flora_explora

flora_explora , 4 days ago

She died about 6 years ago

flora_explora , 4 days ago

But who are we to judge when shoplifting is appropriate or not? Also, if you are shoplifting to spite the capitalist system, you are doing society a favor. If you are shoplifting in a small self-owned store that is struggling itself, this would be less than ideal. But all other large corporate-owned shops are ethically OK to shoplift imo.

flora_explora , 3 days ago

Yes, but the person I was commenting on judged people who were shoplifting for "fun"

flora_explora , 5 days ago

All I found about that gitlab incidence sounded like it was one single event and more importantly that they've learned from it. So I don't get the critique there. But yeah, apparently they've had a security hole a few days ago.

flora_explora , 5 days ago

I get your point. But isn't it in the interest of large tech companies that their users stay as unknowing and uninformed as possible? They don't want you to know how to actually tinker with their systems, how to change stuff yourself or have any control over technology at all. The more docile people are, the better they can sell their products (both the actual product to the people and the people's data to their consumers). And so there are those people who are not OK with being on a dumbed-down system because they want to know how it works and have control over it, so they go over to Linux.

This is not too different from modern cars that no one can really repair on their own. Consumers are totally dependent on the company producing the car. And planned obsolescence can be implemented even better in a system that is out of the control of the user.

Another point is that huge tech companies often have the most comfort and ease in their products. Yeah sure, they have the means to make it so. But this automatically makes leaving these platforms/products so much more uncomfortable. Consumers are already so uninformed but dependent on tech that they would obviously stir towards the more comfortable situation.

Using tools (be it digital or manual) you can actually control sure is more work and has a certain learning curve. No one denies this. But from a political standpoint I think it is important for people to have control over the tools they use, over their own life. Let's not allow capitalism to take away even more freedom and control from us as it already took.

flora_explora , 6 days ago

While I agree in principle with you (except for where a socialist state is basically capitalism?!), I disagree very much with your condescending tone. The other person you were commenting on has obviously not got what you meant and you dismissed them outright as a tankie.

I just listened a bit into the video until the guy talked about that the means have to be in line with ends. If you are a prick like this to other people enjoying your power of knowledge over them you definitely won't get to a compassionate community free of hierarchies. Same goes for the guy in the video, reeking of male privilege.

So why not give people a chance to learn something? (Except if they are trolling of course.)

flora_explora , 5 days ago

First of all, "love yourself first" can be interpreted in various ways. bell hooks certainly meant it in a truly revolutionary, not a individualistic or distractive way.

What you describe sounds awfully much like how the boomer generation has approached live. For ever running away from personal problems by always keeping busy and distracting themselves. Sure, at least you are fighting fascism. A lot of leftists I know put all their energy into activism until they burn out. And often I suspect that they are running away from their own problems.

And sure, spending all your time with trying to self-love is obviously not the solution either. But it sure would help so much if people would reflect more upon their own emotional state and be more compassionate with themselves and others. This is not to say that we don't need activism to stop fascists though.

flora_explora , 7 days ago

Related (pun intended): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNQPQkV3nhw

flora_explora , 7 days ago

I would be cautious of statements like these. Because this way it is easy to get lost in your own idealization of community gardening. I mean, I agree that we should do more community gardening and that it would probably benefit most people.

But how do you know that industrial farming won't ever be as nutritious/delicious as homegrown? How would you fall back on your own garden in case of a nuclear catastrophe? Wouldn't your soil just be as contaminated? What are your arguments against GMO crops apart from all the obvious economic reasons? Wouldn't be some genetic mutations be really good actually? I mean the food we eat is already heavily bred and mutated, even most homegrown stuff. Try eating a wild carrot or wild apple. Also, the article you shared regarding the antidepressant properties of soil makes some same mistakes. It is overly idealistic. The actual underlying study is much less ambitious and I'm not sure you can really claim that "working with soil has natural antidepressant properties ".

I love cooking and don't really like eating out. But if a canteen/cafeteria is run well, it can sure cook much larger quantities of food that are just as delicious and nutritious. It just scales better. I would argue the same is true for agriculture. (Although we definitely would need to change agriculture by a lot!)

flora_explora , 7 days ago

This is certainly true for our modern agriculture today. But is this really true for any possible industrial agriculture? Couldn't we also have a plant based industrial agriculture leaving domesticated animals out of the equation altogether? Sure, we are a far way off from that. But I think it would be achievable and that we should aim for it.

flora_explora , 7 days ago

Not only that. But our agriculture is so centered around animals that we also have a huge surplus of manure (the animals' feces, horn shavings, basically anything left of them) that we then use on all kinds of plant crops. It is so baked into the system that it will be a long way before we can really get a animal-free agriculture...

flora_explora , 8 days ago

Well, not really. One are insects the other crustaceans. Woodlice would probably be a better comparison?

flora_explora , 8 days ago

Wow, thanks! What an interesting read :O (But also really sad to watch the video on the templeos site)

flora_explora , 10 days ago

Great video, thanks! Regarding the over representation of certain concepts/things I have been disappointed from day one by generative AI. If you want it to draw you something obscure it miserably fails and tries to fall back on stuff it knows. Also all the discriminatory biases generative AI has about different people because of lacking data sets. It is very obvious that it cannot "outperform" its own data input (like the exciting curve in the video) but that it will rather stagnate.

flora_explora , 17 days ago

You may like Bruno Latour and his rather philosophical book Politics of Nature. I read it in a philosophy seminar and it seemed fascinating how the author tries to completely overthrow the view we have on "nature" and give it agency.

flora_explora , 17 days ago

My first thought was gram times second times meter per kilogram xD

flora_explora , 18 days ago

I love this sooo much! Wish I could see this in person :O

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Wow, the plot in the fifth elephant makes so much more sense now. I didn't know that the scone of stone was a real thing!! :O

flora_explora , 18 days ago

While I tend to agree somewhat with both of your standpoints, I think maybe the governing in "governing body" is the problem here. While we would need to find some way to reach societal consensus on various levels, isn't a government with an attached ability to exercise authority over people at odds with anarchist ideals? Even if people would form an autonomous government to govern themselves, the name itself suggests authority over people.

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Nature is everything

flora_explora , 18 days ago

I agree, but I think it is important to clearly communicate what is and what isn't scientific consensus and what is only pseudoscience. Because there will always be people who think that stuff like Myers Briggs tests or homeopathy are really reliable/effective. They might be a good placebo but there are also people dying because some quacks tell them that they shouldn't take their cancer medication and homeopathy instead. Myers Briggs and astrology are obviously not that dangerous as they aren't medical treatments. But I fear the atmosphere in society shifting towards pseudoscience and distrusting in actual scientific approaches.

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Well, maybe context is important. I'm from Germany and pseudoscience is really common here. There is even some homeopathy that is paid by public insurance nowadays. And there are many esoteric and pseudoscientific movements that have a lot of financial power. That is, the biggest drug store chains in Germany are esoteric lead and there are kindergarden/schools as well as various companies that are anthroposophic. They also formed these huge protests against covid regulations and many people fell prey to the esoteric mindset at this time. So it is actually not that uncommon in Germany for people to truly believe in pseudoscience unfortunately...

ETA: does your username mean that you like to glorify something/someone? Or that you tend to be glorified?

flora_explora , 19 days ago

Oof, they sound like a really awful group :(

flora_explora , 19 days ago

Wouldn't you then have to run the AI locally on a machine (which probably draws a lot of power and memory) or use it via cloud (which depends on bandwidth just like a video call). I don't really see where this technology could actually be useful. Sure, if it is only a minor computation just like if you take a picture/video with any modern smartphone. But computing an entire face and voice seems much more complicated than that and not really feasible for the usual home device.

flora_explora , 19 days ago

Fair point, I agree.

flora_explora , 20 days ago

There is definitely some german in that word!

flora_explora , 20 days ago

What? This is saying that the dudes already so detached from reality that they don't find any women should even further detach from reality. If you are an open-minded cis dude who respects women and sees them as equal human beings you'll have no problem finding anyone.

flora_explora , 19 days ago

OK, let me rephrase this into "if you are ... you will be as likely as cishet women to find someone to date". My point was that cishet men may have it hard to find someone because they are not catching up with progressive and emancipatory values. There are many many heteropessimisstic or otherwise frustrated women out there searching for a guy that does not treat them like shit.

But sure, if you don't have the capacity for a social life or for dating then obviously this won't be as easy. My comment was a response to the premise that cishet guys have it harder in dating and that they should be allowed to scam people.

flora_explora , 19 days ago

It seems very annoying to me when cishet dudes whine about how hard they have it. It might be true, but the problem is usually that they've been brought up with a misogynistic worldview and hegemonic masculinity. That's what I referred to by calling them detached from reality.

It is like a narcissistic person telling you how hard their life is while abusing you. You can empathize with them because they sure have a hard life. But as long as they're not self-aware and reflect on their doings, I won't have much empathy with them. Same goes for cis men.

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Oh hello, you again! Sorry, won't discuss with you any further about this topic. Nothing new to be said and you newer replied to all the scientific studies I gave you why a high percentage of pwNPD tend to abuse others.

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Nope, I disagree. I see shades of gray and have some few friends that happen to be cishet guys. But I know very few cis men that are not bigots, feel entitled, treat women like inferiors, etc.

But, do you agree with the original statement I replied to?

flora_explora , 18 days ago (edited 18 days ago)

Yeah, it's pretty disheartening and even frightening. I don't know how to educate men on feminist ideas and get them on board. And being antifeminist doesn't even benefit them that much. There are so many men living their life miserable and ending up in jail because of their toxic masculinity and societal expectations of men. And I'm certainly interested in helping cis men get better, reconnect with their emotions and learn about emancipation. But at the same time I don't see how people who are not cis men can do so much to really help them. We are pretty busy surviving them and supporting each other.

flora_explora , 18 days ago

Yes, it is really a frustrating situation. Since you seem to be a man, maybe you can be a good example to your nephew? But well, not so easy either unfortunately :(

flora_explora , 20 days ago

I crocheted a giant millipede that is about 1.8 m long and while doing this I also found that there lived actual millipedes that large long ago. Now I cuddle with my giant millipede and imagine that she was one of those giants! :)

flora_explora , 20 days ago

As context to your context:

The genitalia of the female closely resembles that of the male; the clitoris is shaped and positioned like a penis, a pseudo-penis, and is capable of erection. The female also possesses no external vagina (vaginal opening), as the labia are fused to form a pseudo-scrotum. The pseudo-penis is traversed to its tip by a central urogenital canal, through which the female urinates, copulates and gives birth. (Source)

scientists state that female spotted hyenas are the **only ** non-intersex female mammals devoid of an external vaginal opening, and whose sexual anatomy is distinct from usual intersex cases (source)

Because hardly any other animal would give birth through a clitoris. That was the weird part for me because I knew about the peniform clitorises but not the missing external vaginas.

flora_explora , 20 days ago

Unfortunately most if not all of animal science involves torturing animals :'(

flora_explora , 20 days ago

Yup, I got angry at that line, too. This person has obviously no idea about science...

flora_explora , 26 days ago

But tiktok the company is? And there are certainly also people on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and even Lemmy rallying to support Palestine. And that's what you tried to avoid with your "argument" in the first place, that many us companies are far worse in spreading misinformation. How does your one very specific point prove anything? And why focus on this one at all? Meanwhile fox news especially has been rallying against all kinds of minorities since forever in the US. You have very weak arguments here, maybe you just want to have tiktok banned? But then just say so outright.

flora_explora , 28 days ago

Playing the devil's advocate here:
Under capitalism, you could also see it as a provision of services where the landlord invests in the means of production (the building) and provides the service of letting people stay there for a certain amount of money. The offered services include the maintenance of the building. If a landlord is keeping a building poorly maintained and/or expects an over the top rent, then this is simply a bad service.

But well, this obviously doesn't work out as soon as you consider a safe place to live a basic human right that mustn't be commodified.

flora_explora , 28 days ago

Well, I tried to find any arguments that could speak in favor of landlords. From the additional comments I got here it is pretty obvious that there isn't really any justification for housing to be in the hands of landlords.

flora_explora , 28 days ago

Haha thanks! I was totally lost xD

flora_explora , 28 days ago

Why not the students? I mean if you already consider killing and eating animals, why stop there?

flora_explora , 29 days ago

Please don't slut-shame!

flora_explora , 29 days ago

It's a humorous saying at whose cost? Why would you even make a humorous saying about sex workers? And why would a sex worker be sweating in a church? The underlying assumption certainly has to do with their own conscience and religion.

Your "try not to overthink everything" is just a normative reprimand to not challenge the sexist status quo.

flora_explora , 29 days ago

First of all, there is a huge stigma against sex workers and they face a lot of discrimination and violence. I'm pretty sure this also applies to where you live (wahrscheinlich im DACH-Raum irgendwo?). Also: "whore" = vulgar/derogatory . There is no need for any real person to be involved here. This is just perpetuating societal stigma.

Also the status quo doesn't need to be "challenged", sex work is legal and normal where I live.

I don't believe there is a society that is free from stigma and discrimination against sex workers. But maybe you can prove me wrong?

If they are religious then their occupation is heavily at odds with their faith

I also disagree with this sentiment because why would sex work be at odds with religion? Maybe with religious institutions like the church but not with their faith itself.

flora_explora , 29 days ago

I thought that was pretty frequent in slugs, isn't it?

flora_explora , 1 month ago

I mean, there are many biologists that spend a lot of time in the field. I know many who spend several months up to years in research stations for example. But hardly any of them try to find new species but rather try to understand the already described ones and their interactions better.

flora_explora , 1 month ago

Haha, I first read it as you talking about a parasol and it didn't make any sense :)