All of DryHeap's Comments + Replies

Right now, Facebook does very little to identify content, only provide it.

They certainly do identify content, and indeed alter the way that certain messages are promoted.

Example.

They faced criticism for allowing fake news to spread on the site

Who decides what is and is not fake news?

1denimalpaca
Not quite what I meant about identifying content but fair point. As for fake news, the most reliable way to tell is whether the piece states information as verifiable fact, and if that fact is verified. Basically, there should be at least some sort of verifiable info in the article, or else it's just narrative. While one side's take may be "real" to half the world, the other side's take can be "real" to the other half of the world, but there should be some piece of actual information that both sides look at and agree is real.

I am unconvinced that this fact tells us much about what our future either will or should be like.

My digression above could have caused a misunderstanding of my point. I do not mean to say that we are/should return to violence in the Western world, but rather that the desire is still present within us and large-scale violence happens much more often than in our semi-homogeneous middle class bubbles.

I don't imagine the conversation is headed to any conclusion/meeting point, but I wanted to clarify what I was saying to highlight the misunderstanding.

I would be interested to know why the argument doesn't apply equally to unicellularity.

I apologize for a misunderstanding. My argument was not that one should "expect [their] successors to return to skullcrushing." It is that, as skull-crushing was an essential part of our evolution, it makes sense that we still have that latent impulse. Think sex.

I ... have never crushed anyone's skull for power and wealth ... and I'm not sure I know anyone who has

The people who actively "skull-crush" for power and wealth are largely tribes of p... (read more)

0gjm
Well, speaking purely for myself, my skullcrushing activities never get more non-metaphorical than, say, a game of chess. I've no particular objection to fictional violence, but tend to find it among the least interesting things in the fiction containing it. I will concede that I enjoy winning at chess, but I beg leave to doubt how much evidence that is for the stability of joy-in-actual-skull-crushing. I'm afraid it seems to me that your comment is long on rhetoric and short on actual reasoning, which makes it difficult to respond to in a way I find adequate. So I'll just repeat in slightly different words what I already said: yes, plenty of skullcrushing in our ancestral past, but I am unconvinced that this fact tells us much about what our future either will or should be like.

Thanks for the information! May I get a link to that research paper? My google-fu is apparently weak.

0Viliam
Sorry, I have a problem finding it now too. :(

But I, for one, have never crushed anyone's skull for power and wealth (mine or anyone else's), and I'm not sure I know anyone who has, and the net quantity of skullcrushing per person seems to be decreasing over time despite the extremely nasty skullcrushing bonanzas of the early-to-mid 20th century.

I'm not sure if the user you are replying to meant it like this, but it would make sense that your ancestors did plenty of the "skull-crushing" for you (in a sense), and that is why you are here today. The colonialism and use of violence in the past is why you enjoy the life you do today.

2gjm
Maybe so. Also, the single-celled-ness of my distant ancestors was an essential step to the form of life I now have; their primitivity is (part of) why I enjoy the life I do today. This observation doesn't in the least lead me to wish I were a single-celled life form, nor to see single-celled life forms as somehow my superiors, nor to anticipate a future reversion to single cells in my descendants. If your suggestion is that since some of my ancestors were skullcrushers and I wouldn't be here without them I should look back with admiration to my skullcrushing ancestors, or that I should expect my successors to return to skullcrushing, then I would be interested to know why the argument doesn't apply equally to unicellularity.

Agreed. Absolutely partisan and largely unrelated to the point of this board.

Speaking of immigration, immigration is not absolutely productive. There are a myriad of factors at play here. If one wishes to inject a population with a group in order to increase the population's overall productivity, they must ensure that the injected group is as-productive or more productive than the original population.

2NoSignalNoNoise
I don't think whether the group's average output increases or decreases is the right metric. What's important is whether the newly enlarged group's output is higher than what the group and its new members' total output would be if the groups weren't merged - do the immigrants become more productive by immigrating, and do they make the native population more or less productive?

I would wager that the majority of gender inequalities in the Western world are reinforced by biology.

I concur. The Olympians have been cheating since the inception of the modern Olympics, and will continue to do so. There is little doubt in my mind that nearly every successful Olympic Athlete has used these drugs (a kind of race to the bottom is at work here). Hell, the Olympics could be regarded as a contest on secretive steroid use... A Drug-Olympics could be a showcase of the newest biotechnological advancements. The data gained from the plethora of individuals experimenting with these substances would be great; the physiological effects of these 'drugs' could be examined with regard to the nationalities and genetic make-up of these individuals. It could lead to some very interesting results/advancements.

Very good point. On a similar note: we often don't consider whether we have empirically tested what we, ourselves, believe to be true. Most often, we have not. I'd wager that we are all 'useful idiots' of a sort.

0niceguyanon
It's sheep all the way up!

Hello all,

South Carolinian uni student. Been lurking here for some time. Once my desire to give an input came to a boil, I decided to go ahead and make an account. Mathematics, CompSci, and various forms of Biology are my intensive studies.

Less intense hobbies include music theory, politics, game theory, and cultural studies. I'm more of a 'genetics is the seed, culture is the flower' kind of guy.

The art of manipulation is fascinating to me; sometimes, when one knows their audience, one must make non-rational appeals to their audience to persuade them. T... (read more)

1Viliam
Welcome! I partially agree, but I believe there is usually no clear dividing line between "those who know, and use irrational claims strategically" and "the followers who drink the kool-aid". First, peer pressure is a thing. Even if you consciously invent a lie, when everyone in your social group keeps repeating it, it will create an enormous emotional pressure on you to rationalize "well, my intention was to invent a lie, but it seems like I accidentally stumbled upon an important piece of truth". Or more simply, you start believing that the strong version of X is the lie you invented, but some weaker variant of X is actually true. Second, unless there is a formal conspiracy coordination among the alpha lizardmen, it is possible that leader A will create and spread a lie X without explaining to leader B what happened, and leader B will create and spread a lie Y without explaining to leader A what happened, so at the end both of them are the manipulators and the sheep at the same time.