In years past, the predecessors to corporate leaders probably led invasion armies to colonialize and plunder the world. As usual, the handful of decent people is left to suffer. The more things change...
Today those people whose predecessors "led invasion armies to colonize and plunder the world" aren't only the corporate leaders, but also the politicians they work with. I recently have started reading "the story" (I know, not much of a title...), something of an introduction to Neo-Tech (what is it? sorry, can't help you on that one yet). In this quote, the young, idealistic son of a successful self-made buisnessman is debating his socialistic (? - the guy promotes a heavy hand by government in business) economics Professor. He was about to accept defeat this epiphany strikes him:
(from Chapter 13): "`You, sir, in your support of politicians and bureaucrats, represent the politician. I, teenage son of a well-known self-made entrepreneur, represent the up-and-coming businessman. I'm at a young and tender age, as you yourself put it. You graciously approach me with your hand out, your mouth grinning, your voice hypnotically endearing, and you encourage me to join you on a journey. You and me together. You the politician and me the young businessman, we team up and tacitly become partners in this complicated real world...made complicated by people like you -- the politician and regulator! Sure, I can surrender my innocence and my drive to create greater values at cheaper prices like my dad, and I can come into your world of dishonest collaboration between politicians and political businessmen. The politician gets his monetary connections and unearned power; the political businessman gets his political connections and unearned advantages. And together we could reap easy money and power and make the world a very, very complicated place for everyone else with all those regulations and taxes that choke off the real competition. A nice and happy team we'd surely make, politician and businessman. But through our joint journey of feel-good smiles and seemingly compassionate regulations, we're the bloodsuckers! Let there be no mistake! Dr. Rosewall is right: the real world is very complicated. The more complicated, in fact, the more opportunity for politicians, bureaucrats, and political businessmen to multiply and flourish. All I ever wanted to do was to get out there and work my tail off to create exciting values and to figure out ways to get more and more of my creations around the world through creative marketing and price reductions. But you come along and seductively say, come with me innocent youth; there's an easier way to go through this harsh, complicated world. To make it out there, you must join with me. Then you reach out to me.'"
...but as long as we're in violation of the law, we're open season for the government snipers. A world in which a whole community is in violation of a law is a world in which the government can arbitrarily arrest anyone, essentially a police state.
How much time does government as we know it have left? When will we reach the next stage in the evolution of "government", so called? Some problems will have to be care of along the way if "government" is to progress to a higher state, such as dealing with super-corporations that behave like their only responsibility is their bottom line. I doubt that problems regularly seen on/. in recent months, including copyrights, software patents and fair-use, will be satisfactorily resolved as long as a system of "dishonest collaboration between politicians and political businessmen" exists. Some will say that the association between politicians and buisnessmen doesn't have to be dishonest, I think that it can't be anything but. What I see here is "a world in which a whole community in violation of a law" created by buisnessmen for buisnessmen.
I think moderators don't get enough moderation points for that. When I get points I wouldn't waste them on moderating posts like those down (Well, moderating a troll down is like beating a masochist, isn't it?).
I agree completely. Since I'm not much of a copious poster, I don't see the moderator points all that often. On today's dvd story there have already been 50 posts marked down to -1, with at least 5 more waiting for moderators willing to waste their points demoting someone who takes advantage of/.'s open nature. There was another story (don't remember which one) that a contingent of AC's decided they were going to write poetry on, with each line getting it's own comment. Because points are few and far between for me, I follow what the moderator FAQ says, concentrating on promoting rather than demoting. I don't have time to read all the way through every thread, so I usually read comments rated 2 & higher. How many comments languish at 0 or 1 only because moderators with points to reward good comments "spend" them on someone who's posted 10, 15 or 25 copies of "smargles margles"?
It was also interesting to read how universities are trying to deal with students trading illegal MP3s and the like. Duke administrators have been struggling with this issue as well, especially after the recent crackdown at Carnegie-Mellon.
Administrators at my school (which shall remain nameless, lest we draw attention to ourselves:^) recognize the mp3 problem, but really don't care that much (or so I hear). We have a giant firewall to block all incoming traffic except ports except 80 (http) and 18 (irc?) to keep people like the RIAA out.
It's in the government's best interest to design and create the software which determines how much revenue it will collect. That the IRS has not already done so is beyond the comprehension...bloop... of my tiny...bloop... fish-brain. The revenues...glug... at stake are...bloop... enormous. If I were Joe Legislator, I'd pass a law to do the following things...
And if I were Joe Consumer, I would stay far, far away from any software designed by the same organization that rewards their auditors based on the number of seizures performed. Think about it: the irs exists to maximuze the amount of revenue collected. It would be pretty convenient if their software happened to 'overlook' some large deductions. I guess "fish-brains" aren't good for much...
There's more to hydration than you realize. Dr. F. Batmanghelidj was at one time held prisoner in Iran. He was about to be executed, but they kept him around because he was usefull for treating other prisoners. A prisoner came up to him with severe abdominal pain from a peptic ulcer. Lacking traditional "medicines", Dr. B. perscribed two glasses of water. The pain disappeared in eight minutes.
From WaterCure.com: AMAZING SECRETS FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS Cure # 1: Water prevents and cures heartburn. Cure # 2: Water prevents and cures arthritis. Cure # 3: Water prevents and cures back pain. Cure # 4: Water prevents and cures angina. Cure # 5: Water prevents and cures migraines. Cure #6: Water prevents and cures colitis. Cure # 7: Water and salt prevents and cure asthma. Cure # 8: Water prevents and cures high blood pressure. Cure # 9: Water prevents and cures early-adult-onset diabetes. Cure # 10: Water lowers blood cholesterol. Cure # 11: Water Cures Depression, Loss of Libido, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy.
For explanations of how water can be used to treat all these conditions you'll have to buy one of his books, Your Body's Many Cries For Water, availible from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or from watercure.com. The recommended amount of water is 1/2 your weight in ounces every day. I way 180 pounds, so I should be drinking 90 ounces of water a day.
The Einstein Factor details a technique he calls Image Streaming that everyone can use to increase the number of connections between your brain cells. Image streaming can be used to "improve your performance in virtually all aspects of mental ability, including memory, quickness, IQ and learning capacity." Win is the author 48 books, and his works are the source of many ideas in the accelerated learning field.
This review on Amazon.com says it very well: "the thing about many of the book's techniques: they are incredibly subtle in their effects.... The Einstein Factor has become a part of my life. Not only do the techniques accelerate your mind, but the book's a good read as well. It's written in a clear manner with informative diagrams, is well paced in its progression and has snippets of intriguing information on topics ranging from quantum physics and the 'ideal realm' to Mozart and the evolution of man's intelligence through the ages (memetic evolution). It's a quality product; a pleasure to spend time with. I'm getting it for my sister as a birthday present. Trust me, you want to get it too."
Nothing is done in the interest of National security; it's done in the interests of government security
I can agree that many (most?) things government does are done to serve its own interests, but actions are also caried out to convince people of the legitimacy or necesity of the institution's existence. In these Cryptography stories the U.S. government says that they are doing this to protect us, therefore they are needed, they have a vitaly important purpose. An interesting article advocating this position is availible here. A quote:
"Social contract is currently fashionable, in the ebb and flow of on-line political debate. This is a contract I never signed, that I've never seen, that has no terms, that is binding upon me but not upon the other party, that can be dispensed with at will by the government but must submitted to by me upon pain of incarceration, whose terms may change on-the-fly or even retroactively, from which there is no escape clause, which is binding in perpetuity, which binds my ancestors and descendants, which requires fealty but guarantees no consideration. And it's bullshit on its face."
I'm currently a first-semester freshman in college. Right now I'm a compsci major, but all this nano-tech stuff sounds really interesting, and I might want to switch. What classes should I be taking for work/research in nano-tech, courses in the chemical engineering tract? Or should I just buy Nanosystems, the book that was reviewed on/. recently? Do any institutions (I'm guessing Yale and Princeton might) have courses which focus on these technologies at the undergrad level? See as how this technology will probably be the next big thing, I'd like to get in now...
and I see little hope for the present political system. "Democracy" in America (read: majority rule) worked reasonably well for a while, but we are beginning to see cracks in the system.
Internet voting won't help with the lack of qualified candidates or voter apathy (see "How the Internet Boom Harms Society", Sunday on/. - how the Internet drains capable brains from other aspects of society). While Jesse Ventura may be exciting, he's managed to upset many people by telling what's really on his mind (r eaction to controversy about his Playboy interview). What needs to be done now is examination of various types of fundamental changes to our political system.
We've heard for far to long from "champions of Democracy" that majority rule is the ideal form of government. I can't say what the next step in the evolution of government will or should be, I only know that the fundamental changes needed to make the system better will not be simple or easy to make, but nonetheless need to be explored.
An interesting field I've run across is that of accelerated learning. I've found Dr. Win Wenger's book, The Einstein Factor, an interesting read, covering many of the threads discussed on this news item. For example, in the book Wenger mentions a study of a group of Nuns (not sure where they are, I've lent my copy out to someone) who on live to age 90+. This group of people have had virtually no incidents of debilitating mental deterioration such as Alzheimer's disease. The premise of the book is that intelligence is not what you have, but what you make of it. The nuns don't get Alzheimer's because they use their brains constantly, keeping diaries and staying active well into their later years. Many interesting comments on how geniuses (Einstein & Tesla, among others) looked/thought about the world. Check out Win Wenger's Project Renaisance home page at http://www.winwenger.com/, or read about what Project Renainssance is.
Slashdot Mirror
Today those people whose predecessors "led invasion armies to colonize and plunder the world" aren't only the corporate leaders, but also the politicians they work with. I recently have started reading "the story" (I know, not much of a title...), something of an introduction to Neo-Tech (what is it? sorry, can't help you on that one yet). In this quote, the young, idealistic son of a successful self-made buisnessman is debating his socialistic (? - the guy promotes a heavy hand by government in business) economics Professor. He was about to accept defeat this epiphany strikes him:
(from Chapter 13): "`You, sir, in your support of politicians and bureaucrats, represent the politician. I, teenage son of a well-known self-made entrepreneur, represent the up-and-coming businessman. I'm at a young and tender age, as you yourself put it. You graciously approach me with your hand out, your mouth grinning, your voice hypnotically endearing, and you encourage me to join you on a journey. You and me together. You the politician and me the young businessman, we team up and tacitly become partners in this complicated real world...made complicated by people like you -- the politician and regulator! Sure, I can surrender my innocence and my drive to create greater values at cheaper prices like my dad, and I can come into your world of dishonest collaboration between politicians and political businessmen. The politician gets his monetary connections and unearned power; the political businessman gets his political connections and unearned advantages. And together we could reap easy money and power and make the world a very, very complicated place for everyone else with all those regulations and taxes that choke off the real competition. A nice and happy team we'd surely make, politician and businessman. But through our joint journey of feel-good smiles and seemingly compassionate regulations, we're the bloodsuckers! Let there be no mistake! Dr. Rosewall is right: the real world is very complicated. The more complicated, in fact, the more opportunity for politicians, bureaucrats, and political businessmen to multiply and flourish. All I ever wanted to do was to get out there and work my tail off to create exciting values and to figure out ways to get more and more of my creations around the world through creative marketing and price reductions. But you come along and seductively say, come with me innocent youth; there's an easier way to go through this harsh, complicated world. To make it out there, you must join with me. Then you reach out to me.'"
How much time does government as we know it have left? When will we reach the next stage in the evolution of "government", so called? Some problems will have to be care of along the way if "government" is to progress to a higher state, such as dealing with super-corporations that behave like their only responsibility is their bottom line. I doubt that problems regularly seen on /. in recent months, including copyrights, software patents and fair-use, will be satisfactorily resolved as long as a system of "dishonest collaboration between politicians and political businessmen" exists. Some will say that the association between politicians and buisnessmen doesn't have to be dishonest, I think that it can't be anything but. What I see here is "a world in which a whole community in violation of a law" created by buisnessmen for buisnessmen.
I think moderators don't get enough moderation points for that. When I get points I wouldn't waste them on moderating posts like those down (Well, moderating a troll down is like beating a masochist, isn't it?).
/.'s open nature. There was another story (don't remember which one) that a contingent of AC's decided they were going to write poetry on, with each line getting it's own comment. Because points are few and far between for me, I follow what the moderator FAQ says, concentrating on promoting rather than demoting. I don't have time to read all the way through every thread, so I usually read comments rated 2 & higher. How many comments languish at 0 or 1 only because moderators with points to reward good comments "spend" them on someone who's posted 10, 15 or 25 copies of "smargles margles"?
I agree completely. Since I'm not much of a copious poster, I don't see the moderator points all that often. On today's dvd story there have already been 50 posts marked down to -1, with at least 5 more waiting for moderators willing to waste their points demoting someone who takes advantage of
It was also interesting to read how universities are trying to deal with students trading illegal MP3s and the like. Duke administrators have been struggling with this issue as well, especially after the recent crackdown at Carnegie-Mellon.
:^) recognize the mp3 problem, but really don't care that much (or so I hear). We have a giant firewall to block all incoming traffic except ports except 80 (http) and 18 (irc?) to keep people like the RIAA out.
Administrators at my school (which shall remain nameless, lest we draw attention to ourselves
It's in the government's best interest to design and create the software which determines how much revenue it will collect. That the IRS has not already done so is beyond the comprehension ...bloop... of my tiny ...bloop... fish-brain. The revenues ...glug... at stake are ...bloop... enormous.
If I were Joe Legislator, I'd pass a law to do the following things...
And if I were Joe Consumer, I would stay far, far away from any software designed by the same organization that rewards their auditors based on the number of seizures performed. Think about it: the irs exists to maximuze the amount of revenue collected. It would be pretty convenient if their software happened to 'overlook' some large deductions. I guess "fish-brains" aren't good for much...
There's more to hydration than you realize. Dr. F. Batmanghelidj was at one time held prisoner in Iran. He was about to be executed, but they kept him around because he was usefull for treating other prisoners. A prisoner came up to him with severe abdominal pain from a peptic ulcer. Lacking traditional "medicines", Dr. B. perscribed two glasses of water. The pain disappeared in eight minutes.
From WaterCure.com:
AMAZING SECRETS FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Cure # 1: Water prevents and cures heartburn.
Cure # 2: Water prevents and cures arthritis.
Cure # 3: Water prevents and cures back pain.
Cure # 4: Water prevents and cures angina.
Cure # 5: Water prevents and cures migraines.
Cure #6: Water prevents and cures colitis.
Cure # 7: Water and salt prevents and cure asthma.
Cure # 8: Water prevents and cures high blood pressure.
Cure # 9: Water prevents and cures early-adult-onset diabetes.
Cure # 10: Water lowers blood cholesterol.
Cure # 11: Water Cures Depression, Loss of Libido, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy.
For explanations of how water can be used to treat all these conditions you'll have to buy one of his books, Your Body's Many Cries For Water, availible from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or from watercure.com. The recommended amount of water is 1/2 your weight in ounces every day. I way 180 pounds, so I should be drinking 90 ounces of water a day.
The Einstein Factor details a technique he calls Image Streaming that everyone can use to increase the number of connections between your brain cells. Image streaming can be used to "improve your performance in virtually all aspects of mental ability, including memory, quickness, IQ and learning capacity." Win is the author 48 books, and his works are the source of many ideas in the accelerated learning field.
... The Einstein Factor has become a part of my life. Not only do the techniques accelerate your mind, but the book's a good read as well. It's written in a clear manner with informative diagrams, is well paced in its progression and has snippets of intriguing information on topics ranging from quantum physics and the 'ideal realm' to Mozart and the evolution of man's intelligence through the ages (memetic evolution). It's a quality product; a pleasure to spend time with. I'm getting it for my sister as a birthday present. Trust me, you want to get it too."
This review on Amazon.com says it very well:
"the thing about many of the book's techniques: they are incredibly subtle in their effects.
Some other sites dealing with accelerated learning:
Anakin's Brain
Project Renaissance - Win Wenger's home page.
Hot Rod Your Head!
Exploreit.net
Nothing is done in the interest of National security; it's done in the interests of government security
I can agree that many (most?) things government does are done to serve its own interests, but actions are also caried out to convince people of the legitimacy or necesity of the institution's existence. In these Cryptography stories the U.S. government says that they are doing this to protect us, therefore they are needed, they have a vitaly important purpose. An interesting article advocating this position is availible here. A quote:
"Social contract is currently fashionable, in the ebb and flow of on-line political debate. This is a contract I never signed, that I've never seen, that has no terms, that is binding upon me but not upon the other party, that can be dispensed with at will by the government but must submitted to by me upon pain of incarceration, whose terms may change on-the-fly or even retroactively, from which there is no escape clause, which is binding in perpetuity, which binds my ancestors and descendants, which requires fealty but guarantees no consideration.
And it's bullshit on its face."
I'm currently a first-semester freshman in college. Right now I'm a compsci major, but all this nano-tech stuff sounds really interesting, and I might want to switch. What classes should I be taking for work/research in nano-tech, courses in the chemical engineering tract? Or should I just buy Nanosystems, the book that was reviewed on /. recently? Do any institutions (I'm guessing Yale and Princeton might) have courses which focus on these technologies at the undergrad level? See as how this technology will probably be the next big thing, I'd like to get in now...
and I see little hope for the present political system. "Democracy" in America (read: majority rule) worked reasonably well for a while, but we are beginning to see cracks in the system.
/. - how the Internet drains capable brains from other aspects of society). While Jesse Ventura may be exciting, he's managed to upset many people by telling what's really on his mind (r eaction to controversy about his Playboy interview). What needs to be done now is examination of various types of fundamental changes to our political system.
Internet voting won't help with the lack of qualified candidates or voter apathy (see "How the Internet Boom Harms Society", Sunday on
We've heard for far to long from "champions of Democracy" that majority rule is the ideal form of government. I can't say what the next step in the evolution of government will or should be, I only know that the fundamental changes needed to make the system better will not be simple or easy to make, but nonetheless need to be explored.
An interesting field I've run across is that of accelerated learning. I've found Dr. Win Wenger's book, The Einstein Factor, an interesting read, covering many of the threads discussed on this news item. For example, in the book Wenger mentions a study of a group of Nuns (not sure where they are, I've lent my copy out to someone) who on live to age 90+. This group of people have had virtually no incidents of debilitating mental deterioration such as Alzheimer's disease. The premise of the book is that intelligence is not what you have, but what you make of it. The nuns don't get Alzheimer's because they use their brains constantly, keeping diaries and staying active well into their later years. Many interesting comments on how geniuses (Einstein & Tesla, among others) looked/thought about the world. Check out Win Wenger's Project Renaisance home page at http://www.winwenger.com/, or read about what Project Renainssance is.