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    Thread: How is the USA similar to ancient Rome?

    1. #51
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      Quote Originally Posted by Universal Mind View Post
      Oh, so now an amoeba gave birth to a human, and it just exploded from nothingness like a big fireworks stand. You and your magic...

      How do people still not know your sarcasm??

      My goodness.

      Quote Originally Posted by Carôusoul View Post
      So it's mainly a propogandaish thing?
      It's typical Republican tactics...

      Just look at "obamacare" , they always take words or make new ones that are meant to be negative.. than constantly repeat themselves.
      Last edited by DeathCell; 01-22-2010 at 05:24 PM.
      This was that cult, and the prisoners said it had always existed and always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the mighty city of R'lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway.

    2. #52
      Consciousness Itself Universal Mind's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by DeathCell View Post
      How do people still not know your sarcasm??

      My goodness.
      I have learned that Poe's Law is extremely hard to get around. Christian fundamentalism is so incredibly absurd that it is practically impossible to satirize it in a way that makes the satirical nature obvious. Everybody who doesn't know me thinks I am being serious when I get sarcastic like that. I think the power of Poe's Law speaks volumes about just how insane Christian fundamentalism is.
      How do you know you are not dreaming right now?

    3. #53
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      Techno all great empires fall evetually. We aren't going to stay on top forever. Maybe we'll be on top for both me and your whole lifetime but not forever. And to say we will is both very ignorant and arrogant for you to say.

    4. #54
      Consciousness Itself Universal Mind's Avatar
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      Some guy called Art Bell's show Coast to Coast in the 90's and said that it has been kept secret for many decades that the most powerful force in the world is still the British Empire and that they are scheming to take over. I love stuff like that. I was a Coast to Coast addict when Art Bell was the main host.
      How do you know you are not dreaming right now?

    5. #55
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      Quote Originally Posted by Xaqaria View Post
      It depends on how you quantify suffering. In prehistoric times, there were no plagues because no one lived close enough to each other to cause pandemic spread of disease. In prehistoric times, there was no instantaneous first degree burns due to phosphorus shells or napalm. There was no radiation poisoning or carcinogenic chemicals in the water supply.

      Once you come up with an accurate way to quantify suffering, you might find that it has actually increased. At the very least, it has stayed roughly the same.


      1. No plagues?
      http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketsci...been_infil.php

      2. People lived very close to each other because it facilitated survival.
      i.e HUNTING and BUILDING SHELTER.

      3. Instantaneous first degree burns --> Heard of SUNBURN.

      4. Radiation carcinogenic chemicals (especially in water): Potyviruses

      It is always a good idea to research before you post and corrupt other peoples minds... tisk tisk

    6. #56
      Member Laughing Man's Avatar
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      'It is our turn.
      Our turn to do what?
      Our turn to assume the responsibilities of moral leadership in the world.
      Our turn to maintain a balance of power against the forces of evil everywhere — in Europe and Asia and Africa, in the Atlantic and in the Pacific, by air and by sea — evil in this case being the Russian barbarian.
      Our turn to keep the peace of the world.
      Our turn to save civilization.
      Our turn to serve mankind.
      But this is the language of Empire. The Roman Empire never doubted that it was the defender of civilization. Its good intentions were peace, law and order. The Spanish Empire added salvation. The British Empire added the noble myth of the white man's burden. We have added freedom and democracy. Yet the more that may be added to it the more it is the same language still. A language of power.'

      - Garet Garrett The People's Pottage
      'What is war?...In a short sentence it may be summed up to be the combination and concentration of all the horrors, atrocities, crimes, and sufferings of which human nature on this globe is capable' - John Bright

    7. #57
      Drivel's Advocate Xaqaria's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Dreams4free View Post


      1. No plagues?
      http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketsci...been_infil.php

      2. People lived very close to each other because it facilitated survival.
      i.e HUNTING and BUILDING SHELTER.

      3. Instantaneous first degree burns --> Heard of SUNBURN.

      4. Radiation carcinogenic chemicals (especially in water): Potyviruses

      It is always a good idea to research before you post and corrupt other peoples minds... tisk tisk

      1. The bornavirus is not a plague. A plague is defined as "a severe and potentially deadly bacterial infection." Viruses cannot be plagues.

      2. Hunter gatherer communities may have lived in close proximity to each other as far as one hut directly next to another hut, but there are roughly 48,000 people per square mile in Macau, China right now. Do you really think hunter gatherer communities compare in any way to that kind of population density?

      3. Well, sunburns are hardly instantaneous, but you are right; I did make a mistake. Phosphorous causes instantaneous 3rd (or worse) degree burns. We're talking flesh melting agents falling from the sky. I guess you could cite volcanic eruptions here, but those are not a very frequent occurrence compared with modern warfare.

      4. Had to look up potyvirus. Not sure if you know this or not, but not only is a virus not a plague, it is also not chemical radiation. I also was unable to find anything saying that prehistoric plant viruses caused cancer. Care to source that assertion for me?

      As for your last statement; right back atcha.

      The ability to happily respond to any adversity is the divine.
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      Dream Journal Shaman Apprentice Chronicles

    8. #58
      Xei
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      I don't think physical suffering has increased. It's a pretty easy problem to solve, just look at the trend in lifespan.

    9. #59
      Drivel's Advocate Xaqaria's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      I don't think physical suffering has increased. It's a pretty easy problem to solve, just look at the trend in lifespan.
      A longer life could easily mean more time spent suffering. How do you quantify suffering?

      The ability to happily respond to any adversity is the divine.
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      Dream Journal Shaman Apprentice Chronicles

    10. #60
      Xei
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      Note that I did make a point of specifying physical suffering; I don't know what we can say about trends on mental suffering.

      You can't assign a number to physical suffering, but clearly it's correlated to adverse conditions, such as disease, lack of food, shelter, hazardous conditions such as local violence, etcetera, which are correlated to a shorter life span.

    11. #61
      The Anti-Member spockman's Avatar
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      Yay! Random military facts time! (Rather than the darker political discussion going on right now...)

      Fact- Rome was the first military to invent a system of Enlisted, NCO, and Officer similar to what America uses today.

      Fact- The Roman army Commander and Cheif was a politician.

      Fact- Roman soldiers retired with a very nice retirement after 20 years.

      Fact- Rome used a similar organization of squad, platoon, unit, battalion, corps. to that of modern America.

      Fact- Roman's would execute one tenth of a unit if someone in that unit deserted.

      Coincidence?
      Paul is Dead




    12. #62
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      Quote Originally Posted by spockman View Post
      Yay! Random military facts time! (Rather than the darker political discussion going on right now...)

      Fact- Rome was the first military to invent a system of Enlisted, NCO, and Officer similar to what America uses today.

      Fact- The Roman army Commander and Cheif was a politician.

      Fact- Roman soldiers retired with a very nice retirement after 20 years.

      Fact- Rome used a similar organization of squad, platoon, unit, battalion, corps. to that of modern America.

      Fact- Roman's would execute one tenth of a unit if someone in that unit deserted.

      Coincidence?
      Fact, Greeco-Roman influences are the basic structure of western culture.

      Honestly, what are you trying to devise? A conspiracy theory?
      'What is war?...In a short sentence it may be summed up to be the combination and concentration of all the horrors, atrocities, crimes, and sufferings of which human nature on this globe is capable' - John Bright

    13. #63
      The Anti-Member spockman's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Laughing Man View Post
      Fact, Greeco-Roman influences are the basic structure of western culture.

      Honestly, what are you trying to devise? A conspiracy theory?
      No, I'm just answering the OP in a lighter manner than most people. Because it's interesting to me not just how many big things we have in common but how many little things. But sure, I could devise a conspiracy theory from it. Those are fun.
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    14. #64
      Drivel's Advocate Xaqaria's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      Note that I did make a point of specifying physical suffering; I don't know what we can say about trends on mental suffering.

      You can't assign a number to physical suffering, but clearly it's correlated to adverse conditions, such as disease, lack of food, shelter, hazardous conditions such as local violence, etcetera, which are correlated to a shorter life span.
      Although this may be true, it does not include the whole picture. What of the people who spend much longer amounts of time hooked up to dialysis machines, or going through radiation therapy who would have just died at an earlier age in the past? There are many instances in which modern medicine prolongs people's lives but doesn't necessarily reduce their physical suffering. One can also argue that the number of possible ways to suffer physically have drastically increased over the course of history. Think about people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima (and Chernobyl, etc.) who are still suffering from the effects of nuclear radiation years after the initial conditions were set in motion.

      Not only that, one could argue that if it were possible to really quantify physical suffering an increase in population alone would raise the 'suffering quotient'. More people = more suffering.
      Last edited by Xaqaria; 03-04-2010 at 08:25 PM.

      The ability to happily respond to any adversity is the divine.
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