Messages

3616

Off Topic / Re: real talk: is college education worth it?

« on: March 16, 2016, 03:41:38 PM »

People learning compiler design while I'm stuck learning about how I shouldn't forgetin do OOP in an OOP-driven language because it "takes too long". :(

3617

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 02:38:05 PM »

Well you guys learned wrong. Get over it.

What the forget is wrong with you?

3618

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 02:34:30 PM »

For the vehicle that ThatDarkNinja just posted, we would probably call that a Tram.
For larger vehicles that don't have overhead wires, they're all trains, whether steam, petrol or electric.

Exactly what I learned growing up.

3619

Off Topic / Re: [DATA] Opinions Thread -- animal testing, school uniforms, church tax exemption

« on: March 16, 2016, 11:42:14 AM »

Animal Testing: Yes, but I do believe that we should at least have standards and quality control for the testing process to reduce any unnecessary cruelty towards lab animals, and that we should only be testing on animals that were raised in the lab environment (no ferals or domesticated pets). Even I, someone who isn't too fond of animals, still think that we do need to treat them with the same care and respect we'd give each other; the difference being that a human life is generally more valuable to society than a lab-animal life.

School Uniforms: As somebody who wore a uniform for my entire Primary/Secondary school life (13 loving years), can confirm that it's not necessary and encourages breaking the rules rather than following them. Outside of sports uniforms, normal uniforms can be uncomfortable, an extreme pain to clean, difficult to "assemble" (uniforms usually involve a lot of different layers) and offer no productive benefits. They're entirely to enhance the image of the school and make the school look "professional", which is why it's only private schools who enforce uniform policy, since public schools are going to get students either way while private schools have to actually sell themselves to parents.

Church Tax Exception: Undecided. I didn't care to study the Church's financial structure growing up, and I still don't care now.

3620

Off Topic / Re: Favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoon?

« on: March 16, 2016, 11:24:46 AM »

WACKY RACES

Without a shadow of a doubt, this one.

Unfortunately, I didn't see it until I got a DVD of some of the episodes well into the 2000s, since I never really had access to the Boomerang channel (a channel on Foxtel dedicated entirely to Hanna-Barbera cartoons) and they never shows the cartoons on free-to-air.

I really like Havery Birdman: Attorney At Law, which is Adult Swim but they're using all the Hanna-Barbera characters.

3621

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 11:13:43 AM »

mcjob you're a bundle of fun

It's 2-loving-AM, I'm on 3 coffees and I've given up on my drawing class assessment. I just want to type as much as loving possible, so of course I'm gonna forgetin' rip into a philosophy debate where I see one.

holy richards you don't need an essay to ask a moral question
the entirety of the trolley dilemma is a hypothetical

how you get into this mess is irrelevant the only thing that matters is what you do

I think that's an extremely narrow-sighted way of looking at it though. The way I respond to a situation is going to entirely depend on the context of the situation. How I'm feeling, thinking and what I know is going to change my answer. I might be really angry at the world on the day and choose the 100 people to die, or I might know the people involved and that could swing my decision. I really don't know how I'd react in that situation.

My point is that this isn't some simple choice like switching a light on or off. There's so many variables involved that the only way to know what you'd do is basically be in that situation, and the closest I can get to that is by having some context so I can imagine the situation as if it were real.

When I had philosophy classes, my friends and I would always end up debating the nature of the questions rather than the question itself, and that was exactly what the teacher wanted, because it helped us come to understand a lot about how morals are formed and how they can be manipulated and changed.

You also have to remember; these are just statistics; 100 people is nothing compared to ONE person. We see individuals and we can connect with them, but when it comes to large groups, we just kind of glaze over the details. This is why the murder of one person gets a whole segment in a news show, but many people dying in a war zone will get lightly skipped over; people don't emphasise with statistics.

The whole question is not hinging on the 100 people (it could be 10,000 people or 10 people and we'd still feel the exact same about the group), it's all about how we feel about the single person.

Quick question though, why can't they just open the door at the far end of the Trolley themselve's and then quickly jump off the Trolley, one by one?

Because logic and context has apparently been abandoned so we can rip at each other for having different morals.

its locked

Not to be a continued killjoy, but modern trains have systems to allow passengers to override the locks and escape (at least on Australian trains). That's why they have giant "PENALTIES APPLY" signs all over the train, since anybody could shut the train down at any point.

3622

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:50:39 AM »

so what's your answer?

Maybe give me a little backstory so I can understand how I got in this mess and I might give you a proper answer, because otherwise it's just a poorly given hypothetical.

3623

Drama / Re: tenshi - constant loveual innuendos / harassment

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:49:04 AM »

A wonderful thing about being human, especially amongst English speakers, is that one word can mean multiple things specific to the context and multiple words can mean the same thing (hence the existence of the thesaurus).

Words like "gay", in the way that I've seen them used, seem to be used more like generic insults than derogatory slurs towards homoloveual people. It's kind of like how "brother" has become a term of endearment in the face of its traditional usage.

The point is that it's all about context. I don't personally use "gay" or similar as insults and I can see why people would want to remove the negative connotations of the word(s), but I (and the gay/les/trans people I know) aren't really going to care unless it's actually supposed to be a direct insult towards their preferences.

3624

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:41:53 AM »

doesn't matter

If he's going to flesh out a scenario, then of course it matters. It matters because it's going to put spin on the the entire question, which is crucial to see how the context of a situation changes a person's perception, which is the whole point of asking these moral questions.

Moral questions are asked because we want to see how a person interprets the world and solves problems; more specifically, to understand their thought process. If a person changes their answer between the guy being good and bad, they're strongly motivated by their perceived morals/emotions rather than their logical process. If a person remains consistent, they're probably thinking rationally and don't factor morals into their thought process as much.

That's what's most interesting because you can start to accurately judge how a person would react in any scenario as you come to understand how they make judgement calls.

3625

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:33:43 AM »

This completely changes the loving question to "needs of many vs needs of few" to "murder vs morals", an entirely different argument. You're asking if I'd be willing to overstep my "moral boundaries" to protect "the innocent".

I don't get why you'd say "this guy has done nothing wrong". If he has done nothing wrong, why is he dying? If you're making up some ridiculous scenario, at least loving explain it properly.

3626

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:31:00 AM »

Now, if you want the answer to the morals question; the needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of the few, and there's nothing moral about it. It's entirely about the continued existence of our species and what is best for the future. "Cruel" as it may be, but we're all just specks of dust compared to the number of people that will come after us, and we need to ensure that they will have the means and needs to continue surviving, or else we might as well just go extinct now.

No one person will ever be as important as the whole of us; people in this modern society are defined by positions, which can be filled by others. Nowadays, people are pushing for individualism and trying to rise above the rest of the crowd for "popularity", but that's not how society is designed to work, and I can promise it'll end badly.

Anybody who says "oh but thinking about the one man, you're a murderer!"; as I said, there are no morals in this scenario. I've known death as long as I've lived since my Dad and his whole family were funeral directors. People die all the goddam time. Morals are a man-made construct, not a universal law, and everybody has different morals.

theres a timer and a lever if you don't pull the lever 100 people die if you pull the lever 1 person dies

Now, you're assuming that the timer system can't be modified or stopped, similar to how a bomb can be defused. And what connection do I have to these people? There's nothing there for me to give a stuff. I can do either thing because it's not going to affect me; I was just the guy who happened to be in the control room and I made a call. I wasn't wrong or right because people died either way.

using scenarios helps give you a realistic sense of how to answer, especially with something as dire as life and death

No, it just makes me want to see all the contextual flaws of the scenario.

3627

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:18:42 AM »

instead of a worker it's a man tied on the track. That handles the logistical issues.

And how can a man be tied to the track? The tracks are designed to be weighed down so that nothing can uproot them, meaning nobody can be "tied" to them. If you mean ye olde tied-up-with-rope, they could just roll until they're off the tracks.

And why would a man be "tied to the tracks". What kind of Western film are you creating for me? You're very cruel to this one man. What did he ever do to you?

As always you're trying to find ways around it.

No, I'm pointing out how the scenario you're trying to paint is stupid and wrong. Just directly ask the moral question rather than trying to hide it behind a ridiculous scenario, because scenarios create context that invite logic and reasoning over morals, especially when we're sitting down comfortably in a chair, not actually stressing over the problem.

If you can kill one to save a hundred do you?

That's not the question you asked. You asked about a very specific scenario and I gave you the real life facts of the matter.

cart

wagon

3628

Off Topic / Re: The Trolley Dilemma

« on: March 16, 2016, 07:50:46 AM »

It's absolutely ridiculous to assume that a trolley is large enough to batter a man to death and yet small enough that he wouldn't notice and evade it.

Because workers nowadays have a very tight communication system (as far as I see when I pass by construction sites) and usually have buddies to ensure each other's safety, I'd send it to the worker full well knowing your question is bullstuff and you should feel bad for asking the stufftiest variant I've heard yet. Literally the worst form of the question ever.

And forget anybody who goes "moral this moral that". He should have just said "needs of many vs. needs of few" if he wanted to have the moral debate.

EDIT: Oh, apparently he means a TRAIN. NOT A loving TROLLEY YOU STUPID loving AMERICAN CUNT.



THAT'S A loving TROLLEY YOU DUMB ARSE.

Anyways, my answer still stands. Railworkers take some of the highest safety precautions I've ever seen, and a spotter would very quickly signal for everybody to clear the track if they had any inkling of danger.

3629

Off Topic / Re: real talk: is college education worth it?

« on: March 16, 2016, 03:00:06 AM »

idk how good any of that looks; none of it is really practical since it's all game-related, but there's certainly a lot of code (even if it's not all Fantastic)

Based on what I learned from people who hire for game studios, even if you only put in placeholder art, working projects > code samples since it shows you can pump "finished" content out and work towards a goal.

3630

Off Topic / Re: What's your favorite airlines?

« on: March 15, 2016, 11:44:36 PM »

the obvious best airline is Tiger Air like come on who doesn't love stuff service?

It's best if you like being treated like a mexican prisoner.