Zeusthecat

Hey now, I did say it was a pretty half-baked opinion! But fair enough, point taken. Using the term 'instinct' was a poor choice in getting my point across. To state the way I feel about it more clearly, I guess I see there being two factors that my brain primarily uses when deciding whether a life form is 'important' or not: size and how similar it is to me. Like you said, even with something as small and foreign as a mouse, I would feel some level of guilt if I ended its life because there are enough things about the dying process that are similar enough to humans. I feel like I can recognize that I am causing it pain, I can see that it avoids things that scare it and gravitates towards things that it likes. So even though it is small, there are enough things about it's behavior and state of being that I can relate to. With a mosquito, I don't feel this way at all. First off, it's fucking tiny. Even if I could recognize it was in pain or scared or whatever, I would need a magnifying glass to do so and it would take some conscious effort. Second, I just can't relate to it at all. It is such a foreign life form to me. I have no way of telling whether it is in pain or not, I can't tell if it experiences fear, and as far as I can tell, it is more similar to a plant than it is to any of the more 'important' animals that I've observed. Because of these differences, I guess I just don't care and don't value its life. But if either of these factors were different, I would feel differently. If it were human sized I would probably feel differently. And if it were the same size but exhibited recognizable behavior that I see in humans, I would also feel differently. So I guess for me, I feel like what is 'right' or 'wrong' is relative to the perspective of the life form. I feel like it is wrong to kill, enslave, or torture things that clearly exhibit recognizable characteristics but I don't think it is as wrong to do that to tiny ass things that are completely un-relatable and foreign. By mosquito morality, killing mosquitoes is clearly bad but single celled organisms can go fuck themselves.

Thank you for clarifying your position a bit. I'll admit, the question you pose is not as easy to answer as I would expect it to be. If I had to take a stab, I would say that there is no established connection between what race a person is and their 'quality' or 'importance' as a life form. So I would say it is wrong to enslave and torture black people on the basis of their race because their is nothing to indicate that their race makes them any lesser of a life form than any other race. As far as animals are concerned, I think one could argue that perhaps it is more 'okay' to enslave and torture them than it is to enslave and torture people based on race because as you go down the chain, your human instincts might scream at you that many of these are clearly lower life forms that don't have a strong enough significance in the grand scheme of things and aren't worth going out of your way to protect. This is a pretty half-baked thought though so it probably needs some work to make more sense. I'll mull it over and try to state it more clearly later.

Tycho, reading through your posts, I'm not sure that I entirely understand what you personally believe and practice regarding speciesism. A lot of what you are posting is really just a series of questions and statements like "I would feel the same about this as I would feel about that". So, if you don't mind, can you indulge me by answering the following question: Do you personally think all forms of life are equal and deserve the same considerations? For instance, do you think swatting a mosquito is the moral equivalent of killing a person? I am genuinely curious to know if you draw a line somewhere with the speciesism argument and what criteria you would use for life that is worth making the effort to not kill. Personally, I draw the line somewhere between mouse and mosquito but I don't fully understand why I feel that it is perfectly okay to kill mosquitoes while I would feel some level of guilt for killing a mouse.

I didn't read it but here is my honest take. Climate-wise, Phoenix is quite nice from October through April. Lows rarely get below 40 F and highs are usually in the 70s to 80s with a few hot spells that get us up in the 90s here and there. In that period of time, it is tough to find a more pleasant place to do outdoor stuff. However, the opposite part of the year sucks major ass. In June/July it is fairly common for us to reach 115 F and just walking outside feels like getting blasted with heat from opening a hot oven. Unless you have a pool and a ton of sunscreen, you would probably just want to lock yourself inside with the A/C running full blast. It doesn't really bother me too much though because most of my hobbies tend to be indoors. The main gripe I have about Phoenix is the political climate. Phoenix is predominantly republican and we have the super asshole, Joe Arpaio as our sheriff. Luckily, most of my co-workers tend to lean the other way so the people I interact with most are pretty cool, but it is hard not to notice just how predominant the right-wing viewpoints are. There is a lot of overt racism because of our proximity to the border and everyone's misconceptions about illegal immigrants, education is one of the worst in the nation because republicans, and agencies like CPS are constantly getting their funding cut also because republicans. So yeah, in a sense, it is hell. But it has its moments and can be alright if you find a good group of people.

I'll admit that there is definitely a lack of research in that area. But I still think it is noteworthy that there is no data to suggest that weed mixed with any other drug produces a fatal combination. There are lots of other drugs that can be fatal in and of themselves but there is no indication that there are any drugs that aren't normally fatal that suddenly become fatal when mixed with weed. That is the big problem with it being illegal though. It makes it tough to properly research these types of things and there isn't a huge wealth of data to go off of. So yeah, definitely agree with you in that regard.

I have looked this up in the past and to my knowledge there has never been an account of anyone overdosing from weed or mixing it with another drug resulting in a fatal concoction. Googling it now and I am still finding no accounts of this ever happening. Yes it might sound too good to be true. But do the research and you'll find that this is definitely one of the safer substances out there and far safer than many and probably most prescription drugs. People have been using it for thousands of years and it is not illegal because it is unsafe. It is illegal largely because cannabis was a threat to the lumber and cotton industries.

Kind of. It is physically impossible to consume enough weed to actually overdose and die. It has never happened. And to add to that, there is no drug that, when mixed with weed, becomes a fatal combination. Ambien, and other drugs like it on the other hand? You can overdose and people have overdosed on it and it can become toxic when mixed with other drugs. And I think people are kind of overselling this whole "FDA approval" thing. Just because something is FDA approved doesn't mean it's safe or that it's even any safer than something that isn't FDA approved. That whole system is kind of whacked and is easily influenced by special interest groups. Consider the countless drugs produced by big pharmaceutical companies that were FDA approved and later taken off of the market because of the deaths and other horrible side effects they caused. Then think of all the resulting class action lawsuits. There are countless examples of this.

Regarding the inventory, I wasn't the biggest fan. Only being able to see one item at a time was kind of a pain and constantly cycling through all of them to find the one item I needed got rather tedious for me. I think it would have worked much better if instead of Manny pulling each item out of his jacket individually, he just held one side of his jacket open to reveal all of the items he had stuffed in there. I think this could be done in a way that wouldn't introduce an intrusive UI and would still feel very 'in-world'.

We could open a poop store together. Call it ZeusnDibs poo emporium.

I was secretly really hoping to see a Thumb or two show up around my neck of the woods on that map undermind9 put together because when I think about trying to make new friends (of which I have none right now that live anywhere near me), I imagine the chances of hitting it off with someone would be much higher if it was a person in this community. So please, someone move to Phoenix. It might be hell on earth here but at least you would have an automatic friend.

I think it is worth pointing out there is a long list of side effects for most (all?) prescription sleep aids, and death is often one of them. There are also obviously some side effects with using MJ instead but in my experience (and in my wife's experience since she has actually used both) the side effects from MJ are far less severe and death is certainly not one of them. Unfortunately, even where it is legal for medical use, you still can't get MJ prescribed to help with insomnia but it is pretty well documented that MJ (especially Indica dominant strains) is a very effective and fairly safe sleep aid.

I would answer that even if it is not a danger to the mother's life, the physical and psychological impact of carrying and giving birth to a child is huge. So in that case, I guess you are weighing the physical/psychological impact to the mother versus the right of a partially developed life form to live. In my opinion, the impact to the mother deserves much more consideration than the right of that partially formed life to live. I like what you are getting at though because it hints at something that also bothers me about the speciesist (?) argument. If we agree that all life forms are equal, then does that mean swatting a mosquito is the moral equivalent of killing a dog? Everything about me as a human tells me that that is utter bullshit. There is clearly a line somewhere in my head where mosquitoes and roaches are low enough life forms that don't deserve the same considerations that humans and animals do. This is where I get stuck and where I think Gormongous' line of reasoning regarding the number of connected neurons in the brain and how that relates to how 'important' a life form is has some weight.

Dude, this is a thread about weed. If there is one thing I have learned about conversations surrounding weed, it is that all stories are relevant to that discussion. And yes, I know that that makes absolutely zero sense.

Thanks for the well wishes on the kidney stone guys! I got a CT scan and it turns out I had a bunch of star bits all up in my kidneys. The only treatment in my case is to find a luma to feed them to.

And let's not forget the large percentage of people who are prescribed something or another that alters their mood in some way. I find it to be a strange dichotomy.

Just as a point of clarification, I think my definition of what constitutes a "stoner" is a bit different than most people here. To me, a stoner is pretty much anyone who smokes weed on a regular basis (usually daily). I have found that most people I know that fall into this category generally do see weed as a pretty important thing in their lives, especially considering they are willing to circumvent the law in order to consume it. It is unfortunate to hear that a lot of you have had such a negative experience with stoners. The vast majority of stoners I know are nothing like the typical stereotypes that most people would expect to see (jobless hippies who go everywhere reeking of pot, preaching about conspiracy theories, and being condescending towards everyone because they became so enlightened after that one semester of college they attended before they dropped out (and yes, I have definitely known a few of these types and they are the worst)). Most of my stoner friends have been educated people, maintain a steady job, are interested in and compassionate about a wide variety of things, and are generally super secretive about the fact they smoke weed. In fact, I am willing to bet that most of you probably know a few people that secretly consume weed regularly in their free time (i.e. a stoner by my definition) and by all accounts, they are just regular ass people. Surprisingly, even in the field I am in, I have come to know several people that smoke regularly even though they are some of the most straight edged, professional people I know. Glad to hear that even with the negative perception a lot of you might have surrounding stoners, most of you still support legalization (or at least decriminalization). Whether or not stoners are douchebags is really a moot point in this discussion and I'm glad we are reaching a point where even people who are endlessly annoyed by weed culture see how pointless it is for it to remain illegal. This might be outside the scope of this particular thread but I couldn't help but notice most people here seem to have expressed that they have no desire to do weed at all and think it's gross. I'm curious if that sentiment also carries over to alcohol for those who feel that way? Basically, for people who don't like weed and have no interest in doing it, does that stem from a disdain for consuming any substance that alters your state of mind or does that simply stem from the fact that it is illegal and there is a stigma associated with it that has been drilled into us by a lifetime of anti-drug propaganda?

Holy shit, what did I miss? Regarding Tycho's posts, I think they have been pretty fascinating and consistent. I can see how some of the posts may come off as absurd or needlessly confrontational to some but reading them closely, I really don't think Tycho is intentionally being an asshole to anyone here and following the logic in those posts, it really is pretty difficult to come up with a solid counter-argument. My stance on this topic though is a bit different. First, I personally do prefer to present my opinion in a way that is less confrontational (so yeah, I guess I think tone policing is kind of important). The whole point of having an argument or debate in my opinion is to try to convince the person you are arguing against that your argument is more sound than theirs. I like to think I'm right about the things I argue about and if someone confronts me with a counter-argument and is an asshole about it, I am more likely to spend my efforts frivolously defending my position rather than considering their points and challenging my own position. Whether it is this topic, gamergate, feminism, or any of the other things we discuss on these forums, I think it is important to recognize that when people get overly aggressive about hammering a point home, it can often do more harm than it does good when it comes to convincing naysayers to reconsider their position. Based on some of the responses to Tycho's posts in this thread, it seems that this is indeed the case which is unfortunate because had the conversation been framed a little bit differently, there probably would have been a better chance of other people remaining engaged in the conversation and getting more out of it. Regardless, I think the conversation has been fascinating and I am glad to see that some of the topics I had touched on earlier were brought up and expanded upon much more coherently than I probably would have been capable of. Personally, I think it is perfectly acceptable for someone to recognize that it is wrong to kill animals and eat them but at the same time be unwilling to give up meat. I am more interested in convincing people to agree that killing animals and eating them is wrong than than I am in actually convince them to stop doing it. I mean, it would be awesome if someone were convinced enough by these arguments to completely stop eating meat but I recognize that we live in a society where that is really fucking tough to do and I would absolutely not expect that of anyone.

That's the first thing I'm doing when I get home. Twig was right, motion controls in Mario Galaxy are actually really good. Even the rolling ball one. May the Mario gods forgive my foolishness.

No fucking joke, I am in the hospital right now with a 6mm kidney stone. If this kidney stone doesn't kill me, the irony of my last post in this thread will.

I think I've been pretty respectful towards everyone here in my posts. I'm sorry if I came off as an asshole in my attempt to correct you.

Alcohol does far more harm to your health.

I totally agree. They are too disconnected from the actual jobs they are evaluating people for. We had one highly qualified person apply who also came with a solid recommendation from me and we didn't even get an opportunity to interview him. The reason? They deemed his experience developing video games was not relevant to the type of development we do. He was literally one of the most qualified candidates we had seen.

So I've seen The Lego Movie about 30 times now thanks to my kids being obsessed with it. And I have to say, it is a really really good movie. I am constantly catching new details and the humor and comedic timing is just so spot on. I think this is one of the best animated films I've ever seen.