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Vera Mont

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Such as the defence budget? And, in fact, all funding for government agencies.
July 28, 2024 at 17:19
Especially given that any passing alien can just take over control of their ship. That's got to be the least secure computer system in the universe! I...
July 28, 2024 at 03:29
It's a big bag. I'm not opposed to support for the arts, endowments for museums, libraries and research, scholarships, charitable donations, sponsorsh...
July 27, 2024 at 19:26
Oh, did you think we were all unaware of profit gouging, tax dodges and loopholes? Even were that so, it still wouldn't be a philosophical question.
July 27, 2024 at 18:39
Do the best... what? Especially as in your second example: an extra markup beyond overhead and handling. But then, so can lots of other factors. Still...
July 27, 2024 at 17:21
Okay. But there is always some kind of tangible interest in an arbitrary transfer, whether it's brand recognition for sponsoring a sporting event, or ...
July 27, 2024 at 16:42
Presumably that's an investment in something tangible, or how could it increase production? Investing in social programs is similarly earmarked for go...
July 27, 2024 at 13:30
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lessons_of_History That's a little book, distilled from 10 previous big books, all worth reading.
July 23, 2024 at 13:49
And take too long to explain.
July 22, 2024 at 14:27
Of course. But it would be your own experiment - a conversation between you and the deity or whatever - no middleman to confuse the issue. Think of it...
July 21, 2024 at 23:27
I like your take on this!
July 21, 2024 at 20:35
They are in the floor and fall on people on the deck below. In any case, they are far too big for the span and weight requirement. And not secured pro...
July 21, 2024 at 20:34
The most logical path to religion, or God, or the spirits, or whatever mystical thing you're seeking, is a wide berth around churches. Those vast pile...
July 21, 2024 at 14:28
No, they would use beams to support internal deck floors, which fall on people at the first volley of enemy fire. It's not the supporting walls that c...
July 21, 2024 at 03:02
Ho-kay. Not quite following what would bend a convex support arch, but okay. The sparks, I get. The steam, not so much.
July 20, 2024 at 20:07
Yes! I like that question. (In my personal galaxy, the best spaceship designs are in Babylon 5*) except the Minbari ones - all that wasted space overh...
July 20, 2024 at 16:05
They wouldn't just die. Nor would they be killed by predators, since we've already killed most of the predators. But they wouldn't find enough habitab...
July 20, 2024 at 13:36
Not really. They never tell you who or what the aliens are praying to or invoking or whatever they're doing when they're alone in their cabin with a b...
July 20, 2024 at 00:43
Done!
July 19, 2024 at 20:36
Are you an aficionada of science fiction movies and tv shows? I'm about to try starting a fun thread. (I usually fall flat, but wth?
July 19, 2024 at 20:27
How early? From what I recall of my first five years, reality was immense, vibrant, full of life and possibility, waiting eagerly for me to discover i...
July 19, 2024 at 17:22
I know that. I also know that, because they are our property, made for our use, we tend to treat them like inanimate objects. And we have no real need...
July 17, 2024 at 21:07
The word 'purpose' always pulls me up short. I understand the purpose of a sickle or a canoe: something made by n intelligent being to accomplish some...
July 17, 2024 at 16:59
They were not invented - like one of our vehicles or tools. They were bred from enslaved wild cattle. How does that justify mistreating them? There is...
July 17, 2024 at 14:55
Motherhood is not a human societal concept. It's a deeply embedded animal instinct - one for which many birds and mammals and even some fish risk thei...
July 16, 2024 at 22:31
I recently saw a video about a bovine dairy where it's working very well. This is one way: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/29/mums-as...
July 16, 2024 at 22:20
I have not yet seen a model of cattle ranching that's good for the cattle, the environment and the climate. Migrating herders of ancient times probabl...
July 16, 2024 at 15:41
So, you never ask another poster to justify a philosophical position? You never ask a child "What were you thinking?" or a colleague "Can you explain ...
July 16, 2024 at 13:25
Yess! Clear, coherent and logical. I meant to distinguish the agenda of a publicly constituted entity, such as a board of education, from the idiosync...
July 16, 2024 at 13:20
Terrific summary! That was my premise: we can - and do - apply it to everything. Not just moral and legal issues, but personal hyginene, opinions, fin...
July 16, 2024 at 13:12
In a legal situation, it is not. One of the very common situations in which we find ourselves having to offer justification for our actions is the leg...
July 16, 2024 at 12:55
I think we're heading for apocalypse. See the four big dust clouds on the horizon? One of them can be nuclear cloud. Forever and ever, amen!
July 16, 2024 at 12:43
I like this explanation. Will have to reflect on it. True. in the specific case, as an answer to an example. Not a goalpost; not in the OP. I didn't u...
July 16, 2024 at 01:58
All kinds of different situations call for justification. It might be defense of a philosophical argument in an academic setting; it might be a confro...
July 16, 2024 at 01:16
Yes. In which case, selling drugs would have to be judged on a case-by-case basis: which drug, to whom, under what circumstances; how did they use it,...
July 15, 2024 at 23:57
I think that would count as a mitigation or perhaps excuse. It doesn't justify the act; it only explains the motive. To justify selling a particular d...
July 15, 2024 at 22:44
Future generations will be far too busy trying to dig basic necessities out of the rubble to give us much thought beyond the odd "bastards" over their...
July 15, 2024 at 18:51
Not from my POV. (Remember, I didn't ask anyone to justify anything.) We all have different perspectives, convictions and sensibilities. Whether a jus...
July 15, 2024 at 16:10
Only I didn't ask that question, and I don't think the OP was asking how the farmer justifies his living, but how the consumer justifies his food choi...
July 15, 2024 at 15:47
Maybe he doesn't need to justify it. Not everyone has the same sensibilities. But I do question why a farmer who operates on a large enough scale to m...
July 15, 2024 at 13:30
I don't think any comparison to nature is valid. We took ourselves out of nature a long time ago, and have done everything our clever imagination coul...
July 15, 2024 at 12:04
That must be comforting. Still, it's not entirely about 'capacity', is it? It's more about how many of us - the ones who use most of the world's resou...
July 15, 2024 at 02:44
Ours wasn't that hard. After we moved to the country, my SO asked where to build the chicken coop. I said I didn't want chickens. "Why not?" "Who's go...
July 15, 2024 at 00:56
The subject has come around a few times before, so don't be upset is people have lost interest.
July 14, 2024 at 23:24
Ecology and climate change. Cattle grazing takes huge tracts of land from the natural environment, displacing wildlife, causing massive loss of oxygen...
July 14, 2024 at 21:13
It's not really an original idea. I just scaled it up to fit your hypothesis.
July 14, 2024 at 16:33
If you start with some fairly implausible premises, yes. God exploded and bits of his body have been decaying ever since. Nice.
July 14, 2024 at 14:03
Ah, I see. No, individual people don't vote for "society" or "values"; they vote according to their personal concerns. Special interest blocs, such as...
July 13, 2024 at 16:30
If. But why would the majority think that way? Each person is not voting for "what's good for everyone"; each person is voting for what she or he want...
July 13, 2024 at 12:11
Unless the participants want those things. Overall, in countries with a reasonable constitution (no mass exclusions; equitable laws), where democratic...
July 12, 2024 at 16:59