4 ms·

I don't think it's unhealthy to consider 2nd and 3rd order consequences of upcoming policies. What is unhealthy and historically documented as potentially dange

I don't think it's unhealthy to consider 2nd and 3rd order consequences of upcoming policies. What is unhealthy and historically documented as potentially dangerous is accusing your opposition of mental illness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_...

ellopoppit 4y ago
What a classic, I remember when people would call you crazy for claiming that governments were working with corporations to perform mass domestic surveillance
- usrn 4y ago
  It's a conspiracy theory until it turns out there really is a conspiracy.
  - thomassmith65 4y ago
    ...or until you drive to Mexico and murder your family with a spear gun. https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/qanon-follower-matthew-coleman-who-allegedly-killed-his-kids-was-deceived/ https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/qanon-follower-matthew-coleman... But perhaps it's yet another layer of the onion! /s
- thomassmith65 4y ago
  There's a limit to what we can extrapolate from someone being right about something once. It's probably somewhere between〝Google is working with the CIA…〞and〝…to identify children with high levels of adrenochrome〞
  - ellopoppit 4y ago
    Indeed. Do you think extrapolating that governments and corporations may use a universal digital ID for mass surveillance, from the proven fact that governments and corporations work together to perform mass surveillance, is within that limit of valid speculation?
    - thomassmith65 4y ago
      Yes, that statement seems perfectly reasonable to me. The proposal, depending on its design (support for pseudonymity?), has potential to solve some security problems, but could cause others.
thomassmith65 4y ago
I had hoped my comment would come across a little gentler than that. People can believe what they want, but I when I read a comment that expresses alarm over matters that, from my point of view, are utter nonissues, it makes me hope the author - for their own peace of mind - leaves a little room for doubt.
- collyw 4y ago
  Let me guess, you believe that there has been a pandemic that was a genuine threat to humanity over the last two years. And that coerced mandatory vaccines using a novel technology under emergency use authorization is completely acceptable, as were the accompanying discriminatory vaccine passport systems in countries with well over 80% of the population was "vaccinated" while completely ignoring the concept of naturally acquired immunity. Meanwhile massive amounts of censorship and doctors being fired for questioning the official line. I think maybe you are the one that is living in cloud cuckoo land. "Two weeks to flatten the curve" so you remember that? How many times do the goalposts need to be moved before you start questioning the narrative?
  - thomassmith65 4y ago
    you believe that there has been a pandemic that was a genuine threat to humanity My quick answer: yes. My nuanced answer: a fairly confident yes, providing the "threat to humanity" is that the disease kills or disables maybe 1% of the world. coerced mandatory vaccines [...] a novel technology [...] vaccine passport [...] censorship If I considered the virus to be no big deal, of course I too would oppose all those impingements on rights. Since that is not the case, I am fine with the impingements. I have fantasized on a few occasions that the world had gone 'Covid zero' for 10 days back in 2020. Two weeks living under stronger emergency measures to rid humanity of the virus permanently... might have been worth it. I think maybe you are the one that is living in cloud cuckoo land. If one took the entirety of our views, I doubt that applies to either of us, and if one excepted our pandemic views, it may well be true that I am the less balanced ;) "Two weeks to flatten the curve" [...] questioning the narrative? My take is that people, groups of people, organizations, businesses, governments are all liable to craft self-serving narratives. I have no reason to trust populist-types and conspiracy theorists any more than anyone else; considering Occam's Razor, one has much less reason to trust them.

ellopoppit 4y ago

What a classic, I remember when people would call you crazy for claiming that governments were working with corporations to perform mass domestic surveillance

usrn 4y ago
It's a conspiracy theory until it turns out there really is a conspiracy.
- thomassmith65 4y ago
  ...or until you drive to Mexico and murder your family with a spear gun. https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/qanon-follower-matthew-coleman-who-allegedly-killed-his-kids-was-deceived/ https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/qanon-follower-matthew-coleman... But perhaps it's yet another layer of the onion! /s
thomassmith65 4y ago
There's a limit to what we can extrapolate from someone being right about something once. It's probably somewhere between〝Google is working with the CIA…〞and〝…to identify children with high levels of adrenochrome〞
- ellopoppit 4y ago
  Indeed. Do you think extrapolating that governments and corporations may use a universal digital ID for mass surveillance, from the proven fact that governments and corporations work together to perform mass surveillance, is within that limit of valid speculation?
  - thomassmith65 4y ago
    Yes, that statement seems perfectly reasonable to me. The proposal, depending on its design (support for pseudonymity?), has potential to solve some security problems, but could cause others.

thomassmith65 4y ago

I had hoped my comment would come across a little gentler than that. People can believe what they want, but I when I read a comment that expresses alarm over matters that, from my point of view, are utter nonissues, it makes me hope the author - for their own peace of mind - leaves a little room for doubt.

collyw 4y ago
Let me guess, you believe that there has been a pandemic that was a genuine threat to humanity over the last two years. And that coerced mandatory vaccines using a novel technology under emergency use authorization is completely acceptable, as were the accompanying discriminatory vaccine passport systems in countries with well over 80% of the population was "vaccinated" while completely ignoring the concept of naturally acquired immunity. Meanwhile massive amounts of censorship and doctors being fired for questioning the official line. I think maybe you are the one that is living in cloud cuckoo land. "Two weeks to flatten the curve" so you remember that? How many times do the goalposts need to be moved before you start questioning the narrative?
- thomassmith65 4y ago
  you believe that there has been a pandemic that was a genuine threat to humanity My quick answer: yes. My nuanced answer: a fairly confident yes, providing the "threat to humanity" is that the disease kills or disables maybe 1% of the world. coerced mandatory vaccines [...] a novel technology [...] vaccine passport [...] censorship If I considered the virus to be no big deal, of course I too would oppose all those impingements on rights. Since that is not the case, I am fine with the impingements. I have fantasized on a few occasions that the world had gone 'Covid zero' for 10 days back in 2020. Two weeks living under stronger emergency measures to rid humanity of the virus permanently... might have been worth it. I think maybe you are the one that is living in cloud cuckoo land. If one took the entirety of our views, I doubt that applies to either of us, and if one excepted our pandemic views, it may well be true that I am the less balanced ;) "Two weeks to flatten the curve" [...] questioning the narrative? My take is that people, groups of people, organizations, businesses, governments are all liable to craft self-serving narratives. I have no reason to trust populist-types and conspiracy theorists any more than anyone else; considering Occam's Razor, one has much less reason to trust them.