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No.Biologists who study tool use among animals consider any environmental object that is manipulated to aid in a task (using a rock to bash open a coconut, for example) to count as "tool use". So from this perspective, everything is a tool (or has the potential to be a tool), depending on how it is used.A definition that literally encompasses everything in the universe is a weak definition, no?
QuoteThe world's real problem is population. Unless we can stabilize it, nothing we try to fix will stay fixed. But that's racist talk because right now the most populous areas, and the fast growing ones aren't white. Thus we can't discuss anything that might work, regardless of its palatability.
Birth rates level off as a country gets more prosperous and free. So we just need to make everyone better off. Which is the point of liberal economics in the first place, according to Adam Smith.
Except that if everybody suddenly started making as much trash as the populations in the USA and Europe, things will get pretty ugly pretty fast.
Heck, there's already a big pollution problem in China with all the factories and new cars around. And that's after the one-child policy bringing the birth rate down.
Last but not least there's certainly not enough energy for everybody to have first world living standards right now even if the companies didn't charge anything for it.
As a liberal, my view about government is that it exists solely to be a protector and benefactor of the people.
Well, Trump erased the muslim ban and leaving the Paric Climate treaty from his website, and he publicly walked back complete repeal of Obamacare insisting there are parts that need to be kept.
My conservative friends are now howling for his blood on FB. He literally went from being the second coming of jesus to the devil within an hour.
Regarding abortions for rape etc., I said that (lack of) consent informs my feelings, but that if the kid is killed, it becomes a victim too, in my opinion. I never said that a woman can't choose, but that there are other choices, and I don't want to pay for abortions, as I feel that they're tantamount to infanticide.
Regarding Climate change (if that's still the name), I don't trust the reporting on it, as it's been 3-4 things in the 30 years I've been hearing about it.
The world's real problem is population. Unless we can stabilize it, nothing we try to fix will stay fixed. But that's racist talk because right now the most populous areas, and the fast growing ones aren't white. Thus we can't discuss anything that might work, regardless of its palatability.
And yes I mean that I care more about 20,000 kids dying to violence than about 700 kids dying to (possibly) violent cops. That's why I think that BLM is a power grab.That may be, but it is very important that the system be fair, responsible, and accountable.
http://www.science20.com/frank_schnell/blog/the_greenhouse_effect_fallacy-165119 Sums up one scientific rebuttal.
The so-called “Greenhouse effect” is one of the most persistent fallacies in popular science. It is a flawed speculation left over from the late 19th century, when it was first entertained by such scientific luminaries as Joseph Fourier, John Tyndall, and Svante Arrhenius.
In fact, however, the so-called “greenhouse gases” do not “trap” infrared energy radiated from the surface of the Earth, as proposed; they merely slow its inevitable return to outer space.
The result is a moderation of both daytime and nighttime temperatures, not a multiplying of the warming effect of the sun. In fact, the oft promoted specter of “tipping points” and “runaway greenhouse effects” represent nothing less than violations of the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Ironically, the conventionally described “greenhouse effect” (to the extent that it exists at all), would actually have a net cooling effect during the day, rather than a net warming effect, as invariably claimed. While excitedly promoting the absorption of ground-radiated IR by greenhouse gases, global warming enthusiasts ignore altogether the interception of incoming solar IR radiation by the same gases, which has been calculated to be several times greater than the absorption of ground-radiated IR.
Incorrect. My tax dollars subsidize abortion by covering those other things.
Regarding climate change, I'm unconvinced that human endeavors are affecting it, let alone effecting it. I'm unconvinced as to the scale of the issue, and the fact that any time anyone dissents they're ridiculed rather than refuted does not convince me that it's being correctly characterized.
In fact, grouping people is inherently divisive. Case in point: BLM. The fact that they're black doesn't matter. Their life does indeed matter, but not their skin. Statistics do not support the narrative that the BLM group has presented, but MSM tends to keep pushing their message.
It's a space station!
I invoke the power of kung-fu!
...that's clearly a barbarian.
Ah ok, I read the thread, and that was the joke. /facepalm
It is no joke ...
In the specific setting you spelled out, I would very much not want to be the super special snowflake they could never be and flaunt it unless I was the diplomancer that takes over that shit.
Expert with ranks in diplomacy
Deuterte, already racking up some impressive numbers in the "killing his own citizens" department, has now said 'screw off US, we're BFFs with China now.'
Wonderful.
If there are 9 Alignments, and I am going to have only nine gods in the pantheon (1 for each AL), which alignment would YOU say that the Creator God is?
I think the most amusing thing was actually Trump saying "I have more respect for women than anybody else".
