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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 8, 2024

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I agree that the minimum viable prison is just a fenced-off area with some guards watching the fence who optionally throw food in.

Unfortunately, such a prison would also be a human rights violation. If you imprison someone, you take away most of their agency which they could have used to look after their basic human interests, such as being housed, fed, adequately medicated and neither raped nor murdered. I think it is reasonable that the society who imprisoned a person should take care of these necessities.

"Human rights" aren't real. They were literally made up from nothing by enlightenment thinkers. What about my right to walk the streets and use the library without being hassled by underclass vagrants? No one cares for it.

Of course, human rights aren't real. The only thing I can be certain about is that that something which runs my mind exists. All the other stuff, electrons, sun flowers, homeless people, other entities which experience qualia, laws of mathematics or societies and so on are at best useful models to make sense of my sensory inputs.

Of course, most of these concepts were not made up at random by people who were high. Instead, they were invented to solve problems -- from describing their sensory experiences ('reality') to trying to prevent the repeat of bad outcomes in society.

The US was one of the forerunners with regard to the idea of human rights, and I would argue that this played a significant role in their economic success.

Fortunately for you, there are all kinds of countries who share your disdain for human rights. Mainland China, the Taliban regime, Iran or Somalia all agree with you that the convenience of important people like yourself should trump the desire of some less important people not to be sent to some gulag or shot in the streets.