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A place to discuss topics/games with other webDiplomacy players.
Page 278 of 1419
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Friendly Sword (636 D)
28 May 09 UTC
People who know they are about to be stabbed but let it happen anyway.
What should be done with these people?

Or is their subsequent misfortune punishment enough?
17 replies
Open
Jacob (2711 D)
29 May 09 UTC
Anyone interested in a 5 pt WTA game tonight?
post here if you're interested. I need seven people who would agree to ten minute phases. I want the game to last no more than 3 hours max.
16 replies
Open
jasoncollins (186 D)
27 May 09 UTC
Hi, my name is Jason, and...
I'm addicted to diplomacy *hangs head in shame* :)

I suppose work has something to do with it, but seriously, when you are checking for that little message icon every 5-10 minutes on your computer, 'just in case'? Or you can look it up on your phone...
32 replies
Open
LanGaidin (1509 D)
29 May 09 UTC
Calling all Airborne:)
Just wanted to remind airborne to unpause our second tournament game. Everyone else is good to go.
0 replies
Open
ag7433 (927 D(S))
28 May 09 UTC
New Game: Economics of a Sunk Cost
WTA // 238 pts // 30 hrs
http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=11184
8 replies
Open
mapleleaf (0 DX)
28 May 09 UTC
New game
Winner take all - high stakes
10 replies
Open
SpeakerToAliens (147 D(S))
28 May 09 UTC
New Game: When you Play the Game of Thrones...
Please join my new game: PPSC, 50 point buy in, 30 hour turns.
2 replies
Open
figlesquidge (2131 D)
25 May 09 UTC
North Korean Nuclear Test
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8066861.stm

What do people think will happen? As the correspondent says, there don't seem to be any options left short of war...
119 replies
Open
Jacob (2711 D)
27 May 09 UTC
A way to cut down on people going CD
This would require additional features, but here's the idea anyway...

34 replies
Open
wydend (0 DX)
29 May 09 UTC
new game
need some players. New at this so new players to face would be nice. The game is Bleh-3
6 replies
Open
Crazy Anglican (1075 D)
28 May 09 UTC
A debate regarding religion's affect upon health
First off: If atheists and Christians endlessly debating their respective views ticks you off, you have my apologies in advance, and please disregard this thread.

23 replies
Open
KingTigerTank (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
BUG @(to admin)
http://www.phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=11097 look at my move from spain to marseiles. and spain didn't become my territory afetr the move. though u can see the arrow mark.
7 replies
Open
Pete U (293 D)
28 May 09 UTC
Meta-gaming
Having moved over from FB Dip, I'm curious to know this communities view on meta gaming
12 replies
Open
Youngblood (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
New players
There are two games for new players
1) Novice
2) New players
0 replies
Open
New Game called Open to all
I need some players in this 12 hour phase game, who is interested. Its called Open to all.
0 replies
Open
DingleberryJones (4469 D(B))
28 May 09 UTC
Two new 105pt WTA Games
http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=11174
http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=11175 GUNBOAT
0 replies
Open
Raskolnikov (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
New Game: Just for the Experience
Intended for newbies like me, a new game--"Just for the Experience"--is now up and looking for players.
0 replies
Open
Jamiet99uk (1302 D)
14 May 09 UTC
Moderators: A formal complaint.
I would like to make a formal complaint against another user of this site. Can a moderator look at this if you have a policy for dealing with complaints?
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kaner406 (356 D)
25 May 09 UTC
Unnatural:
- adjective
1. contrary to the laws or course of nature.
2. at variance with the character or nature of a person, animal, or plant.
3. at variance with what is normal or to be expected: the unnatural atmosphere of the place.
4. lacking human qualities or sympathies; monstrous; inhuman: an obsessive and unnatural hatred.
5. not genuine or spontaneous; artificial or contrived: a stiff, unnatural manner.
6. Obsolete. lacking a valid or natural claim; illegitimate.
Synonyms:
irregular, aberrant, heartless, brutal.

Natural:
–adjective
1. existing in or formed by nature (opposed to artificial ): a natural bridge.
2. based on the state of things in nature; constituted by nature: Growth is a natural process.
3. of or pertaining to nature or the universe: natural beauty.
4. of, pertaining to, or occupied with the study of natural science: conducting natural experiments.
5. in a state of nature; uncultivated, as land.
6. growing spontaneously, without being planted or tended by human hand, as vegetation.
7. having undergone little or no processing and containing no chemical additives: natural food; natural ingredients. Compare organic (def. 11).
8. having a real or physical existence, as opposed to one that is spiritual, intellectual, fictitious, etc.
9. of, pertaining to, or proper to the nature or essential constitution: natural ability.
10. proper to the circumstances of the case: a natural result of his greed.
11. free from affectation or constraint: a natural manner.
12. arising easily or spontaneously: a natural courtesy to strangers.
13. consonant with the nature or character of.
14. in accordance with the nature of things: It was natural that he should hit back.
15. based upon the innate moral feeling of humankind: natural justice.
16. in conformity with the ordinary course of nature; not unusual or exceptional.
17. happening in the ordinary or usual course of things, without the intervention of accident, violence, etc.
18. related only by birth; of no legal relationship; illegitimate: a natural son.
19. related by blood rather than by adoption.
20. based on what is learned from nature rather than on revelation.
21. true to or closely imitating nature: a natural representation.
22. unenlightened or unregenerate: the natural man.
23. being such by nature; born such: a natural fool.
25. not treated, tanned, refined, etc.; in its original or raw state: natural wood; natural cowhide.

source: http://dictionary.reference.com/
let's get our definitions correct
Sicarius (673 D)
25 May 09 UTC
"Unnatural is generally agreed to mean that it's "artificially" induced by humanity. You can argue that since there is no real divide between humans and other organisms that unnatural should not exist as a word. I would say this doesn't change our responsibility to preserve the world in which we live. It's human arrogance to think that we can't live without the complex ecosystem's around us, and extinctions are very much something we should worry about. It doesn't even matter if it's our fault or not. As conscious beings with the means to help out, we should, if only because it's in the interests of our own self preservation"

a moment of clarity perhaps?
Draugnar (0 DX)
25 May 09 UTC
The "unnatural"/"natural" argument is symantics. I think most of us agree we have an obligation to the environment and the earth as a whole. No one is going to convince me that anything a creature of nature (such as human beings) does is unnatural in the sense in which we have been bandying it about, but it doesn't make the destruction and extinction of life on earth any less a tragedy or a travesty.
Chrispminis (916 D)
25 May 09 UTC
Sicarius, did you ever think for a moment that I did not have environmental considerations...? I've certainly had this clarity at least before I knew you. It's a fallacy to assume that just because I'm for civilization, I must be against the environment.
Sicarius (673 D)
25 May 09 UTC
being for civilization IS being against environmental health.

in my opinion at least.
its like giving an abused child candy and encouraging words, but not removing the abuser from the household
Ivo_ivanov (7545 D)
25 May 09 UTC
"being for civilization IS being against environmental health"

Then we should all commit suicide right now. Or have our brains removed.
Thucydides (864 D(B))
26 May 09 UTC
Sicarius, I believe you are wrong about environmental health and civilization not being able to exist in the same biosphere. But if you are right, then frankly I would rather have civilization. Refer to the Shakespeare argument and this Italian proverb once again: "It is better to live one minute as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb."
I would rather have civilization now instead of having to kill 95% of the population as Sicariuous has said would have to happen...
Sicarius (673 D)
26 May 09 UTC
I have a proverb for you

"we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children"
Draugnar (0 DX)
26 May 09 UTC
But if we have to kill 95% of the population, we won't HAVE any children.
spyman (424 D(G))
26 May 09 UTC
Is that what you want to do Sicarius? Do you want to kill 95% of the population? Surely you have been misunderstood here. No?
Draugnar (0 DX)
27 May 09 UTC
Hey Sic, I have two questions for you that may lead into more depending on your answers.

First, what is your view on society's responsibility to the elderly and infirm?

Second, what methods would you use for hunting?

Please answer these as they make a BIG difference about your whole hunter gatherer society.
Sicarius (673 D)
27 May 09 UTC
NO, I do not want to kill 95% of the population. First of all the commitment of anarcho-primitivists to the abolition of all power relations, including the State with all its administrative and military apparatus, and any kind of party or organisation, means that such orchestrated slaughter remains an impossibility as well as just plain horrendous. It is undeniably true that the world’s population cannot be sustained without modern civilization. Of course, it is abundantly clear that modern civilization is not sustainable, either. Given those two facts, then some kind of massive die-off is inevitable. It might be through genocide, but since primitvists are a fringe of a fringe (and will always be so) it’s unlikely to come from us. There are many other parties with a much greater interest in genocide for its own sake, who are far closer to power than we will ever be. Ultimately, genocide might be the kindest method, just as it is kind to deliver a coup de grace to a dying animal. The alternative is to waste away by hunger or disease. But ultimately, genocide on such a scale would be nigh impossible, and though die-off is guaranteed, it is almost as guaranteed not to come by way of genocide. Rather, collapse is more likely to occur as it always has. The diminishing returns of complexity lead to the breakdown of civilization, until some minor turbulence that might have been easily overcome in a former time, instead ends our civilization–the way an AIDS victim dies not of AIDS, but of some minor disease a healthy person would have easily shrugged off. Perhaps Peak Oil, perhaps global warming, whatever the proximate cause, our ability to produce food will be cut off.


I take a very tribal view on the elderly and infirm. That is, everyone should have cradle to the grave security. just as it was in native american tribes more recently, and most primitive tribes less recently.

Hunting methods would depend greatly on the area I was in. They would vary pretty widely if I were in the arctic, the rain forest, the great plains, the rocky mountains, etc.
Sicarius was only misunderstood in that he doesn't ADVOCATE killing off 95% of the population. Only that the way of life he advocates will have to kill off 95% of the population to be achieved. He wants the end-result of a hunter-gatherer society, and is generally unconcerned that 95% of us will have to die to get there.
DrOct (219 D(B))
27 May 09 UTC
@Sicarius - I've long of course assumed didn't actually want to kill 95% of the population, and didn't specifically want 95% of the population to die, but you've never really enumerated how we should get to a hunter gatherer society.

It sounds from what you posted above that you just assume it will happen anyway, whether you want it or not.

Obviously you do want people to return to a hunter gatherer society, and you've many times advocated for such a way of life and for people to try to change the way they live. But if 95% of the people have to die to get there, what exactly is it you are advocating? What method should we as people actually use to try to get there? What is it you want me to do exactly? Should we try to slowly reach that point by not reproducing, or by only having one child? Do you think it would be possible for us to "ease" our way into a hunter gatherer society?

If not, and the only way to get there is through some mass genocide or societal collapse, then again I ask you what exactly is it you want me to do? It seems to me maybe you should want me to use as many resources as possible and thus hasten the demise of civilization, so we can have such a mass die off and then those who survive can live a hunter-gatherer way of life.

So again I ask you, what exactly is it you think I should be doing as a person?
DrOct (219 D(B))
27 May 09 UTC
I realize that sounds a bit snarky, but I've been thinking about this for a few weeks and have been trying to figure out exactly what it is you want people to do. You seem to want people to reject civilization, but I'm not really sure how to do that with so many people already here. If everyone tried to switch to a hunter gatherer way of life right now, it wold never work, most or maybe even all of us would die, because even you, or anyone else who is more "prepared" for such a lifestyle wouldn't be able to find enough to eat with everyone pulling every morsel they could from the world around them.

I guess it seems like either the collapse is inevitable, or you want us to do something differently, but I'm not sure I see how it works both ways.

I'm sorry I'm not sure I'm phrasing this right and I can't quite find the right words to express what I'm trying to say. I'll think about it more and try again. There is a contradiction that I see and I'm trying to figure out how best to make it clear but it keeps coming out wrong. Not totally wrong but not quite what I'm trying to get at either.
Sicarius (673 D)
27 May 09 UTC
I have to run now, and since ths requires an in depth answer I'll do so later tonight
Draugnar (0 DX)
28 May 09 UTC
My question about the hunting was more involving the tools. Do you plan to make your own? Or do you want machined goods which are precluded in a hunter gatherer society. So, do you plan to make your own spears and arrows heads by gathering the raw materials and sharpening sticks and flint? Or maybe you could do a Captain Kirk and make a primitive gun from carbon, sulfur, and the like and use this primitive gun to hunt your food.
Centurian (3257 D)
28 May 09 UTC
Sometimes I just check in on this thread to see what tangent it is on and then laugh. Thanks guys.
Chrispminis (916 D)
28 May 09 UTC
Hahahaha. Nice Centurian.

Sicarius, it isn't as abundantly clear to most people that modern civilization is unsustainable. What knowledge do you have of which the rest of us are ignorant? You talk of diminishing returns on complexity, but if the recent pace of technological growth in the computer age is any indication we are living in a world of exponential advancement. I don't see these diminishing returns.

I agree that overpopulation is a serious concern, but I don't see it as an argument against civilization itself. How do you respond to the fact that over the next 50 years the vast majority of population growth will come from less developed and civilized nations and not from the more modern developed countries to whom you've grown a distaste. I can envision the world population leveling off as we reach some dynamic carrying capacity, but not as an imminent and large collapse.

On a side note, it could be argued that in the event of Sic's cataclysmic collapse a genocide would be less desirable than large scale starvation on the terms that while richer people would have an advantage, eventually selection would cause such intense competition that the only humans who can get food while the others starve would truly be far fitter and maybe they'll have a better shot than we did. Genocide would be relatively indiscriminate.
sean (3490 D(B))
28 May 09 UTC
all threads with Sic always end up being about topic. not sure what the point is, we cant go back without mass slaughter so thats not an option, yeah the worlds in a right mess now, but humans will muddle through, our granchildren will probably by all gay,eat vat grown meat and wont know what a bee,frog or a horse is, but they wont be huntergatherers picking over the ruins of New York
Sicarius (673 D)
28 May 09 UTC
soylent green over soy and beans?

anyway I have to go to chicago, I'll answer this in depth when I get back


382 replies
Captain Dave (113 D)
28 May 09 UTC
To any Moderator...
See inside please!
3 replies
Open
Sicarius (673 D)
28 May 09 UTC
sitter needed
until sunday night/monday morning

I'm going to the bash back convergence in chicago
10 replies
Open
grandconquerer (0 DX)
28 May 09 UTC
Suspicious Activity?
Can someone take a look at this game please?
http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=10691
It seems like something fishy is going on
5 replies
Open
jbalcorn (429 D)
28 May 09 UTC
CD Hall of Shame
Players who take over CD countries and then go CD again because the country they took over wasn't winning.
8 replies
Open
kingdavid1093 (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
new game
new game
The Only Game You Need To Care About
0 replies
Open
TheGhostmaker (1545 D)
28 May 09 UTC
9mm
If you have a game with this player, can you tell him to join his league game please. He should be getting the link soon.
1 reply
Open
Thucydides (864 D(B))
24 May 09 UTC
Atheists: I need your help
From Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" there is a famous few paragraphs where Dawkins basically lays low the argument for god in a few words.... something about how much better the world would be without God. It's been quoted on this forum before and I'd like to have it for a paper I'm doing anyone know what I'm talking about?
406 replies
Open
Ivo_ivanov (7545 D)
27 May 09 UTC
One year phpdip
Just wanted to say I made it a year here. Turned out to be quite a nice 'hobby' :)
23 replies
Open
sleepwalkindogs (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
join my game 'sleepwalkindogs'
i really wanna get this ball rollin' please. let's get this show on the road.
0 replies
Open
texasdeluxe (516 D(B))
28 May 09 UTC
Unpause
Hi Mods,

Can we get this game unpaused?
3 replies
Open
diplomat1824 (0 DX)
28 May 09 UTC
Mods: Quick Question
I recently changed my password and clicked the little "Remember me" box. The weird thing is, it only remembers my old password, which I had also "remember me"d. Any explanation? It's really starting to annoy me.
9 replies
Open
sleepwalkindogs (100 D)
28 May 09 UTC
need 3 more players for my game 'sleepwalkindogs'
we can't start until someone joins. join!!!
0 replies
Open
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