Posts by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
(DIR) Post #450891 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-09T18:49:58Z
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@mardiroosimagine if companies like tinder have to invest in physical ad space not to get new users, but because there's some impossibly old billionaire investor they're courting who looks for compaines with "old-school grit" which just means 19th century forms of exploitationso the new money assholes have to run around staging like company stores that use scrip, ads in the newspaper, and a factory floor where everyone's just whaling on pig iron, all to impress the old money shithead
(DIR) Post #511433 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-13T01:45:11Z
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Evaluating the work of historical scientists through a critical racial, decolonized, feminist, etc. lense is sometimes dismissed as "presentism" (anachronistically applying contemporary standards to the past). This faux-empiricism is aggressively pushed by dorks like Nassim Taleb & Peterson, but I feel like the notion has caught on as almost-common-sense contrarianism. Here's a case study showing why critical reevaluation isn't just neat commentary, but essential to scientific progress.
(DIR) Post #511446 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-13T01:54:06Z
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19th & 20th c. archaeologists believed that the indigenous civilizations which existed at contact couldn't've built the "mound" structures, which range from simple sites associated with horticulture to elaborate, multi-level complexes complete with earthworks and palisades.Instead they posited that a now-vanished race had built the structures (candidates included the Atlanteans). But once excavations revealed skeletons indistinguishable from those of contemporary indigenous populations...
(DIR) Post #511447 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-13T02:03:31Z
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...they concluded that the civilizations present at contact must have been capable of building the mound structures. However, the narrative of the builder's presumed technological & cultural backwardness continued, projected onto newly excavated remains. The same mortuary signatures explained as evidence of cannibalism or human sacrifice practiced by the mound builders can also be found in western European sites. But the latter are well-established aristocratic burial grounds...
(DIR) Post #511448 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-13T02:08:34Z
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...meaning that the same physical traces interpreted as evidence of burial practices fit for a king in Europe were interpreted as evidence of "barbaric" cannibalism & human sacrifice in North America. Transforming physical trace into data, and data into evidence, is a process which necessarily requires interpretive leaps. If we refuse to critically engage with the distorting biases which led past scientists to make incorrect leaps, we're just repeating their mistakes.
(DIR) Post #511449 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-13T02:15:00Z
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For more reading on critical reevaluation & evidentiary reasoning, see the chapter "Archarological Facts in Transit" by Dr. Wylie, in the anthology 'How Well do Facts Travel?' (I can give you the .pdf). Also see most of the rest of Dr. Wylie's work - it's applicable to philosophy of science generally, not just archaeology. She's teaching one of my seminars this term and she fucking rules
(DIR) Post #623121 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-18T20:29:04Z
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@mardiroos @dayglochainsaw @seagazelle a lot of cismen have learned to equate "being a good ally" with listening to nonmen explain exactly how and why men suck & getting points for nodding in agreement, instead of doing the cognitive labour of actually figuring it out for ourselves & proactively informing othersit's an attribution error about where change should come from
(DIR) Post #635038 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-09-12T15:28:44Z
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Stealth mode: ENGAGED
(DIR) Post #651264 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-20T06:21:34Z
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#ff - wise & supernaturally funny@thatcosmonaut @Last_Gasp@mardiroos @elomatreb @some_qualia @goodleftyfundies @ascannerburkely @Tasnyx
(DIR) Post #750806 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-25T00:54:40Z
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the movie "national treasure " but it's about stealing the international prototype kilogram & replacing it with a can of french onion soup
(DIR) Post #828796 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-29T00:25:37Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
regular primary school: bringing fireworks to class will get you expelledmontessori school:
(DIR) Post #885082 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-31T18:21:22Z
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@photophoregirl i'm your comrade in sniffles tonight. really not a fan of how - on the night when the veil between worlds is most permeable - my sinuses are all clogged up
(DIR) Post #885083 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-10-31T18:22:52Z
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@photophoregirl here's my cat doing his smaug impression on a hoard of candy from last year
(DIR) Post #904591 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-11-01T16:27:31Z
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one highlight from last night's fundraiser: the graveyard of reactionary ideas
(DIR) Post #947115 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-11-03T16:38:27Z
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my dad this morning: "you know they made a documentary about that jordan peterson guy? well it was on last night and afterwards i had a dream where i murdered him."
(DIR) Post #2151048 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-12-21T02:34:17Z
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i'm getting a real ominous feeling from the troop recalls. in any event, u.s. presence in syria & afghanistan will continue via private military contractors, which may have a smaller overall footprint while maintaining similar levels of brutality. really hope those soldiers aren't being reasigned to the persian gulf (unlikely since mattis was an iran hawk) or venezuela.
(DIR) Post #2151049 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2018-12-21T02:42:01Z
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while we all knew that rojava's luck was running thin, i didn't expect the u.s. to just leave. it's a strange move and i really don't know what - if anything - it portends other than baiting dems into hawkishness.solidarity with rojava https://internationalistcommune.com/support-the-commune/
(DIR) Post #3376554 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2019-01-22T23:12:51Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
about to watch spiderman: into the spider-verse, a documentary promoting the fringe "spiders all the way down" theory of matter
(DIR) Post #3384762 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2019-01-26T05:55:43Z
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these dudes sitting across from me on the bus are arguing over whether or not dogs have butt-cheeks
(DIR) Post #3567920 by narrenschiff@guillotines.masto.host
2019-01-30T21:25:18Z
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wow... nature is so majestic...