[Unknown Target]

On that front. Blacks and whites used to trust their fellow blacks and whites much more than we trust each other now.

Evidence?

Underground railroad? The whole black community culture of "brothers" and "sisters"? The 1950s for white people?

[General Battuta]

On that front. Blacks and whites used to trust their fellow blacks and whites much more than we trust each other now.

Evidence?

Underground railroad? The whole black community culture of "brothers" and "sisters"? The 1950s for white people?

These are superficially compelling anecdotes, but they don't actually speak to intragroup trust - the Underground Railroad, for instance, was prone to strife, division, and even betrayal, the culture of the civil rights movement was full of divisions like those that gave rise to the Black Panthers, and the 1950s was a politically divided era that saw vast amounts of strife both culturally and geopolitically (remember the witch hunts for Communists?)

A lot of the things you see as modern problems have been around forever.

[Unknown Target]

I think that you're looking at exceptions rather than the rule in an effort just to find every bit of evidence to disagree with the general point that I'm trying to get across.

Individuals will act like individuals. If 24 people in a room work together and 1 person does something different, am I not allowed to apply the sentence "These people worked together" to all 25 of them?

Society, to me, includes both the 24 and the 1.

[General Battuta]

I think that you're looking at exceptions rather than the rule in an effort just to find every bit of evidence to disagree with the general point that I'm trying to get across.

I think that's exactly what leads you to believe we have unique problems today. It's called the availability heuristic.

Ignoring context, whether historical or scientific, will never help you solve a problem. Embrace knowledge and analysis; they'll free your mind from heuristic shackles.

[Unknown Target]

I think that you're looking at exceptions rather than the rule in an effort just to find every bit of evidence to disagree with the general point that I'm trying to get across.

I think that's exactly what leads you to believe we have unique problems today. It's called the availability heuristic.

Ignoring context, whether historical or scientific, will never help you solve a problem. Embrace knowledge and analysis; they'll free your mind from heuristic shackles.

What if I was just thinking of a different context than you? What implications would that have?

[General Battuta]

Questions are no substitute for a clearly stated argument and the evidence to back it. I won't create your points for you, nor will I illustrate them. Articulate what you want to say and substantiate it, then continue.

[Unknown Target]

Questions are no substitute for a clearly stated argument and the evidence to back it. I won't create your points for you, nor will I illustrate them. Articulate what you want to say and substantiate it, then continue.

Questions are all that science is - do you think that science is something other than simply asking questions and trying to find answers to them?

[General Battuta]

My suspicion is that you have a vague, utopian ideal floating around, a queasy sense that something is wrong and that perhaps you can rouse people to fix it. But I don't think you've managed to articulate what you believe is wrong, and without knowing that - or, hell, without being able to prove to anyone that anything is wrong at all - I don't think you can figure out a way to fix it.

I don't necessarily disagree with some of your beliefs, but I think what you need to do is sit down, write out a great whopping manifesto of the issues you see, ascertain that they're things people don't already know, and figure out how to back your beliefs up in a way that doesn't require people to already share your vague, utopian ideal. Arguing from a shaky position allows you to reach those who already share your position, which just ends up as masturbation.

If you want to try to change something, I think that should be your next project.

[Unknown Target]

Why do you think that's not what I'm doing right now?

[General Battuta]

Calm down. You're taking this as a blow to your own intelligence, and it doesn't need to be. I know these beliefs are personal to you, and I appreciate your courage in sharing them.

The fact that people on Hard Light think you're a nut doesn't mean you'll always be considered a nut. Learn how to present your ideas and you'll find an audience and respect. You just want to avoid people tuning you out before you even begin.

[Unknown Target]

I put a smiley face. I'm perfectly calm - it's actually a lovely day outside and I was going to go biking. (Something I do every day, I wish we had covered bike paths during the winter in this State).

Please answer the question.

[General Battuta]

I believe my examination is complete. Hard Light Productions, Mr. Unknown Target.

[Unknown Target]

I believe my examination is complete. Hard Light Productions, Mr. Unknown Target.

It seems to me that you are speaking from a position of authority, as if you were some lawyer, teacher, politician, or psychiatrist - essentially another manifestation of institutionally-mandated authority.

Please, answer the question. If you wish to see yourself as a fair example of any of those professions, then why are you allowed to not answer the defendant's question, yet earlier it seemed that you believed that I must always answer yours?

[Spoon]

[The E]

In this thread and others, you have been repeatedly asked to back up your claims, to prove that you are arguing from a position more substantial than your own hopes and desires. You have consistently failed to do so. At this point, the burden of proof and substantiation is on you.

[Kosh]

Oh, please. A hundred years ago you wouldn't even have been able to get people of different skin colors to cooperate. We're doing better on that front than we ever have.

Don't confuse the problems of a decade for the problems of an era.

I think there's a huge difference between then and now. For one thing back then you had a ruling class who wasn't necessarily afraid of the others but outright despised them (hence segregation). Today we have a situation where everyone is afraid of everything (anyone remember the Great Duct Tape Run of '03?), including the big boogeyman of the day, terrorism. I think that is a big difference and it was the pervasive sense of fear that I was reffering to.

[General Battuta]

Sales tax/values added tax. Every other country has it.

It's good because it taxes consumption not work. The complaints are typically about how it's flat and the complexity of the rebate system required. I don't really know how that works in Europe. But it does encourage saving which is good for growth and economic stability.

I think this person actually is a bot. 

[Mustang19]

What is your opinion of FreeSpace 2 Mr. Possibly Bot

Okay, Sorry if my Comment was like a bot. I just read more HLPBB on this thread that's why i thought that was the Topic. My bad

Your friend is back GB.

 

[General Battuta]

What is your opinion of FreeSpace 2 Mr. Possibly Bot

Okay, Sorry if my Comment was like a bot. I just read more HLPBB on this thread that's why i thought that was the Topic. My bad

Your friend is back GB.

 

Yeah but I think he actually is a bot. We need to run a Voigt-Kampff!

[Mustang19]

That was a good movie.

Why don't we discuss that instead.