This book is not good but it's worth looking at -- because it's a modern statement of the usual anti-individualism argument: SUPPOSEDLY people who care for their freedom and their own well-being are immoral. Hey, I disagree with that premise:-)
Because we (geeks, engineers, developers, whatever) work with computers, we are creative, we understand the value of independent knowledge and thinking, we value skills and innovation, and we have (mostly) explicit standards of judgment. Thus we (often) do not belong to the crowd who deny the correlation between freedom, innovation, productivity, integrity, rational self-interest, and independence (basically what so-called "libertarianism" is about).
Please do read a very cogent review of cybersilliness at Reason -- starting thus: "This is a bad book, unlearned in its titular subject, petulant, and poorly argued. It is tempting simply to dismiss it and move on. Despite its shoddy quality, [it] is not irrelevant. Far from it. The book is fascinating as a case study in the reasoning and psychology behind opposition to the mix of individualism and anti-statism that characterizes contemporary libertarian thought."
This book is not good but it's worth looking at -- because it's a modern statement of the old anti-individualism argument: SUPPOSEDLY people who care for their freedom and their own well-being are immoral. Hey, I disagree with that premise:-)
What I find interesting is that because we (geeks, engineers, whatever) work with computers, we are creative, we understand the value of independent knowledge and thinking, we value skills and innovation, and we have (mostly) explicit standards of judgment. Thus we (often) do not belong to the crowd who deny the correlation between freedom, innovation, productivity, integrity, rational self-interest, and independence (mostly what so-called "libertarians" care about).
Please do read a very cogent review of cybersilliness at Reason -- starting thus: "This is a bad book, unlearned in its titular subject, petulant, and poorly argued. It is tempting simply to dismiss it and move on. Despite its shoddy quality, [it] is not irrelevant. Far from it. The book is fascinating as a case study in the reasoning and psychology behind opposition to the mix of individualism and anti-statism that characterizes contemporary libertarian thought."
According to the FDA: "the risk (for one type of brain cancer) actually decrease[s] with cumulative hours of mobile phone use" and human lab subjects "were able to make choices more quickly in one visual test when they were exposed to simulated mobile phone signals."
My personal observation is that mobile-phone-dependent people tend to have a very short attention span. I don't know which causes which, though. Maybe the FDA will test that in lab.
"somewhat censored anime is better than none at all"
Let's see:
somewhat extorted...
some years in concentration camp...
some murdered men...
etc.
And at the end you'll wonder where it all started ("it" being the loss of your rights). If you are willing to fight for free speech in only a few cases, then be prepared to have no free speech at all. If you are giving up some of your rights, where will you draw the line? Is entertainment so sweet that you will let the government control it?
:... conspiracy against our anarchist beliefs! Every level of the govt. is involved...
Are you sure? Well, then I'm relieved. For a few seconds waves of fear -- that the government might secretly strive to establish anarchy -- drained me of coffeine-induced frenzy.
Seriously, that kind of INjustice is a sure recipe to nurture revolutionaries, isn't it? if that can make you feel better, let me say I've seen similar abuse of judicial power in European countries, at all levels. But then you shouldn't feel better, because that's been standard old-world fare for centuries...
Each culture has its own icons of power and makes seemingly irrational choices in that area -- i.e. the car you choose in the US is not the same as the car you choose in any given European country. So "soccer moms" driving monsters around are a uniquely American phenomenon. Acceleration is an icon for the majority of car owners in Europe...
Environmental concerns are not the same in various countries. I find that most people are concerned about clean beaches and clean air, but they have a difficult time connecting these concerns to their own behaviour/car (the tragedy of the commons, again). Hence the lack of enthusiasm for electrical or hybrid cars. Price is not a major issue when what you are buying is highly valuable to you -- so I've found that many people don't really take price into account when buying a car, and fuel prices have limited influence on car choices (actually, it can be a negative feedback loop, as happened in Sweden about 10 years ago when the government raised fuel taxes in order to discourage driving... many people started to drive more).
Further, it seems that many people make their choices without evaluation (emotions, cultural osmosis, neighbour envy, or nationalism are very frequently fundamental drivers).
All of the above applies in some ways to the choice of computers and the software they run (assuming you have a choice, hmmm...). Think about your computer's environment -- the impact it has on other computers and users.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.apple.com/ipod/
Because we (geeks, engineers, developers, whatever) work with computers, we are creative, we understand the value of independent knowledge and thinking, we value skills and innovation, and we have (mostly) explicit standards of judgment. Thus we (often) do not belong to the crowd who deny the correlation between freedom, innovation, productivity, integrity, rational self-interest, and independence (basically what so-called "libertarianism" is about).
Please do read a very cogent review of cybersilliness at Reason -- starting thus: "This is a bad book, unlearned in its titular subject, petulant, and poorly argued. It is tempting simply to dismiss it and move on. Despite its shoddy quality, [it] is not irrelevant. Far from it. The book is fascinating as a case study in the reasoning and psychology behind opposition to the mix of individualism and anti-statism that characterizes contemporary libertarian thought."
What I find interesting is that because we (geeks, engineers, whatever) work with computers, we are creative, we understand the value of independent knowledge and thinking, we value skills and innovation, and we have (mostly) explicit standards of judgment. Thus we (often) do not belong to the crowd who deny the correlation between freedom, innovation, productivity, integrity, rational self-interest, and independence (mostly what so-called "libertarians" care about).
Please do read a very cogent review of cybersilliness at Reason -- starting thus: "This is a bad book, unlearned in its titular subject, petulant, and poorly argued. It is tempting simply to dismiss it and move on. Despite its shoddy quality, [it] is not irrelevant. Far from it. The book is fascinating as a case study in the reasoning and psychology behind opposition to the mix of individualism and anti-statism that characterizes contemporary libertarian thought."
Then make up your own mind.
See FDA Consumer Update on Mobile Phones (October 1999).
San Jose Mercury News has a story
My personal observation is that mobile-phone-dependent people tend to have a very short attention span. I don't know which causes which, though. Maybe the FDA will test that in lab.
Let's see:
- somewhat extorted...
- some years in concentration camp...
- some murdered men...
- etc.
And at the end you'll wonder where it all started ("it" being the loss of your rights). If you are willing to fight for free speech in only a few cases, then be prepared to have no free speech at all. If you are giving up some of your rights, where will you draw the line? Is entertainment so sweet that you will let the government control it?: ... conspiracy against our anarchist beliefs! Every level of the govt. is involved ...
Are you sure? Well, then I'm relieved. For a few seconds waves of fear -- that the government might secretly strive to establish anarchy -- drained me of coffeine-induced frenzy.
Seriously, that kind of INjustice is a sure recipe to nurture revolutionaries, isn't it? if that can make you feel better, let me say I've seen similar abuse of judicial power in European countries, at all levels. But then you shouldn't feel better, because that's been standard old-world fare for centuries...
I'm off to Mars.
Each culture has its own icons of power and makes seemingly irrational choices in that area -- i.e. the car you choose in the US is not the same as the car you choose in any given European country. So "soccer moms" driving monsters around are a uniquely American phenomenon. Acceleration is an icon for the majority of car owners in Europe...
Environmental concerns are not the same in various countries. I find that most people are concerned about clean beaches and clean air, but they have a difficult time connecting these concerns to their own behaviour/car (the tragedy of the commons, again). Hence the lack of enthusiasm for electrical or hybrid cars. Price is not a major issue when what you are buying is highly valuable to you -- so I've found that many people don't really take price into account when buying a car, and fuel prices have limited influence on car choices (actually, it can be a negative feedback loop, as happened in Sweden about 10 years ago when the government raised fuel taxes in order to discourage driving... many people started to drive more).
Further, it seems that many people make their choices without evaluation (emotions, cultural osmosis, neighbour envy, or nationalism are very frequently fundamental drivers).
All of the above applies in some ways to the choice of computers and the software they run (assuming you have a choice, hmmm...). Think about your computer's environment -- the impact it has on other computers and users.