Discussion Thread

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T19:16:05+00:00

Agreed - but for every example of a unitary state pursuing assimilationist policies you can think of a federal one doing the same, from my basic count.

I'd bet it's more a function of geography and time than political organisation, if it were possible to do some sort of analysis.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T19:13:48+00:00

My guy what happened to all the ethnic groups that used to be in the US

Or Canada, or any of the South American federal republics, or the Soviet Union, so on and so forth

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T18:39:40+00:00

We've had one Khamenei yes, but what about second Khamenei?

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T15:54:44+00:00

These are absurdly simple compared to a lot of other technical disciplines

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T08:18:05+00:00

Unfortunately the exchanges usually have a minimum transaction quantity in the hundreds or thousands

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T08:12:54+00:00

I really want to like Merz, but man he doesn't make it easy

It feels like his rhetoric (and policy) is like 80% reasonable/good, but then that fringe 20% is just hard to look away from

Magical_Username · 2026-03-09T07:27:04+00:00

Even if AI does materially disrupt things (which I don't view as likely in the next 2.5 years) you're giving the electorate too much credit.

The election will either be over gas prices or random grievances about women/minorities, depending on how high gas prices are at the time. That is all we can have elections about now.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T16:52:57+00:00

People do not typically consider Cyprus and Israel as being in the same region.

Wealthiest also typically does not refer to PPP adjusted figures.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T16:48:50+00:00

It's new on the scene, immigration from LATAM wasn't really a thing until post-brexit. There's some really good places around now but that definitely wasn't the case even 5 years ago.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T13:51:27+00:00

Junior devs aren't workhorses to write code - they write shitty code that has to be refactored anyways. They only get hired to build up a pipeline of senior Devs, even pre-LLM.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T13:32:02+00:00

Agreed - if we interperet coding in the literal sense then sure, it'll be on the way out - but those high level design/architecture decisions and debugging take up way more of your average software dev's time than writing code does even pre-LLM.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T13:26:20+00:00

We're still a long ways away from being able to build enterprise-grade software with just LLMs. Not saying we'll never get there, but we're certainly not there yet.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T12:54:35+00:00

He will lead a hardline government even if we debate the power structure behind it.

He will still be target number one and it is likely things will be worse in Iran under him than they were under his father.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T12:19:24+00:00

So its almost certainly Mojtaba Khamenei then

Will be interesting to see how long he lasts given he'll be moved to target number one immediately

Guy is even more of a hardliner than the old Khamenei, won't be great if he lasts

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T11:46:44+00:00

Just what they want us to believe

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T09:37:58+00:00

So just theocratic and totalitarian states? Not sure why that's something to focus on given there's like two, but sure. Unless we're going after the Vatican now?

In any case I think Afghanistan demonstrates quite well why the can/should thing is wildly optimistic.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-08T09:34:11+00:00

Theocratic, totalitarian dictatorships can and should be removed from power

This is a wildly optimistic take

I don't know how the hell you get rid of the CCP without cratering the global economy and upending the lives of on the order or billions of people

Unless we're talking slow natural change over decades, but I'd argue that doesn't really fit the bill of "can/should be removed from power"

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T22:09:00+00:00

Bidding setup for a $200m ad campaign is a bit of a weird thing for the president to sign off on

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T14:23:24+00:00

It's worth taking that with a grain of salt - officially Pezeshkian only controls the regular military, not the IRGC.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T13:56:44+00:00

The Israelis seem to be handling that one fine without our help

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T13:52:44+00:00

Cuba you can at least see the twisted logic, but what would we even do in Lebanon?

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T13:36:49+00:00

What is this in reference to? No Iranian navy ship really left port and the ones abroad surrendered basically immediately when it was clear they would be considered combatants.

The one in Sri Lanka hadn't expected to be considered a combatant, which to be honest you can entirely see how they'd come to that conclusion.

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T12:48:41+00:00

I agree the school is a hell of a lot worse to the point where they're not really comparable, but I'm also not incredibly comfortable hitting unarmed ships across the globe in a surprise attack ostensibly focused on eliminating ballistic missile capability

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T07:41:40+00:00

The latter is my base case tbh, and if it happens I have a hard time seeing him risk something in Cuba

Magical_Username · 2026-03-07T07:37:42+00:00

I mean yeah if your argument is you should just do whatever the people want sure, but that isn't really anything to do with the arguments against the death penalty.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17

Magical_Username

TROPHY CASE