CuriousCat Archive Page 51 of 202

  1. How does it work? I've not heard of it before now.

    in response to What form of ordinal voting do you prefer

    approval voting is just saying "yes" or "no" to every candidate. no rankings. most yesses wins.

  3. Is there any way in the world to order Juice (any flavor, no alcohol) without sounding like you are in kindergarten

    https://youtu.be/NM6AeW8ok6E

  4. Thoughts on having people vote in a couple different systems at once and tryin' to look at all the results to try and determine winner?

    in response to What form of ordinal voting do you prefer

    in some ways we've done this, i.e. used exit polls to re-run plurality elections as approval elections and see how they'd turn out different. the result was that third parties are way more valuable and republicans are way less popular.

  5. Hey bro the test was so easy I didn't even need to cheat (Even though brung my phone).... aha.

    in response to Dear chud, I have my physics finals tomorrow (today actually). My Wile. E. Coyote plan is to wear pants over a pair shorts with pockets, and keep a mobile phone in the shorts... Then I will excuse myself to the bathroom and see all the answers on my phone. I will update you on this.

    that was anticlimactic but congratulations

  6. You must repent for your sins my young child.

    in response to Do you sin?

    nah

  7. Is water wet?

  8. What form of ordinal voting do you prefer

    in response to Is that like rank choiced voting?

    I mean, any is better than plurality voting, which is what we use now. no ordinal system is free from drawbacks, but I've been swayed in favor of approval voting. it seems like it gets fairly reliable outcomes that closely resemble actual public will. it *can* trend towards centrism, which I don't like, but leftier candidates are generally more viable there than in plurality or ranked, and there are few mechanisms for dangerously unpopular candidates like Trump to game their way into power. so Ii think it's the best option.

  9. When encountering the Paradox of the Heap, I respond with the observation that a thing like a heap is entirely subjective, and, despite what we might like to think, so many of the things we deal with don't really have meaningful distinctions, at least when you're looking close enough. Do you find that to be a reasonable answer, or does that sidestep the observation the Paradox is making?

    I think that's valid. I tend to take the subjectivist approach, that a heap is something that feels like a heap, and that such boundaries are grey and squidgy. but there will probably be a point where everyone agrees the sand is in a heap and a point where everyone agrees the sand is too small to be a heap anymore, even if they don't agree on when precisely the transition happened. so the labels are still useful, and categorization valuable, but we need to accept that they are human concepts that have no innate meaning.

  10. if you auditioned for a production of les mis, what role would you want? what role do you think you'd actually get?

    I ain't got the pipes for Les Mis, but I guess that didn't stop Tom Hooper. I could have fun with Thénardier, I think, or Enjolras if I'm feeling ambitious.

  11. I'm currently sick andI know phrases like "get well soon" or "feel better!" are well intentioned and things that I want, but a part of me gets like "why am I getting bossed right now, I'm sick" Idk thoughts?

    I am also sick, so sympathies. I generally interpret "fell better" and "get well soon" as having an implied "I hope you" at the beginning, sort of how we how when someone greets you with "mornin'" is short for "good morning"

    maybe I'm a cockeyed optimist

  13. Should money be kept out of politics?

    yes, and I'm coming round to the opinion money should be kept out of everything

  14. Why did you put in the suggest reading of your last TARP "Stamped from the Beginning" by Ibram X. Kendi instead of his other book "How to be an Anti-Racist" (or alternatively, both)? It would make more sense for the latter if the purpose of the bibliography was as a resource for white people to learn how to become good allies.

    the short version is because that's the one I was reading as research for the video. but also: the context of that suggestion was "if you want to hear about racism from the people who experience it, here's a book." I felt a history of racism told from a Black perspective was more appropriate for that purpose; I wanted to decenter white people as much as possible.

  15. Dear chud,
    I have my physics finals tomorrow (today actually). My Wile. E. Coyote plan is to wear pants over a pair shorts with pockets, and keep a mobile phone in the shorts... Then I will excuse myself to the bathroom and see all the answers on my phone. I will update you on this.

    see that you do

  16. Is that like rank choiced voting?

    in response to What's that??

    that's one of them

  17. Have you ever done it before and for which game(s)?

    in response to How often do you try to 100% games?

    a few. I think I 100%ed the old Flash edition of The Binding of Isaac. I 100%ed Tails Adventure on the Sega Game Gear. on paper I 100%ed Hollow Knight, like hit 107%, but still never beat Godhome.

    I don't have a list at hand but this is what I recall at the moment!

  19. Would you rather be itchy or sticky for the rest of your life?

    sticky

  21. People (me included) like to say stuff like 'some people shouldn't have children' or 'that person is unfit to own a dog', and while most people can agree that some people are bad parents, at the end of the day there's no way to prevent abuse that doesn't involve consent, right?

    Isn't it weird that people's fundamental right to have a shot at being a parent often comes at the cost of children's fundamental right to have parents that do not suck?

    this line of thinking seems to depend on people being, like, intrinsically incapable of parenting well, or that it can be assessed by sight. I guess I disagree that "sucking" is an immutable trait.

  22. What would it take for a third party to win a presidential election?

    ordinal voting

  24. patch notes just came out, they gave Trizooka, Inkjet, and Ultra Stamp higher damage multiplers to Crab Tank. is this nerf decisive enough?

    in response to How do you think they should nerf Crab Tank?

    hard to say, we'll have to see how it affects the meta

  25. How often do you try to 100% games?

    almost never

  26. Does that means it's moral to eat roadkill, like you've opened up a whole can of worms here

    in response to (da) Don't you believe that humans are animals?

    do you think vegans haven't opened this can of worms? like, do you think we aren't fielding these questions from omnivores trying to rhetorically maneuver around us all the time? you think you're the first person to ask me this question?

  27. Personal (individual) responsibility or collective responsibility?

    yes

  28. Be real pls

    in response to Favourite pokemon

    I don't play/watch pokemon and have no opinion

    real is boring

  29. (da) Don't you believe that humans are animals?

    in response to Is cum vegan?

    I believe people are vegan for reasons, and it is foolishness to adhere to rules when the reasons for them do not apply - i.e. there is no cruelty inherent to swallowing cum

  30. What's your opinion on bidets?

    preferable to Trump but it's a low bar

  31. What has been the most significant historical event in your life so far? I would wager it’s either 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

    significant to whom? to the world, I'd say, yeah, 9/11. to me, personally, the subprime mortgage crash. it's the reason I dropped out of college and lived the rest of my twenties below the poverty line. it completely changed the course of my life.

  32. Are you a Taoist?

    in response to Are you a Daoist?

    I like her song Phenom

  33. Favourite pokemon

    Esmeralda

  34. Are you a Daoist?

    in response to Are you a Maoist?

    I've never even TOUCHED a cryptocurrency

  35. The year is 2326, you are a fast food worker at Starbucks. You are tasked with making "chocolate iron cookies" for cyborgs. Keep in mind that it must contain iron chunks to meet the daily iron requirements of the cyborgs.

    good to know I guess

  36. Are you a Maoist?

    I'm a little damp, yeah

  37. Is cum vegan?

    in response to no the fitness bros have a whole thing about how "seed oils are bad [compared to animal fats] for real men wanting real muscles" and it's become another weird masculine totem in fitness circles to talk about 'seed oils' i'm wondering if this started picking up steam on 4chan the same way "soy makes you lose gains" and keto dieting did and "seed oils" was a 'it's basically eating cum' bit that just slipped into the mainstream there the same way pepe as an alt-right mascot did

    it'd better be

  38. Also, even without the government, the people at the top did not "earn" their way there, like Jeff Bezos is not a billionaire because he works harder than everyone else, Jeff Bezos is a billionaire because 800,000 people work for him

    in response to What right does a government have to nationalize an industry and cause companies to go out of business? Like, regardless of whether or not you think the free market is a fair and even playing field (which it obviously isn’t), the people at the top still earned their place there. It's not justified to take away what they earned, right?

  39. What is your full name friend

    doxxers really aren't trying anymore

  40. You as a professional will know this stuff better, but I heard other Youtubers say that (knowingly and) repeatedly uploading worse than usual performing videos on your main channel (like e.g. podcasts) can really hurt your alghorithmic potential for new uploads.
    Is that (still) true or something you're concerned about?

    enh. I don't know how they know that. it's probably true but I don't think my podcast schedule is gonna be regular enough for it to be a problem. if it is, I'll switch to community posts or something. gotta at least upload the first few to the main channel or no one will know it exists.

  41. What should I do with somebody else's?

    in response to what should I do with my life

    I'm gonna stick with build-a-bear

  42. what should I do with my life

    build-a-bear

  43. Waffles, Pancakes, or French Toast?

    waffles pancakes AND french toast

  44. Truthfully, do you think religion is holding humanity back?

    no

  45. I think the only way it's possible for an organization to be legitimately be run by "the people" is if "the people" refers to so few people that it's not really a government.

    in response to Is limited government inherently bad?

    or so many people it's not really a government

  46. What right does a government have to nationalize an industry and cause companies to go out of business? Like, regardless of whether or not you think the free market is a fair and even playing field (which it obviously isn’t), the people at the top still earned their place there. It's not justified to take away what they earned, right?

    capital only exists in the first place because the state creates, enforces, and maintains it. the people at the top got there on the government's back and at the taxpayer's expense. what right did the government have to give them that power in the first place?

  47. no the fitness bros have a whole thing about how "seed oils are bad [compared to animal fats] for real men wanting real muscles" and it's become another weird masculine totem in fitness circles to talk about 'seed oils' i'm wondering if this started picking up steam on 4chan the same way "soy makes you lose gains" and keto dieting did and "seed oils" was a 'it's basically eating cum' bit that just slipped into the mainstream there the same way pepe as an alt-right mascot did

    in response to Are seed oils bad for you

    okay but eating cum is good for you

  48. How do you start being polyam? How do you test it out?

    I think most people find an experienced poly person to date (or, more often, try poly cuz they've met someone poly and like them enough to try it out)

  49. What is a line from a video game that you regular remember or repeat, but has the least to do with anything critical to that games plot/mechanics

    "I could withstand being flogged with a cat o' nine tails for half an hour (or: three cats of five tails for eighteen minutes)."

  50. Heard you're an Avenged Sevenfold fan and I think that's cool as shit, cause I'm an A7X fan too.

    uh

    where did you hear that?

  51. how to get cosplayer gf

    arisia

  52. Is limited government inherently bad?

    what does "limited government" even mean? the people who claim to want "limited government" are either lying-ass republicans trying to extend government reach into your uterus or libertarians who want to be left alone but somehow reap all the benefits of government programs like roads and power lines and internet

    either have a government actually run by the people to accomplish together what we can't accomplish alone, or abolish governments so we can collectivize in ways we design ourselves. I don't see the case for anything in between.

  53. Are seed oils bad for you

    whoever's in here trying to set up cum jokes I'm not falling for it

  55. Rowan Kaiser is a speculative fiction writer, not a scientist, and he is merely presenting graphs, not studies

    in response to Forgive me, but I am not, in fact, a wastewater infection researcher, nor am I Covid researcher and I strongly suspect the same is true for you - luckily, our society has Covid researchers and wastewater researchers, and they are able to provide studies and make claims with gravitas Thus, while I am not able to explain why the wastewater and cases reported lines diverge, your explanations are purely theoretical, and I challenge you (given that you are making the argument, which is that Covid cases substantially diverge from what is being presented) to find scientists and/or professional research arguing your point

    Rowan Kaiser a) linked to the professional researchers collecting the wastewater data to study the presence of coronavirus, and b) is a woman

    did you think she was collecting that data herself?

  56. (diff anon) This job is treated differently because it is, by definition, the practice of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. Which is not the case for coal miners, or soldiers, or power plant workers, or anyone of any other profression. It is entirely unique, and so requires unique ethical considerations. Nice whataboutism, though.

    in response to Well yes, this comes from a prostitution abolitionist feminist who wouldn’t argue about regulating sex workers directly but does argue for regulating pimps and johns. But I wonder what you think of the specific argument against the idea that “sex work isn’t inherently more exploitative than other kinds of work” - that because of the physical reality of the labour rape is more of a risk than in other industries.

    coal mining is, by definition, the practice of digging for coal for payment, which is not the case for any other profession. it is entirely unique, and so requires unique ethical considerations.

    nice totally not understanding the prompt, though.

  57. Have random conversations here on CuriousCat ever seriously changed your mind about anything?

    changed? no. it's deepened my understanding about some subjects, pointed me in some worthwhile directions, and compelled me to articulate some things. there are videos I've made that began as discussions here. doing a 180 on a subject isn't really the goal.

  58. It's worth noting that, while Marx doesn't represent all socialists or all of socialism, he didn't say that socialism or communism were more moral systems, but that eliminating class society would allow more freedom for the individual to do what they want

    in response to It's valid though, the point of socialism isn't just that it's more moral and equitable than capitalism, but that more widely accessible resources and means just makes more types of good things possible, right?

    how do you determine that's a good thing without making a moral judgement that human happiness is desirable?

  59. Well yes, this comes from a prostitution abolitionist feminist who wouldn’t argue about regulating sex workers directly but does argue for regulating pimps and johns.

    But I wonder what you think of the specific argument against the idea that “sex work isn’t inherently more exploitative than other kinds of work” - that because of the physical reality of the labour rape is more of a risk than in other industries.

    in response to “The idea that the risk of rape is not a condition of the sex trade has always come off so absurd to me. I used to organize food service workers. It wasn’t controversial to acknowledge that the line cook was at a higher risk of getting burned than the hostess. The line cook has a higher risk of getting burned, not because of some moral condemnation of his work, but because proximity to hot oil or a hot pan is a normal part of the job. Regulation and labor law can reduce the risk of burning slightly, but never completely.” Thoughts?

    I'm asking why that risk is treated as uniquely exploitative. coal miners have higher risk of black lung. nuclear plant workers have higher risks of cancer. hell, I'm not even convinced prostitution has a higher risk of rape than being a soldier, as 1 in 4 women are raped within 2 years in the military.

    all of this is bad and none of it should exist, and capitalism and misogyny are why they continue. my point is: many jobs demand you take risks with your body, why do we treat this one as sacrosanct while fully accepting the others? how is that not policing women's bodies?

  60. Forgive me, but I am not, in fact, a wastewater infection researcher, nor am I Covid researcher and I strongly suspect the same is true for you - luckily, our society has Covid researchers and wastewater researchers, and they are able to provide studies and make claims with gravitas

    Thus, while I am not able to explain why the wastewater and cases reported lines diverge, your explanations are purely theoretical, and I challenge you (given that you are making the argument, which is that Covid cases substantially diverge from what is being presented) to find scientists and/or professional research arguing your point

    in response to It seems like you’re just listing a bunch of *potential* deflators and then jumping to the conclusion that the “real number” is the wastewater number, which you have no evidence for

    click the link in the thread I shared earlier in this conversation

  61. what does the C in your name stand for

    coronavirus

  62. What makes you think the Nazis didn't practice their own form of socialism (playing devil's advocate)?

    in response to "Are you a Marxist?" "Yes" 😊 "Are you a Leninist?" "Yes" 😊 "Are you a Marxist-Leninist?" "No" 😠

    the fact that they didn't abolish capitalism, were supported by conservatives, built a concentration camp to throw the socialists into, wrote screeds about the evils of Marxism and called it a Jewish plot, and that Hitler himself opposed adding the word "socialist" to the name but was overruled because claiming to be leftists could help capitalize on class resentment

    like, for starters

  63. What do you think is the meaning of “The ones who stay and fight”?

    it's a good NK Jemison story

  65. The best way I can describe it is it's like the question if math is discovered or invented - but for gender.

    in response to Yes?

    the question of whether math is discovered or invented is actually a pretty good analogy, because it is a philosophical and moderately semantic question. whichever way you interpret it, math is *real* in the sense that we can use π to actually measure the exact circumference of the galaxy. if we can set aside all the societal weight the question carries, "is gender discovered or invented?" is an interesting question, a way of exploring what gender is and means to us, less about finding a definition but about increasing understanding. but the question is almost always asked with the implication that the treatment of certain people depends on the answer. in which case, I can only answer, "it's real either way "

  66. “The idea that the risk of rape is not a condition of the sex trade has always come off so absurd to me. I used to organize food service workers. It wasn’t controversial to acknowledge that the line cook was at a higher risk of getting burned than the hostess. The line cook has a higher risk of getting burned, not because of some moral condemnation of his work, but because proximity to hot oil or a hot pan is a normal part of the job. Regulation and labor law can reduce the risk of burning slightly, but never completely.”

    Thoughts?

    I bristle at people comparing rapists to natural phenomena like fire and oil as though they are not human people with agency, and the implication that it is the sex workers and not the rapists who need to be regulated

  67. It's valid though, the point of socialism isn't just that it's more moral and equitable than capitalism, but that more widely accessible resources and means just makes more types of good things possible, right?

    in response to "Yeah but did anything good or popular get made on there, huh?" MINECRAFT: *exists*

    broadly, yes. but the art that gets made is a product of the environment it's made in. I don't want to tell anyone that big blockbuster projects like Fortnite and Far Cry will still exist under socialism. something may scratch a similar itch, but some people LIKE the content treadmill, games-as-service, licensed promotion, annual release with mocapped celebrities system. all of those things would change drastically without capitalism, and I can't predict how. for me, that's no great loss, but I get cagey when people act like everything will be the same but better. I think lots of equally good, equally flashy, equally bombastic entertainment will get made without the profit motive because people genuinely want and like it; but it will be different, and not everyone will be happy about it.

  68. How tall are you?

    tall enough to stand up to god

  70. What do you think about the construction bee labor union in Grim Fandango?

    based

  71. Why do a lot of a lot of Marxist Leninist YouTubers (Second thought, Hakim) call themselves Marxist Leninist Maoists now?

    MLM has been a thing for a long time, dunno why it's having a moment.

  73. It seems like you’re just listing a bunch of *potential* deflators and then jumping to the conclusion that the “real number” is the wastewater number, which you have no evidence for

    in response to It seems to be that wastewater and reported cases decoupled right before Jan '22 and that distrusting reported cases is super conspiratorial in such a way that it kinda demands evidence of wrongdoing

    okay, let's approach this like scientists:

    I have presented the argument that the CDC's numbers are no longer accurate because people are home testing more since omicron, and that wastewater is a more likely indicator than CDC numbers at the moment. as evidence, I have submitted that, before omicron, wastewater and the CDC numbers were very tightly correlated. you can debate the solidity of this evidence, but this is evidence.

    I am open to hearing an argument for why wastewater would not be an effective measure that offers a different explanation for why they would correlate and then diverge right when the mask mandates lifted. I welcome you to provide one.

  75. So, you suspect that in a world where people can dedicate Substantial time to video game development projecrs that don't need to concern themselves with profitability, there would be an uptick in creativity and variety, correct? I' understanding you right there? (Sorry for the dumb question but some of us lot are dumb people)

    in response to What would game development be like in a socialist society?

    I believe so

Anon commented:
Ian replied: