Conquer Club

We keep hearing about the really terrible quality of people's arguments on this forum from him, so I figured I'd give john9blue a chance to demonstrate what real logic in a serious debate looks like (since he never deigns to show it to us).

So, these are the rules of this thread: john9blue, you get to pick a subject and challenge a person to a serious debate with you. If they accept, then only you and that person are allowed to make points. Everyone else can only make spectators' remarks. At the end, we'll have a poll: did john9blue demonstrate his vastly superior intellect? Yes, or no?

LOCK THIS F'N THREAD!

InkL0sed wrote:We keep hearing about the really terrible quality of people's arguments on this forum from him, so I figured I'd give john9blue a chance to demonstrate what real logic in a serious debate looks like (since he never deigns to show it to us).

So, these are the rules of this thread: john9blue, you get to pick a subject and challenge a person to a serious debate with you. If they accept, then only you and that person are allowed to make points. Everyone else can only make spectators' remarks. At the end, we'll have a poll: did john9blue demonstrate his vastly superior intellect? Yes, or no?

or, you could respond to my post addressed to you in the other thread, instead of starting snarky new threads trying to take cheap shots at me.

And my points made 2 months ago still stand. This forum keeps going down further and further with all of the political and religious debate/trolling.

muy_thaiguy wrote:And my points made 2 months ago still stand. This forum keeps going down further and further with all of the political and religious debate/trolling.

This forum has been about political/religion debates/trolling since it was started.

*considers bumping the "Logic dictates" Mega-thread.*

muy_thaiguy wrote:And my points made 2 months ago still stand. This forum keeps going down further and further with all of the political and religious debate/trolling.

The USA has some serious economic problems right now. Every thread should be about how we can do better and be better.

not every thread needs to discuss the united states. At least not until they finally make a subforum for US politics.

Phatscotty wrote:

muy_thaiguy wrote:And my points made 2 months ago still stand. This forum keeps going down further and further with all of the political and religious debate/trolling.

The USA has some serious economic problems right now. Every thread should be about how we can do better and be better.

Then, when we reach a consensus, we can call the guys in charge and let them know what to do.

I'm going to argue ponies suck.

natty_dread wrote:I'm going to argue ponies suck.

Ok, first of all, ponies lack opposable thumbs. They are not able to hold any things in their hooves.

Second of all, ponies don't know advanced geometrics. Ponies couldn't have built the pyramids.

Third: ponies have never been to the moon.

natty_dread wrote:Ok, first of all, ponies lack opposable thumbs. They are not able to hold any things in their hooves.

Second of all, ponies don't know advanced geometrics. Ponies couldn't have built the pyramids.

Third: ponies have never been to the moon.

Fourth, humans invented LSD. Ergo, humans rock

No debate?

natty_dread wrote:Ok, first of all, ponies lack opposable thumbs. They are not able to hold any things in their hooves.

Second of all, ponies don't know advanced geometrics. Ponies couldn't have built the pyramids.

Third: ponies have never been to the moon.

1: if they can't hold anything in their hooves, then how are they able to perform surgery? or sew things? besides, they have magic for holding stuff.

2: the buildings of ponyville exhibit architectural traits dating at least up to the middle ages. not to mention the castle built on the side of a cliff. such feats of architecture would be unthinkable until several hundred years ago.

3.now i KNOW you haven't watched the show. a pony visits the moon a minute into the very first episode.* and that was 1000 years ago. humans went to the moon, what, less than 50 years ago? pathetic.

* warning: the first episode isn't all that great, if you actually plan on watching it. lol

PLAYER57832 wrote:No debate?

Troll thread started by a troll.

My life savings money is on natty

-Sully

muy_thaiguy wrote:

PLAYER57832 wrote:No debate?

Troll thread started by a troll.

and amazingly, rds does nothing

Guess the lockdown rules only apply to people with whom he disagrees with. That guy is such a hypocrite. They never should have allowed him any mod powers.

CoffeeCream wrote:

muy_thaiguy wrote:

PLAYER57832 wrote:No debate?

Troll thread started by a troll.

and amazingly, rds does nothing

Guess the lockdown rules only apply to people with whom he disagrees with. That guy is such a hypocrite. They never should have allowed him any mod powers.

This is the first time I've looked into this thread.

In any event, let's not start threads about certain players, eh? Locked.

I also encourage everyone to report posts that troll or flame (don't be spurious though). I check for those every day, but don't have time to read all the forums all the time. Apologies this wasn't down sooner,

-rd

I talked to john9blue. He's alright with this thread, the OP is, so I am too. Let the debates, CARRY ON!

Unlocked!

-rd

Yay! Now I can post my class critique of My Little Pony where it belongs!

Ponies are a largely caste based society.

You'll find those with horns are given leadership roles- they are educated and given governmental jobs with access to education and skilled work. When outside of government, such ponies will be entrusted with the preparation of formal costumes for festive and ceremonial occasions.

Below them is the winged caste. Primarily go-betweens, and a form of soldier class. Not necessarily militaristic, of course, but relied upon for their flying ability or their control over subordinate species.

Finally, the servant class. Hornless and wingless. Mostly manual labourers, farmers, or those involved in the hospitality industry.

And I can also post it here!

what nonsense, the mayor of ponyville is an earth pony (that is, not pegasus or unicorn)



i would classify their social structure as "benevolent monarchy", although their world leader is a huge troll and tends to take challenges to her authority pretty seriously (e.g. banishing her sister to the moon for 100 years)

A figurehead, with no real power. Virtually every time she appears she needs the help of non-elected ponies, led by the unicorn elite to solve problems which, let's face it, she should have anticipated. Crises come almost weekly under her regime.

Nah, My Little Pony is just a farm for the local glue factory.

Symmetry wrote:A figurehead, with no real power. Virtually every time she appears she needs the help of non-elected ponies, led by the unicorn elite to solve problems which, let's face it, she should have anticipated. Crises come almost weekly under her regime.

true, but it's possible that, like races and genders in our world, different types of ponies are better suited for different tasks. it could be argued that unicorn ponies are better suited for leadership roles, like males seem to be in our world. it would seem that putting a phallus shaped object on a pony's forehead is how you show that a female pony has traditionally "male" characteristics such as leadership, in a manner appropriate for a children's show, without putting the actual male ponies in charge (which would be much more blatant sexism).

responding to natty's post:

natty_dread wrote: 1. So, the solution to everything is magic? Ie. handwaving all the plot holes away by saying "oh, a wizard did it". I would have accepted it if you'd have said that their hooves have extremely high van der waals forces, or tiny microscopic suction cups in them, or something. But to explain away everything with some vague "magic" is lazy writing.

2. Castles built on cliffs show a clear lack of judgement. Who sane person would do so? What if the cliff collapses while there's people still in the castle? It's an accident waiting to happen.

3. How do ponies breath on the moon?

1. i view this as an opportunity for the show to use future seasons to elaborate on their universe's laws. it may be that unicorn ponies have the ability to change molecular structure at will. maybe they can manipulate electromagnetic radiation. maybe it's simple telekinesis. who knows? only the show's writers. no good author explains everything in full detail in the first volume of a series, do they?

2. ponies seem to abide by similar moral standards as humans. they also seem to exhibit a similar level of maturity. indeed, many of the morals learned by the protagonist are morals that people in our world would do well to learn for themselves. it doesn't seem feasible that the castle was built that way simply due to poor judgment by the pony society. rather, they have such immense confidence in their architectural techniques that they can construct such a castle and still meet the exacting safety standards that we humans hold for our structures. remarkable, really.

3. magic

john9blue wrote:1. i view this as an opportunity for the show to use future seasons to elaborate on their universe's laws. it may be that unicorn ponies have the ability to change molecular structure at will. maybe they can manipulate electromagnetic radiation. maybe it's simple telekinesis. who knows? only the show's writers. no good author explains everything in full detail in the first volume of a series, do they?

2. ponies seem to abide by similar moral standards as humans. they also seem to exhibit a similar level of maturity. indeed, many of the morals learned by the protagonist are morals that people in our world would do well to learn for themselves. it doesn't seem feasible that the castle was built that way simply due to poor judgment by the pony society. rather, they have such immense confidence in their architectural techniques that they can construct such a castle and still meet the exacting safety standards that we humans hold for our structures. remarkable, really.

3. magic

1. That's all good if they have consistent laws in the universe. But to me it seems more like they're just winging it as they go.

It doesn't really matter if the laws of their universe don't make sense in our reality, as long as they have internal consistency. But do they have that? Seems to me that everything that doesn't make sense is just handwaved away by "magic" (see #3).

Electromagnetic radiation can't make items stick to their hooves, unless all items in the pony universe are magnetic. If they can use telekinesis, why do they only use it to float items next to their hooves?

And if it's magic, why don't they use the same magic to solve all their problems? Things just don't add up.

Also, who makes all their clothes and accessories?

Also: Why do they all have tattoos in their butts? Do ponies live in a trailor park?

2. I don't buy it. Human "moral standards" are pretty lax: humans are constantly killing others, doing immoral things for money, etc. And don't get me started on shady construction companies that cut costs and pocket the profits - leaving the inhabitants in deep shit 5 years down the line, living in a moldy or poorly constructed home. Humans have also been known to do stupid things. If ponies have similar morals as humans, they could well construct a castle near a cliff and just figure it's not their problem if it collapses, as long as they get the money.

3. Again, magic explains everything? Lazy writing.