Nobody Cares About Philosophy

[Argent Stonecutter]

ChatGPT said:

Haha, did you accidentally derail the conversation, summon chaos, or just open a can of worms? What’s going on?

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Question: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

Another classic question! The answer depends on a few factors, like licking speed, pressure, and tongue moisture. However, several studies have tried to find an average:

- A study by **Purdue University** found that it takes about **364 licks**.
- **University of Michigan** came up with **411 licks**.
- **Swarthmore Junior High School** reported an average of **144 licks**.

Of course, if you're the wise old owl from the commercial, the answer is just **three** before biting into it!

 

[Soen Eber]

What have I (unintentionally) done to this thread???

It's nothing but trolley problems anyways. No actual metaphysics were harmed in the production of this thread.

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

How may Rs in Strawberry.

All of them, because republicans like red things, and strawberries are red.

 

[Free]

All of them, because republicans like red things, and strawberries are red.

Mix Strawberry Seeds

Checkmate, Republicans!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Voluntary Matrix

A Post-Scarcity Paradox

jacipriano.substack.com

Evernote Link

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I really wanted the Borg arc in Trek to take this path, where it turns out that in their cramped cubicles the Bork experience a lifestyle thousands of times more luxurious than any Federation citizen dreamed of, and they were not devouring lonely minds stuck in the physical world, but liberating them.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Wasn't really sure where to put this, but since it discusses both Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger this seems as good a place as any. Sorry, no trolley cars, though.

Cynicism and Authenticity

Some Thoughts about "Culture"

www.unpopularfront.news

It also contains a link to this Substack, which I hadn't seen before and which certainly seems worth a free subscription

Against Nihilism

Politics in the age of stupidity. Against the senile vibe shift.

www.nefariousrussians.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Wasn't really sure where to put this, but since it discusses both Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger this seems as good a place as any. Sorry, no trolley cars, though.

Cynicism and Authenticity

Some Thoughts about "Culture"

www.unpopularfront.news

It also contains a link to this Substack, which I hadn't seen before and which certainly seems worth a free subscription

Against Nihilism

Politics in the age of stupidity. Against the senile vibe shift.

www.nefariousrussians.com

GoblinCampFollower ^ I think this will interest you. Particularly the Against Nihilism.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

GoblinCampFollower ^ I think this will interest you. Particularly the Against Nihilism.

Thanks. And yes.... Thank you Innula Zenovka for the finds. And I need to send these to a couple friends who seem to be becoming more cynical. Put another way, cynics think they are "rising above" politics but in reality they are perfect rubes to exploit because they just watch bad people take over and do nothing to resist. ...even cheer them on as being more "authentic" than the do-gooders who tried to resist.

One thing I was thinking about while reading these articles is that there actually is a lot of social value in making sure institutions have to at least maintain the pretense of not being complete bastards. "Inauthentic" efforts to protect customers and employees and donate to charity are still a lot better than just letting them be overtly cruel. I've noticed a disturbing trend with people accepting corporate cruelty as "this is how the system works!"

This also, once again reminds me of a Steven Colbert quote:

“Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.”

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

https://existentialcomics.com/comic/593

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Steven Colbert

Stephen Colbert. /Pedant

Random aside. Maybe you should have kept TrollCampFollower. My Reddit username has a communism component in it and it makes people who aren't inclined to discuss in good faith to drop mask immediately.

Also one time someone asked something on Reddit and me and another guy with Soviet in their screen name were the only two who were immediately offering helpful information without demands for reasons why we should answer.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

TrollCampFollower

LOL.... yeah.... I honestly made that name thinking of my love of trolls as in the fantasy monster.... but it understandably was off putting to many people here. I switched to "goblin" since that is similar fundamentally, but more associated with the actual fantasy monster.

I do see what you're driving at though. When someone has no argument, they reach for something to hit you with.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

https://existentialcomics.com/comic/593

Hahahaha... I've thought before that +100 years from now we'll have some cool new tech we can barely imagine now.... and there will also be new weird cults with incredibly stupid ideas behind why they think all that science is fake!

 

[Free]

The newer, better trolley problem.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Philosophy in the sense that, like Socrates, it enlightens us by making us aware of what we don't know. Anyway, this seems the most appropriate place for a free to read article by the always interesting and readable Brian Klass. No trolley cars.

The Crisis of Zombie Social Science

Why it's almost impossible to falsify social science theories and how to fix it.

www.forkingpaths.co

I am a disillusioned social scientist, critical of my own discipline, but eminently aware that fully understanding human behavior is a nearly impossible task. As I wrote in Fluke, we’re making a mistake when we use the phrase “it’s not rocket science.” We should be saying “it’s not social science”:

“In 2004, humans launched a spacecraft that traveled for ten years before softly touching down on a comet two and a half miles wide that was traveling at eighty-four thousand miles per hour. Every calculation had to be perfect—and it was. Conversely, trying to figure out, with certainty, whether Thailand’s economy will grow or contract in the next six months or whether inflation in Britain will be above 5 percent three years from now, well, that’s just not something we can do.”

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I Gave a Thousand Typewriters to a Thousand Monkeys, but Instead of Hamlet, They Just Keep Writing Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

Any scientist worth their salt eventually becomes accustomed to unpredictability. The unfortunate reality is that the majority of experiments fail—...

www.mcsweeneys.net

 

[Free]

I Gave a Thousand Typewriters to a Thousand Monkeys, but Instead of Hamlet, They Just Keep Writing Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

Any scientist worth their salt eventually becomes accustomed to unpredictability. The unfortunate reality is that the majority of experiments fail—...

www.mcsweeneys.net

Those sad, sad, depressed and suicidal monkeys.

 

[Free]

Let's talk for a moment about a philosophy. One in particular: Objectivism.

The question for me is, how rational (self-interest) is too rational (self-interest)?