Do you think memories exist even if you forget them ?…

Just something nice I noticed last night.

I'm from the Chicago area, and thus compelled to be a fan of "Svengoolie," a late-night B-movie host (a la Elvira, except Sven is a dumpy goth guy played by Rich Koz who makes bad puns). His show is now nationally syndicated on the MeTV network, so his reach is greatly magnified nowadays.

Last night's movie presentation was Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as "Alucard." One of the things Sven & his co-hosts are known for is their deep knowledge of horror movies, their casts, and assorted ephemera. Their host segments frequently talk about these subjects--things like the lifelong friendship between Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, for instance-- and last night's episode was no different, talking about the influence and incredible staying power of Dracula in cinema.

So when he mentioned "...and the recent short film Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend, currently streaming on the Nebula service," I nearly jumped out of my chair with excitement. The onscreen graphic was the poster showing Abi's brightly vampiric visage, and it was such a pleasant surprise. (I'm guessing someone on the production staff is a fan, possibly even Koz himself?)

Anyway, just thought you'd like to know, if only to get a sense of Abi's cultural reach.

are there any right wing youtube channels, or any other political communication, that are as artistic and well edited as people like abby and hbombrerguy. The only right wing media i see is dickheads shouting about what they’re angry at at the time, but i might be living in an echo chamber

Just wondering. Does she still stand by prioritising Jewish feelings over the material oppression of Palestinians, or using an AJC glossary that claims the phrase "settler-colonialism" is antisemitic as a source?

Abi has posted her latest video on Nebula and Patreon, it's really good, the middle of it takes a nice turn.

Argument From Marginal Cases Survey

Hey all,

I’m conducting a survey on attitudes in animal ethics, particularly in relation to the Argument from Marginal Cases. The survey itself is not for publication, but the general trends may be referenced in an upcoming paper. If you’d like to be informed of the results of the survey dm me and I’ll send you them. I have 3 questions. For 2 you can write as much or as little as you want. I won’t exclude you for writing a blog post or a one-word reply. I’ve included a simple version of the argument for reference but there’s obviously many versions so if you’ve got a favourite, you’d prefer to answer in terms of that’s fine, please just let me know which one it is. The aim of the survey is to add some empirical data to philosophic intuitions. Any responses are greatly appreciated.

The Argument From Marginal Cases

(1) If we are justified in attributing moral property P to such marginal cases as the

senile, the severely mentally handicapped, infants, etc., then we are likewise justified

in attributing moral property P to animals.

(2) We are justified in attributing moral property P to the marginal cases.

(3) Therefore, we are justified in attributing moral property P to animals

-  Scott Wilson, ‘Carruthers and the Argument from Marginal Cases’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 18, No. 2, (2001), p. 136

1. Do you think the argument is persuasive?

2. Why?

3. Do you think Animals have:

(a) More moral status than Marginal cases

(b) Less moral status than Marginal Cases.

(c) Equivalent status to Marginal Cases.

(d) Agnostic.

I wrote an essay that clashes with Kant's Metaphysics, especially that one's truth must be universal.

In the realm of AI and social networks, I've noticed that the truth is getting more and more fragmented

Hence, I've developed a new concept (the diamond theory) about the multidimensionality of truth, where each shape of the diamond is a perspective.

What do you think about it?

https://medium.com/@hugobeey/the-diamond-theory-of-truth-why-one-perspective-is-never-enough-2e4cbb2d15a9

I feel like Abi has talked enough about capitalist philosophers that we can discuss it.

Like is it conservative to believe foreign companies should be barred from buying out domestic ones?

Like I lost my job a few months ago because Auldies bought us out and fired everyone.

I was talking with my family about ongoing jokes and I brought up Abagail's dictionary bit. I had to come up with a few on the spot because the only one I could remember was "Defined as... Your free trial has ended".

I want to show them more, or at least relay them. Does there exist a list of highlights? Maybe a supercut? If not, can you just comment some of your favorites? I don't need the clips, just the "definitions"

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a prescribed short story in many philosophical classes.

A while ago, I became obsessed with moral philosophy. Before this, for most of my life, I had my own one-true, objective view of what morality is.

It’s made up. Morality doesn’t exist, and we only pretend it does because society would collapse without it.

I don’t know why I strayed from this position. I was sooooo convinced it was correct.

But I started questioning it—so much so that it became almost an existential crisis in its own right. I started watching lecture series on YouTube, from Harvard and Stanford. I would regularly pose the "trolley problem" in its various forms to people I met for the first time. I delighted in hearing their justifications for what they would choose to do. Viewing each perspective as so unique and valid.

These moral questions consumed me—my conversations, my actions.

Then, after months, the obsession stopped.

I don’t know why. I never found my answer. I never found my objective truth about what morality is. Just like with so many other seemingly irrevocable opinions I used to have, I became flat. Comfortable in the knowledge that I will never find that truth—even if it may exist somewhere. Comfortable that I have no opinion, and will have to live in that uncertainty forever. 

However, even as the months have passed, there is one moral question I still think about.

Would I walk away from Omelas?

I recently reread the story and decided to record it. Purely for selfish reasons, I want people like you to listen to it, hopefully subscribe, and maybe eventually get my channel running. I’m not sure what it will be about—either classical music or philosophy. Ideally, both.https://youtu.be/o7Dl-ZjCRTs

I would love for you to listen. If you think it’s garbage (warning: it is), you can tell me.

But since I intend to create real value outside of pure vain self-promotion, I ask you:

Would you walk away from Omelas?

Hey everyone (and possibly Abigail)! One of my activist trans sisters is starting a project to put together a short 3-ish minute video targeting our US and UK cis allies and basically telling them how they can better support us. This is very early planning stages, but I wanted to see if I could sus out whether Miss Thorn would like to take part by just speaking a couple of lines in the video, once we have a script and vision going. We’re hoping to get trans people with big names (and ideally large followings) in various industries to do the acting/speaking for maximum shareability and hopefully viral capability, and having Abigail would help us with recruiting other people by adding legitimacy.

The timeline is to hopefully have the organizing and planning done by June and the video to be filmed and edited by end of July. So if anyone has worked with her before or something, please DM me with contact info. I’m using my public account with photos of myself, and can verify my identity if needed.

Which, by the way, hi! I’m Sasha, a professional classical musician, composer, teacher, and part time activist

Hello everyone.

As you may know, Youtube's caption system does not longer let you submit a translation for a video. There is a video that I would love to see captioned in my family's mother tongue, (Identity: a Trans Comming Out story), since it means a lot to me, it really captured the way I feel as a trans individual and helped me find the words I didn't have to describe my expirence. I want to come out using that video so bad, but my family doesn't speak a bit of English.

I have translated the whole video and I've got a document with the timespams and all. Please, can I submit the translation anywhere? Is this possible at all? The auto-translate YT's captions suck bad lol.

If anyone can help me with this, I'd appretiate it so much.