I sent them a very similar letter. They sent me back a form letter. A week later I got a nice cup from them in the mail. So far they have lost about $200 worth of my business. They've also lost a LOT more than that from various friends and family I've convinced to join the boycott.
When I said "assuming this is true" I was referring to the article, NOT to my previous statement about Bill Gates being The AntiChrist. Clearly Marilyn Manson has him beat on that position:) www.marilynmanson.net antichrist or not, the guy is definitly an interesting artist.
How did this world get so messed up? Maybe Bill Gates REALLY is The AntiChrist:)
Ok, so assuming this is true, and in light of Echelon and all of the other strange stuff the NSA/CIA/FBI/ATF gets accused of, what is the better method of doing things? How should these organizations be operating in a free society in which computers and networking are an every day part of life? Or better yet: How should these organizations run to prevent Fascism 2.0 from taking over the world?
Here is part of a paper I wrote awhile back on memes and how changes in communication technologies effects their behavior:
Like living systems, memes compete with one another as well as form symbiotic relationships known in Meme Theory as co-memes. Co-memes usually exist as part of larger system known as a meme-complex. (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MEMLEX.html) These meme-complexes form the world view of individuals, which in turn define their cultural belief system. Essentially memes are the building blocks of thought and of culture. If the mind is viewed in the terms of a computer, memes are the programs which define how the computer operates. For a meme to be successful it must spread itself to as many individuals as possible. Unlike genes which can only be spread vertically (from parent to offspring) memes can also be transmitted horizontally (from individual to individual). Memes are most efficiently spread horizontally using communications technology; thus the ability of memes to spread themselves is inherently linked with advancements in communications technology. The memes which encode a motivation for their own propagation are the most likely to be spread resulting in a kind of non-organic evolution of meme-complexes. This memetic evolutionary process is accelerated as communications technology increases the rate and capacity of meme transmission. Prior to Gutenburg's invention of the printing press and movable type, most memes were spread by word of mouth. Memes encoded in book form were rare and largely under the control of religious leaders. After Gutenburg's advancements the memes formerly under the control of religious leaders could be spread much more freely. This resulted in an acceleration in the rate of memetic evolution as well as the release of formerly controlled meme-complexes into the general population leading to a revolution of 15th century Europe. Like genes, mutations can also occur in memes. A classic example is the children's game known as Telephone: Someone starts with a phrase which is whispered to one person who then whispers it to the person next to them until the phrase has been passed through everyone in the room. As the meme is whispered from person to person it is mutated through poor communication, individuals intentionally altering it, or by a variety of other causes. By the time the final person repeats the original meme back it has been mutated so many times it is no longer recognizable to it's originator. Meme Theory defines this mutation phenomena as memetic drift. Meme-complexes which encode resistance to memetic drift tend to be the most successful. The advancement of communications technology typically increases the rate of memetic drift while advancements in information storage technology generally slows the rate of memetic drift. In the case of Gutenburg's break-through in book production both of these technologies were advanced resulting in a mixed effect. The increase in communication caused by mass produced books allowed memes encoded in the bible to infect more people, but without the strict control imposed by religious leaders those memes were transmitted more frequently and extensively making them more prone to mutations. These mutations resulted in a fragmentation of the christian meme-complex. At the same time, new memes transmitted through books post-Gutenburg were less likely to mutate than if they were spread verbally because of the advancement mass-produced books created in information storage capacity. It is only those memes encoded in books prior to the Gutenburg press that were most prone to increased mutation. Like the immune and self-defense systems of complex living organisms, successful meme-complexes have similar mechanisms for defending themselves against competing memes. This self-defense mechanism in meme-complexes is encoded as what Meme Theory calls an immuno-meme. The immuno-meme operates by encoding how the meme-complex should behave towards new memes encountered by the host. (Grant, 1990 ). Memeticist Glenn Grant defines some common immuno-memes in his Memetic Lexicon: Conservatism: Automatically resist all new memes. Orthodoxy: Automatically reject all new memes. Science: Test new memes for theoretical consistency and(where applicable) empirical repeatability; continually re-assess old memes; accept schemes only conditionally, pending future re-assessment. An excellent example of an immuno-meme encoded in text is Revelation 22:18-19: 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. This warning from God serves as the primary immuno-meme to protect the christianity meme-complex from infection by other memes while encoded in book form. Unfortunately this immuno-meme only works on those who accept that the Christian Bible is the word of God. This has resulted in many new memes infecting the christian meme-complex. Advances in communications technology have allowed many smaller meme-complexes to evolve into a cohesive larger meme-complex. The development of push media has been primarily responsible. Push media can be seen as communications technology which allows communications in one direction and restricts communication in the other direction. Newspapers and books can, to some extent, be seen as push media. However, the first true push media form of communication was the radio. The radio allowed broadcasters to transmit memes to new hosts without risking those hosts transmitting their memes back. It allowed memes to be spread into the general population from the broadcasters and limited the ability of those in the general population to infect the broadcasters with new memes. The most revolutionary advancement in push media has been the development of television. Television has become the ultimate tool for memetic infection. Primarily this is because meme transmission through television reaches so many people but also because that transmission is largely under the control of one large meme-complex. Television is so effective as a meme infection tool because, like all push media technologies, it only sends memes one way. Like radio the meme-complex being attacked by a meme through television has very limited abilities to counter-attack.
This has resulted in a huge disparity in the spread of meme-complexes which do have access to television as a distribution medium and those that do not. The evolutionary principle "survival of the fittest" dictates that meme-complexes which don't use television to spread will become infected and be assimilated into the meme-complex which does use television for meme distribution. Because nearly every aspect of TV is under the control of large corporations virtually all meme-complexes in America and around the world have been exposed to their memes, most have been infected. While this has generally accelerated the rate of memetic evolution world wide it has also led to the emergence of a large meme-complex system, Corporate Globalism. The primary method used by the Corporate Globalism meme-complex to infect hosts using push media (television and radio) has been through commercials. The most important new communications technology to be developed since the printing-press is the internet. It combines all previous methods of communication into one medium. Video, audio, images, and text can all be transmitted over the internet. And unlike television and radio transmission is not one-directional, anyone with access to the internet has the ability to both send and receive memes. The internet also increase the ability to store and access information. Memes can be encoded in a web page and sit dormant for a virtually indefinite amount of time, waiting to be accessed by anyone who stumbles across them. The internet is the ultimate tool for memetic evolution. Communications over the internet, unlike through television, are not controlled by the Corporate Globalism meme-complex. This has resulted in many new memes infecting hosts of the Corporate Globalism meme-complex. The improved communications ability provided by the internet has allowed separate meme-complexes competitive to the Corporate Globalism meme-complex to evolve into new and larger meme-complexes as well as infect many new hosts. As access to the internet becomes more common, and television merges into the internet, these trends will continue to accelerate resulting in a single new meme-complex system competitive to the Corporate Globalism meme-complex. A distinct parallel can be found between the effects of Gutenburg's inventions and the internet. In Gutenburg's era, society was dominated by a meme-complex based on the control and regulation of information. Gutenburg's printing press took that control away from that dominate meme-complex system, the power to spread information from books was released from their control. In the same way the Corporate Globalism meme-complex is built on the control and regulation of memes through television. As the internet takes away the power from the dominate meme-complex and gives it to anyone with access to the internet a revolution similar to that of 15th century Europe is beginning to occur globally.
Why don't we make a counter-law to this fascist crap illegal? They want to make what we do illegal and take away our rights, why don't we try to make what THEY do illegal and take away their rights? There was a thing about OpenLaw a few days ago, couldn't that work for something like this?
It's just sad to see someone who just doesn't seem to get IT. We have to remember though, these people are relics from another era. They are the old guard on their way out. As long as we keep up the fight for more Open technologies, we will defeat them in the long run. Mr. Valenti, if 6 billion people demand something, neither you nor the greedy corporations you work for can ever stop them. Too bad no where near 6 billion people have internet access yet.
I agree with you that a lot of people have outspoken ideas of what certain decisions should be. But a lot of people also have feelings about how the law should function, certainly not as many as have opinions about decisions but still a significant amount.
A lot of people have a reasonable understanding of the basics of how law should function. We are exposed to it all the time in our media saturated culture. I think OpenLaw will work out fine, the best lawyers, those professionally trained, will no doubt contribute the most. But it will also allow the rest of us with minimal understandings of the law to still contribute if we can. That's about how it is with OpenSource, if you can make a worthwile contribution, it doesn't matter if you spent 6 years at MIT or 6 months dropping acid and playing around with Perl every weekend, if you can write some good code, you can write some good code. Same goes for law. Just keep it all Open and it'll evolve into something better and better.
This seems inspired by Bulworth. If you haven't seen it, Warren Beatty plays a Senator who goes a little nuts and stops being a corporate sell out and turns into a rapper. Warren Beatty rapping is hilarious. I think any movie that Warren Beatty raps in would be good, it is that funny. Bulworth also has a really good social message in it.
I guess it makes me glad I haven't bought a nice DVD drive yet. This is probably the reason so many corporations have not adopted the DVD for their movies yet, they were invested in this. That WORM stuff sounds bad. I wonder how Open this thing will be.
slashdot does have looser journalistic standards than many other sites, but that is part of what makes slashdot slashdot. people just need to understand that journalists are not perfect, you can not take everything they say as The Truth. anyone dumb enough to blindly accept what they are told unfortuntly probably deserves what they get. people need to take some responsibility to think for themselves, to educate themselves and to not blindly accept other peoples interpretations of reality. simple as that.
I met Carmack once too. He seemed cool, I shook his hand and said that it was an honor to meet him, he seemed a little embarassed. I don't remember his head seeming unusually round or his ego being big or whatever, he seemed pretty friendly especially considering I kinda just wondered into his office (the door was open!). He is short and skinny I guess, this might sound weird but he seemed very snake-like to me. His face made me think of a snake for some reason. If he does have a really big ego, I think he's probably earned it.
Slashdot Mirror
I sent them a very similar letter. They sent me back a form letter. A week later I got a nice cup from them in the mail. So far they have lost about $200 worth of my business. They've also lost a LOT more than that from various friends and family I've convinced to join the boycott.
When I said "assuming this is true" I was referring to the article, NOT to my previous statement about Bill Gates being The AntiChrist. Clearly Marilyn Manson has him beat on that position :)
www.marilynmanson.net
antichrist or not, the guy is definitly an interesting artist.
How did this world get so messed up? Maybe Bill Gates REALLY is The AntiChrist :)
Ok, so assuming this is true, and in light of Echelon and all of the other strange stuff the NSA/CIA/FBI/ATF gets accused of, what is the better method of doing things? How should these organizations be operating in a free society in which computers and networking are an every day part of life? Or better yet: How should these organizations run to prevent Fascism 2.0 from taking over the world?
This happens to me all the time too. Not sure why, but whatever. I don't let it bother me.
that will be amazingly ironic if the UK uses the WTO to get UCITA laws overturned in America.
"It is better to die standing than to live on your knees."
I can't remember who said that, but whoever they are, they kicked a lot of ass.
Here is part of a paper I wrote awhile back on memes and how changes in communication technologies effects their behavior:
Like living systems, memes compete with one another as well as form symbiotic relationships known in Meme Theory as co-memes. Co-memes usually exist as part of larger system known as a meme-complex. (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MEMLEX.html) These meme-complexes form the world view of individuals, which in turn define their cultural belief system. Essentially memes are the building blocks of thought and of culture. If the mind is viewed in the terms of a computer, memes are the programs which define how the computer operates.
For a meme to be successful it must spread itself to as many individuals as possible. Unlike genes which can only be spread vertically (from parent to offspring) memes can also be transmitted horizontally (from individual to individual). Memes are most efficiently spread horizontally using communications technology; thus the ability of memes to spread themselves is inherently linked with advancements in communications technology.
The memes which encode a motivation for their own propagation are the most likely to be spread resulting in a kind of non-organic evolution of meme-complexes. This memetic evolutionary process is accelerated as communications technology increases the rate and capacity of meme transmission.
Prior to Gutenburg's invention of the printing press and movable type, most memes were spread by word of mouth. Memes encoded in book form were rare and largely under the control of religious leaders. After Gutenburg's advancements the memes formerly under the control of religious leaders could be spread much more freely. This resulted in an acceleration in the rate of memetic evolution as well as the release of formerly controlled meme-complexes into the general population leading to a revolution of 15th century Europe.
Like genes, mutations can also occur in memes. A classic example is the children's game known as Telephone: Someone starts with a phrase which is whispered to one person who then whispers it to the person next to them until the phrase has been passed through everyone in the room. As the meme is whispered from person to person it is mutated through poor communication, individuals intentionally altering it, or by a variety of other causes. By the time the final person repeats the original meme back it has been mutated so many times it is no longer recognizable to it's originator. Meme Theory defines this mutation phenomena as memetic drift. Meme-complexes which encode resistance to memetic drift tend to be the most successful.
The advancement of communications technology typically increases the rate of memetic drift while advancements in information storage technology generally slows the rate of memetic drift. In the case of Gutenburg's break-through in book production both of these technologies were advanced resulting in a mixed effect. The increase in communication caused by mass produced books allowed memes encoded in the bible to infect more people, but without the strict control imposed by religious leaders those memes were transmitted more frequently and extensively making them more prone to mutations. These mutations resulted in a fragmentation of the christian meme-complex. At the same time, new memes transmitted through books post-Gutenburg were less likely to mutate than if they were spread verbally because of the advancement mass-produced books created in information storage capacity. It is only those memes encoded in books prior to the Gutenburg press that were most prone to increased mutation.
Like the immune and self-defense systems of complex living organisms, successful meme-complexes have similar mechanisms for defending themselves against competing memes. This self-defense mechanism in meme-complexes is encoded as what Meme Theory calls an immuno-meme. The immuno-meme operates by encoding how the meme-complex should behave towards new memes encountered by the host. (Grant, 1990 ). Memeticist Glenn Grant defines some common immuno-memes in his Memetic Lexicon:
Conservatism: Automatically resist all new memes.
Orthodoxy: Automatically reject all new memes. Science: Test new memes for theoretical consistency and(where applicable) empirical repeatability; continually re-assess old memes; accept schemes only conditionally, pending future re-assessment.
An excellent example of an immuno-meme encoded in text is Revelation 22:18-19:
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
This warning from God serves as the primary immuno-meme to protect the christianity meme-complex from infection by other memes while encoded in book form. Unfortunately this immuno-meme only works on those who accept that the Christian Bible is the word of God. This has resulted in many new memes infecting the christian meme-complex.
Advances in communications technology have allowed many smaller meme-complexes to evolve into a cohesive larger meme-complex. The development of push media has been primarily responsible. Push media can be seen as communications technology which allows communications in one direction and restricts communication in the other direction. Newspapers and books can, to some extent, be seen as push media. However, the first true push media form of communication was the radio. The radio allowed broadcasters to transmit memes to new hosts without risking those hosts transmitting their memes back. It allowed memes to be spread into the general population from the broadcasters and limited the ability of those in the general population to infect the broadcasters with new memes.
The most revolutionary advancement in push media has been the development of television. Television has become the ultimate tool for memetic infection. Primarily this is because meme transmission through television reaches so many people but also because that transmission is largely under the control of one large meme-complex. Television is so effective as a meme infection tool because, like all push media technologies, it only sends memes one way. Like radio the meme-complex being attacked by a meme through television has very limited abilities to counter-attack.
This has resulted in a huge disparity in the spread of meme-complexes which do have access to television as a distribution medium and those that do not.
The evolutionary principle "survival of the fittest" dictates that meme-complexes which don't use television to spread will become infected and be assimilated into the meme-complex which does use television for meme distribution. Because nearly every aspect of TV is under the control of large corporations virtually all meme-complexes in America and around the world have been exposed to their memes, most have been infected. While this has generally accelerated the rate of memetic evolution world wide it has also led to the emergence of a large meme-complex system, Corporate Globalism. The primary method used by the Corporate Globalism meme-complex to infect hosts using push media (television and radio) has been through commercials.
The most important new communications technology to be developed since the printing-press is the internet. It combines all previous methods of communication into one medium. Video, audio, images, and text can all be transmitted over the internet. And unlike television and radio transmission is not one-directional, anyone with access to the internet has the ability to both send and receive memes. The internet also increase the ability to store and access information. Memes can be encoded in a web page and sit dormant for a virtually indefinite amount of time, waiting to be accessed by anyone who stumbles across them. The internet is the ultimate tool for memetic evolution.
Communications over the internet, unlike through television, are not controlled by the Corporate Globalism meme-complex. This has resulted in many new memes infecting hosts of the Corporate Globalism meme-complex. The improved communications ability provided by the internet has allowed separate meme-complexes competitive to the Corporate Globalism meme-complex to evolve into new and larger meme-complexes as well as infect many new hosts. As access to the internet becomes more common, and television merges into the internet, these trends will continue to accelerate resulting in a single new meme-complex system competitive to the Corporate Globalism meme-complex.
A distinct parallel can be found between the effects of Gutenburg's inventions and the internet. In Gutenburg's era, society was dominated by a meme-complex based on the control and regulation of information. Gutenburg's printing press took that control away from that dominate meme-complex system, the power to spread information from books was released from their control. In the same way the Corporate Globalism meme-complex is built on the control and regulation of memes through television. As the internet takes away the power from the dominate meme-complex and gives it to anyone with access to the internet a revolution similar to that of 15th century Europe is beginning to occur globally.
You should go check out pcp.lanl.gov/MEMES.html
Why don't we make a counter-law to this fascist crap illegal? They want to make what we do illegal and take away our rights, why don't we try to make what THEY do illegal and take away their rights? There was a thing about OpenLaw a few days ago, couldn't that work for something like this?
Fascism 2.0 has infected the system.
Infect your mind: http://pcp.lanl.gov/MEMES.html
It's just sad to see someone who just doesn't seem to get IT. We have to remember though, these people are relics from another era. They are the old guard on their way out. As long as we keep up the fight for more Open technologies, we will defeat them in the long run. Mr. Valenti, if 6 billion people demand something, neither you nor the greedy corporations you work for can ever stop them. Too bad no where near 6 billion people have internet access yet.
it will suck if we have to do this just to defeat the cable monopolies.
I agree with you that a lot of people have outspoken ideas of what certain decisions should be. But a lot of people also have feelings about how the law should function, certainly not as many as have opinions about decisions but still a significant amount.
A lot of people have a reasonable understanding of the basics of how law should function. We are exposed to it all the time in our media saturated culture. I think OpenLaw will work out fine, the best lawyers, those professionally trained, will no doubt contribute the most. But it will also allow the rest of us with minimal understandings of the law to still contribute if we can. That's about how it is with OpenSource, if you can make a worthwile contribution, it doesn't matter if you spent 6 years at MIT or 6 months dropping acid and playing around with Perl every weekend, if you can write some good code, you can write some good code. Same goes for law. Just keep it all Open and it'll evolve into something better and better.
http://www.latimes.com/cgi-bin/archsearch-cgi?D
There is little justice when the police are criminals.
This seems inspired by Bulworth. If you haven't seen it, Warren Beatty plays a Senator who goes a little nuts and stops being a corporate sell out and turns into a rapper. Warren Beatty rapping is hilarious. I think any movie that Warren Beatty raps in would be good, it is that funny. Bulworth also has a really good social message in it.
It's coming :)
we will assimilate them.
I guess it makes me glad I haven't bought a nice DVD drive yet. This is probably the reason so many corporations have not adopted the DVD for their movies yet, they were invested in this. That WORM stuff sounds bad. I wonder how Open this thing will be.
it happens all the time to me. just shrug it off and keep on submitting articles :(
If you treat people as children they will remain children. I believe those people deserve to be treated the same as intelligent people.
slashdot does have looser journalistic standards than many other sites, but that is part of what makes slashdot slashdot. people just need to understand that journalists are not perfect, you can not take everything they say as The Truth. anyone dumb enough to blindly accept what they are told unfortuntly probably deserves what they get. people need to take some responsibility to think for themselves, to educate themselves and to not blindly accept other peoples interpretations of reality. simple as that.
A coincedence perhaps but today Disinfo.com put this online:
i kola+Tesla%3A+Man+Out+Of+Time
http://www.disinfo.com/disinfo?p=folder&title=N
I met Carmack once too. He seemed cool, I shook his hand and said that it was an honor to meet him, he seemed a little embarassed. I don't remember his head seeming unusually round or his ego being big or whatever, he seemed pretty friendly especially considering I kinda just wondered into his office (the door was open!). He is short and skinny I guess, this might sound weird but he seemed very snake-like to me. His face made me think of a snake for some reason. If he does have a really big ego, I think he's probably earned it.