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I was randomly reminded of my list of Five Tools that make humans what we are, materially speaking, vs. other animals:
knives: artificial and replaceable teeth and claws
spears: knife on a stick, for ranged or missile fighting. cheating!
clothing: for adapting to a wide range of environments
bags: to carry stuff
fire: to scare other animals, shape the environment, and cook
I first thought about that list after learning that my advisor's son couldn't wear a backpack through his high school; they had to run from class to class clutching things in their arms, with stopovers at their lockers. That seemed pretty dehumanizing to me, even more so after that list; only clothing was left...
Arguably, also housing as a difference; other animals make nests or burrows, but I don't know how often "shelter from the elements" is part of the function there. Probably at least sometimes.
***
I previously mentioned the Swiss voting to restrict immigration; elsewhere, someone said they thought that was a killer argument against direct democracy, though they didn't explain their reasoning, if any. Yesterday, I learned of something from the other end: in Spain, the government is on track to re-ban abortion -- despite 70-80% opposition in popular polls. There's big protests too, tens of thousands of people -- but let us face it, protests have no reliable power whatsoever. It's just a bunch of people shouting; what matter is elections.
I don't know if the ruling conservatives don't believe in polls (that seems to be a recurrent thing) or really believe in banning abortion despite electoral risk or figure that a lot of the people pissed at them will still vote for them anyway due to higher priority issues.
knives: artificial and replaceable teeth and claws
spears: knife on a stick, for ranged or missile fighting. cheating!
clothing: for adapting to a wide range of environments
bags: to carry stuff
fire: to scare other animals, shape the environment, and cook
I first thought about that list after learning that my advisor's son couldn't wear a backpack through his high school; they had to run from class to class clutching things in their arms, with stopovers at their lockers. That seemed pretty dehumanizing to me, even more so after that list; only clothing was left...
Arguably, also housing as a difference; other animals make nests or burrows, but I don't know how often "shelter from the elements" is part of the function there. Probably at least sometimes.
***
I previously mentioned the Swiss voting to restrict immigration; elsewhere, someone said they thought that was a killer argument against direct democracy, though they didn't explain their reasoning, if any. Yesterday, I learned of something from the other end: in Spain, the government is on track to re-ban abortion -- despite 70-80% opposition in popular polls. There's big protests too, tens of thousands of people -- but let us face it, protests have no reliable power whatsoever. It's just a bunch of people shouting; what matter is elections.
I don't know if the ruling conservatives don't believe in polls (that seems to be a recurrent thing) or really believe in banning abortion despite electoral risk or figure that a lot of the people pissed at them will still vote for them anyway due to higher priority issues.