Search found 108 matches

by Megabot
2019-05-26 11:41am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Is identity politics detrimental to the class struggle?
Replies: 10
Views: 5666

Is identity politics detrimental to the class struggle?

Much has been made about right-wing lambasting of identity politics, e.g. the civil rights movement, feminism, LGBT rights, etc., for the obvious reasons of conservatives wanting to maintain the current social order. But recently I came across a less conventional leftist critique of that political i...
by Megabot
2019-05-25 06:33am
Forum: Pure Star Trek
Topic: How well has "The Economics of Star Trek" essay aged? & Star Trek - The "Leftist" Future
Replies: 2
Views: 11162

How well has "The Economics of Star Trek" essay aged? & Star Trek - The "Leftist" Future

It's been almost two decades since the main site essay The Economics of Star Trek has been posted, which argues that the Federation is some kind of crypto-communist dystopia by not only citing numerous comparisons to Marx's work, but also arguing around the point that the supposedly utopian Federati...
by Megabot
2019-05-16 05:34pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Survival of the richest: The wealthy are plotting to leave us behind
Replies: 104
Views: 89030

Survival of the richest: The wealthy are plotting to leave us behind

I thought about posting this in N&P, but since it heavily addresses how science and technological development relate to capitalism I figured it was better here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/survival-of-the-richest-the-wealthy-are-plotting-to-leave-us-behind.html Survival of the richest: The w...
by Megabot
2019-03-28 05:11pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Do resource crises and conflicts in advanced sci fi settings make sense?
Replies: 59
Views: 44651

Re: Do resource crises and conflicts in advanced sci fi settings make sense?

Why would space capitalism not make war? Because it is “not economical”? It is, of course, unlikely that space capitalism is feasible precisely due to the artificial scarcities and due to the extreme path dependency and totality such a system has, moreso than any other system in history, so for non...
by Megabot
2019-03-21 08:07pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Do resource crises and conflicts in advanced sci fi settings make sense?
Replies: 59
Views: 44651

Do resource crises and conflicts in advanced sci fi settings make sense?

I recently rewatched Infinity War, whose plot involves Thanos planning to enact a universe-wide population control (read: genocide) to bring stability to the universe out of fear of an unchecked population eventually consuming all available resources, which was supposedly inspired by his own homewor...
by Megabot
2019-01-07 06:51am
Forum: History
Topic: Rome: City + Empire contains wonderful objects but elides the bloody cost of imperialism
Replies: 13
Views: 25577

Rome: City + Empire contains wonderful objects but elides the bloody cost of imperialism

An article with a self-explanatory title about the Rome: City and Empire museum exhibit: https://theconversation.com/rome-city-empire-contains-wonderful-objects-but-elides-the-bloody-cost-of-imperialism-104138 Rome: City + Empire contains wonderful objects but elides the bloody cost of imperialism O...
by Megabot
2018-12-26 04:54pm
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Race and Grimdark in A Song of Ice and Fire: Medievalism Posing as Authenticity
Replies: 9
Views: 7318

Race and Grimdark in A Song of Ice and Fire: Medievalism Posing as Authenticity

Here's some of The Public Medievalist website doing what it does best in debunking popular misconceptions of medieval history, with a few articles focusing on Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, one on racism... (note: the articles cite a good number of linked sources within the text itself that...
by Megabot
2018-12-21 07:06am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)
Replies: 2022
Views: 707575

Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Mattis just resigned Washington (CNN)Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned Thursday on the heels of President Donald Trump's plans to withdraw troops from Syria, citing irreconcilable policy differences in a move that took Washington by surprise. "Because you have the right to have a Secreta...
by Megabot
2018-11-25 09:52am
Forum: History
Topic: Just the Good Wife? Death and Legacy of Noblewomen in the Middle Ages
Replies: 2
Views: 12818

Just the Good Wife? Death and Legacy of Noblewomen in the Middle Ages

This article on The Public Medievalist talks about the erasure of women's political power in history and how it's comparable to media portrayals today: Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency inspired a record-breaking number of American women to run for office. And last Tuesday, they won. But out...
by Megabot
2018-11-25 08:38am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: The aesthetics of sci fi computer technology
Replies: 8
Views: 9562

The aesthetics of sci fi computer technology

Being familiar with the main site's Engineering and Star Trek essay, I recently came across a blog post that reminded me of the essay's safety section which argues that high-tech solutions aren't necessarily the best solutions, and can in fact be more unreliable and dangerous than less advanced tech...
by Megabot
2018-11-07 11:04am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: When the dreaded 'other' is an angry white man
Replies: 0
Views: 4079

When the dreaded 'other' is an angry white man

To commemorate the concluding of the US midterms, here's a CNN article that analyzes the mindset of Trump's core base and the history behind it: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/us/angry-white-man-john-blake/index.html When the dreaded 'other' is an angry white man By John Blake, CNN Updated 9:22 PM E...
by Megabot
2018-09-26 09:56am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: World governments are boring?
Replies: 19
Views: 15379

World governments are boring?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftj7Z2JmtA8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftj7Z2JmtA8 This Templin Institute video addresses a common cliche in science fiction of a future humanity being under a unified government that's often depicted as some form of generic Space!America with little to no conside...
by Megabot
2018-07-11 08:03pm
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Magic induced limitations in the Wizarding World (a.k.a. I think I broke Harry Potter)
Replies: 11
Views: 7558

Magic induced limitations in the Wizarding World (a.k.a. I think I broke Harry Potter)

In another round of "Fucked Up Implications About Harry Potter," here's an blog post aptly titled I think I broke Harry Potter about the contrast between the wizarding world's stagnant nature and the muggle world's advancement, and their respective causes of magic and technology. I know th...
by Megabot
2018-07-06 12:54pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Fukuyama's Follies: So What if Women Ruled the World? (a.k.a. Men Hate War Too)
Replies: 0
Views: 8446

Fukuyama's Follies: So What if Women Ruled the World? (a.k.a. Men Hate War Too)

With the recent whining controversy whining about Battlefield 5 having playable female WWII soldiers, this seems like a good time to post a an old (as in, The Phantom Menace old) Foreign Affairs article I found a while ago about women in the history of warfare. It has multiple authors, one of which ...
by Megabot
2018-06-29 10:57pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: “A lot of them kill their wives”: Journalist warns of “post-deployment crime waves”
Replies: 1
Views: 4385

“A lot of them kill their wives”: Journalist warns of “post-deployment crime waves”

Because I apparently don't have anything better to do than dig up and post years-old articles about potentially sensitive subjects, here's a Salon interview with Ann Jones from 2013 about the treatment of US veterans, the culture that discourages dealing with both the trauma they face and any crimin...
by Megabot
2018-06-27 11:24pm
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: The World Building in Fantastic Beasts (and Harry Potter in general) is Completely Broken
Replies: 20
Views: 11038

The World Building in Fantastic Beasts (and Harry Potter in general) is Completely Broken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxgO8nwdqnw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxgO8nwdqnw This video on Harry Potter makes the argument that the magical community's "Statute of Secrecy" law to hide its presence from the rest of the world completely falls apart with the existence of muggleborn...
by Megabot
2018-06-20 07:05pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Trump Regime planning to set up "tent cities' (aka concentration camps) for unaccompanied migrant children.
Replies: 74
Views: 29964

Re: Trump Regime planning to set up "tent cities' (aka concentration camps) for unaccompanied migrant children.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/politics/trump-separation-action-immigration/index.html Trump reverses course, signs order to keep families together By Stephen Collinson, Sarah Westwood, Laura Jarrett and Tal Kopan, CNN (CNN) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed his debunked argument that h...
by Megabot
2018-06-16 06:13pm
Forum: History
Topic: Hitler's Furies
Replies: 0
Views: 13802

Hitler's Furies

Some time ago I made a thread in which I compared alt-right neo-Nazi women to actual Nazis by citing an article about Hitler's Furies, a book detailing German women's involvement and atrocities in the Holocaust. I eventually figured the article itself is noteworthy enough to warrant its own history ...
by Megabot
2018-06-11 07:08pm
Forum: History
Topic: How Southern socialites rewrote Civil War history
Replies: 9
Views: 20552

How Southern socialites rewrote Civil War history

This Vox video goes into detail about how the Lost Cause of the Confederacy's historical revision to portray the Confederate side of the US Civil War as a noble cause, totally about "states right" and not about slavery at all, the CSA was the right side of the war, etc., owes its success t...
by Megabot
2018-06-11 06:35pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: A nation's government does not have to bow down beneath economic laws
Replies: 13
Views: 10743

A nation's government does not have to bow down beneath economic laws

In Deux Ex, a game peppered with philosophical discussions in between all the conspiracy theories, one interesting discussion takes place between two NPCs in Paris where the evil global conspiracy has completely taken over. It starts as a conversation over whether the leader of the resistance moveme...
by Megabot
2018-06-06 09:48pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Portrayal of futuristic socioeconomics in sci fi
Replies: 10
Views: 10612

Portrayal of futuristic socioeconomics in sci fi

Being familiar with the main site's "The Economics of Star Trek" essay which argues that the Federation is communist, on a whim I decided to google it to see what people think about it. One result which turned up was a thread on what seems to be a Marxist subreddit called r/ShitLiberalsSay...
by Megabot
2018-04-26 08:23pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: The Women Behind the 'Alt-Right'
Replies: 0
Views: 6160

The Women Behind the 'Alt-Right'

(Warning, long post with lots of quotes and links) I remember seeing this thread a few months ago on an article about the discrimination and poor treatment of women involved in the alt-right at the hands of the movement's men. I recently found an even earlier article on the same subject that paints ...
by Megabot
2018-04-19 06:04pm
Forum: Pure Star Trek
Topic: Justification for the Cardassian occupation of Bajor
Replies: 4
Views: 9709

Justification for the Cardassian occupation of Bajor

I recently saw this Kurzgesagt video which got me thinking about Cardassia's occupation of Bajor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvskMHn0sqQ Specifically, it was the video's first part about how conquering, plundering, and stealing territory and resources is viable strategy for sustaining the econom...
by Megabot
2018-03-28 06:35pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Possible justifications for Point Defenseless
Replies: 82
Views: 49737

Possible justifications for Point Defenseless

I've been thinking about the scifi trope Point Defenseless , where capital ships bristling with firepower are seemingly unable to swat down small enemy craft, especially ones piloted by main characters, turning the snubfighter into the most lethal weapon in the universe. Since AI-controlled point de...
by Megabot
2018-03-28 06:15pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: War Without Humans
Replies: 7
Views: 9543

War Without Humans

I found an interesting article by American author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich, who, among other things, has wrote extensively about the history of war and in her book Blood Rites , where she theorizes that the roots of warfare aren't nearly as simple as hypothetical human tendencies toward aggre...