New Testingstan

Dooey Jo wrote:

Elaborate, please.

Jung wrote:Well he makes a fairly convincing case to me, but I haven't really researched counterarguments.

i read this a while ago: http://www.zcommunications.org/reality- ... peterson-1

but since i haven't read the original material i can't say if it is good (and if its biases agree with mine i'm unlikely to notice them of course) but i remember enjoying the read anyway at elast


be warned that it is quite long

It's an interesting book, I would recommend it, whether you think you'll agree with it or not it's got food for thought.

Aye, that's always a lot of the fun.

steven pinker seems to be so unable to write a single sentence without it turning into a steaming pile of lies that one wonders if he accidentally filled his pen with ox manure instead of ink, or if it was on purpose

not only is our society and its norms formed by biological hardwiring

we are now also living in the best of worlds thanks to the brave and peaceful US foreign policy

so stop this talk about social change right goddamn now you creationist commie idealists

I've read many critical reviews of Pinker's Better Angels, but not a one has ever posited any evidence counter to the clear and present facts that the world as a whole has been getting more prosperous, longer-lived, and less violent pretty consistently and almost universally over the past two centuries.

i just got rickrolled for the very first time

I can sum up the official presidential debate with one quote

Barack Obama wrote:Governor Romney and I, we both agree.

adr wrote:i read this a while ago: http://www.zcommunications.org/reality- ... peterson-1

but since i haven't read the original material i can't say if it is good (and if its biases agree with mine i'm unlikely to notice them of course) but i remember enjoying the read anyway at elast


be warned that it is quite long

Thanks, that was an interesting read.

That essay had interesting points, but I still find Pinker's general thesis plausible; the culture has become less approving of violence over time, this has resulted in real improvements, and the reason for this is a combination of stronger states and increased dissemination of knowledge and communication due to improving technology and organization, and the knock-on effects thereof. Admittedly, this resonates with my own thinking so I might be biased toward it.

btw lol the part of that essay about the cold war/communism totally reminded me of the Moralization Gap where each side percieves the other as the predatory actor and its own aggression as defensive or retaliatory.

adr wrote:I can sum up the official presidential debate with one quote

Barack Obama wrote:Governor Romney and I, we both agree.

I dare you to play Russian Roulette with an automatic pistol.

Rocky Anderson wrote: The solution to Medicare is to expand it to everybody.

YES

death to private death panel companies!

i can sum up the presidential debate with this question

why exactly does obama think that talking directly to the public only works in octobers of election years?

or with this question

will anybody be willing to publicly note that romney is moving to the center?

They will note it, but as a sign of strong character not as a sign of being a weak kneed chickenshit pandering fuckhole.

Flagg wrote:They will note it, but as a sign of strong character not as a sign of being a weak kneed chickenshit pandering fuckhole.

i doubt it

i don't really recall anybody ever admitting in a broad forum that candidates constantly tailor their views to get elected- it's received cynicism among political types, but i don't think anybody has ever said "look, you can't really get anything of what a major candidate wants from their campaign because they tailor everything to their assumed audiences and that's the way it is in this country". probably because that might actually change things.

if they talk to us outside the election time we might start think we matter outside the bad or worse vote

adr wrote:i just got rickrolled for the very first time

Wow, I didn't think people still did Rickrolls.

adr wrote:I can sum up the official presidential debate with one quote

Barack Obama wrote:Governor Romney and I, we both agree.

Darth Tedious wrote:

adr wrote:i just got rickrolled for the very first time

Wow, I didn't think people still did Rickrolls.

I'm never going to give them up...

FUCK YOU AMERICA

I've noticed a solid uptrend over the past few years of people asking for the 'bathroom' and not the 'toilet'

Don't blame that on us...

Blame that on stupid people.

Of course, at least we don't use toilet as a verb outside of some very unusual professional vocab.

timmy wrote:FUCK YOU AMERICA

I've noticed a solid uptrend over the past few years of people asking for the 'bathroom' and not the 'toilet'

Maybe they just wanted to wash their hands...

People still would have asked for the toilet in that case

But as I say...

I've been cracking down on my staff saying 'elevator' as well

Quackustra wrote:why exactly does obama think that talking directly to the public only works in octobers of election years?

Man it's funny you say that

Because I happened to be in the gym during an interview where Obama was like 'my biggest failing as the president was not communicating with the public more'

Straha wrote:

Darth Tedious wrote:

adr wrote:i just got rickrolled for the very first time

Wow, I didn't think people still did Rickrolls.

I'm never going to give them up...

Because they never let you down?

timmy wrote:People still would have asked for the toilet in that case

But as I say...

I've been cracking down on my staff saying 'elevator' as well

Excuse me while I go drive my pickup truck around town.

A little bit later, did you want to play some soccer, then watch the football game? We could snack on french fries and potato chips.

i remember that time some hilarious guys said that the empire wasn't bad, because it brought peace and security and free markets and those times it freedomized some planets wasn't so bad either because it was an insignificant percentage of the galactic population and they were all terrists anyway

Is there some sort of mental disconnect with people online regarding the Presidential Debate? I mean, sure, I think Obama could have been a little more persistent in pointing out Mitty's flaws, but wandering around forums, comments and feeds, I'm seeing a stream of variations on, "OBAMA SHOULD HAVE LEFT ROMNEY CRYING ON THE GROUND, GAWD WHY DIDN'T HE GO FOR THE JUGULAR AND VERBALLY RAPE HIM??!!1?"

This is the Presidential Debate, for fuck's sake. This isn't the comments section on Youtube, this isn't TEO, this isn't even the Australian parliament, like it or not, there's a different standard of conduct. I'd much rather Obama hold a few shots and let Mitty hang himself, than go balls to the wall and subsequently get crucified in the media and make everyone focus on what a 'meanie' he is.