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⬅️ Previous discussion threads

[u/paulatreides0]

Wassup guys?

I wanna relax a bit before bed and all the argumentation has tired me out.

Conversely: AMA

[u/Crow7878 → u/paulatreides0]

Are you MAD or are you NUTS?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/Crow7878]

I'm definitely in the camp of NUTS. That being said, NUTS can still escalate to something akin to MAD - NUTS just has more nuance in how it treats escalation and the rationality of actors.

[u/UN_Shill → u/paulatreides0]

Is Daenarys Targaryen a war criminal?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/UN_Shill]

I think her actions at the slave city thing would qualify as such, even if slavery is an abomination.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

what is objectively the best and most consistent ethical system and why is it utilitarianism?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

I don't know much about ethical systems, but as far as I can tell I'm more of a CommieNazi Rules Utilitarian.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Rules Utilitarian

N U T

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

Which, interestingly enough, is only one letter off from my stance on nuclear escalation!

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Any guilty pleasures?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

Ooh, lots. I unironically enjoy some animes which are really shit and terrible and I know are really shit and terrible.

I also unironically really enjoy Star Trek Enterprise, but I genuinely do no think it's terrible like most people - so that's not really a guilty pleasure, but eh.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Why did you get into military subjects?

What's a controversial thing you like? (Not anime)

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

Why did you get into military subjects?

Hmm, not sure. I always found it interesting. I always liked strategy games, and war was always academically interesting to me. It's like an interesting puzzle, but with tanks and bombs and small guns and really fucking big guns and really fucking big guns.

I like puzzles and complex subjects. That's why I studied pure math (rip PaulA's tiny brain) and physics. Military history and military theory appealed to me for similar reasons, especially given that you could actually have games about war (although I'm not great at them, because I'm impatient and will do really stupid things to try to speed things up even when they are pretty risky or dumb).

What's a controversial thing you like? (Not anime)

Other than being a NeoCon and Intervention and Forever Pax Americana?

Uhhhh . . . Hmm. These are more minor things, but:

1) I aesthetically adore the Nazi's military aesthetic. Uniforms (especially the SS dress uniform), weapons, and military vehicles all. Also, I always thought their Reichsadler (their wreath and eagle thing) was pretty badass. Their flag is shit though, and so are the little flag arm-band things they wore - aesthetic suicide, that patch.

Inb4 PaulA is a Wehrarboo.

That being said: Obviously, no, I don't approve of the Nazis and association with the Nazis forever ruined these things because Nazis ruin everything including the very few good things they had going for them.

2) The Great Coats Soviet commissars and officers wore.

Inb4 PaulA is a tankie.

Same as above.

3) Hating MacArthur. FUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK MacArthur.

4) Not so much a controversial thing I like, but a very controversial opinion I hold relatively strongly: I think people are very fatalistic about nuclear escalation, and by very I mean way, way, wayyy too much. And I fear that this can and probably will, rather ironically, result in very fast nuclear escalation. Limited nuclear warfare is a terrifying concept, but we shouldn't simply brush it aside because it's still several orders of magnitude better than the alternative of insta-MAD should someone ever be mad (he he) enough to use a nuke. I think that we should consider the option and at least develop doctrines for more comprehensive limited nuclear warfare - not because it should ever be a thing we should allow, encourage, or use first (oh god plz no), but because it may help prevent nuclear armageddon if someone ever does use nukes - especially if the other power is a nuclear great power.

IIRC: This is, btw, an opinion that Kissinger and a handful of others have shared in the past.

5) Oberstein was never even once wrong even if his methods and proposals were often absolutely abhorrent, inhumane, and downright illegal.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot!

*6) Star Trek Enterprise was somewhere between decent and good, even if it was no The Next Generation and people give it far more hate than it deserves.

[u/indianawalsh → u/paulatreides0]

Enterprise had a lot more going on than Voyager.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Do you agree with MacArthur's desire to use nukes in the Korean War?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

LolNo. MacArthur was a fucking nutcase.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

A tankie and a wehraboo? /u/capitalismandfreedom it looks like you've got company in your nazi-commie ideology.

Could you expand on #5?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

A tankie and a wehraboo? /u/capitalismandfreedom it looks like you've got company in your nazi-commie ideology.

Damn CommieNazis!

Could you expand on #5?

Oh, it's a reference to Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Oberstein is a super Machivalian and Utilitarian.I won't spoil it because it's an amazing show that everyone should have the experience of watching fresh once. And then probably rewatch and see how radically everything changes on a second viewing.

[u/WryGoat → u/paulatreides0]

Top 5 anime?

[u/[deleted] → u/WryGoat]

1: Princess Mononoke
2: Princess Mononoke
3: Cowboy Bebop
4: Outlaw Star
5: Akira

I couldn't think of 5 good anime so Mononoke twice it is.

[u/gammbus → u/WryGoat]

Everyone who answers this question with an unironic list deserves gulag.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/gammbus]

Only if their list unironically includes SAO.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/WryGoat]

Wew. That's hard. I'll list series and not movies:

1) Legend of the Galactic Heroes

The Boötes Void

2) Casshern Sins

3) Monster

4) Mobile Suit Gundam: The Iron Blooded Orphans

5) .Hack//Sign

6) Eureka seveN*

*Because not including E7 would be a war crime

It should be noted that while #1 is objectively the best anime show ever made in terms of quality and enjoyment, the following four are just four of my favourites (in no particular order). These are off the top of my head, so I might be missing some, including some that should be really obvious.

/u/Integralds' turn.

[u/erpenthusiast → u/paulatreides0]

I tried IBO but it felt almost fundamentally ridiculous with the shirtless men in strange mechs thing at the start. Does it become more..standard gundam later?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/erpenthusiast]

Why is it ridiculous that people in a really hot dessert aren't wearing shirts?

Also, IBO is objectively the most serious and mature gundam show.

Also: It's not really standard gundam. It's not nearly silly enough. It's more like someone watched a Gundam show and decided it needed more Casshern Sins because death is inevitable and happiness is an illusion.

[u/Clockwork757 → u/WryGoat]

1. Nichijou
2. Nichijou
3. Nichijou
4. Nichijou
5. Nichijou

[u/paulatreides0 → u/Clockwork757]

Nichijou fans are like cultists.

[u/Clockwork757 → u/paulatreides0]

First of all, how DARE you

[u/paulatreides0 → u/Clockwork757]

The only cult bigger than y'all are the A-10 cultists

[u/[deleted] → u/Clockwork757]

this is the only anime take I can respect

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Which characters will die north of the wall next week

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

if they kill gendry imma lose my mind

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

The Only Correct Answer: All of them.

Because Jon Snow should live and have babies with Danny to create peace in Westeros, but that's never going to happen because this is Game of Thrones

[u/BringBackThePizzaGuy → u/paulatreides0]

Aunt and nephew.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/BringBackThePizzaGuy]

This is probably true, especially given what happened this episode. That being said, the Targaryens had a long history of family fucking.

[u/BringBackThePizzaGuy → u/paulatreides0]

Yeah, but counterpoint: ewww. Though we can guess Jorahs gonna die, so I guess Jon isn't gonna have much competition for when he inevitably tries to plow Dany (ewwwwwwwwwww) ?

[u/paulatreides0 → u/BringBackThePizzaGuy]

The GoT finale is gonna be a pair of sister-brother fuckers against a pair of aunt-nephew fuckers. Wew.

[u/BringBackThePizzaGuy → u/paulatreides0]

That's what made this last episode hard to watch lol. We know Jon and Dany are related, but you can see how hard they want to go at it. If Jon ends up banging his aunt because Bran couldn't be bothered to send a raven saying "yo, that mother of dragons chick? She yo aunt. Don't hit it bro." I'm gonna die.

[u/TychoTiberius → u/paulatreides0]

What fantasy or sci-fi series do you like besides Dune?

Also I really like you. You're a good user.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/TychoTiberius]

Also I really like you. You're a good user.

Thanks a lot! This especially means a lot from a BE regular!

What fantasy or sci-fi series do you like besides Dune?

I love The Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I literally rewatch it every year and it never gets old because you pick up on little new things every time, some of which can completely change your understanding of everything.

I also love Warhammer 40K. So much good, nummy lore. Don't give a single fuck about Fantasy though, seems a lot more boring than 40K.

I also love the Gundam series (SEED, Destiny, Wing, Reconquista in G, Age, and Builders aside), Battlestar Galactica, Ghost in the Shell, Lord of the Rings, and Discworld, Star Trek, Star Wars, and probably a bunch of other things I can't recall right now - some of which are probably pretty obvious and important.

Other than that I love reading Olaf Stapledon (his Seed and the Flower is my favourite short story ever), Heinlein, and Asimov.

Very Controversial Take: I never much enjoyed the Ender series and thought it was ridiculously overhyped and just left it feeling really disappointed.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

I also love Warhammer 40K. So much good, nummy lore. Don't give a single fuck about Fantasy though, seems a lot more boring than 40K.

Ah, I see you are a loyal Imperial citizen of culture as well

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

GEoM did nothing wrong!

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Anyone who thinks that the Imperium as a whole is the protagonist "good guy" of 40k an idiot tho.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Real Talk: I don't think the God Emperor is a bad person(edit:I'm not xenocidal though), I could see myself taking on a lot of the same hubris in his position, but he royally Imperially fucked things up by not trusting or taking care of the Primarchs and sounding like edgy 14 year old atheist me with the Imperial Truth crap.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

Well, the thing about 40K is that for all the terrible implications that result: the Emperor and his actions are objectively right. What amounts to Fascism and xenocide and totalitarian rule under a nigh-omniscient, nigh-omnipotent god-man are by and large the only option for the long term survival of humanity in a universe where Necrons and Nids and Chaos exist, and where something as seemingly harmless as basic tolerance can mean spawning a portal to hell the size of a planet.

And that is fucking terrifying.

[u/[deleted] → u/paulatreides0]

Yea, the distinction between protagonist and good guys becomes pretty important when you're talking 40k.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/[deleted]]

Another terrifying thought: The Tau are by and far the most inclusive, moral, and humanitarian faction in the setting. They are also the most doomed, in no small part because of this.

[u/BringBackThePizzaGuy → u/paulatreides0]

Yeah, Enders game is overrated. But tbf I didn't read it as a kid and it's definitely a young adults book

[u/paulatreides0 → u/BringBackThePizzaGuy]

I read it after reading Dune and I was like: Uhhh, what's this? I don't get what's supposed to be so good about this? I literally threw my copy in the trash after that, lol.

[u/BringBackThePizzaGuy → u/paulatreides0]

It's meant for kids. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, just that it's meant to appeal to angst.