How do you define left wing? I would define it as pro-worker, and in the UK, that has historically meant working closely with unions. It makes sense given we have a representative democracy, and unions represent their members, so the government talking to union leaders is consistent with being left wing (at least in the UK, no idea about the US tbh).

Seems crazy at first glance that an organisation calling itself communist would blindly support a bunch of religious extremists! But it begins to make sense when you recall how the Soviet Union funded and supported the PLO as a counter to the USA’s support of Israel. I suppose that’s what you mean by “orthodox communist” - old school, authoritarian (the contradiction in terms is lost on them) state communists, the sort whose parents were either merrily chaining themselves to the gates of US bases if they were in the West, or gleefully reporting all their neighbours to the Stasi if they were Ossis. Come to think of it, the Russians’ propaganda expertise and long standing contacts inside anti-Israel groups is also probably a large part of the reason why their current social media disinformation campaigns have been so successful and have seemingly ensnared huge chunks of European youth, hook line and sinker.

It is and it’s not even about whether the work is being done well or not, it’s about showing fealty to your lords and masters. If you want to check the quality of my work and give intelligent and constructive feedback, I actually appreciate that and it helps me to gain confidence and do a better job (regardless of *where* I’m working from).

Granted, based on my experience, it’s probably a minority of managers who actually possess the skills to constructively appraise someone’s work, so for most of them, just shut up, keep out of my way and let me get done what needs to be done.

You’ll also see the national flag flying happily in France and Spain. Not everywhere, but it doesn’t have any negative connotation. In Germany however the national flag does have dodgy overtones. It seems to be related to whether your country has anything less than pleasant in its recent history.

it’s somewhat overdramatic to call VW of today a Nazi company, but not completely baseless.

They originated as the people’s car - it’s what Volkswagen literally means. The original beetle was the result of the Nazi government’s requirement for a German-built car that was accessible to the people i.e. white, German people.

You’re missing the essential element of this thought experiment - the poison gas canister in the box which releases the gas when an atom decays. That atomic decay is a quantum event that cannot be predicted even if one has perfect knowledge of the atom concerned, and in fact whether it has actually decayed or not only becomes real when it is measured ie observed. Thus, according to this experiment, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead at once, up until the box is opened and an observation made.

If you don’t have that atomic decay, then the cat’s health is merely unknown - it is either alive or dead, not both at once, but the scientist simply doesn’t know which.

This really depends on where you live. I didn’t realise how spoilt I was living in Berlin until I moved away. Vegan butter that is as good as actual butter is widely available there, at about the same price - albeit unsalted.

I’m now in France, where big supermarkets often have a whole row of fridges dedicated to butter, and I’ve not as yet even seen one place selling any kind of modern vegan butter. I think it was the same story in Spain too, although I wasn’t staying in large cities there.

I’ve tried a range of different vegan butters while I’ve been at home in the UK and they all just taste like margarine. France I can understand, as they have a big dairy culture (no pun intended - that would be too cheesy), but I’m at a loss to explain why the good stuff isn’t widely available in the UK as the demand is there.

The right wing’s interest in this seems to be climate-change-denialism - or at least the opposition to “green policies” that the right seem to have latched onto. I suppose it’s a cheap way to get people riled up and angry with current government policies because no-one who’s paying attention can surely think that the likes of Marine Le Pen or Nigel Farage would really make government less intrusive or authoritarian if they were to ever get any real power.

I’m not sure what the solution is, when so many of the electorate are so prone to emotional manipulation such as this. Trying to second guess what the right are going to jump on next is surely a fool’s errand, as it’s much easier for the Le Pens and Farages to spout off new rhetoric at a rally than it is for incumbent governments to change policy.

The only real solution is for the electorate to become better able to think critically and more able to assess issues rationally and holistically. What chance is there of that ever happening?

yeah well I’ll just wear two dozen sunglasses. that’ll make me twenty four times as cool as you, Mir Science Man.

like it or not, the UK government were elected to do this

that feels a bit of an overstatement … the OSA is a Tory invention, so not electing Labour would not have changed that

It’s not like there would have been any point voting for the Pirate Party or some other party just because you didn’t want the OSA to come into force.

yeah well when you’re ready to join us in the 21st century, we’ll be here waiting. until then have fun with your stone age incomprehension of the heavens and self-aggrandizing tales of fabulous rewards after death.

locked it away in the middle of nowhere already

Why would they do that lol

People would be in awe of this creature. It’s speaking the perfect word of god, understandable to all. It cannot be killed and clearly defies all scientific understanding of our modern age. (This thing would pre-date the birth of true science though and more than likely prevent science even coming to be - there would be no need of science or any kind of human progress if we had an indisputable communication channel with god such as this)

I can’t help but chuckle at the puny god that you seem to believe in though. God - if it exists and I genuinely believe that question is unanswerable - would be an entity outside time and space way beyond the tiniest comprehension of any human. It would have absolute power over every aspect of the universe. Protecting a dog from any number of humans with any type of weaponry would be such a trivial task for such a being. If the dog didn’t want to be moved, it wouldn’t move. If it wanted to pass through a wall it would pass though like a red hot ball bearing through butter.

Seems like there’s a lot of ways, no? A talking immortal dog, just off the top of my head. That would be hard to counter, especially after the first 500 years and it’s still there, spouting the word of god in any language you like.

I’m convinced from the evidence that God doesn’t care what we believe. If there even is such a thing, and I don’t think it’s possible to meaningfully answer that, there are many better ways to communicate vital information to people on earth other than choosing someone to relay your messages in a way that is indistinguishable from a mentally ill person who just hears voices in their head.

ah I see. I misunderstood - when you said “I’d rather pick what is actually true”, you meant you’d pick a story you like and call it truth. Yes that’s also an option, why not.

What’s that?

Christians worship Christ, while Catholics worship … er … Cath

I guess there isn’t a point given to you by someone/something else, but you’re free to pick one of your own if you want. Or not. Ultimately we just have our evolved desire to survive and see our loved ones do well.

You think if people who publish their work publicly didn’t research things like this, they would just never be discovered?

At least this way, we all know about the possibility, and further research can be done to see what can mitigate it.

well obviously it won’t, that’s why you need ethical output restrictions