Come on, that’s not true. We just want to “re-educate” you guys

Sleep. It used to take up nearly a third of my life. Since having Long COVID, it’s closer to half my life.

Honestly, think of what we could get done if we had all that extra time…

Can personally attest to Denmark having loads of English speakers.

I encountered exactly one person in my travels there who did not speak fluent English.

I’d learned a little, so I tried to use Danish to order things, ask directions etc, and everyone replied in perfect English.

Are the books any good? If so, then I don’t see a problem.

Unless…

Are they plagiarising other books? If not, then I don’t see a problem.

Unless…

Have people lost their jobs because of this? If not, then I don’t see a problem.

If it’s just a content creator using technology to help them create something of value, that otherwise would not have existed, then surely this is a good thing.

AI isn’t inherently bad. It’s just a tool.

That’s exactly why so many countries around the world roll their eyes when America bangs on so much about democracy.

It’s a marketing thing. Look around the world. Find any country with the word “Democratic” in the name, and odds are you’ll find a poor excuse for a democracy.

The actual democracies in the world don’t feel compelled to keep repeating the fact.

The reality is that America is only really a democracy in the loosest sense of the world. All you need to do is look at how often the wealthiest candidate wins to see that it’s true. Or how often the person with the most votes loses. Or how unregulated lobbying actually is. Or the insane amount of power the President actually has. The power doesn’t lie with the people - it lies with the super-rich.

Sorry if that came off as really negative! America has a lot of good stuff going for it, but its implementation of democracy is not one.

If you’re thinking yoga retreats etc, I’d consider building an Earthship or two first. They’re totally eco-friendly, almost hobbit-like buildings. They fit the vibe and would give you a base of operations for future plans.

I wouldn’t worry about it then. Sleeping babies are a lot floppier than you’d expect - it won’t be doing any harm :)

Maybe the baby’s just a bobble head.

Unless the baby looked malnourished or uncared for, I wouldn’t worry. Babies are far more resilient, bendy and adaptable than we give them credit for.

Also, unless there’s a developmental issue, a seven month old would easily be able to hold their head unassisted. Is it possible the baby was just trying to look at things?

I’m not entirely sure I read your comment correctly, but it sounds like you’ve never heard the word “whinging” before.

For the avoidance of doubt, it’s a real word. It rhymes with “hinging”.

Seconded. As soon as you hit 40, every other visit to the doctor involves talking about something going wrong below the waist.

Approaching this cynically, all right-wing politicians blame groups as others as being the cause of their country’s societal ills. That’s just how it works.

Jewish people were just one of the targeted groups, along with LGBT people, disabled people, and communists.

One universal truth throughout history is that it’s hard to unite people behind a common goal, but it’s easy to unite people against a common enemy.

Listen to any right wing politicians from around the world - their plans for making things better all start with getting rid of someone (be it a group of people or a governmental department).

Same experience here. A former co-worker and good friend was raised JW, and was practicing for all the time I worked with him.

We used to have long conversations about it, as I was raised CofE, so was fascinated by some of the more extreme takes.

Anyway, he now only refers to them as “the cult” and has absolutely nothing good to say about them.

Where do you think this is?

Lemmy isn’t university. There’s no implied or expressed expectations of “academic argument”.

Was this response meant for me?

If so, what do you want me to prove? That religion exists? I mean, it does - there are loads of them and the very oldest evidence of a prehistoric settlement is a temple complex, suggesting that religions have existed for over ten thousand years at least.

I’ve already said that the existence of a god can’t be proven or disproven.

The only thing I’m arguing with you about is letting people practice religion if they find comfort in doing so.

You’ve advocated institutionalising and using surgical techniques on people for their beliefs. And then called me mentally ill and a danger to society.

I appreciate it might be hyperbole, but you’re advocating causing actual harm to people who find comfort in religion. Honestly, that sounds more psychotic.

I’m taking a guess here, based on your spelling (all those 'z’s) that you’re American. It’s probably worth me pointing out that the US has some pretty grotesque implementations of many religions, particularly Christianity - but they are a poor reflection of religion in general.

I’m not overly religious (didn’t even go to Church on Christmas!), but know a lot of good people are. If they find praying, attending services or reading the literature helps them get through life, I won’t argue against it.

I’m not sure if the metaphor of you anthropomorphizing an inanimate object is the best one to criticize the projection of one’s own desires and wills onto a fantasy deity.

I’m not criticising.

People are welcome to follow a religion if they want to.

I know that I can no more disprove the existence of a god than prove the existence of one. I know that anybody doing something bad in the name of a god is either lying or being coerced.

Projection?

I had a car that didn’t like when the weather was cold and damp. It wasn’t too happy about being parked on a slope, either.

Did the car actually have human emotions? No, of course not, but as a human it was both easy and natural to frame and process it that way.

Instead of it simply being “God made made in his own image”, the truth is probably that there’s more than a little of “man made God in his own image” too.

It’s Futurama, from the episode “Fry and the Slurm Factory”, which itself is a huge riff on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Futurama riffs and nods to old Sci-Fi all the time, and this was just a nice throwaway for those of us old enough to know the source material.

Here’s the exchange in full:

It was too good a line not to use here!

The whole Slurm factory episode has to be one of the finest pieces of comedy writing in history.