CuriousCat Archive Page 84 of 202

  1. You ever think about how each continent, except maybe Australia, created its own unique empire

    ...Antarctica?

  2. Christopher Reeve?

    in response to Christopher Partlow?

    great cheekbones

  3. Could it calculate the value of work if it doesn’t involve raw materials or a measurable commodity, such as therapy or education?

    in response to Is there a way that Labor theory of value could be used for service-based work?

    LTV is about how, if you buy $8 of lumbar, turn it into a bench, and sell it for $13, your work added those $5. It's about this hard-to-quantify value called "labor." Service work is labor. The lack of raw materials or measurable commodity doesn't make LTV any less applicable.

  7. Christopher Partlow?

    in response to christopher robin? :)

    damn, ya didn' even wait to get the muthafucka in the house!

  9. Euthanasia for mentally ill people after 21, yes or no?

    fuck you

  10. Do you have any advice on dealing with cynical a$$holes on the left that make me feel helpless and immoral like Angry Jack? It makes me feel like joining the right because it appeals to the part of me wanting to feel angry because it feels better than feeling helpless. The worst part is that I do agree with most of their left-wing beliefs, but I just hate the way they go about arguing it with such little optimism or uplift. I feel like I never want to be on the same side that they are on. I know this isn't an advice column, you're not a therapist and you're just a stranger, but do you have any insight on this kind of situation that might help? I've already just blocked this stuff on my computer and phone though. Would be greatly appreciated.

    where are you engaging with these cynical assholes? because I deal with them a lot - A LOT - on Twitter. I have had many, many arguments with cynical asshole leftists in my shower over the last four years. but my away-from-keyboard life is full of loving, progressive, communal leftists. there are leftist podcasters outside of chapo trap house who are kind and warm. hell, there are even leftists *on Twitter* who I make a point of following because their brand of leftism is more supportive and empathetic, even when they can't muster the energy to be hopeful.

    so I would say to curate your leftism a bit more. media platforms are such that, if we just take the stuff that floats our way, we get the angriest, most contentious, most confrontational version of *everything* because that's what drives engagement.

    also, follow Austin Walker.

  11. I'd just vote for the other dude tbh, mandatory co-ops sounds based as hell

    in response to Do you think presidential candidates that support the policies of Bernie Sanders and AOC would benefit from much farther left candidates being in the race and making them look moderate by comparison? Like, imagine a candidate that advocates for abolishing the police, dismantling the NSA, imposing a wealth cap of 50 million dollars, making worker co-ops mandatory, and nationalizing all energy production before ceasing all fossil fuel burning. Let's say that candidate makes it onto the debate stage in the primaries alongside two Bernie-like candidates. Would the latter two candidates benefit from the more radical candidate being there?

    ^other candidate not necessarily a dude

  12. Should we attempt to bully Chris Prat out of the Mario movie?

    its an animated film, Chris Pratt recorded all his lines years ago

  15. Any thoughts or opinions on Christopher Hitchens?

    prick

  16. Country roads

    Let's-a-go

    It's-a-me

    Mario

  17. Would that not just be french toast?

    in response to can you marinate bread

    dredging != marinating

  19. Considering the fact that leftism originated in opposition to French monarchism it seems a bit too narrow to define leftism as being just about anti-capitalism.

    in response to How would you define the term leftist?

    it's what the term means now. semantic drift, baby.

  20. Is there a way that Labor theory of value could be used for service-based work?

    in response to To be extremely pedantic, that's not what surplus value is either. That assumes also exchange value is the same as value, which to be fair is what is done throughout most of Capital V1 to simplify the discussion. Surplus value is the gap between what value labor can produce and what value labor consumes in order to reproduce itself. Or put simply, how much you can produce minus how much work must be done to produce the needed food, housing, healthcare, etc. to keep you productive. Obviously, that's a lot more variable, difficult to calculate, and changes depending on place and time. Capitalists, or any owning/ruling class for that matter, use control over subsistence in order to direct the surplus labor to their own ends. Sometimes I think it helps to realise that it's not about money, it's about controlling and directing your life.

    why wouldn't it?

  21. Do you think presidential candidates that support the policies of Bernie Sanders and AOC would benefit from much farther left candidates being in the race and making them look moderate by comparison?

    Like, imagine a candidate that advocates for abolishing the police, dismantling the NSA, imposing a wealth cap of 50 million dollars, making worker co-ops mandatory, and nationalizing all energy production before ceasing all fossil fuel burning. Let's say that candidate makes it onto the debate stage in the primaries alongside two Bernie-like candidates.

    Would the latter two candidates benefit from the more radical candidate being there?

    I can't say for sure, because different candidates react in different ways. Warren spent a chunk of her campaign being pulled left by her comparison to Sanders, but then she hit a point where she wouldn't go further, got labeled a centrist, and it ended up hurting her, and an *even more centrist* candidate won. So I think it would depend on how Sanders and AOC react to these other candidates, and how much they shine or suffer for comparison.

    But I like to think it would be a net positive.

  22. Will you see Dune in theaters when it comes out?
    I could already see it here in Europe and would be really curious what you'll think about it.

    I dunno! I have never read a Dune book nor seen the bug-ass Lynch adaptation, so it's mostly a curiosity. But Villeneuve is an interesting director, so I might check it out.

  23. Thoughts on the Soviet Union?

    I generally feel I don't know enough about the USSR. I haven't read much on it, so most of what I've come to passively is either capitalist propaganda or communist propaganda. I bristle at anyone who calls the Soviet Union an abject failure, and also at anyone carrying water for Stalin. But, between those poles, I have a lot of research still to do.

  24. How would you define the term leftist?

    in response to Something that always bothered me regarding class-only left wingers and their emphasis on healthcare; how do they plan to combat bigotry in medical studies? Healthcare for all means nothing if it also translates to things like 'eugenics for minorities', 'bleach for the medically disabled' or 'conversion therapy for LGBTQ'.

    leftist is an umbrella term that covers a broad range of anticapitalist beliefs, from communism to socialism to anarchism

    Sanders' brand of Nordic model "capitalism but friendlier" would be a massive, massive improvement over what we have now, and, by the standards of US politics, actually somewhat radical. but, outside of the part of his healthcare bill that aimed to abolish private insurance, I wouldn't call anything about his platform "leftist."

  25. Something that always bothered me regarding class-only left wingers and their emphasis on healthcare; how do they plan to combat bigotry in medical studies? Healthcare for all means nothing if it also translates to things like 'eugenics for minorities', 'bleach for the medically disabled' or 'conversion therapy for LGBTQ'.

    I spent a lot of 2020 yelling at class-first leftists about how, if you don't address bigotry, NONE of their economic policies are going to benefit the entire working class. They like to say that, because POC are disproportionately low-income, policies that help the poor will help them most. It's their way of saying "we don't need an anti-racist platform, class-first politics are already anti-racist!" But, of course, if your policy to lift up the working class is carried out by racists - which, in the current system, it absolutely would be - you're going to find the white working class gets lifted out of poverty a lot faster than POC.

    And the reason these knuckleheads focused on healthcare was because it was Sanders' thing. That's it. The candidate they liked championed healthcare and didn't have much of a social justice platform so they went all in on healthcare as more important than women's rights, trans rights, or anti-racism.

    (It's also the only policy he had that could even charitably be called "leftist" but you didn't hear that from me.)

  26. based on this answer and an earlier one about anarchism, you need to read 'direct action an ethnography, it covers a lot of this same ground and was written by David Graeber, (who notably had some early involvement with OWS and formed the initial New York general assembly) a committed anarchist, He talks about the tendency to want big movements at all costs (though because he's writing about the anti-globalization movement that prefigured occupy, the flag carriers for that are mostly old trotskyites vs splintering anarchist spokescouncils) and about a lot of the techniques that were borrowed or adapted from other protest groups, violence vs nonviolence and how to make room for both, there is also some discussion of Prefigurative politics being basically foundational to anarchist protest regardless of subject
    He anticipates a lot of the problems you had with Occupy because he's examining the precursor protests to occupy, so it really is worth a read if you can find the time and is interesting anthropology of modern protest forms in its own right

    in response to Found this from the more recent post. What can we learn from Occupy's failure (if this description is even correct) for our movements in the future?

    immediately adding this to my wishlist, thanks

  28. Found this from the more recent post. What can we learn from Occupy's failure (if this description is even correct) for our movements in the future?

    in response to I was too young to understand it at the time, even with context—what the hell was occupy actually about? Am I reading it wrong to think that it was an anti-capitalist movement led by college students who camped out on Wall Street?

    1) Mere protest is not enough. I think Occupy was a test of that. My personal hunch is that a major contributing factor to Occupy happening when it did was the Obama campaign. A *lot* of people felt genuine hope for the first time due to Obama. I knew lifelong socialists who went door-to-door campaigning for him. There was a palpable sense that his narrative was the way forward, that we can make the system work if we elect true reformers. When that didn't work, I think a lot of people said, "ok, the next step is to take to the streets and stay there." It was largely a game of optics, pressuring the government to respond to popular demand. The media fixated on occasional property damage by Occupiers, but nearly every chapter pledged to protest nonviolently and the only serious violence was done TO them, mostly by police. The general public was ambivalent about Occupy, but, especially when all the footage of cops beating people up hit the internet, they didn't CONDEMN them. So far as peaceful protest goes, I don't think we could do it much better. But the a liberal government that staked its reputation on the same issues Occupy was pushing shut it all down. So whatever's next will have rely on more than optics.

    2) Power concedes nothing without demand. My biggest frustration with Occupy was its refusal to become a movement. Yes, it was a strong platform, could arrange a protest large enough to shut down the Port of Oakland, gave voice to many opinions, but there was active resistance within the ranks, in almost every city, to making any concrete demands. I was at the first General Assembly for Occupy Boston, and it was wild seeing which people were new to this kind of organizing and which were longtime activists, how certain rules of communication (people's microphone, hand gestures representing assent or disagreement, making a list of people who want to speak and calling it "the stack") were established without any agreement from people who'd never used them before. And these folks were adamant that Occupy couldn't make demands. They said "we're supposed to be the movement of the 99%, and as soon as we make a demand we don't have 99% of people behind us." People from the main camp in NYC announced that Occupy was going to organize a second constitutional convention with two Occupy representatives from every state, and petition the government to meet their demands, but then the rest of Occupy said that they were a splinter group that does not speak for the rest of Occupy, and it never got off the ground. Everybody is so adamant about keeping the movement BIG that it becomes a movement that can't ACCOMPLISH anything, only talk about issues and "move the conversation forward." Still waiting for someone with authority to listen and do the work for them. I don't believe that's enough anymore.

  29. To be extremely pedantic, that's not what surplus value is either. That assumes also exchange value is the same as value, which to be fair is what is done throughout most of Capital V1 to simplify the discussion.

    Surplus value is the gap between what value labor can produce and what value labor consumes in order to reproduce itself. Or put simply, how much you can produce minus how much work must be done to produce the needed food, housing, healthcare, etc. to keep you productive. Obviously, that's a lot more variable, difficult to calculate, and changes depending on place and time.

    Capitalists, or any owning/ruling class for that matter, use control over subsistence in order to direct the surplus labor to their own ends. Sometimes I think it helps to realise that it's not about money, it's about controlling and directing your life.

    in response to That's not exactly a correct description of the process, either Surplus value =/= value created by labor, it equals the value created by labor MINUS wages, if the workers are paid $10 each, then the surplus value is $120 Having been invented is a necessary condition for the creation of anything, but we're concerned with the marginal cost of production, ie the labor and materials that go into creating one additional copy of the product, which the inventor contributes nothing to (in their capacity as the inventor, they might be involved with production some other way) and we shouldn't confuse the role of the capitalist with the role of the manager just because the capitalist often uses their power as an owner to make themselves a manager if managerial labor is a necessary part of production then yes, it does contribute to the value of the product, but the role of the capitalist does not rely on them being a manager, it relies on them being an owner, the manager and the owner are separate roles, one of which contributes, one of which doesn't, but which often *happen to be embodied by* the same person eliminating the social role of "owner" is the point (a role which doesn't even have to be filled by a person at all! it could be a corporation or a government or a fucking robot, it literally doesn't matter because it's a non-contributing, non-laboring role), not preventing any kind of coordination

    this is the kind of Marxist pedantry I like! not rude, not catty, just two people respectfully disagreeing and giving us all free lessons in the process.

  30. What if sad?

    in response to what if not gay

    what do you mean "what if"

  31. Is that kind of terrifying? I mean, you made plenty of successful videos before, and non-ARP videos during, but still, is there a sense of "Oh fuck what now"?

    in response to Is your next ARP episode going to be the last? It seemed to me your GG footnote video recapped many the major talking points made throughout the series, in a way structurally similar to how persuasive essays do so before entering their conclusion, is this the case here, or do you have a few more things you want to say before you complete the project?

    it was for a while, but I went over a year without releasing an episode during quarantine and, yeah, nothing I made in that time did similar numbers, but my Patreon stayed fairly steady. it didn't grown like I'm used to, but it didn't shrink. so it looks like I have room to move on to the next thing, which, at this point, I'm impatient to do.

  32. Would you be able to imagine this Who Am I scene happen similarly with a sex scene (an orgy)?

    in response to Single best fight sequence ever, movie or TV?

    two on one doesn't constitute an orgy

  33. Given the word "kromer", what might you expect it to mean?

    soinfeld's friend

  34. Is your next ARP episode going to be the last? It seemed to me your GG footnote video recapped many the major talking points made throughout the series, in a way structurally similar to how persuasive essays do so before entering their conclusion, is this the case here, or do you have a few more things you want to say before you complete the project?

    No, but it's going to be the last traditional episode. I have a kind of lightning round video planned that blows through a lot of techniques that I want to include but don't need to be videos in their own right, and then some concluding videos on what to do with all this information I've been collecting.

  35. yo jus curious if you're still following melee and which players you watch! i think you would like SquidTheCat's Falcon if u don't already know him lmao

    I haven't followed Melee in a while, I'm afraid. :(

  37. Single best fight sequence ever, movie or TV?

    Climax of The Raid 2 and the hotel room fight in Haywire are top tier, but my heart will always belong to Jackie.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0FWMk79ELo

  38. That's not exactly a correct description of the process, either
    Surplus value =/= value created by labor, it equals the value created by labor MINUS wages, if the workers are paid $10 each, then the surplus value is $120
    Having been invented is a necessary condition for the creation of anything, but we're concerned with the marginal cost of production, ie the labor and materials that go into creating one additional copy of the product, which the inventor contributes nothing to (in their capacity as the inventor, they might be involved with production some other way)
    and we shouldn't confuse the role of the capitalist with the role of the manager just because the capitalist often uses their power as an owner to make themselves a manager
    if managerial labor is a necessary part of production then yes, it does contribute to the value of the product, but the role of the capitalist does not rely on them being a manager, it relies on them being an owner, the manager and the owner are separate roles, one of which contributes, one of which doesn't, but which often *happen to be embodied by* the same person
    eliminating the social role of "owner" is the point (a role which doesn't even have to be filled by a person at all! it could be a corporation or a government or a fucking robot, it literally doesn't matter because it's a non-contributing, non-laboring role), not preventing any kind of coordination

    in response to I have a philosophical question about the labor theory of value. If I understand the concept of surplus value correctly, if say a capitalist hires workers to make $50 of raw materials into $200 worth of products, the surplus value is the $150 the workers created when they made the product. One capitalist response to that is that without their coordination, the workers couldn’t have created that $150. While that certainly doesn’t sound like it entitles the capitalist to be in charge of that $150, did that capitalist contribute to the creation of some of that wealth? And where does the inventor of this product fit into the responsibility of the creation of that $150?

  39. Favorite -ism word?

    Onanism

  40. Do not become one

    in response to Are you an anarchist

    you're not my dad

  41. I have a philosophical question about the labor theory of value. If I understand the concept of surplus value correctly, if say a capitalist hires workers to make $50 of raw materials into $200 worth of products, the surplus value is the $150 the workers created when they made the product. One capitalist response to that is that without their coordination, the workers couldn’t have created that $150. While that certainly doesn’t sound like it entitles the capitalist to be in charge of that $150, did that capitalist contribute to the creation of some of that wealth? And where does the inventor of this product fit into the responsibility of the creation of that $150?

    coordination is a form of labor, so, yes, they deserve fair compensation. fair compensation != 100% of the profits.

  42. I'm suddenly getting horny anime ads on your Curious Cat page on mobile. I seek an explanation for this abrupt change.

    you've reached level 2!

  44. Have you ever played Earthbound or Mother 3 before?

    I played a tiny bit of Earthbound on emulator when I was in high school, but I bounced off it. I was way quicker to pass judgment then.

  45. what's the most positive things you can say about crypto?

    it's cost dipshits and reactionaries a lot of money

  46. Are you an anarchist

    not presently, but ask me again in a year or so

  47. Any animated movies/shows you're looking forward to?

  48. Will you spot me?

    who are you, Waldo?

  49. Tips for having to live with an antivaxxer who won't shut up, refuses to understand percent chance, and trusts Facebook more than science? Not even trying to convince them or anysuch, just dealing with the fact they are them?

    can you move out?!

  50. Can u tell which different questions have been sent by the same person by seeing who gives hearts to your answers

    ...holy crap, that's probably what they do, isn't it?

  51. It's logical to make games that are "retro looking"?

    is it logical for [art] to look [way]?

    yes.

  52. Any games you are looking forward to?

    Most hype:
    Silksong

    Also hype:
    Exophobia
    Citizen Sleeper
    Selaco
    Core Decay
    Radio the Universe
    Skin Deep
    Project Warlock II
    Severed Steel
    Turbo Overkill
    Tiny Money
    Somerville
    Roadwarden
    Oxenfree II
    JETT
    Tobin's Tale
    Hellscreen
    Savior

    Currently in Early Access:
    Ultrakill
    Prodeus
    Maximum Action
    Stone Story

    Hoping they're not abandoned:
    Lionheart Drive
    To Azimuth
    In the Valley of Gods
    PiAwk

    ...and I'm still looking forward to Open Roads even though I feel a lot more complicated about it with the news about Steve Gaynor

  53. why nope

    in response to Is liberal left enough?

    ...because I'm a leftist

  54. Now that Comradery is rolling out are you going to switch over from Patreon?

    currently when I search "Comradery" my search results are dictionary definitions and when I search "Comradery funding" the subscription platform is the third result. so I could see myself using it as an option for people who don't want to use Patreon, but, in the present moment, it doesn't appear capable of replacing it as a revenue stream.

    but I would love a crowdfunding model that was about mutual aid rather than making money for venture capitalists, that's for sure. I hope it reaches that level.

  55. Least favorite?

    in response to Favorite Pokémon?

    Wario

  56. Drug of choice (not a fed)

    I'm a big fan of Lexapro

  57. Do you know of anything which explains the overlap between anti-vax and transphobia

    "hate anything with think is liberal"

    that's it. that's the ideology.

  58. Excited for The Activist, the upcoming CBS reality series?

    I'm experiencing a new emotion I'm calling "despaingry"

  59. Lab based dairy?

    you don't wanna be in a room with me if I have dairy

  60. what if not gay

    in response to What if gay

    improbable

  61. can you marinate bread

    can != should

  62. What if straight

    in response to What if gay

    it's k i guess

  63. Favorite Pokémon?

    daniel

  64. Three options to enhance your body.

    1 - Two extra arms, retractable, either above or below your normal arms
    2 - Stretchy, elastic legs, like Plastic Man
    3 - Perfect vision in all spectrums of light, with the ability to change the viewable spectrum instantly

    You can only pick one. Which do you choose and why?

    shouldn't that be "spectra"?

  65. When if gay

    in response to What if gay

    when the time is right

  66. Is liberal left enough?

    nope

  67. What if gay

    celebrate

  69. What is the gayest planet in the solar system?

    Neptune resists labels but is predominantly homoromantic

  70. You’ve said that reactionaries need to inflate their numbers to perpetuate the idea that they’re the in-group, but if they have to lie and cheat, doesn’t that mean on a small level, they know they are a minority?

    I don't think they think that hard about it. Glenn Beck said the Rally to Restore Honor had something like a half a million attendees. He can't actually judge attendance with his eyes, but it's what he wants to be true. CBS hired a helicopter to take photos and do a rough population analysis, and they came back with the number 87,000. Beck said CBS was untrustworthy because they are "liberal media." What does Glenn Beck believe? I don't think he gives a shit. "Half a million attendees" feels right, and, even if it's off, it's what he thinks SHOULD be true, and he has a bucketful of reasons to ignore evidence to the contrary. Conservatives think all the systems of determining truth are liberal propaganda. They build bots on Twitter, but that doesn't mean they're a minority, because conservatives are being SILENCED, you see, so, in their minds, they're just bringing the numbers up to where they SHOULD be.

    Or they're liars and laughing their asses off about it.

    Or both. It's often both.

    It all comes down to "the truth is whatever we say it is." They'll fake the numbers and then believe the numbers they themselves faked.

  71. How do you feel about the major religious institutions that influence the world currently? Not religion as a concept, but the Catholic Church, the Evangelican Church, and whatnot.

    I'm not big on massive, powerful, self-perpetuating institutions generally

  73. Thoughts on Lil Nas X?

    based

  74. It seems to me that a lot of the problems related to religion stem not from faith, but from a desire to take supernatural claims literally. Like, I don't think ghosts exist, but I do think they're a useful metaphor for how people who have died can stay in a particular place or with a particular person.

    in response to (different anon and this is a thread from a while ago I came across) What are some good things about religion that you can think of? And how come you don't think religion is stupid as an atheist? (I'm not trolling, I'm being serious)

    I don't see that as a problem with religion, though. It seems like a very human Trait. Lots of agnostics and atheists are still varying degrees of superstitious. The entire Singularity, "we may all live in a simulation," Roko's Basilisk cluster of beliefs is basically reinventing religion out of technological theorizing. Religion may be a product of this human tendency, but I don't think we can blame religion for it existing.

    The problems with religion are the ways people use it to justify violence and oppression, and we've seen plenty of examples of the irreligious doing the same.

  75. taste/texture/food averse (noun form: aversion) is common, more neutral language

    (if you're gonna necropost like this, I don't feel bad doing it myself)

    in response to Wouldn't it literally be "having a sense of taste"???

    why would I want neutral language? hating tomatoes is based.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: