Putting aside the problems in the current system, let’s not call Thiel’s system a justice system until we can see some results and verify they are just, 'k?

That’s basically the start of the Shadowrun dystopia. There were a lot of other things that “went wrong”, but when the government removed the liability from private security that has been protecting a hazardous materials transport from workers attacking it in the belief that it contained foodstuffs, it legitimized the “megacorp”: a corporation sufficiently powerful to impose their own legal system on their private real estate.

EDIT: In the previous histories the “Seretech Decision” was on 1999-10-26. Sources: 1 2 3 Looks like “6th edition” retconned the fictional history to start 2001-09-11 (Never Forget), so it’s unclear what and when the equivalent event is. Source: 4

no pivot

Upvoted because the headline is funny, but it’s not true or at least hyperbolic. The third paragraph in the article gives it away:

The device, which resembles the lid of one of Prego’s pasta jars, seems to be more of a one-off doodad than an indicator that Prego is making a serious foray into being a tech company.

Mirror enforcers are a lot more serious than that. Just ask Lake (nee: piluT) from the “Infinity Train”.

TIL, thanks!

He’s not trying hard enough. You can touch tongues, too. No entwining, but maybe in the P-reversed universe, that’s just taboo.

classic story of the US spending millions on developing pens that write in space while the Soviet Union just issued pencils

You used “story”, so I’ll assume you know this is mostly untrue, but for any of the lucky 10k that hasn’t heard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and_Soviet_space_programs

Stupid long horses. /ref

If gravity could ever overcome expansion, then there would be some period where expansion was happening, but the rate of expansion was decreasing, eventually followed by expansion stopping, then contraction happening and the rate of contraction increasing. There would not be any period in which the rate of expansion was increasing.

(When you throw a ball up, after you release it, there’s a period of time when the ball is moving up, but it’s speed is decreasing, then it reaches the apex, and it start falling down and it’s speed increases until you catch it. There is no period where it upward speed increases.)

Current observations show not just that expansion continues, but that the rate of expansion is increasing.

(Not only has the big bang thrown the ball, but the ball’s upward speed is increasing.)

It’s not Tuesday, but we got TACO!

If expansion were caused by “explosive forces from the big Bang”, it’s rate would be decreasing, not increasing.

Since current observations are inconsistent with that, we have to have a different (or at least additional) cause for expansion.

As the universe expands, distances grow, but mass does not. This causes the overall force of gravity to decrease. This means gravity is “losing” and will never catch up. (Gravity is weakening and expansion is growing). But, if it the rate of expansion were decreasing, that would mean gravity was “winning”, and might continue “winning” until it could reverse expansion.

I think current measurements show expansion itself increasing, which means gravity is already too weak to decrease expansion and will continue getting weaker. There’s definitely open questions, but most current observations and models do not point toward the universe ever collapsing back to a single point.

The problem is the encouragement in general

I don’t see why that’s a problem. I think it could come in the form of actual benefits, not a just verbal haranguing / extolling based on (not) having children, but that it’s good for the birth rate to be slightly above replacement and correcting any divergence should be encouraged.

Capitalism contributes, yes. But, if humanity stays below replacement rate, humanity goes extinct.

Also, no matter how you distribute resources, there are periods of life when your productivity is less that what you need to survive. Everyone has this for many years at the beginning of their life, and those lucky enough to live long enough will have this toward the end of their lives, as aging is the disability that comes for us all. The proven method to sustain persons during those periods is to have enough people in their productive years; it generally requires more than the replacement rate. And, if that doesn’t happen, the less productive suffer and die more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufmu1WD2TSk

All that said, I’m against encouraging teenage pregnancy, and for full bodily autonomy – no one should be forced to let anyone else use their uterus.