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Cake day: July 3rd, 2023

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  • HandwovenConsensus@lemm.eetoRisa@startrek.websiteDiscuss
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    7 months ago

    This is what I never understood. The principle of respecting the autonomy of other cultures is good imo, but what “cultural contamination” could be worse than the total extinction of the civilization you’re trying to protect?

    Applying the Prime Directive in such extreme circumstances turns it from an anti-imperialist ideal to a Social Darwinist one.





  • A soon-forgiven liar revealed scene or the suitably mourned and quickly avenged death of a sympathetic character by a villain are not even remotely on the level of the protagonist we’re rooting for causing genocide without remorse or consequences.

    Why would the “lying” scene even remotely matter when Tim Allen’s character killed their entire civilization? That’s a much bigger deal than lying about being a space captain! Why would they put him in charge again without even explaining his error?







  • Henry George wrote about this extensively. The solution is a tax on all land at just under 100% of it’s rental value. That allows landlords to profit from the structures they build and maintain, but not from the land itself. It disincentivizes real estate speculation, lowering the cost of land and housing and improving accessibility to people who use it productively.




  • As an uninvolved party, after reading the thread, I understand that you feel frustrated and misunderstood. But I’m sorry to say that I feel like the failure of reading comprehension was on your part more than theirs.

    It seems like the majority of people who responded to you argued that there are not two evils, but two parts to the same whole evil.

    No one, that I saw, claimed you were saying that the Democrats were not evil. But the disagreement was that you see the Republicans and Democrats as two evils, while your opponents see them as one.

    Whether or not you agree, that seems like a logically coherent belief to hold.


  • Having skimmed the original paper about the trolley problem, I think what the author was trying to illustrate was the difference between direct and indirect harm.

    If you redirect the trolley, you’re not trying to kill the man on the other track. You’re trying to save the five on the first track by directing the trolley away from them. While the other man may die because of this, there’s always the possibility he’ll escape on his own.

    Whereas if the judge sentences an innocent man to death, that is choosing to kill him. The innocent man MUST die for the outcome the judge intends. So there’s culpability that doesn’t exist in the trolley scenario.

    In one case you’re accepting a bad outcome for one person as a side effect, in the other you’re pursuing it as a necessary step.


  • Am I the only one who’s having trouble processing the fact that Leela and Nibbler casually murdered someone early in the episode? I mean Futurama has always shown a lot of dark or mean humor, but that really threw me. Especially when they followed it up with such a sentimental story. I don’t like it when shows try to mix the two. Either I’m watching the show with the mindset that nothing matters, or I’m getting invested in the characters and their arcs. I don’t know about other people, but I can’t do both at once.