I would argue that there are no such things as inalienable rights anymore. Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness? You can get the death penalty for murder, and you can get jail time for most other crimes. Doesn't sound inalienable to me.
An old saying goes "Programming is a race between programmers building better idiot-proof software, and the Universe building better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
That may be true, but there is a branch of government whose sole purpose for existing is to interpret the Founding Fathers' intention in the words of the Constitution. That's pretty much what the Supreme Court does all day.
That's all fine and good, but profanity is words, like any other word. If I say shit, I'm in trouble. if I say poop, it's okay. Why? Why make one word worse than another of the same meaning? Somehow, saying God dangit instead of God Dammit is better. Won't you be going to hell for both anyway?
Because the majority of Americans consider sex something to be kept behind closed doors. It's a double standard, really, to say violence is okay but sex isn't, but nobody ever called the American voter rational.
Well, from what I've read, it's not judgment per se, but the complete processing of the possible consequences involved in a decision that doesn't fully develop until early adulthood. I'm not sure this applies to the issue at hand, though, except maybe that they'll stay up too late playing. The part of the brain that knows right and wrong are developed by the age of six, and that is ultimately what will stop them from going on a killing rampage. So maybe you ought not let a four year old play the game, but I don't see a problem with teenagers.
For some of us moral justification just isn't necessary; intellectual property isn't real property. There are ways to monetize your IP without resorting to imaginary scarcity.
4. The site is not linking to content they 'know' is illegal. The process is fully automatic and the computer does not know what is illegal and what isn't. The people who 'know' are those who upload the links in the first place.
On this particular point: I think that the Napster case proved that not knowing that a file is illegal is not a valid defense.
All of your other points are spot on, though.
I think it would be would be more analogous to you sending someone to a place where they could buy stolen goods. Whether or not you profit from the sale of these goods is irrelevant; you knowingly enabled the sale of said goods. I think a jury could go either way on this, the big difference being that copyright violation isn't a felony... Is there such a thing as an accessory to a civil crime?
Windows Vista Home (or any that aren't Ultimate) state in their EULA that they may not be run under a VM. If I were to install it under VMWare server, by these points above, VMWare could be sued out of business and the CEO should go to jail.
Not true, because there are legitimate reasons to use it beyond those that violate an EULA. If its only purpose was to illegally run Windows, then they would have a case.
I'd like to see a Windows-free educational system.
That would be nice if people had the dedication to try and understand Linux; the fact of the matter is that while it may be a better operating system, it's far more difficult to use than Windows. I honestly don't understand why even a relatively easy to use distribution such as Ubuntu occasionally requires hours of reading and editing of config files to get everything working, whereas with Windows everything usually works out of the box. I suppose it has a lot to do with vendor support.
That's because we have two eyes with two different perspectives, and the 2d images from each gets put together into a 3d image in the brain. Try using just one eye and see how much depth perception you have.
It's not that bad; with the right software you can adjust the font. I rarely read books that aren't on my DS anymore. It's more convenient to download and upload to the DS than go to the bookstore.
Well, for example, if we developed the technology to travel between parallel universes and discovered that there is a universe for each outcome of a quantum event, that would be good evidence of the Many Worlds interpretation... The definition of it being non-falsifiable would have to be rewritten.
That's always made me wonder what room is left for religion; if every particle in the universe is scattered beyond imagination from each other, does that mean God can even exist? Or does God exist outside of the universe? What about us, in the context of our souls? If souls exist, will they be ripped apart, as well?
Exactly. Shopping in Second Life, an actual 3D world, usually consists of tens or hundreds of items placed upon the walls, one on top the other, usually using pictures. Even in shops where the actual item is shown, they are usually placed at ground level along the walls, not along aisles. If Second Life shopkeepers have found this the most convenient way to do things, then I imagine it won't be much improved upon by Microsoft.
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I would argue that there are no such things as inalienable rights anymore. Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness? You can get the death penalty for murder, and you can get jail time for most other crimes. Doesn't sound inalienable to me.
An old saying goes "Programming is a race between programmers building better idiot-proof software, and the Universe building better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
That may be true, but there is a branch of government whose sole purpose for existing is to interpret the Founding Fathers' intention in the words of the Constitution. That's pretty much what the Supreme Court does all day.
That's all fine and good, but profanity is words, like any other word. If I say shit, I'm in trouble. if I say poop, it's okay. Why? Why make one word worse than another of the same meaning? Somehow, saying God dangit instead of God Dammit is better. Won't you be going to hell for both anyway?
Because the majority of Americans consider sex something to be kept behind closed doors. It's a double standard, really, to say violence is okay but sex isn't, but nobody ever called the American voter rational.
big difference between switching your brand of deodorant and going out and killing somebody.
Well, from what I've read, it's not judgment per se, but the complete processing of the possible consequences involved in a decision that doesn't fully develop until early adulthood. I'm not sure this applies to the issue at hand, though, except maybe that they'll stay up too late playing. The part of the brain that knows right and wrong are developed by the age of six, and that is ultimately what will stop them from going on a killing rampage. So maybe you ought not let a four year old play the game, but I don't see a problem with teenagers.
For some of us moral justification just isn't necessary; intellectual property isn't real property. There are ways to monetize your IP without resorting to imaginary scarcity.
4. The site is not linking to content they 'know' is illegal. The process is fully automatic and the computer does not know what is illegal and what isn't. The people who 'know' are those who upload the links in the first place.
On this particular point: I think that the Napster case proved that not knowing that a file is illegal is not a valid defense.
All of your other points are spot on, though.
I think it would be would be more analogous to you sending someone to a place where they could buy stolen goods. Whether or not you profit from the sale of these goods is irrelevant; you knowingly enabled the sale of said goods. I think a jury could go either way on this, the big difference being that copyright violation isn't a felony... Is there such a thing as an accessory to a civil crime?
I believe he meant the first part of the millennium.
Windows Vista Home (or any that aren't Ultimate) state in their EULA that they may not be run under a VM. If I were to install it under VMWare server, by these points above, VMWare could be sued out of business and the CEO should go to jail.
Not true, because there are legitimate reasons to use it beyond those that violate an EULA. If its only purpose was to illegally run Windows, then they would have a case.
Slim Jims have a legitimate purpose. Products that have no legitimate purpose besides breaking the law are regularly outlawed in the U.S.
I'd like to see a Windows-free educational system.
That would be nice if people had the dedication to try and understand Linux; the fact of the matter is that while it may be a better operating system, it's far more difficult to use than Windows. I honestly don't understand why even a relatively easy to use distribution such as Ubuntu occasionally requires hours of reading and editing of config files to get everything working, whereas with Windows everything usually works out of the box. I suppose it has a lot to do with vendor support.
I don't care if it's GIF compression or one click buying or a goddamned 4D desktop. It can not be patented.
I'm very interested in this 4D desktop you mention. A desktop that lets you operate in three dimensions and travel through time. Awesome!
That's because we have two eyes with two different perspectives, and the 2d images from each gets put together into a 3d image in the brain. Try using just one eye and see how much depth perception you have.
It's not that bad; with the right software you can adjust the font. I rarely read books that aren't on my DS anymore. It's more convenient to download and upload to the DS than go to the bookstore.
I use DSReader. It only reads text files, but converting most ebooks to txt is trivial.
Well, for example, if we developed the technology to travel between parallel universes and discovered that there is a universe for each outcome of a quantum event, that would be good evidence of the Many Worlds interpretation... The definition of it being non-falsifiable would have to be rewritten.
That's always made me wonder what room is left for religion; if every particle in the universe is scattered beyond imagination from each other, does that mean God can even exist? Or does God exist outside of the universe? What about us, in the context of our souls? If souls exist, will they be ripped apart, as well?
I don't believe that the Copenhagen and Many Worlds interpretations are non-falsifiable, we just don't have the technology or insight as of yet.
Another example, Sqrt(-1). WTF is an imaginary number, anyway?
They turned it on, but didn't do the universe-destroying stuff yet.
photons, by definition, have zero rest mass.
Exactly. Shopping in Second Life, an actual 3D world, usually consists of tens or hundreds of items placed upon the walls, one on top the other, usually using pictures. Even in shops where the actual item is shown, they are usually placed at ground level along the walls, not along aisles. If Second Life shopkeepers have found this the most convenient way to do things, then I imagine it won't be much improved upon by Microsoft.