What about caring for the elderly and disabled? We see anthropological evidence of many behaviours that can only be explained by compassion and empathy, some of which would have actually detracted from security.

The notion that the early formation of societies was based on security rather than empathy is outdated. Compassion has many evolutionary advantages, especially in primate species where offspring are born vulnerable. It’s clearly evident in other primates who live in groups (or ‘societies’), as a driving force of cooperation and group cohesion.

Here’s a recent paper (2022) by Penny Spikins, PhD at the University of York, Department of Archaeology, that explores how compassion shaped early human evolution and the formation of societies: The Evolutionary Basis for Human Empathy, Compassion and Generosity.

And here’s another from 2011 by Goetz et al that explores in detail the evolutionary advantages of compassion: Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review.

Those papers are both fascinating reads, and I highly recommend them both for a deeper understanding of why and how empathy is crucial to our success as a species.

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Millions of years, likely. The whole reason we’re successful is because our pre-human ancestors were empathetic and cooperative enough to build societies.

We see those same traits in many other primates, and they’re not something it makes sense to evolve, lose, and evolve again. Those traits predate us.

Language almost certainly predates us, since we see it not only in other primates, but in non-primate species, too. And based on the humour we see in many animals, you can bet we were making dick jokes nearly out of the gate.

That’s amazing! But fuck it for putting naked Alex Jones in my head. I was hoping to sleep peacefully tonight.

No. Never.

Sorry for the collateral damage.

Kinky.

Didn’t he transfer that to his dad? He’s been very public about illegally subverting parts of his judgement by transferring some ownership to his dad.

In case you haven’t seen it:

Gay Frogs Remix

I was hoping it would be Knowledge Fight and they’d just subtly transform the content, so as to wean the existing audience into actual facts (e: Dan does a helluvan Alex impression), but the schadenfreude here is very nice.

Yes, my meme shitpost was 100% a serious proposal for political action.

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Ooh, thanks for the reminder! Mine expires next year. Best renew it now before they fuck that up, too.

And who is likely to nominate an antivax, anti-science lunatic with brain worms to head the dept of Health and Human Services?

And who is planning to eliminate the department of education and NOAA?

Previous administrations have done damage through incompetence and/or malice, but the plan this time is on another level. They’re going in with the goal of breaking everything.

Nice! This one pops so clearly.

He’s clearly an accelerationist. Rebuilding the temple on the Mount is a requirement for Jesus to come back and kick off biblical Armageddon.

Trump has surrounded himself with insane people who are hell-bent on destroying the world so they can be raptured. Choosing people for these roles who openly say shit like this further proves that is their actual plan.

They want to destroy the world and jumpstart their revelations prophecy. They don’t give a shit what happens to the rest of us.

It’s going to be interesting when climate refugees start overwhelming the habitable regions (like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin), driving housing costs even higher. People who think housing prices are high now will rudely awaken when the influx of people from the coastal regions – who have not only been displaced by climate disasters but have also lost their savings, and insurance will not bail them out – are competing for already limited affordable housing and local jobs.

But of course more drilling will totally fix that, right?

Hey, that’s not entirely fair. Russia is more than happy to accept Americans, so long as they’re willing to be cannon fodder for a while. I’m pretty sure they’re not even putting an age limit on it. If you survive, you may even get a small flat afterwards. And if you don’t, they may give your parents money for a Lada (providing they were Russian citizens already).

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To be fair, other countries want US citizens even less than the US wants* immigrants.

Do people actually think that the US is alone in anti-immigration sentiment? Do they think it’s different because they’re American?

The US is the one with a giant monument to immigration, at whose feet is a plaque that reads:

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

And if they, of all people, are now against that, what makes Americans think anyone else will want them? It’s delusional.

Many countries shut down immigration to Americans in 2016, after the first round of trump’s policies, and they haven’t opened back up yet, partly because there was a solid chance of this happening again.

Me as a child:

Wow! History was horrible at times, but so interesting, too! Just imagine if we could have seen that first hand!

Me now:

No, not like that.