Proship vs Antiship discourse

I doubt available sources will be very clear on what's going on but please do your best to explain the heated online discussions (so-called "discourse") that happen between the so-called "proship" vs "antiship" factions. I know what "shipping" is in these contexts (refers to fandoms fantasizing about character pairings) but this other stuff is somewhat new to me.

Here’s a plain-English tour of what people mean by “proship” vs “antiship,” why the fights get so hot, and how folks try to navigate it.

What the labels mean (in practice)

• “Proship” (often “pro-shipper,” “proshipper,” or “anti-anti”) is a broad stance against policing other fans’ ships or fic. Proshippers generally argue “fiction ≠ reality,” favor tagging and filters over bans, and oppose harassment over what people read or write. (Fanlore)
• “Antiship” / “antis” is a label fans use for people who want some ships or content kept out of fandom spaces (or removed entirely), especially works they see as normalizing abuse (e.g., age-gap, underage, incest, rape/“non-con”). The term has older meanings (“opposed to a specific pairing”), but online it now commonly refers to this moral-harm framing. (Fanlore, Wikipedia)

Why this became a recurring flashpoint

Two background shifts set the stage:

1. AO3’s “maximum inclusiveness” policy (the Archive of Our Own’s content philosophy) created a major home for uncensored fanworks, with mandatory warnings and tagging instead of content bans. That model puts the burden on readers to filter. (Fanlore, Transformative Works)
2. Tumblr-era culture clashes in the 2010s brought together different age groups and politics; the networked reblog style helped disputes spread quickly and combatively. (Vox, Wikipedia)

The core disagreement

• Antis’ claim: Certain fictional portrayals (esp. sexual or abusive dynamics) do shape beliefs/behavior, can retraumatize survivors, and especially endanger minors; therefore, such content should be stigmatized, segregated, or removed. (Wikipedia)
• Proship rebuttal: Fictional exploration isn’t endorsement; adults should be free to create/read anything legal if it’s properly labeled so others can avoid it. Policing quickly turns into harassment and slippery-slope censorship. (Fanlore)

Fan studies scholars note the “anti” phenomenon mixes fandom passion with moral purity politics and online vigilantism; critics argue this dynamic can foster harassment, dogpiles, and cult-like group behavior—especially among younger users—though not every “anti” behaves that way. (Transformative Works Journal, Intellect Discover)

How platforms and tagging factor in

On AO3, creators must use Archive Warnings (currently “Underage Sex,” “Rape/Non-Con,” “Graphic Depictions of Violence,” “Major Character Death”) or “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (CNTW).” The site’s policy is to host any legal content and rely on warnings, tags, and user filters. This design choice is a frequent flashpoint in discourse. (Transformative Works, Fanlore)

On Tumblr and similar social sites, norms developed around “DNI” (“do not interact”) notes, blocklists, callout posts, and “BYF” (“before you follow”) disclaimers—tools that can be used for boundary-setting but also for brigading and reputational pile-ons when fights escalate. Researchers and chroniclers tie a lot of the heat to Tumblr’s reblog mechanics and identity-oriented “contact zones.” (Wikipedia)

Common misunderstandings

• “Proship = pro-abuse”: This is a rhetorical move some antis use; the proship label refers to opposing censorship/harassment, not endorsing real-world harm. (Proshippers typically want clear tags so people can avoid content.) (Fanlore)
• “Anti = just purity panic”: Scholarship cautions that the “anti” umbrella covers varied motives, including genuine concern for survivors and minors; but it also documents patterns where moralizing slides into harassment or purity tests. (Transformative Works Journal)
• Critique vs. policing: Anti-racist or critical readings of ships sometimes get mislabeled as “anti-ship,” which flattens nuance and fuels more backlash. (Wikipedia)

Why it feels so heated

• Different risk models (media harms vs. free-expression harms).
• Age gradients (teens vs. adults in the same spaces).
• Algorithms & affordances turning disagreements into pile-ons.
• Identity & morality stakes, which make compromise feel like betrayal. These patterns show up repeatedly in fan-studies work and explain why the same arguments recur across fandoms. (Transformative Works Journal, Wikipedia)

If you’re just trying to keep your feeds peaceful

• Use tags/filters. On AO3, exclude Archive Warnings or keywords you don’t want to see; heed “CNTW.” That’s what the system is built for. (Transformative Works)
• Curate your follows. Mute tags, block liberally, and avoid reblog chains that are clearly turning into callouts/pile-ons. (Scholarship links those mechanics to conflict escalation.) (Wikipedia)
• State boundaries without escalating. “Not for me—please don’t send it to me” lands better than moral indictments, and it’s easier for everyone to honor.
• Remember the scope. AO3’s policy is about legal fiction; nothing there changes real-world laws or condones real harm, and the warnings exist so people can opt out. (Fanlore)

The 10-second TL;DR

• Antis want to curb or remove certain ships/works they see as harmful; proshippers want tagging and personal filters—not bans or harassment.
• The conflict intensifies in networked spaces (esp. Tumblr) and around AO3’s “warn, don’t censor” design. (Vox, Transformative Works)

If you want, tell me which fandom(s) you’re in and what you don’t want to see, and I’ll show you precise tag/filter setups and “mute this, not that” tips tailored to your platforms.

What are finks in philosophy?

In philosophy what are finks?

In metaphysics of dispositions, a fink is a factor that would switch a disposition off (or on) right when its usual trigger occurs, so the thing fails (or succeeds) to manifest exactly because the fink intervenes.

• Standard case (fink removes a disposition): A live wire is connected to a safety device that instantly cuts the current the moment you touch it. The wire really is live (has the disposition to shock), but if touched it wouldn’t shock—because the fink removes the disposition at the trigger.
• Reverse fink (adds a disposition): A dead wire is rigged so that touching it flips on the current. It’s not live beforehand, yet if touched it would shock—because the fink adds the disposition at the trigger.

Why this matters: finks are used to challenge the simple conditional analysis of dispositions (roughly, “x is fragile iff if struck, x would break”). Finks show that such conditionals can fail even when the disposition is present (or succeed when it isn’t).

Related contrasts:

• Maskers/antidotes: prevent the manifestation without removing the disposition (e.g., fragile glass swaddled in shock-absorbing foam).
• Mimickers: produce the manifestation without the disposition (e.g., something that fizzes in water due to a hidden tablet, mimicking solubility).

Key sources discuss “finkish dispositions”: C. B. Martin (1994) introduced the idea; David Lewis (1997) gives the classic analysis and terminology.

Infinitely Many Magic Squares

Are there infinitely many magic squares?

Yes — there are infinitely many magic squares.

Here’s why:

1. Scaling Property

If you take a magic square and multiply every entry by a fixed positive integer $k$, the result is still a magic square (the rows, columns, and diagonals still add up to the same common multiple of the original magic constant). For example, starting with the classic $3\times 3$ Lo Shu square and multiplying every entry by 2 gives another valid magic square. Since $k$ can be any positive integer, this already gives infinitely many.

2. Shifting Property

If you take a magic square and add the same integer $c$ to every entry, the row/column/diagonal sums each increase by $3c$ (in the $3\times 3$ case), keeping the equality intact. So from any one magic square you can generate infinitely many more by shifting.

3. Higher-Order Constructions

For larger sizes ($n \geq 4$), there are systematic construction methods (like Strachey’s method for even orders) that can generate infinitely many distinct configurations without just scaling or shifting.

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✅ Conclusion: There are infinitely many magic squares because both simple transformations (scaling, shifting) and construction methods produce unbounded families of them.

Would you like me to show you an explicit way to generate infinitely many distinct magic squares of order 3 (not just scaled/shifted copies)?

Sure

Awesome—here’s a clean, explicit 3-parameter recipe that spits out a magic $3\times3$ every time (and it gives infinitely many that aren’t just scaled/shifted copies).

Let $t,p,q$ be any integers. Build the square

$$ M(t,p,q)=\begin{bmatrix} t-q & t-p & t+p+q\\[2pt] t+p+2q & t & t-p-2q\\[2pt] t-p-q & t+p & t+q \end{bmatrix}. $$

All rows, columns, and both diagonals sum to $3t$. (Quick check: top row $(t-q)+(t-p)+(t+p+q)=3t$; main diagonal $(t-q)+t+(t+q)=3t$; the rest are similar.)

Why this gives infinitely many non–affine-equivalent squares

• Adding a constant $c$ (shifting) changes only $t\to t+c$.
• Multiplying by a constant $k$ (scaling) sends $(t,p,q)\to(kt, kp, kq)$.
• The shape of the square (up to shift/scale) is therefore determined by the ratio $q:p$. Choosing infinitely many different rational ratios $q/p$ gives infinitely many squares that are not obtainable from each other by a global shift/scale.

A super-simple infinite family

Fix $t=0,\ p=1$, and let $q=n$ be any integer $\ge 2$. Then

$$ M(0,1,n)= \begin{bmatrix} -n & -1 & n+1\\ 1+2n & 0 & -1-2n\\ -1-n & 1 & n \end{bmatrix} $$

is magic with magic sum $0$. Different $n$ give different shapes (not related by scaling or shifting). Examples:

• $n=2$: $\begin{bmatrix}-2&-1&3\\5&0&-5\\-3&1&2\end{bmatrix}$
• $n=3$: $\begin{bmatrix}-3&-1&4\\7&0&-7\\-4&1&3\end{bmatrix}$

If you want all-positive entries, just add a big constant $C$ to every entry—still magic, same shape.

Want me to turn this into a tiny script that prints a bunch of these for your favorite parameter range?

Canonical 20th century love novels

canonical 20th century literary novels with love/romance

Here’s a selection of canonical 20th-century literary novels where love and romance are central, though often explored with nuance, irony, or tragedy:

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Early 20th Century

• E.M. Forster – A Room with a View (1908) A witty Edwardian novel about love, class, and freedom, set partly in Florence.
• D.H. Lawrence – Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) Controversial for its explicit depiction of passion and class-crossing romance.
• Virginia Woolf – Mrs Dalloway (1925) Not a conventional romance, but deeply explores love, memory, and desire.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (1925) A tragic romance of obsession, wealth, and longing in Jazz Age America.

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Mid-Century

• Evelyn Waugh – Brideshead Revisited (1945) A nostalgic meditation on love, faith, and doomed attachment.
• Graham Greene – The End of the Affair (1951) A passionate and spiritually charged love story set in wartime London.
• Albert Camus – The Stranger (1942) Not a romance in a traditional sense, but stark in its portrayal of detachment and love’s absence.
• Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita (1955) A disturbing, controversial exploration of obsession and desire (canonically studied for its prose style).

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Late 20th Century

• Gabriel García Márquez – Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) A sweeping tale of lifelong devotion and delayed romance.
• Toni Morrison – Beloved (1987) While primarily about memory and trauma, Morrison also explores love in its many forms, including romantic bonds.
• Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) A dystopian novel where love and romance are acts of rebellion.
• Ian McEwan – Atonement (2001 — straddling late 20th/early 21st) Though just outside the 20th century, often grouped with it; a tragic romance about love, guilt, and narrative itself.

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📌 Would you like me to focus more on classic “love stories” in the conventional sense (like A Room with a View and Love in the Time of Cholera), or include darker/experimental explorations of love (like Lolita and The End of the Affair)?

CNL book on Compendium

Research whether the impression is justified that the publication "A Commentary on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church" by the "Christians for National Liberation" is primarily a criticism of the Catholic Church's document "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church" as being too supportive of capitalism

Short answer: Yes — that impression is justified. The CNL volume is explicitly framed as a Marxist-informed, sustained critique of the Vatican’s Compendium, repeatedly arguing that Catholic social teaching has been (and still is) slanted toward capitalism and anti-Marxism and calling for a socialist alternative. (Foreign Languages Press)

What the sources show (evidence + brief quotes)

• The book itself (foreignlanguages.press PDF) lays out chapter titles and a structure that foregrounds capitalism as the central problem: chapters on “the contradiction between capital and labor,” “monopoly capitalist globalization,” and a section declaring that only when “monopoly capitalism … would be replaced by scientific socialism” can major problems be solved. (Foreign Languages Press)
• Early in the commentary the authors say one of their objectives is “to help correct the nearly two-century old anti-Marxist attitude and partiality of the Christian Churches for capitalism,” i.e. an explicit, stated aim to rebut what they see as the Church’s pro-capitalist partiality. (Foreign Languages Press)
• The text also states the CNL is “critical of how hatred of atheism and communism has been used to limit and slant the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in favor of monopoly capitalism,” which is a direct formulation of the exact charge you mentioned. (Foreign Languages Press)
• Context: the volume is published by Foreign Languages Press and presented as a CNL (Christians for National Liberation) collective work tied to the Philippine National Democratic movement; forewords and appended remarks (e.g., by Jose Maria Sison and CNL founding members) confirm the authors’ revolutionary/Marxist political orientation and explain the commentary’s goal of reinterpreting Church teaching from that standpoint. (Foreign Languages Press)

Nuance to keep in mind

• Although the central thrust is a political/economic critique, the book frames its argument theologically as well — it repeatedly invokes biblical/social-teaching themes (preferential option for the poor, common good, universal destination of goods) and says it aims to “contextualize and reinterpret” the Compendium for Philippine conditions, not merely to sloganeer. That means the critique is both political and theological rather than purely polemical. (Foreign Languages Press)
• The CNL is an explicitly anti-imperialist, left-wing Christian grouping; their reading is therefore partisan and intended to promote an alternative synthesis of Christianity and Marxism. Readers should expect ideological framing rather than a neutral academic commentary. (Wikipedia, Foreign Languages Press)

Conclusion (concise)

• The impression is justified: the CNL commentary’s primary purpose is to criticize the Compendium for being insufficiently critical of capitalism (and, in their view, effectively partial to it) and to argue for socialist alternatives rooted in their interpretation of Christian teaching. The text itself states this aim and organizes large parts of the book around that critique. (Foreign Languages Press)

If you want, I can:

• Pull and annotate the most relevant passages (short excerpts + exact page references) that support each of the bullet claims above; or
• Compare specific paragraphs from the Compendium with the CNL rebuttals so you can see point-by-point how the CNL construes the Compendium as pro-capitalist. Which would be more useful?

O’Shea on the Myth of the Given (Sellars)

Summarize:

[The entire text of this paper was added below the above, which is omitted here for copyright reasons although it is open access and you can just go read it.]

Here’s the gist of O’Shea’s article in plain terms.

What is the “myth of the given” (per Sellars) — and what’s new here?

O’Shea argues the “myth” is not just the familiar anti-foundationalist point about sensory givens failing to justify beliefs. Its most basic form is the myth of the categorial given:

If you’re directly aware of something that really has categorial status C, you’re aware of it as C.

This smuggles in the idea that some framework of categories (what kinds of items there are, what they’re like) is authoritative and unrevisable—as if reality stamps its structure onto us. Sellars denies that: any such categorial scheme (innate or learned) is, in principle, open to revision or replacement by better explanations.

Two common ways people think they dodge the myth — and why they don’t

1. “Thick” conceptual/phenomenological views say the myth targets only thin sense-data. O’Shea: even richly conceptual accounts often treat their deepest categorial commitments as immune to recasting; that’s still the myth.

2. “Thin” non-epistemic views (e.g., C. I. Lewis) say their givens don’t justify, so Sellars’s critique misses. O’Shea: Lewis’s “ineffable, repeatable qualia” already presuppose a categorial picture (that there are such repeatables) and thus aren’t neutral; alternatives exist (e.g., the “expanse of red” could be a sense-datum, a manner of sensing in the perceiver, or a constituent of a physical object). Treating one option as compulsory is the myth.

Sellars’s broader strategy

• Always ask “What’s the alternative?” He undermines givenist confidence by sketching competing categorial frameworks (manifest image vs. scientific image; relocations of sensible qualities; process ontologies with “sensings” and “quarkings”).
• The myth shows up well beyond perceptual warrant: in how we picture language learning (quietly assuming a ready-made logical space), in ordinary language philosophy (taking background terms at face value), and in rationalist claims of directly grasping necessities. In each case, the background categorial scheme is treated as given.

Payoff

• The core Sellarsian lesson isn’t just “no nonconceptual foundations,” but: never treat your categorial starting points as sacrosanct. Keep the “marketplace of alternatives” open.
• This means the myth challenges both camps: nonconceptual “thin” givens and conceptual/phenomenological “thick” givens.
• Whether Sellars’s own framework escapes the same charge is a live, acknowledged question.

TL;DR: O’Shea reframes Sellars’s “myth of the given” as primarily a myth about unrevisable categories, not merely about justification. Because even “non-epistemic” qualia and “thick” conceptual experiences embed hidden categorial commitments, both are vulnerable to Sellars’s critique.

God set identity objections

Theological objections to the statement “God = {Father, Son, Spirit}”

Short answer

There are many theological (and philosophical) reasons someone might object to writing the doctrine of the Trinity as “God = {Father, Son, Spirit}.” In brief: that notation tends to turn God into a set (an abstract, composite thing), treats the persons as separable “members,” and erases the classical distinctions between essence (what God is) and persons/hypostases (who God is). Those moves can imply tritheism, modalism, or violate doctrines like divine simplicity and aseity. Below I list the main objections and the usual responses Trinitarian theologians give.

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Major objections (with short explanations)

1. Category mistake — God is a person/being, not a mathematical set

Objection: Equating God with a set treats the divine as an abstract mathematical object. Sets have properties (they’re abstract, have cardinality, are built from members) that don’t fit a personal, living God. Typical reply: The notation may be shorthand, not a metaphysical claim. But it’s a poor shorthand because it invites category errors.

2. Implies composition — contradicts divine simplicity

Objection: Classical theism (Augustine, Aquinas, many Orthodox and Reformed writers) teaches that God is simple (not composed of parts). A set with three members looks like a composite, so “God = {…}” makes God composite. Typical reply: Some modern theologians reject classical divine simplicity or reinterpret it; others insist you must say “one essence in three persons,” not “a set of three.”

3. Tritheism risk — makes three gods instead of one

Objection: By treating Father, Son, Spirit as distinct elements in a collection, the notation can be read as three distinct beings grouped together — i.e., three gods. That is precisely what the early church rejected as tritheism. Typical reply: Orthodox Trinitarian language insists on one ousia (essence) united in three hypostases (persons), and a correct account must preserve both unity and distinction.

4. Erases relationships and order (relations of origin)

Objection: The Trinity is not merely a list; the persons stand in eternal relations (the Son is begotten of the Father, the Spirit proceeds). A set notation simply lists elements and hides those intra-Trinitarian relations. Typical reply: You could supplement notation with relational structure, but then it’s no longer a simple set identity.

5. Violates Leibniz’s Law / generates unwanted consequences

Objection: If God = the set {F, S, Spirit}, then anything true of that set must be true of God. But sets have accidental properties (e.g., they have cardinality 3, they are distinct from their members) that would be absurd to ascribe to God. Typical reply: One might say “=” is not strict extensional identity but a definitional shorthand — however, that admits the original notation is ambiguous and misleading.

6. Modalism and Sabellian confusion (depending on reading)

Objection: Some readers may instead interpret the notation as naming three modes/names of one person (modalism), or as simply synonymizing Father, Son, Spirit with one center — both of which were condemned historically as heresies. The notation is ambiguous and can be misread either as tritheism or modalism. Typical reply: Defenders of the Trinity stress that proper doctrine keeps both distinction of persons and unity of substance.

7. Undermines aseity and personhood (ontological priorities)

Objection: A naive set-reading treats the persons as ontologically prior to the whole (members to a container). But classical Trinitarian doctrine often treats the divine persons as real and the unity as essential — you can’t reduce the Godhead to a mere container-plus-members picture without changing aseity. Typical reply: The orthodox move is to start from one divine essence shared by three hypostases; you don’t build God by collecting persons.

8. Interfaith objections (Judaism & Islam)

Objection: From strict monotheistic standpoints (Judaism, Islam), any formulation that appears to ascribe plurality within God — especially as a collection — is unacceptable and considered a form of associating partners with God (in Islam, shirk). Typical reply: Trinitarian theologians stress that Christianity is monotheistic in the sense of one God in three persons — but many non-Christian monotheists remain unconvinced.

9. Historical/creedal awkwardness

Objection: The ecumenical creeds and patristic texts frame the doctrine in terms of one essence (ousia) — three hypostases (persons) and emphasize processes of generation/ekporeusis, not set membership. “God = {…}” is not how the church historically formulated the doctrine. Typical reply: Modern shorthand may be pedagogically useful but should not replace creedal language in theological argument.

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Short responses a Trinitarian might make

• Clarify intent: If the notation is intended only as a mnemonic shorthand (a list of the traditional names), many will accept it as informal but insist it must not be read metaphysically.
• Embed relations: If you want a formal model, use relational or structural language (e.g., one divine essence with three related hypostases), not set membership.
• Philosophical repair: Some contemporary theologians use social or relational models to preserve distinct persons without implying composition — but these models themselves are contested (accused of drifting toward tritheism or denying divine simplicity).

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A few precise formulations that avoid the main problems

• “God is one ousia (essence) in three hypostases (persons): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” — Nicene-style, preserves unity and distinction.
• “The Trinity is an economic and immanent relation of three co-equal, co-eternal persons who share one divine nature.” — preserves relations.
• If you must use symbolic shorthand, prefer something explicitly relational, e.g. Trinity = ⟨Ousia, {Hypostasis1, Hypostasis2, Hypostasis3}, Relations⟩ — which makes clear the unity and relational structure rather than suggesting a mere set.

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Bottom line

“God = {Father, Son, Spirit}” is a tempting shorthand but theologically and philosophically dangerous because it flattens relationality into membership, promotes a composite picture of God, and invites readings that the church historically rejected (tritheism, modalism). If you want a concise formulation, use creedal language about one essence and three persons, or a symbolic form that explicitly encodes unity + relations rather than a bare set.

If you want, I can:

• give a short historical survey (patristic, Augustine, Aquinas, Eastern Orthodox responses), or
• draft a few alternative symbolic notations that avoid the defects above, or
• show how different theological traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Reformed, social-Trinitarian) would react specifically. Which would help you most?