MightierPen
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Posts posted by MightierPen
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Are the planets closest to you the same that are closest on the list? Because both of them are owned by that one guy who got your probes and now I'm kinda nervous.
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How big should my fleet be before I make my first raid? Should I wait until I get spy probes?
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As I watched the movie I was liking it, because it seemed like everybody was becoming better people. But after it ended I hated the movie. It made me so depressed.
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I can't believe he blew up that planet.
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I can completely relate. When I was in preschool the teachers took everybody's lunches and divided them equally amoung everybody. It scarred me for life.
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I joined. Question:
How can I tell what my production rate is? For example on my resources page my metal production is 119. Is that per hour?
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So, conclusion would be then that there is no sure way to protect those individuals rights, am I correct?
I think the prime issue you're missing here is that a right to life is not a right to be alive. I think you're taking it as "Every man has a right to be alive, and if he's able to support himself he has to, otherwise we do it for them."
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A new poll showed majority support for semi-privitization.
I find it funny that the argument used most often in favour of keeping public health care is our "National identity". I've actually heard intellectuals say they'd rather have thousands of people die due to lack of good health care than lose our Canadian-ness.
Also something more apparent: Nobody talks about the person's right to spend their money. It's all about the end for Canada, never the means.
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Actually, the last time I checked the Tories were not going to sign Kyoto. They are also commited to semi-privitization of health care.
I find it funny that the Green party gets so many votes considering their platform involves nothing except environmental issues. If they were elected in I don't think they'd know what to do.
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What do you think is the most evil religion? I personally think Buddhism is.
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I've taken the test on different sites many times and gotten different results, INTJ being the most common and most accurate (I know myself better than they do). Curiously enough, I got my best friend to take it on every site that I did and his results varied too, albiet in the coolest way. On every site we both got results that told us we're very very compatible as friends, even with the switching types. I think this is the only accurate part of that test.
I couldn't take it again now, every single question seems to be a false dichotomy and it would kill me to answer one or the other.
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I find it really funny how the 100% guy thought that rates of murder, rape, etc were going UP.
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Man if I had any recording software I'd jump in right away. I play guitar, am capitalist (of course) and I love prog.
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Heh, don't always be sure. I've had some pretty stupid teachers in my day. They tend not to catch sarcasm when they're hearing what they want to hear.
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First off Daniel, I really associate with your situation, as I attend grade 12 in a British Columbian school. The solution is to write an essay completely sarcastically. The teacher will never know, and you won't puke when writing it. I did that when I had to write an essay talking about how the media controls our minds. I went all out and blamed the media for absolutely everything in society. I got %96, because I had one or two grammar mistakes. That was grade 11 English.
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SimCity 2000 was very liberal. I have every SimCity game and I must say that SimCity 4 is the best. They emphasize certain aspects of industry, like manufacturing and high-tech. It also has a much bigger focus on trade. A lot of the 'laws' are now unnecsessary because you can fix most problems with good city planning (IE good transit). Still socialist of course, but as right wing as you can get.
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I think the funniest thing is that most of the "abuses" happen in third world countries. They are attacking these corporations for not instantly transforming these barbaric countries into civilized societies.
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I never thought Chrono Trigger was anti-objectivist, and I also fail to see the biblical allegory. But Chrono Cross on the other hand, aside from being the best game ever, was almost pro-objectivist in some respects. Not only was there the "Free Will vrs. Fate" part mentioned earlier, but the game had an anti-environmentalist kick to it:
*SPOILER*
At the end it turns out that humans are a blight to the planet, but you decide that it doesn't matter that humans must use nature to survive instead of living with it. You decide that living is more important.
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Wow you guys really put it into perspective for me, thanks!
In further posts he goes on to say that one can have a rational morality by starting with an axiom, but he says that the axiom cannot be based on reality in order to be objective. Basically I think he is endorsing two kind of objectivity: Empirical objectivity and abstract. I have no idea why he thinks the two are mutually exclusive.
If you don't mind me asking, what is an intrinsicist?
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I'll have to echo the call for Orson Scott Card. I own more of hiw books than any other author except Asimov, but that's because Asimov broke everything down into tiny pamphlets. Card's philosophy can get too altruistic at times but generally the spirit of humanity shines through, as his main characters are always genius's.
Other than him, Asimov is a good favorite of mine of course. I've read three of Heinlein's books and only enjoyed one of them. All three had different philosophies behind them, and the one I agreed with the most (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) was the one I enjoyed. Stranger in a Strange Land was kind of wierd. I take that book as a "What would ethics be like with a different species, since the nature of that species is different from man?" kind of question. I just finished For Us, the Living and it just irked me.
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I post in a very small 'Objectivist' (I highlighted that because most of the members aren't) forum on a social web site. One person posted a short essay with the title "Ethical egoism is bothersome and erroneous". Now I've been an Objectivist for about 3 years now. I've read most of Ayn Rand's non-fiction and all the fiction many times, but I'm having a huge amount of trouble understanding what this man is saying, and consequently I can't very well provide a decent rebuttal. I really trust you all, could one of you maybe read his post and break it down to what he's basically saying? Feel free to point out the holes in his arguments too!
I understand and share Rand's cynicism of anyone who avows that they wield the aegis of the righteous -- we saw it in the Nazis, in the Bolshevics, in democracy, in the execution of Socrates, and continually in politicians and "humanitarians" who call for more coercion. However, it is a giant, and fallacious, leap from this cynicism to espouse egoism. There is not train of logic from(1) People who avow altruism tend to be immoral.
(2) Therefore, we ought to not avow altruism.
Even if (1) were modified so that all described people hereforto have been immoral, or will be immoral, this does not provide why we ourselves ought not behave in an altruistic way.
It becomes a logical impossibility to express egoism because all dictates of egoism must necessarily be contingent, empirical, or otherwise relative. "It is in my best interest to do such-in-such this time, but it may be in my best interest to do so differently next time." This begs the question as to what is defined as "self-interest" or "best interest" because we might say that it is in an existential nihilist's best interest -- if we consider his philosophy -- to do everything in his power to extinguish all life while it might be in the preist's best interest, if we consider his religion, to be chaste and help the needy. Moreover, it might be in my best interest today, to spend my hundred dollars on something I value. However, if I loaned it out and collected 105 dollars next year, it might have been in my best interest to have chosen this option instead of consumption. The role of time -- 'When is it in my best interest?' -- allows us to construct and accept contradictory maxims.
We are in no place to criticize either one's behavior because we lack the solidity of a moral point of reference. When we make use of such a reference, we must inherently reject the ambigiousness of "best or self interest". Essentially, if we accept qualified self-interest, there is no possibility for rational (to be taken as an ends-scheme meaning only, not the economical means-scheme) conduct.
We have to remove consequences, time, place, or any other subjective considerations in thinking about what is the moral thing to do. As Kant wrote in the Critique of Practical Reason, “The principle of happiness can indeed give maxims, but never maxims which are competent to be laws… For, since the knowledge rests of the mere data of experience, as each judgment concerning it depends very much on the very changeable opinion of each person, it can give general but never universal rules… Consequently, no…laws can be based on this principle.” If we are to speak of moral behavior, we are going to talk about action in accordance with duty.
However, when we remove our thought from the spatio-temporality sphere of consequentialism, we accept that there is good qithout qualification, viz. that it is valid at all times, at all places, for all actors, forever. Paraphrasing the second portion of Euthyphro, that God commands it because it is good.
It is your duty to not kill, even thought it might be in your best interest to do so. It is your duty to not steal, even if you might starve to death otherwise.
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I really enjoyed the book, but also felt it was a bit empty. I particularly enjoyed the part where he proved that money doesn't win elections.
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Sometimes there are things you can just tell about people. Like how later on in the book Roark picks his jury simply by looking at them. Roark just emits this crazy ego-vibe that shakes up everybody who requires the approval of others for their self-esteem.
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Antz, very Anthem-ish.
Online Strategy Game
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