When I see “pica” I think of a typeface, but from context, the author is using a different definition. Do men who want to fight find themselves craving the taste of dirt?

You cannot understand much of modern culture until you’ve recognized that the state’s blunt suppression of the male instinct for glory has caused widespread symptoms of pica that dominate our politics, media, and online interactions.

*pica (usually uncountable, plural picas) (pathology) A disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances, such as chalk, clay, dirt, ice, or sand. *

We already have martial arts & competitive video games, which is just this but without people actually dying. What more do you guys need???

Besides, if the benevolent robot god these people believe in is coming soon, it should be able to create a simulated world, indistinguishable from reality, where people can fight each other to the death over and over again for all eternity without any consciousnesses ceasing to exist.

Allow the commercialization of duels, side bets on outcomes, and customized sporting arenas for such venues.

Oh come on. This has to be the root of this crazy transparent skin post

Is this the mid 2000s? Am I reading the idiotic edgy screeds that my tweenaged peers were writing, inspired by early internet celebrity maddox?

…The vast majority of guys I know who have been in a lot of fights (me included) are quite happy never getting in a fight again? Like, there’s definitely a few weirdos and dudes with anger issues who love fighting, but the shine wears off pretty damn quick for most people, and they’d rather avoid the fight in the first place? I really don’t think real-life arenas and duels would work the way this guy thinks.

(I used to work as a bouncer in a bar, haven’t been in a fight since then, I prefer keeping it that way. Also, fair notice, I wasn’t actually a very good fighter- I was the average-sized, unintimidating bouncer, my job was to head off fights before they happened, so the bigger bouncers and bartenders didn’t have to intervene, and I was good at talking drunks down. I wrestled a decent number of drunks when I had to, but that did not an impressive fighter make, I’d suck at Colosseum fights, lol.)

what about “the war on drugs” makes them say it was a failure in the peculiar institution since the end of the premodern period and the advent of modern capitalism lol? too many sparring partners of a certain melanin configuration not available to participate in all the naturally emergent belligerence?

I actually personally happen to think it’s bad when people die but you do you weird lesswrong guy