I was certain he must be on the wrong site. Or I am. Or perhaps JustinOpinion is a bot that has finally gained full sentience and we are all now doomed?
I think we need something along the lines of what you do with kids when they have to split something like pie. One of them cuts it in half, but the other one gets to decide which half they get. Therefore the kid making the cut has a great incentive to be fair. I'm not sure how you would do that in politics, though.
You are right on every count, except the last one I think. While I fully agree that corporations cannot be treated as people for most purposes (since they can't suffer the same fates), if we took away those rights I don't think it would affect them as overlords at all (though it would likely have other benefits for us as a society). Corporations don't do anything, people do things on their behalf. They would continue to do those things, since what makes them powerful is their money (and potential for money, since even money poor corporations can have influence through job creation, etc). As long as power is consolidated in constructs like corporations, they will continue to have undue influence in our politics, the same as extremely wealthy individuals.
You basically proved my point with each of those items. Each of those is a perfectly valid reason for the store to want that info, and unless you pay in cash, they get it anyway. Except the last one, I'll give you that, except we have such massive choice here someone will offer you a better price. We haggle in different ways here. In other countries they haggle with the seller, but here we haggle by going someplace else because we have so many choices, and collusion and price fixing are illegal here. Now you're perfectly right to argue that because of difficulty in detecting those activities they are a problem, but that's not my point. They are going to happen anyway.
In most areas of the world people barter all the time. No two people pay the same amount automatically. Why should a store offer everyone the same price? If you don't like, go someplace else. People will share information online, thus it isn't a secret that you got a better deal than I did, I still fail to see a problem here.
And who cares what terms I was searching for when I found this coupon? Stores have a valid reason for wanting that information. Sometimes picking the best terms for ads and such is really hard. If you find out your customers typically find it by looking for terms you didn't think were all that useful, then it means you were wrong and you should redirect your advertising efforts. In some cases I suppose some embarrassing information might leak through (for some items) but come on, it has to be an edge case most of the time.
And printing a coupon and using it at the store isn't opt-in? Okay, maybe there's no fine print saying what they are encoding in the bar code, but since almost no one reads fine print (and everyone knows this) I don't see it as that much of a problem. I suppose they should include information about that for people who see the coupon before they print it, but even as tin foil hatty as I am, I don't see this as much different than the store loyalty cards.
I think that's the name of the new nemesis for Superman. He has to get him to say his name backwards to be rid of him. He's the son of Mr. Mxyzptlk I think.
Am I the only one to read this post and go WTF? I had to check your other posts to see if you're just some random bot, but it appears your other posts make sense, so I'm back to WTF?
No, I think it just appears that way. He's really just mashing keys, and sadly, will most likely respond to your comment with something like sajubzdfjhnzdfv nhjfdv nhdfHB Nvrwegrewuitfrhvfd bjdfvjhb kh. Although it may appear like English when it actually shows up, it really has no more connection to actual language than that.
I wonder for how long though? By this, I mean I heard they found a large benefit from adding the middle brake light (not sure of the name for it, but the one in the rear windshield) in taxi cabs in NYC. Something like 20% fewer rear end collisions (I'm guessing on the percentage as it was years ago that I heard this) so the government made it mandatory. Only it seems the improvement only lasted for a little while. Once it became standard and people became used to it, the improvement basically disappeared. So it only helped while it was novel, is that the case with longer yellow lights? Do people compensate for it after a little while when they start to learn it is a "long yellow"?
And having seen that exact effect with FEMA, this really is a catch-22 situation. They have to hire someone qualified (with a proven track record) whose never worked for anyone before. That might be a problem.
I think much of the fear about this sort of thing is that it will be misused in the same way a fingerprint on a train in Spain were used to finger the wrong man (pardon the pun). It was a partial print, and was determined to be good enough to pass three "experts" at the FBI, and they dragged this guy's name through the mud, all to admit later that he was the wrong man. Imagine the same thing being done with this sort of info.
FBI: Hey, we have a hit on our SuperDuperTerroristCatchingProgram! They just looked for the same set of individually innocuous household items our program determined 86% of alleged terrorists look for before allegedly doing something bad!
FBI Supervisor: Well, we don't know how accurate this program is since we don't have the foggiest idea of how it works and haven't scientifically proven anything about, so let's go scoop him/her/them up and see what happens! Make sure to accuse them publicly of being a terrorist when you do it!
That's a good point. People often forget that many people in government aren't there for life. They either came from business and/or go to business after working in the government. So it isn't an either/or situation at all.
Slashdot Mirror
I was certain he must be on the wrong site. Or I am. Or perhaps JustinOpinion is a bot that has finally gained full sentience and we are all now doomed?
Hahahah! I like it!
I think we need something along the lines of what you do with kids when they have to split something like pie. One of them cuts it in half, but the other one gets to decide which half they get. Therefore the kid making the cut has a great incentive to be fair. I'm not sure how you would do that in politics, though.
You are right on every count, except the last one I think. While I fully agree that corporations cannot be treated as people for most purposes (since they can't suffer the same fates), if we took away those rights I don't think it would affect them as overlords at all (though it would likely have other benefits for us as a society). Corporations don't do anything, people do things on their behalf. They would continue to do those things, since what makes them powerful is their money (and potential for money, since even money poor corporations can have influence through job creation, etc). As long as power is consolidated in constructs like corporations, they will continue to have undue influence in our politics, the same as extremely wealthy individuals.
Or you get a few who are very highly benefited. I jest, but only slightly.
You basically proved my point with each of those items. Each of those is a perfectly valid reason for the store to want that info, and unless you pay in cash, they get it anyway. Except the last one, I'll give you that, except we have such massive choice here someone will offer you a better price. We haggle in different ways here. In other countries they haggle with the seller, but here we haggle by going someplace else because we have so many choices, and collusion and price fixing are illegal here. Now you're perfectly right to argue that because of difficulty in detecting those activities they are a problem, but that's not my point. They are going to happen anyway.
In most areas of the world people barter all the time. No two people pay the same amount automatically. Why should a store offer everyone the same price? If you don't like, go someplace else. People will share information online, thus it isn't a secret that you got a better deal than I did, I still fail to see a problem here.
And who cares what terms I was searching for when I found this coupon? Stores have a valid reason for wanting that information. Sometimes picking the best terms for ads and such is really hard. If you find out your customers typically find it by looking for terms you didn't think were all that useful, then it means you were wrong and you should redirect your advertising efforts. In some cases I suppose some embarrassing information might leak through (for some items) but come on, it has to be an edge case most of the time.
And printing a coupon and using it at the store isn't opt-in? Okay, maybe there's no fine print saying what they are encoding in the bar code, but since almost no one reads fine print (and everyone knows this) I don't see it as that much of a problem. I suppose they should include information about that for people who see the coupon before they print it, but even as tin foil hatty as I am, I don't see this as much different than the store loyalty cards.
Yeah, that definitely gives a whole new meaning to that phrase. Maybe we should say, "Don't think of the children too much!" now?
So you chose your screen name fittingly, I see.
I think that's the name of the new nemesis for Superman. He has to get him to say his name backwards to be rid of him. He's the son of Mr. Mxyzptlk I think.
Am I the only one to read this post and go WTF? I had to check your other posts to see if you're just some random bot, but it appears your other posts make sense, so I'm back to WTF?
No, I think it just appears that way. He's really just mashing keys, and sadly, will most likely respond to your comment with something like sajubzdfjhnzdfv nhjfdv nhdfHB Nvrwegrewuitfrhvfd bjdfvjhb kh. Although it may appear like English when it actually shows up, it really has no more connection to actual language than that.
Well, you have to admit it's hard being a touch guy when you're 5'2, weigh 80 lbs and are 12 years old.
I don't the OP would be in a position to offer anything, especially if he was replaced.
Way to harsh the buzz, man!
Many of the people reading this site won't be here in 2038. Some due to age related causes, and many due to other causes. *
* Brought to you by your favorite anti-depressants. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Then you get people complaining about career bureaucrats. What's the name for a three way catch-22?
I wonder for how long though? By this, I mean I heard they found a large benefit from adding the middle brake light (not sure of the name for it, but the one in the rear windshield) in taxi cabs in NYC. Something like 20% fewer rear end collisions (I'm guessing on the percentage as it was years ago that I heard this) so the government made it mandatory. Only it seems the improvement only lasted for a little while. Once it became standard and people became used to it, the improvement basically disappeared. So it only helped while it was novel, is that the case with longer yellow lights? Do people compensate for it after a little while when they start to learn it is a "long yellow"?
And having seen that exact effect with FEMA, this really is a catch-22 situation. They have to hire someone qualified (with a proven track record) whose never worked for anyone before. That might be a problem.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually.
Yeah, you don't get SPAM from them, you get something much less desirable.
I think much of the fear about this sort of thing is that it will be misused in the same way a fingerprint on a train in Spain were used to finger the wrong man (pardon the pun). It was a partial print, and was determined to be good enough to pass three "experts" at the FBI, and they dragged this guy's name through the mud, all to admit later that he was the wrong man. Imagine the same thing being done with this sort of info.
FBI: Hey, we have a hit on our SuperDuperTerroristCatchingProgram! They just looked for the same set of individually innocuous household items our program determined 86% of alleged terrorists look for before allegedly doing something bad!
FBI Supervisor: Well, we don't know how accurate this program is since we don't have the foggiest idea of how it works and haven't scientifically proven anything about, so let's go scoop him/her/them up and see what happens! Make sure to accuse them publicly of being a terrorist when you do it!
"Oh, I see you are shopping for CPU coolers. You need to buy our Viagra clone. Only available from Schlongmaster of Korea. Mail us cash now!"
Um, that's probably because of the number of pages you were viewing that, um, were of an entirely different nature.
That's a good point. People often forget that many people in government aren't there for life. They either came from business and/or go to business after working in the government. So it isn't an either/or situation at all.