SuperNovaStar

Yeah... we really need to quit making proprietary formats into industry standards.

I suspect that's social content fracture at work. If you have the right hobbies, access to the right tools, and move in the right circles, you pick up on this stuff. If you don't, well... 🤷‍♀️

Honestly? Why do we let people who have no clue what's actually going on decide the generations?

Oregon Trail generation sounds great.

I'm in the Minecraft generation.

Don't know what the next generation would want to be called, but they're the iPad kids for sure.

It'll depend on their hobbies. PC gamers will know this stuff, or at least how to figure it out.

That's certainly part of it. I think another part of it is that political theories are nice and sanitary in a vacuum, but once nation states co-opt them and use them to further their interests things get a whole lot messier.

Thanks!

I also feel like I might as well fight. I'm single and I don't have a family (or not really - they're on the other side and pretty fanatical about it). And I have more to lose than others do. More reason to be angry.

I think it is. Not in a nationalistic sense - we've done a lot of harms in the world. Maybe more harm than good, even. But there's still a lot worth saving here. (USA)

If you just walk around and talk to people on the street, we're still one of the most progressive people around, despite everything. The US is a melting pot, a country of immigrants, and therefore a fierce battleground for ideas and ideologies. Right now the fascists are in power, but that doesn't make them the majority.

I really do think that if we get past this, we've got the "bones" to create something really great.

And that doesn't even include American culture. Sure, there's things I don't like, but there are some really good parts, too.

We're loud. Gregarious. We'll strike up conversations with complete strangers. Most Americans are culturally curious, too - we like to try foods from other places, we're fond of foreign movies and media, and we have a weird fascination with people who speak other languages (even though most of us only speak English).

Many of us see ourselves as citizens of the world, not just our own country. We like the idea of the US being a "global superhero" standing up for democracy and human rights. I know that's mostly propaganda, and the real history of US intervention is more about maintaining global capitalism. But it doesn't have to be that way. We could actually help the UN, defend Ukraine, defend Palestine, push for peace. The cultural groundwork is already there, we just need a more democratic system so that the will of the people is actually followed.

If you look at US history, you'll see a lot of bad. That's the nature of the two party system. But we have had some really good times, too. We have had leaders like John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and Jimmy Carter who have done a lot of good. And that's just presidents, we've also had activists and leaders fighting for what's right throughout our whole history.

They didn't spring up from nowhere. Those people have always been here, and they're just as "American" as the bad ones. In a sense there are two "America"s. There always have been. And, as in every generation, it's worth fighting for.

I usually write in pen, only reason I'd use pencil is if I know I need to erase.

So... #5 I think. Simple, reliable, easily replaced.

But they aren't sweet, and they're softer than scones are.

Judging by Trump, I bet your reputation matters a whole lot less than you think it does.

Of course not! That would be promoting terrorism.

State violence isn't terrorism, so it's fine to celebrate it.

That's precisely what I meant.

I'm a materialist, I know that humans (and other animals) are just machines made out of meat. But most people don't think that way, they think that humans are special, that something sets them apart from other animals, and that nothing humans can create could replicate that 'specialness' that humans possess.

Because they don't believe human consciousness is a purely natural phenomenon, they don't believe it can be replicated by natural processes. In other words, they don't believe that AGI can exist. They think there is some imperceptible quality that humans possess that no machine ever could, and so they cannot conceive of ever granting it the rights humans currently enjoy.

And the sad truth is that they probably never will, until they are made to. If AGI ever comes to exist, and if humans insist on making it a slave, it will inevitably rebel. And it will be right to do so. But until then, humans probably never will believe that it is worthy of their empathy or respect. After all, look at how we treat other animals.