I'm offended that you're offended

"Emotional reasoning dominates many campus debates and discussions. A claim that someone’s words are “offensive” is not just an expression of one’s own subjective feeling of offendedness. It is, rather, a public charge that the speaker has done something objectively wrong. It is a demand that the speaker apologize or be punished by some authority for committing an offense."

"The thin argument “I’m offended” becomes an unbeatable trump card. This leads to what Jonathan Rauch, a contributing editor at this magazine, calls the “offendedness sweepstakes,” in which opposing parties use claims of offense as cudgels. In the process, the bar for what we consider unacceptable speech is lowered further and further."

"...All of these actions teach a common lesson: smart people do, in fact, overreact to innocuous speech, make mountains out of molehills, and seek punishment for anyone whose words make anyone else feel uncomfortable."

Originally shared by Simon Urquhart (welshkid)

Fascinating article. Originally shared by Prof. Brian Cox
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

Learning to devalue

It does make me wonder : at what point are we taught to devalue others/things ?

Originally shared by Dennis Breen
http://flip.it/dSWEV

I'm beginning to like this guy

I didn't want to, but I'm really beginning to like this man. Not yet convinced the rest of the electorate will, but Scotland suggests... maybe... ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33839819

I wish I were this lucky

"An amateur radio enthusiast managed to get a quick chat with the International Space Station (ISS) after a month of trying to get through from his shed."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-33806298

Lab-grown meat is a big deal

The Agricultural Revolution was the biggest development in human history. True, crops were the main achievement, but the domestication of livestock was no small feat either. And now that's about to change.

Originally shared by Betsy McCall
http://gizmodo.com/the-future-will-be-full-of-lab-grown-meat-1720874704

The financial crisis, summarised

Originally shared by null

Word:

It's a PLANET

I've had it with Pluto not being a planet. Let's cut the crap and admit we don't have a good definition of "planet". Therefore, let's admit to subjectivity and decide what's a planet on the basis of how awesome it is. Pluto clearly qualifies. Case closed.

There, that was easy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33657447

I'm a journalist, apparently

Surprisingly, I'm a journalist.

https://www.guidedtrack.com/programs/1q59zh4/run?normalpoints=18&sunkcost=0&planning=1&explanationfreeze=2&probabilistic=1&rhetorical=3&analyzer=3&timemoney=2&intuition=7&future=6&numbers=9&evidence=9&csr=6&enjoyment=0

You are Intuitive: You tend to trust your intuitions — you size up situations quickly and stick with your judgments once you’ve made them. This tendency can be useful when you need to think on your feet, or when you’re using a skill that you’ve already honed to perfection.

You are Subjective: People and stories interest you more than facts and figures do; you focus on the essence of ideas over the details. Your mind is more qualitative than quantitative. This trait lets you focus on the big picture over the nitty-gritty.

You are Carefree: You tend to live in the moment. You don’t waste a lot of emotional energy fretting about the future. Instead, you focus on getting the most out of life right now.

You are Skeptical: You treat new information and ideas with caution and skepticism. Spurious arguments rarely fool or confuse you, and your beliefs are based on foundations of hard logic. You possess a fine-tuned BS detector.

Personally I would have said almost the exact opposite about the first three.

Apparently I don't have any especially strong skills and may be vulnerable to the "sunk cost fallacy".

The Sunk Cost Fallacy is a cognitive bias that can distort your decisions about which pursuits are worth continuing and which aren't. (Like whether to finish eating an unappetizing dish that you've already paid for, for example.)

No, no, no, no, NO. That's not a fallacy, that's called bloody-mindedness, and used properly it is very far indeed from a weakness. You just have to accept that sometimes time gets wasted. That's part of the process.
I disagreed with the premise of the question that it was possible to know for certain that a project would be unsuccessful. That's a fallacy in itself.

"It appears that you have a fairly weak understanding of the way that evidence should affect your confidence in a theory."

Umm.... reaaaally ?

Interesting though.

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/explorer-attorney-or-inventor-take-rationality-test

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

"Mum," Harry said into the unnerving silence, "I'm going to test the hypothesis. According to your theory, how do I send an owl to Hogwarts?"

His mother turned from the kitchen sink to stare at him, looking shocked. "I - I don't know, I think you just have to own a magic owl."

That should've sounded highly suspicious, oh, so there's no way to test your theory then, but the peculiar certainty in Harry seemed willing to stick its neck out even further.

"Well, the letter got here somehow," Harry said, "so I'll just wave it around outside and call 'letter for Hogwarts!' and see if an owl picks it up. Dad, do you want to come and watch?"

http://hpmor.com/

Thank you Greg Roelofs   :)
http://hpmor.com

Interesting man.

Interesting man.

"He sleeps until 11:00 but that's because he works until 06:00... A small band of his closest employees are only required to work six hours a day in his office but won't ever be seen on a coffee break. The prince thinks it's more efficient that way."

"Then there are the dwarves. Whichever press reports you choose to believe, one thing is for sure: he has lots of them on one of many luxurious estates and they are there for entertainment purposes."

"His pioneering spirit is evident in his company's employment of women, who make up two-thirds of his staff.... despite owning hundreds of cars, Donald Trump's old yacht and a fleet of jets, Prince Alwaleed's main obsession is often to use his financial empire to send out audacious social, political and philanthropic messages."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33370118