Unpopular opinions

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

@Velocity

So no public schools - let’s have America 100% private schooled or homeschooled?

Or just not schooled at all, in which case they might as well have. . . spam for brains!

[lorene]

@spamforbrains

People shouldn’t be forced to pay for the education of other people’s children. You can’t afford them, don’t have them.

@cher3

Wow, so you get through your days entirely without relying on any services provided for you by the members of an educated workforce? Amazing. Tell us how you do it?

Seriously. You want to live in a world overrun with uneducated people? Tell me more about how that’s better.

[GusNSpot]

@Riemann

I’d go further: vaccination should simply be mandatory.

In principle, nobody thinks that parents’ rights over a child are absolute. It’s only a question of where you draw the line between parental rights and the rights of the child. In circumstances where the parents’ healthcare preferences are clearly against the interests of the child, the state should intervene. In my opinion, the overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of vaccination means that it passes that test. The fact there is a significant vocal minority opposed to vaccination (at various points along the spectrum from poorly informed to conspiracy theorist) does not imply that we should shy away from such a difficult decision in balancing parental rights against the rights of the child; on the contrary, it makes it more urgent that we should do so.

98.573% agree with this. It is probably the closest Riemann & I will ever be on an opinion. IMO

[panache45]

@Crafter_Man

They will pay back the government via the higher taxes they pay (due to getting a college degree and thus a higher-paying job).

But they still owe more to society than someone of equal achievement who wasn’t publicly educated.

[clairobscur]

@Shodan

You aren’t using your brain trying to make good decisions. Because you aren’t making any decisions. If you could make a decision, you would have free will. Since you don’t, you aren’t doing anything real.

I never was bothered by the idea that there was no free will, because I’m not a puppet of a brain making arbitrary decision. I am my brain. I am the decision-making process. I’m

@iiandyiiii

I think the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics might allow both free will and fate to be true – you can make any choice you want, but you are ultimately fated to make every choice.

This idea, on the other hand, seriously bothers me. Within one hour, I will be dead, I will have won the lottery, I will have murdered all my coworkers, I will have been called by Netanyahou to be put in charge of the Palestinian issue, I will have resigned from my job without prospect of employment, I will leave work to convert to Islam and join Isis in Syria, I will eat brocoli, I will eat pizza, I will eat a can of anchovies mixed with strawberry ice-cream, and so on…

Worse even is the idea that we could experience nearly eternal life in the “many worlds” hypothesis. Because it totally makes sense, and it would be the equivalent of damnation, being forever on the verge of dying.

[pullin]

@Machine_Elf

You might find this Paul Graham essay to be of interest:

The Refragmentation

Fascinating read. Thank you.

That article is interesting to me, since my unpopular opinion is that income inequality isn’t necessarily bad. If the guy on the bottom isn’t starving, then large inequality measures simply define a wider range of possible wealth (if you want to devote the effort required to obtain it). Because of this, my kids suggested I name my newest boat: “I Dream of GINI”.

[spamforbrains]

Quote:
Originally Posted by spamforbrains View Post
People shouldn’t be forced to pay for the education of other people’s children. You can’t afford them, don’t have them.
So no public schools - let’s have America 100% private schooled or homeschooled?

While we’re on the “unpopular opinions” thing, yes, all private schools. But no homeschooling. I know it’s unpopular, but I really resent being forced to pay for the education of other people’s birth control failures. Kids are expensive, we don’t need any more in our overpopulated world, and perhaps you should have thought a bit more about it ahead of time. Forcing people to pay for other people’s children’s education just encourages irresponsibility.

[Acsenray]

Unless you would be happy to be among the last living humans, then it might make sense to think of other people’s children as something other than “birth control failures,” namely, “the people who I’m going to be living with and who are going to run things until I die.”

[Enola_Straight]

What causes crime? Criminals cause crime.
What causes Social Security to run out of money? Old people who don’t die.
ALL war ultimately boils down to seizure and control of resources.

The ones who hit the hardest are also the ones who holler the loudest when they
have to take it.

[Fuji]

@Riemann

The “no free will” argument is that the concept is simply incoherent, in the not even wrong category. The notion that precisely identical causal inputs to a brain in precisely the same internal configuration can produce a different output (except through random indeterminacy) is incoherent. It cannot exist even in principle in any conceivable world - because it is not a coherent principle. Even if we postulate supernatural phenomena - an immaterial mind, or soul - then the interaction with the physical world must still follow either some rules of cause and effect, or be random, or be probabilistic (following a combination of deterministic and random processes). What else is there?

I disagree with this reductionism. I posit that consciousness is an emergent property of matter, and cannot be reduced to simple mechanics. Your thought experiment of the recreation of identical brain states is itself absurd, given that at its roots, matter operates following probabilities, not necessities.
Oh, and some probably unpopular opinions (at least here at the SDMB):

• Unless you’re pretty lucky, the USA is a shitty place to live vis-a-vis other modern, industrialized nations.
• People who scrimp and save their whole lives for a pleasant retirement are kidding themselves if they think they aren’t also gambling with their lives.
• Peeing in the shower is no big deal.

[Lee_Q]

1. Many kids with “ADHD” including “officially diagnosed” really only have lousy parents. Which is not surprising, since
2. Oftentimes, it actually IS “the parent(s) fault.” Here “it” might be bullying behavior, general unruliness, disrespect of teachers, and so on.

[elfkin477]

Until such time when science can improve quality of life in a meaningful way rather than just extend how long people can live (starting with keeping those over 85 from having appalling 50-50 odds of dementia) once you’ve surpassed the normal lifespan, the only medical treatment you should get is the treatment of acute injuries and palliative care for all other conditions. Let Nana and Pop-Pop shuffle off the mortal coil with some dignity, don’t just keep them alive and out of their minds just because we can.

[Fruitbat2]

People tend to grossly overrate the value of their personal opinions.

Anyone who doesn’t like chocolate has something wrong with their mouth.

If you listen to either very liberal or very conservative viewpoints, both will soon make you equally queasy.

[Pai325]

Although it is popular to bash the Millennials for being lazy, most of the ones I know are working hard, making low to average wages, contributing to society, and productive.

I know it’s all just personal observation for me, because my daughter and her friends are in that age group, but she goes to work every day, stays late to get things done, doesn’t call in sick, made it through college and grad school on scholarships and by working almost full time, pays all her bills in full and on time, and lives alone just hoping to find someone who is rather like she. I get tired of hearing the words lazy and scrounging when I see what she does, and I worry about what her future will be like. And there are a lot of people her age working just as hard.