City of Glompton posted:

oops sorry forgot about those pesky days

Cthulu Carl posted:

Is this where I apply for asylum?

I pinkie swear that I'm not a radical poster - I'm not even a totally tubular poster.

Eonwe posted:

*stamps "CHILL" on application and hands it back*

application approved

super mario batali posted:

Post 4 posts the first four days and post 5 on the 5th day- since the number of days will still increase, he does need to post.

Hogge Wild posted:

We have top men working on it right now: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2347479&pagenumber=654#post464491071

Hogge Wild posted:

We have top men working on it right now: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2347479&pagenumber=654#post464491071

Macnult posted:

lmao

Hogge Wild posted:

We have top men working on it right now: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2347479&pagenumber=654#post464491071

Saint Isaias Boner posted:

the picture was a terrible thing but the real nightmare was the collective decision (after a brief human interlude) that we are, in fact, ok with this

quote:

'Tis not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.

quote:

Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connexion with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befal himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own. To prevent, therefore, this paltry misfortune to himself, would a man of humanity be willing to sacrifice the lives of a hundred millions of his brethren, provided he had never seen them? Human nature startles with horror at the thought, and the world, in its greatest depravity and corruption, never produced such a villain as could be capable of entertaining it. But what makes this difference?

misty mountaintop posted:

I used to feel that way but now I think of that particular issue as being one of those outside-the-scope-of-human-understanding horrors, like realizing that the universe is tending towards heat death, or that everyone you know and love is going to die eventually, or Cthulhu . The challenge with those horrors is that focusing on them reinforces a sense of helplessness that has no relationship to the human scale at which we can actually make a difference, and the time spent in those nightmares is time spent with very little concrete purpose*. I take guidance from the words of people way smarter and wiser than me. Here's David Hume (this autocorrected to David Human) in his Treatise of Human Nature:


And here's Adam Smith in his Theory of Moral Sentiments:


The reason I don't like seeing the picture isn't because I want to avoid the horror; it's because I want to avoid the sense of helplessness which is the nasty little soul-killing part of disaster porn.

*I don't want to suggest they have no purpose. Lots of thought experiments that are outside the scope of human understanding can be useful, like for example the Zen koan "What did your face look like before you were born" or imagining what life will be like in a thousand years, or what birds would look like if they had human arms, but they're not concretely useful, and these positions are often moralized like "we saw the picture of the drowned baby and did nothing because we're horrible people" instead of "we saw the picture of the drowned baby and did nothing because there was nothing that we could meaningfully do." No doubt there are people who could do something and don't, but those people probably aren't us. Meanwhile, there are many ways that we can take the animating sense of compassion that causes us to reel in horror at that photograph and do justice to it in our own lives by working to solve problems over which we have more meaningful control. As Richard Feynman once wrote: No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.

Matoi Ryuko posted:

Greetings new posters, do you think this song is chill?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5V8ecsrxeY

If so then you're on the right track!

misty mountaintop posted:

a good post

Heartbroken 2Twice posted:

The word on the streets was always that BYOB would be deleted. It's as though the executioner has come at last, rearing up as he approaches, lifting his dread axe as we tremble in the stocks - only to bring it down upon our bonds, rendering us free.

Hogge Wild posted:

i'll crosspost this question in the science forum

Celluloid Sam posted:

im crying

Heartbroken 2Twice posted:

it's a great time for GBS posters to try branching out. you could go to Let's Play and watch a man simulate a years-long war in real time, or try AI, where you can watch a man inhale a spider. it's always a beautiful world that we live in

Hogge Wild posted:

link for the spider

Hogge Wild posted:

link for the spider

Friendly Humour posted:

E Equals MC Hammer posted:

Can we try and get hector out of the hell circus? Hogge maybe you can negotiate with the FYAD IK

two forty posted:

Hello. I hope it's ok if I post here. I like haveing fun with friends and posting on SA.

a cloth map posted:

Am I gonna have to do a sig? I like the idea of having a cool and funny picture right below this post.

Worldshatter posted:

hi BYOB, you guys seem chill so i'll chill here for a bit

Nooner posted:

im scared and lost ):