TanyaJLaird

joined 1 year ago
[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 2 points 16 hours ago

And even then, it goes beyond gender. Even the idea that you can't change your sex is laughable. "Sex," despite what some TERFs insist, is not traditionally or in practice today determined by DNA. We've learned that chromosomes play a primary factor in determining sex, but your sex isn't your DNA. A blueprint isn't a house; a house is a house. The blueprint just tells you how to build a house.

Physical sex is really about primary and secondary sex characteristics. If a trans woman undergoes SRS for example, her sex is literally female. She has the same anatomy as an infertile woman, or woman whose had a hysterectomy.

And this is the traditional way of defining sex. We referred to people's "sex" for generations prior to discovering DNA. And even today, we sex infants entirely based on their genitalia. Actual genetic screening is incredibly rare.

Bigots just latch onto "sex==genetics" because it allows them an easy cudgel. But in reality, if your primary and secondary sex characteristics are of a certain sex, you are that sex. Does the initial cellular blueprint indicate a different sex? Assuming you're not intersex, sure. But again, DNA is just a blueprint.

The example I always like is the house/boat example. Imagine you owned a wooden boat. That boat was made by a particularly prideful boat builder, and every plank of the boat is stamped, "Smith's shipbuilding co." One day you get tired of sailing the waves, so you take your boat, disassemble it, and use the planks to build a house. You now live in a house where every board is stamped "Smith's shipbuilding co."

Imagine the absurdity of someone coming to your home and telling you, "you live in a boat! Every board clearly labels this building as a boat. Therefore, you must live in a boat."

That is the fallacy of relying on genetics to define sex. Chromosomes are just the initial blueprints or the equivalent of the "Smith shipbuilding co." stamp.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 16 points 1 day ago

They're building an AI Stasi.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 6 points 1 month ago

Pride started as a riot.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 3 points 2 months ago

Reminds me of something I wrote awhile ago...

Water and wood are ultimately connected in profoundly fundamental ways. Trees as living organisms have their structure determined by the acquisition, transport, and use of water. When harvested, lumber must be dried and seasoned to the moisture levels sufficient for use. When installed and in service, wood must be protected from moisture, and the various deleterious effects of moisture must be controlled. And in the most fundamental chemical processes of photosynthesis, the very solid matter of wood itself is formed from carbon dioxide in the air and water in the ground. The story of wood and water are inseparable, as inseparable as the stories of water and life are more broadly. Wood is ultimately formed from carbon dioxide and water, and thermodynamically, it will always seek to return to those base forms. Wood is formed from water and air, and in time, through one path or another, to water and air it will return. It should be our goal to understand these processes. And in doing so, to learn to use wood most effectively and to extend the brief window of time that wood remains in such a useful form. Eventually all wood products will find a way back to their original form. And if done right, such limited time will be sufficient for human needs. No wood or wood product will last forever, but neither do humans or human needs. But properly designed, wooden structures may last long enough for human needs. In time both will fade, and they will find their page in a story longer than history itself. From water; to water. Of water; by water. Such is the nature of wood and water.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 15 points 2 months ago

Japan is a country that has been living in the year 2005 since 1985.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Why would any Democrat support this? This is Trump they're talking about. Can they not see him just declaring the Democratic Party to be a "terrorism supporting group" because of some vaguery around supporting Gaza?

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 32 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ultimately, these mandates are because executives don't work for the same reason normal people do. Most people work to support themselves. But a single year working at an exec at a major company will be enough to let you retire very comfortably, never working another day in your life. Once you have ten million in the bank, you're not really working for money anymore.

Instead, you're working for prestige and power. Execs and high-level managers work for a few reasons. Some work because they want to have power over people. They get a thrill out of having complete authority over other human beings. And sociopathic need to control others is an itch that simply can't be scratched by working remote. Others like to mandate in-office because they're professional shmoozers. They do very little real work. Instead, they just go from meeting to meeting, spend afternoons golfing on the company dime, etc. The company is basically just their own personal social club. Others work because they have a savior complex. They think they're God's gift to mankind, and they need the sycophantic praise that can only come by forcing people to work in person. Finally, some are simply sexual predators. For some, the primary benefit of coming into work is the ability to coerce sex out of their underlings. And it's hard to sexually assault an employee who is working hundreds of miles away.

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The major problem here is that China is offering prices below production costs aiming to ruin foreign competition.

Do we have any real evidence of that?

[–] TanyaJLaird@beehaw.org 5 points 9 months ago

How many times do we need to bail this industry out? Detroit's problems are entirely the fault of its own short-sighted greed. They've deliberately chosen not to produce affordable sedans, instead focusing only on super expensive giant luxury vehicles. This has even happened before. The exact same thing happened back in the 80s with the Japanese car companies. Toyota and Honda ate Detroit's lunch because Detroit had become complacent and greedy.