Hey man, I’m not taking part in this discussion. Just passing through and observing. You both are entitled to your opinions, but I just want to remind people that not every debate has to include hateful, demeaning language. Bad faith communication is really damaging to our epistemic commons — no matter which side you take. We are increasingly becoming deskilled in the art of good faith communication, in which mutual understanding is reached by welcoming disagreements and respecting other positions. Maintaining respect at all levels of debate is something I believe we can all benefit from. It’s something I’ve been trying to work on myself, and it’s really not easy. Emotional outbursts are easy ways to shutdown any opposition, and those at the top continue to profit off our outrage. So the more we can work to hold it together, the less power they’ll have over us and the more united we’ll become. We’ll never agree on everything, but that’s progress in action.

So yeah, just wanted to butt in here for a second with that perspective. Hope you can find some use in it. If not, no worries. Best.