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Maarten

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Everything posted by Maarten

  1. But what about patents? They are made publicly available I think as one of the requirements, so you can use them if you want. There is no breaking and entering involved in this situation, but it's still stealing, and I think it is quite similar to this situation.
  2. The closest analogy to downloading music I can think of would be to copy blueprints of something. Sure, if you leave the originals there you are not directly stealing something, in the sense that they don't have it anymore, but you sure as hell steal revenue from the company indirectly by doing it. Or patents for that matter, I could log on to espacenet and copy the patent instructions and start producing. Would you also say that that should be legal? It is pretty much the same thing as downloading and/or distributing music directly...
  3. Of course, if you act on the premise that it is impossible to live without sacrificing someone then encountering someone superior to yourself would be dangerous for you. I think that is in part where most people's dislike of those superior to them comes from.
  4. Yes, well, there are better ways of showing you disagree with a price; don't buy the product. It doesn't give you the right to start violating property rights all of a sudden.
  5. Maarten

    Animal rights

    Killing someone is not always immoral. Murdering someone would be, but if I kill in self-defense that could very well be a moral action. Of course the motivation is important, you can't just divorce the underlying ideas from the actions. There can be good reasons to inflict pain upon animals, but if you do it just for kicks that would at the very least indicate psychological problems.
  6. I will be visiting New York (the city) this summer. Do you guys know any things you can recommend to go see, or visit, or whatever?
  7. Would you say that all the progress that has been made is all due to our genetic makeup, rather than the transmission of ideas between people? Humans are not just a bag of cells thrown together that act in mysterious manners...
  8. What you are talking about is a powerful example of how exactly humans are different from the other species we know. While some of those are basically forced by their nature to sacrifice themselves for their progeny, we have volition and can choose if we even want to have children, ever. But what are you trying to argue? That reproduction (or the continuation of the species) should be the standard of value instead of life? I think it is very easily proven that this is not the case for humans, at the very least. I think one of the best ways to test a certain ethics is to look at what it amounts to in practice, and as far as I can tell the Objectivist ethics work, because they are true.
  9. No scaring the young ones... You should be ashamed of yourselves!
  10. In the initial article you can find some links to other news messages. That MP they mention is pretty interesting, she's very critical of Islam as well, and in favor of free speech. It's kind of a shame that the only sounds of this nature come from the smaller minorities. The irony of the situation of course is that all the tolerance is really not helping anything. But then, ignoring a problem like that is much easier than having to face it.
  11. read me It's nice to know they are spending our tax money on such fruitful things. I hope that the government responds in a suitable manner to this, rather than supporting the conclusions. I doubt that they will take a stand on it, though...
  12. So you want to make a duplicate marriage with a different name? What would be the point of that? It seems like too much fuss to make for a name...
  13. You should keep in mind though that life qua man is the standard, not just survival. In such a case the kind of life you may have in the camp could very well be worth less to you than trying to avoid the situation and live as a free person somewhere.
  14. I think that truth is the epistemological notion and fact is the metaphysical one. Truth is reality as grasped through a certain type of consciousness, and because humans are not omniscient you can't make truth an absolute, as you seem to be doing. Facts (or existents) refer to the metaphysical side of things, and are therefore independent of our consciousness, but truth does not exist without consciousness. To who would it be truth? I don't have my books here, but I am fairly sure that what you are saying is not the standard Objectivist view of this.
  15. Ah, then the wages over here are somewhat higher, in the order of 2-3 times as much probably if you work on an hourly basis instead of provision (gotta love minimum wage laws).
  16. Yeah, we are. It doesn't pay very well, but then it's only a part-time job for me and I like doing it. It probably pays a similar amount as what you would be paid in the US, I think.
  17. Maarten

    Debitism

    How does the interest fit in here while still maintaining a zero balance?
  18. I work in a restaurant nowadays, and over here it is almost unheard of to receive tips the size of what most people here mention. Most of the time it's just a couple percent, because the customer just rounds the check towards the nearest convenient number. It's usually the tourists that tip the best, rather than people who live here and eat here regularly.
  19. If it was subjective that would mean that there are no (objective) standards to judge beauty by. While it is a complicated subject, I do think it is possible to formulate such standards. One aspect I think virtually everyone finds beautiful is symmetry, and something else is that certain ratios between facial features are considered as pleasing to the eye. I will leave it to someone else to answer in greater detail, though
  20. I agree wholeheartedly with this. Student, would someone becoming very drunk on a regular basis really not bother you, especially if you were in a relationship with them? I don't see how it could be a value, in any way, and I have a lot of difficulty viewing it as anything other than a very bad thing. It may not nullify all the good in a person, but it does signify that something is wrong with them, if they seek to escape the responsibilities of thinking in such a way on a regular basis.
  21. Doesn't this mean, though, that because of the 70% thing you are killing his defense quite a few times? Well, I suppose it also costs him more in the end...
  22. I am not saying that alcohol itself is immoral as an absolute, I think the intent is also very important. I don't see the contradiction in saying that drinking a few drinks for relaxation is okay, while trying to sabotage your rational faculty by drinking way too much is wrong. It's dependant upon the context, and that part is very different in both scenarios. Perhaps we should move this to the other thread, though
  23. Well, there is using alcohol and there is using alcohol. Having a drink once in a while is way different from getting so drunk you can't walk anymore on a regulary basis
  24. I am building my fleet bit by bit, got about 18 cruisers now and 10 heavy fighters (well, in a few hours I will), so I can raid some of the smaller planets around me that have defenses. Is there some way in which you can protect your cargo ships? They usually die even though you have a lot of attacking ships =(
  25. I think that you are right in saying that there would be very little chance of this relationship succeeding. I don't think it is a good idea to start a relationship based on anything other than who they are at that time. Even though she might eventually change the way she is acting, I think it would be much better to wait until she has resolved the issue and is willing to discuss it with you, rather than entering the relationship on the hope that she will. This sort of behaviour is probably either caused by her wanting to fit in with her friends, or she is evading something. If everything else about her is wonderful, and this is her only flaw, then you could try to explain the situation to her and try to get her to open up about it. It will probably take a lot of effort on your part, if it even works. However, if you do succeed at that then there might be a proper basis for a relationship.
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