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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   27621 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024

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Why are you putting something I didn't say in quotation marks as if I did? And then, to add insult to injury, actually quoting me. You'll find that the text in italics is eminently falsifiable. If you want my prediction to be more concrete, then here: by the end of the century human population will be smaller than at the start of it, and an overwhelming majority of the remaining humans will have far less access to energy, resources, and freedoms, both in absolute terms and relative to what those at the top will enjoy.

by the end of the century human population will be smaller than at the start of it

So you are predicting... Two billion dead by the hand of the cabal if they start today?

an overwhelming majority of the remaining humans will have far less access to energy, resources, and freedoms, both in absolute terms and relative to what those at the top will enjoy.

This is already the case, so it's not much of a prediction.

Ordinary humans already have far less access to energy, resources, and freedoms in 2024 than in 2000? You and I have very different definitions of far less. We are not living in pods, eating bugs, and owning nothing yet.

Certainly the median human has "far less access to energy, resources, and freedoms... relative to what those at the top [enjoy]," and by "those at the top" I mean you and me.

The cabal seriously needs to pick up the pace, population is increasing every day and the century is nearly a quarter over.

You're misreading me, two times in a row now. The existence of wealth gap is trivially true and is no prediction at all. I'm saying that it will grow monumentally in 2100 compared to 2000, and also, this part you're completely ignoring for some reason, the absolute value of available energy and freedoms for a common person will be considerably lower in 2100 than 2000. And no, I'm not at the top even if I'm in a position to be a lazy layabout with internet and hookers, and if you're posting here, I assume neither are you. How many banks do you own?

I'm saying that it will grow monumentally in 2100 compared to 2000... And no, I'm not at the top even if I'm in a position to be a lazy layabout with internet and hookers, and if you're posting here, I assume neither are you. How many banks do you own?

You said that the overwhelming majority of humans in 2100 will be far less well off than those at the top.

We are talking about the world here, and not just the US, right?

My income is well within the global 1%, and the median American's income is within the top 3% globally.

I know you will want to salami slice even further, and talk about the global 0.1% or 0.00001%, but there's no reasonable metric by which the man in the mirror is not globally on top, despite ressentiment to people who have it even better.

the absolute value of available energy and freedoms for a common person will be considerably lower in 2100 than 2000.

I'm aware that this is the other part of your prediction, and I again can only say that the cabal needs to pick up the pace because the bottom half of the world is way better off than in 2000 and it's a long way back.

If you're talking about income, you're not at the top definitionally. How many banks do you own?

I am talking about income. If you don't think that 3rd percentile is "the top" of the global income distribution, well, then we've gotten to the salami slicing.

No, I categorically reject interpreting my prediction to mean 3rd percentile of income, or people who care about income at all. It is obvious in any non-bad faith interpretation that I meant people with the means to shape the society and its course, not hundreds of millions who reside in right places while possessing right skills.

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I think it was pretty clear from the context that the first part was a summary of your views. Plus, I did literally quote you later on with a far stronger claim.

Your prediction isn't predicting all that much. Birth rates are plummeting and have been for decades. Global births peaked in 2016 and the world's TFR is about to fall below replacement. That the global population will shrink significantly is mathematically certain.

The second part is stronger (at least the 'absolute' part if not the 'relative' part), but seems very unlikely to me.

However, we weren't discussing whether or not the average human will be poorer in 2100 than they are now. The discussion was about the 'malicious, intelligent, competent agents'. Who are these agents? Where is your evidence for their existence and motives? What would you accept as falsification of these claims?

And I think I was pretty clear that I sneer at your summary of my views as a strawman. As for what I would accept as falsification, it is simple. Flourishing of common people, rather than death and immiseration. No pods, no bugs, no fifteen minutes cages.

Well, we don't live in pods, nor do we eat bugs. I'm not sure how being able to walk to work counts as a 'cage' but whatever. Falsified, I guess?

But you haven't answered the key question. Who are these malicious actors? What evidence do you have for their exitence or motives?

Why is it consistently missed that this is my prediction for the future? Yes, we don't. We will. Unless we die, or I'm wrong.

I believe there are malicious, intelligent, competent agents

Looks like the present tense to me. I assume that you're retreating from your original claim then? Unless you're willing to be even a tiny bit specific about who you're talking about I can't see how it is possible to have a meaningful discussion.

Why did you stop the quote there? Why did you not include the part which says "which plan to" that in any plain reading implies that those things have not happened yet?

Separately, how my naming any particular elites as the drivers of this upcoming change, differentiating them from their fellows who are along for the pleasant ride, would change anything? It would only invite further nitpicking and pedantry.

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