I love how when anti-global warming types point at a big snow storm or what-have-you and say 'look, global warming can't be real!' and the pro-global warming crowd points out, rightly, 'weather isn't climate'... but then when there is a big wind storm or what-have-you the pro-global warming types start crying 'look what global warming is doing! waaaaa!'
Weather isn't climate.
That being said, any fantasy about humanity being at risk for significant biological hardship is ludicrous considering that we can eat almost anything, live almost anywhere, are more resistant and adaptive to toxins and pathogens than most other large animals, and we have this thing called "technology" that allows us to move anything anywhere, radically adjust our environments, etc. etc.
We really need to get over the conceit that we developed in the one true immutable biosphere. 99% of previously extant species are extinct, and that's going to keep happening regardless of what we do because the environment has never been static. Without mass extinctions like what occurred during the Oxygen Catastrophe, animal life wouldn't even exist.
Listening to a physicist on economics or politics makes as much sense as listening to an economist or politician on physics. I'm sure you'd be happy to have a random Capitol Hill denizen set up the next experiment to create a singularity. Oh, you wouldn't? Well then you and ol' Einstein can STFU about things you haven't fully studied. I find the life's work of people like Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek a lot more compelling, well-reasoned, and well-supported.
Because there is no such thing as "free" anything. Being forced to pay taxes to pay for somebody else's healthcare is socialism, and it's not less socialism because you get healthcare you might not have needed or wanted too.
Social Darwinism, so-called, has never left. We've created social institutions to attempt to fight the natural order, but without the aforesaid institutions, those persons in society who did not generate enough value to sustain themselves would die, as they did throughout every other era.
Also, Ayn Rand was a humanist. Just because she was not a humanist in the same way that you consider yourself to be doesn't mean anything other than you are ignorant of the wide parameters that define humanism. I might further add that there is no universally accepted dogmatic core to humanism, as such it consists of many unmoderated, fractious sects. 'Humanist' is almost as useless a title as 'atheist' or 'theist'. It says almost nothing about what they believe or why.
If you are truly curious, I'd suggest you read the 15th Chapter of Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. I was going to quote parts, but honestly it would give too partial a picture. 7th Day Adventists are basically a resurgence of Nazarenes/Ebionites who were marginalized as heretics even before the great purges of the ecumenical councils.
Which part of "another" didn't you get? I might further add that I probably know more about historical patterns of social changes relating to sexuality in multiple different cultures. If you have to look up 'kisang', 'hetaira', or 'ningxing' this is probably true. The fact is that after the end of antiquity civilization began a tailspin of sexual repression due to a combination of Roman monogamy (which was arguably the most important element of Roman pagan society that was grafted into Christianity and consequently all Western society to the modern era) and Abrahamic anti-pluralism which didn't really abate until civilization "rediscovered" the value of ancient pluralism and everything that catalyzed.
I have a feeling that you're oblivious to how openly sexual some great civilizations of the past were. Here's a hint: when the Victorian prudes started digging around in Egypt, they uncovered and subsequently defaced a lot of murals of boners. Even today when archaeologists have the sense to not smash everything that rustles their jimmies, the topic is rarely talked about because we're still repressed compared to the great ancient societies that created these things.
You need to take your myopic, decade to decade perspective and educate yourself on the much broader arcs of development throughout the world. The framework of human social evolution is immensely broader and deeper than you know or understand.
That reminds me of a skit from Whitest Kids U' Know where some executive comes to a business meeting dragging along a bed to which both he and a hooker are chained because he lost the key.
I'm inclined to agree, loath though I am to agree with you on anything. I think we're on the cusp of another sexual revolution, since I think the manic cognitive dissonance that society currently displays toward overt and private sexuality and norms is unsustainable. Pretty much the only things keeping the lid on is the cultural momentum of the Boomers and an unholy alliance between traditionalists (usually but not exclusively religious) and feminists (generally speaking, since even that isn't a monolith and sex positive feminists exist as a significant faction). The Boomers are going to die, the traditionalists are likely to lose ground, and feminism is being gradually discredited as being as unbalanced and bigoted a solution as black supremacy is to white supremacy.
Overall I can't help being hopeful for certain trends to continue leading toward a more tolerant, open, and truly gender egalitarian society. Now if only people could keep their hands off each other's labor products...
Lastly and as a side-note, your new signature underscores why you're on my foes list. What arrogant conceit does it take to dismiss almost all arguments with a wave of Dunning-Kruger. Because of course you're a credentialed expert on all things in all fields, and indeed everybody else must be just woefully ignorant instead of simply holding a different opinion.
It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Jin which was one of Genghis's main adversaries at the time of his death recorded much in Jurchen script, which itself is not yet wholly understood, due in part to the the fact that almost no works have been found that were written in it. If a cache of such works were to be uncovered it could radically alter our understanding of the period around Genghis's death. There is a huge amount of room in this area of study for discoveries, but a lot is being restrained/prevented by the CCP. The CCP wants to be able to control the narrative of China's past absolutely, and they use the more reasonable concern about preservation as a cover. You are right that this guy and his expedition are likely to fail, both in professional depth and in just being roadblocked by the CCP who has no incentive whatever to play along.
I see I wasted my time being civil. Apparently it did not occur to you that there may be as yet undiscovered primary sources (or even contemporary secondary sources) which will not be brought to light without a concerted effort to find them. My earlier reference to Alexander was not wholly sourced in his precedent for syncresis, but also in the loss of his tomb, which was actually a well known tourist destination in the ancient world. Even Alexander's tomb which was known to exist and fairly well recorded in various accounts was lost to history during the religious upheavals between the fall of paganism and the rise of Christianity and Islam in North Africa. Even today the fate of his remains and their attendant monument is widely disputed. However, much of the source material for these investigations was unknown before the last century, and commensurately there may be similar materials contemporary to the Great Khan which have yet to be found or at least yet to be understood.
Straight people have gay offspring and vice versa. Genes do not fatalistically determine what people consciously do, they only increase probabilities, and then only slightly.
Empire and Commonwealth are not the same. Whatever nominal fealty the Australians and Canadians claim to honor, that rubber hasn't met the road since WW2. How many Australian and Canadian military units assisted in the Fawklands War? Zero.
While I'm inclined to agree and think you should be modded up, allow me to play devil's advocate on this. The Great Khan was exposed to a lot of other cultures in his conquests, and it's possible that he might have become enamoured with the more aggrandizing foreign cultural traditions related to death and burial. Alexander the Great certainly succumbed to a great deal of personal syncretism as a result of his exposure to foreign influences in his conquests. Not that this conjecture proves anything, but I think the possibility shouldn't be dismissed until everything has been fully explored.
Yeah, that worked out really well for 'Ocean Marketing'. You might remember the name, but you sure as hell aren't going to get anything from them, since they collapsed under the wave of antipathy.
Not to mention that the heinous Wickard v. Filburn made basically everything interstate commerce by magic, which is to say local commerce has effects on interstate commerce, therefore it is interstate commerce! Fucking FDR and his court-packing threats...
Slashdot Mirror
I love how when anti-global warming types point at a big snow storm or what-have-you and say 'look, global warming can't be real!' and the pro-global warming crowd points out, rightly, 'weather isn't climate' ... but then when there is a big wind storm or what-have-you the pro-global warming types start crying 'look what global warming is doing! waaaaa!'
Weather isn't climate.
That being said, any fantasy about humanity being at risk for significant biological hardship is ludicrous considering that we can eat almost anything, live almost anywhere, are more resistant and adaptive to toxins and pathogens than most other large animals, and we have this thing called "technology" that allows us to move anything anywhere, radically adjust our environments, etc. etc.
We really need to get over the conceit that we developed in the one true immutable biosphere. 99% of previously extant species are extinct, and that's going to keep happening regardless of what we do because the environment has never been static. Without mass extinctions like what occurred during the Oxygen Catastrophe, animal life wouldn't even exist.
Listening to a physicist on economics or politics makes as much sense as listening to an economist or politician on physics. I'm sure you'd be happy to have a random Capitol Hill denizen set up the next experiment to create a singularity. Oh, you wouldn't? Well then you and ol' Einstein can STFU about things you haven't fully studied. I find the life's work of people like Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek a lot more compelling, well-reasoned, and well-supported.
It'll only cause most the of the world population to die, so please, get on that immediately.
Because there is no such thing as "free" anything. Being forced to pay taxes to pay for somebody else's healthcare is socialism, and it's not less socialism because you get healthcare you might not have needed or wanted too.
I suppose it begs the question, if there is a kyklos for the forms of simple government, is there a different kyklos for forms of hybrid government?
Social Darwinism, so-called, has never left. We've created social institutions to attempt to fight the natural order, but without the aforesaid institutions, those persons in society who did not generate enough value to sustain themselves would die, as they did throughout every other era.
Also, Ayn Rand was a humanist. Just because she was not a humanist in the same way that you consider yourself to be doesn't mean anything other than you are ignorant of the wide parameters that define humanism. I might further add that there is no universally accepted dogmatic core to humanism, as such it consists of many unmoderated, fractious sects. 'Humanist' is almost as useless a title as 'atheist' or 'theist'. It says almost nothing about what they believe or why.
If you are truly curious, I'd suggest you read the 15th Chapter of Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. I was going to quote parts, but honestly it would give too partial a picture. 7th Day Adventists are basically a resurgence of Nazarenes/Ebionites who were marginalized as heretics even before the great purges of the ecumenical councils.
Pfffff...... his sound system goes to 11 .4 , bitch!
Which part of "another" didn't you get? I might further add that I probably know more about historical patterns of social changes relating to sexuality in multiple different cultures. If you have to look up 'kisang', 'hetaira', or 'ningxing' this is probably true. The fact is that after the end of antiquity civilization began a tailspin of sexual repression due to a combination of Roman monogamy (which was arguably the most important element of Roman pagan society that was grafted into Christianity and consequently all Western society to the modern era) and Abrahamic anti-pluralism which didn't really abate until civilization "rediscovered" the value of ancient pluralism and everything that catalyzed.
I have a feeling that you're oblivious to how openly sexual some great civilizations of the past were. Here's a hint: when the Victorian prudes started digging around in Egypt, they uncovered and subsequently defaced a lot of murals of boners. Even today when archaeologists have the sense to not smash everything that rustles their jimmies, the topic is rarely talked about because we're still repressed compared to the great ancient societies that created these things.
You need to take your myopic, decade to decade perspective and educate yourself on the much broader arcs of development throughout the world. The framework of human social evolution is immensely broader and deeper than you know or understand.
That reminds me of a skit from Whitest Kids U' Know where some executive comes to a business meeting dragging along a bed to which both he and a hooker are chained because he lost the key.
I'm inclined to agree, loath though I am to agree with you on anything. I think we're on the cusp of another sexual revolution, since I think the manic cognitive dissonance that society currently displays toward overt and private sexuality and norms is unsustainable. Pretty much the only things keeping the lid on is the cultural momentum of the Boomers and an unholy alliance between traditionalists (usually but not exclusively religious) and feminists (generally speaking, since even that isn't a monolith and sex positive feminists exist as a significant faction). The Boomers are going to die, the traditionalists are likely to lose ground, and feminism is being gradually discredited as being as unbalanced and bigoted a solution as black supremacy is to white supremacy.
Overall I can't help being hopeful for certain trends to continue leading toward a more tolerant, open, and truly gender egalitarian society. Now if only people could keep their hands off each other's labor products...
Lastly and as a side-note, your new signature underscores why you're on my foes list. What arrogant conceit does it take to dismiss almost all arguments with a wave of Dunning-Kruger. Because of course you're a credentialed expert on all things in all fields, and indeed everybody else must be just woefully ignorant instead of simply holding a different opinion.
Go home, Chris Roberts, you're drunk.
It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Jin which was one of Genghis's main adversaries at the time of his death recorded much in Jurchen script, which itself is not yet wholly understood, due in part to the the fact that almost no works have been found that were written in it. If a cache of such works were to be uncovered it could radically alter our understanding of the period around Genghis's death. There is a huge amount of room in this area of study for discoveries, but a lot is being restrained/prevented by the CCP. The CCP wants to be able to control the narrative of China's past absolutely, and they use the more reasonable concern about preservation as a cover. You are right that this guy and his expedition are likely to fail, both in professional depth and in just being roadblocked by the CCP who has no incentive whatever to play along.
I see I wasted my time being civil. Apparently it did not occur to you that there may be as yet undiscovered primary sources (or even contemporary secondary sources) which will not be brought to light without a concerted effort to find them. My earlier reference to Alexander was not wholly sourced in his precedent for syncresis, but also in the loss of his tomb, which was actually a well known tourist destination in the ancient world. Even Alexander's tomb which was known to exist and fairly well recorded in various accounts was lost to history during the religious upheavals between the fall of paganism and the rise of Christianity and Islam in North Africa. Even today the fate of his remains and their attendant monument is widely disputed. However, much of the source material for these investigations was unknown before the last century, and commensurately there may be similar materials contemporary to the Great Khan which have yet to be found or at least yet to be understood.
Straight people have gay offspring and vice versa. Genes do not fatalistically determine what people consciously do, they only increase probabilities, and then only slightly.
Empire and Commonwealth are not the same. Whatever nominal fealty the Australians and Canadians claim to honor, that rubber hasn't met the road since WW2. How many Australian and Canadian military units assisted in the Fawklands War? Zero.
While I'm inclined to agree and think you should be modded up, allow me to play devil's advocate on this. The Great Khan was exposed to a lot of other cultures in his conquests, and it's possible that he might have become enamoured with the more aggrandizing foreign cultural traditions related to death and burial. Alexander the Great certainly succumbed to a great deal of personal syncretism as a result of his exposure to foreign influences in his conquests. Not that this conjecture proves anything, but I think the possibility shouldn't be dismissed until everything has been fully explored.
I don't think 'lover' is the best descriptor of the man's behavior in conquered lands. He's basically history's most "successful" rapist.
Yeah, that worked out really well for 'Ocean Marketing'. You might remember the name, but you sure as hell aren't going to get anything from them, since they collapsed under the wave of antipathy.
Somebody mod this interesting/informative, stat.
Not to mention that the heinous Wickard v. Filburn made basically everything interstate commerce by magic, which is to say local commerce has effects on interstate commerce, therefore it is interstate commerce! Fucking FDR and his court-packing threats...
More like report to 4chan and hang around /b/, /d/ and /f/ for a while. After that no sexual allusion will be inscrutable.
When will then be now?
But no really, I think it's only a matter of time before we overcome the conceit that the speed of light is inexorably tied to causality.
Hence the qualifier "most".
Yeah, that's what I get for trying to go on memory.