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Pick posted:Most of the "tech advances" we keep crowing over aren't that special or interesting. Many of them are just re-packaged versions of older ideas. The real change is just that a lot of this Sharper-Image-esque bullshit is now "affordable", in that they've convinced you that you should own a "smart" water bottle even though that means nothing, no you don't, and you still owe $40K in student loans. Technology has slowed down in recent decades. In the first half of the 20th century, there were huge technology advances: cars, airplanes, radio, nuclear energy, vaccines, x-rays, television, etc. But recently, there hasn't been jack poo poo. Compare 2016 to 2006: it's pretty much the same except our cellphones have some extra features, and the internet has more crap on it (social media). Technology is definitely stagnating. Like you said, it's all stupid bullshit.
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Dec 16, 2016 06:22
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oldpainless posted:Santa exists solely to emotionally control and blackmail children More like oldpressntless
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Dec 16, 2016 06:28
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spit on my clit posted:the hell are you talking about Every product seems to have wifi or bluetooth connected to it for some reason. It's pretty much the reason that huge cyberattack happened recently in the US. That said, I think Twitter has changed the world much more than we think. And I hope Apple Pay and whatever the Google equivalent makes it so nobody has to use physical credit cards.
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Dec 16, 2016 06:29
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Santa Claus is Comin to Town tries to normalize a surveillance state.
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Dec 16, 2016 06:29
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Tiggum posted:Do most people have personal memories of believing in Santa and that being good? Because I can't remember that far back, so all I've got is memories of knowing that Santa wasn't real but that you shouldn't say that because adults seemed to be really invested in kids believing it for some reason. As far as I can remember, it's never seemed like a good thing to me. My sisters talk about how much they enjoyed it, but my mom's a horror junkie and put a scary spin on Santa to make it exciting. They didn't tell me Santa was real but told me about all sorts of monsters. So I learned quickly not to believe everything I was told, but my imagination would always half-wonder and everything was a fun, scary adventure. I have a distinct memory of being four and when my mom told me there was a clown outside (which I was terrified of at the time), I had enough skepticism to call her out on it. Unfortunately for me, there happened to be a clown outside on this particular occasion. (It was my sister's friend on Halloween, but you don't exactly put that together when you cynically look out the french doors to see Your Greatest Fear running toward your house.) My point is, Santa should be scarier.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:30
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Star Wars isn't nearly interesting enough of a concept/universe to deserve as many movies as it is getting. Same with Star Trek and the endless series and movies. Stargate SG-1 was much more interesting and realistically handled (in terms of the military running things instead of a bunch of space monks or peaceful do-gooders, at least), and while it had a good long run, I'd rather be seeing endless reboots of that instead of star wars/trek.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:32
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Stargate has some truly great episodes but I'd say across all the different series there's only like 15 of them, maybe. None of them have been really moving like The Visitor or Far Beyond the Stars on DS9.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:39
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Science fiction is a very silly genre. Almost as silly as fantasy. It's make believe. It's not interesting at all. And it's inherently regressive in its politics.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:49
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Blue Star posted:Science fiction is a very silly genre. Almost as silly as fantasy. It's make believe. It's not interesting at all. And it's inherently regressive in its politics. Pretty much every fiction genre is silly. Drama, romance, action, all of it, it's just as "make believe" as any other movie. They are just playing make believe about different things. And if you care about the "politics" of any movie/series you are probably thinking about it too hard.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:55
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The only good thing about the Star Wars Expanded Universe is how loving upset nerds were when it was made non-canon. No, no part of it was ever good, even Thrawn. It was all poo poo and it's good it's gone, and you caring about it was a waste.
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Dec 16, 2016 07:56
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Thrawn is canon now.
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Dec 16, 2016 08:05
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nooooooooooooo
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Dec 16, 2016 08:09
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Pick posted:My very unpopular opinion is that Blue Star, provided they're not a hoax account, is entitled to whatever perspective they have as a function of their experiences. If a perspective is so bad that anybody's first though is "this must be a hoax", you may be entitled to it, but holy poo poo, should you reconsider it
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Dec 16, 2016 08:52
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Pick posted:nooooooooooooo The best part of the Thrawn trilogy books was when they discovered an evil clone of Luke Skywalker that was sort of mentally retarded. His name? Luuke Skywalker. Yes, Luke spelled as Luuke.
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Dec 16, 2016 09:10
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Henchman of Santa posted:Santa Claus is Comin to Town tries to normalize a surveillance state. wow now you're using fake news to try to infiltrate the anti-santa people i am on to you #BURNTHEGROTTO
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Dec 16, 2016 09:16
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yeah I eat rear end posted:Star Wars isn't nearly interesting enough of a concept/universe to deserve as many movies as it is getting. Same with Star Trek and the endless series and movies. Stargate SG-1 was much more interesting and realistically handled (in terms of the military running things instead of a bunch of space monks or peaceful do-gooders, at least), and while it had a good long run, I'd rather be seeing endless reboots of that instead of star wars/trek. Blue Star posted:Science fiction is ... inherently regressive in its politics.
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Dec 16, 2016 10:50
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Tiggum posted:The military runs everything in all of those. They go out of their way to not act like a military, and go out of their way to distinguish themselves from "war-like" races. In DS9 for example they only have one "warship" (even though they could easily make more), despite the fact that their enemies have hundreds. With every other ships the weapons/shields are more of an afterthought. In star wars they are just religious fanatics that sometimes fight, but that is not their primary function.
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Dec 16, 2016 12:00
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The Saddest Rhino posted:sounds like what an ELF WOULD SAY Yo, sup? Let It Be is a boring lovely garbage album that should have stayed in the vaults instead of having Phil Spector gussy it up and release it. Even the surviving Beatles approved "closer to what they envisioned" Naked version blows rear end, along with the Let It Be movie. Should have left it at Abbey Road, as The End (barring Her Majesty) was a great sendoff for the group.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:07
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All fiction is regressive because it distances us from real world struggle against the oppressors.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:07
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That's why when I go home I try to spend at least four hours meditating on the struggle against communism
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Dec 16, 2016 14:10
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All existence is oppressive as we consume resources we have no claim to.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:10
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free basket of chips posted:All existence is oppressive as we consume resources we have no claim to. Uhh I think you'll find consuming something is a pretty good way of claiming it.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:15
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You Are A Elf posted:Yo, sup? I was worried at first that this was about the Replacements album of the same name and we would have to throw down.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:41
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Field Mousepad posted:Tiggum you are the most clueless motherfucker on the planet. Go outside dude. Seriously.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:41
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Tiggum posted:Do most people have personal memories of believing in Santa and that being good? Because I can't remember that far back, so all I've got is memories of knowing that Santa wasn't real but that you shouldn't say that because adults seemed to be really invested in kids believing it for some reason. As far as I can remember, it's never seemed like a good thing to me. Kids actually believing in Santa Claus is a lovely third-world thing. When I grew up everyone just believed in the Soviet Union and Leluliike Casagrande.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:44
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yeah I eat rear end posted:Star Wars isn't nearly interesting enough of a concept/universe to deserve as many movies as it is getting. Same with Star Trek and the endless series and movies. Stargate SG-1 was much more interesting and realistically handled (in terms of the military running things instead of a bunch of space monks or peaceful do-gooders, at least), and while it had a good long run, I'd rather be seeing endless reboots of that instead of star wars/trek. Realism isn't the ultimate goal of storytelling. Also, comparing it to Stargate is apples and oranges, Star Wars is space fantasy, not sci-fi.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:50
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WampaLord posted:Star Wars is space fantasy, not sci-fi. You're defining sci-fi in a way that makes it a useless phrase. (Sci-Fi is a sub-set of fantasy anyway  .)
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Dec 16, 2016 14:52
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WampaLord posted:Realism isn't the ultimate goal of storytelling. Also, comparing it to Stargate is apples and oranges, Star Wars is space fantasy, not sci-fi. Obviously not since we're talking about stories with spaceships and magic aliens. The "realism" I was talking about was just in terms of portraying human nature and how we would hypothetically deal with having access to such advanced technology. It gives humanity too much credit to assume we wouldn't use it on our human enemies first and any aliens that don't hand over their stuff second. And the genre thing is nitpicking. If it has spaceships and lasers and aliens I'm lumping it all together. I don't care if it's technically space fantasy, space opera, whatever, they are close enough to be compared.
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Dec 16, 2016 14:57
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yeah I eat rear end posted:The "realism" I was talking about was just in terms of portraying human nature and how we would hypothetically deal with having access to such advanced technology. It gives humanity too much credit to assume we wouldn't use it on our human enemies first and any aliens that don't hand over their stuff second.  Are you describing Stargate or Star Wars here? Both involve using advanced technology on human enemies.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:05
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Star Wars kicks rear end because it's got magic and kung fu and space ships and laser swords. It's like a huge pile of awesome poo poo for winners.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:08
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WampaLord posted:
This is getting kind of silly. All I was saying is that the federation in star trek and the jedi in star wars are pretty lame and hamstring themselves intentionally to avoid being too militaristic, whereas Stargate doesn't - the stargate program from the beginning (and aside from the brief times it was under government control) a military program with military goals. I really don't care to argue about why it is better, my opinion is that it just makes for a better show. The political and diplomatic parts of star trek and star wars (i.e. the prequels) bore me to tears. Just blow something up.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:11
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I for one am concerned about the geopolitical ideologies that the Rebel Alliance is bringing to their galaxy. It has all the makings of setting up a religious oligarchy.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:16
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Tiggum deserves every single bullying on the Internet
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Dec 16, 2016 15:23
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Muslims and Jews are not a race, nor is praising or denigrating them racist. Perhaps this isn't an unpopular opinion?
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Dec 16, 2016 15:48
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Henchman of Santa posted:I was worried at first that this was about the Replacements album of the same name and we would have to throw down. I would never talk ill of The Replacements, my friend. No one should.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:50
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Beige posted:Muslims and Jews are not a race, nor is praising or denigrating them racist. Perhaps this isn't an unpopular opinion? This is the worst kind of semantic argument. When people say "racist" they actually mean "bigoted" so stop trying to get around it with a technicality.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:53
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WampaLord posted:This is the worst kind of semantic argument. When people say "racist" they actually mean "bigoted" so stop trying to get around it with a technicality. You do agree with my statement though, right?
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Dec 16, 2016 15:55
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Beige posted:You do agree with my statement though, right? The segment of the population who hates muslims but is OK with arabic people of other religions is small enough of a minority that it's safe to say that if you hate muslims, you hate arabic people in general and are therefore racist.
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Dec 16, 2016 15:59
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If Jews are not a race what does that mean for all the atheist ones?
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Dec 16, 2016 16:00
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Beige posted:You do agree with my statement though, right? Denigrating any type of people is bad and you shouldn't do it. I don't care what label you put on it.
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Dec 16, 2016 16:00
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