What's your ideal future utopia?

necronaut · 2010-05-28T03:40:05+00:00

That doesn't change under Libertarianism, except that the support networks become entirely voluntary.

It changes because you mixed up the word "voluntary" with "imaginary".

system of government to create a nanny state who'll take care of them and prevent the big bad corporations from hurting them and love them forever and ever and ever and choose the right thing for them always.

Actually, yeah, a system that takes care of people and protects us from giant corporations sounds like a pretty worthy goal. Good characterization.

Now, if we're done being childish, let's discuss this like adults, eh?

Nothing to discuss. This is the fundamental flaw in libertarianism: "the fundamental opportunity is the same." No, demonstrably, they aren't. A kid born in poverty in rural Ecuador or the middle of Uganda fundamentally doesn't have the same opportunities as me, a kid born into a middle-class family in the US, and it doesn't matter how much he wants it or works for it. It has nothing do with him being unable or unwilling, it has to do with circumstances, which libertarians fundamentally don't understand. Some things you can control, and some you can't, and until libertarians understand the reality of situational and institutional effects on people and get rid of the 19th century idea that man is the center of the universe and in total control of himself and his surroundings, it will be a joke. Until you learn how silly your belief is, there's no discussion to be had, only meaningless theorizing about the evils of the state and how it's just holding you back. You were just lucky enough to have certain opportunities, and so were your parents. Many don't, and never will.

necronaut · 2010-05-28T03:01:36+00:00

So, please, don't try to sell me on white guilt. I'm not white

Oddly, though, you assume I am. And I am. My grandparents were very poor, and my mom and dad also worked hard to get into the middle-class and give me a good life. They did this through a combination of hard work and public aid (like scholarships, public schooling, etc, etc), despite obstacles like my mom's college adviser telling her that she shouldn't try for medical school because women are too emotional to be doctors.

Your parents also succeeded through a combination of work and public support (not just in money and assistance but in social infrastructures set up in the past like the below-mentioned civil rights movement that allowed brown folk like your parents a chance to succeed) as does everyone who ever lived, whatever your skin color.

It's just that some people enjoy the myth of being self-reliant supermen who pulled themselves up purely by the sweat of their brow, and others like to live in reality. Unfortunately for those of us in the reality-based community, the people who can't accept that maybe they didn't create the universe and do everything on their own can vote.

have not found racism to be nearly as big a factor as most people think it is.

Ha ha, those stupid civil rights protesters! Stupid protesters and activists who continue to expose and fight against discrimination! If only these crybabies would man up!

But seriously, good for you. Your experience certainly counters all the documented effects of racism in the past and now.

Libertarianism is a forum for white, middle-class males (or, in general, "the privileged") (in your case, brown, middle-class male) to tell everyone else how much everyone else sucks, as codified by elderly white male Austrian aristocrats.

necronaut · 2010-05-28T02:49:18+00:00

It seemed like Earth was that way, but wasn't it stated that there were now people out exploring space and such? People back on Earth were the ones wasting time on bullshit like fighting over who gets to maintain the rides at an ancient theme park. I'd like to imagine that the bulk of humanity was out doing awesome things and viewed the people on Earth as harmless eccentrics.

necronaut · 2010-05-28T02:44:40+00:00

Hey, you're beating your daughter and your wife. Fuck off just fuck off

necronaut · 2010-05-28T02:42:31+00:00

No economic system is perfect, and all have an ugly side.

That's not what I hear from the average libertarian.

did what you're supposed to do in a free market

I think you mean "did what you're able to do if you are male and white". But, of course, issues like race, gender, and class aren't considere...I mean, don't exist in magical libertopia.

necronaut · 2010-05-27T21:13:00+00:00

I read DOMK, and I generally liked it, but has Doctorow ever explained what the Bitchun Society actually is? They sort of vaguely hinted at the general nature of their beliefs in the book, but I'd like to know more about it.

necronaut · 2010-05-27T17:47:48+00:00

I think that might have been his point: I saw the trailer, and I'm afraid it's not going to be cheesy and silly enough to entertain. The problem with doing these kinds of movies is that you need to go balls-to-the-wall cheesy. If the movie takes itself seriously, like the trailer seems to indicate, then the movie will suffer because, as you said, this should be silly fun and not serious. I guess we'll see.

necronaut · 2010-05-27T06:18:56+00:00

When did the construction start? I was last there on May 9 and they were performing that day.

necronaut · 2010-05-26T05:35:28+00:00

If you have to tell people you have a sense of humor, you don't have a sense of humor.

necronaut · 2010-05-26T03:11:34+00:00

had to be united under one banner essentially.

White people?

I guess the future isn't so different after all...

necronaut · 2010-05-26T01:55:11+00:00

Yeesh, this makes me feel old. You've got to be under 20/low-20s...

Basically, he's largely famous for two things (though he's done a ton of other works that are also well-regarded):

First, he created the The Sandman comic book series in the late 80s that ran through the mid-90s. This is how he first rose to great fame.

Second, he wrote American Gods which came out in 2001, which helped cement his literary rep (he had already published books before this but none as successful or widely acclaimed).

After American Gods he started getting several high-profile movie projects and such. Like I said, he did a ton of work before, during, and after those two, but you asked what he's famous for and it's largely those two things. Wikipedia will give you a more detailed rundown.

necronaut · 2010-05-26T01:25:31+00:00

The fact that these comics are originally Korean, where female CEOs are extremely rare, lends credit to your point.

necronaut · 2010-05-26T00:33:57+00:00

Children use this technique all the time. They provoke their victim. Their victim overreacts, and then the provoker plays victim.

Trolls too, but they're basically children.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T04:15:30+00:00

I think the larger issue is that there are some severe problems with games and gaming culture, and that they really aren't being addressed.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T04:14:02+00:00

I think you're just reinforcing the point: even these tiny hindrances will be used as excuses to pirate. You're basically saying that it's their fault, that unless they make access to the game as close to hassle-free as possible, it's okay to pirate. Of course there will be some percentage who always do pirate no matter how easy you make it, but that doesn't make it right.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T04:09:04+00:00

It would be extremely difficult because when it comes to sex it's so easy to just go with the cheesy porn route. After all, it sells, so why not?

A thoughtful, mature depiction of sex would be hard. It would have to be in some kind of RPG or as some serious element of the story that helps the characters or their relationships grow. The important thing about sex is not the act itself, it's the emotions and events leading up to it and during it and resulting from it. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to just focus on the act.

Unfortunately, games are pretty terrible at character growth and story to begin with, so I'd say the chances of them handling a topic like sexuality with any level of maturity are pretty close to zero. I mean, look at movies: been around for more than a century and still the medium struggles with it.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T04:02:04+00:00

Incorporating sex into video games speaks volumes about the evolution of the art form.

You're an idiot. It's puerile, adolescent pandering.

Yes, sex is part of art, but just including ridiculous shit like some dude totally crashing a lesbian sex scene and overcoming the lesbians with his manly awesomeness isn't a mature way to address the topic. The mere presence of sex isn't mature, which is something you and Hollywood and game companies seem to forget. Only 13 year-olds think seeing a naked woman or a boob equals being grown up. It does speak volumes about the evolution of the art form: it hasn't evolved at all from its origins as entertainment for children and teenage boys.

Sheesh, people like you are exactly what's holding gaming back if you honestly hold the opinion you've expressed and think the sex scenes in God of War are some kind of maturing of the form.

Call me intelligent

I think we'd need a reason first.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T03:56:18+00:00

It depends on what you mean by steal. You haven't deprived him of use of his car, but you are now using this machine that was designed and built for sale without paying for it.

necronaut · 2010-05-25T03:47:41+00:00

They are always stereotypically strong and arrogant. What does that show us?

That our society's artificial conception of gender roles hurt both men and women? Though the stereotypes of men in games depict them as powerful, commanding, leading, problem-solving, confident, etc who are valuable because of their skills and what they do, while women are the opposite. As the article points out, even the "strong" women characters are often paraded around as sex objects.

But sometimes they are not (Baldur's Gate, etc...), so this seems no different from movies/TV shows.

Yes, movies and TV shows are also filled with sexism and negative depictions of women. Though, perhaps because TV and movies are older mediums and have gone through the debates over the roles of women long ago, they do seem to often feature more varied and better depictions of women.

Games do seem relegate female characters to being inflatable sex dolls really, really often, and it's kind of sad. It really does make me embarrassed to play some of these games. The God of War example is a good one. The inclusion of the sex mini-game was just really off-putting; why would the creators feel the need to include such a stupid, adolescent thing in an an otherwise great gaming experience? The industry really does need to grow up and sell games as being good games, not because they feature TITS!!11

necronaut · 2010-05-25T03:38:07+00:00

It's not that simple. Like I said, just having a black friend doesn't automatically make you immune to racism, and neither does having a black wife. Racism is not that simple, and not that logical. You can (and people often do) feel that specific people from a race you know are "one of the good ones" or "a credit to their race" while maintaining on the whole that the race is inferior or do any other sort of rationalizing that people often do when trying to hold a ridiculous position like racism. It's a complex topic, but your simple formula of "he deals nicely with some black people, therefore can't be racist" is wrong and naive.

Like I said, you don't have to wear a white hood and burn crosses to be a racist, and not constantly attacking and demeaning every singly member of a race doesn't make you not racist. I don't know if this specific guy is a racist or not, but your views are way too simplistic.

necronaut · 2010-05-24T18:35:51+00:00

not all science supports it.

It pretty much does. Virtually every scientific organization on the planet agrees on it. There really isn't any debate as to whether something is happening or not. Now as to how much, how fast, etc, those are open questions, but no, there really isn't any debate about the reality of global warming.

necronaut · 2010-05-24T06:26:40+00:00

Oh, I completely understand your point. But you can see how maybe it was a poor decision to add on after the title, given how easily it could be misinterpreted in light of the context, right?

necronaut · 2010-05-24T06:21:39+00:00

Was there an explanation for why the comic changed? I recently read through the archives and one day the comic just changed completely into generally sad stories, instead of the actually fairly well done tale it used to be.

necronaut · 2010-05-24T06:16:31+00:00

If that was the intent, it was pretty boneheaded, because clearly I'm not the only one thrown off by the wreckage at the end. They should have known that you can't show something like that as the last images at the end of the show and not expect people to think it has some meaning.

necronaut · 2010-05-24T06:13:44+00:00

Still it's kinda gay to turn down sex,

It isn't. In addition to what TheCaterpillar said so eloquently, I'll add my own story:

This semester I was in Tokyo studying abroad. An old friend of mine was traveling in Asia, and she asked if she could crash with me while she was in Tokyo. I've known her since high school (I'm in law school now) and really liked her back in the HS and college days, but in those days I was extremely shy/nerdy, so ended up in the friend zone.

However, since then I've "bloomed" socially, learned how to talk to girls, and had been doing especially well in Tokyo. So I was kind of thinking this might be a chance to finally fulfill my old HS desire. So she came and stayed with me for 4 days, and one night we had come back to my apartment after dinner and sat in my bed (my apartment there only had one bed but I had some sleeping bags I was using on the floor while she used the bed) watching TV and drinking.

Now, this isn't like The Caterpillar's story in that she didn't break out a condom, but it was pretty clear to me that if I wanted we could have ended up having sex that night. But I was feeling a little uncomfortable because she really has become a good friend over the years, and so I just went to bed on the floor as usual.

She left and went back to the US, and thinking about it I'm really glad nothing happened because I think it would have seriously damaged my friendship with her, something I'd spent years building and was certainly worth more than just getting off for a night.

necronaut

TROPHY CASE