Yeah, it seems like the real objective should be to get more code read and verified as part of the scientific process. (Just "getting more code out there" and expecting it to go unread would be pretty empty.)
One problem is that the publish-or-perish process has gotten sufficiently corrupt that many results are irreproducible, PhD students are warned against trying to reproduce results, and everyone involved has lost the expectation that their work will be experimentally double-checked.
I much prefer the popularity contest, that is: a democracy.
One problem with the "blocking bubble" method is that it promotes a partial balkanization of the site. In theory, I would actually want to know if opposition poster X ever wrote something that people found interesting, because I'd want to consider it and possibly respond publicly. But it's simply beside the point because on Slashdot I've never encountered anyone that I was motivated to block. The moderation system has already pre-fixed that problem without any effort on my part.
Between these sites slamming the door shut on public comments, walled login gardens, and NSA slimy fingers on everything, it's just super depressing. Feels like a mortal wound.
Seriously, critique the Slashdot comment system if you like, but it's a thousand times better than 99% of the sites out there. And it's pretty simple. Sites not ripping off this system seem like they conscientiously want a reason to slam the door on public conversation.
Part of the problem with nanny-state culture is that a lot of people start thinking like "If this wasn't perfectly fine for my kid (or others), then it wouldn't be allowed for sale".
Yes, that's what they say, and actually it's the only functional change I can really see from this. Follow the 2nd link in the OP.
"When you search from https://www.google.com, websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools."
As others have said, the NSA documents say they have access to Google's servers. Encrypting the connection between the user and Google doesn't change that, right? Very puzzling.
Frankly, I come to Slashdot partly as a place to see some discussion without all the fantasy lala fairy-tale nonsense. To avoid the mass delusion which runs most of the world. So your argument actually seems like a feature, not a bug. Someone calling your ideas "dumb" is not the same thing as "hate" and propaganda such as that is a good example of something that should be treated with down-moderation.
Both Robots A and B will be used by some enormously wealthy country to put some relatively poor country that we don't like what they're doing under the boot. This allows expansion of global power without friendly casualties, media attention, or voter push-back. Drones don't fight other drones.
Arguments based on "cowardice" are always dumb as shit. Every combatant since the dawn of time has sought ways to reduce their risk profile. You might as well be a British general sipping tea and harrumphing about how those rebels are cowards for hiding behind trees and attacking during Christmas.
We shouldn't build killer robots, but the "cowardice" argument gets us nowhere on the issue.
The photo is irrelevant. The point is that one of your linked contacts is pointed out, and you are asked "Is this their real name?". So you're relying on all your contacts to lie for you on the social network. That's one way to confirm your real name with little effort.
Hulu has been on a downward slide for a few years, no doubt. But I'll say that their two original series this summer, The Awesomes and Quick Draw, have been absolutely spectacular. The Awesomes is a lot of SNL people (Seth Meyers, etc.) with a love-letter spoof to animated superheroes. Quick Draw is improv Western-crime-procedure-comedy, and is the best TV show I've seen in years; I've been laughing at it after the fact all week. Try them out if you can. (I'm crossing my fingers for another season of Quick Draw, it's a real gem.)
Regarding the social networks: At least once I've been on Facebook and it threw a popup, one of my contacts' photos, and "Is this person's real name XX YY?". It wouldn't even let me cancel the popup (I just closed the whole browser application instead of answering). So if that tactic is used widely, then you also have to depend on all your contacts to lie for you by default all the time.
"The main group of people who have fingerprints taken are criminals, are the cleaners criminals?"
Every single visitor to the U.S. now gets their hand digitally scanned at customs. I'm wondering if that exceeds the large number of people processing by our law enforcement?
In 1990, the "everything runs better as a free market" doctrine wiped out government funding of the patent office, declaring that it would be fully funded by applicant fees from then on. (In fact, since that time Congress withholds some percentage of payments, so it's even more under-funded.) So the office doesn't work as a filter to defend a precious monopoly right, instead it's incentivized to make as many applicants happy as possible, since that's where all their money comes from. Result is a tidal wave of poorly examined patents that no one has time or resources to take court. (And yet: also an enormous and growing backlog of yet-unexamined patents). Pretty similar to how they've bent over the U.S. Post Office.
Step 1: Defund core government agency, Step 2: Complain about how government doesn't work, Step 3: Profit (for some private allied company).
I've stopped even trying to address the absurdity of these initiatives. There will always be administrators looking to get attention with big splashy purchases for no particular reason. I don't see any way to stop it.
"or that people would blithely accept being micromanaged (they wont)"
I have absolutely stopped believing any assertion of the form "people wouldn't accept X". I was told that Americans would revolt if the popular vote for President was overturned by the electoral college. I was told that Americans would never accept torture or omni-surveillance. I was told that people would never accept being videotaped nude for air travel, or being routinely crotch-grabbed by federal officials. Millions of people put up with micromanagement every day. People can and do accept absolutely anything.
Ridiculous. Can a poor country not be shut down in the same way? Obama's legacy will be drone attacks, continuation of Gitmo, and surveillance explosion/meltdown. With some talk of health insurance thrown in.
Slashdot Mirror
That is such a great idea. Wish it would happen.
Yeah, it seems like the real objective should be to get more code read and verified as part of the scientific process. (Just "getting more code out there" and expecting it to go unread would be pretty empty.)
One problem is that the publish-or-perish process has gotten sufficiently corrupt that many results are irreproducible, PhD students are warned against trying to reproduce results, and everyone involved has lost the expectation that their work will be experimentally double-checked.
I much prefer the popularity contest, that is: a democracy.
One problem with the "blocking bubble" method is that it promotes a partial balkanization of the site. In theory, I would actually want to know if opposition poster X ever wrote something that people found interesting, because I'd want to consider it and possibly respond publicly. But it's simply beside the point because on Slashdot I've never encountered anyone that I was motivated to block. The moderation system has already pre-fixed that problem without any effort on my part.
So is there any site you think does it better?
Between these sites slamming the door shut on public comments, walled login gardens, and NSA slimy fingers on everything, it's just super depressing. Feels like a mortal wound.
Seriously, critique the Slashdot comment system if you like, but it's a thousand times better than 99% of the sites out there. And it's pretty simple. Sites not ripping off this system seem like they conscientiously want a reason to slam the door on public conversation.
Good stuff, thanks for writing that.
It's great how easy you guys make it to judge your credibility with the incorrect author names and inability to make working links.
"Most religions really have the same message. Be good to each other. The details and names are different. But that's really what it boils down to."
That's, like, deliberate ignorance. Take a course on comparative religion or something.
Part of the problem with nanny-state culture is that a lot of people start thinking like "If this wasn't perfectly fine for my kid (or others), then it wouldn't be allowed for sale".
Yes, that's what they say, and actually it's the only functional change I can really see from this. Follow the 2nd link in the OP.
"When you search from https://www.google.com, websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools."
As others have said, the NSA documents say they have access to Google's servers. Encrypting the connection between the user and Google doesn't change that, right? Very puzzling.
Frankly, I come to Slashdot partly as a place to see some discussion without all the fantasy lala fairy-tale nonsense. To avoid the mass delusion which runs most of the world. So your argument actually seems like a feature, not a bug. Someone calling your ideas "dumb" is not the same thing as "hate" and propaganda such as that is a good example of something that should be treated with down-moderation.
Ooh, you get my supermod point.
Both Robots A and B will be used by some enormously wealthy country to put some relatively poor country that we don't like what they're doing under the boot. This allows expansion of global power without friendly casualties, media attention, or voter push-back. Drones don't fight other drones.
Arguments based on "cowardice" are always dumb as shit. Every combatant since the dawn of time has sought ways to reduce their risk profile. You might as well be a British general sipping tea and harrumphing about how those rebels are cowards for hiding behind trees and attacking during Christmas.
We shouldn't build killer robots, but the "cowardice" argument gets us nowhere on the issue.
"But, as the excellent little book 'Peopleware' put it: 'Adding manpower to a late project makes it later.'"
Just pointing out that was said 25 years earlier by Fred Brooks in "The Mythical Man-Month", which is why it's known as "Brooks's Law".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27s_law
It's the most important book that people asking questions about software management should read.
The photo is irrelevant. The point is that one of your linked contacts is pointed out, and you are asked "Is this their real name?". So you're relying on all your contacts to lie for you on the social network. That's one way to confirm your real name with little effort.
Hulu has been on a downward slide for a few years, no doubt. But I'll say that their two original series this summer, The Awesomes and Quick Draw, have been absolutely spectacular. The Awesomes is a lot of SNL people (Seth Meyers, etc.) with a love-letter spoof to animated superheroes. Quick Draw is improv Western-crime-procedure-comedy, and is the best TV show I've seen in years; I've been laughing at it after the fact all week. Try them out if you can. (I'm crossing my fingers for another season of Quick Draw, it's a real gem.)
Regarding the social networks: At least once I've been on Facebook and it threw a popup, one of my contacts' photos, and "Is this person's real name XX YY?". It wouldn't even let me cancel the popup (I just closed the whole browser application instead of answering). So if that tactic is used widely, then you also have to depend on all your contacts to lie for you by default all the time.
"The main group of people who have fingerprints taken are criminals, are the cleaners criminals?"
Every single visitor to the U.S. now gets their hand digitally scanned at customs. I'm wondering if that exceeds the large number of people processing by our law enforcement?
More good information, thank you.
In 1990, the "everything runs better as a free market" doctrine wiped out government funding of the patent office, declaring that it would be fully funded by applicant fees from then on. (In fact, since that time Congress withholds some percentage of payments, so it's even more under-funded.) So the office doesn't work as a filter to defend a precious monopoly right, instead it's incentivized to make as many applicants happy as possible, since that's where all their money comes from. Result is a tidal wave of poorly examined patents that no one has time or resources to take court. (And yet: also an enormous and growing backlog of yet-unexamined patents). Pretty similar to how they've bent over the U.S. Post Office.
Step 1: Defund core government agency, Step 2: Complain about how government doesn't work, Step 3: Profit (for some private allied company).
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp109OaGul&r_n=hr372.109&dbname=cp109&&sel=TOC_11043&
I've stopped even trying to address the absurdity of these initiatives. There will always be administrators looking to get attention with big splashy purchases for no particular reason. I don't see any way to stop it.
"or that people would blithely accept being micromanaged (they wont)"
I have absolutely stopped believing any assertion of the form "people wouldn't accept X". I was told that Americans would revolt if the popular vote for President was overturned by the electoral college. I was told that Americans would never accept torture or omni-surveillance. I was told that people would never accept being videotaped nude for air travel, or being routinely crotch-grabbed by federal officials. Millions of people put up with micromanagement every day. People can and do accept absolutely anything.
xkcd, Reassuring: http://xkcd.com/1263/
Ridiculous. Can a poor country not be shut down in the same way? Obama's legacy will be drone attacks, continuation of Gitmo, and surveillance explosion/meltdown. With some talk of health insurance thrown in.