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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   29640 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 16, 2024

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Higher order effects can and should be taken into account when selecting a Buridan point. For example, I would imagine the Buridan point for car ownership vs motor vehicle deaths would be rather high given the immense benefits/conveniences of car ownerships to people and society at large. I partially chose the dog example because:

  1. most people like dogs so they'd probably be willing to tolerate several deaths per year (we already do)

  2. dogs provide no net benefit to anyone but the pleasure of the owners (they are completely removed from the food chain and they otherwise are a net detriment given their massive carbon footprint, the daily urine/stool output providing loci for disease spread, and other externalities like barking noise, smell, etc.)

letme nitpick (bust mosty agree) 2. non-owners might also get pleasure (e.g. by looking at photos of puppies, by playing with a friend's dog ).

dogs provide no net benefit to anyone but the pleasure of the owners

Seeing eye dogs and handicapped assistance dogs, bomb and/or drug sniffing dogs, rescue dogs, I mean let's at least be clear about what is being given up.

To say nothing of cattle dogs and sled dogs and other working dogs.

I'm not just against Dog Euthanasia because I like dogs, we have millennia of shared history with the species and we've bred them to fill dozens of niches that have aided human society for centuries. Giving up that benefit with no takesies backsies is not something to do flippantly.

To say nothing of cattle dogs and sled dogs

I guess it's about 0.1% of them. I live where there is snow and yet I barely remember anyone using Huskies or Malamuts for their original use, it's so rare. These uses are nearly obsolete. WTF who needs a 80 kg cattle dog in a 10M city but here they are.

Better hope that nothing happens that renders them more useful again, is all I'll say.

(which is similar to what I say about many types of guns)

Okay, now I want a zombie movie where uninfected dogs help human zombies find living humans, and while the zombie eats the brains, the dog eats the rest.

You're greenlit for a 10 episode Netflix series.

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