Dear Fabian,
First, let me say that you are quite an eloquent speaker, probably moreso in your native Swedish, but quite amazingly so in English.
I daresay I always thought you were from England or the "USA" from the way your wrote, but maybe that was just my horrible prejudice.
So my question today is:
What do we do now?
There are quite a few really smart people in the world (and lots of them on this site)... do these smart people owe it to the rest of the world to try and fix things for everyone?
Or maybe we can sit around and TAS...?
Humbly yours,
Alden in Paradise
First, thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
Second, I do think smart people have a responsibility to improve things. Actually everyone have an ethical responsibility to improve things to the best of their ability, it's just smart people = greater ability.
This rarely works out very well though since being selfish is both easy and rewarding.
do these smart people owe it to the rest of the world to try and fix things for everyone?
Dear Fabian, I'll ask a question related to this quote.
Doesn't every person think of themselves as being either smart, or 'right'? People of two completely opposite opinions could say they are 100% sure they are right about something, and think the other isn't smart enough to understand. You mostly think per definition that you are right, since otherwise you would change your opinion (right?). So how do you truly know that you are either 'smart' or 'right' about something?
This is all definitely true. I think for the most part it's just people's inability to relate to stuff they're not familiar with. Like when someone you're discussing whatever with has a different way of looking at things it's tough for most people to grasp it and evaluate it objectively. Extra good example is religion, it's just completely impossible for theists and atheists to debate most of the time because a theist's way of thinking is just fundamentally different from mine, for example.
In general the best way to find out if you're wrong (=an idiot/not smart) a lot is to listen to what people smarter than you are tell you. If they tell you you're wrong, you probably need to seriously rethink stuff with an open mind. Of course you need to figure out who is smart to begin with, and we're back where we started. As long as someone is on either extreme (obviously wrong or obviously right) it works fine, but that's not the case most of the time of course.
So to sum up, you probably don't truly know if you're right or smart about stuff as long as you have other people in the same approximate intelligence bracket strongly disagree with you.
Why would you vote for Vänsterpartiet?
They want:
- 6 hour limit on workdays, meaning greater inefficiences in production, causing mass unemployment as companies move operations abroad.
- Increase government control over landlords and private businesses. Vänsterpartiet wants to seize the property of anyone who do not rent out to, or hire people at the government's discretion. At present, they can only be fined.
- To reduce the already ridiculous jail sentences and let criminals run loose
- To send precious women into war and thereby reduce the size of the next generation of Swedes dramatically after a war
- To encourage graffiti and vandalism
- To help voter groups that depend the most on the government (non-productive citizens), to increase their own power over the people.
1. Your attempt to provoke me into a political debate after I just wrote "I'm not interested in or know a lot about politics" tells me you're probably an idiot.
2. Your obvious bias when it comes to the stuff you listed and your apparent failure to see upsides to those things tells me you're probably an idiot.
Anyway didn't mean to come off this harsh. If you want people to take you seriously though you definitely need to understand both the good things and the bad things, both for the political ideas you're trying to push and the ideas you want to convince others to reject. A good place to start when trying to figure this stuff out is to go "ok so this idea X sucks for me because it means bla bla bla, but who might it not suck for, and why? Would anyone benefit from this suggestion?" Remember, while it's valid to vote for selfish reasons, if you do, you can't fault others for voting for THEIR selfish reasons.
Once you've got this far, you can try building solid arguments for why you feel the upsides of "your" suggestion" outweighs the downsides compared to "their" suggestion. Solid arguments is tough though, so don't expect too much. Also keep in mind that if the issue is complicated in any kind of way, like pretty much every political question, ordinary people such as you and I probably won't have the necessary knowledge to be able to evaluate these two opposing ideas. This is why politics is incredibly tough to discuss in a meaningful way, as it almost every time will boil down to two people trying to misdirect each other with meaningless arguments, and it's all for selfish reasons. This is as true for top politicians as it is for us regular folk.
Fabian, the Duriel segment of my Diablo 2 speedrun is giving me a hard time. Got any pointers for me?
Nevermind. You took forever and I worked out the kinks on my own. Thanks for nothing, jerk >:|
You're stuck on that segment for like 9 months (right? like November last year?), you post about it here and within a day you've figured it out? Sweet beans, I'd love to watch it, I've been looking forward to more Diablo 2 speedruns. Hope your progress from now on is quicker :)
Also I don't have many pointers. I haven't played a lot of Diablo 2.
Dear Fabian,
Say someone else had made an Ask thread before you. Who would you have most preferred it to be? What would you have asked them?
Your boyfriend(gay),
JXQ
To be honest I can't think of any Ask thread I'd really care about. The most well suited would probably be Bisqwit, with him being site administrator and everything, and we all saw how that one turned out :) Which is not to say your thread sucked Bisqwit, obviously people enjoyed it, it didn't interest me in any way though.
Apart from myself the only person I think could do a good Ask thread would be you. Coincidence huh(gay)? I bet nitsuja's would enjoy some brief popularity too, with him being idolized by 80% of this forum and everything.
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
Do you not want to answer questions anymore, or just don't want to have to deal with stupid questions?
To avoid this post being a stupid question, what is your opinion on being agnostic? Coming from a very scientific (and as far as I know, atheist) father, and a pretty religious (Christian) mother, I truly think there is a God or Ultimate Being, or something along those lines. But for me to proclaim that I have it all figured out is simply pompous and vain in nature. Considering there has already been a lot of conversation about theology, I figured this was somewhat of a middle ground that hadn't been covered, even if my some of my word choice seems contradictory ("I think" is a term a hard agnostic wouldn't accept as part of an argument). Thoughts?
Do you not want to answer questions anymore, or just don't want to have to deal with stupid questions?
To avoid this post being a stupid question, what is your opinion on being agnostic? Coming from a very scientific (and as far as I know, atheist) father, and a pretty religious (Christian) mother, I truly think there is a God or Ultimate Being, or something along those lines. But for me to proclaim that I have it all figured out is simply pompous and vain in nature. Considering there has already been a lot of conversation about theology, I figured this was somewhat of a middle ground that hadn't been covered. Thoughts?
What I meant was please don't fire up huge discussions in here, if you think a particular topic is really interesting feel free to move it to a separate thread etc. Also a little bit about the extra stupid questions yeah. I can do without retarded Colbert references for example, that guy has been moved to my mental ignore list for now.
Being agnostic is very reasonable. In fact, it's really the only reasonable thing, but I think making that distinction (I can't be 100.00000% sure there is no god so if I said I was sure I'd be lying and would be stupid bla bla bla) is just kinda semantic bullshit which I'm not a big fan of. But yeah on a more strict or philosophical level, agnosticism is really the only thing that makes sense.
For me, one of the things I have a very hard time accepting when discussing theology with theists is their die hard belief where they completely refuse to acknowledge any other possibility than that their own very specific religion is exactly 100% likely to be true. Most smart theists (to be honest I've only come across like 3 or 4 of these ever, which says something about theists but also something about me so no reason to get all riled up) leave a door open for other possibilities, thankfully. Makes it a lot easier for me to accept their position. The vanity and pomposity you mention is indeed present in most theists' minds in my experience. I might not be much better here though, but I try to be respectful at least when discussing it with people I respect.
Joined: 9/23/2006
Posts: 207
Location: Moreno Valley, California
Dear Fabian,
I'm an atheist who believes in God. Can you work out this apparent contradiction, other than realizing I've watched "The Usual Suspects" and/or "Inherit the Wind" too many times?
Thanks for your time. :)
"The way to move out of judgment is to move into gratitude." — Neale Donald Walsch
DannyLilithborne on IRC
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Fabian wrote:
Hope your progress from now on is quicker :)
You are my good luck charm, you know that? Right after reading that post, I told myself that you were probably on to something, and I've already pumped out two segments in to Act 3.
Dear Fabian,
What is your favorite compass direction? Please don't think about it too hard in terms of what is actualy in each direction in the world, think more along the lines of the cultural associations each direction has (which I guess would be different for you and me because we are on different continents).
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster.
I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
Dear Fabian,
If you could visit any point in time, where would you go and why? Don't worry, you will not cause any paradoxes and you can return to the present at any time you wish.
I'm asking both you and Bisqwit as I feel it should provide interesting results.
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Dear Fabian,
I'm an atheist who believes in God. Can you work out this apparent contradiction, other than realizing I've watched "The Usual Suspects" and/or "Inherit the Wind" too many times?
Thanks for your time. :)
Unless you're trying out some stupid technicality in the definition of atheist (like how a theist will sometimes go "atheism requires just as much faith as theism so it's on you guys to provide the burden of proof not us!"), then no I can't. Also I've never seen either of the films so your point is mostly lost on me I'm afraid :)
Dear Fabian,
What is your favorite compass direction? Please don't think about it too hard in terms of what is actualy in each direction in the world, think more along the lines of the cultural associations each direction has (which I guess would be different for you and me because we are on different continents).
We can eliminate south right away. Kentucky and Alabama etc, yuck. Next to go is east, because that makes me think of Eastern Europe, like the old Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and those countries. They kinda suck too.
So it's between north and west. I don't know what I associate with north, nothing special I guess. West wins out though for two reasons. One, I live in western (or northern. hm) Europe, which rocks. Two, Go West with Pet Shop Boys.
Dear Fabian,
If you could visit any point in time, where would you go and why? Don't worry, you will not cause any paradoxes and you can return to the present at any time you wish.
I'm asking both you and Bisqwit as I feel it should provide interesting results.
Hm pretty tough question. I can't really think of any historic event I would really want to see/experience because of its greatness or whatever. I've been sitting here for like 5 minutes trying to come up with something, and just.. nope. It's got to be something in the last 100 or so years, because everything up until then has kind of sucked.
I guess it would be something pretty insignificant. Like maybe a cool sporting event, except I'm not that into sports and I can't think of anything really cool I would have wanted to see. Definitely not anything horrible (like the Titanic sinking, WWII, Spanish inquisition type stuff). Maybe an early Elton John concert, I bet that would be super awesome and not at all what you are looking for but I can't think of anything of more significance so.
Dear Fabian,
Have you considered the future for Raiscan's question?
Signed,
The Melancholy Knight
Well I did and then I dismissed it on account on it being kinda lame. I felt the answered needed to be something specific. Otherwise sure "I'd like to see what it's like in the future lol duh obv!!"
anonymous wrote:
Dear Fabian,
I've recently met a very nice person who says she's got a fantasy of being tied to the bed with eyes covered. She didn't tell me exactly, but I assume she's gonna be naked. I can probably handle the situation and I know all the basic stuff that I might want to do to please her. I also believe that I can talk with her to find out what she wants. Anyway, I would appreciate if you had some interesting tips or any kind of ideas for this kind of act. It would be nice to be able to surprise her with something special.
I wasn't sure how to answer this at first. Originally I thought I was just going to say fuck it that what the hell do I know about pleasing women. I mean you probably know just as many sweet sex tricks as I do, and as for what a chick wants specifically in that situation.. who knows. Women right?
Anyway the lame but true answer is to do what you suggest, ask her. You've probably had sex fifteen hundred times already so that shouldn't be too awkward :) Thing is, what you like in bed is just way too individual to give a general answer to, and like I said you already know the general answers I could give you. Be more dominant than you usually are though, kinda obvious too I guess but you might as well overdo it a little, even for this situation.
I was going to come up with some half joking half serious suggestion for what to do do surprise her, but I can't even think of anything. I suck.
Good luck and please give me her phone number when you're done.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
(this one is really meant to mock Dasrik's ridiculus question)
Dear Fabian,
I believe in science and no god, but science clearly contradicts my belief that the entire universe was created from a giant tree and a huge cow. Please tell me how I am right.
(this one isn't meant to mock anything)
Dear Fabian,
What's your favorite Star Trek: TNG episode? If you can't say a single favorite, just say some episode that you liked a lot or found interesting in some other way.
Joined: 9/23/2006
Posts: 207
Location: Moreno Valley, California
Guess I'll explain myself...
"The Usual Suspects" has a scene where Verbal Kint says "Keaton used to say he didn't believe in God but he was scared of him. Well, I believe in God and the only thing I'm scared of is Keyser Soze". It sums up my early relationship with God. I wasn't scared of Him, but I was scared of outside forces.
As I grew, I saw the film "Inherit the Wind" and it altered my perspective. "ITW" is a retelling of the Scopes monkey trial with fictional characters. I won't spoil the movie for you, but the defense (arguing for evolution being taught in schools) was called "The atheist who believes in God" at the end. Sums up my outlook now.
Thanks for your time again. :)
"The way to move out of judgment is to move into gratitude." — Neale Donald Walsch
DannyLilithborne on IRC
(this one is really meant to mock Dasrik's ridiculus question)
Dear Fabian,
I believe in science and no god, but science clearly contradicts my belief that the entire universe was created from a giant tree and a huge cow. Please tell me how I am right.
(this one isn't meant to mock anything)
Dear Fabian,
What's your favorite Star Trek: TNG episode? If you can't say a single favorite, just say some episode that you liked a lot or found interesting in some other way.
Is TNG the one with Patrick Stewart? I've seen 2 or 3 episodes of it, the one I remember most of was when they turned into Sherlock Holmes and some evil ghost/force/who knows was professor Moriarty and threatened to take over the ship or something. Not a big Star Trek fan as you can tell.
Dear Fabian,
we were out with friends yesterday, when somehow in the middle of a non-serious conversation that involved badmouthing men we ended up stating that men would only be nice to women when they want sex. So this one girl turns to one of my friends and me and asks: "Hey, wait, is that the reason you two are being nice to me?"
Well, being in a fun and badmouthing mood, we totally screwed up the answer.
She tried not to let on, but I know she didn't like the answer at all, she rarely laughed the rest of the evening.
To be honest, she is hot, but having her just as a friend has so far been more rewarding than my entire last relationship, and currently I don't see any reason for further advancements (which would fail anyway). Sex is definetly not my goal, nor something that passes my mind when seeing her.
Now, how do I best explain that to her without sounding like a total bootlicker that's just saying nice things to get her into bed? And without saying something she'll understand as being called unattractive? Is there even a believable way for a guy to say "I consider you attractive, yet I don't want sex with you"?
Should I just let it go and try to avoid that topic in the future?
greetings,
a guy that hopes that neither his friends nor his ex-girlfriend read the tasvideos forums.
I looked at my friend and said "you tell her". He didn't deny. Which is basically a "yes, sure" and certainly was understood that way.
No alcohol was involved, neither of the three persons mentioned drink, so that's one excuse less.
My concern isn't telling her "sorry, what we said was stupid, we were not prepared to give a honest reply.". My concern is what to tell her so she'll actually understand and believe that I'm not trying to sweet-talk my way out.
