Yes, I don't entirely trust men who choose to hang around with/educate kids. They should not be trusted as much as women.

On no, my inexperienced friend, let me assure you, men are simply more physically, and as a result socially, capable of carrying out nefarious desires. — Outlander

That's a good point. But you think physicality is a big factor in the vast discrepancy between the numbers of men and women sexual predators? How does that work? Are women physically less able to chase down and/or overpower a little kid?

That biological men are nine times more likely than biological women to sexually abuse children isn't that biological men are likely to sexually abuse children. — Michael

I didn't say we were. I said we should not trust men to be around kids as much as we trust women.

So just sexism. Biological men must be assumed to be child-molesting paedophiles. — Michael

No, but we're about nine times more likely to sexually abuse children.
https://www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens#:~:t

Until that changes, men should not be trusted to be around kids as much as women. I know as a male teacher I am regarded with much more suspicion than my female coworkers. I don't have a problem with that. It's certainly justified. I have a problem with my gender being so violent and rapey.

So you're a transphobe, got it. — Michael

I have no problem with women who identify as men, they can go wherever they want. Biological men, however, cannot be trusted around kids to the same degree.

Would you assume that a 50 year old gay man using the men's changing room is perving on any 13 year old boys who also happen to be changing? — Michael

I would say it's a definite possibility. I don't entirely trust men to be around little kids. I'm a teacher and I'm always a little suspicious of male teachers in elementary school settings (and the priesthood). I think the reasons are obvious. I would not let a man or teenage boy babysit my daughter. I am equally suspicious of gay and straight men.

Is your concern their age or that they're transgender? Would you mind if it were a 50 year old cisgender woman, or an 16 year old transgender woman? — Michael

I don't have a problem with biological women sharing a changing room with little girls. I have a serious problem with a biological men sharing a changing room with little girls. Also, the fact that he's 50 makes me suspect he's perving on them.

Do you think grown men should be allowed in changing rooms with pre-teen girls?

That biological men are more likely to have nefarious motives than biological women isn't that there is a good reason to believe that a transfemme swimmer has nefarious motives for competing in swimming competitions.

AmadeusD doesn't have a good point, it's simply transphobia. — Michael

You think a 50 year old biological male should be sharing a changing room with teenage girls? You don't see any problem with that? What if the girls are 13? 8?

Amadeus has a good point about motive. Biological men are much more likely to have nefarious motives than biological women.

It's like that old joke where the football team brings in a donkey to kick a field goal because it's not expressly against the rules.

The Religious Right, the most powerful faction of this lobby is guided by revelation not reason. They are actually eagerly looking forward to this final prophesied holy war. — Fooloso4

And also, while the Right doesn't have a whole lot of fondness for Jews, they really don't like Muslims, so the enemy of their enemy is now their friend.

The way I do it is information (the story) only exists as,
Brain; (information) — Mark Nyquist

How does a bunch of neurons firing release* the information from the book? Or was the information already in the book to begin with?

*I know that's really imprecise language, but I can't think of a better word.

I agree with you on that. I think if that were a serious possibility I might fight to oppose it. But that's not an anti-immigration stance. — bert1

How is it not related to immigration? I am supportive of women's rights and the rights of LGBTQ. If an immigrant is not supportive of those rights (and is downright hostile to women and LGTBQ) why would I want them to join my society?

What tends to get obscured in such speculation is the question of motive. There is an important difference between declaring war in response to the actions of an Iranian backed militia or other group and declaring war as a means of uniting the country against a common enemy. It may be that the latter is a consequence of the former but that does not mean it would be correct to attribute it as the motivating reason for it. — Fooloso4

I agree. I don't think it will help Biden if we get plunged into another MidEast adventure. Quite the opposite.

I predict just before the presidential election Biden will declare war, possibly with Iran. It won't be pretty, but it will draw upon patriotism of the citizenry. It might work or it might not. Remember the disastrous departure from the now Taliban country. — jgill

I thought this was unlikely, but after today..

It's almost like they don't really believe a genocide is going on.

The UN continues to beclown itself.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has fired 12 aid workers accused of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, and has launched an investigation. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday that he was "horrified" by the allegations and that those found to have been involved would be referred for potential criminal prosecution.
Germany, Australia, Finland, Italy and the U.K. joined the U.S. and Canada today in suspending funding to the agency. UNRWA employs about 13,000 Palestinians and runs schools and shelters and distributes aid across Gaza.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna135991

Living through a genocide happening before our eyes, with 10000+ children dead, and yet apologists think this time it’s an exception.

History will view them poorly. — Mikie

Why didn't the ICJ demand a cease-fire?

The U.N.’s agency for Palestinians said that it fired several employees after receiving information from Israel showing that they had taken part in the October 7 terrorist attacks.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/u-n-agency-for-palestinians-discloses-involvement-of-employees-in-october-7-attack-u-s-pauses-funding/

With friends like the UN...

Israel-Hamas war live updates: ICJ stops short of ordering cease-fire, tells Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna135801

They didn't even call for a cease-fire. A win for Israel. Keep up the good work.

Behaviorism and eliminativism are on the outs. Panpsychism is making a comeback.

I find it far more repetitious that I am and it vomits politically correct boilerplate in each reply. — Chet Hawkins

Can you give some examples?

Do you think the Israeli numbers are credible? I would hazard neither can be trusted. But I also find it extremely hard to think the numbers aren't at least in that neighbourhood given the disparity in both technology and funding. — AmadeusD

Both have vested interests in manipulating the data. That being said, I'm sure thousands of children have been killed.

More than 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza since October 7, Hamas-run health ministry says
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-01-17-24/h_257bdc236b13560cf82166ffb89b8a22

You think the Hamas-run health ministry is credible?

OK, so anything is on the table.

Let's spin this further: Shmoland knew about the plans and has anticipated the plans for years. They easily turn back the attacker, suffering limited casualties. The leadership now believes there is no actual threat to their country. However, motivated purely by revenge, they now nuke Shmermany's main cities into oblivion.

Justified? — Echarmion

Let's just rename the countries for ease.

Revenge attacks are not justified. If Poland truly believes Germany is not a threat, they are not justified in attacking them. But in the age of nukes, what you describe is an impossible situation. Poland has already been attacked by Germany. The German people still hate Poland and want them eliminated. Germany can possibly develop a nuke of their own, or try and get one from another country that is hostile to Poland. Poland will have to be vigilant, up to the point of taking preemptive action against Germany, if it looks like a nuclear take is imminent.

If Hamas got their hands on a nuke, would they hesitate to use it against Israel? I don't think so.

Let's start with a simple case. The Shmazi's in Shmermany have been elected with over 80% support of the populace. They start a war of conquest and extermination against Shmoland, which is no threat to Shmermany. What is Shmoland morally allowed to do in fighting this war of aggression? I would argue: anything. Nothing is off the table for them in their fight for survival.

Oh, I see. So just no sympathy for those who voted for Hamas 17 years ago and who happened to be murdered now. — Mikie

I don't care if it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago. They chose to get in bed with Hamas, and now they're in a war and getting the shit kicked out of them. Live and learn. Next time don't vote for terrorists.

Yeah, those 10,000 babies should have known better. — Mikie

Reread what I said. Babies did not vote Hamas into power. I have sympathy for them.

That's an ambiguous question. As it says, it has access to "a vast amount of information". But it doesn't have conscious beliefs like we do, and our kind of knowledge is something akin to "justified true belief". — Michael

That's true. I feel like we've beaten this topic to death.

Something like a Boston Dynamics robot installed with ChatGPT is quite capable in principle of turning on the Large Hadron Collider, reading its data, and then writing out a natural language description of the result. A p-zombie scientist is exactly like this except that its body is made of skin and bones, not metal, and that its “software” is much more advanced than any current AI.

It has “knowledge” only in the sense that LLM’s have “knowledge”. It isn’t conscious. It is simply capable of processing input and reacting accordingly, whether that be with movement or speech. — Michael

I agree with this. But also

Do you have knowledge?

ChatGPT
Yes, I have a vast amount of information stored from a diverse range of sources up until my last update in January 2022. Feel free to ask me about a wide array of topics, and I'll do my best to provide you with accurate and helpful information.

So, does ChatGPT know things?

Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks
In videos from 7 October, the body of a young woman is lying face down in the back of a pickup truck, stripped to her underwear, one leg bent at an unnatural angle. One of the men sitting next to her pulls her long hair as armed men around him shout praises to God.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/18/evidence-points-to-systematic-use-of-rape-by-hamas-in-7-october-attacks

No sympathy for Hamas or the people who voted them into power. They're getting their just desserts.

Do you think they would have beliefs and knowledge?
— RogueAI
I think so. I think these are cognitive, not dependent on subjectivity. — hypericin

I think hypericin in right. Otherwise, we would have to assume a p-zombie could successfully navigate the world and do all sorts of complex jobs without having any knowledge. The concept of p-zombie researchers exploring the frontiers of science without having any knowledge is incoherent.

Do you think they would have beliefs and knowledge?

I don't know what TE is — Lionino

Thought Experiment.

I don't know what TE is. What is happening here is me having to explain over and over that p-zombies don't have minds. And then people asking me about p-dinosaurs and p-evolution and p-art and whatnot.
Honestly, I don't know about p-art and p-relationships and p-politics. I don't care about p-zombies, it is a derivative issue from deeper issues that have been addressed plenty in the history of philosophy. — Lionino

I think a p-justice system would be a lot different than ours too. Intent would not be a factor in things, whereas it's a huge factor in ours. And would p-zombies even have the concept of punishment? Implied in punishment is the idea of being put in unpleasant circumstances to cause changes in behavior. "Unpleasant" doesn't even mean anything to a zombie.

What are your thoughts?

Blame the Democrats for running a corpse for President. — Hanover

Biden is one health emergency away from being pressured to drop out. All it would take is one McConnell-esque freeze up.

The DA hired her lead prosecutor, not by doing a nationwide search for the best and brightest to take on the man who is vying for the most powerful position in the world, but by rolling over in bed and finding the guy that just fucked her and asking him if he'd be interested in the job. — Hanover

Do we have confirmation on that, though? CNN ran a story on that, but it was skimpy on details.

No one is getting out of bed to vote for Joe, not even Joe. — Hanover

I don't want to vote for Biden, but I'll crawl over broken glass to vote against Trump, and I'm not going to throw my vote away on a hopeless third party candidate.

That reasoning rests on the redutionist materialism doctrine that all mental states map to neurological states. — Lionino

The zombie brains have to be doing some kind of information processing. If that's not called "thinking" what is it called? P-thinking?

At this rate, it's only a matter of time until the country defaults on its debt, sparking a huge crisis. — Count Timothy von Icarus

I'm not so sure. No Democrat wants to see a debt default. I would guess most independents don't, either. Same with moderate Republicans. For the foreseeable future, there's going to be enough Democrats and moderate Republicans to avoid a default.

The zombie does not know anything, does not feel anything, it does not think. — Lionino

If a zombie can't think, what do you call the activity it's brain is doing? If you have one solve a math problem and look at what it's brain is doing with a brain scanner, you'll observe it's brain is doing something. If that something isn't "thinking", what is it?