6 ms·

Almost every person on earth could have swung in any direction if they had hung out with different people. If you or I hung out with Ancient Egyptians our whole

by paggle 7y ago

Almost every person on earth could have swung in any direction if they had hung out with different people. If you or I hung out with Ancient Egyptians our whole lives we would have thought burying kings with living slaves was about as normal as surfing Hacker News.

Quarrelsome 7y ago
which holds the implication that people as an abstract between now and ancient Egypt are not actually that different. They're just responding to different stimuli in their respective environments.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  That's an implication a lot of people will do a lot of mental gymnastics to avoid because it means you can't just ignore the misadventures of various societies throughout history by saying "we're smarter now" or something like that.
  - mensetmanusman 7y ago
    None of the educated people I know would think “we’re smarter now” after studying history.
    - afarrell 7y ago
      If someone dismissively thought "we're smarter now", would they bother to study history?
- afarrell 7y ago
  yes, on biological basis it is true that Republicans and Democrats are pretty similar. They are in fact the same species. Even if Democrats in 2019 might be statistically more likely to have genes for sickle-cell Anemia... is that relevant? I think the relevant questions are: - "What are the mindsets they've actually absorbed over their lives?" - "How do they evaluate evidence?" - "How do they evaluate the competence and character of judicial and executive appointees?" - "Whom do they rely on for expertise?" - "How do they reason about the role of government?" - "How do they design policies?" - "How do they spot potential unintended consequences?" - "How do they communicate with constituents?" - "Whose perspectives do they believe it is important to consider?" - "Whom do they consider key to re-election?"
chrischen 7y ago
Which speaks to exactly how arbitrary the two parties and their loyalties are.

by paggle 7y ago

Quarrelsome 7y ago

which holds the implication that people as an abstract between now and ancient Egypt are not actually that different. They're just responding to different stimuli in their respective environments.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
That's an implication a lot of people will do a lot of mental gymnastics to avoid because it means you can't just ignore the misadventures of various societies throughout history by saying "we're smarter now" or something like that.
- mensetmanusman 7y ago
  None of the educated people I know would think “we’re smarter now” after studying history.
  - afarrell 7y ago
    If someone dismissively thought "we're smarter now", would they bother to study history?
afarrell 7y ago
yes, on biological basis it is true that Republicans and Democrats are pretty similar. They are in fact the same species. Even if Democrats in 2019 might be statistically more likely to have genes for sickle-cell Anemia... is that relevant? I think the relevant questions are: - "What are the mindsets they've actually absorbed over their lives?" - "How do they evaluate evidence?" - "How do they evaluate the competence and character of judicial and executive appointees?" - "Whom do they rely on for expertise?" - "How do they reason about the role of government?" - "How do they design policies?" - "How do they spot potential unintended consequences?" - "How do they communicate with constituents?" - "Whose perspectives do they believe it is important to consider?" - "Whom do they consider key to re-election?"

chrischen 7y ago

Which speaks to exactly how arbitrary the two parties and their loyalties are.