I honestly have no idea, #2. But as you say, when you're ostensibly a communist dictatorship playing at capitalism, it's much easier to direct your human labour capital as you please.

I know I've in the past been exposed to the idea of controlled Chinese diaspora, in which the government selects or encourages individuals to go out into the world, get degrees/work in tech companies/etc, and then bring that knowledge back to China.

But honestly, I don't have very much insight into China specifically. I remember stories when I was in Japan regarding many Chinese still vehemently hate Japan for historical conflict brutalities (I think during my 2009 trip there was contemporary news of Japanese tourists having stones thrown at them in China).

I've never really messed around with learning to speed read, I enjoy being engrossed over being technical but...

Link.

Frustrating when article content is only available free for a limited period of time.

Kelly includes direct quotes from Pinker, but point taken....how about this formulation:

"Here's a perspective on Pinker's views."

Sure. I found both articles (and I was going to reread both but sadly the original link is now unavailable) to be excessively hyperbolic.

Quote from: TLEILAXU on February 21, 2018, 05:01:52 pm

Children with severe deformities/handicaps/genetic diseases should definitely be killed though.

That sure is a hot take that requires a great deal of operationalizing definitions to even begin to possibly be deconstructed.

Hard to imagine such a thing being so cut and dry.

It would be nice to see some argumentative support for tleilaxu's claim.

And I'd probably amend any argument to include that tleilaxu, as the person arguing for such extremity, be the one to euthanize them.

...

It is, unfortunately, rather difficult to predict what genes serve no purpose.

Mutations with some advantage in their "birth ecology" survive to reproduce.

I dunno, does it really? Just take the children with severe mental retardation/disabilities and end them right there and then before they become conscious and you have to care for somebody who's now an actual person except drooling and wheelchair bound. Although I may have to backtrack a bit here since some of those might also be useful as studies for how/why things go wrong.

As I said, sure, so long as you kill them. It would take a whole another thread to discuss abortion, methinks.

Good points, I do think a break from TSA could potentially have net-positive results (I can't see it making the series worse-off, anyway) and I personally would take a longer gap between whatever the first book of TSA: The Next Generation is, though I have a feeling we may be somewhat in the minority there .

Lol.

Quote from: Wolfdrop on February 16, 2018, 11:41:25 am

as an Alia analogue being the case...

But also yes, Alia resurgence would be great.

Except, sadly, on the AMA Bakker was somehow surprised regarding the Qirri/Mimara's baby Spice/Alia connection .

...

Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, Doulou. Apologies, glad you finally made it .

Quote from: H on February 19, 2018, 12:00:13 pm

Well, the Glossary "head swapping" incident sure seems like a tantalizing clue, but we really don't know what it means, if anything.

Correct. But that combined with the series of deaths, is the stuff of theory legend!!!!!

Honestly - not reflecting any impressions Bakker's given me about TNG, truly in nerdanel territory here - FB makes a great case for Kellhus collecting Decapitants and Malowebi's tale explicitly shows a head being swapped out to no one's notice at least once. Shortly after reading TUC draft (or even TGO ARC) MG even suggested that Kellhus escaped in Ciphrang-Malowebi. It'd be extremely fun to read about Kellhus escaping death - albeit for a time - in the various Ciphrang-Characters he's littered around akin to Seswatha forestalling his own death via the Grasping/Mandate.

EDIT: But to reaffirm, I believe Bakker was more suggesting that, to paraphrase myself, the Ministrate has a scroll that reads "break, in event of my death" from Kellhus. I really want a Ministrate Atrocity Tale at least. The Winter Soldier of Earwa stories.

Noice.

Or, you know, that betrays Wells' own bias?