Brain_Thief

8 ms·

1.
by Brain_Thief 5y ago
I understand your frustration but I still cannot get past the point that, generally speaking, an individual must make a specific, conscious, and unforced series of decisions in order to repeatedly end up in front of movies that they dislike
2.
by Brain_Thief 5y ago
The entire premise here is a bit odd to me; are people forced to spend their time and money watching a sub-par movie? Couldn't they watch one of the innumerable television shows that are available, watch YouTube, older movies, etc., et
3.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Interesting - your response makes sense. Thanks again for the information.
4.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Thank you for the response, I find this very interesting. So is it true to say that the production of a particular solution to a differential equation is a statement about how a system will behave based on its initial conditions, and that t
5.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
But are the statements "reality minimizes action" and "reality solves differential equations" actually, literally equivalent to each other? It strikes me that this is not in fact the case. There are solutions to systems
6.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I understand your frustration and share it, but I personally believe that we are at the point where this behavior (i.e., failure to act) should be expected of tech companies. The economic incentives of the companies who run the most popular
7.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
The idea that the number of employers who might pressure their employees into not using legally-enshrined sick leave could be comparable to the number of employers who, through the goodness of their hearts, currently offer sick leave to the
8.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
At the risk of being confrontational, I have to question whether you have ever had a low-paying job in the USA or if you have even taken the time to look at the typical "benefits" and work requirements attached to such jobs. The
9.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Not OP, but I share his / her perspective. My reasoning is that the act of killing is a serious and irreversible decision that should not in any way be trivialized. Furthermore, a full evaluation of the consequences of killing should n
10.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
You didn't state a theory; to the extent that you implied a theory similar to the one I described the available data does not support it at all...
11.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I agree with those points but I have not seen evidence for the idea that the availability of social safety nets is not also a significant factor in fertility rate trend, which I took to be the thrust of your original post.
12.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
The unstated conclusion of your response seems to be that the absence of basic social service rights has no impact on rate of demographic change in developed countries; however, your comment appears to be focused on current measurements, an
13.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Since when are sources required for basic observations on reality? Thanks to Republican opposition to providing first-world amenities to U.S. citizens (universal health care access, education access, childcare access, etc.) new generations
14.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I'm trying to interpret your comment in a charitable manner, but no matter what angle I come at it from it seems disingenuous ("whataboutism" comes to mind, for starters). No one in this thread has pretended that disinformati
15.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
> At no point did I argue that we understand everything about nature. My point is just that every single thing in nature has turned out to be eventually accessible to rational modeling and understanding. I'm having a hard time fol
16.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
The problem is that the American public elected a reality television show host who can barely string a coherent sentence together as president. Since expertise, honesty, and competence represent direct threats to the administration (e.g., d
17.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
https://thenib.imgix.net/usq/8688038d-f99b-4224-872b-b8dd626...
18.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I see this sentiment expressed a lot and, frankly, I just don't buy it. I dropped my FaceBook account years ago and have never had any trouble staying in touch with people or being invited to things. Are your friends / family so i
19.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
It was a parameter stipulated in a hypothetical example.
20.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
These are good points you raise. I suppose what I'm really thinking is that there needs to be some sort of "interpersonal digital communications normalization process" for young people that functions similarly to how being at
21.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Situations like this make me think that public educational systems should experiment with some form of "digital literacy" courses / exercises for young children with the goal of humanizing the processes of online communicatio
22.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
"For any reason" is exactly the opposite of why the Trump campaign drew the scrutiny of intelligence agencies.
23.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Could you illuminate those of us who are not in the know?
24.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
No matter how attractive it may be to pretend that business decisions exist in some sort of apolitical moral vacuum the simple fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of them do not. Making money is not an excuse for improving
25.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
Ah, the ancient and exhausted "if you don't like it then leave" argument has finally made its appearance. How could none of us have realized that the obvious solution to disagreeing with a policy in our organization / co
26.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
What, exactly, is hypocritical about these developers' actions? If a person wants their organization / community / country to change then they should encourage that change through non-violent means. It seems to me that by cal
27.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I find it interesting that your condemnation of unproductive ideological advocacy is couched within a hyperbolic rant wherein you seem to assume the privilege of having your words taken metaphorically and not literally ("every piece&qu
28.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I wish I could say that it caused me humor every time I come across this type of justification for the ever-quickening erosion of the concept of personal privacy in the era of big tech. Here's why my gut reaction to interpreting Google
29.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I'm sorry that reaching what many believe should be a minimum level of income took such a prolonged period for you and I hope that moving forward you experience an easier time growing your income. Based on the tone of your response, I
30.
by Brain_Thief 7y ago
I agree with the sentiment of your post and similarly find it shocking that anyone could defend a gargantuan corporation like Amazon refusing to provide their workers with reasonable wages to support quality lives. It's worth noting th

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