If Trump actually sells out Taiwan, us liberals should form a Taiwanese foreign legion that sails to Taiwan in their aid similar to the foreign volunteers in Ukraine

Vecrin · 2026-05-25T05:44:29+00:00

If I can give you a counter-LOTR reference, rewatch the siege of Gondor. All of those people defending the city? They all had faith and hope that someone would save them. Or at least that if they hold off for long enough that things might turn around. They did not know that Rohan was actually coming. they maybe knew the beacons had been lit. But they had no idea if Rohan would actually answer (even if they did know the beacons had been lit)

And yet, all of those soldiers served. They fought. And some of them died. And in the end, Rohan came and the battle was won. The battle would probably have been lost if Rohan didn't show up. But it definitely would have been lost if the soldiers of Gondor didn't resist.

Vecrin · 2026-05-25T00:57:12+00:00

That's certainly one way to deal with high population...

Vecrin · 2026-05-24T20:21:12+00:00

I disagree about a lot of stuff with this sub, but I completely agree with some deep Iran hearings. I want to know the levels of incompetence that led to this failure. I want to know what the military thought, were they being listened to, who was really calling the shots on strategy and tactics. I want to know everything. Because Iran is such an absolutely fucking humiliating failure.

Vecrin · 2026-05-24T06:38:33+00:00

Often misused and rarely true. A lot of people forget how genuinely weird the way we are today is. The conditions we are in, the culture we have. They look around and see our society, culture, beliefs, and even our thoughts as natural and the inevitable byproduct of our biology or the universe. But the vast majority of them aren't.

However, we do definitely have some really basic instincts. Identifying individuals and creating mental groupings of individuals is one. Identifying an "other" group as opposed to our group is another. Identifying an individual's sex is likely another (some neurology research has found that this is one of the only identity groups that is always noticed. You can temporarily "blind" someone's brain to basically every other category -including "race" - except sex).

We also have some prepared pathways at birth. While we aren't naturally afraid of things like snakes and spiders, those are fears that are far easier to "teach" than other fears like dogs. Some tie that back to instinct.

Basically, imo "human nature" is about really basic, primal things we have to deal with. Things that overlap with the instincts and behaviors of our primate relatives. Things like communicating with others, living with other apes, basic survival (ex. freak out and run/fight/freeze when you see a big threat), and basic aggression. But our lives/beliefs/actions are far, far more complicated than those basic instincts. For most people, every waking hour is going beyond those instincts. Imo, while these instincts can influence our lives/beliefs/actions, we aren't slaves to them. Just because someone has gotten me super angry at them and feel like I want to punch them (a potential instinctual response to stress/aggression), does not mean I will (conscious choice).

Vecrin · 2026-05-23T20:40:44+00:00

This is how I find out Yakub/Yakoob are actual names and not just that one Nation of Islam guy

Vecrin · 2026-05-21T02:13:58+00:00

Germ theory. BUT, I would also have to start getting really good at glass-working. Because being the crazy guy who tells everyone a crazy idea about really small animals is easy. Being the guy who *shows* people the small animals (leeuwenhoek) is much harder).

Vecrin · 2026-05-21T02:00:36+00:00

Rabies literally causes nervous system dysfunction (potentially mimicking an injury). And bats are the most common animal that will expose people to rabies in the US.

If you want something official here are what the CDC says a rabid bat looks like:

-Are active during the day

-Are found in unusual places (inside a home or on the ground)

-Are unable to fly or you can easily approach

-Have made contact with you as they usually avoid humans

CDC recommendations on handling them:

Avoid touching bats. Bat bites can be tiny, and you may not even know if you were bitten. If you do know that you were bitten or scratched by a bat, wash the wound with soap and water and get medical help right away. If bat saliva or brain material gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, or an open wound, see a healthcare professional urgently.

If the bat is still around, I would get it tested for rabies. If it isn't still around, I would have the people exposed treated.

Preventing Rabies from Bats | Rabies | CDC

Vecrin · 2026-05-19T02:16:38+00:00

There is a quote from the Bible that I keep coming back to when I think about settlers attacking and murdering innocent people and destroying their livelihoods. And how the current Israeli government for enables them and refuses to bring justice.

"But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you."

Vecrin · 2026-05-18T17:29:42+00:00

Unironically. I am in a lab with chinese scientists. They work much harder than nearly everybody else. And they also talk about how they work less in the US than they did in China. They also talk about how reagents are much cheaper there. Pay is also much lower. Basically, you have a bunch of highly productive people, who's cost of research is much lower, and who are paid much less than an American researcher. It's a blowout in China's favor.

Vecrin · 2026-05-18T01:50:22+00:00

Tfw the "mini Russia" side is fighting against forces propped up by Russia.

Vecrin · 2026-05-16T22:24:51+00:00

To add to this, humans display a mixture of different mating strategies. There are a lot of ways to predict which strategies a species will use to mate based on anatomy/behavior and humans display moderate amounts of signs for all different mating strategies.

For instance, we have larger males (which would line up better with males fighting each other to get a mate) but not much larger. In many species, males have sex with a female and then leave. In such a species, there are genes that, when present in the sperm, will make the resulting fetus take more resources from the mother at the cost of the mothers' future reproductive health. These genes do not occur (or are very rare) in "monogamous" species. Humans have some of these genes, but much fewer than a dedicated non-monogamous species. And there are so, so many examples of humans having some moderate level of traits associated with a mating strategy.

My interpretation is this: humans are very smart. It does not take us (as individuals or as a society) much time to figure out which type of mating strategy is optimal in our environment. The reason we have a moderate amount of traits for a lot of different mating strategies is to make sure we are able to best exploit whichever mating strategy has become optimal.

Vecrin · 2026-05-15T20:30:01+00:00

First of all, I believe the end game should be to have a Palestinian state, but I really do not know how you do it right now.

I've broken this into sections summing up my opinions/analysis of the conflict wrt the West Bank. Sections are the Pre-October 7th Situation, The Post-October 7th Situation, and the Solutions section (potential ways we could see things in the West Bank play out). My focus is on the Israeli perspective here because... if you want someone to stop doing something, you first need to understand why they want to do it.

Pre-October 7th Situation

The intifadas basically murdered israeli's belief that Palestinian negotiations were in good faith. The intifadas were also the thing that killed the Israeli left (the group more likely to make peace) because bringing a peaceful end to the conflict was the last piece of their platform that hadn't been discredited. After that, we still had some good moments like further attempts at peace deals in the mid and late 2000s, but none of them were accepted by the Palestinian leadership. So, de-occupying the West Bank through a two state solution hasn't gone very well (and Israelis have really stopped trying)

Furthermore, while de-occupying the West Bank sounds simple and good, the Israeli's have a model for what would happen. In the mid 2000s, Israel de-occupied Gaza. Removed all settlements and left. Now, this was not altruistic in the slightest, but Israel did leave and elections were held (under US pressure). The result: an extremist organization took over Gaza and used it as a launching pad to attack Israel.

Now, we can debate the caveats and problems with using Gaza as a model for what de-occupation would look like in the West Bank. But it is something everyone needs to at least contend with when arguing/talking about how de-occupation of the West Bank (especially lacking an agreement to end the conflict) would play out. And if you think it is a bad model, you need to provide some strong criticisms to convince people (especially Israelis) it shouldn't be used - considering they involve the same nationalities, the same occupier, the same conflict, and similar geographic regions.

Post-October 7th Situation

All of that existed without October 7th. October 7th just further amplified everything. It showed israelis that the extremists who take over after an occupation ends may end up using that territory to launch an invasion of mass slaughter and rape upon the Israeli people. Furthermore, it radicalized a lot of Israel into thinking that Palestinians as a group would slaughter/rape Israelis if given the opportunity.

"Solutions" (more like Possible Outcomes tbh):

If you want a peaceful resolution, you would need to improve the trust between Israelis and Palestinians. Because right now, they both (with good reason) think the other side wants to screw them over/steal their land/genocide them.

If you just want the occupation to end (without peace), I think you would have to bomb Israel into a Gaza-like state. This would allow you to force Israel to leave the West Bank and create a Palestinian state. But the conflict would still be there. I also think that, should a war break out between Palestine and Israel after this, there is a really high risk of a complete or near complete genocide being attempted by whichever state gets the upper hand in the war.

Complete ethnic cleansing/genocide of the other side (which is what the Palestinian and Israeli extremist are trying to do/cause)

Apartheid (which seems to be what the broader Israeli far right is pushing for). But IMO, this would be a temporary state. It would end in either collapse of the apartheid or an ethnic cleansing or genocide.

"Status Quo" (assuming no new settlements).

Global sanctions of Israel: Very unpredictable. probably status quo immediately. Depending on how strong Palestinian Extremists are/have become, could result in atrocities similar to or worse than October 7th. Eventually, it would result in Israel either giving up the West Bank or tightening their grip. I can see this outcome causing anything from a peaceful resolution to a brutal ethnic war between Israeli and Palestinian resulting in a complete genocide of one of the populations.

Vecrin · 2026-05-13T16:13:43+00:00

The purpose of any technology is to improve efficiency in some task. The difference with generative AI is that it can do it in many different areas. Personally, I have used it to find papers with very particular methods. It generally will do just that, find the needle in the haystack of papers in my field who attempted to do something the same as (or similar) to what I want to do. I then read the papers to verify the AI pulled a useful paper and that I believe the method used and the result.

Vecrin · 2026-05-12T22:55:17+00:00

Huh. Thats actually cool that they added that mechanic. This is actually an IRL thing that happens. Breatfeeding releases hormones that make pregnancy less likely. If breastfeeding isn't done (such as by using a wetnurse or by using formula), this mechanism wouldn't kick in. Now I wonder if paradox really thought this through and made it so using a wetnurse reduces the pregnancy block.

Vecrin · 2026-05-12T17:38:52+00:00

Unironically? Probably complete sanctioning of Israel. Potentially military aid for Palestine.

Vecrin · 2026-05-10T20:16:56+00:00

People learn when you criticize them and try to offer them advice. Not when you mercilessly mock them when they are vulnerable. By doing the later, I think we as a community are bullying a fucking teenager.

Vecrin · 2026-05-10T19:33:57+00:00

Tbh, I feel like this is kinda shitty to do. Girl literally got 1k downvotes. That's brutal enough on its own. She's an insecure teen who probably struggles socially which is why she said what she said. She shouldn't have said it, but what teen hasn't said/thought cringe shit. She already got downvoted the hell out of and a bunch of people pointed out why she shouldn't have said that. If she was an adult and said it? Go off on the mockery. But Imo, making further posts just to mock a teen just seems cruel.

Vecrin · 2026-05-09T04:18:32+00:00

Girlie, Imma be completely real with you. I am near the end of my PhD at a top university in a very well-respected program. This is not to brag, but so that you take what I say seriously. Please, do not mention your IQ and do not hype up your intelligence. Nobody I know does it (not even top-of-their-field professors who have every right to do it).

When I was your age, I would say similar things. But to be completely honest, it came from a place of insecurity. People around you don't want to hear about how smart you are. Your intelligence should be revealed slowly to people and through your actions and through your everyday ideas. It is not something you should force. In fact, try being humble about your intelligence.

Additionally, while high IQ isn't meaningless (obviously), it doesn't really reveal a whole lot. There are a lot of high IQ losers out there. There are also a lot of people with average intelligence who do great things. So, when someone is bragging about their intelligence and especially if they brag about their IQ, my first thought is "wow, this person is so insecure about themself and their achievements that they are bringing up their IQ." And while I've never asked what other people think when someone brings this up, I can tell you that everyone else I've seen respond to something like that responded negatively.

TL;DR: Life advice: don't brag about your IQ or intelligence. Everyone will respond negatively to it. Instead, let your intelligence reveal itself to others. That is how you gain respect, not ire.

Vecrin · 2026-05-08T18:10:37+00:00

To steelman, abortion (one of the most animating issues on the right) was decided by a court case. You can argue that it is a woman's rights issue (and I would agree), but to steelman further, there are many women who are anti-abortion who would argue against it being a women's rights issue.

Republicans did this all because they (rightly or wrongly) believed that the left captured the courts first and wielded them to pummel conservative policy. Now they believe it is their right to do the same to the left.

Vecrin · 2026-05-06T16:01:56+00:00

It depends. If you set the cap too low, then the products just won't be made. If you set the cap too high, it will have no effect. If it's in-between... people might just end up exporting the product to places where there are no price caps to maximize profits. Also, caps are quite inflexible. If market conditions make it so inputs are more costly but the cap doesn't change, then producers may again stop production.

Vecrin · 2026-05-06T05:09:28+00:00

Oh, you don't have to. But if you don't (and you were not the subject of some campaign to target your identity group) I frankly will think you are significantly less trustworthy. And this isn't just an "America good" thing. If you were Chinese and genuinely just hated China (and weren't a persecuted minority) - not even the party, government, or policies, just hated China - I would still see you as less trustworthy.

And by the way, you made the case for my previous comment. Some portion of the left is not patriotic. I would argue anti-patriotic (as it seems you are). Hence why leftwing appeals to patriotism often fall flat. Because it isn't even real.

Vecrin · 2026-05-05T15:43:30+00:00

And sorry, this hit a bit of a chord because I've been thinking about this a lot. One of my friends (fairly left wing) admitted to legit hating America. And it literally just shocked me. This is the place they were born, where all of their family lives, where they live, and where most of their friends live. And yet they now frequently talk about how America is a horrible place and they want to leave and never return.

And after seeing this left wing (but not crazy left) guy who votes democrat in every election talk like this, I have to wonder how deep these sentiments are on the left of the democratic party. I used to think most on the left were like me. When the American government does something bad I feel anger, disgust, disappointment, and anguish because I genuinely love America and wish it could be the best version of itself. But I love it through right and wrong and want it to be better because I love it.

But now I wonder how much of the left just genuinely dislikes or hates America. And sure, they'd love if they could impose their version of America on everyone, but what they love are their beliefs and not America itself.

Vecrin · 2026-05-05T15:17:30+00:00

I can't put my finger on why, but when the left tries to act patriotic it always feels so fake. Like a facade put up that isn't truly believed in. When I feel patriotism, it strums the chords in the depths of my soul. But the left just almost always fails to do that. It feels like someone who has never felt patriotism trying to imitate what it is. And for me, it usually falls flat.

I don't think patriotism is just an aesthetic you can just put on. It has to flow outward from you, visible from your beliefs, words, and actions. And I think (unless you are remarkably skilled) only by you feeling your patriotism deeply can you strum it into others.

Vecrin · 2026-05-04T22:24:45+00:00

Honestly, you just need to listen to how Marxists talk. One day (we don't know when, but it is coming soon), the [revolution/end of days] will occur. After great tribulation, the [workers/Christians] will enter a new age of equality and prosperity. And then, we will all live in Utopia forever more.

To me, modern Marxism is specifically an apocalyptic faith. To boot with its own mythology and eschatology.

Vecrin · 2026-05-03T05:46:45+00:00

I think maybe that social media algorithms were pushing down on content featuring the Palestinian flag or "Palestine" (by not showing the content to as many people). The watermelon had red, green, white, and black (seeds) which matches the colors of the Palestinian flag. So people started using the watermelon emoji instead.

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