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User: digsbo

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  1. More than in real life? on Racial Discrimination Affects Virtual Reality Characters Too · · Score: 2

    I wonder if some people would be *more* likely to discriminate in a VR environment than in real life, because it could let them do something morally repugnant that they wouldn't feel OK about doing in the real world.

  2. Re: Let me just be the first to say that... on FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules · · Score: 1

    99% of consumer advocacy over this was about smooth streaming. If you have evidence to show otherwise, please share it.

  3. Re:Quality of the solution. on Invented-Here Syndrome · · Score: 1

    Right. Because people who write complex business applications should also write the compiler, OS, network drivers, and so on, in monolithic one-off projects. That's probably a better way than to break things up and have people focus on smaller-scoped, reusable components. I'm pretty sure Mao tried something like that with the whole economy.

  4. Re:Quality of the solution. on Invented-Here Syndrome · · Score: 1

    The same thing that happened to the time when the only tool you needed was a rock: Cumulative technological progress.

  5. Quality of the solution. on Invented-Here Syndrome · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It comes down to the quality of the solution, versus the added headaches of managing dependencies. It's not a religious issue, but one of experience and engineering. It's also a good idea to make sure that if you're inventing something that someone else might eventually provide, you at least loosely couple it, so it can be swapped out later.

    With those thoughts in mind, don't get stuck in analysis paralysis. Use judgment and move on.

  6. Re: file transfer on Ask Slashdot: Old PC File Transfer Problem · · Score: 1

    Did ancient astronauts build those adapters?

  7. Re:Let me just be the first to say that... on FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules · · Score: 0

    Exactly. Is granting the government power over regulating access too high a price to pay to get smooth streaming? I suspect the answer is yes.

  8. Re:Not well informed on Bill Nye Disses "Regular" Software Writers' Science Knowledge · · Score: 1

    To sum up: He's not saying that developers are science illiterates, but that they're not necessarily any better outside their fields than other non-experts are.

    The one thing I'd respond to with regards to this assertion is that a lot of software engineers get exposed to complex systems. Any of your better troubleshooter types has had enough experience with a system of sufficient complexity to humble them against thinking they understand it all, and by extension they have a pretty good detector for when someone's making such a claim without backing it up. I think that's where you see a lot of the software people being critical of AGW extremism - there's a place for the attitude, "I recognize man's impact in this area, and I concede CO2 is likely a factor that's impacting the environment, but I'm not convinced you understand the system well enough to make meaningfully accurate predictions that should be allowed to drive policy".

    It's perfectly reasonable to disagree with that kind of statement, but extremist predictions that haven't panned out have undercut the legitimacy of more respectable voices, and feed rational skepticism of predictions.

  9. Re:Ha! on Fedcoin Rising? · · Score: 1

    Therefore, somebody wanting me to invest money has to make a considerably better case during deflation than inflation.

    Not really. You just don't need to chase risky crap to get 7% returns. You can be quite comfortable taking low-risk investments running 3%, and netting greater real gains.

  10. Re:Another reason contracts should not be enforcea on A123 Sues Apple For Poaching Employees · · Score: 1

    Credit ratings are an accurate analogy, not organized crime. Organized crime uses actual violence, or the threat of violence. Credit ratings simply give a number that indicates the likelihood lending money to someone is a good idea.

  11. Re:News on 800,000 Using HealthCare.gov Were Sent Incorrect Tax Data · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You should be modded insightful. The main source of bias in the press is not what's reported, but what's not reported.

  12. Re:Ha! on Fedcoin Rising? · · Score: 1

    Gresham's law is well known. That keeping money under a mattress behavior exists *because* of rampant inflation. That doesn't have *anything* to do with proving that people hoard in a stable or deflationary environment.

  13. Re:Ha! on Fedcoin Rising? · · Score: 1

    Get over your own extraordinary ignorance. The US experienced unprecedented economic growth in the 1800s when the long-term value of the dollar was tied to gold reserves, and we had mild deflation for about 100 years (yes there were short-term deviations from the gold standard, but every inflationary period was followed by a deflationary period that returned the linkage to its prior value).

  14. Re:Ha! on Fedcoin Rising? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'll give you a hint: It wouldn't be the one that's backed by a government that set up a system in which its existing currency lost 97% of its value since 1913, and is guaranteed to lose more because of stated policy going forward.

  15. Ha! on Fedcoin Rising? · · Score: 2

    It's ironic: The existence of a completely untrustable cryptocurrency will dramatically improve the credibility of more trustworthy cryptocurrencies.

  16. Re:Forget mice - consider dogs, horses, cats, and on Human DNA Enlarges Mouse Brains · · Score: 1

    Have you SEEN "Avatar"?

  17. Re:Forget mice - consider dogs, horses, cats, and on Human DNA Enlarges Mouse Brains · · Score: 1

    You pretty much just described an electrical version of MDMA (taken in unsafe doses). I agree, it's probably more of an immediate risk than believable VR. But even visuals plus rudimentary tactile feedback plus the pleasure stimulator you describe could pretty much be "close enough" to immersive VR to put many in a state of permanent incapacity outside the system.

    I'm reminded of the Logan's Run episode with the "joy" headsets.

  18. Re:Forget mice - consider dogs, horses, cats, and on Human DNA Enlarges Mouse Brains · · Score: 1

    Hopefully, there's a lot of overlap between that group and the group that's fun to hang out with.

  19. Re:Forget mice - consider dogs, horses, cats, and on Human DNA Enlarges Mouse Brains · · Score: 1

    Once people can plug in and escape via totally immersive VR, only tax payers and some religious people will still bother with the real world.

  20. Re:Forget mice - consider dogs, horses, cats, and on Human DNA Enlarges Mouse Brains · · Score: 1

    It is possible that a modified human could enjoy a qualitative advantage over normal humans comparable to the advantage normal humans have over chimps. And that sort of advantage is worth the swelled head and sore neck.

    Didn't they do a study that showed women would give up IQ for breast size? That sort of advantage, to them, being worth a swelled chest and a sore back?

  21. Re:Huh? on Obama Says He's 'A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption' · · Score: 1

    Gotcha. I have no reason to doubt what you said. I took it at face value. Just drawing a conclusion on an admittedly unrelated point based on relevant information you provided.

  22. Re:Huh? on Obama Says He's 'A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption' · · Score: 1

    Assuming what you say is true, since I believe Obama was probably about as bad as Bush, I'd conclude that the amount of golf played does not strongly correlate with the quality of leadership.

  23. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. on One Year of Data Shows the Hacker Community Is Tight-knit and Welcoming · · Score: 2

    WTF? Troll? I am saying that women were just as imaginative as men, but focused on different problem domains. That's trolling? FU, Slashdot SJWs. I am so sick of this bullshit. Apparently noticing men have greater muscle mass on average than women is now sexist.

  24. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. on One Year of Data Shows the Hacker Community Is Tight-knit and Welcoming · · Score: 1

    It doesn't have to be all male. The kinds of things make spaces support are not necessarily only suited to adult male muscle mass. In fact, I'd wager most of it does not.

  25. That's the whole point of the presidency. on Obama Says He's 'A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption' · · Score: 1

    Ever notice that the president is limited to two terms, but Congress is not? Isn't it rather convenient that for the consistently bad ratings Congress gets, it always seems to be Obamas or Bushes who get the blame and the ire? I suspect that if not by design, that dynamic is now essentially relied on by the Congress.