None of them do what I want, which is to check my blood sugar via UV light. They’ve been talking about it for at least 15 years. I know why too. They want to be able to sell all our info, and medical stuff is protected by HIPPA.

Yeah maybe, but we’re 40 now.

I still don’t have a 4k TV either. The PS5 is friggin HUGE. My space is at a premium.

You know what? I barely play the games I already have. I should just go to the gym.

I can’t, but this astrophysicist is the one who proposed the idea. Both techniques use compatible tech. https://youtu.be/rFqL9CkNxXw?si=WkbEiTM6usQnSgyy

I’m not convinced they’re visiting us. None of the reports I’ve seen appear credible. But non-interference is often critical to scientific study. They could just be doing a decent job at hiding from us.

If they’re out there, I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t visit. Our solar system has been showing life signs for 3.5B years, and technological signs for about a century or so. There aren’t apparently many planets like ours around. We are a very tempting target for study.

It appears to be quite difficult to develop a spacefarring civilization. But there are credible models for sailing light beamed from stars, and even gravity surfing orbiting black hole pairs. The vast energies required for interstellar travel should be impossible to conceal. We ought to already be able to see them out there, if they’re close.

13.5B years is an eyeblink in the potential age of the Universe. We developed early. Perhaps not first, but very early. Intelligence and technology are difficult and expensive to develop. Our hubris may destroy us. We might easily be alone in our local neighborhood. Technological civilizations may still be rare. But once they go interplanetary, there are few ways for such a civilization to go extinct.

I’m fairly confident they’re out there somewhere. I’m sceptical that they’re close. We may be the first in our galaxy, or even the Local Group. Who can say? I don’t know.

Yeah, I’ve worked on a wind farm that powered a Bitcoin mine built right next door, and another one that powered an oil refinery. Both felt pretty messed up.

Jesus warned his followers to beware wolves in sheep’s clothing, only there to prey upon the flock from within.

So who else would they be besides con artist preachers?

You are sealioning. It’s literally all you do. You pretend to put forth a reasonable argument, but you ignore absolutely everything anyone else says, and then try to trap them with what you think are clever questions. But you’re just a pigeon shitting on a chess board claiming victory.

And you don’t have the courage to consider a viewpoint other than your own. Goodbye.

Coward.

You didn’t like my answer, but that does not mean I didn’t answer it. You only think I can answer your question with yes or no. If I say no, you’ll ask me why we’re arguing. If I say yes, you’ll accuse me of being a sexual deviant. Either way, you’ll refuse to answer mine, because you don’t have the courage to even consider my questions inside your own head. But I don’t care what your answer is. I just want to see you do the impossible, and think.

Children already are not allowed in strip clubs, and never have been. You are employing a slippery slope argument.

Kids have never been allowed in strip clubs. You’re using a slippery slope argument.

I have answered your question several times. I don’t care in the slightest whether you’re unhappy with my answer. I don’t think it matters whether we’re okay with it or not. It’s going to happen. There is no such thing as putting that cat back in the bag. I saw it when I was young, and it did me no harm. What did me harm was people like you.

Now you answer my questions.

Why do you think it’s unhealthy to look at porn?

Why do you think it needs to be prevented? Do you seriously still think it’s possible to prevent? Do you think it matters whether your children can come to you about questions when they inevitably look at porn and have questions?

Looks like you didn’t read or understand anything I said.

It doesn’t matter whether any of us are okay with them seeing porn or not. They are going to see it. Do you think you can put that cat back in the bag? Do you think it matters whether your kids can come to you with questions WHEN, not if, they have questions about sex? The actions I think need to be taken are people like you growing up and learning how to actually parent.

You might as well ask whether we should be ok with them finding out about extinctions.

I saw printed and video porn right around the time I hit puberty, decades ago, before there was internet in every home. And my parents didn’t have a scrap of it in the house. You think you can stuff that cat back in the bag? You wanna know what actually messed me up though? All the adults in my life absolutely losing their minds at the thought that I might be having sexual thoughts as a young teen. The guilt, shame, and denial of information is what messes up kids, because if they never told us anything, and made us feel horrible about it, surely we’d never have sex before marriage! Be careful, that can backfire on you.

Your kids are gonna see naked people doing it. You need to come to terms with that inevitability, and become the kinds of parents they can feel comfortable asking questions. Of course, growth is hard, and way too many parents delude themselves into believing that bringing some poor kid into this world bestows them divine wisdom and ultimate authority over what’s best for that kid, and never learning another damned thing again. It doesn’t. Parenting is a responsibility and a journey, not a coronation. Growing up doesn’t stop when you have kids. You cannot shield them from reality. It’s your job to guide them through it; to raise them into adults, not to keep them children forever.

You certainly have no right, or even ability, to legislate the nature of reality for others until you feel safe. That deluded fantasy is far more poisonous to society than people having sex on camera. It simply does not matter if you’re uncomfortable with an aspect of parenting. The world does not give a fuck. Nobody ever said parenting was comfortable. Accept what you cannot change, and help your kids become functional adults. You cannot imagine how much I wish my parents had.

Mine was a 1969 Belair. Damn I miss that thing.

If you’re talking about his hair, you’re not discussing his policies. He’s derailing the dialogue before it can happen, and all he has to do is deliberately look like an idiot.

“Haha, jokes on them. I only wear this haircut to look stupid ironically!”

I’d like to support solarpunk development. I just want to live a simple life, with high tech in cooperation with the environment. We need it badly. I would fund so many community libraries. Don’t misunderstand me though. I still want space travel, but I no longer trust capitalists with it.