tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post5436047799314691819..comments2024-03-28T06:22:23.961-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Cheating, oligarchy - and an uneven playing fieldDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79197553459606271652018-01-31T08:13:00.314-08:002018-01-31T08:13:00.314-08:00WI currently has a Marine Captain (as close as I c...WI currently has a Marine Captain (as close as I can find) running as a GOP candidate for Senate. I don't think I want him. His radio ads are more jingoistic than a WWII-era John Wayne movie. He also casts himself as an outsider, but he's been working politics since college, at least.<br /><br />About the only thing I agree with him on is that his switch from D to R is something shared by a number of politicians over the years.<br /><br />And I still maintain that our host is ignorant of sumo. Personally, I think it's more a difference between a schoolyard fistfight and aikido.raitonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83499452622394642392018-01-27T17:16:53.420-08:002018-01-27T17:16:53.420-08:00YOWL! Screech "opposite to facts are true!&q...YOWL! Screech "opposite to facts are true!" and "My opponents mean and say and will do the opposite to every thing they stand for!" I am back to ignoring the psychosis.<br /><br />onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22329868188172527162018-01-27T16:09:18.245-08:002018-01-27T16:09:18.245-08:00In order for locumranch to "deny the existenc...<br />In order for locumranch to "deny the existence of laws", we would first have to agree that laws possess more than arbitrary moral authority. The more progressive among us say 'No, the laws do not reflect any sort of objective, absolute, divine or universal authority because secularism & the Church v State separation.<br /><br />In the absence of objective, absolute, divine or universal authority, we must then assume that the moral authority of law is subjective, arbitrary or lacking. And, if we conclude that the moral authority of law is subjective, arbitrary or lacking, then 'Yes, it fairly easy for anyone & everyone to deny the existence of valid laws'.<br /><br />Then, there's the separate question of law enforcement & the justifiable use of force wherein we either assume that moral 'Right makes Might' & justifies the use of physical force, or we assume that 'Might makes Right' insomuch as the ability to enforce subjective, arbitrary & immoral laws justifies their legal enforcement. <br /><br />And, then, there's <b>Friedrich A. Hayek who states that “There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. While the first is the condition of a free society, the second means as De Tocqueville describes it, a new form of servitude.”</b><br />[Individualism and Economic Order]<br /><br />In their attempt to make all people equal, the progressives among us favour totalitarianism. They also favour more restrictive rules, bigger government, enforced political homogeneity & wage slavery to government taxation. Their rules, laws & the enforcement thereof are subjective, arbitrary & occur on no other pretense than 'Might makes Right' <b>by their own admission</b>.<br /><br />It is progressivism, then, that "deny the existence of laws". Like Mao, Pol Pot & Stalin before them. <br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26605771352997263372018-01-27T14:53:01.946-08:002018-01-27T14:53:01.946-08:00
So locumranch is proposing the establishment of ...<br /><br />So locumranch is proposing the establishment of absolute anarchy? Does locumranch deny the existence of laws? What measures exactly locumranch proposes?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87304233787472792442018-01-27T14:41:50.851-08:002018-01-27T14:41:50.851-08:00Leibowitz, I mean. Liebowitz was the fake news on...Leibowitz, I mean. Liebowitz was the fake news one.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68624075049642218962018-01-27T14:39:10.936-08:002018-01-27T14:39:10.936-08:00From Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Lieb...From Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Liebowitz":<br /><br />"So it was that, after the Deluge, the Fallout, the plagues, the madness, the confusion of tongues, the rage, there began the bloodletting of the Simplification, when remnants of mankind had torn other remnants limb from limb, killing rulers, scientists, leaders, technicians, teachers, and whatever persons the leaders of the maddened mobs said deserved death for having helped to make the Earth what it had become. Nothing had been so hateful in the sight of these mobs as the man of learning, at first because they had served the princes, but then later because they refused to join in the bloodletting and tried to oppose the mobs, calling the crowds “bloodthirsty simpletons.”<br />"Joyfully the mobs accepted the name, took up the cry: Simpletons! Yes, yes! I’m a simpleton! Are you a simpleton? We’ll build a town and we’ll name it Simple Town, because by then all the smart bastards that caused all this, they’ll be dead! Simpletons! Let’s go! This ought to show ‘em! Anybody here not a simpleton? Get the bastard, if there is!<br />"To escape the fury of the simpleton packs, such learned people as still survived fled to any sanctuary that offered itself. When Holy Church received them, she vested them in monks’ robes and tried to hide them in such monasteries and convents as had survived and could be reoccupied, for the religious were less despised by the mob except when they openly defied it and accepted martyrdom. Sometimes such sanctuary was effective, but more often it was not. Monasteries were invaded, records and sacred books were burned, refugees were seized and summarily hanged or burned. The Simplification had ceased to have plan or purpose soon after it began, and became an insane frenzy of mass murder and destruction such as can occur only when the last traces of social order are gone. The madness was transmitted to the children, taught as they were-not merely to forget-but to hate, and surges of mob fury recurred sporadically even through the fourth generation after the Deluge. By then, the fury was directed not against the learned, for there were none, but against the merely literate."<br /><br />Hmm. We seem to be doing it in reverse order: Simpletons first, then the Deluge.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36563239736025001102018-01-27T13:45:33.019-08:002018-01-27T13:45:33.019-08:00Sorry, Locum, I give up. Trying to find common gr...Sorry, Locum, I give up. Trying to find common ground to make reasonable discussion with you is like trying to teach a pig to sing.TheMadLibrariannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41443366247775300722018-01-27T12:55:14.905-08:002018-01-27T12:55:14.905-08:00...apologies for the stutter above.
"It is i......apologies for the stutter above.<br /><br />"It is impossible to have equal rights or equal opportunity for those who want equality for all before the law <b>and</b> those who want the law to favor their subgroup."LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56604911140830192722018-01-27T12:53:06.053-08:002018-01-27T12:53:06.053-08:00In just about every realm of logic or math, there ...In just about every realm of logic or math, there is an example similar to (IIRC) Godel's Paradox, which demonstrates limits on what can be defined. For example, define the set X as "The set of all sets which do not contain themselves". If X does not contain itself, then by definition, it <b>must</b> be in the set X, i.e., it contains itself.<br /><br />Likewise, no truth value can be assigned to the statement, "This statement is a lie."<br /><br />For similar reasons, it is impossible to simultaneously have absolute freedom <b>from</b> oppression <b>and</b> absolute freedom <b>to</b> oppress. It is impossible to have equal rights or equal opportunity for those who want equality <b>and</b> for those who want equality for all before the law <b>and</b> those who want the law to favor their subgroup. It is impossible to have the freedom to practice religion however you see fit <b>and</b> for religious institutions to have the freedom to impose their religion on society as <b>they</b> see fit.<br /><br />You have to pick a side. I'm not conflicted by my choice.<br /><br />JOIN! THE! MOCKINGJAY!<br /> LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-12814109423729430112018-01-27T12:27:07.798-08:002018-01-27T12:27:07.798-08:00But Larry_H & David do betray the principles t...<br /><br />But Larry_H & David do betray the principles they claim to support!<br /><br />They equate (1) MORE restrictive rules with GREATER individual freedoms, (2) BIGGER government with LESS restrictive rules, and (3) ENFORCED political homogeneity with LIBERAL diversity.<br /><br />Larry_H says as much when he trots out the old Orwellian 'Freedom TO' as compared to 'Freedom FROM' canard in order to transmogrify the positive Freedoms to Liberty into Orwell's negative 'Freedom FROM Liberty (wherein 'Freedom is Slavery').<br /><br />The modern Diversity Agenda is a Big Lie, elsewise it would seek to promote actual diversity through the elimination of restriction in favour of actual heterogeneity & dissent, rather than by insisting on Borg-like universal equality, homogeneity & consensus.<br /><br />Seeking to 'improve humanity' & 'make the world a BETTER place', Western Progressivism reveals itself as a Blythedale Romance style Utopian Cult rather than a scientific experiment as is repudiates the very idea of 'control groups'.<br /><br />The Bicoastal US & parts of West Europe can drink this transcendental Kool-Aid if they so wish -- I & others like me will not object -- as long as the Kool-Aid quaffers do NOT force the Central US & other conscientious objectors to participate.<br /><br />Let us be & allow us to 'better ourselves' as we see fit, THEN feel free to turn yourselves into egalitarian Eloi for all we care ...<br /><br />We will reward you with praises if your Better Angel experiment succeeds; and, if it fails, your Control Group brethren will clean up your mess by eating your sheeple livers with a side of Fava beans & a nice Chianti. <br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28416965511929209752018-01-27T06:52:57.140-08:002018-01-27T06:52:57.140-08:00Alfred, I'm also not holding my breath for a &... Alfred, I'm also not holding my breath for a "Proletariat utopia", but it might not take that much to achieve a passable facsimile. Given that genius can and does appear in any variety of human and in unlikely circumstance, it would make long term sense to arrange a suitable environment for genius to flower. Mostly what's needed is for some reactionaries to lose the habit of making decisions with unsuitable body parts.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11265389681554970182018-01-27T06:17:07.109-08:002018-01-27T06:17:07.109-08:00Yeah, and the Thomas Fire had four elements that m...Yeah, and the Thomas Fire had four elements that made it worse than most fire-denuded areas: exceptionally steep terrain; the vast size of the fire; the proximity to suburban and urban areas; and the fact that it occurred in mid December, a time when even southern California doesn't get significant wildfires. Or didn't use to.<br />All that was needed for tragedy was a brief but very intense downpour, occurring in the wee hours of the morning. And that's exactly what happened.<br />Now it's not even the end of January yet, and we find ourselves under a red flag warning, which means extreme fire conditions. That brief rain was the only rain we've had so far this winter, and we're on course for another record dry year.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4212220588942198552018-01-27T03:45:32.769-08:002018-01-27T03:45:32.769-08:00Dr Brin:
"I don't have to back any of it...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />"I don't have to back any of it up. The incantation, alone will make me feel righteous, even though I am thus implicitly accepting liberal values, that Freedom tolerance and science are good things! Hypocrisy? Who cares?"<br /></i><br /><br />Oh, he does back it up, in a very <i>1984</i>ish way. Freedom <b>for</b> bullies! Tolerance <b>for</b> the intolerant! Diversity means that calls for supremacy have equal merit to calls for equality! These are the values loc claims we betray.<br /><br /><i><br />First, they came for the Nazis, and I did not speak out because I was not a Nazi.<br />...<br />And there was no one left to come for me.<br /></i><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40894832228299349742018-01-26T22:43:46.226-08:002018-01-26T22:43:46.226-08:00Zepp Jamieson:
Yes, but the fires destroyed the pl...Zepp Jamieson:<br />Yes, but the fires destroyed the plants that held the mud up to the roots, which caused the avalanche of mud when it rained. As a result, the mud avalanches were caused by fires. Without the fires, the landslides would not have happened.<br />I searched the news. What happened looked like a tsunami.<br />I did not know that tragedy had happened.<br />Winter7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16829856315044551289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88806465748005467702018-01-26T22:33:35.758-08:002018-01-26T22:33:35.758-08:00Ignore the following message, it is only the place...Ignore the following message, it is only the placement of another temporary mark on this website, to serve as a "point of reference" as part of the Cronos project experiment. I will not translate the text. Just ignore this message:<br /><br />Punto de referencia temporal número 2.<br />7.08 PM. Viernes 26 de enero. <br />Pasé unos quince minutos observando las estrellas desde el pasillo de mi casa. Hay un tenue velo de niebla. La luna se ve con claridad a través de la niebla. Cantidad inusual de satélites. Lo que parece ser un lento dron pasó a medio kilómetro de altura. Pero no emitía sonidos, únicamente luces. Quizás es un nuevo tipo de dron, más silencioso.<br />12 25 AM Sábado 27 de enero.<br />Estoy ante la computadora, en mi cuarto. La niebla ahora es más espesa. Puedo oler la fuerte carga de humedad en el aire. Es algo inusual. <br />Winter7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16829856315044551289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88972103637372014452018-01-26T22:32:11.182-08:002018-01-26T22:32:11.182-08:00Wasn't the fires. Two deaths from the Thomas ...Wasn't the fires. Two deaths from the Thomas Fire, both indirect. Little old lady had a heart attack, and a fire fighter had a traffic mishap.<br />It was the mudslides two weeks later. A lot of people tried to warn the residents of the risk, but in the mandatory evacuation zone there was only 15% compliance.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9172077408918439902018-01-26T21:56:50.117-08:002018-01-26T21:56:50.117-08:00Zepp Jamieson:
It is terrible that many people die...Zepp Jamieson:<br />It is terrible that many people died because of the fires. That should not have happened. Everything was a lack of planning and foresight. Sometimes politicians do not want to go beyond the basic duty.<br />I hope that politicians learn from mistakes and take strong measures to prevent these tragedies from happening again.<br />Winter7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16829856315044551289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29242445817019628432018-01-26T21:47:38.524-08:002018-01-26T21:47:38.524-08:00Alfred Differ:
“Bad things happen, but I worry abo...Alfred Differ:<br />“Bad things happen, but I worry about the good we will never know because we didn’t trust ourselves enough to try”.<br />Does that statement mean that it would not bother you that democracy is subjected to a drastic and severe reconstruction? Because maybe we have to make some changes.<br />I trust that it is still possible to save democracy as a system. But it is clear that democracy must change ... We all fear change. But we should be more afraid of the changes the oligarchs make to democracy without asking either you or me.<br />If a democracy with great flaws could lead the United States to great achievements; Imagine what a true democracy could do for all of humanity!<br />(or we can build the time machine and ...)<br />Winter7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16829856315044551289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51690000019566974612018-01-26T21:12:04.335-08:002018-01-26T21:12:04.335-08:00I've heard them talk about the details of what...I've heard them talk about the details of what happens in American politics. It's a much more complex issue than I imagined. But well. Same day. Whether we play Chinese checkers or chess, the key is to be able to win if you are better. But that is only possible if the rules of the game are respected. It is clear then that the weakest point of any political system is that it can be manipulated by the feudal lords.<br />Now, let's think outside the box and go directly to make a list of reparations that need to be made to every democracy. We can call this list, "Winter's List". Creating this list is important, as it is clear that it is important to know what to do in the future, if democracy is to be saved. We need to know in advance what is convenient, as it is evident that times are changing very fast, and who knows, maybe that list could save the existence of democracy. Winter is coming. <br /><br />This is the list:<br /><br />1- Joffrey Baratheon<br />2- Cersei Lannister<br />3- Walder Frey ...<br /><br />Hooo. High. Sorry, that's another list. I was wrong. Let me search ...<br />Now yes ... I will put point # 1 on the list. You are following This is the list:<br /><br />1- Mechanisms to prevent democracy from being manipulated by the oligarchs<br />2- …..Winter7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16829856315044551289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25805539381711992342018-01-26T21:08:37.266-08:002018-01-26T21:08:37.266-08:00Ah, how shrill and so many words, for locum to cry...Ah, how shrill and so many words, for locum to cry out: <br /><br />"I know my side is evil and wants to crush all freedom and kill its enemies and demolish thought... and I can't stand you smug liberals who invented freedom and tolerance and science ... so I'll... yeah... I'll wave my arms and chant "You AREN"T for freedom, tolerance and science! Yeah, that's the ticket! The old OPPOSITE TRICK! Yeah!"<br /><br />"Because you invented and push for freedom, I know it'll make you wince to shout YOU HATE FREEDOM!"<br /><br />"Because you invented and push for tolerance, I know it'll make you wince to shout YOU'RE INTOLERANT!"<br /><br />"Because you invented and support science and willingness to subject delusions to critical accountability, I know it'll make you wince to shout YOU REPRESS FACTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY!"<br /><br />"I don't have to back any of it up. The incantation, alone will make me feel righteous, even though I am thus implicitly accepting liberal values, that Freedom tolerance and science are good things! Hypocrisy? Who cares?"David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69799134116891019242018-01-26T19:46:58.050-08:002018-01-26T19:46:58.050-08:00@Catfish N Cod | If even markets can't cause ...@Catfish N Cod | <i> If even markets can't cause economization of shared resources, we are all in serious trouble.</i><br /><br />Maybe, but I suspect not. Many in the world DO agree on the need to combat climate change. Since they are also market participants, the prices they demand for goods and services influence our neighbors who aren’t thinking ahead far enough. There are always short-sighted people in markets. Those of us who do care about the future should get ready to exploit their a$$es for thinking so short.<br /><br /><i> I have a healthy respect for serendipitous improvements, but not so much so that I trust serendipity to maintain or further improve society.</i><br /><br />Heh. I have to chuckle at this because I’m of the opinion that the vast majority of what’s been done that improves society has been unplanned in the sense that it is ‘grown order’ instead of ‘made order.’ We’ve never known the future in great detail. Read any story written long ago about what might be happening in our era and one gets a lesson in the apparent impossibility of imagining the unimaginable. Fly cars? Nope. Tickets to the Moon? Nope. Warp drive? Nope. Proletariat Utopia? Nope. Instead we snuffed out small pox, absolutely crushed absolute poverty, doubled the lifespan, created a method for educating everyone, and did NOT manage to blow up the world.<br /><br />I accept that spontaneous orders do not produce improvements on schedule or even as desired. What they do manage to produce, though, is the unimaginable. Yes. Syria is a living hell that captivates our attention, but what else is going on? Look both broader and deeper.<br /><br /><i>…dig the economy/society out of local suboptimal attractor state…</i><br /><br />I have no beef with that until people try too hard to predict the attractor. If we have experience with it, I’m for trying to prevent it again. If we are guessing too much, though, I’m inclined to let something bad happen and learn from it in order to avoid producing one of those stories about a future that we prevented because we couldn’t imagine something better. Bad things happen, but I worry about the good we will never know because we didn’t trust ourselves enough to try.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87203014098782159342018-01-26T17:35:54.381-08:002018-01-26T17:35:54.381-08:00Hi Winter7
The problem with flying cars is the po...Hi Winter7<br /><br />The problem with flying cars is the power consumption - with current energy sources that means petrol and cars that get 4 miles to the gallon - if you are lucky!<br />It's not so much a "green" stance as the fact that people simply won't put up with that sort of fuel consumption duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67686861013380366182018-01-26T17:16:39.040-08:002018-01-26T17:16:39.040-08:00@john Fremont | Hayek’s later position on social i...@john Fremont | Hayek’s later position on social insurance wasn’t a reversal so much as a complaint that government was using these programs to create a class of dependent voters. In this sense, they were creating serfs in the fashion that concerned him during WWII. Opposition to the government doing this could, of course, be read as opposing helping people who needed help which could then be used to dehumanize plan opponents. This path from good intentions to unintended misery is exactly the point of that book. <br /><br />Unfortunately, many readers thought he argued that it was a slippery slope and once on it there was no way off or no alternative path away from danger. Neither is true, but Hayek’s rebuttals aren’t as widely published as the book itself. One has to be a dedicated Hayek reader (admittedly a kind of self-punishment) to find this all in Hayek’s collected works. The one book of his that doesn’t sound like it was written by an academic who loved precision was obviously ‘co-written by the editor’ when Hayek’s health finally failed him.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81201684731218890752018-01-26T17:15:55.819-08:002018-01-26T17:15:55.819-08:00This is well-trodden ground, but it really is true...This is well-trodden ground, but it really is true that the very things that make Democracy strong are those that make it vulnerable. Deliberations and debate are a slow, often laborious process, and it frustrates the people who yearn for quick answers that contain elemental values. In order for a democracy to function, not only must the power of government be curbed, but the power of churches, corporations, and the aristocracy, since all have ambitions inimical to the freedom and chaos of a truly functional democracy. Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69207518667594831852018-01-26T17:06:39.290-08:002018-01-26T17:06:39.290-08:00@locumranch | It is possible for there to be no gl...@locumranch | It is possible for there to be no global optimum and for the world to get better with no dissonance. An optimum is a precise thing. ‘Better’ is very imprecise. This is the very point of making a distinction between an economy and a catallaxy. Two people trading with each other obviously don’t have shared objectives regarding what they trade and how they value the stuff relative to other stuff. In voluntary trade, both make the exchange and argue they are better off. Neither is likely to feel their situation is optimal, though, because for at least one of them there is always a gap between what they wanted and what they got. For example, I’d prefer to buy my morning cup of tea for ½ the price I usually pay. I settle for the regular price and would reject the trade at 2x the price. I don’t know what the seller would prefer to get paid, but there is a decent chance there is a gap between what they want and what I actually fork over to them. Free trades are at least a little disappointing to all involved because of this, but they don’t happen at all unless both parties feel they are better off.<br /><br />Put away your dictionary for a moment. (Yes… I know you were reaching for it to ‘splain what “better” means.) Remember that people exhibit behaviors that describe better what the terms mean than a book that can’t possibly cover the depth of meaning in a term. Think of “better” as an iceberg and the dictionary definition as the bit of it above the waterline. <br /><br />I do agree that what Progressives argue is ‘better’ is something the rest might not appreciate as much. However, when 90%+ of the people in my community all agree that some particular action is better, the most I’m going to argue against it if I disagree is that they leave me be. It’s rather pointless to tilt at those particular windmills.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.com