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Messages - Turkey
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7111
« on: February 03, 2015, 04:46:43 PM »
P4: It is logically possible to create a finite mass of rock that cannot be lifted by its own maker (from P3). This is about as robust of an argument as saying, "it's logically possible to not be omnipotent, and omnipotence is the ability to do anything logically possible, therefore god cannot exist". This is a delightful attempt at a logical process, but...c'mon, man.
7112
« on: February 03, 2015, 04:33:36 PM »
I can't help but see a slightly darker side in the fact that we are picking and choosing parts of people that we want, going against the most basic and natural thing for any animal-breeding.
We do this with plants and animals, and evolution does it at a slower rate. If anything, being able to selectively breed beneficial traits is a milestone in evolution.
And the tactic has rendered many species of plants unused, shunned.
What?
7113
« on: February 03, 2015, 03:56:07 PM »
Probably shouldn't diagnose yourself as a psychopath just from reading the Wikipedia page.
7114
« on: February 03, 2015, 03:41:07 PM »
The identity of the sniper, who is a married father who grew up in the South of England, is a closely guarded secret for fear he will become a target for Islamist terrorists.
Wow, a silent professional not getting their life story romanticized and ghost-written? What a novel idea.
Anyways, he's not the 'world's deadliest sniper'. Several have higher kill counts, not that pissing contests over kill counts actually matter.
Care to attest to that?
And I mean someone alive, today. Don't bother bringing out that Simo Haya shit.
If it's only comparing him to snipers that are alive, why mention Chris Kyle?
7115
« on: February 03, 2015, 03:22:16 PM »
The identity of the sniper, who is a married father who grew up in the South of England, is a closely guarded secret for fear he will become a target for Islamist terrorists. Wow, a silent professional not getting their life story romanticized and ghost-written? What a novel idea. Anyways, he's not the 'world's deadliest sniper'. Several have higher kill counts, not that pissing contests over kill counts actually matter.
7116
« on: February 03, 2015, 03:18:59 PM »
I can't help but see a slightly darker side in the fact that we are picking and choosing parts of people that we want, going against the most basic and natural thing for any animal-breeding. We do this with plants and animals, and evolution does it at a slower rate. If anything, being able to selectively breed beneficial traits is a milestone in evolution.
7117
« on: February 03, 2015, 01:50:31 PM »
this is why welfare shouldn't be a thing
And why abortion needs to be a thing.
Abortion is a thing. Lots of people just don't give a shit about the welfare of their future kids.
7118
« on: February 03, 2015, 08:25:16 AM »
I can't imagine myself doing that. I may forego having kids because I don't have the means to support them or my quality of life isn't suitable for it, but I don't think I'd ever do it because I thought I needed to do my part to end the species.
7119
« on: February 02, 2015, 08:16:15 PM »
Do whatever you two are happy with. I don't think it's financially sound, and it may very well hurt your retirement down the road.
Why wouldn't it be financially sound?
Because trying to support two adults and several kids on one salary is difficult.
7120
« on: February 02, 2015, 07:08:54 PM »
Do whatever you two are happy with. I don't think it's financially sound, and it may very well hurt your retirement down the road.
7121
« on: February 02, 2015, 11:38:22 AM »
In the end, the housing bubble and the financial crisis were not causes in themselves of the Recession.
I still can't bring myself to agree with this. You simply can't look at such a drastic credit bubble and say it had nothing to do with the subsequent recession.
It's certainly obvious that the financial crisis worsened the Recession (much like a vicious cycle) by further depressing aggregate demand, but it's nothing monetary policy couldn't have handled and, like the AEI paper states, intermediation between financial institutions had returned to regular levels shortly after the crash.
Not to mention, in both the instances of the Depression and the Recession, the economy was showing clear signs of weakness prior to the ensuing banking crises. If you can't accept that a credit crisis that big couldn't have caused the Recession, I'd be interested to know how you explain the crash of 1987 and the success of monetary policy immediately following.
It's not about assigning a sole cause; recessions can happen independently of a credit bubble, but to say it's irrelevant just doesn't make sense. I think metaphors are condescending and I try to avoid using them, but this is like stabbing a guy three times and saying his bleeding to death was contingent only on the first stab.
7122
« on: February 02, 2015, 11:20:10 AM »
In the end, the housing bubble and the financial crisis were not causes in themselves of the Recession. I still can't bring myself to agree with this. You simply can't look at such a drastic credit bubble and say it had nothing to do with the subsequent recession.
7123
« on: February 01, 2015, 08:47:18 PM »
Like, a textbook? Or a non-fiction book of some sort?
7124
« on: February 01, 2015, 05:39:24 PM »
Is my description of quantum mechanics/gravity in relation to general relativity correct from your perspective? You have a greater grasp of science than I do.
Yeah, it's fine. General relativity is still the most refined theory and I hesitate to say Einstein isn't authoritative, but I know what you mean. And I wouldn't mistake the conflicts of quantum gravity and general relativity with any unifying theory, but all in all it's good. I haven't read your update and I doubt my input would be valuable.
7125
« on: February 01, 2015, 09:57:13 AM »
It's odd that he jumped on the bandwagon once the movie came out. Kyle died nearly two years ago.
7126
« on: February 01, 2015, 12:20:58 AM »
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger I tend to agree. Joining the enemy should strip one of citizenship, effective without trial. Anything less would see them tried for treason. Waging war against the country is no longer in the realm of criminality.
7127
« on: January 31, 2015, 07:16:40 PM »
In your own words, because I feel like you're on a roll here, what would you say we're at war over right now? And be 'we' I mean the general Western coalition, not just America or the UK. Spoiler I'm heading to dinner but I'll pick this up later.
7128
« on: January 31, 2015, 07:08:43 PM »
Seems to correspond roughly to the change in unemployment rate, with people's coverage tied to their job. Just a guess, though. Could be a symptom of a poor economy in general.
7129
« on: January 31, 2015, 07:04:18 PM »
If it exposes a bias, let me put it to rest by clarifying that I recognize and condemn the part that religion plays in war. The reason for this seemingly semantic argument is to highlight the pervasive influence of economy in humanity. Without a doubt, many people have in the past and do in the present go to war because they feel that it is right through their religion to do so. But the difference is that wars are fought by nations, not individuals, and the politicians and rulers of those nations are doing it out of a desire to gain or protect economic resources, be it territory, people, or money. And that's important because we have this mindset that terrorists just want to kill us all because our culture insults theirs and is worthy of being killed, but we don't see that in their actions or in their statements. We see a desire to rid their land of Western influence and regain (or gain) sovereignty of a land and its people.
Terry the Terrorist is out there shooting an AK at coalition forces because he thinks it's what Allah wants him to do and when he dies an honorable death he'll be rewarded for his martyrdom. But this isn't the motivation of ISIS as a whole; they want people, and land, and money. Islam is just the thing that's telling them it's okay.
7130
« on: January 31, 2015, 06:45:36 PM »
http://www.amazon.com/The-Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle/dp/0756404746Ignore that stupid cover art. Ignore the cliche 'Kingkiller Chronicles' title. Ignore the fact that for all intents and purposes, this looks like the most generic fantasy crap that you've ever passed by at a bookstore. Because it is easily some of the best-written fiction I've ever read, nevermind the fantasy genre alone. Patrick Rothfuss writes like sex feels. Prologue: Spoiler A Silence of Three Parts
IT WAS NIGHT AGAIN. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.
The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking. If there had been a wind it would have sighed through the trees, set the inn’s sign creaking on its hooks, and brushed the silence down the road like trailing autumn leaves. If there had been a crowd, even a handful of men inside the inn, they would have filled the silence with conversation and laughter, the clatter and clamor one expects from a drinking house during the dark hours of night. If there had been music…but no, of course there was no music. In fact there were none of these things, and so the silence remained.
Inside the Waystone a pair of men huddled at one corner of the bar. They drank with quiet determination, avoiding serious discussions of troubling news. In doing this they added a small, sullen silence to the larger, hollow one. It made an alloy of sorts, a counterpoint.
The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened for an hour, you might begin to feel it in the wooden floor underfoot and in the rough, splintering barrels behind the bar. It was in the weight of the black stone hearth that held the heat of a long dead fire. It was in the slow back and forth of a white linen cloth rubbing along the grain of the bar. And it was in the hands of the man who stood there, polishing a stretch of mahogany that already gleamed in the lamplight.
The man had true-red hair, red as flame. His eyes were dark and distant, and he moved with the subtle certainty that comes from knowing many things.
The Waystone was his, just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, wrapping the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as autumn’s ending. It was heavy as a great river-smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die. If you want an accessible (read: not highbrow) series to interest you for a while, check it out.
7131
« on: January 31, 2015, 06:30:46 PM »
The hunt for bin Laden wasn't a moral crusade of ours, it was an effort to destabilize a group that represented a serious threat to our nation's political and economic sovereignty. And yet they represented a threat precisely because their zealotry motivated them to do so.
I would argue that their motivation stemmed from attempting to keep western culture and influence out of middle eastern lands, as they stated themselves in their fatwas. Ultimately, al Qaeda in the 1990's - mid 2000's was all about preserving the land they considered 'theirs'. Religion was a unifying force for that motivation. And speaking of crusades -- arguably the most 'religious' wars in history -- were really just territory wars over middle eastern land, particularly Jerusalem, fought by sovereign nations. Religion was the excuse, but the motivation was a rivalry between two nations for control of valuable land. Would the land have been valuable if not for religion?
It's largely irrelevant why it was valuable. The fact is that it was -- though, the cradle of civilization/Fertile Crescent has and always will be the most contested land in the world. Would you agree that rival religions have arisen as a natural progression of nations attempting to justify their conquests of others?
7132
« on: January 31, 2015, 06:19:34 PM »
My econ prof studied extensively under Friedman, however, and was staunchly of the opinion that every war has stemmed from a conflict over some combination of land, labor, and capital, and that religion or culture has never once been the prime motivator, and that was coming from an avowed atheist.
He'd be at a loss to explain the War in Afghanistan, I think; nobody particularly liked or saw any economic benefit to running around Tora Bora looking for bin Laden.
Even then, however, this isn't solely limited to war. I'm not entirely sure how you can justify most of the behaviour of the likes of Boko Haram or al-Qaeda via economics. These are the people who murder school children because they don't want education for girls, and who murder tourists and diplomats because we wouldn't allow Indonesia to commit a genocide.
In the sense that they're Islamic imperialists, land comes into the matter--but it certainly isn't because they really fundamentally lack sufficient supply. Belief matters; accepting the propositional content of assertions will motivate behaviour. If you want to boil it down to land, labour and capital then ISIS explicitly relies on its claims to such things with its religion as a basis.
While I can't speak for him exactly, I can note that he wasn't referring to individual acts, but wars between organized coalitions, be it a nation or a faction. The hunt for bin Laden wasn't a moral crusade of ours, it was an effort to destabilize a group that represented a serious threat to our nation's political and economic sovereignty. And speaking of crusades, arguably the most 'religious' wars in history, they were really just territory wars over middle eastern land, particularly Jerusalem, fought by sovereign nations. Religion was the excuse, but the motivation was a rivalry between two nations for control of valuable land. He had a much more compelling argument and I feel like I poorly explained it. It wasn't about defending religion, as he said several times that he thinks much of religion is detrimental to the world, rather it was trying to teach us the resounding impact and ultimate singular importance of economy in human history. Challenger, not sure what to say except that Meta and I have our regular racism-denying masturbation session on Tuesdays, not weekends.
7133
« on: January 31, 2015, 02:46:12 PM »
TES wrote the book on how a lot of pop fantasy is portrayed, particularly in video games. If it feels generic it's because it started the trends of mainstream fantasy.
What? Oblivion is only 9 years old and Morrowind was far from generic.
And I'd disagree that Oblivion was generic, too. It introduced quite a bit of new narrative to fantasy (and video games in general), and was years beyond the competition at the time.
7134
« on: January 31, 2015, 02:42:45 PM »
I enjoyed the video but I'm not sure what direction you want a discussion to take.
I'd be interested to see Dr. Sowell's take on your previous thread about slavery ultimately benefiting blacks.
Speaking of slavery, and not on an entirely unrelated note, Sowell argues that slavery in America wasn't an inherently racist practice. Slavery throughout history has been an economic, not racial, phenomena and he explains the disparity in America's case by the Constitution: if all men are created equal, then you can only justify slavery by arguing some men aren't actually men.
As for the general thread? It's more of a poke against people who seem to think that culture/religion can't be used to motivate people to do (un)desirable things.
Well I agree that slavery wasn't racist, though the attitude of racism didn't help prevent it. Whites were the majority of slaves up until some clever Europeans decided Africa would be a good source of income, and even then there were black slave traders brokering the deals. My econ prof studied extensively under Friedman, however, and was staunchly of the opinion that every war has stemmed from a conflict over some combination of land, labor, and capital, and that religion or culture has never once been the prime motivator, and that was coming from an avowed atheist.
7135
« on: January 31, 2015, 01:07:44 PM »
Have some respect for the dead and call it what it is.
7136
« on: January 31, 2015, 01:01:47 PM »
I enjoyed the video but I'm not sure what direction you want a discussion to take.
I'd be interested to see Dr. Sowell's take on your previous thread about slavery ultimately benefiting blacks.
7137
« on: January 31, 2015, 12:59:10 PM »
Yeah, of course. I have no idea how you could play a TES game without feeling like you're in a fantasy setting.
Its just so generic as fantasy. Far too 'medieval' to me.
Games like Dark Souls and Final Fantasy give me that fantasy feel.
TES wrote the book on how a lot of pop fantasy is portrayed, particularly in video games. If it feels generic it's because it started the trends of mainstream fantasy. As for final fantasy, I'd say it depends on the game. The modern FF sagas are more along the lines of sci-fi.
7138
« on: January 31, 2015, 10:04:59 AM »
Yeah, of course. I have no idea how you could play a TES game without feeling like you're in a fantasy setting.
7139
« on: January 31, 2015, 10:03:33 AM »
Appropriation of western culture ever since we nuked away their imperialism.
7140
« on: January 31, 2015, 09:53:52 AM »
you can't condemn a behavior of a culture by what another culture is doing at a certain period in time.
I'm either having a cognitive malfunction, or that sentence makes no sense.
If he believes in moral objectivism, then he shouldn't qualify the statement with "it's the 21st century". That's like saying, "it's the 21st century, slavery isn't okay anymore". By using that qualifier, he's saying that, since culture has now progressed to this point, it's wrong to treat women badly. That's cultural relativism, and as he says, it's nonsense. I really dislike Maher so I enjoy picking apart what he says, as petty and semantic as it may be.
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