Modern neuroscience is killing any wiggle-room that might have remained regarding souls and free will.
'Souls' was always a nonsensical concept. Free will isn't being destroyed, though; just becoming a little more rigorously defined. You still decide what you do, it's just that the mechanism of how you do that is being nailed down. Past definitions of free will often included magic or randomness in an attempt to avoid causality. Instead, it needs to be reconciled with causality.
I would bet they went wrong by actually claiming a medical benefit. Most homeopathic things I've seen make it pretty clear that there's no proven medicinal benefit to their use. To the right kind of wacko, that's almost a selling point.
Maybe they should have just marketed this as a 'cheek-warming' app, with a notice 'acne-curing effects are not scientifically proven'. People would still buy it to cure acne.
The Borders brick and mortar bookstore chain is dead, 10000s of people lost their jobs, and I am out of a favourite place to explore books. All this occurred because customers flock to Amazon like buzzards to a carcass so they can buy merchandise without having to pay tax (outside of WA).
No. They flocked to Amazon because it had a wider selection, was more convenient, and often had lower prices. I live in Oregon; no sales tax. Nobody in Oregon saves a penny in taxes by ordering from Amazon, yet they still do it.
No, they should collect taxes based on the state they are doing business with. Just like the 7-11 in Texas collects different taxes then the one in California. Why should Amazon be different?
The constitution. States can't tax me just because I send something to somebody in another state. There are limitations on the power states have to regulate and tax inter-state economy; it's the sole province of the federal government. This is not necessarily applicable to the Amazon case, though, because they have a business presence in California.
Always anonymous, always critical, always using the phrase 'space nutter', always unaware of how futile your agenda is. It'll never catch on, never be repeated. You're not starting a meme.
If it could have bluetooth, then I can plug it into the TV, wirelessly connect a wiimote, and use it as an emulation machine. That would be pretty nice.
We ought to be seeding Mars with as many extremophile organisms as possible
Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction as well, although I don't mind putting it off for a few years, to get a little better analysis of the native soil.
I'm kind of hoping we won't find life, because I want us to seed that damn planet, and too many people will object if we find something already living there.
You already have a TV. You probably already have an extra keyboard; if not, spend a dollar and get one from any thrift store. This is cheap enough for you to buy one for each of your kids on a whim.
How heavily customized is the version of Debian that you're including? Will it be highly optimized for the particular hardware? Will it have any special applications or utilities that are customized for the hardware, or specifically branded for Raspberry Pi?
And as a sidenote... if you really want a million thirteen-year-olds to get interested in programming, include some sort of simple framework or library to allow writing games. Beginning programmers need to be able to do something without having to cope with a complex, OO gui api. This could be as basic as SDL with a particular sprite and sound lib... just build it in. Don't underestimate the effect that gaming had on creating a generation of programmers back in the 80's and 90's.
As another sidenote... I foresee a potential use for these as a medium for selling software. If you are selling a particular type of program, such as interactive slideshows for a kiosk, it would be easy enough to load the software on one of these and sell the hardware/software combination together. Customer just plugs it into the TV when they want to run it. It's effectively using the computer as a commodity to sell the actual value, the software. Just a thought.
...is competence in programming, much less actual computational science, better serverd by possessing a computer as opposed to promoting a strong foundation in fundamental mathematics?
Absolutely. Six months of tinkering will result in more of a leap forward in computer programming ability than four years of math. Not that the math isn't valuable, but it is nowhere near as important as hands-on playing.
It doesn't make sense for you. Couple that with your inability see things from any other perspective than your own, and I guess we get comments like yours.
In unregulated capitalism, the power brokers can set the cost of entry so high that people do not have the choice to start their own business.
It's much more easy to set the cost of entry high in a regulated economy. Just get a law passed. Today, in America, that's where the barriers to entry mostly reside.
Not socialist though, as that would assume that the government was acting for the benefit of the people rather than corporate lobbyists (and bribe payers).
Is 'for the benefit of the people' part of the definition of socialism? That makes actual socialist societies much more rare. Anything that the state is given power over, regardless of the initial altruistic motives, will soon be used as a tool to profit those people who are wielding the power.
n fact, I would go so far as to say that Capitalism is an economic system in the same way that Atheism is a religion. Both are more the absence of what they're an example of. If you set up no rules and instead rely on human nature, capitalism happens. It's simply the aggregate result of two people agreeing to exchange goods or services, carried off on the scale of an entire society.
That's an interesting way to phrase it. I've generally defended capitalism as the only real moral economic system, because it's the only one that respects freedom. Given speech, association, and property rights, capitalism inevitably results. Every other system relies on the restriction of those rights by another entity (generally, forcefully).
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Modern neuroscience is killing any wiggle-room that might have remained regarding souls and free will.
'Souls' was always a nonsensical concept. Free will isn't being destroyed, though; just becoming a little more rigorously defined. You still decide what you do, it's just that the mechanism of how you do that is being nailed down. Past definitions of free will often included magic or randomness in an attempt to avoid causality. Instead, it needs to be reconciled with causality.
Well, regardless of whether they could before, they can't now.
I would bet they went wrong by actually claiming a medical benefit. Most homeopathic things I've seen make it pretty clear that there's no proven medicinal benefit to their use. To the right kind of wacko, that's almost a selling point.
Maybe they should have just marketed this as a 'cheek-warming' app, with a notice 'acne-curing effects are not scientifically proven'. People would still buy it to cure acne.
Brick and mortar stores CANNOT COMPETE with that.
Oh, I think they can, but Borders certainly didn't. Barnes & Noble is competing with it.
The Borders brick and mortar bookstore chain is dead, 10000s of people lost their jobs, and I am out of a favourite place to explore books. All this occurred because customers flock to Amazon like buzzards to a carcass so they can buy merchandise without having to pay tax (outside of WA).
No. They flocked to Amazon because it had a wider selection, was more convenient, and often had lower prices. I live in Oregon; no sales tax. Nobody in Oregon saves a penny in taxes by ordering from Amazon, yet they still do it.
No, they should collect taxes based on the state they are doing business with. Just like the 7-11 in Texas collects different taxes then the one in California. Why should Amazon be different?
The constitution. States can't tax me just because I send something to somebody in another state. There are limitations on the power states have to regulate and tax inter-state economy; it's the sole province of the federal government. This is not necessarily applicable to the Amazon case, though, because they have a business presence in California.
Always anonymous, always critical, always using the phrase 'space nutter', always unaware of how futile your agenda is. It'll never catch on, never be repeated. You're not starting a meme.
A woman walks into a bar, and says to the bartender "I'd like a double entendre."
So he gave her one.
If it could have bluetooth, then I can plug it into the TV, wirelessly connect a wiimote, and use it as an emulation machine. That would be pretty nice.
We ought to be seeding Mars with as many extremophile organisms as possible
Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction as well, although I don't mind putting it off for a few years, to get a little better analysis of the native soil.
I'm kind of hoping we won't find life, because I want us to seed that damn planet, and too many people will object if we find something already living there.
Inferiority complexes are a painful thing to see on display.
You already have a TV. You probably already have an extra keyboard; if not, spend a dollar and get one from any thrift store. This is cheap enough for you to buy one for each of your kids on a whim.
How heavily customized is the version of Debian that you're including? Will it be highly optimized for the particular hardware? Will it have any special applications or utilities that are customized for the hardware, or specifically branded for Raspberry Pi?
And as a sidenote... if you really want a million thirteen-year-olds to get interested in programming, include some sort of simple framework or library to allow writing games. Beginning programmers need to be able to do something without having to cope with a complex, OO gui api. This could be as basic as SDL with a particular sprite and sound lib... just build it in. Don't underestimate the effect that gaming had on creating a generation of programmers back in the 80's and 90's.
As another sidenote... I foresee a potential use for these as a medium for selling software. If you are selling a particular type of program, such as interactive slideshows for a kiosk, it would be easy enough to load the software on one of these and sell the hardware/software combination together. Customer just plugs it into the TV when they want to run it. It's effectively using the computer as a commodity to sell the actual value, the software. Just a thought.
...is competence in programming, much less actual computational science, better serverd by possessing a computer as opposed to promoting a strong foundation in fundamental mathematics?
Absolutely. Six months of tinkering will result in more of a leap forward in computer programming ability than four years of math. Not that the math isn't valuable, but it is nowhere near as important as hands-on playing.
It doesn't make sense for you. Couple that with your inability see things from any other perspective than your own, and I guess we get comments like yours.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
What about rape?
Says the white guy living in the industrialized nation.
How did America get to be a rich, industrialized nation?
Simple, in a purely capitalistic system you can buy and sell anything, even people.
No, it's simpler: You can't. That's robbery.
Heh. You're currently (Score:0, Insightful). That's the sign of an interesting comment.
Maybe you can tell me how the plants and animals have lived for _millions_ of years without "money".
By doing everything they can to destroy any competitors so that their offspring can live?
Even more generally, the fundamental flaw in any human endeavor is that humans are fundamentally flawed.
Doesn't mean we can't get things done, just that we often fail a few times first.
In unregulated capitalism, the power brokers can set the cost of entry so high that people do not have the choice to start their own business.
It's much more easy to set the cost of entry high in a regulated economy. Just get a law passed. Today, in America, that's where the barriers to entry mostly reside.
Not socialist though, as that would assume that the government was acting for the benefit of the people rather than corporate lobbyists (and bribe payers).
Is 'for the benefit of the people' part of the definition of socialism? That makes actual socialist societies much more rare. Anything that the state is given power over, regardless of the initial altruistic motives, will soon be used as a tool to profit those people who are wielding the power.
the Nazi party was the National Socialist German Workers' Party but they sure as shit were not socialist.
Seems to me they were. You don't think the German state under the Nazis tightly controlled their industry and economy?
n fact, I would go so far as to say that Capitalism is an economic system in the same way that Atheism is a religion. Both are more the absence of what they're an example of. If you set up no rules and instead rely on human nature, capitalism happens. It's simply the aggregate result of two people agreeing to exchange goods or services, carried off on the scale of an entire society.
That's an interesting way to phrase it. I've generally defended capitalism as the only real moral economic system, because it's the only one that respects freedom. Given speech, association, and property rights, capitalism inevitably results. Every other system relies on the restriction of those rights by another entity (generally, forcefully).