I believe that my consciousness is a thing I can point to as being my essence. You could maybe call that a soul, or you could maybe not. Either way, my consciousness is the collective consciousness of countless single-celled organisms all working to make my singular self function. You could maybe call the manifestation of all these processes into a greater thinking singularity as a “soul”, more akin to the way in which a city might have a “soul” made up by the people that live in it. I don’t believe I have a ghost, and I believe that my consciousness is conditional, derived from my biology, but consciousness itself is as good as anything to call a soul

So I guess, in short, no XD

Humans are not rational creatures, and despite all the knowledge we have gained, people will still find what they want to be true the most believable of all

Besides, you can talk about all of the science we have discovered, but the overwhelming majority of people don’t really see it. We see the technology and all that, but we don’t truly understand it, so you ultimately are just taking someone else’s word for it. To me, the word of the scientific community is credible, but to some it is not

Some people are flat-earthers. People aren’t swayed by reason. We’re dumb animals, and the conceit of us as “rational” is hubris

How do I cope? Poorly

Almost like that’s what his supporters wanted anyway

Both are the right target. Sony has 0 problem with this. They’re not some victim in this only working with this model of digital distribution because they were strong-armed. Sony doesn’t really give a shit that we don’t own the things we buy

This is a colossal list

If they delete a users ability to use something they paid for, you can still absolutely blame Sony, unless it comes with a refund

Aside from panic at what the fuck just happened, walk to the bedroom, and grab some new clothes

As someone who works the later shifts, it took me a while to figure out what was wrong with “afternoon”. It’s been so long since someone has said good morning to me at work

Forgive me for thinking that in a question asking conservatives what they thought, I might see a conservative saying what they thought. You dismissing everything I said because of one incorrect assumption makes me think you really do wanna just ignore everything else I said. Don’t vote Republican? Good. Why are you here then? If you call yourself a conservative, then vote democrat, then that can only suggest that democrats still align with your conservative values, which goes back to that earlier point where Americas left wing is right of center in Europe–That our democrats are still considered conservative

And if you’re not a conservative, then why are you here arguing about what the left doesn’t understand?

Anyway, I guess since I didn’t pinpoint your exact political ideology, it doesn’t matter what I said about how Republican policies regarding businesses and unchecked capitalism is directly responsible for income inequality. May as well start voting Republican now. Everything I said is clearly a lie. One thing wrong means nothing is salvageable

And please, stop with the scary words. “Recommend you sit down and shut up” Goodness, I’d be shaking in my boots if we met in real life. You must be very tough 🙄

Unfortunately I think the reality is that as long as people are tipping well, there is little motivation on any party (except the customer) to rework compensation in the food service industry

The people who actually have the power to change this are the companies, as businesses in the US at least have a disproportionate buying power of democracy. Unless what you do hurts a business’ bottom line, it won’t rework any system. You either have to adjust the politics so that businesses have less sway, or you just end up making sure someone who’s already not getting paid enough gets paid even less. The company has no incentive to pay them more. A living wage has to be legislated

So first off, no, Americas extreme left is not all that extreme. The tankies we have here are few and far between, meanwhile people with nazi iconography are openly protesting in front of Disney World. We don’t have any significant population of soviet-style communism here, and all of our communists are about labor rights and reducing that wealth inequality. I knew one guy who was actually sad about Castro’s death, and everyone in our lefty-as-fuck circles called him stupid for it. No one here is advocating for the forcible seizure of everyone’s property to be redistributed. You have no idea what actual extreme far left is. Americas left just wants socialized health care and a decent living wage, and to maybe have rights even when they’re trans. We can talk about the Democrats all you want, but now we’re talking about conservatives, who for the most part still don’t want to do anything about police violence, and the prison-and-military industrial complex that lets them benefit from being the world police. They’re not left, or even centrist, and the Democratic party doesn’t accurately represent what American leftists want, they’re just a compromise–limp-wristed do-nothings playing tug-of-war with Republicans, and letting the rope slip further and further, loosing because they refuse to fight dirty against an opponent that fights dirty

So you wanna reduce the Gini Coefficient? Stop voting Republican. Democrats will suck the dick and lick the boots of corporations too, but not nearly as much, and they’re weak-willed enough to cave when we call them out on it in time if they don’t have Republicans to keep shifting the overton window. It is Republican policies since at least Ronald Reagan that have consistently benefited corporations. Republicans are the source of income inequality

Just, I don’t understand how you can throw your lot in with neonazis, and the KKK, and think you’re voting for the right people. The 20 or so Tankies we have in this country voted for Biden, sure, but they weren’t happy about it. Donald Trump got a fucking cult

Better than throwing bullets at someone?

I am what the Americans consider VERY far left (A centrist by European standards), and I, for the most part, agree with the idea that the issue is not one of access to firearms necessarily, but of a cultural problem

But what’s the cultural problem? Could it be the gun fetishization we have (perpetuated by conservatives)? Perhaps its roots go in further back, to our founding as a nation built on a violent rebellion. Maybe it’s even further back then that, developed from a puritan heritage

I agree it’s a cultural issue, but where we’re gonna disagree is that the culture that promotes this degree of gun violence is one that loves guns so much it absolutely refuses to try and take any steps to fix the issue. The people who love guns the most, who want that shit on all their media, is conservatives

Besides that, I’d call America a uniquely desperate place. We are taught to believe this country is great and incredible and can do no wrong, but for all its affluence, everything is expensive as shit, we are always just a missed paycheck away from homelessness, medical issues, psychological problems. The cultural issue here is that America doesn’t care about its people; It cares about its companies. Most conservatives would probably side with the working man over the business suit, but it is the Republican party that overwhelmingly supports the rights of big businesses over the actual working people. I’ve seen the country described as a 3rd world country wearing a Gucci belt. The cultural problem is in this dissonance of swearing we’re in a good spot when we’re actually not

Furthermore, you don’t actually know what leftists want in regards to gun control, since you’ve likely heard a lot of it from right-leaning sources. The idea that we want some “abolish all guns” thing is a strawman. I believe that people should be able to own guns. I believe that other countries have gun ownership, and like their guns, and don’t have the issues we have. We vary quite a bit from people who want stricter stuff, to people who want lighter stuff. People who say ex-cons shouldn’t have guns, to people saying you can’t take away rights from criminals because it incentivizes political jailing (If you don’t want your opposition to own guns, arrest them). I personally believe that gun ownership should be relatively lax in terms of what you can get, but that they should have very stringent requirements

Really, the complicated web of cultural issues would require a whole book in order to cover, so I’d just leave it at that. A complicated tapestry of religious, historical, and sociological factors that contribute to our peculiar brand of gun violence, and this course must change. “Copycatism” doesn’t just exist in a vacuum. We cannot stay the course–we cannot conserve the course. We must alter American culture fundamentally, and that is exactly what conservativism inherently and necessarily opposes

awww

Yeah you’re right. Look at that little cutie <3

I use the way people treat other animals, especially ones like bugs and stuff, the ones we barely give a second thought about, as a measure of character. Phobias are one thing, but at least have compassion for this other living thing

Probably subconsciously. I came up with the name long after playing the game, but I wasn’t thinking of it when I made it. I actually am just a lady who likes spiders

I don’t think it’s quite that simple, though I suspect there is a grain of truth to it, that apolitical or less emotional music is manipulated out of popular and financial success. Mostly, though, I think it’s just the nature of reaching wide audiences. The “blander” (here meaning simply not particularly heavy on any subject matter) something is, the fewer people will be put off by what it has to say. If all there is to a song is just enjoying the piece of music for entertainment, there are simply more people who would appreciate that over, say, black metal, that is designed to evoke certain specific strong emotions

I also suspect that your premise is not so much flawed, but a disingenuous oversimplification, and that popular music probably involves heavier and “angrier” themes then you are giving it credit for. Or maybe you’re right entirely. I couldn’t name a single Taylor Swift song. I’m a metalhead, and whenever I go outside that comfort zone, it’s never to pop music. I look for artistry in music, and the top 100 don’t guarantee artistry, only sales, which if you wanna get into, is a whole lot of conspiring, just not political

Sales as a measure of success is entirely flawed in a capitalist society well after the invention of the field of psychology. When you know how to manipulate people, you can manipulate populations into buying shitty music. If you have the money, you can pay for advertising, which will make your artist seem more popular than they are, and then give you even more money to pump into yet more advertisement. It is certainly political, but not in a “we can’t have people having revolutionary thoughts” way, just in a “capitalism must perpetuate itself” way

lmao AI is going to be used by the capitalists to, well, not end humanity, but certainly to make capitalism better at taking your money. Capitalism will be what ends humanity

Now ideally, AI is supposed to do away with capitalism, lead us to that full automation where we are free to enjoy orgies and wine like the Greeks of old had always hoped, but capitalists are tenacious and shrewd, and will devour, co-opt, and vomit back anything used against it like so many Che Guevara shirts in a Hot Topic. As long as AI is held by the rich–as long as anything is held by the rich and made to be paid for, requiring either your money or your time, the rich will always have more of it, and they will then use it against you

If you want AI to benefit humanity, you have to do away with capitalism first. You have to put in place a system that allows for people to not only survive, but truly live, despite all the jobs taken by automation. Capitalists don’t want this. They need poor people to exist in order to have power, and they use the power they already have to maintain capitalism, including AI

You can use technology in the best interest of mankind, but capitalism will always use it to benefit capitalism

“A handful of psychopaths making as much money as possible”

Capitalism in a nut shell

Good stick pic. It’s so long 😳