| Online: | Right Now | Name: | Vlad Baculum | |
| Updated: | 5 Months Ago | Gender: | Male | |
| Joined: | 3 Years Ago | Birthday: | - Private - | |
| President: | Barack Obama (Democratic Party) | Email: | - Private - | |
| Ideology: | Moderate | Education: | High School | |
| Party: | Democratic Party | Ethnicity: | White | |
| Relationship: | Married | Income: | $50,000 to $75,000 | |
| Interested: | No Answer | Occupation: | Technical | |
| Looking: | Friendship | Religion: | Pastafarian |
| About Me: | I'm a computer programmer with an interest in philosophy (specifically ethics), religion and nutrition. I'm an avid advocate of animal rights and stopped using all animal products since 2006 and have been a vegetarian since 1990. I have a wife and a 2 year-old son. I'm currently studying machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence and mathematics in general. I'm taking a break from reading the English/Scottish Enlightenment-era philosophers in order to read Plato. His Socratic dialogues are some of the best philosophical literature I've read so far. |
| Activities: | Programming (when I can find the time), guitar playing (nothing too fancy, mostly just punk riffs), exercising. I read mostly nonfiction: old philosophers and contemporary social/political commentaries. |
| Beliefs: | I believe a great deal of social progress will be made when people force religionists to see that their beliefs are erroneous. Religious beliefs are foundational to those who subscribe to them. This means that most people's foundational beliefs are flawed. When people's foundational beliefs are corrected we can expect to see vast improvements in society. Most people believe that animal cruelty should be shunned and criminalized. However, societies show themselves to be wildly inconsistent in this belief. Some animals (pets for example) are accorded high levels of concern for their welfare. Other animals such as "food" animals, "experimental" animals (often dogs and cats) and "game" animals get no protection from the law and people behave as if their welfare is of no significance. Rationality demands consistency. A society can not call itself rational when it maintains such a disparity with regard to animal welfare. |
| Books: | Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Orwell, Dawkins, Melanie Joy, Peter Singer, Gary Francione, Daniel Dennet, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animal), Ayn Rand, Michael Shermer, Freakonmics, Mortimer Adler, Erich Fromm, T. Colin Campbell |
| Movies: | Life of Brian, Search for the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, Brazil, Avatar, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Team America |
| Music: | Mainly punk and hip hop: The Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Subhumans, Fear, Crass, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Le Tigre, Black Flag, Hans-A-Plast, Dirt, Lilliputs/Kleenex, GBH, Exploited, The Slits, Parabellum, The Middle Class, Mr. Lif, Sage Francis, Esoteric, Immortal Technique |
| Quotes: | The question is not Can they reason?, nor Can they talk?, but Can they suffer? ~ Bentham regarding animal ethics Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. ~ Carl Sagan "He had lived long, did some good and much harm." ~ Thomas Paine's obituary in the New York Citizen "He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his argument." ~ Paine "the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether." ~ The Dalai Lama "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person" ~ Bashar al-Assad |
| Sports Teams: | The only sports I really like are skateboarding, martial arts and weight lifting. |
| TV Shows: | South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Daily Show, Colbert, BookTV, News Hour (PBS), Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Moral Orel, Tom Goes to the Mayor |
| Websites: | |
Circumcision Should be Criminalized
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb39r6CvhqUResolution: Circumcision should be criminalized Definitions: Circumcision: The non-consensual cutting off of a child's foreskin. Should: X 'should' be done in order for X to conform to Western law and Western moral norms. Criminalized: Rendered into a crime punishable by the government. No semantics. (Note: My opponent is not a native English speaker. Voters are asked to mark the grammar and spelling point as a tie as long as he maintains the quality...
The principle of Utility is true
===Definitions===The principle of utility refers to the ethical principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness," with happiness understood as "pleasure and the absence of pain"[1]. The principle of utility is a main tenet of utilitarianism as forwarded by Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill. The definition of true will be pretty straightforward and will refer to the common sense definition of the word. I want this debate to focus on ethics, not epistemology.===Re...
Dairy Farming is Inconsistent with Modern Western Ethical Norms
Resolved: Dairy farming is a form of animal cruelty too severe to be considered consistent with modern Western ethical norms.OverviewPro is tasked with proving that dairy farming is inconsistent with modern ethical norms. Con must prove the two are consistent. The debate will consist of 4 rounds. My (Pro) opening remarks will span rounds 1 and 2. Round 3 will be reserved for discussing the arguments which will arise out of rounds 1 and 2. Round 4 is reserved for conclusions, summary and analysis...
Vegan Diets are Healthier
Resolved: Well planned vegan diets are healthier than their meat-based counterparts. Terms: Well planned diet: A diet which can be designed by a layperson with a reasonable amount of research Vegan (or plant-based) diet: A diet that excludes animal body parts, animal milk and eggs Healthier: Greater longevity and freedom from disease Meat-based (or animal-based) diet: A diet which regularly consists of animal products (body parts, animal milk and eggs) In this debate, I will argue...
Atheism is illogical
I thank ahead of time to who ever accepts the debate. I am not debating the truthfulness of other religions but solely on the fact that atheism is illogical. Atheism-in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. Richard Dawkins is a renowned atheist He argues that no one can prove there is a God, he often references to a God as being a Spaghetti monster or a flying teacup. He rejects all existence of a supreme Deity. My main argument is that Atheism is contra...
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| Debate Statistics | |
| Debates: | 7 |
| Lost: | 4 |
| Tied: | 0 |
| Won: | 3 |
| Win Ratio: | 42.86% |
| Percentile: | 91.49% |
| Elo Ranking: | 2,124 |
| Statistics based on completed debates. | |
| Activity Statistics | |
| Forum Posts: | 1030 |
| Votes Cast: | 20 |
| Opinion Arguments: | 0 |
| Opinion Questions: | 0 |
 | Updated 2 Weeks Ago |
 | Updated 6 Months Ago |
 | Updated 9 Months Ago |
| • | Abortion | |
| • | Affirmative Action | Pro |
| • | Animal Rights | |
| • | Barack Obama | Pro |
| • | Border Fence | Con |
| • | Capitalism | Pro |
| • | Civil Unions | Pro |
| • | Death Penalty | Con |
| • | Drug Legalization | |
| • | Electoral College | N/S |
| • | Environmental Protection | |
| • | Estate Tax | N/O |
| • | European Union | N/S |
| • | Euthanasia | Pro |
| • | Federal Reserve | Und |
| • | Flat Tax | Und |
| • | Free Trade | Pro |
| • | Gay Marriage | Pro |
| • | Global Warming Exists | Pro |
| • | Globalization | Pro |
| • | Gold Standard | Und |
| • | Gun Rights | Pro |
| • | Homeschooling | |
| • | Internet Censorship | |
| • | Iran-Iraq War | |
| • | Labor Union | |
| • | Legalized Prostitution | Und |
| • | Medicaid & Medicare | Pro |
| • | Medical Marijuana | Pro |
| • | Military Intervention | Pro |
| • | Minimum Wage | Pro |
| • | National Health Care | Pro |
| • | National Retail Sales Tax | Pro |
| • | Occupy Movement | Und |
| • | Progressive Tax | Und |
| • | Racial Profiling | Con |
| • | Redistribution | Con |
| • | Smoking Ban | Pro |
| • | Social Programs | Pro |
| • | Social Security | Pro |
| • | Socialism | Con |
| • | Stimulus Spending | Und |
| • | Term Limits | Pro |
| • | Torture | |
| • | United Nations | |
| • | War in Afghanistan | Pro |
| • | War on Terror | Pro |
| • | Welfare | Pro |