volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@runsm0oth but like I said, this has big implications for the broader world, as goals that involve unsolvable problems weaken the public support for goals involving problems that are actually solvable.

They aren't independent.

And that's not even getting into other issues of society wasting resources on goals that are unachievable when those resources could be better spent on the ones that can be achieved.

So this is a major issue!

We really need to have as much or more focus on solutions then on goals.

Society is harmed every day by processes that don't keep that in mind.

@gcblasing@mstdn.social I'm still wondering what you're on about.

What specifically are you referring to?

@gcblasing@mstdn.social what in the world? Conservatives are pretty good cheerleaders for cops.

@runsm0oth You're misunderstanding my point, though, actually getting it exactly backwards.

To put it a different way, you keep talking about objectives when my entire point is that the focus on objectives should not distract us from the reality on the ground that regardless of objective there are often cases where there is no solution.

The identification of specific solution, or lack thereof! is critical since the objective is purely academic without a solution to get us to the objective.

Maybe I can put it yet another way by saying that I can have the objective of providing clean, unlimited power to every city and town through hooking up perpetual motion machines to generators. And I can talk about that objective all day long, I can celebrate it, and we can all stand together and cheer about how positive that objective is.

The problem is, there is no perpetual motion machine. There is no solution that actually gets to that objective.

We can't let focus on high profile objectives eclipse the need for real, practical solutions to achieve them.

Without solutions we are better off not even having those objectives in the first place.

@peteorrall they were quoted as objecting to censorship, not favoring payment from disfavored groups.

It's a completely different argument.

@Lazarou

@runsm0oth but again, some problems don't have solutions no matter how much we want them to.

It's one thing to assert that humans deserve those things. Yes! Sounds great! However no assertion can turn and unsolvable problem into a solvable one.

So where do we go after we declare that somebody deserves something that reality simply doesn't allow for? What good is the declaration? And in fact, it might end up even undermining such declarations as people get frustrated in seeing grand proposals not really working out.

I think we are saying that pretty clearly over the last decade with climate change declarations, just to put one finger on it.

It kind of delegitimizes the entire international order when people see impossible objectives and unrealistic promises not being achieved.

@RichPuchalsky Don't discount the possibility that other people don't have the same values that you do and they aren't subscribed to your crusade.

It may well be that other people aren't paid to stay on substack. It's just that they don't care about the things you care about, so they don't care about this.

I wouldn't.

@runsm0oth The problem is, there might not actually be a way out.

A whole lot of people seem to be assuming a solution that might not actually exist.

Sometimes a problem doesn't actually have a solution.

@kentborg different chains of lights might be wired differently, but yep! I had the same annoyance with chains of lights so I fed them DC and just accepted every other bulb not being lit.

In fact as the LEDs wore out over time I would switch the polarity of the DC to light up the other half and renew the chain.

@Bongolian "in US public schools" is a really key sentence in this report since it really debunks the framing that these politicians are trying to promote.

No, books aren't really being banned here. Rather public institutions are deciding the public policy outlines around which the public schools are to operate.

That's just government governing itself.

People are free to have whatever books they want. Their civil liberties are unaffected.

It's just that public schools are operated by the public under the terms that the public wants them to operate.

If anything this is a good reason to talk about not relying on the very institutions that are being criticized here.

@jessecoynelson when posting nonsense like this there's just not that much else to say other than calling it out for misleading the public and attempting to gaslight anybody naive enough to buy into the conspiracy theory.

It's not like you can do a deep dive here. The guy is just obviously wrong, and that's that.

It might be vaguely interesting to go into the problem with appealing to authority, but even that isn't all that interesting.

Some nutty guy said something nutty to Alex Jones.

One can call it out out of boredom but there's really not much more to say there.

@KeithDevlin Yeah from what I've been hearing there has been some talk about advisors and the dissertation committee needing to answer some questions about the accusations.

I would say that the student still needs to bear primary responsibility, but the department also has its own responsibilities to answer for here.

@jessecoynelson Oh no, I just really don't care about this guy because I know he is spouting nonsense and I can go to any bar any day of the week to hear some guy at the bar spouting off conspiracy theories.

Such people are a dime a dozen. Why should I bother sorting one from the other? The moment I see that he is saying things so clearly false, well, at least the guy at the end of the bar is more entertaining in his delivery.

This guy isn't even interesting, so why should I care about him?

And I might add, Alex Jones has such a terrible track record that anybody going on his show is already showing a lack of critical judgment.

So yeah, this guy is obviously wrong, selling a nonsensical conspiracy theory, and he might even believe it if he has such poor judgment that he would associate with Alex Jones.

But mainly, I just don't care who he is because he provides no value at all at this juncture.

@jessecoynelson I don't care who he is, when he is saying things that are clearly false, well, he's wrong.

And no, making a national holiday would not do anything to address voter fraud, and it certainly doesn't have anything at all to do with elections being bought.

Me? Oh I've been voting for years and never received my check. So much for that whole thing about elections being bought.

The guys just factually empty.

@KeithDevlin I believe the real accusation is about lack of attribution more than simply using others' work.

Some use of established language is natural, but the key is that it has to be properly attributed, and it's claimed that the president didn't do that.

@cjd hmmmm, is there an issue of backflow in a muffler to worry about?

What effect do you have in mind?

You stay classy, @Alphakilopapa @cpoliticditto@mas.to

@jessecoynelson Yes I intentionally chose my phrasing of sources LIKE Alex Jones 🙂

He's clearly wrong. And we know the statement is wrong because we've seen for ourselves that we vote and we exercise that regardless of anybody paying us.

So Alex and whoever he is interviewing are welcome to be wrong together, but we can easily debunk those conspiracy theories just based on our personal experiences.

@bigheadtales I just laugh about how now you're sounding like this is your defense against the outside world. You call names and make assumptions about people personally instead of actually allowing for ideas that don't confirm your biases.

No wonder you're so unaware of what's going on in the world.

No, I'm not a Republican. Yes you are wrong, but that has nothing to do with me, that has to do with your information sources that are not informing you.