daylightatheism

@daylightatheism@universeodon.com

#atheist author, #progressive #secular #humanist, utopian dreamer (he/him). Columnist for OnlySky Media. Beware my verbal jackboots.

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daylightatheism, to random

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/silicon-valley-billionaires-building-cities/677173/ This story about Silicon Valley billionaires' misguided utopianism is a decent introduction to the topic.

But it doesn't say nearly enough about how the libertarian microstates they imagine, if they ever actually get any of them off the ground, would spiral into dictatorship pretty much immediately.

daylightatheism,

It's literally built into most of them, if you look carefully enough. For example, the plans for the libertarian "Freedom Ship" include an unaccountable private police force, an on-ship jail, and an absolute ruler whose word is law... but hey, freedom!

https://onlysky.media/alee/on-seasteading-and-liberlands/

daylightatheism,

Ayn Rand "solved" this problem with Galt's Gulch, a society of fierce individualists who all agree with each other about everything all the time, so no conflicts ever arise and no laws or democratic institutions are needed. Any society made up of real human beings is unlikely to be so effortlessly unanimous.

GreenFire, to mastodon
@GreenFire@mstdn.social avatar

Should climate science denial and lies like this result in them losing their accounts on

daylightatheism,

@TonyStark @GreenFire I'm excited for sodium-ion batteries. Slightly lower charge density than lithium, but sodium is a lot cheaper and easier to get. EVs with this battery chemistry are just hitting the market: https://electrek.co/2023/12/27/volkswagen-backed-ev-maker-first-sodium-ion-battery-electric-car/

daylightatheism, to random

Bizarre Bible passage of the day: Gods other than Yahweh are real. The Old Testament says so. Not only that, these other gods are sometimes more powerful than Yahweh, and they can cause outcomes that go against his will.

This comes from 2 Kings chapter 3. Let's take a look:
/1

daylightatheism,

In this story, the prophet Elisha promises the kings of Israel and Judah that they'll conquer their neighbors, the Moabites:

"This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones." (18-19)

The Israelites go to war, and they're winning:

"The Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country." (24)

Then the king of Moab, in a last-ditch effort, sacrifices his son to the Moabite god Chemosh... and, uh, it works:

"Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great fury against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land." (27)
/2

daylightatheism,

Because of the magical power of blood sacrifice, Chemosh overpowers Yahweh and the Moabites win the battle. Elisha's prophecy proves false. The Israelites are defeated and return to their own country without conquering Moab.

The biblical authors seem slightly embarrassed to relate this. After this episode, the Bible just moves on to the next story without further explanation or comment. Much like the famous iron chariots verse, this must be a real WTF moment for modern Jews and Christians who believe God is omnipotent.
/3

daylightatheism, to random

Someone has to care. Could it be you?

When other people are thoughtless and selfish, it's hard to justify why you should clean up their messes. But if everyone reasons that way, the world ends up buried under garbage. The only way to make the world better is to do the work, even if it's just one act of kindness or picking up one piece of litter.

https://onlysky.media/alee/someone-has-to-care/

DemocracyMattersALot, to random
@DemocracyMattersALot@mstdn.social avatar

It's Biden or fascism.

Having trouble voting for Biden? Boost another ticket in the run up to 2028—when the incumbent is ineligible.

In 2024, a vote for ANYONE BUT Biden/Harris IS A VOTE FOR THE GOP.

Sit it out? That’s a vote for GOP.

Democrats are far from perfect. Change the system! If you choose to destroy it, you may not see democracy again in your lifetime. Trust the collective history of third-party and other spoilers.

daylightatheism,

@Jon_Kramer @DemocracyMattersALot Who "watched Roe overturned"?

There are fair criticisms of Biden, but you're really reaching for something to blame him for. Do you think he's responsible for any bad thing he glances at?

daylightatheism,

@Jon_Kramer @DemocracyMattersALot Do you think there's even the slightest chance that the Republicans who currently control the House would vote for that?

daylightatheism,

@Jon_Kramer @DemocracyMattersALot The House passed a bill in 2022 to protect abortion rights that was then blocked by Republican obstruction of the Senate: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-vote-abortion-rights-bills-supreme-courts-reversal-roe-rcna38369

daylightatheism,

@Jon_Kramer @DemocracyMattersALot How many failed, doomed attempts to do the same thing would it have taken to satisfy you?

You can say America's governmental system is set up badly and gives too much power to obstructionists. But it's just absurd griping to blame Biden or the Democrats for not doing something they literally didn't have the power to do.

daylightatheism, to random

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2024/01/24/1226387171/the-malaria-vaccine-that-just-rolled-out-has-a-surprise-benefit-for-kids The first large-scale rollout of a malaria vaccine is happening in Africa, and it's already reducing death rates - and not just from malaria!

This is a huge win for humanity. One of the many quiet ways the world is getting better.

daylightatheism, to atheism

The rapid, unprecedented growth of the "nones" continues apace.

The nonreligious are now larger than any single religious group in America, including evangelicals and Catholics. What's more, they've become an outright majority in multiple states:

https://onlysky.media/alee/new-map-captures-explosive-rise-of-the-nonreligious/

daylightatheism, to random

https://onlysky.media/alee/why-libertarian-cities-fail/ An update on Rio Verde Foothills, the libertarian city in the desert in Arizona that I wrote about previously.

RVF found a clever way to skirt Arizona regulations about having a water supply for new development. Then they discovered, to their total surprise, that even if you find a loophole in the law... humans still need water.

Like the ant and the grasshopper, they were relying on others who planned better than they did. For several years, they were parasitizing the water supply of the neighboring town of Scottsdale, until Scottsdale had enough and cut them off.

daylightatheism,

https://grist.org/housing/arizona-rio-verde-foothills-water-wildcat-subdivisions/ Here's the update: Eventually, the Arizona legislature imposed a compromise. It ordered Scottsdale to allow RVF to use their water supply for one more year.

In the meantime, RVF is getting a new water pipeline built, at enormous cost to the town's residents, and will have a strict limit on future expansion. Turns out freedom isn't free!

The bigger problem is that the state didn't pass a comprehensive fix for the underlying problem. More developments are going to be built in places without an adequate water supply, and it's the people who move there who will end up paying the price.

daylightatheism,

@lhamilton1515 You're most welcome!

If libertarianism is an interest of yours, you might also like this column on Stockton Rush: https://onlysky.media/alee/stockton-rush-and-the-randian-cult-of-the-lone-genius/

daylightatheism, to random

https://www.reuters.com/legal/cummins-agrees-settle-us-emissions-defeat-device-suit-2024-01-10/ Cummins, an engine manufacturer, is fined a record $1.6 billion for installing defeat devices in trucks to cheat EPA emissions tests. (You may remember that Volkswagen did the same thing.)

It's a start, but civil penalties aren't enough. Why isn't someone going to prison for this?

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Yet another :

“BlendJet Inc. is recalling about 4.8 million portable blenders sold at Costco, Target and Walmart after receiving reports of blades breaking off as well as the product overheating or catching fire, resulting in dozens of injuries.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blender-recall-walmart-costco-target-blendjet-2/

daylightatheism,

@GottaLaff Merry Christmas! I got you this blender that bursts into flames while spewing shrapnel around your kitchen.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

10/31: Does your work include any horror elements? What's the most frightening thing you've written?

I have an entire multiple-Hugo-award-winning Lovecraftian-horror-SF series in print (writing book 10 right now), but the most horrifying thing in it isn't Cthulhu, it's the combined maternity ward and spinal injuries unit for teenage runaways in a camp run by religious fundamentalists ...

daylightatheism,

@cstross The scariest thing in my book is a completely unfettered capitalist plutocracy. Plenty terrifying!

SwiftOnSecurity, to random

If I was an IT person I would simply turn off the stuff that let you hack computer

daylightatheism,

@SwiftOnSecurity It's thinking like this that made Elon Musk a billionaire.

daylightatheism, to random

https://gizmodo.com/oldest-wooden-structure-predates-modern-humans-1850856522 This is pretty amazing. Archaeologists in Africa found half-million-year-old remnants of a wooden structure, older than the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils. Who knows what else our hominid ancestors were getting up to before we appeared on the scene?

rebeccawatson, to random
@rebeccawatson@mstdn.social avatar

can't I get Linux?

daylightatheism,

@rebeccawatson The thing I really hate is when I can't go to sleep until my brain has finished installing the latest updates.

daylightatheism, to science

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/15/2193137/--Inverse-vaccines-could-be-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-autoimmune-disorders Scientists have figured how to create (in mice!) an "inverse vaccine" - an injection that tells the immune system to stop attacking something.

If this can be duplicated in humans, it will be a BFD. It's a potential cure for all kinds of allergies and autoimmune disorders.

marcelias, to random
@marcelias@mas.to avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    daylightatheism,

    @marcelias You know your law is really, outrageously racist when the 5th Circuit rules against you.

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