john may

onyangomakagutu I would have thought foreigners would have to pay 10 times that of zero!

I lived in the UK for two years and I used the NHS and I had absolutely zero problem with it. I was served quickly and thoroughly completely to my satisfaction. In fact one of the things that is brilliant about it is that a citizen is absolutely covered under every single circumstance. In some systems if you are self employed you have to pay into…[Read more]

The US could halve it’s military budget and still not worry about any country invading. For all the arguments that their spending helps keep the rest of the West safe, one only need look at how the US stood by and did nothing while Russia annexed Crimea in the Ukraine, Ossetia in Georgia and Transdnier in Moldova. A minimal spending is necessary.…[Read more]

China and Russia’s governments are both trying to hold onto power. China however at the same time is trying to grow economically and slowly develop global influence. Russia is far less interested in economic development but maintaining the illusion of global influence but really are petty thugs in neighbouring countries. Both governments sacrifice…[Read more]

They [Chinese and Russians] aren’t creative. They steal and copy and reverse engineer.

Obvious soft racism. Especially the “they aren’t creative” part. While it is true that China and Russia are engaging in a high level of proprietary reverse engineering, western countries do the same only the buy most of it instead of stealing (though they c…[Read more]

Rationalwiki has a nice description:

Heaven is described in a rather bizarre way throughout the Bible in both testaments. A rather detailed description of it can be found in Revelation, giving precise details of which jewels adorn which gates and how many units of pure gold gilds the many arches in heaven. It is described as a city but it is…

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If we one day completely replicate a person (consciousness and all) I’m sure it would give theologians a total field day with what that means (giving them a beautiful chance to fabricate answers to these questions as fast as their imaginations could generate them). Did we or did God create those new people? Do they have souls and would they be…[Read more]

I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer to this or the problem of the ship of Theseus. The answers all depend on different theories of identities and continuity. Since all objects are arbitrarily defined by humans as X, what X is or continues to be X is dependent on what other people say X is. Some cases are super clear cut, like a ship that has…[Read more]

Encoginator, I think you are unaware of just how different and exceptional social media is as a quick and easy way to disseminate clearly disruptive and destructive “false information” which is money making poison especially for facebook and twitter. It is nothing like the moral panic of television or magazines when they came out. Open your eyes.…[Read more]