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  1. Penumbra

    Do You Support Democracy?

    Due to the sheer number of bills that need to be passed in a large state, I think a republic is needed. But a method for the citizenry to call for a direct democratic vote on an important issue is also important, I think. But none of it works well if the citizenry are uninformed or apathetic.
  2. Penumbra

    Is Gold ethical?

    It could be argued that there is a spectrum of ethics here. Gold used for electronics and certain other engineering applications serves a specific functional purpose. Gold used for jewelry is just shiny and resistant to corrosion. And some gold is just used to store wealth- people dig it up...
  3. Penumbra

    Are we moving from democracy to aristocracy?

    US Supreme Court holds, since 2010, that government cannot block corporations and organizations from making unlimited political campaign donations, due to the First Amendment. Much of it is publicly available with googling. The Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson are some of the larger...
  4. Penumbra

    How Should Women Who've Had Abortions be Treated?

    Like people.
  5. Penumbra

    Godless-o-meter

    I'm 100%: Ethical Culturalist, Freethinker, Iconoclast, Rationalist, Secular Humanist, Transhumanist. My lowest was with Theravada Buddhism at 41%, followed by Taoist at 43%. It doesn't seem very accurate if I'm 100% with six different labels even though I picked "neutral" over half the time.
  6. Penumbra

    How should boys and girls be raised

    I don't have kids nor do I plan to have them. But if I did have them, I'd probably just raise them to be people. Hopefully compassionate and wise people.
  7. Penumbra

    Hit on by the wrong gender

    I've been hit on by women. My response was to try it out and see how I like it. After that, my response was to politely decline. I'm certainly not offended, and indeed I consider it a compliment.
  8. Penumbra

    Are we moving from democracy to aristocracy?

    Oligarchies. Corporations are people and money is speech now, apparently. Those who can influence elections and candidates with the wealth of ten thousand citizens.
  9. Penumbra

    What Do You Vote?

    Democratic Party for national and state elections. I'm open to Greens for local elections if there were any.
  10. Penumbra

    Build a candidate.

    I'll go with Bernie Sanders.
  11. Penumbra

    Should Hate Speech be Given a Venue?

    A university, including a state university, invites people to speak. They're not town hall meetings. So I'm not sure what you're referring to. While there have been countless poorly chosen school speakers throughout history, they are in theory chosen for a specific reason, due to experience...
  12. Penumbra

    Should Hate Speech be Given a Venue?

    There is a significant difference between legal freedom of speech and the ability to say whatever one wants without public consequences. Legal freedom of speech, in this sense, is the freedom from government intervention to say whatever you want to say, with very few limits. This is the...
  13. Penumbra

    What are you eating?

    These were my meals yesterday. I'm branching out and trying to cook some things I've not cooked before, like steak. 1) Whole grain kamut pasta, cooked al dente, with marinara sauce, with fresh-crushed garlic and extra olive oil and herbs mixed in. A salad with olive oil and white wine...
  14. Penumbra

    Is Communism Inherently Toxic?

    And you don't think oppression is any way related to economic failings? Were those states oppressing people when everything was prosperous? Some current nations have existed longer than the industrialized age so far. We have current examples of societies that keep moving forward without total...
  15. Penumbra

    Is Communism Inherently Toxic?

    And you think oppression is fully unrelated to the system breaking down, not working well? So because it happened in the past, it's guaranteed to happen forever? Human civilization has been short. And civilization in the industrial era has been even shorter. Several countries have continued...
  16. Penumbra

    Is Communism Inherently Toxic?

    In what way do you mean? Why do you think that is? Are you sure it's true?
  17. Penumbra

    Please Explain How Our Most Noble Species of Poo-flinging Super-Chimps Evolved a Sense of Beauty?

    -Appreciation of human beauty is related to health and fertility. People say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which is partly true, but on a statistical level, some traits are almost universally attractive, and even babies respond differently to what is largely considered an attractive face...
  18. Penumbra

    Is Communism Inherently Toxic?

    Most countries referred to as socialist these days are actually social democracies. This would include Canada, much of Europe, etc. It's a capitalistic system with strong social programs like universal healthcare, welfare for the disabled or impoverished, generally strong labor laws, and so...
  19. Penumbra

    Is Communism Inherently Toxic?

    I'd say that whenever personal economic incentive is removed, an economic system is almost guaranteed to break down.
  20. Penumbra

    An Open Letter to Penumbra

    My favorite thing about the forum has been the benefit of meeting people from so far away. This includes people in other parts of the U.S., but also internationally throughout the world, especially in the Middle East. Only in college did I have so much exposure to people from other countries...
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