I think the more serious problem with democracy is that it mandates short-termism in policy. Any problem that can be kicked down the road by 5 years isn't worth the cost of solving, any investment that won't show a profit within 5 years is not worth making. Either is liable to be an expensive free gift to one's opponents. — unenlightened

As long as the Soviet Union appeared to be an existential threat, the US government could be consistent over time. As a lone superpower, there are no limits on anything.

Always happy to help. — unenlightened

:smile: Cutting costs is a veil for eliminating opposition.

Thank you

And Trump's approval rating is at an all time high. This is what Americans want.

Wow. There's a lot of strong emotions about this.

Have a nice life — Wayfarer

Thanks for the blessing. I am having a nice life.

You sound remarkably sanguine about it. — Wayfarer

I feel like the USA I grew up in is gone. It seems alien to me, but I think Trump's vision of securing Canada and Greenland is genius. I know how weird that sounds, but it is, partly because of climate change and partly because the Yellowstone caldera is due to blow up.

The presence of Musk, Vance, and Vought signals that visionaries are gathering around Trump. Musk wants the US government to help SpaceX. Both Vought and Vance want dictatorship. A dictatorial USA will be stronger and more flexible than the old version. That's why all democracies eventually becomes monarchies, historically.

So let’s get rid of it. — Wayfarer

I believe we're watching the emergence of an authoritarian state spanning North America and Greenland. This kind of thing happens all the time in history books. I've never seen it in real life though.

There's a bunch of those. They're all pretty funny.

No good trying to kick into the long grass of ruminations about democracy. — Wayfarer

No, it's true. The US has struggled with the problem for decades. There is no solution within the framework of democracy.

It’s your breakfast they’re going to be eating — Wayfarer

I doubt it.

In a democracy there is no way to limit government spending. Only an entity who does not answer to the people can do that. It's kind of bizarre that it's Elon Musk doing it, but there you have it.

This fault in democracy is something the human race has yet to resolve.

But in the end, it's the Americans themselves that have to pay the price. — ssu

Most of the wood Americans use comes from Canada. Canada doesn't require the sustainability rules for harvesting wood that Americans do. It would benefit the planet if the US stops buying Canadian wood altogether. I'd like to see that happen, actually.

I think the point is to convince these governments to help tackle the problem, which is apparent in all countries involved. — NOS4A2

Right. Maybe have the countries that are dependent on us stop fucking us over.

The US was an oddity. Countries don't usually behave magnanimously the way it used to, giving out aid, supporting the UN, fostering democracy in the world, etc. I think that was just a leftover from the Cold War when some sort of ideological war was supposed to be playing out. It's time for the US to revert to the way countries usually are: selfish, ruthless, aiming to literally destroy competitors rather than creating a level playing field for all.

Plus, it's pretty well established that the US government used to accept drug imports in order to crush noisy sections of the population, so it's significant that fentanyl abuse was highlighted. I wonder if that came from Vance.

I approve of that. Nicely done.

Apathy about Zionism. — BitconnectCarlos

Alright. :up:

Judeo-apathy would be a good descriptor. — BitconnectCarlos

For what?

What about being apathetic about Zionism? Is that Judeo-apathy?

Specifically, Trump wants to make Canada a state. 90% of the Canadian population lives on the border, and from what numerous Canadians have told me, a lot of Canadians want to cross over and live in the US. So Canada might depopulate when Trump gets his way.

Anything is better than being tethered to the British crown. — NOS4A2

You can say that again!

You guys will probably be annexed after Greenland.

Why don't you have faith that new technology will solve the problems associated with climate change — Agree-to-Disagree

Seems ominous that we haven't heard anything about fusion lately. :worry: But there's the thorium reactor. Maybe.

I support life in all its forms. :love:

Funny thing is, I am quite confident that NOS is actually a govt informant so I am refraining from too much interaction... — Tobias

He's just a Canadian waiting for civilization to break down so he can finally get some peace of mind.

They didn't actually cancel Black History month.

I loved your post Frank, It left me thinking about your example. It resonated with what I read years ago when I read House of Leaves. Navidson's house represents our limitation of understanding; the universe is actually like Navidson's house. At times, we all feel like Johnny Truant and struggle to make sense of things. — Alonsoaceves

Thank you! I hadn't heard of House of Leaves. I got a copy to read.

Fascinating, thanks!

I would rather you stayed, so no using AI as an authority.

I've also read the paper, so no one is using an AI comment in lieu of reading and considering. I didn't know about the "spinning in the void" criticism and looking into that is giving me a deeper understanding.

Don't... it's like a bottomless maelstrom for ships of rational people to drown in. — Christoffer

I have a friend who tells me it went to shit after Musk bought it.

Oh. I don't go on Twitter or whatever it's called.

Some who liked what he did years ago have woken up, but there are hundreds of thousands following everything he does like zealots. — Christoffer

I guess I'm out of touch. I don't know anything about that.

He's as unstoppable as a cult leader. — Christoffer

There is no Elon Musk cult. I don't think Americans particularly like him. He's just the richest guy in the world and now he's apparently in charge of the US government, sort of. Whether you like him or not, he's in charge.

The basic idea in Davidson's paper is fairly straight forward. That folk have different points of view can make sense only if there is some common framework from which we might notice the difference. But if we have such a common framework, then by that very fact, aren't we working in the same conceptual scheme? Doesn't the difference now become that of a disagreement within a conceptual scheme, and not between conceptual schemes?

And if that is the case, then any plurality of conceptual schemes reduces to at most one. — Banno

But this doesn't rule out varying conceptual schemes between say, humans and aliens. It just says that if there are such differences, we wouldn't be able to detect them. But consider this scenario, taken from the plot of the movie Arrival:

Aliens arrive and begin teach humans their language. But eventually, one woman discovers that the aliens have a completely different view of time. She realizes this because through association with them and their language, she has developed the same perspective on time they have. Yes, their language is now translatable to her, but what she's discovered is that in the past there was a conceptual rift.

I think in the same way, we could speculate that people in the past were missing some of the concepts needed to understand the world as we see it. In other words, Davidson doesn't really rule out scheme-content duality, he's just criticizing cases where people assert the existence of a rift, and immediately show that there is no rift by offering the translation. It remains possible that there could be aliens who have untranslatable languages.

Our beliefs are tested against the world, not against competing conceptual schemes. — Banno

The information @Pierre-Normand provided calls this into question. Davidson has been criticized for rejecting any rational influence of the world on our beliefs. I'll flesh that out after I've understood it better.

It appears that you manufactured the discussion in the previous post since you're addressing Tim Wood, and it doesn't look like he contributed to this thread.

What's going on?

Look up dark enlightenment. That's vice president Vance, soon to be President Vance.

Well, it's taking a lousy effort to take care of itself. Because a lot of what it has depends on that it is a Superpower. Yet many think it's just the sheer awesomeness of the US that it has this role. — ssu

It's actually not a stable situation to have only one superpower. There needs to be at least two.

The US dollar naturally would be important, but then it would be just one among many, — ssu

No, global trade needs one currency. It's the dollar now because the Chinese want it to be the dollar. When they change their minds, it will become the yuan.

Then continuing to the simple fact that other countries listen to what the US president says. — ssu

They shouldn't. Remember what happened to Syria?

I think the main reason is that nobody is telling to the Americans how their economy and thus their way of life has been depended on the country having the role it has. — ssu

The US debt will never be paid. It will disappear in the next global economic catastrophe. Everyone will start over and Americans will turn back to their own resources. As climate change sets in, the global network will weaken. War will become the norm again. I imagine the US will continue to maintain a nuclear arsenal and use it occasionally.

Nobody can tell Donald Trump what is the real price for him if the US would leave NATO. — ssu

Trump is 78. He may or may not get around to leaving NATO. Unless the Democrats come up with a superstar, the next president will be Vance, the "dark enlightenment" guy. Even if the Democrats do win an election, the cold war crew is gone. There is no reason to support Europe. The UK maybe, but not Europe.

I agree. When Americans talk about liberals or leftists, they mean people who favor solutions from the federal government and greater centralized authority. Historically, it's been American rightists who tried to protect democracy.

It explains the Trump talk of Europe "owing" to the US when the countries are spending less of defense. — ssu

I think what's finally dying out is the idea that the US is supposed to have global influence. That was cold war ideology. The new US only takes care of itself. That's been coming for a while.

Regarding Elon Musk using the government to advance his interests, that sounds bad, but that would be normal in Japan. The Japanese don't have the history of strife between government and big business. Maybe that has also needed to change in the US.

Still, change is scary.

Even if the Exodus is completely made-up biblical writers still had this idea of disloyal demographic threat in mind. — BitconnectCarlos

:up: