you have aparently been taught a different version of history than me. I was taught that the colonists hated the king. I don't understand how you mention the civil war, that was after the colonists rebelled.
I believe in this situation the same thing applies. Everyone respects the institution of law. The idea of a law based society makes sense for our civilization. The issue is where do these laws come from and how are they used. Are they popular laws created and enforced by the people, or are the laws imposed upon the people. In the case of the birth of America as a free country and of the United States, the laws were imposed by the King and his minions to profit themselves. The people woke up and decided they weren't gonna take getting shafted by the King anymore so they got rid of him and built their own governments. And in the case of DeCSS, UCITA, etc. the laws are imposed by Corporations and their minions. People are starting to wake up.
output: why not a laser beam that projects the image into your eye? or a nice headset style deal, like the Sony Glasstron headsets? eventually, direct interface, possibly using nanites. input: speech to replace the keyboard. hand sensors or eye tracking could replace the mouse. eventually input could controlled somehow through the direct brain intereface.
I think the reason discussions here are like that is because a lot of people are finally just now waking up to the fact that a corporate dominated world is not a very nice place. In the past less people realized just how evil corporations are.
Couldn't the argument be made that Slashdot sponges off of other sites which people have invested money in? I've read an article on Feedmag.com that claimed as much. I can understand Big Bad Corporate America's point of view in wanting to stop iCrave. But really, it doesn't make any sense. Why don't they do what Corporations normally do when someone beats them at their own game, why don't they buy out iCrave? I can also understand iCraves position, the shows have been broadcast, plenty of cable companies insert their own advertisements into the stream, why shouldn't they be able to do the same thing except on the internet? It makes sense. I think the TV industry is just scared of the internet. They have pretty strict regulations about mentioning the internet on TV. There was a recent series of Nike commercials that told people to go look at a Nike web page to choose their own ending to the commercial they just watched. The Corporations that control TV refused to play it. They made Nike change the commercials around so that they didn't tell people not to watch TV. The people who run the TV industry are terrified that the Internet will destroy their industry.
Aren't they in essense trying to compell him to testify? Trying to force him to tell them how to decrypt his property? If you ask me this whole thing seems very fascist. Especially the government saying Mitnick can no longer use a computer. How the hell is he supposed to survive in the 21st century if using a computer is a crime? He'll have to go move to a cabin in Montana. Computers are the future, making it illegal for someone to use them is no different than in a past era, making it illegal for someone to read and write words. Imagine a hypothetical situation, the Gutenburg press has been recently invented. The government decides they don't like you. They make it illegal for you to have anything to do with books. You can not read books. You can not write books. You can not study books. The written word is off-limits to you. You are stuck with verbal communication. Is that not fascism?
I dunno why someone tried to moderate this down and mark it as flamebait. That is exactly what this argument is about: CENSORSHIP. Using power to quell unpopular ideas. I do not believe this post is flamebait. I believe censorship is an abuse of power and erodes the integral right of all citizens, free speech.
This "flamebait" is topical and is in no way inflamatory other than that it is posted by someone associated with unpopular beliefs.
My Flameless Reply:
Infotech, clearly there is some cohesion in the elite of society, they obviously share a common culture (among many other things). You blame this systemic self-interest on some silly racial nonsense when in fact it's mainly a class issue. Through flaws in The System, corporations (ie The Rich and Ultra Rich of the upper class) have come to dominate society, destroy democracy, rape the planet, erode freedoms, etc. That is my opinion, it's possible I am wrong, maybe The Corporations are right, Money is god and all humans are greedy:) One thing I do know for sure: Racism doesn't make sense to Open Minded people. The sooner you figure that out, that better off you will be.
What do you mean ALMOST as complex? And how do you know how vague their consciousness is? Chimps share something like 98% of their DNA with humans. They might be smaller than us and their brains/bodies are arranged differently than us, but really, can you really say they are less complex than us? And we have such limited understandings of just HOW conscious they actually are. It's recently been proven that different chimp tribes have unique cultures and government. Their tribal system is very similar to primitive human tribes. They also have the ability to communicate a lot of info, share ideas, etc. Several captive chimps have been taught sign language and have done a pretty damn good job of communicating themselves. I personally believe if a few sign language speaking chimps could be released into the wild and accepted into a chimp tribe it's very likely that in a few years we'd have jungles filled with chimps who could communicate with us. Assuming the annihilation of their habitat stops.
The ISP itself is an add for the Fox TV network and for it's show The Simpsons. Who would use such an ISP but someone who had heard of the TV show? Now thing, you live in some hick town, everyone you know is getting on the internet. You see this ISP, hey what do you know IT'S FREE! I just have to click on a few ads, no big deal. And hmm, it's called The Simpsons like that TV show. And pretty soon you are watching that TV show or your kids are watching it. Not to mention the fact that many free ISPs keep track of what sites you visit. Data mining for whoever has the cash to pay for the data. It would be nice if we could figure out a way to make the internet free to anyone and everyone without the evil that corporations bring.
Advertising will never end, it is an integral component of the current system. You take away the constant brainwashing and the drones will start to wake up. I really don't think they want the drones to wake up.
"In a capitalist system, dumbing down of the consumers cannot happen."
So we apparently do not live in a capitalist system then 'eh? Or perhaps you are just out of touch with reality...
"You see, in capitalism the "dumbed" people would soon find out that they can't get a job"
No I do not see. Why can't dumb people get jobs? Has it been decided that corporations will now only emply people who are not dumb? I apparently missed that one, along with the millions of dumb people who have jobs in this country. Tell me Esperandi, do you have a job?
I can back this up with some logical reasoning. Dumb people are more susceptible to influence. It is easier to persuade the less intelligent that your product is the best because it has SuperCool NewTechnology MegaValue. Propaganda is most effective against those who are not able to see it for what it is. Thus dumb people are much more influenced by mass media than the more intelligent members of society. Mass media is inundated with primarily one meta-meme, CONSUME: Spend money on THIS. Because of this (and other less important factors not addressed here) dumb people spend more money than the intelligent. They are easier to convince to part with their money, to spend more than they actually have (ie credit card debt), to buy things they don't actually need. The Corporations favorite children.
"Ahh, but Marx was wrong... well, he was right about rapid growth of capitalism, because it allows freedom and it allows the geniuses in a society to rise as far as people support them. It allows everyone to rise on their merits."
Tell that to any non-white or poor person. No matter how much of a genius you are, it is still more difficult for you to rise than it is for some rich kid. Capitalism allows only it's favorite children to rise on their merits. It beats it's redheaded step-children down whenever it can. It exploits those who can't defend themselves.
"But let's see, has society been dumbed down in capitalist countries? The Internet came from a capitalist country. Computers were invented in a capitalist country. Every form of communication in use today was invented in a capitalist country (excepting the written word). (radio, TV, telegraph, etc, etc)"
I doubt this has anything to do with the superiority of capitalism. In fact Russia had a very advanced space program and they are considered by many to have been a communist country. I personally do not believe a true communist nation has ever been created.
"You see, the fact of humanity if a bell curve. If schools were run properly, 65% of people in school should be getting Cs, and only 2.35% should be getting As. Only 2.35% should be getting Fs too..."
That is dependent on how you view the grading system as well as your beliefs on the intelligence of the average person. In my experience everyone is intelligent enough to get A's in school, however some kids lack the motivation. Probably because the American school system acts more as a brainwashing factory/minimum security prison than as a place where actual education takes place.
"All dumbing down of society that has ever been performed was in the name of socialism. "Self-esteem" based schools, welfare that pays for cable TV, all that jazz, its all socialism. Capitalism means you get credit for what you do and if you don't do anything, you get what you've earned too - nothing."
It sounds like Rush Limbaugh taught you about Socialism. Almost all the dumbing down of society in America hasn't been done in the name of Socialism, indeed some of it could be interpreted as being somewhat socialistic, but in fact most of it is Consumerism in action. The fact is our country is run by money. The drive for profit. Dumbed down people spend more money than those who think for themselves. They are the perfect consumers. Capitalisms model citizens. It is inevitable that in a system controlled by corporations, designed to maximize their profits, society will be reshaped to suit their needs.
A lot people still build celeron overclocker systems. It's pretty common practice in the gaming scene. Overclocking isn't a fad at all. It may not be as cost effective with some of the newer processors, but for a lot of people it's still worth it. And don't forget, there is a lot more you can overclock than just your CPU. A lot of people overclock their video cards too. Why do chip makers care about overclocking so much? Why do they care what I do to the chip? It's MY CHIP. I bought it. If i wanna void my warranty and run the thing as fast as it can then why should they try to make that harder for me to do? I believe chip makers should make it as easy as possible to overclock just out of courtesy to their customers.
It seems like they are for selling out our country to the corporations. They seem to be about taking away the rights and freedoms of the people. Republicans and Democrats alike, they sold their souls to the corporations. They've sold out the American people. It makes no sense at all. They seem to want less government whenever it gives more power to corporations and more government whenever it strips away the freedoms of the people. Never less government when it gives more freedom to the people or more government when it takes power from the corporations. This isn't always the case, but the majority of the time this is how they operate the system.
Re:First Down Line by Princeton Video Image
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right now mtv only shows logos on people with companies that they have advertising agreements with. companies who do not sign the agreement get their logos edited out. once they buy into this technology i imagine they WILL just change it. scary stuff if you ask me.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/28/flash1.html I don't think those are actually "riots" but are protests. Protests are part of a healthy functioning democracy where people have freedom to assemble. Remember the saying about democracy being an ugly messy thing? Well that is it. In America whenever there is a protest anywhere for some reason the corporate controlled media tries to turn it into a "riot", unless of course the protest goes along with the corporate agenda:)
so anarchistic communism is the ultimate system then 'eh? i'm not to sure about that working in the real world, too many undereducated people out there.:(
Re:US -the birthplace of a free and independent pr
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Last I saw the printing press was invented in Europe and used to break the grip of Catholisism. That was in the 17th century The printing press was invented in the 1500's by the 1600's the churchs stranglehold on europe had been broken. The internet was invented in the late 1900's. Maybe in the 21st century it will break The Corporations stranglehold on the world.
Re:Media monopoly time ...
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this is actual fact. i've read about it in a variety of sources on the web. go check out fair.org and adbusters.org sometime.
Slashdot Mirror
you have aparently been taught a different version of history than me. I was taught that the colonists hated the king. I don't understand how you mention the civil war, that was after the colonists rebelled.
would you rather science pretended to have figured everything out like some silly superstition? it makes no sense for science to be deterministic.
I believe in this situation the same thing applies. Everyone respects the institution of law. The idea of a law based society makes sense for our civilization. The issue is where do these laws come from and how are they used. Are they popular laws created and enforced by the people, or are the laws imposed upon the people. In the case of the birth of America as a free country and of the United States, the laws were imposed by the King and his minions to profit themselves. The people woke up and decided they weren't gonna take getting shafted by the King anymore so they got rid of him and built their own governments. And in the case of DeCSS, UCITA, etc. the laws are imposed by Corporations and their minions. People are starting to wake up.
output:
why not a laser beam that projects the image into your eye? or a nice headset style deal, like the Sony Glasstron headsets? eventually, direct interface, possibly using nanites.
input:
speech to replace the keyboard. hand sensors or eye tracking could replace the mouse. eventually input could controlled somehow through the direct brain intereface.
input is in my opinion the more difficult area.
I think the reason discussions here are like that is because a lot of people are finally just now waking up to the fact that a corporate dominated world is not a very nice place. In the past less people realized just how evil corporations are.
Couldn't the argument be made that Slashdot sponges off of other sites which people have invested money in? I've read an article on Feedmag.com that claimed as much. I can understand Big Bad Corporate America's point of view in wanting to stop iCrave. But really, it doesn't make any sense. Why don't they do what Corporations normally do when someone beats them at their own game, why don't they buy out iCrave?
I can also understand iCraves position, the shows have been broadcast, plenty of cable companies insert their own advertisements into the stream, why shouldn't they be able to do the same thing except on the internet? It makes sense. I think the TV industry is just scared of the internet. They have pretty strict regulations about mentioning the internet on TV. There was a recent series of Nike commercials that told people to go look at a Nike web page to choose their own ending to the commercial they just watched. The Corporations that control TV refused to play it. They made Nike change the commercials around so that they didn't tell people not to watch TV. The people who run the TV industry are terrified that the Internet will destroy their industry.
Aren't they in essense trying to compell him to testify? Trying to force him to tell them how to decrypt his property? If you ask me this whole thing seems very fascist. Especially the government saying Mitnick can no longer use a computer. How the hell is he supposed to survive in the 21st century if using a computer is a crime? He'll have to go move to a cabin in Montana. Computers are the future, making it illegal for someone to use them is no different than in a past era, making it illegal for someone to read and write words. Imagine a hypothetical situation, the Gutenburg press has been recently invented. The government decides they don't like you. They make it illegal for you to have anything to do with books. You can not read books. You can not write books. You can not study books. The written word is off-limits to you. You are stuck with verbal communication. Is that not fascism?
Can you explain why you put communists in with pedophiles, sexists, and criminals?
I dunno why someone tried to moderate this down and mark it as flamebait. That is exactly what this argument is about: CENSORSHIP. Using power to quell unpopular ideas. I do not believe this post is flamebait. I believe censorship is an abuse of power and erodes the integral right of all citizens, free speech.
:) One thing I do know for sure: Racism doesn't make sense to Open Minded people. The sooner you figure that out, that better off you will be.
This "flamebait" is topical and is in no way inflamatory other than that it is posted by someone associated with unpopular beliefs.
My Flameless Reply:
Infotech, clearly there is some cohesion in the elite of society, they obviously share a common culture (among many other things). You blame this systemic self-interest on some silly racial nonsense when in fact it's mainly a class issue. Through flaws in The System, corporations (ie The Rich and Ultra Rich of the upper class) have come to dominate society, destroy democracy, rape the planet, erode freedoms, etc. That is my opinion, it's possible I am wrong, maybe The Corporations are right, Money is god and all humans are greedy
What do you mean ALMOST as complex? And how do you know how vague their consciousness is? Chimps share something like 98% of their DNA with humans. They might be smaller than us and their brains/bodies are arranged differently than us, but really, can you really say they are less complex than us? And we have such limited understandings of just HOW conscious they actually are. It's recently been proven that different chimp tribes have unique cultures and government. Their tribal system is very similar to primitive human tribes. They also have the ability to communicate a lot of info, share ideas, etc. Several captive chimps have been taught sign language and have done a pretty damn good job of communicating themselves. I personally believe if a few sign language speaking chimps could be released into the wild and accepted into a chimp tribe it's very likely that in a few years we'd have jungles filled with chimps who could communicate with us. Assuming the annihilation of their habitat stops.
The ISP itself is an add for the Fox TV network and for it's show The Simpsons. Who would use such an ISP but someone who had heard of the TV show? Now thing, you live in some hick town, everyone you know is getting on the internet. You see this ISP, hey what do you know IT'S FREE! I just have to click on a few ads, no big deal. And hmm, it's called The Simpsons like that TV show. And pretty soon you are watching that TV show or your kids are watching it. Not to mention the fact that many free ISPs keep track of what sites you visit. Data mining for whoever has the cash to pay for the data. It would be nice if we could figure out a way to make the internet free to anyone and everyone without the evil that corporations bring.
Advertising will never end, it is an integral component of the current system. You take away the constant brainwashing and the drones will start to wake up. I really don't think they want the drones to wake up.
"In a capitalist system, dumbing down of the consumers cannot happen."
So we apparently do not live in a capitalist system then 'eh? Or perhaps you are just out of touch with reality...
"You see, in capitalism the "dumbed" people would soon find out that they can't get a job"
No I do not see. Why can't dumb people get jobs? Has it been decided that corporations will now only emply people who are not dumb? I apparently missed that one, along with the millions of dumb people who have jobs in this country. Tell me Esperandi, do you have a job?
You can not measure a persons intelligence by the amount of money they have.
And have you forgotten how easy it is to get a credit card in America?
I can back this up with some logical reasoning. Dumb people are more susceptible to influence. It is easier to persuade the less intelligent that your product is the best because it has SuperCool NewTechnology MegaValue. Propaganda is most effective against those who are not able to see it for what it is. Thus dumb people are much more influenced by mass media than the more intelligent members of society. Mass media is inundated with primarily one meta-meme, CONSUME: Spend money on THIS. Because of this (and other less important factors not addressed here) dumb people spend more money than the intelligent. They are easier to convince to part with their money, to spend more than they actually have (ie credit card debt), to buy things they don't actually need. The Corporations favorite children.
"Ahh, but Marx was wrong... well, he was right about rapid growth of capitalism, because it allows freedom and it allows the geniuses in a
society to rise as far as people support them. It allows everyone to rise on their merits."
Tell that to any non-white or poor person. No matter how much of a genius you are, it is still more difficult for you to rise than it is for some rich kid. Capitalism allows only it's favorite children to rise on their merits. It beats it's redheaded step-children down whenever it can. It exploits those who can't defend themselves.
"But let's see, has society been dumbed down in capitalist countries? The Internet came from a capitalist country. Computers were invented in
a capitalist country. Every form of communication in use today was invented in a capitalist country (excepting the written word). (radio, TV, telegraph, etc, etc)"
I doubt this has anything to do with the superiority of capitalism. In fact Russia had a very advanced space program and they are considered by many to have been a communist country. I personally do not believe a true communist nation has ever been created.
"You see, the fact of humanity if a bell curve. If schools were run properly, 65% of people in school should be getting Cs, and only 2.35% should be getting As. Only 2.35% should be getting Fs too..."
That is dependent on how you view the grading system as well as your beliefs on the intelligence of the average person. In my experience everyone is intelligent enough to get A's in school, however some kids lack the motivation. Probably because the American school system acts more as a brainwashing factory/minimum security prison than as a place where actual education takes place.
"All dumbing down of society that has ever been performed was in the name of socialism. "Self-esteem" based schools, welfare that pays for
cable TV, all that jazz, its all socialism. Capitalism means you get credit for what you do and if you don't do anything, you get what you've
earned too - nothing."
It sounds like Rush Limbaugh taught you about Socialism. Almost all the dumbing down of society in America hasn't been done in the name of Socialism, indeed some of it could be interpreted as being somewhat socialistic, but in fact most of it is Consumerism in action. The fact is our country is run by money. The drive for profit. Dumbed down people spend more money than those who think for themselves. They are the perfect consumers. Capitalisms model citizens. It is inevitable that in a system controlled by corporations, designed to maximize their profits, society will be reshaped to suit their needs.
I wish those corporations trying to satisfy the public would employ me so I could tell them whats cool and what they need to do.
A lot people still build celeron overclocker systems. It's pretty common practice in the gaming scene. Overclocking isn't a fad at all. It may not be as cost effective with some of the newer processors, but for a lot of people it's still worth it. And don't forget, there is a lot more you can overclock than just your CPU. A lot of people overclock their video cards too. Why do chip makers care about overclocking so much? Why do they care what I do to the chip? It's MY CHIP. I bought it. If i wanna void my warranty and run the thing as fast as it can then why should they try to make that harder for me to do? I believe chip makers should make it as easy as possible to overclock just out of courtesy to their customers.
"There is no chance in hell there will be even the slightest suggestion of Internet censorship as long as the Supreme Court remains as it is."
Several justices have said they are going to be retiring, whoever the next president is gets to pick their replacements.
It seems like they are for selling out our country to the corporations. They seem to be about taking away the rights and freedoms of the people. Republicans and Democrats alike, they sold their souls to the corporations. They've sold out the American people. It makes no sense at all. They seem to want less government whenever it gives more power to corporations and more government whenever it strips away the freedoms of the people. Never less government when it gives more freedom to the people or more government when it takes power from the corporations. This isn't always the case, but the majority of the time this is how they operate the system.
right now mtv only shows logos on people with companies that they have advertising agreements with. companies who do not sign the agreement get their logos edited out. once they buy into this technology i imagine they WILL just change it. scary stuff if you ask me.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/28/flash1.html I don't think those are actually "riots" but are protests. Protests are part of a healthy functioning democracy where people have freedom to assemble. Remember the saying about democracy being an ugly messy thing? Well that is it. In America whenever there is a protest anywhere for some reason the corporate controlled media tries to turn it into a "riot", unless of course the protest goes along with the corporate agenda :)
so anarchistic communism is the ultimate system then 'eh? i'm not to sure about that working in the real world, too many undereducated people out there. :(
Last I saw the printing press was invented in Europe and used to break the grip of Catholisism. That was in the 17th century The printing press was invented in the 1500's by the 1600's the churchs stranglehold on europe had been broken. The internet was invented in the late 1900's. Maybe in the 21st century it will break The Corporations stranglehold on the world.
this is actual fact. i've read about it in a variety of sources on the web. go check out fair.org and adbusters.org sometime.