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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: February 26th, 2024

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  • Some comic-book events feature a black Superman, and that raises questions about whether Kryptonians coincidentally match every ethnic group on Earth

    Not exactly, but they have dark and light skin. Krypton’s red sun is a big deal in Kryptonian health. Kryptonian communities living closer to the equator would probably evolve higher melanin the same as humans did. Actually, light-skinned Kryptonians require a bigger suspension of disbelief than dark-skinned ones do.

    And obviously the racial dynamics between dark and light Kryptonians wouldn’t be the same as on earth. It would depend upon factors like the shape of continents, the location of arable soil, of large herbivores and of predators, and of minerals.

    Fun fact: swords made out of meteorites are a common trope in Japan, because Japan has poor iron and big mountains.




  • Proud luddite here. The original luddites destroyed machinery owned by capitalists which threatened their jobs. The choice was either destroy the machines, or stand by and become unable to feed your family while a rich man gets richer.

    I have no opposition to technology which is used for good, and whose control is placed in the hands of the workers. Your self-hosted AIs are fine, although I do ask that you only use energy intensive processes if you have solar panels. After all, this planet is the only one we’ve got. At our current rate of pollution, soon the world will only be inhabitable to AI.

    But I downvote anything promoting corporate AI designed to replace people’s jobs. I am all for replacing human jobs, if the humans get to relax and live comfortable lives afterward. But I am against replacing jobs if we choose to have a society where you need a job to live. That’s not nature, it’s a choice we make as a society. The minute you automate someone’s job, you do necessarily admit that society doesn’t need that person’s work to get by. The only reason they shouldn’t get to put their feet up and take it easy is political. And politically, we have decided instead what happens is they die. That’s unacceptable, and until it changes, we can’t afford to have job replacing machines.




  • I have a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to politics that convinces people I’m some sort of troll when I say completely reasonable left wing political views. I guess other leftists feel the need to qualify and speak softly and really try hard to make themselves understood by the other side. I don’t care about making my views palatable to reactionaries, and I guess for some reason that makes them unpalatable to other leftists as well. It’s really fucking weird.





  • Anarchism isn’t no government, it’s no state. The distinction between a government and a state varies between different definitions, but the most widely accepted distinguishing characteristic of a state is a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.

    For example, a high school club might have a system of government, with a president, treasurer, and secretary. But the club president has no greater right to the use of violence than any other member.

    It may be hard to imagine a national government operating the same way, but I believe it is possible.