That assumes addiction is a deliberate choice, which, almost by definition, it isn’t. No one wakes up and decides to become addicted to something.

You’re talking about the internet like you’d talk about, say cable television, but for the internet to function as we know it, we can’t really think about it that way. Cable is a one-way service, the internet is not. Anyone with an internet connection should not only be able to consume the stuff online, but add to it,…

Elections are in many ways just resource battles in the States, where most elections can be predicted with alarming accuracy based solely on who spent more on their campaign (on a district-level, at least. There’s obviously more that goes into who wins an election than raw money spent, such as why a party might not…

I mean, most theaters already have people who stalk the aisles, especially for pg13+ movies. They aren’t super widespread, yet, but the Alamo Drafthouse theaters are like that. They’re very strict about disturbances, even barring late arrivals, and since they serve food in-theater the waitstaff is always both present…

Facebook isn’t really a neutral platform, though. It has algorithms that amplify certain posts and pass over others, and while it picks who gets the megaphone based on “engagement,” more so than literal content, the way it decides what’s “engaging” is neither entirely clear nor very neutral.

I’d argue it’s larger scale than that. It’s more akin to United paying the government for first dibs on landing their planes on the runway, even if it means other airlines risk running out of fuel waiting their turn in the air. End-users for fast-landing planes probably won’t notice much difference on their end, but…

Firstly, the top 5% of Americans currently hold more than 60% of the nation’s wealth, so 60% is the minimum income tax burden they should be held to.

It’s probably relevant that your bank likely tracks when you check in on your accounts, so even if you claim to have not “noticed until a month or so later,” if a court subpoenas your bank it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out when you really discovered the error.

I mean, the point of the experiment isn’t to test the cost of the program—that part is just basic math—it’s to quantify the effects on a population, which is data that scales easily.

I mean, to use your own example, your father’s PI almost certainly published even without the doctorate, since that’s pretty much what PIs are supposed to do. That’s plenty worthy of a title even without hte acronym on his signature. As far as I know, most research-oriented fields don’t have hard certifying bodies,…

The difference is that, to really be considered a scientist, you need to have published (or been a major, credited contributor to) something in a peer-reviewed journal, or at the very least currently be in a PhD program in your field and therefore on your way to publishing something. Having a Bachelor’s in something…

Not everything has to be a scandal to be newsworthy. It’s just information. He’s not doing anything illegal by using comical sums of his company’s budget to personal security, but he is a public figure that tries really hard to groom an image of being a likable, down-to-earth person, but then goes around doing stuff…

Traditional cab companies have to perform proper background checks on their drivers and are held accountable to the actions of their fleet staff. Cabs are registered with local governments as consumer transport vehicles, which makes them more trackable by police. Uber has spent a lot of money ensuring they aren’t held…

The fact that there’s a horizon that blocks the view of what’s beyond it at all means there must be a curve, and the fact that there’s a horizon in all directions means there must be a curve in all directions.

Is that a giant skeleton tending to the tree in the foreground of that concept art?

I’d argue the administrative staff in immigration aren’t really the focus of this conversation—they’ve always been there before ICE was a thing, and they’ll continue to be there whether ICE continues to exist as it does today or not. The point is that ICE, as an enforcement-centric immigration organization, is…

Well, HIPAA is more geared towards large-scale policy and data management than individual privacy protections. An individual could definitely sue due to privacy violations, but in doing so they’d likely reveal some larger issue and it would be more appropriate in criminal court than as a civil case. A medical center…

I’d argue the difference is that Mueller’s sole job as special counsel is to dig up and produce a case against members of the administration for international election interference, so at least in that case people are hopeful he’ll drop a bombshell. The rich benevolence idea is pretty much just informed by the fact…

Sure, but ICE as it is since the Bush admin, as part of the DHS, really should be shut down. Immigration should be an administrative issue, not a defense one. We already had federal law enforcement and systems to pass immigrants arrested for committing other crimes on a local level along to them when it was deemed…

Yeah, I understand that. I guess I was trying to express that, while it wouldn’t have been easy to win that legal battle, it isn’t impossible, and it’s somewhat fair for someone to criticize the University for not pushing harder than they did after bothering to tell Spencer to bugger off in the first place. I’d argue…