Total topics: 15
Why are people smart? More specifically, why are some people driven to be smart? Well, humans are social creatures, people want to be intelligent because others admire intelligence.
Looking to nature, we can ask a similar question. Why do peacocks spread their feathers? They do it to attract mates. But that begs the bigger question. Why do other peacocks admire a peacock that can make a big feathery display?
Tying this back to humanity, why do other humans admire a human who can always win at scrabble, or make a witty joke?
There is one thing that connects the tail of a peacock, and a game of chess, and that thing is waste. Male peacocks attract females by showing them that they are genetically successful enough to waste resources on bright plumage and elaborate dances. Humans do this too!
Humans waste money on expensive fashion to show other humans their success. In a similar way, many humans waste extreme mental effort on fruitless labors like art and debate to convince other humans that they are cultured.
The average human brain hogs up about twenty percent of the body’s daily energy. You may say that intelligence is practical, but Humans actually show more brain activity when socializing than when solving problems.
Basically, humans primarily use their brains to woo other humans. With this in mind, could it be possible that problem solving is a secondary function of the human brain? Tell me what you think.
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Society
For those of you that don't/won't include basic math libraries in your programs, you probably do something like this for your root functions:
double sqrt( double whole ) {double accumulator = 1.0;double difference = whole - 1.0;for( int i = 0; i < 54; ++i ) {difference /= 2.0;if( whole < SQUARE( accumulator ) == whole < SQUARE( accumulator + difference ) ) {accumulator += difference;}}return accumulator;}
Yucky. Objects are cool, so join the crowd. Here is an example program, which shows how you can just shove all the computation up front.
#define ROOTSET 2 #include <stdlib.h>double power( double base, long exponent ) { double scraper = 1.0; while( exponent != 1 ) { if( exponent % 2 == 1 ) { scraper *= base; } base *= base; exponent /= 2; } return base * scraper;}typedef struct { double spacing; long tablesize; double * table;} RootTable;RootTable roottable_init( long mode, double spacing, long tablesize ) { RootTable retval; retval . spacing = power( spacing, mode ); retval . tablesize = tablesize; retval . table = malloc( sizeof( double ) * tablesize ); long index = 0; for( long i = 0; ; ++i ) { for( long u = 0; u < power( i + 1, mode ) - power( i, mode ); ++u ) { retval . table[ index ] = spacing * ( ( double )( i ) + ( double )( u ) / ( double )( power( i + 1, mode ) - power( i, mode ) ) ); if( ++index >= tablesize ) { return retval; } } }}#define ISPOS( X ) ( X + X > X )double roottable_get( RootTable self, double searchval ) { if( ISPOS( searchval ) && ( long )( searchval / self . spacing ) < self . tablesize ) { return self . table[ ( long )( searchval / self . spacing ) ]; } else { return 0.0; }}void roottable_free( RootTable self ) { free( self . table );}#include <stdio.h>int main() { double spacing; long tablesize; scanf( "%lf %ld", & spacing, & tablesize ); RootTable subject = roottable_init( ROOTSET, spacing, tablesize ); while( 1 ) { double searchval; if( scanf( "%lf", & searchval ) == 1 ) { printf( "%lf\n", roottable_get( subject, searchval ) ); } else { roottable_free( subject ); printf( "End Program\n" ); return 0; } }}
Only braindead apes use functional programming in the big 25. Look at how smart I am, using objects in my C code.
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Technology
Many new members of DebateArt follow the pattern of making an account, joining a debate, and then leaving forever. I would think that many of these new debaters simply don't know what to do in their first debate, and so run away. ( either that, or the Captchas are too hard for them to log back on )
To solve this, tutorial debates could be used. Here is an excerpt adapted from my "Dragonite is a B tier Pokemon" debate linked.
Semantics:For those unfamiliar with the tier system, it ranks things on a 6 point scale, with the “S tier” being absolutely supreme, and with the “F tier” being absolutely dogwater. Right in the middle, there is the “B tier”, meaning “good”.- - - > Is this an accurate representation of the tier system?This means that if I prove that Dragonite is good, then I win the debate. However, if OPP proves that Dragonite is either better or worse than good, then OPP wins the debate.To measure “good”, I will be using the metrics of gameplay and marketability.- - - > Are these fair indicators of how "good" a Pokemon is, and is there anything missing?The gameplay experience of dragonite is good, but not great:In the games, Dragonite fills the role of a highly offensive physical attacker. Due to “dragon dance”, Dragonite can buff itself to sweep the opponent’s entire team. In generation one, Dragonite was one of the most competitive pokemon. But as the games kept evolving, power creep slowly pushed Dragonite out of the competitive spotlight. This all changed back in the eighth pokemon generation released in 2019, and now Dragonite is powerful once again.- - - > Is this information accurate, and is there anything missing?This brings me to my first problem with Dragonite. Across generations, Dragonite has been inconsistent. Is Dragonite defensive, offensive, or even good? Does Dragonite have many high accuracy attacks? Can Dragonite use dragon dance? The answers to all of these questions have changed across generations.- - - > Does Dragonite encompass all versions of Dragonite from each generation, or does Dragonite only mean ninth generation Dragonite? If the former is true, could Dragonite's inconsistency actually be a strength rather than a weakness? If the latter is true, how does this impact the validity of what I just said?The marketability of Dragonite is good, but not great:Dragonite was the first dragon type pokemon, and so Gamefreak took extra time on its design. The design of dragonite was originally simplistic, with light oranges and round lines. This design emphasized that Dragonite was the good-guy dragon, in contrast to scarier dragons such as Rayquaza. Fans loved Dragonite, and throughout the Pokemon anime, Dragonite’s personality was fleshed out into a Dragonite of loyalty, friendship, selflessness, and honor.- - - > Is this information accurate, and is there anything missing?However, Dragonite is poised in the awkward limbo between a scary dragon powerhouse, and a Snorlax-esque cuddly pokemon. People who like big scary pokemon don’t choose Dragonite, they choose Gyrados. And people who like cuddly pokemon don’t choose Dragonite, they choose Snorlax or Pikachu. Ultimately, Dragonite proved to be not much more than a template for more unique later pokemon.- - - > Is Dragonite really as unpopular as I make it seem?
I do worry that some new players will be off-put by us "going-easy" on them, however I do think that DebatArt will retain more members with the use of tutorial debates.
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DebateArt.com
Hawaii is a US state, and a legitimate one at that. To justify this claim, I will be using master morality, originally proposed by Nietzsche.
For the past ten centuries, humanity has been in a continual state of glow-up, with scientific, mathematical, and moral progress being made at increasing rates. However, due to different social structures, some societies have made greater advancements in these fields, giving those societies greater influence over their peers. Historically, this influence was exercised through trade and conquest.
For example, the British Empire used superior shipbuilding and firearm technology to build the first truly global trade network, and to spread civilization to native peoples. While conquest and colonialism are seen as distasteful practices to our morally advanced society of today, people must realize that for global advancement to happen, advanced societies must be allowed to influence less advanced societies.
On the dawn of colonialism in the fifteen hundreds, many native Americans embraced Christianity as an alternative to the oligarchic religious structures of their own culture. European imperialists were by no means morally righteous, but for every disease they brought to the Americas, they brought twice as many advancements, and each of those advancements had a lasting effect. If lesser empires (such as that of the Aztecs) were left to their own devices, we would still have human sacrifice in the twenty-first century.
Connecting this to the annexation of Hawaii, while the overthrow of the queen was bad, Hawaii is now much better off as part of the Union. As of twenty-twenty-four, Hawaii has a gross domestic product of one-hundred and fifteen billion dollars. Additionally, due to the tourism industry, Hawaii is the happiest state of the Union. This would not be the case if Hawaii was still a monarchy.
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History
The year is 3500.
Humanity is dead.
Eventually, aliens find our planet. . .
What could they learn about our species?
What will remain of it?
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Philosophy
Somebody needs to make a TV show about illegal squid fishing.
Or maybe somebody could make a TV show about whaling in the mid 1800's.
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Artistic expressions
When explaining things to a child, speak to them like they are a person.
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Society
Into the zone:
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Technology
Let me know what you think.
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Artistic expressions
I find that I randomly buy things that I have seen in ads without even realizing it. It's scary because I absolutely hate ads. What is going on with my brain?
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Personal