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Google Earth Highlights Darfur

jc42 writes "Google Earth, in cooperation with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum now presents details of the growing disaster in Darfur. They give a virtual tour of the area, with details of events in many villages in the words of local residents. So in addition to their "Do no evil" motto, they apparently now have a policy of exposing evil. Needless to say, the Sudan government didn't exactly cooperate with this project."

9 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. The Weasel Rule by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Carl Sagan [warning. PDF]did a piece on various "rules", like the Golden Rule, Silver Rule, Iron Rule, etc. Essentially showing that the Golden Rule, "Treat others like you would like them to treat you" is unworkable. It lacks a reward-punishment mechanism. Then the silver rule, "treat them like they treat you", is a very stable, good strategy. But it leads to endless feuds. A little, but not too much of, forgiving is needed. The Iron rule is be a jerk to every one. That is known to be very bad.

    Sagan then defines, what he would call, "The Weasel Rule". Be nice to strong people and be a jerk to weak people. Google caved in easily to strong governments like China and is currently exposing the evil in Darfar. So looks like, Google's motto is "Follow the Weasel Rule" not "Do no evil".

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  2. Re:Darfur by de_valentin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you actually have ANY idea what is going on there???

    maybe genocide is the wrong word but hundreds of thousands dying and even more fleeing for their lives and living in refuge-camps is not something that is pushed by western governments.
    There never was a reason to televise some Africans kill other Africans (in fact one party consists of muslim nomads)
    To be specific the whole Darfur crisis is allready several years old most people don't give a damn because there is no oil.

    I'm not saying Bush should have led the world in an war in Sudan but it would have probably been more usefull (not counting the oil) and saved more lives.

    I'm sorry for not being very eloquent.
    But the bottomline is this, the more people know what is going on out there the bigger the chance that something gets done.

    --
    It's no big deal some of my best friends are M$ certified engineers
  3. Yahoo by Threni · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is Google about to show where the prisons were the Chinese torture people who try and spread democracy?

  4. Re:"Do no evil" by Goaway · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Participation in the Darfur media circus IS exactly EVIL.

    On what planet does this statement make any kind of sense? You're really going to have to back up that reasoning if you want anyone to take you at all seriously.

  5. Re:"Do no evil" by Goaway · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait, never mind. I read your other posts, and you are raving lunatic. Carry on.

  6. Re:"Do no evil" by AlecC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the Chinese problem: at least they mark their pages where censorship has occurred, unlike Yahoo and MSN who do it silently. And censoring the pages of google.cn was the only way they could get inside the Great Firewall. The Chinese language version of google.com is uncensored - but residents of China with insufficient net-fu cannot see it. IMO, the path Google chose was the least evil in an evil world. Either Google with censorship visible, or other search engines (particularly including Chinese government ones) with censorship hidden. At least the Cjhinese paople can wonder what is being hidden.

    As for collecting data: it is not evil until they use it for Big Brotherish purposes. Like fire, data is neutral. You can use it to warm yourself, or to burn heretics. If Google start selling personal data, or using it in house for intrusive purposes, they are not guilty of evil. Not all people who buy guns do so to shoot their wives.

    --
    Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
  7. are you a human being? by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Interesting

    then it is your responsibility

    why care about rwanda? why care about iraq? why care about tiananmen square? why care about auschwitz?

    why care about any human tragedy? better to just say "not my problem", right?

    solves the problem, doesn't it? just stop caring, "not my problem"

    "I am not going to adjust my life just to make a few people with bleeding hearts feel better."

    good for you. enjoy your life. remember your statement above, when you ask anyone to care about anything you think is important. society is predicated on the fact we look out for each other. if we don't, those who mean ill will succeed: they pick us a part, one by one

    so you better care, now, when it is starving people in a third world country being butchered. tomorrow, it is something happening in your neighborhood

    poverty and suffering breeds and spreads. it must be fought in all of it's forms, now, today, or that means you only fight it tomorrow, when it is a larger problem. it does not go away on it's own, the sort of problem plaguing darfur. it grows, and spreads. you WILL deal with it, one way or another. when it is small and distant, now, or later, when it is huge and at your doorstep

    we live in a world where what happens in kandahar matters in downtown manhattan. what did you learn from 9/11?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  8. Re:"Do no evil" by antikronos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Despite their undoubtedly noble intentions, Googles' rather naive and geekish management does not realize that in fact, by logging and storing everyones personal details, behavior and habits they have created the ultimate foundation for the next Holocaust. The reason why the identification of Jews in some European countries like the Netherlands was so effective and fast, was because of the quality of the (paper)archives with personal records. With the electronically available and very detailed records that Google maintains, identification of people to be prosecuted will be a matter of days, not years. No matter if it is about Jews, Arabs, 'terrorists', anti-republicans or any other group of people that share characteristics that are disliked by the people with power. Assuming that future governments or hackers can be fully trusted to respect current copyright and privacy legislation is a complete denial of history. Larry and Sergey, maybe it is an idea to sit down in your library and read this book that you have scanned yourselves: 'National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition'

  9. But I do care by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just not in the way you think. Muslims and blacks are fighting and killing each other. So?

    It is extremely hard to see why a white european should care OR for that matter even if he cared what the fuck he could do about it.

    Who exactly do you propose we shoot?

    Because that is the only way to deal with this kinda situation, go in and kill the most agressive party and basically enforce "don't fight or we will kill you".

    At the moment some claim that it is the black population that is receiving the worsed of it, so are you saying, in 2007, that the US (because the EU is to chicken shit) should start another war against muslims?

    Even americans aren't that insane. *me looks at the americans*

    Well, they might be that insane but they can't afford another war that you can't win.

    Because the sad fact is this, you CANNOT end a force by conflict UNLESS you use extreme force and that is no longer acceptable. If the US intervenes and just one muslim child is claimed to have been killed (it is well known that muslims claims in this area are about as trustworthy as ANY propaganda claim has been in the whole of human history) the shit will hit the fan and it will face the exact same problems as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    The website you linked to reminds me an awfull lot of similar sites urging the western leaders to save the poor koerds. That went awfully well remember? Do you promise this time to remember what your bleeding heart cried out today when next week a US plane drops a bomb and some photographer show the corpse of a child (and again at another bombsite, several days later?)

    No you won't and western leaders know this. They rather take the short, easily forgotten critisim of doing nothing. Because they know people like you, can't be counted upon to accept what needs to be done.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.