Objectively intelligent.

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Scary, but not that surprising.

6 feet is bullshit.

Any mask-free indoor zone is dangerous.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

The scary thing is the tracking of where we are from our phones. Coronavirus will be gone, eventually, but Big Brother ain't going anywhere.

In the game of Whose Dystopia Will We Inhabit?, I long ago determined Huxley was the clear winner. But Orwell has come back from the dead, a wildcard looking utterly dominant heading into the championship.

ETA: This is why I gnash my teeth adequate enough to crack the enamel when I hear people say, “So what? I’ve nothing to hide.”

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

The scary thing is the tracking of where we are from our phones. Coronavirus will be gone, eventually, but Big Brother ain't going anywhere.

Maybe you want to be sitting down for this, but what is it that you think makes Sergei and Larry so rich?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Maybe you want to be sitting down for this, but what is it that you think makes Sergei and Larry so rich?

But privacy is an antiquated and counterproductive value. If we all give it up and share everything openly we can use the mass of data to help each other. The path to making us all happier and healthier is giving up personal autonomy and favoring the goals of the group in aggregate. Stop being selfish and skeptical and join the new world! Our tech overlords are beneficent. They Do no Evil. (or at least that was once the corporate motto.)

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Maybe you want to be sitting down for this, but what is it that you think makes Sergei and Larry so rich?

Bay Area inside baseball? Who are they? Are they richer than me?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Bay Area inside baseball? Who are they? Are they richer than me?

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and yes, they are richer than you.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

This is a probably a pretty funny book.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

This is a probably a pretty funny book.

Oh, I want.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Oh, I want.

This review is even funnier. The section about the guy who wants to hold bum fights and engage in the “victimless crime” of cannibalism had me laughing out loud. https://newrepublic.com/article/1596...e-town-project

I have to buy this book.

ETA: I had to paste it. It’s so good...

“One of the original masterminds of the plan, a certain Larry Pendarvis, had written of his intention to create a space honoring the freedom to “traffic organs, the right to hold duels, and the God-given, underappreciated right to organize so-called bum fights.” He had also bemoaned the persecution of the “victimless crime” that is “consensual cannibalism.” (“Logic is a strange thing,” observes Hongoltz-Hetling.)”

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

This review is even funnier. The section about the guy who wants to hold bum fights and engage in the “victimless crime” of cannibalism had me laughing out loud. https://newrepublic.com/article/1596...e-town-project

I have to buy this book.

ETA: I had to paste it. It’s so good...

“One of the original masterminds of the plan, a certain Larry Pendarvis, had written of his intention to create a space honoring the freedom to “traffic organs, the right to hold duels, and the God-given, underappreciated right to organize so-called bum fights.” He had also bemoaned the persecution of the “victimless crime” that is “consensual cannibalism.” (“Logic is a strange thing,” observes Hongoltz-Hetling.)”

He is correct on all.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

He is correct on all.

Whether he is or he isn't, of all the hobbies one might have, staging bum fights? Does anyone really, urgently need to be doing that? (On that topic, the Bum Fights creator's shaving his head to look like Dr. Phil on Phil's show is classic.)

I agree that people should be allowed to duel. I imagine the morons who'd chose to do so would be pretty good shots, or perhaps use automatic weapons, and there'd be a good chance they'd both die, benefiting society.

Trafficking one's own organs? I guess I'm okay with that from the perspective everyone should have total autonomy over his own body. But there is that inequality thing, and the way our criminal justice system would work hand in hand with organ brokers to find ways for the poor to make bail by donating corneas or corners of their livers.

Consensual cannibalism? I don't know how to address that one. I know it happened in Germany once, but "It happened in Germany once" might not be the best standard by which any behavior should deemed acceptable.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Tyler Cowen interviewing John Brennan:

I thought I would give this segment its own post, again here is the audio, video, and transcript of my Conversation with John O. Brennan, head of the CIA for four years under President Obama:

BRENNAN: I’ve seen some of those videos from Navy pilots, and I must tell you that they are quite eyebrow-raising when you look at them. You try to ensure that you have as much data as possible in terms of visuals and also different types of maybe technical collection of sensors that you have at the time.

Also, I believe, it’s important to reach out into other environments and find out, were there any type of weather phenomena at that time that might have, in fact, created the appearance of the phenomenon that you’re looking at? Were there some things that were happening on the ground, or other types of phenomena that could help explain what seems to be quite a mystery as far as what is there?

I think an important thing for analysts to do is not to go into this type of challenge either discounting certain types of possibilities or believing in advance that it is likely X, Y, or Z. You really have to approach it with an open mind, but get as much data as possible and get as much expertise as possible brought to bear.

COWEN: At the end of all that sifting and interpreting, what do you think is the most likely hypothesis?

BRENNAN: [laughs] I don’t know. When people talk about it, is there other life besides what’s in the States, in the world, the globe? Life is defined in many different ways. I think it’s a bit presumptuous and arrogant for us to believe that there’s no other form of life anywhere in the entire universe. What that might be is subject to a lot of different views.

But I think some of the phenomena we’re going to be seeing continues to be unexplained and might, in fact, be some type of phenomenon that is the result of something that we don’t yet understand and that could involve some type of activity that some might say constitutes a different form of life.

The major reason I take UFO reports seriously is simply the “gradient” of other people who take them seriously — the people with the very highest security clearances! It is not just Brennan and Harry Reid, there are others too, namely people with the very highest level of security clearance who believe these issues deserve further investigation, and are not just weather phenomena, instrument mistakes, weather balloons, etc.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Trafficking one's own organs? I guess I'm okay with that from the perspective everyone should have total autonomy over his own body.

Isn't the problem here is the same one with slavery, about entering into contracts you can't get out of? One can't have total autonomy if one can agree to give up one's autonomy, is the argument.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Isn't the problem here is the same one with slavery, about entering into contracts you can't get out of? One can't have total autonomy if one can agree to give up one's autonomy, is the argument.

Professor Somin has my proxy - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-organ-donors/

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Isn't the problem here is the same one with slavery, about entering into contracts you can't get out of? One can't have total autonomy if one can agree to give up one's autonomy, is the argument.

Peeps ain’t giving up autonomy, just a kidney or maybe a cornea.