Look at it this way. Would you consider a smart, healthy, fertile child that happens to be susceptible to a certain strain of pneumonia as less fit than a slack-jaw yokel that's one step from monkey that just barely manages to survive that particular infection?
If that pneumonia happens to take out said child, then definitionally, yes. If that child survives and out-competes said yokel, then definitionally, no. 'Fit', in the sense of 'survival of the fittest', is about what DOES happen, not what SHOULD happen.
I'm looking for a particular 'niche' to sample some concepts - are there any other anime out there with the same themes and quality as Escaflowne and El Hazard (i.e., ancient steam-punk/magic fueled technology that noone understands, in a primarily fantasy setting and plot - preferrably with cool steampunk mecha)?
You want for everyone in the world to say, Yes.. Mr Gay Person.. Your love with Chuck is just like My love with Sarah.
Let me try to clarify a little.
I, for one, would never presume to suggest that my love with Rae is just like your love with Sarah, his love with Chuck, or anyone else for that matter - I know from experience that my love with Rae is totally different and unique from my love with Cera, and I'm sure that your love with Sarah is totally different from his love with Chuck *AND* my love with Cera *AND* my love with Rae. The point is that all love is unique precisely because all lovers are unique, and trying to classify it based on broad sweeping categorizations will invariably introduce flaws into the classification. Love is love is love, and if you want some basis of comparison it's going to be extremely difficult to justify positions other than 'all love is the same' or 'all love is unique' - the fact that his love with Chuck is different from your love with Sarah has little to do with the plumbing involved, and much more to do with variations of human experience (some of which, I will grant you, might require specifics of plumbing - but those experiences will tend to pale in comparison to car wrecks, deaths of family members, or their appreciation of movies or butterflies or really fancy icecream).
Celebrate diversity - we're all far more alike than you think, precisely BECAUSE we're all far more different than you take for granted.
Now THERE'S an interesting idea - a Google subscription service. I know I'd pay Google $20/mo to dedicate a few megs to customized Bayesian filters that learn MY particular search needs, and remember them for next time. It'd depend on their privacy policy, though.
Oozing with pustulent fervence the slippery slick G'gharfulk nippled its twarks through the fetid swamp.
In, out, in, out, and in and out and in and out the G'gharfulk splorched disgustingly through the tight orifice of the N'hargla-fep. They quivered and squicked in an imperfect rythm as the G'hib flies laid their maggot-eggs upon them.
O where has the G'hib laid its eggs? From deep within the pie-crust of my heart I wish to gloop and splorch with the lowly G'gharfulk!
Why has this deep loneliness been denied me? I drink but my navel vomits forth, and I am not filled!
By devouring the N'hargla-fep I become the G'gharfulk and thus take part in its oozing dance!
Feed the G'gharfulk within your soul and let your mighty tendrils lick deep of the slime-covering on the N'hargla-fep's back!
Its salty ooziness covers your eyes and makes useless the panting and wheezing of your lungs! It spurts! Watch as the Tsuuba worm coils deep within your colon, and feel it push its way through your liver and out your navel! I cannot hold water! Come, come, this constipation consumes me!
So I dissolve, and the G'gharfulk eats deep of my brains and the stink of my teeth.
Good night. Or is it morning? Who am I to care. Where's my jock strap?'
Not true. If you're standing on a perfectly flat plane, the horizon will be a precise 180 degree division. Think about it - do a quick ray-trace diagram, see at which angles lines intersect the 'ground'.
DARPA doesn't want a winner. They want to make sure that the REAL promising technologies lose, but can be copied by the defense conglomerates that they're going to award all the contracts to, anyways.
Already done. There's plenty of species of hemp that have negligable (read: in insufficient quantities to get a person high, no matter how much they smoke) THC contents. But you can't grow them because ATF/DEA agents can't tell the difference.
Conditioning is ubiquitous. We're all conditioned to be whatever we are - if happiness is your goal, why not approach the goal scientifically and condition people to it properly?
I've always been a bit confused by this - why are Brave New World and 1984 always painted with the same brush? Sure, 1984 is obviously a dystopia, I'll grant that. But in BNW, most of the population is *HAPPY* - and the ones that aren't, are freely allowed to go do whatever they want to BE happy. It seems as close to Utopic as you can possibly GET, with real-world resource limitations.
If corporations are allowed to hold armies and tax citizens, how are they not the State? If the State is allowed to produce and market goods, how is it not a corporation?
Unfortunately, doing something about it involves becoming that which you fight. The only tool that works against these people is superior people-skills, and once you have those superior people skills, it's far more expedient to just become one of them than it is to waste your life on some crusade to stop them all.
Where did they find 300 million lines of Linux code to begin with, much less 300 million infringing lines?
REUTERS, 3/1/04:
In a stunning reversal today, SCO (NASDAQ SCOX) has announced that due to a 'minor technical error', it has been looking at the wrong source tree all along.
"Funny enough, we came across the actual copyrights in the code headers, and discovered it wasn't Linux at all! We were kinda confused ourself when we saw 300 million lines of violating code in a piece of software that only has 30 million lines of code or so, but it all started making since once we realized we were actually looking at a copy of the Windows NT kernel!", Darl McBride told reporters on Tuesday.
"This represents a complete shift in strategy for us. We have bigger fish to fry, this time. Incidentally, Linus might want to take a look at this too - one of the main reasons we were confused for so long was the amount of Linux code mixed in with ours."
A representative from IBM told the press, "We completely understand the confusion, and look forward to working together with SCO to remedy the situation."
Steve Balmer was unavailable for comment, but sources close to the Microsoft (NYSE MSFT) chairman report him as having said, "Oh, FUCK".
God, please grant me just this one wish before I die... just let this come true.
The Karma/10 idea would work well, here - once you get up to 41-50 Karma, you're at +5, but you have to EARN it. Plus, the better you get, the less positive moderation you can get from Warranty-modded posts, so the system will be self-correcting.
The important part in Wolfram's work (and more importantly in the ohter people's works that were inspired by Wolfram) is quite different. It's not really "applicable" in the way you mention - the annoying side of Wolfram's book is precisely that he tries to apply it to just about anything, including fundamental physics.
As an armchair chaos mathematician, I find it annoying the one thing he DIDN'T try to apply it to: Chaos mathematics itself.
Think about it. He's got this neat way of mapping the generative rules of cellular automata into numbers, right? He can verify the Turing-completeness of each and every one of these automata. Are there patterns? Are there mathematical rules that can be derived, that say something like "Any automata mapped in such-and-such a way from the sum of two Mersenne primes will be Turing Complete", or even some bizzare formula that returns the Turing Completeness of any cellular automata generated by a number N.
Then look at THAT set of patterns, and see what 'rules' (which obviously themselves must be Turing complete) might generate THAT.
And down the rabbit-hole we go. Maybe Wolfram and Hopfstaedter should sit down for tea sometime.
Other way around, actually - organic patterns discussed are mathematical. As, indeed, are almost all organic patterns, even the stochastic-appearing ones. At least, that's one of the inferred tenets of the book.
Many of these patterns aren't fundamentally organic (carbon-based) per se, but biology happens to be one of the best places to find them. Fluid flow and crystalization are others.
Slashdot Mirror
Look at it this way. Would you consider a smart, healthy, fertile child that happens to be susceptible to a certain strain of pneumonia as less fit than a slack-jaw yokel that's one step from monkey that just barely manages to survive that particular infection?
If that pneumonia happens to take out said child, then definitionally, yes. If that child survives and out-competes said yokel, then definitionally, no. 'Fit', in the sense of 'survival of the fittest', is about what DOES happen, not what SHOULD happen.
I'm looking for a particular 'niche' to sample some concepts - are there any other anime out there with the same themes and quality as Escaflowne and El Hazard (i.e., ancient steam-punk/magic fueled technology that noone understands, in a primarily fantasy setting and plot - preferrably with cool steampunk mecha)?
You want for everyone in the world to say, Yes.. Mr Gay Person.. Your love with Chuck is just like My love with Sarah.
Let me try to clarify a little.
I, for one, would never presume to suggest that my love with Rae is just like your love with Sarah, his love with Chuck, or anyone else for that matter - I know from experience that my love with Rae is totally different and unique from my love with Cera, and I'm sure that your love with Sarah is totally different from his love with Chuck *AND* my love with Cera *AND* my love with Rae. The point is that all love is unique precisely because all lovers are unique, and trying to classify it based on broad sweeping categorizations will invariably introduce flaws into the classification. Love is love is love, and if you want some basis of comparison it's going to be extremely difficult to justify positions other than 'all love is the same' or 'all love is unique' - the fact that his love with Chuck is different from your love with Sarah has little to do with the plumbing involved, and much more to do with variations of human experience (some of which, I will grant you, might require specifics of plumbing - but those experiences will tend to pale in comparison to car wrecks, deaths of family members, or their appreciation of movies or butterflies or really fancy icecream).
Celebrate diversity - we're all far more alike than you think, precisely BECAUSE we're all far more different than you take for granted.
Speaking of, can anyone help me upgrade from "Operating System 2000" to "Operating System XP?"
How about from "Operating System 9" to "Operating System X"?
It's not like there's no precedent for just calling an OS 'OS'...
Heh. And you thought you were kidding.
Now THERE'S an interesting idea - a Google subscription service. I know I'd pay Google $20/mo to dedicate a few megs to customized Bayesian filters that learn MY particular search needs, and remember them for next time. It'd depend on their privacy policy, though.
"The Internet is no place for people looking for 'perverse gratification'"
What internet is HE using, and how do I avoid it?
Alright, no more rhymes! I really mean it!
Ah, yes. This is one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I Sponsor, you Lobby, he Bribes?
100% Hentai original. I'm that evil.
Oozing with pustulent fervence the slippery slick G'gharfulk nippled its twarks through the fetid swamp.
In, out, in, out, and in and out and in and out the G'gharfulk splorched disgustingly through the tight orifice of the N'hargla-fep. They quivered and squicked in an imperfect rythm as the G'hib flies laid their maggot-eggs upon them.
O where has the G'hib laid its eggs? From deep within the pie-crust of my heart I wish to gloop and splorch with the lowly G'gharfulk!
Why has this deep loneliness been denied me? I drink but my navel vomits forth, and I am not filled!
By devouring the N'hargla-fep I become the G'gharfulk and thus take part in its oozing dance!
Feed the G'gharfulk within your soul and let your mighty tendrils lick deep of the slime-covering on the N'hargla-fep's back!
Its salty ooziness covers your eyes and makes useless the panting and wheezing of your lungs! It spurts! Watch as the Tsuuba worm coils deep within your colon, and feel it push its way through your liver and out your navel! I cannot hold water! Come, come, this constipation consumes me!
So I dissolve, and the G'gharfulk eats deep of my brains and the stink of my teeth.
Good night. Or is it morning? Who am I to care. Where's my jock strap?'
The monkey watches .
Not true. If you're standing on a perfectly flat plane, the horizon will be a precise 180 degree division. Think about it - do a quick ray-trace diagram, see at which angles lines intersect the 'ground'.
Conspiracy mode on:
DARPA doesn't want a winner. They want to make sure that the REAL promising technologies lose, but can be copied by the defense conglomerates that they're going to award all the contracts to, anyways.
Already done. There's plenty of species of hemp that have negligable (read: in insufficient quantities to get a person high, no matter how much they smoke) THC contents. But you can't grow them because ATF/DEA agents can't tell the difference.
Conditioning is ubiquitous. We're all conditioned to be whatever we are - if happiness is your goal, why not approach the goal scientifically and condition people to it properly?
I've always been a bit confused by this - why are Brave New World and 1984 always painted with the same brush? Sure, 1984 is obviously a dystopia, I'll grant that. But in BNW, most of the population is *HAPPY* - and the ones that aren't, are freely allowed to go do whatever they want to BE happy. It seems as close to Utopic as you can possibly GET, with real-world resource limitations.
If corporations are allowed to hold armies and tax citizens, how are they not the State? If the State is allowed to produce and market goods, how is it not a corporation?
Unfortunately, doing something about it involves becoming that which you fight. The only tool that works against these people is superior people-skills, and once you have those superior people skills, it's far more expedient to just become one of them than it is to waste your life on some crusade to stop them all.
Where did they find 300 million lines of Linux code to begin with, much less 300 million infringing lines?
REUTERS, 3/1/04:
In a stunning reversal today, SCO (NASDAQ SCOX) has announced that due to a 'minor technical error', it has been looking at the wrong source tree all along.
"Funny enough, we came across the actual copyrights in the code headers, and discovered it wasn't Linux at all! We were kinda confused ourself when we saw 300 million lines of violating code in a piece of software that only has 30 million lines of code or so, but it all started making since once we realized we were actually looking at a copy of the Windows NT kernel!", Darl McBride told reporters on Tuesday.
"This represents a complete shift in strategy for us. We have bigger fish to fry, this time. Incidentally, Linus might want to take a look at this too - one of the main reasons we were confused for so long was the amount of Linux code mixed in with ours."
A representative from IBM told the press, "We completely understand the confusion, and look forward to working together with SCO to remedy the situation."
Steve Balmer was unavailable for comment, but sources close to the Microsoft (NYSE MSFT) chairman report him as having said, "Oh, FUCK".
God, please grant me just this one wish before I die... just let this come true.
The Karma/10 idea would work well, here - once you get up to 41-50 Karma, you're at +5, but you have to EARN it. Plus, the better you get, the less positive moderation you can get from Warranty-modded posts, so the system will be self-correcting.
My gut instinct tells me that in many cases, recombinations of the non-chaotic functions will lead to isomorphic mappings of the other functions.
Are these guys part of the government, or are they private citizens? If the latter, what authority do they have raiding ANYTHING?
The important part in Wolfram's work (and more importantly in the ohter people's works that were inspired by Wolfram) is quite different. It's not really "applicable" in the way you mention - the annoying side of Wolfram's book is precisely that he tries to apply it to just about anything, including fundamental physics.
As an armchair chaos mathematician, I find it annoying the one thing he DIDN'T try to apply it to: Chaos mathematics itself.
Think about it. He's got this neat way of mapping the generative rules of cellular automata into numbers, right? He can verify the Turing-completeness of each and every one of these automata. Are there patterns? Are there mathematical rules that can be derived, that say something like "Any automata mapped in such-and-such a way from the sum of two Mersenne primes will be Turing Complete", or even some bizzare formula that returns the Turing Completeness of any cellular automata generated by a number N.
Then look at THAT set of patterns, and see what 'rules' (which obviously themselves must be Turing complete) might generate THAT.
And down the rabbit-hole we go. Maybe Wolfram and Hopfstaedter should sit down for tea sometime.
Other way around, actually - organic patterns discussed are mathematical. As, indeed, are almost all organic patterns, even the stochastic-appearing ones. At least, that's one of the inferred tenets of the book.
Many of these patterns aren't fundamentally organic (carbon-based) per se, but biology happens to be one of the best places to find them. Fluid flow and crystalization are others.