Cicada

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• Commented on Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism
  Personal opinion, Authoritarianism offers (or purports to offer) one thing that more free-wheeling systems of government never can-- predictability. Predictability makes risk-averse people feel safe and comfortable, but since people in general are diverse and make unpredictable things happen, the...
• Commented on Advisor: What will happen if I clone my dog?
  Hmmm...it occurs to me what while we don't have even doggy-style Greg-Eganesque brain monitoring implants, you probably could get sufficiently detailed video recordings of your pet that someone could take a clone or similar puppy from birth and intensively train...
• Commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
  Something about the look of them is so science-fictiony that they just scream "Hi, you're in the future!". Great effect, probably heightened by putting them in juxtaposition with something natural or rustic. Beautiful and wonderful things, basically....
• Commented on Augmented reality rig that turns you into a character in a third-person game
  If just one person screams "Leeeeroy Jenkins..." and rushes a biker gang, this is totally worth it....
• Commented on Redhead 12-year-old assaulted over Facebook message citing South Park episode?
  It's hilarious if anyone thinks the root cause is the facebook group. The root cause is a bunch of people who wanted to beat someone...anyone. Any reason probably would have done nicely....
• Commented on Heroes and sociopaths: behavioral twins?
  "And my experience is that the rest of us don't want to have people like that around us, because, as this opinion piece argues, their commitment to doing the right thing borders on the psychotic." It depends. If you can...
• Commented on Hugo Chavez, cannibalism apologist
  Easy-- if you assume that other countries are basically threats to your country, then being a patriot and nationalist means that you're promoting the interests of the people who mean you well against the interests of people who mean you...
• Commented on Peter Bagge comic about Ayn Rand
  The difficulty in the violence-to-reduce-violence theory is that you never actually know how much violence you're going to be causing when you tip the cart over. Most people starting wars or revolutions seem to bet that it'll be much, much...
• Commented on Stupid, draw back your bow
  Nah, that's just evolution working-- since the male investment in mating is basically zero, attempting to insemenate everything female and potentially fertile's a decent idea. Back in the day, anyhow. A few hundred million years of evolution where this was...
• Commented on Tibet is exactly like America's Civil War South, says China.
  So, how would we in the US presumably respond to a foreign country which insisted, as a high priority, that any discussion of policy feature the dire need to restore the government of the Confederacy, complete with reinstitution of chattel...
• Commented on Age of the Informavore
  Speaking of relying on gadgets to remember things, wasn't this Plato's criticism of writing-- that it led to the atrophy of memory? And think of all that time people spend with their noses in books, rather than out experiencing the...
• Commented on Three-armed baby costume
  Nah, a costume with three legs will just make the kid look...er...genetically lucky....
• Commented on What Role Should GM Food Play in the Future of Agriculture?
  Try a poll to find out how many people could successfully grow their own food now, even assuming access to seed and such. There's a body of information on how to do it that most people simply do not have...and...
• Commented on Fisk on USA's role in Karzai's re-election: Vietnam 2.0
  Why yes, let's avoid propping up Karzai and let either the Taliban or an assortment of misogynist warlords take the place over. Clearly a better situation all around. There's no side of the angels over there as far as I...
• Commented on Homophobia in Venezuela
  Is there some weird reason why fascist ideologies seem to work out the same way? Adoration of the charismatic leader, purported threats from outside the country, and then rounding up a minority group or groups of choice. I'd suggest anyone...
• Commented on Bus-shelter made out of a bus
  Well, dude, it just wouldn't fit in front of the Grit, now would it?...
• Commented on Charts showing how much US residents pay for health care compared to people in other countries
  Average GP salary in the UK: $104,151 Average GP salary in the US: ~160,000 And let's not start on the specialists... Remember, insurance companies manage about 6% profit margin. That's not exactly draining the blood of their customers for massive...
• Commented on Will the Duggars Inherit the Earth?
  I wonder if the inherited component isn't so much a tendency to be crazy-ass Baptist or whatever, but a tendency to be crazy-ass about an ideology in general?...
• Commented on Couple survives car crash in their house
  Perhaps for the best the couple got pinned to the bed. Avoids awkward forensics afterward. "Severe head trauma to the drunk driver you say? Must have been from the impact with the steering wheel? Steering wheel untouched, you say? How...
• Commented on Off-course pilots were laptopping-while-flying
  Y'know, every GPS on earth will alert you when you're somewhere near your destination. The autopilot doesn't? Eesh....
• Commented on Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
  You actually gave the reason to give up yourself-- if you think the US is too big, too heterogeneous to adopt significant policy change because for every person who wants A is someone who wants not-A, how much less likely...
• Commented on Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
  Fighting the invasion by killing your own countrymen, as these folks did? 136 dead Iraqus, 500 or so wounded Iraqis, and perhaps three wounded US "security contractors"....
• Commented on Awful 1962 marriage textbook speaks out against feminism, communism and interracial dating
  Ah, so it's justified, then. And they can stay in their cells if they don't want to. Check. Well, sounds all better to me, then. Hooray for prison labor!...
• Commented on Awful 1962 marriage textbook speaks out against feminism, communism and interracial dating
  This might be wishful thinking as to personal liberties-- consider how class-, race- and other group-based ideologies grow. Heck, use the word "Libertarian" around here to get an opinion on the doctrine of personal liberty as the chief good. "Yes,...
• Commented on Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
  Or you might have to acknowledge that you just simply don't have the power to get done what you think needs to get done. You're assuming success (to produce a peaceful world) is possible. It may well not be....
• Commented on Awful 1962 marriage textbook speaks out against feminism, communism and interracial dating
  Sure, sensibilities evolve over time...but evolution means change, not change with an end goal in mind. Things go from "Whew, thank goodness we know now that all people are alike in dignity, unlike our heathen ancestors" to "Whew, thank goodness...
• Commented on Awful 1962 marriage textbook speaks out against feminism, communism and interracial dating
  Both, probably. But if they're both strongly influenced by biology, where does that leave us? You (presumably) wouldn't say to someone "How about trying to be a little less gay". Would you say "How about being a little less xenophobic"...
• Commented on Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
  Now, now, let's put the blame where it belongs. It was the British who decided to shove all these disparate ethnic groups together in one big mess and declare it one country-- so let's blame the British as the ultimate...
• Commented on Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
  So the people who haven't been exposed to too much violence write dismissive commments on the web. The people in Iraq who have been exposed to much violence go out and make car bombs. I don't think the "See violence...
• Commented on Awful 1962 marriage textbook speaks out against feminism, communism and interracial dating
  It is kind of interesting how there's a hell of a taboo against attributing traits to nature versus nurture....