Random thoughts and questions

Just in time for Christmas: Swedish toy catalogue says FUCK YOU GENDER ROLES! (that's a link, btw)



Why can't the US have nice things too? :(

Isn't this the precise opposite of your point? Yes, dolphins could be fished and eaten, yet for some reason it's not okay to eat them. So... I agree with you that your argument that utility is the only thing to consider is wrong.

No, it is okay to eat them. Some people just think it isn't.

Stop being a nihilist.

Ahh, another patented Nute Broad Statement With No Foundation.

Don't try to speak for all of us.

Here, Nute have a nice cup of

Of course it has a foundation. It's simple logic. If it were possible to love someone based on nothing but "inherent value" - the idea that they have value simply by existing - then logically you should love everybody. Therefore, any sentiment or affection or attachment is based off of what you get out of that person. Maybe they're aesthetically pleasing, maybe interacting with them makes you feel better, maybe they're a great cook - you value them because they have utility. There is nothing else to it.

If you think differently, please, explain it to me because I'm just not seeing how it's possible.

I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to convey with that image.

Since it appears this discussion has legs, it might be prudent to make a dedicated thread about utilitarianism and animals and nihilism and the eternal void that surrounds us all.

Not a bad idea - sorry for shitting up the Random thread, Ned.

Sorry for link/reply spamming but many people discussed or asked for links and studies. I coincidentally received a bunch from a friend yesterday. Now that I'm at work (with internet access) I've posted them here in the SCIENCE thread.

NEVER FORGET.

Helluva hand job.

I hate this thread now.

Goo goo g'joob.

This post really confounds me. On the one hand, it seems completely clear at this point that you're definitely a robot, but on the other hand a robot should have a better grasp of logic than this. But here, I'll help you out: the first and most basic reason that it's not "simple logic" is that you moved the goalposts. While it is true that loving someone is, in a sense, based on what you get out of them (although this occurs at a brain chemistry level, which isn't really what you're talking about so you're not really right about that either), that isn't what you originally said or what jerri blank objected to. Rather, that post used the phrase "care about," which is a completely different thing. I care about billions of people I've never met and from whom I will never extract any utility at all. I care about people who haven't yet been born and who won't be until I'm long dead. Utility has nothing to do with it.

Done.

Somehow, the following phrase was uttered unironically at work today, "Relax before you break your pants more".

I don't know what has become of my life.

Broken pants apparently.

Thread is back on track.

Broken track apparently.

I was having a really bad day, thank you so much for posting this. I saw that and literally yelled out loud: "YAAAAAAAY". I'm glad my parents aren't home.

I think Ashley Madison.com and adultfriendfinder are probably a bad idea at best and a scam at worst. Discuss.

Oh shit you summoned AaronSofaer YOU FOOL!

In all honesty, though, those are totally voluntary-participation sites. If like-minded people want to get together and do funky things to/with their squishy bits, none of my business. If the issue is the catering-to-infidelity gimmick that AshleyMadison runs, hey, nothing wrong with profiting off basic human nature.

I take it that AshleyMadison is a cheating-themed subscription hookup site?

I have no idea why Nute tagged me in this thread.

I think he was trying to suggest you hook up with Tyjenks.

Reference!

As our resident poly/switch/whatever expert (to my knowledge) I figured you'd probably have some insight.

poidh

Stop reading my Justified/Highlander slash fiction!

A bad idea why? I don't know about the former, but I think the latter is basically just Facebook for sex. If you think sex for pleasure is immoral, then I guess a site that's premised on providing tools to enable members to find compatible sexual partners would be a bad idea. If not, then no, not inherently bad, I don't think.

A scam...maybe? I have no idea how they operate financially; I assume you pay for a membership in order to use the site but unless there's more to it, I don't think that makes it a scam. (That said, I wouldn't pay for that, myself.)

I don't think I've encountered anyone who's ever used either site (other than maybe one or two Qt3ers who posted about it in the old threads on Qt3? I think Supersport might have?). Such is the limit of my supposed expertise.

AFF has a reputation for being super scammy, with fake profiles and bots to try to get you to sign up, along with a horrific male-female gender ratio. If you want to use an online service to get laid, OkCupid is probably going to be better.

I don't know that I agree with this. There's a certain percentage of people who cheat via those services who would do it anyway, but like everything else there's gotta be a large portion who wouldn't be cheating if it weren't convenient. Hell, moreso I'll bet; convenience is a big factor in purchases even when it's only saving you the trouble of going across the street to a different store. I can only imagine that it's a huge factor when the alternative is devoting hours and hours to finding excuses to be out at bars or wherever away from your spouse trying to find someone to have sex with you. Hassle-free sex doesn't just walk up to married dudes all that often.

Ha ha ha. "Hassle-free" sex.

...wait, you were serious?

Well... yeah. Very rare, that's what I'm saying.

I'm more inclined to go with Nute on this one. I think if you're open to infidelity then it's likely to happen and inconvenience isn't really going to stop you. I (would like to) think that most people view cheating on your spouse as a non-casual event and that you've made the decision to cheat once you sign up, not just once you're under the sheets.

Pretty low to profit off other people's (potential) unhappiness, though.

Well yeah, but that's really nothing new. I wouldn't be surprised if the proprietors of the site are divorce attorneys.

Bah, I have no problem with people using them and no moral objection. My post, I see now, could have been interpreted in 50 different ways rather than good naturedly as it was intended.

It just seems that if you pay to be able to see profiles and communicate with people (basically with IAPs), it is in the sites' interests to put some super hot fake accounts in there to talk to you so that you will buy tokens/credits/sexbucks or what have you. AS opposed to normal morons like you and me that may sign up. I mean, I have that at home. :) That is really all I was saying w/r/t it possibly being a scam. It being a "bad idea" was basically a comment based on whether a person in my position should use it not people in general.

I love you all, let's hook up. I charge nothing, but a shot and a beer or 7.

And this is why you should use OkCupid, because they don't have a financial incentive to permit, encourage, or maintain fake accounts, unlike every other site out there. (Excepting, of course, POF, whose interface makes your eyes bleed and your brain fry itself in self-defense.)

But Ashley madison has an Affair Guarantee!!! (It actually does) For a mere couple hundred dollars!!! It is filled with hot women wanting to bed discontent middle aged men.

Weta are amazing. I was shifting some bricks near a bushy area and predictably there were three or four of them living there, about the same size as the pictures below. The thing is they literally fit between the bricks, which are stacked on top of each other, despite having quite a sizeable thorax and abdomen. I don't understand how they do it. They must compress or something.

They don't bite often, not that I'm inclined to pick them up, but they get angry and make a hissing sound, which is their legs scratching their abdomen.

Spoilered in case gazing upon your doom insects scare you: