Americans view their government with fear, and quite rightly, given its history and abuses.
What a dumbass. We view our government with fear because of our founding fathers' experience with kings and tyrants in Europe. They knew that power corrupts and they set out to form a government that held abusive power in check. Thus we have a separation of powers in the US, each designed to hold the other accountable.
It's not our own American history we fear. We fear and keep in check human nature's tendency to abuse power once it is gained.
In America, our Fourth Amendment to the Constitution (preventing illegal search and seizure) doesn't exist because people have something to hide.
The reason for the Fourth Amendment is a central theme that runs through practically everything the founding fathers did: it was to limit the concentration of power, thus heading off the abuse of power before it could even get started.
The abuse of power has been the norm throughout human history. In America we have tried something different, and it is the exception. I fear what is happening in England is a precursor of what will happen here, what with the FBI (a national, not international force) in New Zealand lobbying for relaxed digital search and seizure laws... It's pretty sad actually.
I bet PRZ is under an NDA stating he can't say anything about backdoors. But cleverly, before he leaves, he can say there aren't any backdoors now. Sounds like a warning to me.
PZ has been a hero for many, but it's obvious that his motives where questioned when he joined CAI.
If the government wants insecure networks, insecure operating systems (windows), tappable protocols, etc. just so they can spy on everybody, remember that this also means other countries can easily spy on us as well.
So our government may be responsible for creating its own national security threat. Smart. Really smart.
The idea that life is abundant throughout the universe and that life on Earth may have been seeded from afar is called panspermia.
Further, I believe that consciousness is the fabric of the universe, therefore it is not unusual that this fabric would try and express itself in the form of plant, animals and god knows what else.
This is a frequent topic at lauralee.com where they deal with science and fringe science.
We use one of those oil filled electric heaters rather than the central heat. It makes a big difference in the bill. It warms up the room slowly, but it's very comfortable once it gets up there.
Mega-corporation promotion
on
Golden Rice
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· Score: 1
There is enough food already to feed the entire world. The reason is doesn't happen is the potential destruction of markets. The motives of the GM food makers is obvious: feed starving children to change the minds of countries resistant to GM foods like England. Look good and reap the profits later.
It's only because we have weak regulatory agencies that these companies can foist a relatively untested technology on the public.
Nobody asked me if I wanted to eat GM foods. If I had my choice I'd say no, but there are already hundreds of foods in the US that are GM. The food industry is doing an end run around people's concerns, people who want simple labeling so they can have a choice.
I'd like to see these starving children fed by a willing public rather than by the decision of the marketing department of Monsanto, etc.
If SDMI isn't hacked now it will be hacked later. Encryption is at best only temporary, especially with computer speeds doubling every 12-18 months. They can only win with draconian copyright laws. But with 25 million (and growing) angry Napster users, Congress will see that what is happening is really a cultural change, going from horse to buggy, and not a matter of piracy at all. Music, in the end, will be set free.
I'm a musician, have played professionally since high school, etc., and I want to see musicians get paid for their work, but SDMI and copyright laws that give nothing to the consumer and instead remove more rights from the consumer, isn't the answer.
The normal rate of extinction is about 2-3 species per year. But according to biologist David Suzuki, about 50,000 species of plants and animals go extinct every year due to human encroachment, pollution, etc. So if there will be surrogates there will need to be a lot of them, and scientists are going to have to work *very* fast.
I did something positive, I think, for the environment. I suggested that the local college radio station play the Deep Ecology series at the above link. They did. Twice. It's free for non-profit radio stations.
Recently, I switched over from having chosen "unselected" as my carrier (and being charged for it nonetheless by BellSouth) to AT&T and it took three tries. I'd place the order, it would be confirmed, but a week later it was as if they'd never heard of me. And it's a long process because they're being punished for past slamming. So after the order taker takes the order and reads a confirmation script and you agree to each of the changes, they then send you to another person to check it again. It took more than an hour each time. Sheez! I asked them why this was so difficult and they said it was because of past slamming.
Another horror story: several years ago I decided to try AT&T internet service via one of their postcards. So I tried their service, but they didn't have telnet, so that next day I tried to cancel online. Unlike the online signup, NOWHERE was there a place to cancel. Shouldn't this be illegal? I called them to cancel, but they said I would be able to do that later after some period of time was up. Hey, I wanted to cancel then and there, but couldn't. I didn't really think about it because for 15 months I was never billed. Remember I only used their service for ONE DAY.
Lo and behold, after 15 months I started getting billed on my credit card, an AT&T credit card as well. However, this was an inactive CC and I didn't pay attention to the statement for three months.
It was a pain to cancel the internet service and then dispute the CC billing. Telling them to check and see that I hadn't used their service for 15 months didn't work either.
AT&T doesn't want customers, they want prisoners. They wear you down hoping you'll just give in.
Finally it was all straightened out, but had to go through the whole credit card dispute thing in writing.
I'm embarrased to say I'm an AT&T stockholder.
Lastly, dealing with telemarketers is very easy. By law, at least in Florida, they have to put you on their "do not call" list if you request it. I'm fond of saying this after listening to their initial speil:
"Let this serve as notice to put this phone number on your do not call list." They've always been polite and complied. It may take three or so tries, but IT WORKS!
I recently moved last month and said this to a guy today: "Do you have a do not call list?" "Yes," he said. I replied, "Would you put me on it?" "Yes," was the response. Easy.
That's the oldest trick in the book: looking for some planet to inhabit. Sheez!
How about we look at ourselves for a change with these psychopathalogical models applied to the ecological crisis, part of Ecopsychology, a term coined by Theodore Roszak. A lot of this is from Ralph Metzner's book Green Psychology.
Organic Pathology - Excessive population growth is analogous to a malignant tumor.
Anthropocentrism - The world is seen in a hierarchical fashion with humans at the top and the earth and other living beings as tools for the humans to use at will. This is in contrast to ancient cultures who viewed animals as brothers; a lateral relationship as opposed to hierarchical. "There is an implicit meaning of assumed superiority and right to dominate others." (p.84)
Developmental Fixation - Arrested development; a culture stops growing or takes pathways which are self destructive to an ideal mode of growth; a perpetual state of immaturity. Lack of rites of passage. "[Westernized man] may now be the possessors of the world's flimsiest identity structures, childish adults." (Paul Shepard, Nature & Madness, p.40)
Autism - The human species has become autistic in relationship to the natural world. Traced to a Cartesian, mechanistic world view. "Autistic children do not seem to hear or see or feel their mother's presence, they do not respond to touch or voice or gesture." (p.88)
Addiction - "Our inability to stop our suicidal and ecocidal behavior fits the clinical definition of addiction or compulsion: behavior that continues in spite of the fact that the individual knows that it is destructive to family, work, and social relationships." (p.89)
Narcissism - "...is a personality disorder characterized by an inflated and grandiose self-image as well as feelings of entitlement that mask deep-seated feelings of unworthiness and emptiness." (p.90) Advertising typically tells us two things: 1) you're inadequate as you are, and 2) our product is the solution. This overheats consumption and thus, waste. Do we need a new science that can conclusively measure the destructive effects of implicit media images?
Amnesia - "We have forgotten something our ancestors once know and practiced--certain attitudes and kinds of perception, an ability to empathize and identify with non-human life, respect for the mysterious, and humility in relationship to the infinite complexities of the natural world." (p.91) Also suggested is traumatic amnesia which might have been caused by a massive earthquake, flood or volcano causing a disruption in ritual life and an adoption of a scarcity, warlike or conquering model of life. If this happened, the new mode of life could easily spread to other cultures as they were conquered and assimilated.
Repression of the Ecological Unconscious - A Western sense of rootedness with the earth has been pushed into an unconscious realm.
Dissociation - Splitting. "Nazi doctors, who were able to enjoy listening to Beethoven in the garden and playing with children after a day of torturing and killing people.... It's not that our knowledge and understanding of Earth's complex and delicate web of interdependence is vaguely and inchoately lodged in some forgotten basement of our psyche. We have the knowledge of our impact on the environment; we can perceive the pollution and degradation of the land, the waters, the air--but we do not attend to it, and we do not connect that knowledge with other aspects of our total experience. Perhaps it would be more accurate, and fair, to say that individuals feel unable to respond to the natural world appropriately because the political, economic, and educational institutions in which we are all involved all have this dissociation built into them." (p.95) Mind over matter, the mind is good--the body is bad; thinking but not feeling. "There's no place for feelings at work." The ego struggling to control the id; opus contra naturum; Becoming closer to God "up there," but further away from the earth "right here." Mind/Body split.
This last idea is one I heard Dr. Andrew Weil mention in a recorded talk.
Genetic Fatal Flaw - Our evolution as a species might be too good. With increased mental capacity evolved over millions of years we have created an imbalance with the ability of natural processes to keep us in check. This could be seen as a psychotic element of our genetic makeup which lets us destroy our own environment, destroying ourselves in the process, causing our branch of the family tree to become extinct. What would life have been like if we had evolved from herbivores?
In ancient times when people could not read, priests weilded tremendous power over the masses largely because of their ignorance. Today people can read, but we have a new problem: Science has become the dominant mythology (in the Joseph Campbell sense of absolute belief), and therefore, people, corporations, etc., with agendas can manipulate scientific studies to support their particular desires.
People hear the nightly news where a Peter Jennings says, "A new study has shown that blah blah blah...", and they believe it when it might be corporate propaganda.
The back and forth thing like "salt is good for you, salt is bad for you" is an example of companies with huge amounts of money at stake manipulating "information" to eke out more profit and prevent a mass exodus away from their product.
This sort of thing was revealed with the cigarette industry. They could walk up to the line of truth and say, "Scientific studies show that there is no conclusive evidence that smoking is harmful." That's true. Note the word "conslusive." NOTHING is conclusive in science. Just when you think you understand physics with Newtonian laws, Einstein comes in and adds a new twist. But while Newtonian physics isn't "conclusive," we sure have built a lot of skyscrapers with it.
It's only because most people have adopted science as infallable that it is possible to do this. While science attempts to present the truth, and most scientists are honorable, science is, at best, an approximation of the truth. But I think it's being increasingly manipulated because people have figured out that this is the way to influence our modern belief system. Science simply isn't questioned enough.
Just as the ancient priests became corrupt and were increasingly questioned by scietists (the earth is round, etc.), now science needs to be questioned: Who did that study? Who funded it? Who benefits from this information, etc.
If I was in marketing, I would think that manipulating perception through "scientific studies" would be an absolute gold mine. But I'm not that depraved that I'd be in marketing.
"What's Related" works whether you click the button or not. Go into Pref, Navigator, Smart Browsing and turn the beast off. If that doesn't stop it then AOL is lying to you.
If the NSA maintains constant surviellience on US citizens in secret, when they do find something amiss with individual X or X corporation, they could pass a hint to the FBI to start investigating X. When the FBI does get a court order to allow surviellience, the NSA could forward all its intel to the FBI, CIA, etc., the effect of which is avoiding the law entirely.
The problem is there isn't any "meaty" explanation as to why all this surviellience is needed in the first place.
Nobody is saying Kevin didn't do some wrong deeds. Kevin himself admits to wrongdoing. That's not the problem. The problems are 1) he has been accused of things he didn't do, 2) he's been grossly overcharged for the things he did do, 3) the Shimoda character wrote false statements about Kevin in the New York Times and in a book which blew Kevin's actions all out of proportion. Shimoda's exaggerations, according to Kevin's statements on an audio interview at 2600.com, had a taunting effect on security agencies, so he believes they had to come after him with more of a vengence than would have been otherwise, and 4) he wasn't given due process after his arrest.
So I'm assuming Kevin is now going around lecturing and talking about the gross injustices done to him in the supposed name of justice, and by Shimoda as well. I think he's got every right. Shimoda made a lot of money making exaggerations, and according to Kevin, false statements. If Kevin lectures a group the way he talked on the 2600.com interview where he takes responsibility for the things he did do, then I don't see the problem.
I see this issue more as government censorship than anything else.
Listen to the Off The Hook archives at 2600.com if you want.
Diane Rehm on NPR interviewed Bill Joy this past Thursday about his Wired article on the future, nanotechnology, computers, etc. Here's a RealAudio link.
...cannot be known because we ultimately are self referencing beings. In other words our minds and bodies are part of the universe we are describing. It would be like a fish trying to be objective enough to describe what happens on land without ever having been there. So if other dimensions exist we could never describe them because for the most part we don't experience them. And even if we do discover and experience more dimensions than the primary four there may still be more and more. If we could experience our lives from more dimensions than we do currently we could at best describe the typical reality of a person living in our current four.
But ultimately, we see what we want to see. So the idea is to choose to see the good and interpret things in terms of the best possible light, because based on the "law of reciprocity" we get back what we give out.
It may be that we do control physical reality at the quantum level with our thoughts, thus giving rise to the notion that prayers and meditations really work; are beneficial to ourselves and others. It's the findings of quantum physics that have opened the door to the merging of science and spirituality.
The first new animal we create...
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Planet Gattaca
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· Score: 1
should be a "blanket dog." Or pick a better name. It's flat and as big as a blanket, has a warmer body temperature than humans and you cover yourself with it on cold nights. It's tame and doesn't bite... and it's potty trained.
Rent the movie "Gattaca" this weekend. Rhymes with Attica (prison). It's about a man labeled an "invalid" because of inferior genetics and his attempt to escape to a better world. Great movie, one of my favorites.
This technology is scary, but who's gonna stop it? We're on the march to marrying man an machine. Does anybody doubt it? The best we can hope for is that we don't destroy ourselves in the process.
We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time. from T.S. Eliot's Little Gidding
Slashdot Mirror
What a dumbass. We view our government with fear because of our founding fathers' experience with kings and tyrants in Europe. They knew that power corrupts and they set out to form a government that held abusive power in check. Thus we have a separation of powers in the US, each designed to hold the other accountable.
It's not our own American history we fear. We fear and keep in check human nature's tendency to abuse power once it is gained.
Any American giving up his/her personal responsibility to think and act to some governing body should be deported to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The reason for the Fourth Amendment is a central theme that runs through practically everything the founding fathers did: it was to limit the concentration of power, thus heading off the abuse of power before it could even get started.
The abuse of power has been the norm throughout human history. In America we have tried something different, and it is the exception. I fear what is happening in England is a precursor of what will happen here, what with the FBI (a national, not international force) in New Zealand lobbying for relaxed digital search and seizure laws... It's pretty sad actually.
Don't hold your breath. The technology already exists to see you in your home from the outside.
PZ has been a hero for many, but it's obvious that his motives where questioned when he joined CAI.
I'd like to see him working with the GPG folks.
So our government may be responsible for creating its own national security threat. Smart. Really smart.
To serve and protect?
Further, I believe that consciousness is the fabric of the universe, therefore it is not unusual that this fabric would try and express itself in the form of plant, animals and god knows what else.
This is a frequent topic at lauralee.com where they deal with science and fringe science.
We use one of those oil filled electric heaters rather than the central heat. It makes a big difference in the bill. It warms up the room slowly, but it's very comfortable once it gets up there.
It's only because we have weak regulatory agencies that these companies can foist a relatively untested technology on the public.
Nobody asked me if I wanted to eat GM foods. If I had my choice I'd say no, but there are already hundreds of foods in the US that are GM. The food industry is doing an end run around people's concerns, people who want simple labeling so they can have a choice.
I'd like to see these starving children fed by a willing public rather than by the decision of the marketing department of Monsanto, etc.
I'm a musician, have played professionally since high school, etc., and I want to see musicians get paid for their work, but SDMI and copyright laws that give nothing to the consumer and instead remove more rights from the consumer, isn't the answer.
I did something positive, I think, for the environment. I suggested that the local college radio station play the Deep Ecology series at the above link. They did. Twice. It's free for non-profit radio stations.
Recently, I switched over from having chosen "unselected" as my carrier (and being charged for it nonetheless by BellSouth) to AT&T and it took three tries. I'd place the order, it would be confirmed, but a week later it was as if they'd never heard of me. And it's a long process because they're being punished for past slamming. So after the order taker takes the order and reads a confirmation script and you agree to each of the changes, they then send you to another person to check it again. It took more than an hour each time. Sheez! I asked them why this was so difficult and they said it was because of past slamming.
Another horror story: several years ago I decided to try AT&T internet service via one of their postcards. So I tried their service, but they didn't have telnet, so that next day I tried to cancel online. Unlike the online signup, NOWHERE was there a place to cancel. Shouldn't this be illegal? I called them to cancel, but they said I would be able to do that later after some period of time was up. Hey, I wanted to cancel then and there, but couldn't. I didn't really think about it because for 15 months I was never billed. Remember I only used their service for ONE DAY.
Lo and behold, after 15 months I started getting billed on my credit card, an AT&T credit card as well. However, this was an inactive CC and I didn't pay attention to the statement for three months.
It was a pain to cancel the internet service and then dispute the CC billing. Telling them to check and see that I hadn't used their service for 15 months didn't work either.
AT&T doesn't want customers, they want prisoners. They wear you down hoping you'll just give in.
Finally it was all straightened out, but had to go through the whole credit card dispute thing in writing.
I'm embarrased to say I'm an AT&T stockholder.
Lastly, dealing with telemarketers is very easy. By law, at least in Florida, they have to put you on their "do not call" list if you request it. I'm fond of saying this after listening to their initial speil:
"Let this serve as notice to put this phone number on your do not call list." They've always been polite and complied. It may take three or so tries, but IT WORKS!
I recently moved last month and said this to a guy today: "Do you have a do not call list?" "Yes," he said. I replied, "Would you put me on it?" "Yes," was the response. Easy.
Everybody should have spare parts available. Hey, we *are* the Borg.
How about we look at ourselves for a change with these psychopathalogical models applied to the ecological crisis, part of Ecopsychology, a term coined by Theodore Roszak. A lot of this is from Ralph Metzner's book Green Psychology.
This last idea is one I heard Dr. Andrew Weil mention in a recorded talk.
People hear the nightly news where a Peter Jennings says, "A new study has shown that blah blah blah...", and they believe it when it might be corporate propaganda.
The back and forth thing like "salt is good for you, salt is bad for you" is an example of companies with huge amounts of money at stake manipulating "information" to eke out more profit and prevent a mass exodus away from their product.
This sort of thing was revealed with the cigarette industry. They could walk up to the line of truth and say, "Scientific studies show that there is no conclusive evidence that smoking is harmful." That's true. Note the word "conslusive." NOTHING is conclusive in science. Just when you think you understand physics with Newtonian laws, Einstein comes in and adds a new twist. But while Newtonian physics isn't "conclusive," we sure have built a lot of skyscrapers with it.
It's only because most people have adopted science as infallable that it is possible to do this. While science attempts to present the truth, and most scientists are honorable, science is, at best, an approximation of the truth. But I think it's being increasingly manipulated because people have figured out that this is the way to influence our modern belief system. Science simply isn't questioned enough.
Just as the ancient priests became corrupt and were increasingly questioned by scietists (the earth is round, etc.), now science needs to be questioned: Who did that study? Who funded it? Who benefits from this information, etc.
If I was in marketing, I would think that manipulating perception through "scientific studies" would be an absolute gold mine. But I'm not that depraved that I'd be in marketing.
Question everything.
"What's Related" works whether you click the button or not. Go into Pref, Navigator, Smart Browsing and turn the beast off. If that doesn't stop it then AOL is lying to you.
The problem is there isn't any "meaty" explanation as to why all this surviellience is needed in the first place.
"I just want to innovate! Is that so wrooooo-ong."
Yer really swimmin' with the sharks now Taco. I hope to don't get ate.
So I'm assuming Kevin is now going around lecturing and talking about the gross injustices done to him in the supposed name of justice, and by Shimoda as well. I think he's got every right. Shimoda made a lot of money making exaggerations, and according to Kevin, false statements. If Kevin lectures a group the way he talked on the 2600.com interview where he takes responsibility for the things he did do, then I don't see the problem.
I see this issue more as government censorship than anything else.
Listen to the Off The Hook archives at 2600.com if you want.
Diane Rehm on NPR interviewed Bill Joy this past Thursday about his Wired article on the future, nanotechnology, computers, etc. Here's a RealAudio link.
But ultimately, we see what we want to see. So the idea is to choose to see the good and interpret things in terms of the best possible light, because based on the "law of reciprocity" we get back what we give out.
It may be that we do control physical reality at the quantum level with our thoughts, thus giving rise to the notion that prayers and meditations really work; are beneficial to ourselves and others. It's the findings of quantum physics that have opened the door to the merging of science and spirituality.
should be a "blanket dog." Or pick a better name. It's flat and as big as a blanket, has a warmer body temperature than humans and you cover yourself with it on cold nights. It's tame and doesn't bite... and it's potty trained.
This technology is scary, but who's gonna stop it? We're on the march to marrying man an machine. Does anybody doubt it? The best we can hope for is that we don't destroy ourselves in the process.
We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.
from T.S. Eliot's Little Gidding
The too high price of CD's is what creates a black market. The too high price of anything can create a black market.