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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: November 29th, 2023

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  • FinishingDutch@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.blahaj.zonemerry holidays!
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    2 months ago

    Since Americans basically stole every tradition they have from someone else, I’m not gonna worry about their opinion on them :D

    The US is a toddler when it comes to history and traditions. I drive by a church that was built in the year 900. That one’s actually called the ‘new church’ since it replaced one from the year 400. That’s history. And we’ve got traditions that go back centuries further.

    Just because Americans prefer watered down, tame versions of our European traditions, doesn’t mean the rest of us are going to follow. Krampus, Sunneklaas, Sinterklaas and other traditions are here to stay.








  • Well sure, the warp core is inherently dangerous. But they seem to have a good grasp on the radiation aspect as well as general safety. It’s also a fairly acceptable trade off to sail among the stars at faster than light speed.

    But the transporter? I consider it an inherently evil and untrustworthy device. It basically kills the user, sends an energy beam and reassembles an entity at the other end that thinks it’s the person who just stepped on the pad.

    We know this is how it works, because we’ve seen incidents that clearly show us. In TOS ‘The Enemy Within’, Kirk is split into two people. And similarly, in TNG’s ‘Second Chances’, the transporter again splits Riker into two people.

    Logically, if the transporter sent and reassembles the actual matter, clearly it wouldn’t be able to make perfect copies. You’d end up with two half scale copies at best. So, the matter used to reassemble is not the same matter that was disassembled. Therefore, the transporter inherently murders anyone who uses it.

    So nooooo thank you, I’m taking the shuttle.



  • I’m always a bit disappointed with how safe and PG Star Trek is. Because transporters would be an awesome way to put some gruesome body horror into the series.

    It really is the scariest thing by far on any ship. The ‘science’ behind transporters basically makes it a murder machine if it works correctly. I want to see what horrors beyond imagination can occur when that thing messes up or is deliberately sabotaged.







  • You did say “I love meat, let me assure you”. That’s pretty proud.

    Fair enough, I can see how you’d read it that way.

    How can you be concerned about growing meat consumption in other countries? “Gee I sure hope people don’t act like me, that’d be concerning!”. Rules for thee.

    Yep, it’s hypocritical, and I accept that. But it’s still a cause for concern, considering the broader context.

    Over the past decades, we’ve seen a global rise in living standards. Especially in countries like China and India, which represent a significant chunk of our global population.

    China’s poverty has fallen dramatically over the past decades. The average Chinese person is now much better off than they used to be. If you look at poverty figures, you’ll see a nice little ski-slope: back in 1990, effectively 98 percent of Chinese wereliving below the current poverty line. In 2019, that was down to below 16 percent.

    Same thing for India: a dramatic poverty decline since the 1980’s.

    If you’re at least somewhat aware of economics, you’ll understand that an increased standard of living also leads to more consumption: people can now afford cars, they can afford to travel, they can afford more food - which includes meat.

    China is already the world’s largest meat consumer - but there’s a catch: they’re lagging in per-capita consumption. Experts predict that with increased urbanization and rising income levels, Chinese people are going to eat more and more meat. Because they can finally afford to do so.

    Meat consumption is also on the rise in India. While there’s certainly plenty of Indians who don’t eat meat on religious grounds, actually over 70 percent of the population does eat meat.

    So, see why I’m worried? Because they’re going down the same path towards overconsumption that we ware. Is it hypocritical to say to a no-longer-impoverished Indian or Chinese person that they shouldn’t want meat, cars or shiny new phones? Yes. But one can also hope that they learn from our mistakes in that regard. Overconsumption is going to have a profound impact on the scale of those two countries.

    That’s not to mention the antibiotic crisis where treatment resistant bacteria are developing in animals due to overuse in livestock. Or the development of animal flus like birdflu, corona virus, swine flu, ebola etc etc, which emerge from consuming animals.

    Those are certainly things I’m worried about. Especially considering recent history regarding covid. God only knows what meat production is like in some countries, and I shudder to find out. It’s only going to get worse if producers try to fill that increased demand.

    You’re doing so much good, why not do the little extra step of going vegan? It’s so easy nowadays. Good for you, good for the planet, good for the animals. There’s no practical downside?

    Well, honestly, at some point it gets really tiring to shoulder the burden of basically everything. I’m using a computer to type this, my previous post was on a phone. They both contain lithium, cobalt, coltan and other materials, a lot of which get mined with either exploited workers or outright slave labor. The clothes I’m wearing were probably made by an exploited worker in a sweatshop. And you can keep going on and on and on. There’s really no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism, as any economics professor will point out.

    So on some days, I like to enjoy a nice burger. Even if it might not be good for me or the planet.