No, I agree that the Golden Rule doesn't have to rely on external authority. But why do we feel the need to follow it? Why are sociopaths considered bad instead of just a natural consequence of neurological variation?
Again, what's so valuable about individual people that we create societies to protect them? Where does our compassion for the weaker members of society come from? It doesn't follow from the Law of the Jungle, now does it?
So for civilization to work there must be a uniform moral code... And not just any moral code, but a fairly constrained set of moral strictures. So why do we crave civilization? If human lives have no intrinsic value, does it matter if some greater "good" exists for them?
And for the mods... This is actually an important question with regards to the government's actions. We've allowed the government to amass more and more power and thus limited the value of individuals. I argue that it's not just loss of a Judeo-Christian moral code at work here, but any moral guidance from anywhere.
Obviously I haven't read the literature enough to know how it works or why it's impossible... But it would be really funny if it turned out that Bitcoin mining was actually the NSA's attempt at crowdsourcing brute-force decryption...
Thus the root of modern totalitarianism is to be found in the denial of the transcendent dignity of the human person who, as the visible image of the invisible God, is therefore by his very nature the subject of rights which no one may violate -- no individual, group, class, nation, or State. Not even the majority of a social body may violate these rights, by going against the minority, by isolating, oppressing, or exploiting it, or by attempting to annihilate it.
-- Pope John Paul II, Centisimus annus, 1991
My last word in this conversation: those that do evil and call it the will of God are the ones that misunderstand Christianity, not me.
Fair points regarding abuse of power, but in each case the individuals in question asserted that they had the authority of Christ behind them in ordering atrocities without actually having any such authority. When any individual or group of individuals demonstrably act contrary to what common sense tells you that Christ taught, you can be pretty sure that they're acting on their own authority and not the authority of God. The fact that they have to come up with rationalizations like "it's better for their souls that they be dead rather than to continue in sin" tells you that they're playing by their own rules. The Pharisees who crucified Jesus did exactly the same.
How can I be against the death penalty when practiced by secular authorities and for it when called for by high-ranking members of the church? It's logically inconsistent, and my faith is based on the idea that everything that is truly God's will is logically consistent (if sometimes paradoxical). If someone has to cook up an argument to justify acts contrary to the second greatest commandment ("Love your neighbor as yourself"), they're not coming from an acceptable position of authority. None of the teachings of the church that are considered infallible excuse or call for such actions.
Can I be fooled? Yeah, probably. I'm not perfect. But if it comes down to it I can assure you that I refuse to knowingly bow to hypocrisy.
Heh. Actually, I'm a committed Papist. As in rabid Roman Catholic. But hey, go ahead with the assumptions that I'm an Atheistic Libertarian if that makes you feel smugly superior. In fact, I consider the Dawkinesque attitude this administration has been displaying in the implementation of Obamacare to be tantamount to theocratic control over my religious freedoms.
I've got huge philosophical and spiritual issues with having a government that usurps those functions that by right belong to individual families. And that has nothing to do with any label on the political spectrum in this country.
Let's put it this way. Say we get a total theocrat in office at some point in the future. Are you comfortable with that administration having easy access to all of the information that the NSA has already hoovered?
So why aren't creative types getting involved to make the product better instead of wallowing in abuse? That's what Open Source is supposed to be about.
Heh. Slashdot will ask me if I want to undo moderations by posting, but it won't ask me if I really want to commit a bad moderation. Strikes me as a little backwards, really.
Is there a way to play the non-Steam version online anymore since they killed the WON servers? That's why I stopped playing CS although I loved it dearly.
Slashdot Mirror
No, I agree that the Golden Rule doesn't have to rely on external authority. But why do we feel the need to follow it? Why are sociopaths considered bad instead of just a natural consequence of neurological variation?
Again, what's so valuable about individual people that we create societies to protect them? Where does our compassion for the weaker members of society come from? It doesn't follow from the Law of the Jungle, now does it?
So for civilization to work there must be a uniform moral code... And not just any moral code, but a fairly constrained set of moral strictures. So why do we crave civilization? If human lives have no intrinsic value, does it matter if some greater "good" exists for them?
And for the mods... This is actually an important question with regards to the government's actions. We've allowed the government to amass more and more power and thus limited the value of individuals. I argue that it's not just loss of a Judeo-Christian moral code at work here, but any moral guidance from anywhere.
So here's the thing... If God doesn't exist and morals are dependent on your personal feelings... Why does lying provoke such an outraged reaction?
Obviously I haven't read the literature enough to know how it works or why it's impossible... But it would be really funny if it turned out that Bitcoin mining was actually the NSA's attempt at crowdsourcing brute-force decryption...
Thus the root of modern totalitarianism is to be found in the denial of the transcendent dignity of the human person who, as the visible image of the invisible God, is therefore by his very nature the subject of rights which no one may violate -- no individual, group, class, nation, or State. Not even the majority of a social body may violate these rights, by going against the minority, by isolating, oppressing, or exploiting it, or by attempting to annihilate it.
-- Pope John Paul II, Centisimus annus, 1991
My last word in this conversation: those that do evil and call it the will of God are the ones that misunderstand Christianity, not me.
Fair points regarding abuse of power, but in each case the individuals in question asserted that they had the authority of Christ behind them in ordering atrocities without actually having any such authority. When any individual or group of individuals demonstrably act contrary to what common sense tells you that Christ taught, you can be pretty sure that they're acting on their own authority and not the authority of God. The fact that they have to come up with rationalizations like "it's better for their souls that they be dead rather than to continue in sin" tells you that they're playing by their own rules. The Pharisees who crucified Jesus did exactly the same.
How can I be against the death penalty when practiced by secular authorities and for it when called for by high-ranking members of the church? It's logically inconsistent, and my faith is based on the idea that everything that is truly God's will is logically consistent (if sometimes paradoxical). If someone has to cook up an argument to justify acts contrary to the second greatest commandment ("Love your neighbor as yourself"), they're not coming from an acceptable position of authority. None of the teachings of the church that are considered infallible excuse or call for such actions.
Can I be fooled? Yeah, probably. I'm not perfect. But if it comes down to it I can assure you that I refuse to knowingly bow to hypocrisy.
Being Roman Catholic, there's no such thing as "not being human" in my religious worldview. Thanks for playing, though.
Heh. Actually, I'm a committed Papist. As in rabid Roman Catholic. But hey, go ahead with the assumptions that I'm an Atheistic Libertarian if that makes you feel smugly superior. In fact, I consider the Dawkinesque attitude this administration has been displaying in the implementation of Obamacare to be tantamount to theocratic control over my religious freedoms.
I've got huge philosophical and spiritual issues with having a government that usurps those functions that by right belong to individual families. And that has nothing to do with any label on the political spectrum in this country.
Check the user ID on my account before assuming I'm a teenage asshat, bub.
Let's put it this way. Say we get a total theocrat in office at some point in the future. Are you comfortable with that administration having easy access to all of the information that the NSA has already hoovered?
Because the victim was rich, famous, and politically connected. Q.E.D.
So why aren't creative types getting involved to make the product better instead of wallowing in abuse? That's what Open Source is supposed to be about.
Um... Problem with the percentages is that the value of a dollar decreased between 1795 and 2009. That's a pretty glaring mistake there.
Looks like it fluctuates with the sunspot cycle... Needs to be controlled for that to produce any useful conclusions.
Whoosh...?
Hmm. Maybe the Rapiscan was introduced PRECISELY to make the L-3 machines look better by comparison? I smell boiling frog...
Aargh. Bad mod. Sorry...
Heh. Slashdot will ask me if I want to undo moderations by posting, but it won't ask me if I really want to commit a bad moderation. Strikes me as a little backwards, really.
4) Lack of focus-follows-mouse and background focus.
The number-one reason I don't stack as much in Windows is that I have to foreground a window to interact with it. Should have been fixed years ago.
Been tried before... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty
Only takes one player breaking the rules to overturn the whole thing.
Maybe it's fuzzy logic...
I've seen this somewhere before... Where was it...?
Oh yeah... Right here.
I tell ya folks, it's uncanny...
But when spammers do this to the email system, it's wrong and they ought to be shot. Nice. Love the double-standard.
Did you have to do anything special to continue playing? I thought the WON servers authenticated your CD key to allow you to play online...
Is there a way to play the non-Steam version online anymore since they killed the WON servers? That's why I stopped playing CS although I loved it dearly.
Oh, c'mon mods! This deserves +5! I just about wet myself!