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Pedantic Struggles: The All Encompassing Philosophy Thread™
http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9494
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Author:  Superblood Wolfmoon [ Sun September 03, 2017 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

Good stuff Burt. Here's a good read from the LA Times on the extensiveness of the problems that will make Harvey recovery easily overshadow Katrina's costs (IMO anyway).

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-flo ... story.html

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Thu September 07, 2017 7:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

https://aeon.co/essays/the-end-of-a-wor ... be-upon-us

Return of the city-state
Nation-states came late to history, and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest they won’t make it to the end of the century

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Mon December 25, 2017 11:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.

“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”

“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”

“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”

The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”

“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”

“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”

He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”

I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.

“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.

“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.

“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”

It didn’t seem like they did.

“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”

Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.

I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.

“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.

Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.

“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.

I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”

He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.

“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”

“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.

“Because I was afraid.”

“Afraid?”

“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”

I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.

“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”

He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.

Author:  96583UP [ Tue December 26, 2017 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

do the Rothschilds also control bitcoin or just the chinese communist party

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Wed December 27, 2017 12:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

96583UP wrote:
do the Rothschilds also control bitcoin or just the chinese communist party

Rothschilds are just puppets of the Lizard People. They dont truly control anything.

Author:  96583UP [ Wed December 27, 2017 12:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

BurtReynolds wrote:
96583UP wrote:
do the Rothschilds also control bitcoin or just the chinese communist party

Rothschilds are just puppets of the Lizard People. They dont truly control anything.


the Lizard People have designed a complex system of haves-vs-have-nots, fueled by central bank intervention and backed by brute force, to ultimately deliver one thing:

Spoiler: show
condos


everywhere condos


condos condos condos

now, with increased emphasis on 'walkability'

Author:  simple schoolboy [ Sun January 28, 2018 7:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

MMT fans may be more annoying than almost anyone else, and I don't know why they exist in any numbers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory

They may be small in number, but they think that the following is sufficient to justify their position:

Quote:
The U.S. government can continue to finance itself as long as the USD remains a sovereign currency. They can never be forced to default on debt denominated in a currency they have created by fiat.


So.. We can't default so long as people will accept our currency, but the second that someone demands that we convert our currency into something else, we're totally fucked? Seems like a great long-term bet.

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 8:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

How does that give the government unlimited buying power? They are ultimately limited by the property and wealth of the country, though the citizens will always do away with that government before they've spent it all.

Fiat currencies have never lasted long. Is there some modern innovation to fiat currency that prevents governments from spending them out of existence? It certainly isn't modern democracy, which is even more susceptible to the problem than monarchy.

Author:  simple schoolboy [ Sun January 28, 2018 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

https://archive.org/stream/IndustrialSocietyAndItsFuture-TheUnabombersManifesto/IndustrialSocietyAndItsFuture-theUnabombersManifesto_djvu.txt

This guy may have been onto something. Sure, his methods were crude and imprecise, but his critique...

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 8:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

(Edited) The unabomber thing was pre-internet, and I remember the media portrayed his writings as insane gibberish of a schizophrenic or something, which I took to be true. But its not the delusional ramblings of a madman, but fairly standard anarcho-primitivism (that he probably plagiarized and butchered I'm sure). In the internet age I don't think that story could be successfully spun that way (though they would still try)

The typos though. Get an editor, unabomber.

Author:  simple schoolboy [ Sun January 28, 2018 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

BurtReynolds wrote:
(Edited) The unabomber thing was pre-internet, and I remember the media portrayed his writings as insane gibberish of a schizophrenic or something, which I took to be true. But its not the delusional ramblings of a madman, but fairly standard anarcho-primitivism (that he probably plagiarized I'm sure). In the internet age I don't think that story could be successfully spun that way (though they would still try)

The typos though. Get an editor, unabomber.


Didn't his family turn him in based on his writing content? Its hard to find an editor in such a situation.

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 9:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

There was one guy, but he got lost on the way to the shack.

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread



At least these shitheads have abandoned any pretense that their despicable ideology is rational. What an utter fucking sickness.

Author:  Bi_3 [ Sun January 28, 2018 12:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

That's hard to watch, dude is terrible at monologues.

But to the point, is it that they are inherently irrational or do they no longer see a need for rationality? One of the things in leftist thought now is this idea of equalization of disparate outcomes. This means rejection of markets (battling over ideas and products, capitalism) and hierarchies (judgements of effort, better/worse) since they inevitably lead to differences in outcomes. When you combine this with the fact that, relative to history, everyone is stunningly privileged and we live in a time of infinite resources, what more will rationality provide us? AI drones that will kill us? More stripping to make smart phones? Why isn't now good enough so that we can focus on emotional needs vs constantly 'advancing' humanity?

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 1:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

Bi_3 wrote:

But to the point, is it that they are inherently irrational or do they no longer see a need for rationality?


They see reason and truth as a barrier between them and power. They put social change --any social change-- above truth. This gives them no moral ground to stand on IMO.

Revolutions seldom work out well for anyone, even the revolutionaries, especially when they succeed. The consequences are usually genocidal in scope. These brainwashed clowns are not the people I want reorganizing society. They don't even have a plan beyond overthrowing the evil Western white patriarchy. Not that I would have to worry about their plans, since a real tyrant, empowered by the vaccuum, would put a bullet in their brains and co-opt their movement almost instantly, as has happened every fucking time.



Bi_3 wrote:
One of the things in leftist thought now is this idea of equalization of disparate outcomes. This means rejection of markets (battling over ideas and products, capitalism) and hierarchies (judgements of effort, better/worse) since they inevitably lead to differences in outcomes. When you combine this with the fact that, relative to history, everyone is stunningly privileged and we live in a time of infinite resources, what more will rationality provide us?


Markets are as real as gravity and hierarchies have existed before creatures walked on land. Rejection of these things is absolute madness, and every attempt made to ignore them has resulted in disaster and death. And surely such a massive (and almost certainly violent) reengineering of society could put our immense prosperity (provided by Western civilisation) in peril?


We do live in a time in which most people are vastly more wealthy than people living a few centuries ago (though I wouldn't say we have infinite resources). These kids are not only drowning in privilege, which blinds them from the realities of the natural world and makes them so arrogant as to think they could ignore that reality, but also resentment. Resentment of people whom the system benefits more, to a degree that they are willing to blow up all of western civilization because of an insane and warped obsession with equality of outcome, even at the expense of their own prosperity. This is utterly irrational.

I don't follow why one one would think rationality has no more to offer, or why we should suspend rationalism in spite of the fact that its worked so well so far.

Bi_3 wrote:
AI drones that will kill us? More stripping to make smart phones? Why isn't now good enough so that we can focus on emotional needs vs constantly 'advancing' humanity?


That's a rather cynical judgment of our progress and rationality. I don't have any interest in disposing of rationality to satisfy the emotional needs of spoiled, selfish children.

The same "rationality" the guy in the Q&A claims led to colonialism is also the rationality that abolished slavery. And maybe someone should tell this racist fuckstick what culture or race invented the bullshit marxist ideology he's been indoctrinated with. Would he disavow it if he knew?

Author:  Bi_3 [ Sun January 28, 2018 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

I wasn't defending that bullshit, I was trying to work through some level of understanding of how a human wearing clothes, standing in a building, speaking a cross-continent common language into an electric microphone could reject the idea that rational thought is a good thing. How is that possible if not from rational analysis and understanding of the universe?

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Sun January 28, 2018 2:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

I thought so, but its getting so insane and so many people actually believe this nihilistic shit. I can't believe we actually need to waste breath arguing against it.

Author:  --- [ Sun January 28, 2018 7:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

simple schoolboy wrote:
MMT fans

the SJWs of economics

Author:  --- [ Sun January 28, 2018 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: political ideology/philosophy Thread

The irony - and the implicit logical contradiction that undermines the entirety of their school of though - of "post-rationalists" using rationalist modes of argumentation to make their point is not lost on me.

Author:  BurtReynolds [ Wed January 31, 2018 8:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: philosophy Thread (political and otherwise)

I'll just make this a generic philosophy thread...


Stoicism has been all the rage for a few years now, but either I don't get it, or it seems like basic common sense to me. It strikes me as the first self-help guru shit. Not that I disagree with it, I just... I dunno. What's the big deal?

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