That's absolutely not true. We have no idea how free will might arise, no actual evidence that exists, and our basic physics has long implied quite strongly that it's very unlikely.
Even the summary touches on that problem: things like consciousness and free will are relegated to hokey gaps in our understanding because everything we do understand leaves very little room for them.
Much of the civilized world has pretty much arrived at that conclusion already. Modern justice systems are focused on rehabilitation when possible, containment when not. Shockingly, the modern systems seem to work a lot better too.
I think quite a lot of progress has been made. We've learned a lot about neuroscience and still haven't found any hints of magic. We have found some hints that much of our subjective experience is misleading. My own feeling is that what we perceive as "consciousness" is mostly the part of our brain that likes to make up stories about how special it is making up stories while our subconscious, that does all the work, rolls its metaphorical eyes.
I remember seeing a stat on the average price of a contract killing. It was much lower than Hollywood would have you believe. IIRC, something like $5000. I'm not going to google it, but go ahead if you're curious.
Uh, what? To become a citizen you had to volunteer for service (which could be military, or otherwise). If you volunteered, you explicitly had to be allowed to serve in an appropriate capacity, and thus become a citizen, no matter your ability or disability.
The society in Starship Troopers is explicitly democratic. Democratic in a way that votes are extremely important: so important that the vote is explicitly presented as a critical responsibility that must be bestowed only on persons who exhibit selflessness. Yet the actual ability to vote doesn't have any real impact on your ability to be successful in life.
In other words, not autocratic or dictatorial in the least, and so missing a critical component of fascism.
I've always thought of Heinlein as a contrarian. If you suggested an ideal society he'd write a book about how it could be awful, and how the seeming opposite could be great.
"Workable" is probably a good description. There aren't any perfect systems, and you need to consider carefully the implications of your preferred set of tradeoffs.
Interestingly, the Netherlands still technically has compulsory military service. Every 17 year old is registered with the military, but doesn't have to appear for service as long as the country isn't in danger.
Before 1990's (it officially ended in 1997), every male had to either serve in the military or do alternative civilian service. I.e. just like Starship Troopers except without the volunteering part. Starship Troopers the movie was made in 1997.
The populations of the US and Canada are both mostly composed of the descendants of immigrants. Canada's per capita immigration rate is around 23 times that of the US.
Maybe you meant something specific by "experience?"
It was also an era where most US states had laws about which consenting adult could have sex with which other consenting adult, it was illegal to insert a penis into an anus in all US states, and in the majority of states it was flatly illegal to have an abortion for any reason.
There was lots of legislating morality. Abortion wasn't a big conservative issue because it was already illegal.
He also advocated strong world government. And Starship Troopers very early on sets up Rico's rich, successful businessman father as an example of the kind of person who should not have political power.
It's kind of hard to find any actual belief of Heinlein's that wouldn't piss off a US conservative, if understood properly.
It's not a racist movie. It's a movie made by a schmuck who wanted to make a movie warning of the dangers of racism and fascism and chose as source material (which he didn't bother reading) a book that is explicitly anti-racist (shockingly so when and where the book was written).
That depends what time and place you consider "traditional." Apartheid was a social and legal policy of racial segregation. When it ended in 1994 it was pretty unusual for a modern western society. When it began in 1948, it wasn't terribly unusual.
One of the first legal acts of apartheid was banning mixed marriages and sex in 1949 and 1950. Most of the US already had such laws, and 1948 was actually the first time one got struck down (in California). A large fraction of the US didn't get rid of their anti-miscegenation laws until 1967 when forced to do so by a supreme court decision.
It's odd to think of Heinlein as conservative, especially in an American sense.
He was pretty critical of organized religion, supported strong central government, equality of women, rejection of segregation and racism, and (very) free exploration of sexuality.
Batman and Tony Stark come to mind. Tony Stark is even an arms manufacturer (and IIRC Wayne enterprises also does, but not exclusively). I didn't see it, but the Facebook movie didn't really paint Zuckerberg as evil, did it?
It gets a little simpler when you mention that Luke's father is a mass murderer who personally killed at least a couple dozen children in cold blood immediately before Obi Wan, a law enforcement agent, stopped him.
Obi Wan was a wuss though. Leaving Anakin to slowly roast was cruel. He should have had mercy and finished him off.
Slashdot Mirror
Stanford disagrees with you: https://simes.stanford.edu/res...
That was just the first non-video hit on Google. There are lots of others.
That's absolutely not true. We have no idea how free will might arise, no actual evidence that exists, and our basic physics has long implied quite strongly that it's very unlikely.
Even the summary touches on that problem: things like consciousness and free will are relegated to hokey gaps in our understanding because everything we do understand leaves very little room for them.
Much of the civilized world has pretty much arrived at that conclusion already. Modern justice systems are focused on rehabilitation when possible, containment when not. Shockingly, the modern systems seem to work a lot better too.
I think quite a lot of progress has been made. We've learned a lot about neuroscience and still haven't found any hints of magic. We have found some hints that much of our subjective experience is misleading. My own feeling is that what we perceive as "consciousness" is mostly the part of our brain that likes to make up stories about how special it is making up stories while our subconscious, that does all the work, rolls its metaphorical eyes.
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wi...
That's a pretty standard argument when quantum mechanics is involved.
I remember seeing a stat on the average price of a contract killing. It was much lower than Hollywood would have you believe. IIRC, something like $5000. I'm not going to google it, but go ahead if you're curious.
It's got a cool new name.
Uh, what? To become a citizen you had to volunteer for service (which could be military, or otherwise). If you volunteered, you explicitly had to be allowed to serve in an appropriate capacity, and thus become a citizen, no matter your ability or disability.
There was no approval required.
The society in Starship Troopers is explicitly democratic. Democratic in a way that votes are extremely important: so important that the vote is explicitly presented as a critical responsibility that must be bestowed only on persons who exhibit selflessness. Yet the actual ability to vote doesn't have any real impact on your ability to be successful in life.
In other words, not autocratic or dictatorial in the least, and so missing a critical component of fascism.
I've always thought of Heinlein as a contrarian. If you suggested an ideal society he'd write a book about how it could be awful, and how the seeming opposite could be great.
"Workable" is probably a good description. There aren't any perfect systems, and you need to consider carefully the implications of your preferred set of tradeoffs.
Interestingly, the Netherlands still technically has compulsory military service. Every 17 year old is registered with the military, but doesn't have to appear for service as long as the country isn't in danger.
Before 1990's (it officially ended in 1997), every male had to either serve in the military or do alternative civilian service. I.e. just like Starship Troopers except without the volunteering part. Starship Troopers the movie was made in 1997.
The populations of the US and Canada are both mostly composed of the descendants of immigrants. Canada's per capita immigration rate is around 23 times that of the US.
Maybe you meant something specific by "experience?"
In "Rocket Ship Galileo" the Nazis are explicitly evil, and all the ones discovered hiding on the moon are killed.
It was also an era where most US states had laws about which consenting adult could have sex with which other consenting adult, it was illegal to insert a penis into an anus in all US states, and in the majority of states it was flatly illegal to have an abortion for any reason.
There was lots of legislating morality. Abortion wasn't a big conservative issue because it was already illegal.
He also advocated strong world government. And Starship Troopers very early on sets up Rico's rich, successful businessman father as an example of the kind of person who should not have political power.
It's kind of hard to find any actual belief of Heinlein's that wouldn't piss off a US conservative, if understood properly.
It's not a racist movie. It's a movie made by a schmuck who wanted to make a movie warning of the dangers of racism and fascism and chose as source material (which he didn't bother reading) a book that is explicitly anti-racist (shockingly so when and where the book was written).
It's in Texas, isn't it? ;)
"There's nothing traditional about apartheid"
That depends what time and place you consider "traditional." Apartheid was a social and legal policy of racial segregation. When it ended in 1994 it was pretty unusual for a modern western society. When it began in 1948, it wasn't terribly unusual.
One of the first legal acts of apartheid was banning mixed marriages and sex in 1949 and 1950. Most of the US already had such laws, and 1948 was actually the first time one got struck down (in California). A large fraction of the US didn't get rid of their anti-miscegenation laws until 1967 when forced to do so by a supreme court decision.
It's odd to think of Heinlein as conservative, especially in an American sense.
He was pretty critical of organized religion, supported strong central government, equality of women, rejection of segregation and racism, and (very) free exploration of sexuality.
Batman and Tony Stark come to mind. Tony Stark is even an arms manufacturer (and IIRC Wayne enterprises also does, but not exclusively). I didn't see it, but the Facebook movie didn't really paint Zuckerberg as evil, did it?
You are technically correct!
An older friend of mine pointed out that Bright is essentially a remake of the 1980s "Alien Nation" with orcs and elves instead of aliens.
But there aren't very many fanboys of obscure 1980s alien movies, so that probably didn't hurt Bright very much.
Search for "social media manager" on Linkedin.
It gets a little simpler when you mention that Luke's father is a mass murderer who personally killed at least a couple dozen children in cold blood immediately before Obi Wan, a law enforcement agent, stopped him.
Obi Wan was a wuss though. Leaving Anakin to slowly roast was cruel. He should have had mercy and finished him off.
Sounds about right.
Bright was terrible as a film. The story was "everybody chases a magic stick; Will Smith tries not to be racist for ten minutes then gives up."
But it had lots of shooting, some cool explosions, and a scary/hot elf. It was an okay movie.