Dest's recent activity
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Comment on Reddit is finally facing its legacy of racism in ~tech
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Comment on Ninja explains his choice not to stream with female gamers in ~games
Dest Link ParentIt doesn't look like those stats include things that aren't actually charges though. I've anecdotally heard that a lot of male teachers have left the field because it's a ton of work and stressful...It doesn't look like those stats include things that aren't actually charges though. I've anecdotally heard that a lot of male teachers have left the field because it's a ton of work and stressful to make sure that you're never in a situation where a female student can accuse you of something. They're not really afraid of being arrested or anything, they're more afraid of being falsely accused of something and losing their careers and being ostracized by their friends and family because of it. I could see a lot of incidents like that basically just ending with firings instead of criminal charges. It's really hard to tell if that anecdotal evidence is actually valid or not though, since there aren't really any stats for "accusations that affected someone's life, but were never official criminal accusations". It could also just be that the anecdotal evidence is coming from men that think false accusations are a realistic probability, even when they aren't.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~news
Dest Link ParentWhy do they use the federal minimum wage instead of state minimum wages? Seems pretty biased on that front.Why do they use the federal minimum wage instead of state minimum wages? Seems pretty biased on that front.
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Comment on The Last of Us Part II | Gameplay reveal in ~games
Dest LinkThe amount of contextual animations in the trailer is crazy. I wonder if that's how the game will be or if it's just smoke and mirrors for the trailer.The amount of contextual animations in the trailer is crazy. I wonder if that's how the game will be or if it's just smoke and mirrors for the trailer.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentA simulation isn't subject to the laws of the original universe. Like, in our universe, there isn't an idea of something being created from nothing. I could totally write a simulation where that...A simulation isn't subject to the laws of the original universe. Like, in our universe, there isn't an idea of something being created from nothing. I could totally write a simulation where that is the case though. I could make up totally different fundamental laws too. There don't have to be atoms at all. There could be 5 dimensions or 2 dimensions. I could write the laws in such a way that no one in my simulation could ever write a simulation of their own. It's really limitless.
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link ParentI guess I don't know where they aren't completely ignoring the importance of the story before my comment. Like, they say "I actually took the time to respond to your points and wasn't just...I guess I don't know where they aren't completely ignoring the importance of the story before my comment.
Like, they say "I actually took the time to respond to your points and wasn't just dismissive." but no where in that comment did they accept or deny Russian interference in our elections. They just brought up that we do terrible things too. To me, that is completely dismissive.
Although, after thinking about it more I do think you're right that my comment was too much of a "shutdown". I think in the future, I'll call out whataboutism but somehow also give an easier way to continue the conversation. Maybe something like "You're using classic whataboutism to try and deflect that fact that an outside country is interfering with our democracy. Do you not think they're interfering, or do you just not think it's something to worry about? It doesn't matter that the US is bad too, because Russian election meddling has a high chance of making the US even worse. It's much harder to fix ourselves while someone is actively sabotaging us."?
I actually think I might have picked up the habit of just shutting people down because on Reddit a lot of them are literally Russian propaganda bots and they'll just ignore any arguments anyways.
Thanks for the discussion.
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link ParentI really appreciate your perspective, but I think I still disagree. I believe the comment I replied to is classic whataboutism (not all of the comments afterwards are, mostly just that one)....I really appreciate your perspective, but I think I still disagree. I believe the comment I replied to is classic whataboutism (not all of the comments afterwards are, mostly just that one).
Here's my reasoning:
From wikipedia: "Whataboutism (also known as whataboutery) is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument, which is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda. When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would be 'What about...' followed by an event in the Western world."My stated position is the Russia interfered in our election. Their position is largely just sowing doubt about about Russian interference or downplaying it.
The first line of the response was "And America created a social network for Cuba with intent of spreading anti-Castro/pro-US propaganda.". In my opinion that is a "what about..." that's followed by an event in the Western world, do you agree? This line was mostly why I called them out on whataboutism.
The next line is "I would be far more concerned if what they were doing wasn't par for the fucking course and if our country actually had an ethical/moral leg to stand on in that regard but we fucking don't because our country has been involving itself illegally in other countries elections for fucking DECADES." That is also an "attempt to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument"
In the next sentence they use the phrase "pointing us instead at a boogeyman to worry about". That is also just dismissing the argument by painting it as a presumably false boogeyman.
The next two sentences are mostly appeals to emotion, but are somewhat valid.
No parts of the comment really address Russia interfering in our elections, other than saying that we're just as bad and we have other problems to deal with. Every sentence tries to downplay the issue of Russian election meddling.
Whataboutism has seen a HUGE increase in use over the past year or so. I've personally found that calling it out is the best way to deal with it. What should I have done otherwise? How would you have responded to that comment? I would be glad to learn a better way of dealing with comments like that.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentWell the "external to the universe" distinction would be if we're in a simulation or something like that. For example, I could write a program to simulate a universe, and that universe could have...Well the "external to the universe" distinction would be if we're in a simulation or something like that. For example, I could write a program to simulate a universe, and that universe could have entirely different rules. Like, I could make it so that light travels at the speed of sound and sound travels at the speed of light, or so that things giving off energy always give off the same amount of energy without using any fuel. Those would become fundamental laws to inhabitants of that universe, and they would have trouble imagining anything different, even though in the creator's universe (our universe) the fundamental laws are entirely different. I could also make it so that I'm able to modify the inhabitants of my universe. Say, I picked two random people out of a crowd and increased their "love each other" value so that they fell in love. That would be an example of an outside influence.
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Comment on "Guy" should be a neutered term. Change my mind. in ~humanities.languages
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Comment on "Guy" should be a neutered term. Change my mind. in ~humanities.languages
Dest Link ParentI mean, I don't think it's bad to sound southern, it just feels "wrong" somehow. I feel like I'm putting on an accent or faking being southern or something.I mean, I don't think it's bad to sound southern, it just feels "wrong" somehow. I feel like I'm putting on an accent or faking being southern or something.
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Comment on "Guy" should be a neutered term. Change my mind. in ~humanities.languages
Dest Link ParentI could totally see a straight guy going up to two girls and saying "you guys want to have a threesome?", but going back to his buddy and saying "I just asked those guys if they wanted to have a...I could totally see a straight guy going up to two girls and saying "you guys want to have a threesome?", but going back to his buddy and saying "I just asked those guys if they wanted to have a threesome" would have a totally different meaning. Language is weird.
Also, it seems like "you all" or "ya'll" is the non gendered form of "you guys", but that sounds super southern, so most people outside of the south don't use it. I think I'm going to suck it up and switch over to ya'll after reading this discussion.
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link Parent"Why should they/we give a fuck about Russia when our government can't even stand up for us?" Because our government is going to be standing up for us even less if Russia wins. Corporate money in..."Why should they/we give a fuck about Russia when our government can't even stand up for us?"
Because our government is going to be standing up for us even less if Russia wins. Corporate money in politics is a huge problem. It's not quite as bad as Russian money in politics (mainly because corporations don't have hit squads that murder journalists), but it's still really bad. A ton of people have been railing on corporate money in politics for years. The answer to "money in politics is bad" isn't to just yell "well fuck it, lets go all the way and let international money into our politics too!"
My main problem with your argument is that you're not saying "Russian interference is bad, and we should deal with that, but here's all these other problems we need to deal with too", instead you're saying "why should they/we give a fuck about Russia when our government can't even stand up for us?"
We can't ignore the major problem of Russian interference just because we have other problems too.
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link ParentOk, so you do care that Russia is interfering with our democracy, but you think we should mostly ignore it because we do the same thing and we have bigger fish to fry? I guess that's our...Ok, so you do care that Russia is interfering with our democracy, but you think we should mostly ignore it because we do the same thing and we have bigger fish to fry?
I guess that's our fundamental difference. I think any country interfering in our democracy is hugely importantly. Having outside powers trying to divide and control us affects our ability to fix any of our other problems. I mean, just look at all of the places that the US has tried to control. It almost always turns out extremely terribly. Why would Russia trying to control us turn out any differently?
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link ParentSo you're just going to use classic whataboutism to completely ignore that an outside country is interfering with our democracy?So you're just going to use classic whataboutism to completely ignore that an outside country is interfering with our democracy?
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Comment on Special Investigation and Russian Electioneering in ~talk
Dest Link ParentEven on the off chance that they didn't hack the DNC emails, Russia has still obviously been trying to influence our elections and create discord in our society. The 13 Russian nationals being...Even on the off chance that they didn't hack the DNC emails, Russia has still obviously been trying to influence our elections and create discord in our society. The 13 Russian nationals being arrested and just watching the troll bots on twitter confirms that. It was also obvious that they were doing the same thing during the French elections. I don't particularly remember them doing anything during Brexit, but I would be surprised if they didn't try to influence that as well.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentOh I see what you're saying. I think I basically agree with that. My only minor change would be to distinguish forces external to the universe as being able to break free will. Like, if we're all...Oh I see what you're saying. I think I basically agree with that. My only minor change would be to distinguish forces external to the universe as being able to break free will. Like, if we're all in a simulation, and one of the programmers of the simulation changes something about me that forces me to do something, then I would say that breaks free will, even though the programmer might have changed something in a way that makes me want to do what I'm doing.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentYeah, that's exactly what I mean. "You can choose to do something or not to do it, but you cannot choose what you choose". Way to boil it down to one sentence!Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. "You can choose to do something or not to do it, but you cannot choose what you choose". Way to boil it down to one sentence!
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentI suppose you're right. If the world flooded and Everest was the only land left, and I happened to be nearby, I would climb it. Nausea is a pretty strong response to saying 100% though.I suppose you're right. If the world flooded and Everest was the only land left, and I happened to be nearby, I would climb it. Nausea is a pretty strong response to saying 100% though.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentYeah, but that's basically like saying that I can't decide to climb Everest because my mind doesn't want to climb Everest, and my mind doesn't want to climb Everest because of my past life...Yeah, but that's basically like saying that I can't decide to climb Everest because my mind doesn't want to climb Everest, and my mind doesn't want to climb Everest because of my past life experiences. That's basically the same as saying "you can't climb Everest, because you don't want to climb Everest, which means you have no free will". My point is more that even if you'll 100% always make the same decision, it's still free will because YOU are making the decision. It doesn't matter how you became you and reached that decision, it's still your free will. Basically, even though you could never possibly make a different decision, it's still free will because you always make the decision that you want to make. The only way to lose free will is if you're forced to make a decision that you don't want to make.
Also, this is really difficult to discuss while still trying to make sense lol. Now I know why people get PhD's in philosophy.
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Comment on Anyone want to talk philosophy? in ~talk
Dest Link ParentIMO, even if the universe is completely deterministic, it's still free will. Just because you can predict what my free will decide doesn't mean that it isn't free. For example, I have the free...IMO, even if the universe is completely deterministic, it's still free will. Just because you can predict what my free will decide doesn't mean that it isn't free. For example, I have the free will to climb Mt Everest if I wanted, but I'm 100% certain that I never will. Does that mean I don't have free will to climb it, just because you can predict that I never will? Of course not. I just know that I never will because I have no desire to.
The only way we wouldn't have free will is if there is an outside force that can modify our thoughts/desires. I think a really interesting question is to look at things like lead poisoning, rabies, brain tumors, and such and try to figure out when those infringe on our free will. Like, if lead poisoning makes people more violent and impulsive, does that mean they've lost their free will? How much lead poisoning does it take before you lose your free will?
It's still a pretty big issue in my opinion, just not specifically on the_donald. When they started to quarantine the_donald a bit, a ton of their users moved over to r/conservative. That sub got way more extreme almost immediately.