How is Al Qaeda different from the mafia? Al Qaeda have killed less people, they have fewer members, and less diverse operations. Terrorism is a law enforcement concern, the military can do nothing except create more enemies. Did we really hurt Al Qaeda by going into Afghanistan? Did we catch Osama? And why did we leave before the job was done? Because the military is a scam, it does not exist to protect us, it exists to funnel our tax dollars into military socialism.
Please, present us with a scenario where we would need our military. "Invading other countries to further the ends of the power elite" is not a valid answer. Bonus points for explaining why police, the national guard, militias and an emergency draft couldn't handle things.
We DO NOT need a standing army. The ONLY reason we have it is to further the ends and enrich the coffers of the power elite.
I see what you did there. You implied that anyone who criticizes the US or Vista is a paranoid loony. Now why would you do that? Do you just assume that people will criticize the US? Is the US that worthy of criticism that you have to defend it preemptively? I know that's a popular tactic these days, but is it entirely necessary? Nice how you posted AC, too. You sir are an all-around class act.
Guess what? The mafia flies no flag, wears no uniform, obeys no laws and respects no treaties, and purposefully targets civilians in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. They've killed more Americans than "terrorists" ever have. Do we have to throw out the constitution to fight them? Do we need to call in the military? No, groups like that can be best fought by law enforcement and the justice system.
I don't even understand how people can, with a straight face, offer up the excuse that you just did. It makes no sense.
Shit, why do I always forget that people have their own lives and problems, and when I think they are being an asshole, it usually has more to do with them and their problems than with me? I'm sorry, tj. I've been a dick to you because all I saw was "Right wing asshole." But you are a person, with a family, evidently having a hard time, and I empathize. My New Year's resolution this year is, "Don't be a dick to people I disagree with, no matter how much I think they deserve it." I sincerely hope things get better for you, and I wish you and yours the best for the holidays.
That's right, dada, people are threatened by your genius. Except for you, a selfless defender of the Rugged Individual, we are all spineless pawns of The Man. Nobody could possibly have real issues with your proposals, it must be self interest. We know that we are miserable failures who can't compete in the real world, like you.
Not that you deserved a down mod for your post. Some people can be assholes. But your arrogance, and willingness to ascribe the basest of motives and lack of ability to all who oppose you reveals you to be the very kind of authoritarian you purport to hate. You don't want freedom for individuals, you want everyone to do what you say without question.
I don't think "profit" is the criterion here. You can sue people in court after investigating them yourself, but if someone else pays you, you need a license. Think lawyers: you can always defend yourself, but you need a license to defend others.
And no, this is not a "bogus defense" and we should be cheering it. It may seem like legal wrangling, but that is exaqctly what the other side is doing, and what it takes to win in our legal system. Advocate for simplifying the legal system, I'll support you, but deny to the average persons the legal tools that corporations will always use, well, that's just not fair.
And you reactionaries often cry, "It was a joke!" when people call you out for being a dick. And please enlighten me as to how writing words, any words, can make one a thug. For instance, saying "tjstork is an enormous tool who kisses the ass of any American fascist he can lay his lips on" does not make one a thug. Thugs torture people with waterboarding and electric shocks to the testicles. They don't post messages on Slashdot saying things like, "tjstork's grasp of logic is as piss-poor as his grasp of sociopolitical realities."
My point is, what's really the truth about gitmo? Sure, you can believe that they are gassing arabs over there, but, the people that told you that are getting paid to do so. Really? What makes you think that? I think you are just casting aspersions to try to discredit what they are saying. Isn't it possible that these people have other motivations besides money? Most people don't become activists for the cash.
Do you think she feels threatened by your intellect? It's been hard to get my wife to share some of my geekier interests. We've talked about it, and she's admitted, tearfully, that it isn't that she doesn't want to share those interests, it's that she can't. Our minds work differently. She is very intelligent, as I'm sure your wife is, but in a different way. I'm never going to be able to talk about, say, programming in more than a superficial way with her.
But there are many intellectual pursuits we do share. One thing my wife is very good at is analyzing people, their motivations, and intentions. She can dissect any movie or play, discussing the actors' and director's previous works, the story arc, cinematography, art direction, costumes, etc. I wasn't that into those things before I met her, but I learned, and now we have great intellectual discussions in that field.
She loves to talk about politics, history fascinates her, we both share a love of travel. We love food and cooking. She was a bit threatened by my experience as a chef, at first, but we've learned to trust each other. I've learned to trust her palette, her sense of taste, and she's learned to trust my knowledge of technique. We now work together in a kitchen like a well oiled machine. (That sounds vaguely dirty, doesn't it?)
Neither my wife nor I are romantics at heart. Our is a pragmatic partnership. The world can be a big, scary, and confusing place, and it is really, really nice to know that someone has your back, no matter what. It's nice to have a nest, a safe place to come to at the end of the day, a place where you know you can just be yourself, where you can show weakness and not have it used against you. Shared interests are nice, but they aren't what makes or breaks our relationship.
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is: don't give up. Try going outside your comfort zone a little. Ask your wife if she feels threatened by your intellect, if feeling inferior is keeping her from engaging with you in that way. Perhaps you could pick something new to both of you, and explore it together. I don't mean to go all Dr. Phil on you here, it's just that I think I might have some useful insight to pass on.
Oh man, I really did hurt your feelings. I'm sorry, but you started it. If you aren't the same AC who told fyngerz to "take his fag pictures and shove them up his ass" and told me I was his bitch for defending him, then what the fuck are you doing in this conversation? If you ARE the same AC, well, what the fuck did you expect?
Good advice, but too late. I'm in therapy, and doing great by my therapist's estimation. He doesn't even think I need to keep seeing him. You keep swinging and missing. Since you obviously don't have the dissing skills to go toe to toe with me, you should just give up. It was humorous at first, but now it's just sad. I feel like I'm fighting a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Man, you must be lonely. Get some actual human contact, you'll be less likely to go postal and take out half your high school. Pay for it, if you must. It's the right thing to do, for all our sakes.
thats what you think dumbass... some people are so full of themselves. you must be his bitch. Awwww, Poow AC, did I huwt ooo wittew feewings? You should have kept your fool mouth shut, boy. I got a rise out of you. Now you've just confirmed what a desperate powerless child you really are. Besides that, I'm bi. I've had cock, and more pussy than you'll get in your entire life. I've been in three ways and orgies. Insuinating that I'm gay does jack shit to my sense of my own manhood. I could suck a dozen cocks today and still be ten times the man you are, you pathetic worm. Do us all a favor and slit your wrists, you are wasting our oxygen.
That's a FUD goldmine, or a FUDmine, if you will. Damn, OSS enemies will be crowing about this: "open source leads to VIRUSES and MALWARE! Open source hackers create programs to take over your computer, how can you trust them?"
I've got karma to burn, babies. Why don't you waste your mod points on this, too? Come on, "Electric Universe Slide?" That's comedy gold, you repressed, uptight, stick in the mud, panty sniffing, basement living, compulsively masturbating virgins.
You know, some people prove themselves by doing things, like taking nice pictures. Other people try to prove themselves by tearing others down. If you're one of the first type, it's not even worth your time responding to the second type. There's not even any need to punish them. They have no friends and no real prospect for happiness, so they're doing a fine job of that on their own.
You young whippersnappers and your fancy shell this and tty that. Real men feed their programs into a time share systems as big as a barn using punch cards, you young hooligan! Why, when I was a lad, all we had were toggles and lights, and we were grateful! Now get off my lawn before I shake my cane at you a second time!
I just don't think you fully conceptualize either how large 6 billion really is, or the time spans over which evolution can work. And I think you are idealizing world conditions right now. Plenty of people never breed even if they survive to old age. Without immigration, many countries such as Italy would have negative population growth right now. Plenty of people breed more than others. The short and unattractive don't always meet up, and they don't always get it on when they do. We aren't as much serial monogamists as you seem to think. Do you know about the link between testicle size and promiscuity in the animal kingdom? By body mass, our testicles fall in between bonobos and chimpanzees amongst our closer relatives. Do you know that bonobos are kinky, promiscuous little beasts that are run by dominant lesbians? Even amongst chimps, who are mostly polygamous (where the dominant male gets the chicks) the ladies will get some outside the harem. And genetic surveys of humans show that upwards of 10% of children don't have their mother's husband's genes. Trust me, there is still plenty of wiggle room for evolution to work in.
It's sad to see an elitist anarchist. Anarchism works because humanity comes from a lineage that features highly evolved social mechanisms. Our blueprints come with very good specs for networking. Together, we can multiply the strengths and diminish the weaknesses that we all have as individuals. Humanity is more than just a series of individuals. We are shaped by each other at least as much as by genetics.
There is a reason the mass man is the way he is, and that is precisely to give people like you and I the steady, tried-and-true support that we need to innovate. Our type are strategic thinkers, pattern finders, shamans and scientists. We would be lion food in the wild without solid and dependable uncreative types to look out for us. Not only that, we'd want to try every wacky thing we thought might be better, and without people around who just did what worked for their fathers, and their fathers fathers, eventually we'd fail, and then what?
"Looks like we all forgot to get food. I was trying out a new fishing technique, you were trying out a new farming technique, Oog over there just keeps trying to make a better rabbit trap, and we all know how Elg's frog domestication research is going. Ah well, tough break, eh? I vote we eat Elg!"
It's a good thing for the species to have a majority of people who are not original thinkers, even little afraid of innovation. Lao Tzu valued the kind of guy who would never in his life leave his village. We need them more than they need us. Neanderthals got along without much innovating for hundreds of thousands of years, until we came along.
Yes, it's sad when the common man gets manipulated. Especially considering that even the common man can become uncommon with the right lessons. But we all got mostly the wrong ones. We all agreed to accept certain ways of seeing things before we could really make that choice rationally. And so most people, common and uncommon, are emotionally and intellectually crippled.
Especially the ruling class, who are habitually raised in a way that is lacking in human trust, openness, and even contact. They are taught that people are naturally 'out of control.' That there is one right way to be. That only punishment can bring people into line. That you are either the one wielding the club, or the one getting beaten, and yes they both suck, but the first is still better.
We are all taught that, to some degree, but the lower classes are taught to internalize it more, to punish themselves. Only someone who is actively oppressing themselves can ever be truly oppressed by another person. The good news is that everyone can unlearn that self oppression. But if you are a common person, it is almost impossible to throw off your cultural conditioning without help. And who do you trust to help? If you aren't smart or free enough to help yourself in the first place, how do you figure out that little puzzle?
The world is full of hurt confused people, and worse. There are real sociopaths out there, with no empathy, no real human feeling, nothing to stop them from using their fellow humans for whatever their isolated and deranged minds might dream up. Not many, but enough that any society has to take them into account. Without fucking it up for the rest of us.
I hope you can have a little sympathy for the common people. They didn't choose to be people with less capacity for original thought, just as they didn't choose to be born into a society that actively represses it. It's not their fault their leaders manipulate and oppress them, and it's not their fault that circumstance has left them unable to defend themselves. Hell, it's not even the leader's fault, much as it would simplify things if that were true.
Anarchy isn't about not having any system or rules, as you well know. I think it's about finding a system that everyone can agree works for the kind of person they truly are. Even the sociopaths. It's a hard challenge, but eventually we'll either get there or become a cautionary tale for other sapient species down the line.
You are right about how many kids make it to breeding age. But it's not just who breeds and who doesn't, it's how much they breed, and how much of a chance to breed frequently they pass on to their kids.
How can you contrast random genetic drift with evolution? The one is a crucial component of the other. The rate of evolution is partly determined by the rate of random genetic drift. Evolution isn't some linear process of good-better-best. It's a system, and that system isn't going to shut down just because one of many inputs changes.
You want to know what the future of human evolution looks like? With our technology, we don't need strength, so we'll probably become skinnier. Girls like tall guys, so we'll get taller. Intelligence is more and more important, so our heads will get bigger. We'll need some large, chitin covered eyes to survive in our dark and polluted future, and soon after that we'll develop time travel, come back to the 1950s, and scare the bejesus out of random people for kicks. UFO abductees probably have videos of their ordeals posted on the future equivalent of youTube.;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, well, that's completely true. Nutters on all sides of any issue, eh?
How is Al Qaeda different from the mafia? Al Qaeda have killed less people, they have fewer members, and less diverse operations. Terrorism is a law enforcement concern, the military can do nothing except create more enemies. Did we really hurt Al Qaeda by going into Afghanistan? Did we catch Osama? And why did we leave before the job was done? Because the military is a scam, it does not exist to protect us, it exists to funnel our tax dollars into military socialism.
Please, present us with a scenario where we would need our military. "Invading other countries to further the ends of the power elite" is not a valid answer. Bonus points for explaining why police, the national guard, militias and an emergency draft couldn't handle things.
We DO NOT need a standing army. The ONLY reason we have it is to further the ends and enrich the coffers of the power elite.
I see what you did there. You implied that anyone who criticizes the US or Vista is a paranoid loony. Now why would you do that? Do you just assume that people will criticize the US? Is the US that worthy of criticism that you have to defend it preemptively? I know that's a popular tactic these days, but is it entirely necessary? Nice how you posted AC, too. You sir are an all-around class act.
Guess what? The mafia flies no flag, wears no uniform, obeys no laws and respects no treaties, and purposefully targets civilians in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. They've killed more Americans than "terrorists" ever have. Do we have to throw out the constitution to fight them? Do we need to call in the military? No, groups like that can be best fought by law enforcement and the justice system.
I don't even understand how people can, with a straight face, offer up the excuse that you just did. It makes no sense.
Shit, why do I always forget that people have their own lives and problems, and when I think they are being an asshole, it usually has more to do with them and their problems than with me? I'm sorry, tj. I've been a dick to you because all I saw was "Right wing asshole." But you are a person, with a family, evidently having a hard time, and I empathize. My New Year's resolution this year is, "Don't be a dick to people I disagree with, no matter how much I think they deserve it." I sincerely hope things get better for you, and I wish you and yours the best for the holidays.
That's right, dada, people are threatened by your genius. Except for you, a selfless defender of the Rugged Individual, we are all spineless pawns of The Man. Nobody could possibly have real issues with your proposals, it must be self interest. We know that we are miserable failures who can't compete in the real world, like you.
Not that you deserved a down mod for your post. Some people can be assholes. But your arrogance, and willingness to ascribe the basest of motives and lack of ability to all who oppose you reveals you to be the very kind of authoritarian you purport to hate. You don't want freedom for individuals, you want everyone to do what you say without question.
I don't think "profit" is the criterion here. You can sue people in court after investigating them yourself, but if someone else pays you, you need a license. Think lawyers: you can always defend yourself, but you need a license to defend others.
And no, this is not a "bogus defense" and we should be cheering it. It may seem like legal wrangling, but that is exaqctly what the other side is doing, and what it takes to win in our legal system. Advocate for simplifying the legal system, I'll support you, but deny to the average persons the legal tools that corporations will always use, well, that's just not fair.
Hilarious. I can't remember the last time I read something so juvenile and deluded. You are on the wrong forum, nobody here is buying your crap.
And you reactionaries often cry, "It was a joke!" when people call you out for being a dick. And please enlighten me as to how writing words, any words, can make one a thug. For instance, saying "tjstork is an enormous tool who kisses the ass of any American fascist he can lay his lips on" does not make one a thug. Thugs torture people with waterboarding and electric shocks to the testicles. They don't post messages on Slashdot saying things like, "tjstork's grasp of logic is as piss-poor as his grasp of sociopolitical realities."
Do you think she feels threatened by your intellect? It's been hard to get my wife to share some of my geekier interests. We've talked about it, and she's admitted, tearfully, that it isn't that she doesn't want to share those interests, it's that she can't. Our minds work differently. She is very intelligent, as I'm sure your wife is, but in a different way. I'm never going to be able to talk about, say, programming in more than a superficial way with her.
But there are many intellectual pursuits we do share. One thing my wife is very good at is analyzing people, their motivations, and intentions. She can dissect any movie or play, discussing the actors' and director's previous works, the story arc, cinematography, art direction, costumes, etc. I wasn't that into those things before I met her, but I learned, and now we have great intellectual discussions in that field.
She loves to talk about politics, history fascinates her, we both share a love of travel. We love food and cooking. She was a bit threatened by my experience as a chef, at first, but we've learned to trust each other. I've learned to trust her palette, her sense of taste, and she's learned to trust my knowledge of technique. We now work together in a kitchen like a well oiled machine. (That sounds vaguely dirty, doesn't it?)
Neither my wife nor I are romantics at heart. Our is a pragmatic partnership. The world can be a big, scary, and confusing place, and it is really, really nice to know that someone has your back, no matter what. It's nice to have a nest, a safe place to come to at the end of the day, a place where you know you can just be yourself, where you can show weakness and not have it used against you. Shared interests are nice, but they aren't what makes or breaks our relationship.
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is: don't give up. Try going outside your comfort zone a little. Ask your wife if she feels threatened by your intellect, if feeling inferior is keeping her from engaging with you in that way. Perhaps you could pick something new to both of you, and explore it together. I don't mean to go all Dr. Phil on you here, it's just that I think I might have some useful insight to pass on.
"The only consistent feature in all your dysfunctional relationships is you."
Anyone here? Where did you all go?
Oh man, I really did hurt your feelings. I'm sorry, but you started it. If you aren't the same AC who told fyngerz to "take his fag pictures and shove them up his ass" and told me I was his bitch for defending him, then what the fuck are you doing in this conversation? If you ARE the same AC, well, what the fuck did you expect?
Good advice, but too late. I'm in therapy, and doing great by my therapist's estimation. He doesn't even think I need to keep seeing him. You keep swinging and missing. Since you obviously don't have the dissing skills to go toe to toe with me, you should just give up. It was humorous at first, but now it's just sad. I feel like I'm fighting a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Man, you must be lonely. Get some actual human contact, you'll be less likely to go postal and take out half your high school. Pay for it, if you must. It's the right thing to do, for all our sakes.
Well, that was fun!
That's a FUD goldmine, or a FUDmine, if you will. Damn, OSS enemies will be crowing about this: "open source leads to VIRUSES and MALWARE! Open source hackers create programs to take over your computer, how can you trust them?"
I've got karma to burn, babies. Why don't you waste your mod points on this, too? Come on, "Electric Universe Slide?" That's comedy gold, you repressed, uptight, stick in the mud, panty sniffing, basement living, compulsively masturbating virgins.
You know, some people prove themselves by doing things, like taking nice pictures. Other people try to prove themselves by tearing others down. If you're one of the first type, it's not even worth your time responding to the second type. There's not even any need to punish them. They have no friends and no real prospect for happiness, so they're doing a fine job of that on their own.
You got first post on a story about plasma! Is there a little 'Electric Universe Slide" dance you do? I keed, I keed... ;-P
You young whippersnappers and your fancy shell this and tty that. Real men feed their programs into a time share systems as big as a barn using punch cards, you young hooligan! Why, when I was a lad, all we had were toggles and lights, and we were grateful! Now get off my lawn before I shake my cane at you a second time!
I just don't think you fully conceptualize either how large 6 billion really is, or the time spans over which evolution can work. And I think you are idealizing world conditions right now. Plenty of people never breed even if they survive to old age. Without immigration, many countries such as Italy would have negative population growth right now. Plenty of people breed more than others. The short and unattractive don't always meet up, and they don't always get it on when they do. We aren't as much serial monogamists as you seem to think. Do you know about the link between testicle size and promiscuity in the animal kingdom? By body mass, our testicles fall in between bonobos and chimpanzees amongst our closer relatives. Do you know that bonobos are kinky, promiscuous little beasts that are run by dominant lesbians? Even amongst chimps, who are mostly polygamous (where the dominant male gets the chicks) the ladies will get some outside the harem. And genetic surveys of humans show that upwards of 10% of children don't have their mother's husband's genes. Trust me, there is still plenty of wiggle room for evolution to work in.
It's sad to see an elitist anarchist. Anarchism works because humanity comes from a lineage that features highly evolved social mechanisms. Our blueprints come with very good specs for networking. Together, we can multiply the strengths and diminish the weaknesses that we all have as individuals. Humanity is more than just a series of individuals. We are shaped by each other at least as much as by genetics.
There is a reason the mass man is the way he is, and that is precisely to give people like you and I the steady, tried-and-true support that we need to innovate. Our type are strategic thinkers, pattern finders, shamans and scientists. We would be lion food in the wild without solid and dependable uncreative types to look out for us. Not only that, we'd want to try every wacky thing we thought might be better, and without people around who just did what worked for their fathers, and their fathers fathers, eventually we'd fail, and then what?
"Looks like we all forgot to get food. I was trying out a new fishing technique, you were trying out a new farming technique, Oog over there just keeps trying to make a better rabbit trap, and we all know how Elg's frog domestication research is going. Ah well, tough break, eh? I vote we eat Elg!"
It's a good thing for the species to have a majority of people who are not original thinkers, even little afraid of innovation. Lao Tzu valued the kind of guy who would never in his life leave his village. We need them more than they need us. Neanderthals got along without much innovating for hundreds of thousands of years, until we came along.
Yes, it's sad when the common man gets manipulated. Especially considering that even the common man can become uncommon with the right lessons. But we all got mostly the wrong ones. We all agreed to accept certain ways of seeing things before we could really make that choice rationally. And so most people, common and uncommon, are emotionally and intellectually crippled.
Especially the ruling class, who are habitually raised in a way that is lacking in human trust, openness, and even contact. They are taught that people are naturally 'out of control.' That there is one right way to be. That only punishment can bring people into line. That you are either the one wielding the club, or the one getting beaten, and yes they both suck, but the first is still better.
We are all taught that, to some degree, but the lower classes are taught to internalize it more, to punish themselves. Only someone who is actively oppressing themselves can ever be truly oppressed by another person. The good news is that everyone can unlearn that self oppression. But if you are a common person, it is almost impossible to throw off your cultural conditioning without help. And who do you trust to help? If you aren't smart or free enough to help yourself in the first place, how do you figure out that little puzzle?
The world is full of hurt confused people, and worse. There are real sociopaths out there, with no empathy, no real human feeling, nothing to stop them from using their fellow humans for whatever their isolated and deranged minds might dream up. Not many, but enough that any society has to take them into account. Without fucking it up for the rest of us.
I hope you can have a little sympathy for the common people. They didn't choose to be people with less capacity for original thought, just as they didn't choose to be born into a society that actively represses it. It's not their fault their leaders manipulate and oppress them, and it's not their fault that circumstance has left them unable to defend themselves. Hell, it's not even the leader's fault, much as it would simplify things if that were true.
Anarchy isn't about not having any system or rules, as you well know. I think it's about finding a system that everyone can agree works for the kind of person they truly are. Even the sociopaths. It's a hard challenge, but eventually we'll either get there or become a cautionary tale for other sapient species down the line.
You are right about how many kids make it to breeding age. But it's not just who breeds and who doesn't, it's how much they breed, and how much of a chance to breed frequently they pass on to their kids.
;-)
How can you contrast random genetic drift with evolution? The one is a crucial component of the other. The rate of evolution is partly determined by the rate of random genetic drift. Evolution isn't some linear process of good-better-best. It's a system, and that system isn't going to shut down just because one of many inputs changes.
You want to know what the future of human evolution looks like? With our technology, we don't need strength, so we'll probably become skinnier. Girls like tall guys, so we'll get taller. Intelligence is more and more important, so our heads will get bigger. We'll need some large, chitin covered eyes to survive in our dark and polluted future, and soon after that we'll develop time travel, come back to the 1950s, and scare the bejesus out of random people for kicks. UFO abductees probably have videos of their ordeals posted on the future equivalent of youTube.