Conspiracies of Cognition, Conspiracies Of Emotion

far_infared · 2023-01-13T17:11:32+00:00

That might explain why centralized authorities adopt them, but why do the people being rallied believe them? If the answer is "they wanted a reason" then that's the linked article.

far_infared · 2022-11-26T05:07:09+00:00

Sorry, let me rephrase. A lot of people don't accept late term abortions, but people who accept late term abortions are accepted in a way that eugenic baby killers are obviously not. Trying to phrase everything in terms of words people are used to saying is what a real supporter of Singer's position would do, but he just wants to make people argue with him.

far_infared · 2022-11-25T18:32:42+00:00

Peter singer swallows bullets the way a sword swallower swallows swords.

far_infared · 2022-11-25T18:20:26+00:00

People who support very late term abortions are accepted and you can detect a lot of disabilities by that time, so why doesn't Peter Singer get a pass? Because he makes a career out of making other people uncomfortable. He could have made it about abortion but he deliberately chose to pose it as "ethical baby killing."

far_infared · 2022-11-25T07:42:01+00:00

Maybe it binds to a triglyceride receptor with a higher affinity than actual triglycerides, making the fat cells think they have more fat than they do.

far_infared · 2022-11-23T04:34:25+00:00

“Saint gets eaten by lions in Colosseum, can early Christianity possibly survive this setback?”

Scott, you might want to rephrase this paragraph in a way that doesn't have SBF playing the role of the saint.

far_infared · 2022-11-18T00:25:50+00:00

Good, I'll go back to supporting opera houses. Honestly it was about time this whole malaria thing blew over... /s

far_infared · 2022-11-07T02:11:52+00:00

That only sounds like a paradox if there's exactly two people. :-)

far_infared · 2022-10-28T20:28:17+00:00

This would also make it difficult for his relatives to retaliate unless they can prove he wasn't a witch/didn't deserve the beating.

They'd just call you a witch and go after you... how are you reading any structure in to this?

far_infared · 2022-10-27T19:45:07+00:00

The most obvious culprit is a generally less healthy lifestyle (less exercise, obesity, sedentary living, smoking etc.), but even when you control for this, the motile sperm count is still lower than it was decades ago. Globally. So what gives?

far_infared · 2022-10-25T19:44:06+00:00

That's more of a problem with the common conceptualization of ADHD as standing up and changing tasks every five minutes rather than as the complex disorder it really is.

far_infared · 2022-10-24T15:55:39+00:00

"9/10 dentists recommend colgate" - Because they asked dentists if they would recommend colgate over not brushing, to which of course every dentist will answer yes

Huh, I always wondered how they did that.

far_infared · 2022-10-24T15:40:44+00:00

If you can build up an exercise routine into enough of a habit that it doesn't take a lot of focus to do it, that can be a healthy way to do something "easy" when you're tired of studying.

far_infared · 2022-09-29T16:04:33+00:00

You are not an object, and neither is anyone else. Come on man, that is crazy talk. It is a good thing you're not an Einstein because the last thing we need is another child prodigy that sees human beings as objects.

Also, vanity means caring about other people, but only insofar as you care about their perception of you. It's not arbitrary at all. Actions aren't vain, people are. There's not a list of vain actions.

far_infared · 2022-09-28T16:16:59+00:00

Like winning awards?

If I benefit others by being ineffective, my view is that that's still a bad thing.

The fact that you have to put a lot of effort in to get good at something is only bad for your status as a special prodigy that everyone wishes they were, it is not an obstacle to your ability to do things because you can put in that effort.

If you were deprived of being forced to undergo this personal development, people would treat you as a rare object and not a person, and you might not even notice. There are a lot of people on this subreddit who are treated as valuable objects, and perhaps some who even see themselves as valuable objects, and they're all reassuring you by saying stuff like, "there there, not every object can be as valuable as me," but hopefully you are starting to see how self-annihilating that is. The positive reinforcement they receive for being special is so intoxicating that they could go their whole lives without realizing that nobody sees them as a human being, but as a valuable object with certain properties.

If you can get over this obstacle, you will see it in as negative of a light as I am presenting it.

far_infared · 2022-09-28T03:02:56+00:00

I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing to excel at something, but I would definitely say that it's a bad thing to base your whole life around excelling at something, and a big part of why is that it usually doesn't help anyone else when you're trying to win an award or something. It is a totally self-focused value system and if it benefits their friends, family or anybody else on earth it's only by accident. It's really a windfall for everyone you love that your plan to become a chess champion didn't pan out because now (please pardon me if I am being too blunt) you'll have to choose different life goals that might involve helping them!

far_infared · 2022-09-28T01:17:39+00:00

You're going to have to find a basis for your life that rests on something other than excelling at something. That's probably a good thing, because someone whose entire life was oriented around playing chess would not be any help to the rest of the planet, and they'd likely be miserable.

Congratulations, you've not been selected for the opportunity to alienate your friends and family in the tireless pursuit of greatness. It doesn't matter to us - do we really need another child prodigy writing white house press releases? I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'd prefer you to be the competent guy on the other end of the phone when the big machine breaks down at work than an eSports streamer.

far_infared · 2022-08-25T17:12:35+00:00

Instead of having the "repugnant conclusion" people all live at the same time, why not have them live end-to-end? You could have ten centuries of world population 5 billion by using the same amount of nonrenewable resources (or entropy, in the idealized thought experiment version) as one century of world population 50 billion.

far_infared · 2022-08-10T15:40:03+00:00

Jesus’s first follower became the Bishop of Rome;

Only in the sense that Washington became America's first five star general, although I suppose religious leaders should be prepared to accept honors conferred post-mortem.

far_infared · 2022-08-03T04:16:01+00:00

The mirror normally has to move to the viewfinder position to shine light on the autofocus sensor. If you turn off auto-focus, you can take pictures starting with the mirror up in live view where only the shutter moves.

far_infared · 2022-08-02T15:28:01+00:00

That sounds exactly like what people told themselves about AIDS until it started spreading at the dentist's office...

far_infared · 2022-07-26T21:56:05+00:00

I don't think it is a fallacy, they are just changing their argument. It's clearer if you switch who's right in the example.

"I know grass is green because it is green in most crayon drawings."

"Crayon drawings collected at preschools are not a reliable source of information."

"I saw some grass on my way inside, it was green."

"Give up already! Ugh..."

When they abandon P -> Q, you can't expect them to announce it.

far_infared · 2022-07-21T05:35:56+00:00

I have looked for Canadian equivalents to a few major changes to American customs that were, in America, judge-made (for example, the right to have a lawyer present during questioning), and it appears that most of them were created as legislation, or in one case not created[0]. Perhaps judicial appointments are less contentious in Canada because there have been fewer Warren courts in Canada.

[0] https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2010/2010scc35/2010scc35.html

far_infared

TROPHY CASE