AMA: Scarlet edition

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Because why not? apart from it being completely unearned and self-indulgent, of course

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Have your views changed in any way since you were last here?

[bagelman]

Are there cacti in your yard?

Do you live in a house with 4 or more bedrooms?

[Figueira]

Welcome back!

What other websites do you frequent?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Have your views changed in any way since you were last here?

That's a good question, which gets even harder because IIRC, I've never been super clear about my philosophy on atlas(parts of it have been made very clear, but e.g. I haven't really talked about economics too much, and what I have talked about is parts of other leftist's ideas that anger me.) I don't think my deep-down philosophy has changed too much, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the more surface elements that usually show have changed significantly.

Are there cacti in your yard?

Do you live in a house with 4 or more bedrooms?

No to the first, though they aren't uncommon around here. To the second, my house has exactly four bedrooms, though they aren't very big.

What other websites do you frequent?

I read www.cracked.com some and watch a lot of youtube.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What would have happened if (a) Boadicea had been the daughter of Edward the Confessor? (b) Canute had succeeded in sitting on the waves? Does it matter?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

What would have happened if (a) Boadicea had been the daughter of Edward the Confessor? (b) Canute had succeeded in sitting on the waves? Does it matter?

A) no idea
B) we'd have a new religion on our hands(thanks google)

This matters because it might have been beef that was banned instead of pork.

Why do you hate the populists?

Well, they tend to have a simplistic worldview which boils down to "us vs them" on some level, they put feels over reason, they thus support awful policies like protectionism, problems are always declared the fault of some scapegoat(eg mexicans, free trade), the movements are often cronyist when they start governing, and I believe politics shouldn't be about vague ideas about being "for the people". I guess their simplistic worldview, bs feelgood laws, and nuking of good ideas because they don't align with said oversimplistid worldview is probably the main reasonI dislike them.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Have you ever voted Republican?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Who would you vote for in an election between a pro-choice polyamorous eugenicist and a pro-incest trans woman who plans to commit assisted suicide after completing her term?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Have you ever voted Republican?

No, I'm not yet over 18, and there aren't any republicans I would vote for.

Who would you vote for in an election between a pro-choice polyamorous eugenicist and a pro-incest trans woman who plans to commit assisted suicide after completing her term?

Wat? I'd vote for the ballot box. I may not agree with it on everything, but it says what it thinks!

[Technocracy Timmy]

Why did you support Bernie Sanders in the primary given your answer about populists?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Why do you hate the populists?

Well, they tend to have a simplistic worldview which boils down to "us vs them" on some level, they put feels over reason

Do you believe that some schools of intersectional feminism are guilty of this, as well?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Who would you vote for in an election between a pro-choice polyamorous eugenicist and a pro-incest trans woman who plans to commit assisted suicide after completing her term?

Wat? I'd vote for the ballot box. I may not agree with it on everything, but it says what it thinks!

Boo! Sometimes you have to make hard choices in politics.

More seriously, what are your thoughts on the French election?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Why did you support Bernie Sanders in the primary given your answer about populists?

I didn't really have the anti populist streak until I had stopped being a sanders hack(I was one of the bad ones). I guess I started learning a bit more while also coming off the populism high, and the views I once held (basically because they were #trueLeftist) eventually became bad. I ended up shifting on trade because of my economics class(though not too much on other issues, I was mostly being exposed to new ideas at a time when I wasn't in stubborn cognitive bias mode(which doesn't seem quite as strong for me as for some people, though its still powerful, esp in arguments). I started thinking about the issues and I guess my philosophy came through, and seeing that protectionism would cause people to starve turned me completely against the populist sentiment that made free trade so unpopular. My mind wasn't fighting for #proggressive ideology, and its more natural patterns arose.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Why did you support Bernie Sanders in the primary given your answer about populists?

I didn't really have the anti populist streak until I had stopped being a sanders hack(I was one of the bad ones). I guess I started learning a bit more while also coming off the populism high, and the views I once held (basically because they were #trueLeftist) eventually became bad. I ended up shifting on trade because of my economics class(though not too much on other issues, I was mostly being exposed to new ideas at a time when I wasn't in stubborn cognitive bias mode(which doesn't seem quite as strong for me as for some people, though its still powerful, esp in arguments). I started thinking about the issues and I guess my philosophy came through, and seeing that protectionism would cause people to starve turned me completely against the populist sentiment that made free trade so unpopular. My mind wasn't fighting for #proggressive ideology, and its more natural patterns arose.

Interesting.

I moderated on free trade after being unabashedly for it as a result of researching the arguments against it including dumping, infant industries, comparative advantage being domain specific, and our terrible/non existent retraining programs to help displaced workers. There's also the national security angle of wanting to produce our own food.

To put it bluntly I don't trust our current politicians to sign off on free trade deals after seeing their lack of willpower to retrain and retool people, especially after NAFTA.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Who would you vote for in an election between a pro-choice polyamorous eugenicist and a pro-incest trans woman who plans to commit assisted suicide after completing her term?

Wat? I'd vote for the ballot box. I may not agree with it on everything, but it says what it thinks!

Boo! Sometimes you have to make hard choices in politics.

More seriously, what are your thoughts on the French election?

Macron over Lepen. I've been zoned out of politics for a bit, so I don't know much else

Why do you hate the populists?

Well, they tend to have a simplistic worldview which boils down to "us vs them" on some level, they put feels over reason

Do you believe that some schools of intersectional feminism are guilty of this, as well?

Probably somewhere, but something worse then typical populism(esp the "us vs them" aspect) I have not seen from intersectionalists. Among certain second wavers and TERFs, however...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I don't like you.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I don't like you.

Is it really polite to just say things like that unprompted? Unless you're joking or something.

[MAINEiac4434]

I don't like you.

Is it really polite to just say things like that unprompted? Unless you're joking or something.

He could've been more rude, I suppose...

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Which one is dumber?....Jan Brewer or Ducey?

Brewer.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I don't like you.

Is it really polite to just say things like that unprompted? Unless you're joking or something.

I don't dislike you either.