An ironic consequence of evolution seems to me that humans, who are widely considered the most advanced stage in that evolution, show a natural tendency to trust their gut feeling, which tells them that there has to be some deity to explain how we got here, rather than use their brain, which would help them understand the more logical explanation of evolution theory.
The simple reason may be that trusting your gut feeling takes less energy ('hurts less') than using your brain.
Why would I complain about Linux in a topic about Microsoft being fined?
"Microsoft don't have to share the details."
And you seem okay with that. Are you defending Microsoft? I think their position is that they don't have to share anything. Luckily, our commisioner has a different opinion.
"Why would you be compensated for being a really dumb person?"
That is - apart from a rather crude attempt at criticism - an interesting point. Apparently, having to do something even if there are things about it you don't like is a measure of a person's intelligence.
This opens up vast categories of people for you to dislike and feel superior to. Taxpayers, kids who do chores, all very stupid. You seem like a nice person.
I have to use Windows. Apart from the countless days I have spent restoring and re-installing applications and partitions and finding remedies for bugs and design flaws, I have lost hundreds of hours moving data from NTFS to FAT32 or EXT3 and vice versa, because I can't attach my NTFS formatted external drives to my NAT devices, as M$ refuses to share the details.
I see this fine as compensation for all those lost hours. Where can I claim my part?
However, they are still looking for an explanation of the fact that people closest to GWB are the most affected. Normal vision often appears to be restored soon after they are removed from his office.
Transcript of an intercepted phone call between Washington DC and an undisclosed location, end of 2006.
... Forget about it George, you really f*cked up too many times. The next president will be a Democrit, nothing we can do about it now... ... Not so fast!... ... Hey, that you, Dick?
(A muffled voice)... Whahh! How about this idea. We start a surge in Iraq to create an illusion of winning the war. Meanwhile, we force an incident with Iran... ... Incident? You mean like one of those little boats attacking our fleet? It just might work... or else we will have to come up with another idea. By the way, you inside that safe again? ... Whahh! If that doesn't work, we can let the intelligence guys explain how Iran could produce a nucelar bomb within say a year... The old WMD trick. ... Go on... ... Of course, our candidates will have to start supporting George, the war and the surge. That way, when the sh*t hits the fan, they will look like the only people who can protect us... unlike the cut-and-run cowards cross the isle. Whahh! ... Sounds like a plan. But we need to cut off Iran's communications to make sure the attack is over before they know what hit them. I don't care what happens after John is inaugurated... ... So John it is? You know he will have to eat sh*t and kiss our b*tts to get the nomination... think he will? ... Let me see what I can do. ... Hey, I think I know a way to cut those communication lines. Lemme check with some of my old friends at Halli. Whahh! ... Later Dick. Oh, and you George.
It may seem presumptuous for a European to want to have a say in the US presidential election process, but after what you people pulled the last two times, making the incredible mr. Blunderpants president of the world's only superpower and repeating this after four years of his comedy capers, I feel the rest of the world is owed someone halfway suited for the job this time around. After all, when an American president poops his pants, most of the shit lands all over the world.
At least this time people seem more willing to show up and be counted. Democracy works better if you do not leave the voting to the fanatics and idiots.
As far as I can judge from over here, the only candidate with enough decency and intelligence to repair some of the damage to our planet seems to be Obama. The Daily Show will probably be a lot less funny with him in the White House, but that is a price I am willing to pay.
At the risk of sliding off into OT territory, some points made about the Dutch political system probably need clarification. The Dutch consider their liberal party VVD to represent a conservative or capitalist point of view and do not view them as left wing or bleeding heart; quite the opposite. Our 'liberals' would likely vote Republican in the States.
Mrs Kroes, the commissioner who made MS bleed, is all the more effective as an antitrust fighter because she knows from past experience how board rooms operate. Apparently, it is possible to be a capitalist and believe that corporations should behave properly.
I agree that our system, imperfect though it may be, seems to at least resemble something like a democracy.
"By a process of elimination, we have found out that you are not an A or B class human being. So now we can do with you as we please."
The fact that CERTAIN people (suicide bombers, beheaders) do horrible things, does not give you the right to consider OTHER people as second rate.
This seems very hard to grasp for some people, but the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are most likely NOT all criminals. In fact, none of us can determine how many of them are guilty of anything, as the US has made it impossible for them to get a decent trial and for us to be a witness to that.
Most Americans are probably such decent people, that they simply cannot accept the real facts anymore when they are - on rare occasions - presented to them. Not only are they swimming in boiling water, but when a visitor in the kitchen points out the fact that someone is cooking you alive, you doubt his motives for upsetting you.
Your first point underlines the problem with the current ID versus science debate. Science can show what is wrong with the ID "theory" by applying logic, while the believers can only point to a book of shady origins that has been edited numerous times over the ages, but according to them should be considered the ultimate and non-debatable truth.
Galileo was a scientist, his opponents tried to drag him into a religious debate. That does not make the affair religious, it was just the way it was portrayed in a time and culture that saw religion in everything.
Your second point concerns a problem within the scientific world itself. People with a greater mind than others will often be opposed, even ridiculed during their lifetime by most of their peers, who are less visionary or simply less intelligent.
Of course, we can still have fun imagining the world is flat after all, and George W. is really a highly sophisticated guy who is in no way a descendant of apes.
I remember how shocked I was as a kid to learn about the way great minds like Galileo Galilei were once prosecuted for showing signs of intelligence and not accepting stupidity sold as the word of god. And how relieved I was about the progress humankind had made since. Little did I know that I would live to see the day when talking chimps rule the world, or at least the USA, and anyone demonstrating signs of intelligence is suspect again.
Here is another point I miss in the e-mail/postcard analogy.
Even if you accept that e-mail is more like a postcard than a sealed envelope (which I agree is a false analogy and used as an excuse to erode our expectations of privacy), how does that justify routinely reading messages? Post office workers may read the occasional postcard for a laugh, but who would expect a government (or any other organisation) to routinely copy every postcard and scan it for illegal or suspect content?
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Shouldn't that be FLEE?
Which makes it sound like an advise.
The simple reason may be that trusting your gut feeling takes less energy ('hurts less') than using your brain.
Why would I complain about Linux in a topic about Microsoft being fined?
"Microsoft don't have to share the details."
And you seem okay with that. Are you defending Microsoft? I think their position is that they don't have to share anything. Luckily, our commisioner has a different opinion.
"Why would you be compensated for being a really dumb person?"
That is - apart from a rather crude attempt at criticism - an interesting point. Apparently, having to do something even if there are things about it you don't like is a measure of a person's intelligence. This opens up vast categories of people for you to dislike and feel superior to. Taxpayers, kids who do chores, all very stupid. You seem like a nice person.
Hint: some people have to help others who use Windows. That is hard to do without using Windows.
Oops. That was a typo, I meant to say NAS devices. I have several and not one of them can write to NTFS drives, only read from them.
I see this fine as compensation for all those lost hours. Where can I claim my part?
Thanks. And if you happen to see Colin Powell in your amateur psychology club, ask him if he still sees those WMD's he believed existed.
No doubt we will be found out to have had a distorted view of this great president, in the future 'when history was written'. (Quote: GWB)
However, they are still looking for an explanation of the fact that people closest to GWB are the most affected. Normal vision often appears to be restored soon after they are removed from his office.
Transcript of an intercepted phone call between Washington DC and an undisclosed location, end of 2006.
... Forget about it George, you really f*cked up too many times. The next president will be a Democrit, nothing we can do about it now...
... Not so fast!...
... Hey, that you, Dick?
... Incident? You mean like one of those little boats attacking our fleet? It just might work... or else we will have to come up with another idea. By the way, you inside that safe again?
... Whahh! If that doesn't work, we can let the intelligence guys explain how Iran could produce a nucelar bomb within say a year... The old WMD trick.
... Go on...
... Of course, our candidates will have to start supporting George, the war and the surge. That way, when the sh*t hits the fan, they will look like the only people who can protect us... unlike the cut-and-run cowards cross the isle. Whahh!
... Sounds like a plan. But we need to cut off Iran's communications to make sure the attack is over before they know what hit them. I don't care what happens after John is inaugurated...
... So John it is? You know he will have to eat sh*t and kiss our b*tts to get the nomination... think he will?
... Let me see what I can do.
... Hey, I think I know a way to cut those communication lines. Lemme check with some of my old friends at Halli. Whahh!
... Later Dick. Oh, and you George.
(A muffled voice)... Whahh! How about this idea. We start a surge in Iraq to create an illusion of winning the war. Meanwhile, we force an incident with Iran...
(end of transcript)
It may seem presumptuous for a European to want to have a say in the US presidential election process, but after what you people pulled the last two times, making the incredible mr. Blunderpants president of the world's only superpower and repeating this after four years of his comedy capers, I feel the rest of the world is owed someone halfway suited for the job this time around. After all, when an American president poops his pants, most of the shit lands all over the world.
At least this time people seem more willing to show up and be counted. Democracy works better if you do not leave the voting to the fanatics and idiots.
As far as I can judge from over here, the only candidate with enough decency and intelligence to repair some of the damage to our planet seems to be Obama. The Daily Show will probably be a lot less funny with him in the White House, but that is a price I am willing to pay.
At the risk of sliding off into OT territory, some points made about the Dutch political system probably need clarification. The Dutch consider their liberal party VVD to represent a conservative or capitalist point of view and do not view them as left wing or bleeding heart; quite the opposite. Our 'liberals' would likely vote Republican in the States.
Mrs Kroes, the commissioner who made MS bleed, is all the more effective as an antitrust fighter because she knows from past experience how board rooms operate. Apparently, it is possible to be a capitalist and believe that corporations should behave properly.
I agree that our system, imperfect though it may be, seems to at least resemble something like a democracy.
"By a process of elimination, we have found out that you are not an A or B class human being. So now we can do with you as we please." The fact that CERTAIN people (suicide bombers, beheaders) do horrible things, does not give you the right to consider OTHER people as second rate. This seems very hard to grasp for some people, but the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are most likely NOT all criminals. In fact, none of us can determine how many of them are guilty of anything, as the US has made it impossible for them to get a decent trial and for us to be a witness to that.
Most Americans are probably such decent people, that they simply cannot accept the real facts anymore when they are - on rare occasions - presented to them. Not only are they swimming in boiling water, but when a visitor in the kitchen points out the fact that someone is cooking you alive, you doubt his motives for upsetting you.
Your first point underlines the problem with the current ID versus science debate. Science can show what is wrong with the ID "theory" by applying logic, while the believers can only point to a book of shady origins that has been edited numerous times over the ages, but according to them should be considered the ultimate and non-debatable truth. Galileo was a scientist, his opponents tried to drag him into a religious debate. That does not make the affair religious, it was just the way it was portrayed in a time and culture that saw religion in everything. Your second point concerns a problem within the scientific world itself. People with a greater mind than others will often be opposed, even ridiculed during their lifetime by most of their peers, who are less visionary or simply less intelligent. Of course, we can still have fun imagining the world is flat after all, and George W. is really a highly sophisticated guy who is in no way a descendant of apes.
I remember how shocked I was as a kid to learn about the way great minds like Galileo Galilei were once prosecuted for showing signs of intelligence and not accepting stupidity sold as the word of god. And how relieved I was about the progress humankind had made since. Little did I know that I would live to see the day when talking chimps rule the world, or at least the USA, and anyone demonstrating signs of intelligence is suspect again.
Here is another point I miss in the e-mail/postcard analogy. Even if you accept that e-mail is more like a postcard than a sealed envelope (which I agree is a false analogy and used as an excuse to erode our expectations of privacy), how does that justify routinely reading messages? Post office workers may read the occasional postcard for a laugh, but who would expect a government (or any other organisation) to routinely copy every postcard and scan it for illegal or suspect content?