The US is heading surprisingly rapidly towards that point. It was a tragedy when it happened in the Middle East. Unfortunately many of the right wing people in the US don't understand this yet.
Under the bill, content would be considered obscene if it appeals to prurient interests in nudity
And since they've already taken away due process, they're basically paving the way to send anyone who has a body they don't like to a death camp. I don't think it's hyperbole anymore to say that that US is fucked.
I first read the Satanist Bible a year after leaving Christianity. It's not only a parody of the Bible, it's also all about believing in yourself. I found it very inspiring. My Christian family was not amused.
I will literally starve to death living in the wilderness before someone puts a Neuralink in me. If you forced me to choose, I would choose starvation.
Meanwhile my social accounts get shut down within minutes of me posting PG beach photos that the algorithm claims are promoting sexual activity. I know I'm sexy, but tech platforms aren't facing challenges, this is intentional.
Even as a white male US born citizen, I also don't see myself flying back any time soon. I'm nobody, but I've run my mouth against fascists online enough that I've probably triggered some flag in the system.
I support this state law, though I think it's unlikely to directly have the intended effect and will probably just prevent people from confessing instead.
I don't think people with a guilty conscience should have a way to clear their conscience other than behaving better and making up for their wrongs with better behavior.
At the same time, I get why the Catholic Church opposes the state law. And it's one of the biggest reasons I'm against all Christian religions, Evangelicalism included: they're more concerned about power than about people. And yeah, I think the Catholic Church's stance on this issue is fucked up, just like most Christian stances on political moral issues are fucked up these days.
But the timing of this article, and the right wing motivations against Catholicism make it clear that this article is also more concerned about power than about people. The state law doesn't stop child abuse or result in any more reporting of child abuse.
The way I see it, this article is actually right wing propaganda targeting the Pope because he supports Europe and Ukraine against Russia.
The world has changed, but this particular piece of advice is timeless. I approach people I want to talk to in real life every day, multiple times a day. No one is ever offended by it, literally ever. The reason women get offended over men approaching is because they do this thing where they approach the woman as an object, leading with their sexual desire, as if the woman is obligated to satisfy them simply because the man feels attracted. It's a recipe for disaster.
Listen, men, there's nothing wrong with being sexually attracted to a woman. But approach her as a human being first. Be considerate of how she's feeling, pay attention to her boundaries, and be respectful. Of course, at some point, you need to express your interest, and it's better to be transparent about that rather than creepy. If you are motivated by sexual interest, her intuition will tell her that long before you think it will, so no sense in hiding it. But as a general rule, never outpace the level of reciprocation she's given you.
That means, don't walk up to a stranger who isn't making eye contact with you and tell her you want to fuck her. Don't even ask for her number. First, make eye contact. If she makes eye contact back, you can proceed to the next step. Say hi. If she says hi back, you can introduce yourself. If she reciprocates by introducing herself, you can ask a question or tell her something. After you've had a conversation, you can ask for her number, or suggest a date. But take it one step at a time. If you take two steps ahead and she hasn't reciprocated, that's when you're gonna get into trouble. If she stops reciprocating, stop escalating. If she expresses a boundary or discomfort, thank her for letting you know, and back off.
TLDR; approach! But slow the fuck down and pay attention to if she's comfortable and reciprocating. Respect her boundaries. You honestly won't go wrong with that approach.
I've approached about 800 women a year, for the past 4 years and the worst thing that's happened is that my ego got a little bit hurt a few times when they said no thank you. Zero drama, zero anger, zero cancellation. And I'm just an average looking ginger dude.
Some basic life advice for you: focus on things you can control, not on things you can't. Approach the people you want to interact with. That's completely under your control. You can't really control whether other people approach you. Spending your effort on that is a waste.
So you're describing a reasoning model, which is 1) still based on statistical token sequences and 2) trained on another tool (logic and discourse) that it uses to arrive at the truth. It's a very fallible process. I can't even begin to count the number of times that a reasoning model has given me a completely false conclusion. Research shows that even the most advanced LLMs are giving incorrect answers as much as 40% of the time IIRC. Which reminds me of a really common way that humans arrive at truth, which LLMs aren't capable of:
Fuck around and find out. Also known as the scientific method.
I really hope civilization survives for the next five years because I'd love to be able to eat gluten again, omg!