I know the common internet wisdom is to not bait the trolls, but in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducable_complexity on Irreducible complexity it talks about the concept being debunked. There's lazy trolls, and then there's blind fanaticism.
Sorry, but I find that just isn't true, at least with myself as an example. If I were looking up what I was interested in, it would involve a trek all the way to the library to look up what I wanted to know, and I might look it up in an Encyclopedia for a few minutes(and maybe read other articles on the same page that are not related at all) or be daunted by the size of a book on the topic, and browse for a bit before giving up. With the internet(and more specifically, Wikipedia) I can spend upwards of an hour and a half or two hours just reading on anything and everything related. I spent at least forty-five minutes the other day reading on Multiple Dimensions and hypercubes and the like, utterly fascinated.
Again, this may just be me, because when attempting to relate this to my roommate, he was completely uninterested at how many spheres you can fit adjacent to another sphere of the same size in n-dimensional space,(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissing_number If you're interested like I was...) but having this breadth of knowledge at my fingertips is staggering, honestly, and I feel real regret for those who lived in previous generations who would never have access to this sort of thing.
This doesn't speak to how much I actually learned about these topics, but it was enjoyable for sure...
Islam is roughly 650 years younger than Christianity, and it always seemed to me that it was a rather odd coincidence that approximately 650 years ago Christians in Europe decided to go around pillaging and (try to) take back the Holy Land... matter of fact, Christianity didn't really settle down until the 19th century, so I think judging Islam would be a bit harsh. I'm not sure about other religions, but perhaps every one of them goes through periods of violence and extremism at some stage in its history?
I would comment intelligently and think about what you posted, but my mind is still trying to work around the image of the "raped from the inside" metaphor...
Slashdot Mirror
I know the common internet wisdom is to not bait the trolls, but in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducable_complexity on Irreducible complexity it talks about the concept being debunked. There's lazy trolls, and then there's blind fanaticism.
Heh. Still, that's gonna suck for the guy who does actually live there. :-P
Well, geez, if you had near unlimited power and the entire planet's worth of people to mess with, you'd probably build a Matrix too :-P
Did... did you just have a five comment argument... with yourself?
Wow.
Sorry, but I find that just isn't true, at least with myself as an example. If I were looking up what I was interested in, it would involve a trek all the way to the library to look up what I wanted to know, and I might look it up in an Encyclopedia for a few minutes(and maybe read other articles on the same page that are not related at all) or be daunted by the size of a book on the topic, and browse for a bit before giving up. With the internet(and more specifically, Wikipedia) I can spend upwards of an hour and a half or two hours just reading on anything and everything related. I spent at least forty-five minutes the other day reading on Multiple Dimensions and hypercubes and the like, utterly fascinated.
Again, this may just be me, because when attempting to relate this to my roommate, he was completely uninterested at how many spheres you can fit adjacent to another sphere of the same size in n-dimensional space,(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissing_number If you're interested like I was...) but having this breadth of knowledge at my fingertips is staggering, honestly, and I feel real regret for those who lived in previous generations who would never have access to this sort of thing.
This doesn't speak to how much I actually learned about these topics, but it was enjoyable for sure...
I haven't seen them this high since the Tunguska Blast of 1909...
Islam is roughly 650 years younger than Christianity, and it always seemed to me that it was a rather odd coincidence that approximately 650 years ago Christians in Europe decided to go around pillaging and (try to) take back the Holy Land... matter of fact, Christianity didn't really settle down until the 19th century, so I think judging Islam would be a bit harsh. I'm not sure about other religions, but perhaps every one of them goes through periods of violence and extremism at some stage in its history?
I've used "IANAL" in an email with some non-slashdot savvy friends before, and it garnered some shocked comments, let me tell you...
Miniluv.
I would comment intelligently and think about what you posted, but my mind is still trying to work around the image of the "raped from the inside" metaphor...
Man, you must have gotten really tired of typing
over and over, eh?
Joke--> ~~~X
..........o
........./|\
........./\
You-->|
Cue the "give all the v1agra they advertised to their cellmates" jokes...
--The recording industry in particular has shot itself in the foot repeatedly over the years.
It's worse than that. By this point, they may as well be wearing lead prosthetics.