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@Athias
Out of curiosity, what was your DDO account? Have we spoken on there?
Ask me anything!
Posts
Total:
85
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@Tejretics
--> @AthiasOut of curiosity, what was your DDO account? Have we spoken on there?
Since DDO is no more. There is no way to check member records. It will take time for Athias to make up one.
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@Shila
But your humor is certainly High School level. We can all see why it didn’t go beyond that.
My post-graduate humor would only go over everyone's heads.
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@Athias
--> @ShilaBut your humor is certainly High School level. We can all see why it didn’t go beyond that.My post-graduate humor would only go over everyone's heads.
So your comfort zone is high school humour. For most members that would be going too far back.
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@Tejretics
Out of curiosity, what was your DDO account? Have we spoken on there?
I went by the same pseudonym, "Athias," though my avatar was of Naruto's Shikamaru instead of the Boondocks' Huey Freeman. And I do somewhat remember you from DDO, especially your avatar (I'm fond of wolves.)
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@Shila
Since DDO is no more. There is no way to check member records. It will take time for Athias to make up one.
I suppose I could. How does "Upgraded-Shila" sound? It'd still be better than trolling DDO and DART, and fleeing to DART under some pretense after DDO burned down, right?
So your comfort zone is high school humour.
Yup.
For most members that would be going too far back.
Regressive humor is the best humor.
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@Athias
--> @ShilaSince DDO is no more. There is no way to check member records. It will take time for Athias to make up one.I suppose I could. How does "Upgraded-Shila" sound? It'd still be better than trolling DDO and DART, and fleeing to DART under some pretense after DDO burned down, right?
You made this one up quick. That DDO burned down. Was there a Shila on DDO too? I am new to forums.
So your comfort zone is high school humour.Yup.
And high school English considering you are French speaking.
For most members that would be going too far back.Regressive humor is the best humor.
Is that how you coverup your regressive behaviour with Regressive humor?
Regressive behaviors are unconscious psychological strategies that an individual exposed to continuous or extreme stress uses to cope with everyday life. According to lectures on psychoanalysis, the individual has his or her ego return to an earlier stage of development.
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@Shila
You made this one up quick. That DDO burned down. Was there a Shila on DDO too? I am new to forums.
Are you really?
And high school English considering you are French speaking.
My speaking French has not adversely affected my English. (If anything, it's enhanced it.)
Is that how you coverup your regressive behaviour with Regressive humor?
Whatever bone you have to pick with me, put it back in your pants. I will indulge this no more. Enjoy your day, sir.
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@Athias
—> @ShilaYou made this one up quick. That DDO burned down. Was there a Shila on DDO too? I am new to forums.Are you really?And high school English considering you are French speaking.My speaking French has not adversely affected my English. (If anything, it's enhanced it.)Is that how you coverup your regressive behaviour with Regressive humor?Whatever bone you have to pick with me, put it back in your pants. I will indulge this no more. Enjoy your day, sir
Shila is a woman’s name. Maybe in French is might be different.
What's your thoughts on gay sex? Like what do you picture?
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@badger
There's a general format to all sex.
Then go get on with something else, or rollover and go to sleep.
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@badger
What's your thoughts on gay sex? Like what do you picture?
Gays are more accessible today so you can skip the picture phrase.
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@Tejretics
So you’ve been around for a while - what are your perceptions about how debate and discussion have changed in a general sense since you started debating - what common topics and themes of the past have dwindled and (aside from Trump) which themes that get a lot of air time today do you feel are brand new?
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@Ramshutu
--> @TejreticsSo you’ve been around for a while - what are your perceptions about how debate and discussion have changed in a general sense since you started debating - what common topics and themes of the past have dwindled and (aside from Trump) which themes that get a lot of air time today do you feel are brand new?
He only has a few debates to his credit and not a regular poster. Try asking a member who is more active.
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@Shila
He only has a few debates to his credit and not a regular poster. Try asking a member who is more active.
I was on DDO from January 2015, was ranked #7 on the site (which had a much larger user base than DART does now), was on the DDO Hall of Fame, and had over 130 debates on there. Not being active on DART isn’t the same as not having debated for a while.
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@Ramshutu
So you’ve been around for a while - what are your perceptions about how debate and discussion have changed in a general sense since you started debating - what common topics and themes of the past have dwindled and (aside from Trump) which themes that get a lot of air time today do you feel are brand new?
That’s an interesting question!
I’d say gun rights and the death penalty were discussed a lot more back when I was active on DDO. More generally, I feel like political discussion was more focused on policy (e.g., differences on climate change, or immigration policy), and less focused on people (these days, it’s less about specific policies and more about, say, Biden vs. Trump in general).
The biggest difference, though, is the prominence of debates about God and religion declining a lot. On DDO, the Religion forum was the largest, by posts and threads, by a country mile. Debates about whether God exists, as well as about specific tenets of religions, were happening all the time. They still happen on DART, but I think it’s declined quite significantly, probably because of the general decline of atheism-related discourse.
--> @ShilaHe only has a few debates to his credit and not a regular poster. Try asking a member who is more active.Tejre tics: I was on DDO from January 2015, was ranked #7 on the site (which had a much larger user base than DART does now), was on the DDO Hall of Fame, and had over 130 debates on there. Not being active on DART isn’t the same as not having debated for a while.
Too bad that was a total waste of time. I heard DDO is done and no one archived those debates.
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@Tejretics
The biggest difference, though, is the prominence of debates about God and religion declining a lot. On DDO, the Religion forum was the largest, by posts and threads, by a country mile. Debates about whether God exists, as well as about specific tenets of religions, were happening all the time. They still happen on DART, but I think it’s declined quite significantly, probably because of the general decline of atheism-related discourse.
Yeah it's weird how people kind of collectively agreed to disagree on religion. Don't hear about it at all anymore, and when it is talked about its usually respectful
What do you hope to do career wise, and where?
On your profile your “life’s priority” is “other.” What is that other and what drives your motivation for it?
Tejretics: The biggest difference, though, is the prominence of debates about God and religion declining a lot. On DDO, the Religion forum was the largest, by posts and threads, by a country mile. Debates about whether God exists, as well as about specific tenets of religions, were happening all the time. They still happen on DART, but I think it’s declined quite significantly, probably because of the general decline of atheism-related discourse.
Are you saying debates and discussions about God is declining probably because of the general decline of atheism-related discourse?
So you need atheists to increase debates and discussions about God. Wow!!
You’re an atheist, how shocked would you be if when you died it turned out a religion was true? Which religion do you think is most likely to be true?
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@thett3
On your profile your “life’s priority” is “other.” What is that other and what drives your motivation for it?
Good question! The “other” was very intentional, and I’m glad someone noticed.
My life’s priority -- after giving it a lot of thought -- is to do as much good as I can in the world (subject to the constraint that I live a reasonably comfortable life). I’ll admit that this is, in part, selfish: doing good gives me a lot of joy (and I’m not unique in this respect, research often finds that people who dedicate their careers to trying to do good end up happier). I’m pretty heavily influenced by effective altruism.
What do you hope to do career wise, and where?
I think I’d like to do economics-adjacent research at an effective nonprofit, such as Rethink Priorities, Open Philanthropy, J-PAL, or IDInsight. I’m seriously considering getting a PhD in economics. I’d prefer to try to ensure this research is impactful (e.g., actually ends up moving foundation money).
I’d probably particularly like to work on improving animal welfare, development economics, or -- if I’m convinced there’s a way for me to tangibly help make progress on this stuff, which seems hard for any one person -- the regulation of AI and biotechnology.
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@thett3
You’re an atheist, how shocked would you be if when you died it turned out a religion was true? Which religion do you think is most likely to be true?
I’d be quite surprised if God (or many gods) exists.
I’m not extremely well-versed on the teachings of specific religions, particularly the ones less tied to a god’s existence (e.g., Buddhism). So maybe those are most likely?
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@Shila
Too bad that was a total waste of time. I heard DDO is done and no one archived those debates.
Most debates have been archived, I downloaded my own data, and, more importantly, joining DDO made me a better person and gave me tons of opportunities in life.
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@Shila
So you need atheists to increase debates and discussions about God. Wow!!
I think it’s absolutely true that the presence of New Atheists increased discussion about God.
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@Tejretics
My life’s priority -- after giving it a lot of thought -- is to do as much good as I can in the world (subject to the constraint that I live a reasonably comfortable life). I’ll admit that this is, in part, selfish: doing good gives me a lot of joy (and I’m not unique in this respect, research often finds that people who dedicate their careers to trying to do good end up happier). I’m pretty heavily influenced by effective altruism.
I’ve always thought the “you’re selfish for doing good things because you enjoy it” thing championed by Ayn Rand was a little too cyclical. Like okay sure someone might enjoy working at a soup kitchen or feels good about doing it…that just makes them a good person. There’s a little too much focus on mental state which is always a black box for other people instead of action.
I’d probably particularly like to work on improving animal welfare, development economics, or -- if I’m convinced there’s a way for me to tangibly help make progress on this stuff, which seems hard for any one person -- the regulation of AI and biotechnology.
I go back and forth on the latter two between being a hardcore technologist and a reactionary Luddite lol. But ultimately I come back to that for good or for ill that technology is coming. It’s worthless to fight the inevitable. But I agree I’m pretty scared of what could happen if it’s not done correctly. Especially biotech stuff
I agree with you an animal welfare. Factory farming is an abomination and it’ll be remembered that way. I have no doubt. The demand for meat is pretty much insatiable and I don’t see that culturally changing but I’m hopeful there are some changes that could be made. Almost all farms used to have flocks of animals that would graze on fallow fields and refertilize them, now it’s just monoculture and chemical fertilizers. Could we slowly revert back to that without causing mass starvation I’ve got no clue
Where do you see the world in 50 years generally?
What are your thoughts on inheritance/generational wealth
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@thett3
I’ve always thought the “you’re selfish for doing good things because you enjoy it” thing championed by Ayn Rand was a little too cyclical. Like okay sure someone might enjoy working at a soup kitchen or feels good about doing it…that just makes them a good person. There’s a little too much focus on mental state which is always a black box for other people instead of action.
Yeah, that’s very fair. I place a large premium on being a good person, and I define “good person” as “doing good things in the knowledge they’ll do good.”
I go back and forth on the latter two between being a hardcore technologist and a reactionary Luddite lol. But ultimately I come back to that for good or for ill that technology is coming. It’s worthless to fight the inevitable. But I agree I’m pretty scared of what could happen if it’s not done correctly. Especially biotech stuff
I’m not sure the goal has to be “stop the technology’s progress” as much as “given the trend of progress, try to make it a bit safer.” I do feel like I’ve always been quite a bit less Luddite than you -- in general, I like and welcome technological progress -- but I think I’m worried about risks of big catastrophes like pandemics brought on by this progress.
I agree with you an animal welfare. Factory farming is an abomination and it’ll be remembered that way. I have no doubt. The demand for meat is pretty much insatiable and I don’t see that culturally changing but I’m hopeful there are some changes that could be made. Almost all farms used to have flocks of animals that would graze on fallow fields and refertilize them, now it’s just monoculture and chemical fertilizers. Could we slowly revert back to that without causing mass starvation I’ve got no clue
I’d say the three main approaches are (1) for any given level of demand for meat, make animals’ lives better (either through things like corporate commitments, like the incredibly successful cage-free campaigns, or -- in the future -- through technological things like reducing animals’ ability to feel pain), (2) scaling up alternative proteins and making them cheap, and (3) changing the types of meat (and hopefully reducing the quantity a bit) people eat (e.g., I suspect white meat and eggs are a lot worse than red meat (somewhat counterintuitively).
Where do you see the world in 50 years generally?
Hm. I’m not great at making predictions but I’d guess:
- Climate change is a serious problem, but won’t radically change the world. It’ll probably have effects more concentrated in developing countries, and the effects will probably look more like the scale of bad infectious diseases now, like tropical diseases. It will be very bad for the global poor, but it won’t be enough to seriously set back overall progress on poverty and global health.
- Extreme poverty will keep going down. For major parts of the world -- most of it -- the standard of living will increase quite a bit.
- Populations will grow a bit, but growth will be a lot slower than before. Developed countries will have pretty heavily aging populations at this point.
- African countries will have started reindustrializing quite a bit. India’s growth will continue to be services-driven, unfortunately.
- We’ll probably have had another COVID-size pandemic (or a bigger one) by the time 50 years pass. It’ll probably kill more people than COVID. Might be bacterial due to antimicrobial resistance, but I think a viral pandemic remains more likely.
- AI will be getting vastly more important in developed countries. I’m not sure if it will have started displacing a massive number of people yet, but certainly things will be getting weird and it’ll occupy a major fraction of the political discourse.
- I’d say something like a 40% chance we see at least one nuclear weapon launched as an act of war.
- China will have likely attempted an annexation of Taiwan 50 years from now. If a peaceful annexation was not successful, it would have tried to mount a military invasion. I have no idea what the likelihood of success is.
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@thett3
What are your thoughts on inheritance/generational wealth
I don’t have very strong feelings.
I’m pretty utilitarian, so I don’t have very strong intuitions either way about who deserves wealth morally. I’d probably favor some estate taxes, because it does feel like inheritances are somewhat inefficient, but at least they incentivize saving rather than luxury consumption over the lives of the wealthy (which helps increase investment overall, since saving finances investment).