Ferk

Wait, there's a "rise out of water" stage already??

I thought it was all still in the cellular stage, without even having a macroscopic "fish"-like creature yet.

Yes, that's essentially what many philosophers call "the hard problem" of consciousness.

You can describe things using referential abstractions that are socially agreed upon between individuals in some sort of social contract.

However, we will never know if what you experience when you see the color we both call "red" is the same that I experience when I see the color we both call "red". It could be that what I experience with "red" is what you experience with "blue" and vice-versa, but we still would agree when we both point a color, since the words we use to explain each of our experiences would still be consistent with the reference we have agreed on.

We agree on what words mean based on what references we make, but you cannot really ever be sure that we are both truly understanding each other in a subjective level. Each subjective experience is personal and nontransferable, you'd need to BE "me" to know what it's like to BE "me". And if you did, then you would no longer be "you" anyway.. so that makes it literally impossible.

True, but then you have bigger problems than just the journal.

Then simply write it in a text editor without saving it into a file, it'll be lost after closing the program.

I've been advocating protectionism in EU, even before Trump did it first.

The EU is way behind when it comes to very important strategic markets in relation to digital services... I feel import taxes in those sectors would make the EU stronger. EU might be good with cars and vehicles, but imho that's a legacy market that's not really fitting for the EU anyway, we are a dense enough area to be able to work pretty well without the need of cars (pushing for public transport + bicycles is another thing I've been advocating for ages).

The problem is that the existing exporters in the EU didn't want to get shot in the foot.. so I was very happy when I heard Trump would apply these tariffs, because it could finally be the push for the shift we needed.

leaving host countries to decide whether to wind down these protections, push for integration, or nudge refugees back home

It could also be a mix of all of the above. I think determining the optimal approach depends on way too many factors (many of which are unknown yet) and it makes sense to let each country decide. To me it would be surprising if the EU already had a (public and agreed upon) plan, specially considering how heterogeneous of a group the EU is and all the burocracy when taking decisions (which isn't necessarily a good/bad thing).

Utimately, after the war, it's also up to each Ukranian to decide whether to integrate or return. I think most (if not all) EU members would welcome anyone who legally integrates and support anyone who wants to go back.

This does not make the (hypothetical) ceasefire a bad thing, it makes the war a bad thing.

Can you point to a specific law that the EU has passed in this direction?

Cos according to the article all attempts to pass something like this that have been presented in the EU have been blocked. By the EU.

An alternative title could have been: "EU Possibly The Only One Who Has Been Explicitly Rejecting Backdoor Mandates Until Now"

Sure, proposals keep being presented.. but I feel it's kind of a bit early to call the EU "greatest threat" just because yet another attempt has been made. Specially when you compare it with many other places where they apply things like this without batting an eye.

I'm not saying we (Europeans) shouldn't push (yet again) to make sure this also fails... but the title of the article is a bit misplaced, and after a history of successful rejections I feel a lot more optimistic.

Yes, I agree with all that.

Social / behavioral archetypes can be complex and fuzzy, they might change with the society and with time. It could be that what we consider today as a "pizza-lover" might not be what was considered a "pizza-lover" in the antiquity, when Europe did not even have such a thing as a "tomato" and the word "pizza" might have been used for a completely different dish that today we would not call "pizza".

This is why I personally think that the internal way in which I feel should be independent from the concept of gender role / gender expression... I am what I am.. I'm not necessarily a "man" or "woman" in a universal and unequivocal social way, I'm just me. I might fit very precisely one of those labels now as generally they are understood.. but who knows if I'll fit the social label they'll have in the year 4000.. or if I fit the label from year -4000. Or the labels they might use in the planet Aldebaran 2.

Yes, I agree, that's essentially what I was saying before.

Some people seem to think what makes a man or a woman is purely biological (or like you said, "anatomy"), whereas others think the distinction has more to do with what's understood as a "social construct" (or like you said, "behavioral cues").

So, in the comment you were replying to I was taking the second interpretation, that's why I was saying it's defined by social/behavioral traits.

I agree. But this also applies to all social/behavioral labels.

Not all pizza-lovers are the same, not all left-handed people are the same... etc.

The question is: what is it that makes a "man" be considered different than a "woman"?

What do those 2 men, who are different, have in common that makes you still call them "men"?

Sorry, I was just agreeing with what you said in your second paragraph. Because it makes complete logical sense what you said there. So the "of course you would" was just a reaffirmation of what you described yourself, not a mandate over what you should feel.

Also, I do experience gender, just the same way as I experience color, taste, pain, happiness and all other experiences. I tried to explain it when I gave the example with "green" before. I experience green.. what I don't know is if "what it feels like" to experience green for me could really be identified with "green" beyond the social understanding I have from my interactions with other people when we see green.

In an island of men (not women) you would be exposed to the same different external behaviors and preferences associated to the archetype that you do not identify with, so of course you would feel a difference.

These external behaviors and preferences you perceive as different is what I was referring to with archetype/label/stereotype/pick-your-word.