> I guess part of the issue is "who decides what is 'contentious'?"
You can write "russia is genociding ukrainians". You can write 'china is genociding muslims". That isn't hellish flamewar. Guess what is hellish flamewar?
107 karma · joined April 24, 2024
You can write "russia is genociding ukrainians". You can write 'china is genociding muslims". That isn't hellish flamewar. Guess what is hellish flamewar?
If that was the case, chinese state media ( where the chinese government actually has direct control over the content ) would be banned. But they are not banned.
Sure we do. All the time.
> WW2 started in 1939, not in 1941 as Russia claims.
Or it started in 1931 according to the chinese.
> So that whole "imperialist thinking" propaganda logic seems very flawed, and more like an excuse the new autocratic regimes are using to expand their borders by force, and be themselves imperialistic.
Because the west hasn't expanded by force?
> The world moved on in the meantime, you know, since the founding of the UN and such.
And that's why the western world hasn't invaded dozens of countries since. Right?
> and the forced expansionism of autocracies as a "multipolar world".
So you are defending the unipolar world? The same unipolar world maintained by force?
It's hard to take you seriously when your points defending 'the west' actuals exposes all the evil the west has done.
There is nothing 'unconscious' about creating a long epic. It takes conscious effort especially if you expect it to be coherent and enjoyable. Besides, is there a connection between schizophrenia and metered speech? Wouldn't a schizophrenic epic be unmetered?
That must be it. That must be why the media, congress, colleges, etc are all cracking down on protests. Where were they a few years ago when 'peaceful protests' were 'peacefully' burning down cities? It says something when both MSNBC and Fox News agree on cracking down on protests.
Has nothing to do with democracy. Taiwan could be a monarchy or communist and nothing changes. It's about national territorial integrity.
> When the people of China compare their lives with those of other nations, they see democracies having something they want and cannot have.
Chinese people envy democracies like ukraine? Or russia? You think the chinese want to be like the philippines? Most of the world's poorest and underdeveloped countries are democracies. I highly doubt that's what the chinese aspire to.
> There has been an implicit agreement between the people & gov't, which allows the limitation of civil liberties in exchange for rapid progress in modernization and elimination of poverty. As that effort runs out of steam, and the economic system becomes stressed, the agreement begins to break down. One may also note how Jack Ma was reigned in as another thread of the agreement being changed unilaterally by the gov't.
Jack Ma? You watch too many silly youtube videos.
Top comment here : "Don’t do it at work."
Top comment a few years ago : "If you work at Google and you have participated in this protest: Thank you."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17776276
The comments back then were very supportive of google employees protesting against china's censorship. While the top comments here seem to be against google employees protesting israeli war crimes.
Why? A bit of a head scratcher.
What's remarkable is that SV allowed protests against US, china, russia, anyone really. But protest against israeli war crimes is where they drew the line.
SV, media, congress, everyone supported violent protests that burned down cities. But peaceful protests in college campuses against israeli genocide is where they send in the storm troopers.
In china, they send in the storm troopers if you protest communist rule. It's interesting what we send the storm troopers for. Food for thought.
That's my point. No culture belongs to 'western culture' because there is no such thing as 'western culture' or western civilization.
> So it does make sense to make a distinction even if the boundaries are blurry.
Yes. It does make sense to distinguish between say Egyptian civilization and Hebrew civilization and Greek civilization and Chinese civilization and Indian civilization and Mayan civilization and so forth. But there is no distinguishing 'western civilization' from anything because it simply doesn't exist.
Not sure if you are being intentionally dense but my point was clear. Maybe you should go back and read my original comment that you replied to.
Tell me what western civilization is. Even if the boundaries are 'blurry' try giving us the broad strokes. What is the language or culture or ethnicity or religion or customs of western civilization. It doesn't exist. That's my point.
Isn't that an example of a 2nd chance? A person fails in his own country and gets another chance (2nd chance) in another country?
Reddit was a great idea. Then it got successful and greedy.
Sure.
> and Greek culture was certainly influenced by Egyptian, Mesopotamian Persian cultures (which are often not considered "Western")
No doubt about it. Especially ancient egyptian civilization. The ancient greeks themselves have said so.
> but for example China
There was some contact, but certainly not as much between mediterranean peoples. That's obvious.
> the Americas had no direct contact with Europe until much later and developed in isolation to each other.
Who cares?
What's your point? Your comment didn't address what I wrote. I said there is no such thing as western civilization. Just like there is no such thing as eastern civilization. Not sure what the point of your comment is.
England was never part of the roman world. It was the collapse of the roman world that allowed the anglo-saxons to settle and create england. England was a post-roman world creation. Heck it was part of the destruction crew of the roman world.
Flag on the play. Pass interference in the endzone. Defense, number 74. Ball will be placed at the 1 yard line. 1st and goal.
Now we are getting somewhere.
There is no line because there is no western culture, civilization, values, anything. It's a political term invented for superficial political goals. Just like the idea of 'the west'.
Ancient greek civilization based around the greek language, culture, religion, etc. Yes. What exactly is the language, culture, religion, etc of 'the west'. There is none.
If you think there is a 'west', then try defining 'the east'. It's an artificial designation that changes depending on one's political biases.
The US is the largest weapons manufacturer already with the largest military-industrial complex. How many more drones and bombs do we need?
> All of our rivals have absolutely no qualms about using AI or other advanced technology to build weapons of war.
You act like we do.
Doesn't the US already spend more on military than all our rivals and allies combined?
Only because future governments will have far better methods of surveillance and population control.
Using that logic, facebook, google, etc are not businesses either since they chose to be banned from china.
Modern industrial farming has been the greatest source of limiting disease, parasites and sickness. Before modern industrial farming, human life was rife with food-born parasites, disease and sickness. So much so that it severely limited people's physical and intellectual development.
> Of course we can thrive with less meat consumption or none.
We can survive without meat. But being omnivores, we probably need meat to thrive. Though too much of a good thing can be harmful.
> How is that even a question?
As a self-proclaimed rationalist, why does that surprise you? Rational people question things.
It's still the love of knowledge to this day.
> Now that sciences and technology rule the knowledge field, philosophy's enthusiasts just claim that philosophy helps learning to think and widens one's spirit.
Science ( aka natural philosophy ), is just a small part of what we call knowledge.
> If that were true, I think philosophy would be a mandatory study to anyone interested in advanced scientific theories,
Science is a part of philosophy. When you get a PhD in physics for example, you get a doctorate in philosophy. It's just philosophy confined to the study of the natural world guided by empiricism. Certainly most scientists have studied some philosophy.
> Even so, most arts can claim the same: "grasp new ideas" and "open to fields of knowledge". In my case, I could say that for literature.
We can say philosophy is an art form centered around reason. Using the broader definition of art, everything is an art.
I agreed with you there. That commenter exaggerated the costs. My response was directed to the 'first class' portion of your comment.
> And the pandemic has made some things onboard worse.
My trip was many years ago. Before the pandemic. I personally don't think the 'first class' amtrak experience is worth the money unless amtrak upgrades everything about the experience.
Isn't that what the bill actually does. The tiktok part is just legal distraction as it punts the tiktok issue to the next administration.
It's amazing that a company known for video game graphics cards is now a $2 trillion company. Nvidia's market cap ( over 2 trillion ) is the 2nd biggest of the FAANG+. It's bigger than Google. It's bigger than Amazon. Only Apple has a bigger market cap. And most of nvidia's market cap gains has been in the past year. It's unique for being the only predominantly hardware company of the group.
How many days does it take to fly from SF to NYC?
> Now if you throw in some rooms, you are talking about first-class travel that includes all meals free.
First class? I've done the trip in a room and there's nothing first class about it. The bedding was suspect. Everything in the room felt old and dirty. In the dining car, you don't even get your own table. They cram you with other passengers. And for much of the trip, your view consists of corn fields and miles long CSX trains slowly chugging alongside your train. And to add insult to injury they was hours late ( 9 hours if memory serves ) so if you have friends or family waiting to pick you up, make sure to tell them to set aside the whole day. If you are a light sleeper, then you are not going to have a good time because the train wheels on the tracks are very loud. If you have cash to burn, then try it out for the experience. But it's not a trip I'd recommend or take again.