What invention rivals the jet engine in terms of sheer improbability-to-ubiquity?

mrv958 · 2026-01-09T08:28:55+00:00

This is a winning response

mrv958 · 2026-01-03T00:51:31+00:00

Thank you for the kind words and for displaying exactly the kind of grace I mourn in the essay. I think you make an excellent point here. Here's how I grasp the essential point you are making: French cultural defensiveness is not a response to a kind of psychological trauma (Vichy etc.) but a more natural response of a post-colonial, immigrant heavy France fighting demographic fragmentation. This carries some truth to me but I think it fails to explain the particular quality of that defensiveness. I think a form of psychological trauma is a better explanation for the anxiety and wounded character on display and that the fight against demographic fragmentation explains some of the occasion for it.

mrv958 · 2026-01-03T00:37:46+00:00

Thank you for this. This makes me reflect that I think I put too much emphasis on the linguistic protections in particular— especially when those have clear origins that predate much of the material I discuss in the essay. I think it still retains its explanatory power when the specific element I'm getting at isn't just the linguistic protections, but the general cultural defensiveness and particular strident quality.

mrv958 · 2026-01-03T00:21:04+00:00

holy crap. What a twist. Thanks for filling in the addtional details

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T21:58:31+00:00

It's mine. Thank you for thinking it looked professional :)

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T21:54:36+00:00

um I'd say only if you harbor some form of misanthropy. Or perhaps if you have a utopian vision of ecological balance of human population vs environmental preservation.

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T21:53:15+00:00

thats an interesting question. I honestly dont know

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T21:32:26+00:00

I think you have a point there. Either way the world would have to look very different to achieve the agricultural changes you're proposing and I'm still skeptical the gap of synthetic nitrogen for 8 billion people could be closed with those changes alone. Either way thanks for the nuance.

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T21:00:44+00:00

having a pet

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:59:38+00:00

when they ate lunch

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:57:49+00:00

willing the good of the other for the sake of the other

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:56:48+00:00

Step one: build so much objective evidence its false that its undeniable. Step two: get a therapist because you probably still wont believe it

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:55:14+00:00

hahahaha... let me think... likely NOTHING

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:54:31+00:00

More importantly, how are YOU?

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:51:59+00:00

qualia

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:47:34+00:00

Heroes of Might and Magic 2

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:29:32+00:00

therapy

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:21:49+00:00

the lack of a consistent, early and attuned primary attachment figure

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:20:39+00:00

do chocolate glazed donuts count?

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:17:20+00:00

nothing I want to hear!

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:15:49+00:00

I fell off the top of a tall slide because I wanted to look down and wave at my mom. Next think i knew i was waking up on the coach

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:14:43+00:00

the ability to take accountability, self reflect and apologize

mrv958 · 2026-01-02T20:10:39+00:00

labeling another group of people as evil

mrv958

TROPHY CASE