Total posts: 4,140
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
I'm not suggesting I YOLO anything.
That makes me feel better.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
Good analysis on the Supa/Intel situation. While I town read them, I don't like the fact that their claim deters lynches because both would die.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
But as I've said, I don't think it's necessarily scummy. I just disagree with it.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
It's funny to say that hammering someone is scummy when the primary tool of town to oust scum is [drum roll] hammering them.
The hammering itself isn't the problem. The problem is automatically hammering anyone at L-1.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Lunatic
The lack of the theme split should mean we should care even less about the justification.
I don't know about that. With a theme, the justifications need to be tailored to make certain characters mafia or town. Without one, that isn't as necessary. Still, I don't think it makes enough difference to be significant.
Created:
Posted in:
Town:
SirAnonymous: The only player of noble blood. Obvious town.
Lean town:
Skittlez: His Miller claim and behavior feel very town.
Supadudz/Intelligence: Lovers. Likely town. If not, then it's an interesting scum gambit.
Null:
Ragnar, oro, Lunatic, Chris: Nothing out of the ordinary from any of them yet. Ragnar's reads look like Chris's mafia analysis and oromagi's debate arguments had a baby, but I don't think that's significant.
Drafters: I don't like his statement about hammering anyone at L-1, but it's not enough to be suspicious. Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Lunatic
That's definitely possible. That statement on its own isn't enough to make me suspect him.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@oromagi
I don't like it either. His response to criticism of that statement is classic Drafter, but it's not indicative either way.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
In fact, I'll hammer the first person to get to L-1 (that isnt me)
I wouldn't recommend that strategy if the person at L-1 is someone you town read.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Vader
Okay. Well, you're either both town or both scum.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Lunatic
@Vader
Why exactly? I thought his defense of himself was pretty townie. Skittlez didn't even try to defend himself as scum in stormlight, but when I was on him for bandwagoning in naruto, it was like 99% of his posts were just to defend himself as town. Defensiveness for him is kind of a town tell.
I second this. I'm not ruling him out, but he seems town to me.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Vader
Fuck it.Intelligence is town. I am his lover.
Again?! That worked out so well last time...
Anyway, does your PM explicitly tell you that Intelligence is town?
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Barney
You're the last to arrive, so to encourage activity...VTL Lunatic.
I show up after he does, but he's last. Okay then.
I still don't have a lot of time, but I have a slight town read of skittlez for claiming miller early and for mentioning that his character was a killer. I think scum might have left that part out.
One more thing: I know absolutely nothing about the arrowverse, so I'm glad there's no theme.
Created:
Posted in:
Hello. I don't have time to post right now. I'll be on later today.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Speedrace
Surrender to me my role, thou peasant! Thou shalt not deprive a knight of his duties!
Created:
Posted in:
Since it's relevant again, here's a good article on the historical precedents and norms regarding election year SC nominations.
Some key passages:
"In short: There have been ten vacancies resulting in a presidential election-year or post-election nomination when the president and Senate were from opposite parties. In six of the ten cases, a nomination was made before Election Day. Only one of those, Chief Justice Melville Fuller’s nomination by Grover Cleveland in 1888, was confirmed before the election."
"Nineteen times between 1796 and 1968, presidents have sought to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in a presidential-election year while their party controlled the Senate. Ten of those nominations came before the election; nine of the ten were successful, the only failure being the bipartisan filibuster of the ethically challenged Abe Fortas as chief justice in 1968...Nine times, presidents have made nominations after the election in a lame-duck session. These include some storied nominations, such as John Adams picking Chief Justice John Marshall in 1801 and Abraham Lincoln selecting Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase in 1864. Of the nine, the only one that did not succeed was Washington’s 1793 nomination of William Paterson, which was withdrawn for technical reasons and resubmitted and confirmed the first day of the next Congress (Paterson had helped draft the Judiciary Act of 1789 creating the Court, and the Constitution thus required his term as a senator to end before he could be appointed to the Court)."
That's 1 out of 6 nominees being confirmed when the president and Senate were of different parties and 17 out of 19 nominees being confirmed when they were of the same party. In short, historical precedence supported the Republican-controlled Senate's rejection of Merrick Garland, although the refusal to vote was different. Of course, actually voting on his nomination would have led to the same result. Also, if the Senate confirms whoever Trump's nomination will be, which McConnell has already promised to do, that will be backed by a strong historical precedent.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@oromagi
What if Trump manages to bring the election outcome before the court (a la 2000)?
Then we all get even more hyperpartisan and scream at each other even louder?
Hopefully, we don't have another disputed election like 2000. We don't need any more division in this country than we already have.
Created:
Posted in:
[Insert vitriolic political argument about replacing RBG here]
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Vader
RIP. I expected her to live for a while longer. I guess not. Now we'll see if Trump tries to replace her before January.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Lunatic
@Speedrace
\in. I'll probably be most active in the evenings again.
Created:
-->
@Stephen
You are a pathetic coward.
You're free to think that. It honestly doesn't bother me. I'm sorry we couldn't have a civil discussion, and I apologize if I offended you in any way. Judging from your other posts directed to me, this does seem to be your honest opinion about me, so I think I will just let you be. If it's any consolation, you won't have to deal with this pathetic coward any longer. Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
SirAnonymous
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@drafterman
For anyone still reading this far: BOOKMARK THIS POST. Several people talked about how such and such combination is unbalanced. Personally, I have been quite clear and vocal on this matter: YOU CANNOT DRAW ANY CONCLUSIONS ABOUT BALANCE WITHOUT KNOWING ALL THE ROLES. Looking at two roles and saying they can't be in the game together because that would be OP is bogus because you don't know what other roles exist that could balance it out. You simply don't know until you know what the Mafia can do and you can't know that until you kill them all.
+1. Balance analysis continually rears its ugly head, despite how ridiculous it is. I think I might just start copy/pasting this whenever I'm in a game and someone starts using balance analysis.
Created:
-->
@Stephen
And so you make the argument circular .
That's an interesting claim to make, especially since your following sentences don't show anything resembling circularity.
And on the other you say the command to kill your child for this behaviour is not wrong.
I didn't say that it was right or wrong. I said that you couldn't prove it was wrong. There's a difference there.
And then on top of this you insist that I first prove evil exist although that in your own scripture the word evil appears in the entire Bible 613 times in 569 verses in 343 chapters in 60 books. The word evildoer appears 2 times and evildoers appears 12 times in the KJV Bible.
That could not be more irrelevant. You don't believe that the Bible is true, so you can't appeal to it as evidence that evil exists.
The fact of the matter is you are just not brave enough to admit that the bible is wrong to have such a horrific and vicious command from god.
Again, what do you hope to achieve with ad hominems?
But instead choose to throw the onus onto the questioner.Don't waste your time telling me I have to prove anything, because I don't.
Yes, you do. You are the one making the positive claim here. You are claiming that there is an evil command in the Bible. That requires you to prove three things:
1. The Bible contains the command.
2. Evil exists.
3. The command is evil.
Again, since you don't think the Bible is true, you can't appeal to it to support 2 and 3.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
Becoming irrational is anathema to logical debate and incivility does not facilitate frank conversation.
+1
Created:
-->
@Intelligence_06
The very nature of mafia requires a high volume of posts. In any case, though, the statistics are worse. The only reason I'm in the top 10 right now was because I was in a mafia game a few days ago, and the system hasn't caught up to the fact that I'm only making a few posts a day right now. As an example, Lunatic's Pattern account was in the Top 10 for several days after it was locked. Thus, it's more like 8 mafia players to 1 religious arguer.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@seldiora
You are at least one of the most original and enterprising debaters on the site. That makes your debates interesting to read, even though you lose a lot of them. When you really put effort into a debate, you can be really good. I think you are a very valuable member of the site.
If I'm not asking too much, what accounts are you combining the stats from?
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
I agree that neither of us has the answer.
Wouldn't this imply that we're both wrong, so the universe neither has a cause nor doesn't have a cause? I'm probably reading too much into that statement. Anyway, it was good talking to you. I really appreciate that you stayed civil the whole time and tried to think through the issues. That's rare, especially on the internet.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
I think we've arrived at an impasse. I think it's inherently illogical for time and the universe, or anything else, to begin without having a cause, so there must be a timeless, spaceless cause. However, you think it's inherently illogical for something to be be timeless and spaceless. I'm not sure either of us can make any progress at this point. Agree to disagree?
Created:
-->
@Stephen
So it the bible wrong then? Is what god clearly states and commands wrong too.?
I don't think so, but since you do think they are wrong, you can't appeal to them as an objective basis for evil.
The onus is not on me.
It is absolutely on you. If you don't have an objective basis for morality, then the worst you can say about God and His commands is that you simply don't like them. Unless you have an objective basis for morality, nothing is objectively evil.
Nonsense. It is the bible I am questioning and the vile commands of your god.
But it you don't have an objective basis for morality, then you have no objective basis on which to question the Bible and God's commands.
You are reminding me of that dulcet dunce ethag5. He too attempts deny what the bible states
What precisely do you hope to achieve with ad hominems?
It a bit late in the day to throw that oft used line - your taking it/them out of context . But if you believe it to be the case, then why didn't you simply put those vile words of your gods commandment into the correct "context" for me in the first place?
Because if you don't have an objective basis for morality, then it doesn't matter a whit whether you take them out of context or not. It doesn't matter what God commanded. In order for it to matter, you would need an objective basis on which to approve or condemn God's commands. Otherwise, all you have is your personal opinion.
I may have had a better understanding of the words. Here you go, put these biblical words into context for me, right now. " Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death."
See above.
I have every right to say your god is a vile and vicious god who kills for no reason and to question his commands and to scrutinize and question the whole of the scriptures.
Yes, you have the right, but you don't have an objective basis on which to so, rendering your questioning and scrutinizing utterly pointless.
My morality is not the issue as much as you want to throw the onus on me.
It is indeed the issue. If your morality is subjective, then you can't condemn anything as objectively wrong.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
These are definitional truths. They are true because of how we define two, four, five circle and square. They are based on linguistic conventions more than logic. I don't mind using language prescriptively but you can't just define something into existence you must actually demonstrate that something which fits your definition actually exists.
I agree. I used only definitional truths simply because those were what I though of first. It was quite unintentional. I also agree that, to a certain extent, that logic is based on predictable behavior, as you said. At least, our perception of logic is strongly influenced by predictable behavior. However, I don't think it's true to say that we can't apply logic before Planc time. The laws of physics might indeed break down there. However, the laws of logic won't. A valid syllogism will still be valid.
We can demonstrate that trees grow from acorns. We have multiple documented cases. We have one universe whose origin we can only speculate on. That gives us a documented sample size of zero and that gives us nothing to base our logic on.
Yes, it gives us a sample size of zero, but I disagree that it gives us nothing to base our logic on. If time and the universe have a cause, then there are a few things we can tell about it. True, we can't tell anything very specific about it, but we can determine a few general things. It must be able to cause the universe, which requires a significant degree of power. Also, in order to cause something as complex as the universe, it must also have a significant degree of knowledge. In order to cause time, it must itself be outside of time.
Even if I grant timeless and spaceless which sounds indistinguishable to me from nonexistent
But why would that be nonexistent?
why on earth would I grant necessarily powerful or knowledge entity whatever that means?
See above.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
Logic is based on the fact that the universe behaves predictably. That the past repeats itself. That is a problem when dealing with an event (if you can call it that) which we cannot observe and does not follow predictable patterns that can be described mathematically.
I disagree with that. There are some principles of logic that can't change. Two plus two will always be four and not five. Circles can never be square.
In any case logically speaking we cannot suggest anything as a cause before we establish that thing as existing.
However, there are certain effects that necessitate certain causes, so the existence of the effect is evidence of the cause. For instance, if I see an oak tree, I don't need to search around for evidence that there was an acorn in the area at some point in the past. The oak tree itself is proof of that.
Even if I grant the idea of some sort of prime mover unless you can make a case for your particular prime mover over world creating pixies and flying spaghetti monsters and indeed mindless processes governed purely by naturalistic forces as your timeless spaceless eternal cause then your argument doesn't support your conclusion.
Well, the conclusion of the argument I'm making is a timeless, spaceless, powerful, knowledge entity. It doesn't rule out flying spaghetti monsters or pixies because it isn't meant to. It does rule out naturalistic processes, because such a cause would have to be outside of nature (from our perspective).
Created:
-->
@Stephen
But then you accept that evil exists , the bible makes it clear that evil exists but you want me to prove that evil exists to discuss evil.
Yes, because you can't appeal to the Bible or God as a source of morality because don't believe them. So in order for you to say God is evil, you need an objective source of evil apart from God or the Bible. So I ask again: do you think morality is objective, and if so, where does it come from?
As for your questions, my answer is simple. Even if you're right and God did command those things (I think you're taking them out of context, but for the sake of argument), so what? Unless you have an objective basis for morality, you have no objective basis for condemning God or His commands, regardless of what they are.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
Yes, the laws of physics are thought to break down at that point. However, the laws of logic don't. Since my argument is built on logic rather than physics, your objection doesn't hold water. Also, my argument isn't about what was happening so much as where it came from, which is a different question.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@skittlez09
Oh for the days before songs were reduced to mere beats. Vocalists actually sang notes, not this "rapping" nonsense. And they had real instruments, not just computer-generated noise. Yep, back in my day, songs were real songs and men were real-
HEY YOU! Yeah, you kid! Get off my lawn!
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
I only wish that thread was a joke.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
Why, you ask? Poor, foolish sheep. You have been brainwashed by the Illuminati. Feast your eyes on this magnificent presentation of evidence for a flat earth!
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@TheUnderdog
RM is a flat earther. BrotherDThomas has debated in favor of a flat earth, but whether he actually believes anything he says is questionable. Those are the only ones I know about.
Created:
-->
@Stephen
Why is my question about the command from god to you to kill your children if they curse or dishonour you, silly?
Because I've never been in that situation, so it's impossible for me to know what I would do.
You may not know what you would do, but you know what your god commands you to do, yet you seem to have no issue with this vile command in the slightest.
On the contrary, I think you have taken those verses hopelessly out of context to arrive at your interpretation. However, the point I'm making is that, even if you're right that God is a murdering hypocrite, you can't prove those things are objectively wrong because you have no source of objective morality. Your argument fails before it even begins.
Well this is what you have said above _ " To put it simply, you keep trying to prove that God is evil, but you don't have any way of proving that evil even exists.". : #133So shall we ignore the bible and its 569 verses that all speak of evil existing and dismiss it as nonsense and to be un-provable " that it even exists" ?
Note the word "you." I didn't say that I can't prove that evil exists or that no one can prove that evil exists. I said that you can't.
Asking questions of your own in response to my questions is not answering my question. You theist seem to think by doing this that you have addressed the issue raised.
My questions are not intended to answer your questions. They are intended to address the premises behind your questions.
It matters not what I believe is objective or subjective.
It matters immensely because you have no foundation whatsoever for saying God or anyone or anything else is evil if you think morality is subjective. So yes, I will ask again: do you think morality is objective or subjective? If you think it's objective, what is it based on?
Although, I have addressed your question above at post # #134SEE HERE>>>>>>>Apart from gods own hypocrisy of thou shall not kill then immediately orders Moses to murder thousands of his own people?
This isn't an objective basis. What makes hypocrisy wrong? What makes anything wrong? That's what I'm asking. Before you can argue that God is evil, you first need to establish that evil even exists. So what objective basis do you have for saying that something is morally wrong?
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
A sound argument with unverified premises is as liable to arrive at untruth as truth.
That is why I did my best to verify my premises.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
Mine is that Minecraft will get a Cave update.
Granted, but the update causes the game to crash.
I wish North Korea was no longer ruled by a dictatorship.
Created:
-->
@skittlez09
I plan on it. Here's a link to the first episode.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
Granted, but the corruption was so boring and unfunny that you wish it hadn't been corrupted
I wish that I could see someone go through the logic of the statement, "This statement is false."
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
And I reject your hypothesis as untestable. Now what?
Now what? I simply point out that it isn't a scientific theory; it's a logical argument. Either it's sound or it isn't. Either it's possible for time to have always existed or it isn't. It doesn't need testing any more than 2+2=4, 2+2=5, or a basic syllogism.
Your definition has become circular. Existence means a thing that is real and a real thing exists. May I suggest that the only useful definition is observable and independently verifiable.
Something doesn't have to be observable or independently verifiable in order to exist, although it is true that we wouldn't know it existed otherwise.
That definition may not cover all "undiscovered truths" whatever they may be but it eliminates absurd arguments such as loch ness bigfoot flying spaghetti flat earth voltron theory. If we allow unverified "truths" to enter the discussion where will it end?
I don't know where it would end; therefore, aliens.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Created:
Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment. It is not intended to parody any specific person, nor is it intended to be an accurate representation of any political movements mentioned in it. I am entirely aware that no one actually thinks like this (I hope, anyway). This is completely satirical. None of the below content necessarily reflects my own opinions and beliefs.
HISTORY EXPLAINED
Episode 2, 9/13/2020: The Mongol Invasion
A production of the DART Bard
Featuring Carl Engels
The Mongol Empire began to take form when Temujin united the proletariat Mongol tribes. After gathering them around him under the flag of united labor, they invaded the part of China called Western Xia, and Temujin proclaimed himself to be Genghis Khan, the ruler of all Mongols. Faced with the united strength of Mongol workers before their capital, the fat and decadent Chinese bourgeoisie submitted. But when Genghis Khan began his liberation of workers in other parts of China, the capitalists of Western Xia betrayed him. Enraged, Genghis Khan began to destroy their cities. Some may complain that these tactics were needlessly ruthless, but Genghis Khan understood the dialectics of history and did his best to bring true communism. The resourceful Mongolian proletariat learned bit by bit how to defeat the fortifications of the capitalists, and the empires of China fell one by one. The dear leader Genghis Khan died in 1227, but his fellow workers carried on the liberation. China, Korea, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, and the Middle East saw the fall of the bourgeoisie and the rise of the proletariat. It seemed, for a moment, that capitalism would fall and communism would be ushered in. But corruption entered the heart of Mongolia. Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan fell in love with decadence. His grandfather's vision of a free world was dashed as Kublai fell to the siren song of capitalism. The Mongols ceased to be the proletariat and became the bourgeoisie they had sought to destroy. The dream of the end of capitalism was lost. When Kublai died, the Mongol Empire split into pieces. Thus did the bourgeoisie triumph, and the vicious dialectic continues to this day.
Carl Engels is a writer from California and the recently published author of Real Socialism: Why We’ll Get It Right This Time.
Read this month's edition of the Bard: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/4723-dart-bard-2nd-edition-8-30-2020
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
I wish that China can stop torturing Uyghur Muslims(No, that is an actual wish, but you can corrupt it to any extents)
Granted, but they only stopped because they killed them all, so they couldn't torture them any more.
Well, that was dark.
I wish people were smart enough not to eat Tide Pods.
Created:
-->
@secularmerlin
That it seems nonsensical to you does not mean it is not a possibility.
That's true, but I'm not saying that it's impossible just because it seems nonsensical to me. I'm making a logical argument demonstrating that it is impossible.
The tautologically nothing as you describe it cannot be somethings cause. This is not the same as saying something could come about without a cause.
I think this is a distinction without a difference. Beginning without a cause is something from nothing. Even if you manage to split hairs to make a distinction, it's still logically absurd.
This is not especially helpful. What does it mean to be or to be real? How do we verify that things are real? That they are? What qualities does a thing have that make it real?
Ontology is not my strong point, but I'm not sure that there are any qualities common to all real things beyond simple existence.
I think I've pointed out that while I am not advocating for this position even if it seems like a nonsensical statement to say that time has always existed to us does not preclude it being the actual case.
See my first point.
Same as above. That this would seem counter intuitive is true but our best evidence that nothing occurs without a cause is that we have not confirmed positively any things that don't. Now we have observed virtual particles that appear to be causeless but if I claim that they are in fact without cause I would be committing the same black swan fallacy that you are committing when you say that the universe in fact does have a cause. The best we can say of either is that we are unaware of any demonstrable cause.
Again, I'm not arguing that something can begin to exist without a cause simply because it's never happened before (the black swan fallacy). I'm saying that it's inherently logically absurd.
We both accept this as a possibility but while other potential possibilities exist we cannot rule that it is a necessary only a sufficient and an explanation being sufficient =/= it being true. On a separate note this thinking does not get us to a creator even if we accept it as necessary it only gets us to a cause.
Agreed, it doesn't immediately get us to a creator. However, we can examine what properties the cause would need in order to cause the universe. It would have to timeless, extremely powerful, extremely knowledgeable, etc, which sounds a lot like a creator.
Again this would seem counter intuitive but that does not make it necessarily untrue. Perhaps causation I'd not necessarily linear, especially if objects enteties and/or causes can exist outside of time (itself as seemingly impossible to me as something happening without a cause or time existing forever).
Why do you think existing outside of time is impossible? Sure, it's beyond our experience, but I don't see anything inherently illogical about it.
Created:
-->
@Stephen
The question you asked is difficult, but that doesn't prevent it from being silly and on the same level as the questions I compared it to. The answer to all such questions is the same. I've never been in those situations, so I don't know what I would do.
However, you managed to completely miss my point. I'm not trying to say that I doubt that evil exists. As you pointed out, the Bible provides a strong basis for the existence of evil. Rather, I was asking you if you have an objective basis for evil. So I ask again: do you thing morality is objective or subjective? If it's subjective, then nothing is objectively morally wrong, so your argument that God is immoral collapses. But if it's objective, then what is it based on? Again, I'm asking you.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Intelligence_06
Granted, but your amazing ability convinces everyone that you're a witch, so they put you through a modern edition of the Spanish Inquisition.
I wish I could play every instrument ever made at a professional skill level.
Created: