traits, such as our mode of communication, were not contrived, they were naturally selected for.

Third, scale, regardless of "overarching goals", is still a distinction. Whether it's "vivid" or not is irrelevant.

I suppose I should have included an adjective in the title. "Red" is distinct from "Blue" yet they are both colors. A "whale" and a "goat" are two different species yet they are both animals. There are many a feature that distinguishes the two significantly, but the differences, as you and lots of others claim, are not comparable to the differences between humans and dolphins--to which I disagree.

'Scale' is irrelevant in the context--which, admittedly, I should have established--of this debate. Again, there are vast differences between birds and snakes, but we don't say there are 'birds' and 'nonbirds'.

Intelligence is a fundamental prerequisite to reasoning in any meaningfully complex context; acknowledging it as a specifically human characteristic contradicts both your specific point (that animals are also capable of reason) and your claim (that no distinction between humans and nonhumans exists) as a whole.

I never claimed that intelligence is a characteristic specific to humans; I suggested that humans constructed the concept of intelligence based on their premise of what makes them uniquely intelligent, and extended that concept to encompass other species, which is fallacious.

1 point

Sex is a basic endeavor; stacking boxes, however, require the stacker to logically assess its environment and understand how Box + Arrangement = access to food, while also understanding the functions of the two.

1 point

The actual scientific claim is that we are more closely related to pigs than monkeys...

The claim that you misrepresented is that we share a common ancestor. Our relatedness to pigs is a different matter which does not support your initial claim of scientists claiming chimp ancestry.

1 point

Some research has actually found 'poop throwing' as a form of self-expression.

https://phys.org/news/2011-11-poop-throwing-chimps-intelligence.html

1 point

[A]nimals are incapable of communicating complex ideas to one another [...].

That is a human function necessary for intraspecific progression and sustenance as it pertains to survival and reproduction. Separate mechanics does not sufficiently illume a vivid distinction between humans and nonhumans since the overarching goals are the same.

[A]n animal is considered particularly intelligent if it's capable of figuring out how to open a jar.

The sorts of animals that can open a jar are considered 'intelligent' as defined by humans in the same fashion 'Jaywalking' and 'Murder' are considered crimes as defined by the human convention of law. It is fallacious to construct a criterion (intelligence) specific to a certain group (Humans), extend it to an entirely different group (Nonhumans), and then claim that the group for whom the criterion was constructed fits that criterion better than the group used for distinction.

1 point

Animals reason as a provable fact?

What is a chimpanzee doing when stacking boxes to climb to reach a fruit?

Atheists claim chimps are our forefathers and closest intermediary relative.

No, those like you claim that scientist make that claim when in fact their position is that chimps and humans share a common ancestor.

They literally throw poop around like it's a toy.

And humans clap as if it's sensible...

2 points

"It's the only race that never focuses on its own self interests."

Is mass colonialism a variant of altruism?

"It's the only race that tries to lift every other race [...]"

Was 'racial uplift' apart of Portugal's goals when settling in Brazil and attempting to enslave the Native American race, only to realize that importing different race (African blacks) would better serve their altruistic endeavor?

"[The white race] helps its own people and lifts them up in no way, all while losing ground to everyone else."

Right, as European efforts to colonize undeveloped, economically fruitful and militarily advantageous lands were vastly unsuccessful.

"Native American fund? Yep. United Negro fund? Yep. White man fund? Nope. Native casinos? Yep. White man casinos? Only in a few spots like Vegas."

I suppose governmental subventions to those economically powerless is a very intolerable act, especially since your claim is that they are not self-interested... The governmental provision of a Native American fund is analogous to an intruder seizing your home, but allowing you to sleep in your, I mean their garage.

"For whites in minority zones where whites are almost nonexistant, the NBA, the NFL, or the MLB? Nope."

Wall Street is just rife with Native Americans.

"Native free healthcare? Yep. White free healthcare? Nope."

I guess this ridiculously unreasonable given that the natives were almost wholly exterminated due to European diseases and shared the profits that the English wrested from their land.

"What other race actually throws ITSELF under the bus?"

I can tell you a race throws another to the back of the bus...

1 point

What you are presenting now is seemingly a valid comparison; however, the reasons underlying the two foregoing perspectives are, still, flawed and incomparable.

1 point

Probability cannot say anything certainly, only probably (hence probability). The statement that it is easier to create simulated realities than real realities is flawed since we have no fundamental idea as to how a 'real reality' is created.

1 point

Virtual reality and 'physical' reality are diametrically opposed. Unless you are suggesting that we live in a simulation (e.g., the matrix), then the comparison is flawed.


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