121
The Forum of Interesting Things / Guns and the British empire
« on: February 22, 2018, 02:59:21 pm »
Link.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
122
Literature / Tim Ferriss on How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes
« on: February 22, 2018, 02:27:53 pm »
I've never really messed around with learning to speed read, I enjoy being engrossed over being technical but...
Link.
Link.
123
Philosophy & Science / China’s great leap forward in science
« on: February 22, 2018, 01:39:05 pm »
Link.
124
The Forum of Interesting Things / Re: The Intellectual War on Science
« on: February 22, 2018, 01:55:17 am »
Frustrating when article content is only available free for a limited period of time.
Sure. I found both articles (and I was going to reread both but sadly the original link is now unavailable) to be excessively hyperbolic.
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.
Mutations with some advantage in their "birth ecology" survive to reproduce.
As I said, sure, so long as you kill them. It would take a whole another thread to discuss abortion, methinks.
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.
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.
125
The Forum of Interesting Things / Re: Medium: How to Become World-Class at Anything
« on: February 21, 2018, 02:47:12 pm »
Lol. I read that as "What would Wilshire do?" and I often think that 
.
.
126
Semantica / Re: The thing I look forward to most about Semantica is...
« on: February 21, 2018, 02:44:31 pm »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.
127
The Unholy Consult / Re: My thoughts on Kellhus, his fallibility, and how a lack of POV "tricked" us.
« on: February 21, 2018, 02:43:33 pm »I've heard, anecdotally, that Bakker had no POVs of Kellhus in an early draft of TDTCB, but people were too sympathetic to Kellhus. Without the Kellhus POV, the reader just assumes he's 'the good guy'. I think this happens in TAE though - and it really caught people off guard like you said. Its so easy to assume he's omnipotent, working for the greater good, etc. etc., absent his own admissions to total insanity. Even once we start getting into it post WLW, its almost too late - its nearly impossible to convince people otherwise once they've made up their minds.
TWP, same sentiment otherwise.
128
The Unholy Consult / Re: "Kellhus is dead, but not done."
« on: February 21, 2018, 02:37:05 pm »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
.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.
129
The Great Ordeal / Re: Chapter 6 reread, comments on Fanayal
« on: February 21, 2018, 01:48:43 pm »I read that section as "he wants to strike her, but he is so influenced by her that he couldn't bring himself to do it, even though every bit of him wants to." So he started the motion, but stopped himself mid strike "as if his wrists were strung" His groaning is him realizing how ensnared he is.
You know, I think there really is some thaumaturgy/God-expressed agency going on there.
131
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets 2018
« on: February 21, 2018, 01:38:44 pm »
Uh, let's see.
I've been partaking in this live online lecture series on the writings of PKD (and various philosophic implications) and have been reading one a week.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Three-Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, UBIK, and A Scanner Darkly so far puts me at (6). I'm still working through DG, though I asked the SO to spring on the paperback for me so it'll be quicker finishing now (also have a paperback of Memories of Ice on hand), and still only about half-way through Disciple.
I've been partaking in this live online lecture series on the writings of PKD (and various philosophic implications) and have been reading one a week.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Three-Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, UBIK, and A Scanner Darkly so far puts me at (6). I'm still working through DG, though I asked the SO to spring on the paperback for me so it'll be quicker finishing now (also have a paperback of Memories of Ice on hand), and still only about half-way through Disciple.
132
RPG Discussion / Re: HG Wells Practically Invented Modern Tabletop Wargaming
« on: February 21, 2018, 01:34:17 pm »
Or, you know, that betrays Wells' own bias?
133
The Forum of Interesting Things / Re: The Intellectual War on Science
« on: February 21, 2018, 01:15:56 pm »The irony being that an article that boils down to the essential truth of human bias is, of course, slathered with bias.
More from Stephen Pinker:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1997/11/06/arguing-for-infanticide/b02d23b0-b521-4abe-8b02-c626a1b6b4e0/?utm_term=.a98ab58a3a25
You mean, more from Kelly?
134
The Forum of Interesting Things / Re: The Intellectual War on Science
« on: February 21, 2018, 10:33:16 am »
Fortunately for me I don't have to condone an author's use of rhetoric to read something.
135
The Forum of Interesting Things / Climate Change
« on: February 21, 2018, 02:53:12 am »
Fires in the Amazon Are a Problem For the Entire Planet
I know this is an oft politicized discussion but, as per the link, having known many Forestry students and Forest Firefighters, fighting forest fires seems a far more effective way to impact/prevent extreme climate fluctuations.
I know this is an oft politicized discussion but, as per the link, having known many Forestry students and Forest Firefighters, fighting forest fires seems a far more effective way to impact/prevent extreme climate fluctuations.
