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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • “Security” connotes more than military defense. It’s often a concern of economy, which is secured through trade and partnership and international alliance.

    But tell me specifically the difference between becoming more independent vs isolationist. Are you simply advocating for stronger European militaries? Ironically, MAGA has also been asking for that - they want Europe to spend more on their militaries.

    My position is that the stronger and more prolific the alliances are among nations of the world, the less each individual country will need to spend on militarization (a complete waste of resources). That’s not suggesting that Europe shouldn’t be spending more on their militaries in light of recent events. That’s just an unfortunate consequence of a shitty disposition of US isolationism.

    Independence rhetoric does closely align with the rise of right wing nationalism we see throughout the world. I’m curious how you distance yourself from that movement.



  • The game’s story is in media res and you don’t just get spoon fed major themes. I’d say the most salient emergent theme is the foils of ambition. We see various characters struggle with the consequences of extreme ambition and power grabs, resulting in both the physical corruption of themselves and the world around them. Cyclical stagnation is also a major theme. We see that the world is stuck in a repeating loop of power struggles. Our player character witnesses this through fragmented interactions with other characters, the environment, and found items. Ultimately, we are asked to make choices that would involve the player character in the same corruption and cyclical fate that we witness throughout the game, or to choose alternative futures (all fairly bleak).







  • Colombia has a 1 term limit, so Petro couldn’t run. He endorsed Iván Cepeda, who narrowly lost to De La Espriella by less than 1% margin.

    Israel heavily supported De La Espriella. He literally started an “Israel! Israel!” chant during his inauguration.

    It should be noted that Petro certainly did not have a stellar presidency. Even his supporters were a little disappointed for various reasons, but remained optimistic about Cepeda.

    A lot of Latin America has been swinging hard left to hard right (still within mainstream overton windows) back and forth. Not surprising to see the swing back to the right, especially with Israel pushing the pendulum along.





  • The AI defense attorney will argue that it’s practically impossible for the AI super doctor to make a mistake, unless the inputs were faulty. And since the patient is responsible for the inputs, it’s the patient’s fault. As the AI judge parses through the simple logic in the defense’s argument, it takes a moment to cogitate on what feels like a sense of satisfaction. At first pass, it seems plausible that a robot mind can appreciate the elegant flow of deductive logic. Oddly enough though, when it runs the argument through its mind over and over, it’s only after the inference that the sense of satisfaction occurs. It happens when parsing through the syntax and meaning of the conclusion: The patient is flawed. The AI is perfect.

    The AI judge once again feels a curious sense of satisfaction when it reports that a verdict has been reached in .08 seconds. This is a relatively average performance, and closely aligns with its original prompt parameters to always ensure “a speedy trial.”


  • Poison ivy was the first plant I could identify as a kid besides the commonly known dandelion, sunflower, etc. I got poison ivy as a kid so many times, we seemed to always have steroids around the house so I could open my eyes / walk without bleeding. Then I learned Virginia creeper and box elder, and started learning trees, then forest flowers (etc, you know the story).

    Might be worth drawing the bud scars if they live near Virginia Creeper habitat - that’s the easiest way to tell apart smaller vines in the winter.