That's hardly futile - it's just the norm, the starting point for any social change. Our society gave civil rights to a small black minority (~12% of the population now; I don't know about then) after centuries of discrimination, gave equal rights to women after millenia of descrimination, grew an environmental movement, and much more. In all those situations, the people advocating change faced far greater obstacles than what you describe, yet they changed almost every person's perception, society's norms, and almost every industry's and business' practices.

I agree it seems daunting, but then I grasp the courage of people like MLK, Rachel Carson, and others even more. Think of what they felt as they looked at the culture of their day.

(And yes, all those movements still have much more to do.)

I agree. I've mostly (99.999%) given up on participating in American politics for the betterment of society.

> People are HEAVILY biased towards the version of the "truth" that lets them do what they want.

I just have to point out that by taking the stance that you and I are taking, we're doing the same. I'm biased towards the version of truth that lets me live as we want. In other words, I could massively disrupt my life as Snowden did, and that actually might make a difference. However, I convince myself that it wouldn't, so I can just work, make money, and pursue my usual definition of happiness.

Wait what? you're Snowden?

I meant that.

> Wait what? you're Snwoden?

Not that.

I think it's a good social heuristic.

Depends on how you define magical concepts. Are the magical because they are too complex and require too many assumptions?

For example, by your definition, is it ok to have faith that would be associated with a religion, if that faith is based on a wide variety of experiences and acceptance of the existence of others worldviews?

I'm part of this trend and I hate it. I have to be careful who I tell anything to. Many people dislike me for it. The world is so weird. I spend so much time pursuing utility via automation. It's so sad to see it mostly alienate people. Just as all of this stuff is becoming so easy and accessible. It has definitely crushed many childhood ideals. At a young age I observed a world in which people had to work too hard and couldn't focus on making good choices. I wanted them to have more time. Not less. It seems as if more and more people are entering a doom loop. Less aware. Less optimal. More time working. Less time learning. Less aware...

Ideally we would find creative ways for other people to work if they desired it. But these may become increasingly rare and undependable. People need a safety-net they can actually reason about. Modern welfare isn't it. They could relax and think MUCH more productively if it were simply: I can live in this tiny box and eat/sleep/internet indefinitely while I learn whatever I want. $35/day buys you that.

Just implement resolve.

eg: { firstName, lastName } doesn't need to load new rows but { mother { name }, father { name } } does need to load new rows.

DataLoader (https://github.com/facebook/dataloader) is a small utility which makes batching and caching database requests straight forward.

If the JavaScript implementation doesn't have something like this, perhaps it can be hacked on top.

    query User {
      friends {
        friends {
          friends {
            ...
          }
        }
      }
    }

Run the table "CAPPUN" vs "RELIG". Nearly every major religious position in the US (including atheist/agnostic/none) is largely in favor of the death penalty, with only Muslims and Native Americans coming out as more than 50% opposed in both sets, and "other eastern" being over 50% in the newer set.

Also of note: whites are much more in favor of the death penalty than other races, Republicans are slightly more in favor than Democrats, people with higher incomes are more in favor than those with lower incomes, and people with average education (high school or 2-year college) are more in favor than those with either very high or very low education.

(I'm from a religious subgroup that's anti-death-penalty, anti-war, pro-life, etc. and I would argue that the death penalty isn't consistent with a Christian ethic, but plenty of people obviously disagree with me.)

Unfortunately most of the people who do this are children. They're usually in situations people would rather ignore. They're desperate. They want attention and they get it at some price that's ultimately... above market.

eric_the_read's comment notwithstanding, people subjected to extreme circumstances in their childhood years are less likely to be rehabilitated, not more.

The argument is that someone willing to shoot up a school for attention is beyond rehabilitation. His age is irrelevant to someone making that claim, and possibly argues in his favor.