Well, taking power by force isn't that different in democracies, where being able to be elected is usually achieved by a lot of backstabbing, bribery and other things we don't exactly call moral or responsible... so what form of government would you suggest?
Well, what we can observe is a huge boost in the US economy in the 60s and 70s, and US leadership in any kind of high-tech field long into the 80s. If you have a better explanation for this, I'm listening.
What do you expect from a society that celebrates ignorant fools? If you have more people listen to the random ramblings of some idiot with no detectable education (aka "celebrity") than people who do know what they're talking about because they spent time learning and studying the subject, you shouldn't expect people to make educated decisions.
And you also shouldn't expect people to pursue knowledge and reason when you have a culture that celebrates ignorance and vanity. Even the term "celebrity" isn't what it used to be, in the old days, we had celebrities that could do something exceptionally well. Even if it was "only" dancing, singing, playing some kind of sport. Today's celebrities... it seems the term now means "being too stupid and lazy for anything, but still being rich for some odd reason".
And that's the main problem here. These "celebrities" show off that you can be dumb as a doorknob and still be rich. And since being rich is also the only thing that counts in our society, what these people teach us is that it's ok to have the IQ of a potatoe. You can still be "important".
Morality is an attempt to make a trait that works out in our heritage as pack animals work out in larger groups. But it fails miserably at that. Because some people have already noticed that they are better off if they just work as pack animals as they're hardwired to do and abuse the rest of the people who try to make that morality thing work.
The space program was a boost to technology much like a war was, just without so many people dying. If you look at WW2 and the leaps technology has taken in that 6 years, the space race had some quite similar effect. It was a bit slower, granted, but no less impressive and certainly with fewer lives wasted.
You'll notice that the time between the 60s and the 80s were the time when the US were the pinnacle of technology and scientific advancement, there was not a single country that could hold a candle to it. And I dare say that much of that is due to the space program. It boosted prosperity and was in many ways a driver for the economy. If anything, something like that would really help today, too.
Yeah, but why bother with science? Isn't science just a very arrogant form of faith?
In all seriousness, in a discussion lately I was informed that some people actually do think that "science" just means that you make up shit, put on a lab coat and present your pipe dream with conviction as fact, and whoever manages to convince the most people "wins" and his bullshit gets taught as reality.
Well, do you expect them to build a planet to run it in real time and on a 1:1 scale? Of course they're running simulations, why that's "not science" is beyond me, though.
But at least it's a new way of sticking your fingers in the ears, I give you that much.
That's a bit like saying Facebook would defend itself against handing over data to the government. Yes, it's nice that they don't bend over, but mostly they don't out of pure self interest, not because they give a shit about you.
Slashdot Mirror
I doubt the GP plans to sell to China but rather to, say, Europe. And I highly doubt Europe will honor a deal if you don't.
Looks like someone's ordering a DDoS stress test of his webpage...
Sorry, but no. Here's how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
So it's yet another 80/20 problem?
So if the EU jumps down a well...
Ok. Kartoffel. Besser jetzt?
Well, taking power by force isn't that different in democracies, where being able to be elected is usually achieved by a lot of backstabbing, bribery and other things we don't exactly call moral or responsible... so what form of government would you suggest?
Well, what we can observe is a huge boost in the US economy in the 60s and 70s, and US leadership in any kind of high-tech field long into the 80s. If you have a better explanation for this, I'm listening.
To be fair, there isn't much of a distinction.
Hey, it's not that bad. 94% of Americans can at least find the US ... on a map of North America, that is...
Well, maybe if we put more emphasis on humanities we could counter this, but then again, who'd want to educate the idiots?
What do you expect from a society that celebrates ignorant fools? If you have more people listen to the random ramblings of some idiot with no detectable education (aka "celebrity") than people who do know what they're talking about because they spent time learning and studying the subject, you shouldn't expect people to make educated decisions.
And you also shouldn't expect people to pursue knowledge and reason when you have a culture that celebrates ignorance and vanity. Even the term "celebrity" isn't what it used to be, in the old days, we had celebrities that could do something exceptionally well. Even if it was "only" dancing, singing, playing some kind of sport. Today's celebrities ... it seems the term now means "being too stupid and lazy for anything, but still being rich for some odd reason".
And that's the main problem here. These "celebrities" show off that you can be dumb as a doorknob and still be rich. And since being rich is also the only thing that counts in our society, what these people teach us is that it's ok to have the IQ of a potatoe. You can still be "important".
Most Americans can't tell an obviously bogus bullshit story from reality either, that's why fake news are such a problem.
I have to give you that...
Morality is an attempt to make a trait that works out in our heritage as pack animals work out in larger groups. But it fails miserably at that. Because some people have already noticed that they are better off if they just work as pack animals as they're hardwired to do and abuse the rest of the people who try to make that morality thing work.
This is, by the way, why communism failed.
Ban politics from Facebook. Totally.
The space program was a boost to technology much like a war was, just without so many people dying. If you look at WW2 and the leaps technology has taken in that 6 years, the space race had some quite similar effect. It was a bit slower, granted, but no less impressive and certainly with fewer lives wasted.
You'll notice that the time between the 60s and the 80s were the time when the US were the pinnacle of technology and scientific advancement, there was not a single country that could hold a candle to it. And I dare say that much of that is due to the space program. It boosted prosperity and was in many ways a driver for the economy. If anything, something like that would really help today, too.
The problem is as usual that the wrong people die off. It's always the assholes that survive.
Yeah, but why bother with science? Isn't science just a very arrogant form of faith?
In all seriousness, in a discussion lately I was informed that some people actually do think that "science" just means that you make up shit, put on a lab coat and present your pipe dream with conviction as fact, and whoever manages to convince the most people "wins" and his bullshit gets taught as reality.
I wish I was kidding.
Well, do you expect them to build a planet to run it in real time and on a 1:1 scale? Of course they're running simulations, why that's "not science" is beyond me, though.
But at least it's a new way of sticking your fingers in the ears, I give you that much.
Deflection ... nice, but predictable. Not really entertaining, though, we've had that one too many times.
You know that you're talking about the country with the world's largest biometric database of its citizens, yes?
That's a bit like saying Facebook would defend itself against handing over data to the government. Yes, it's nice that they don't bend over, but mostly they don't out of pure self interest, not because they give a shit about you.
If India takes back Satya Nadella we can talk about that.
Why nowhere else? It's actually likely good in one more country than MC and Visa.
No, true capitalism.
I have no idea why people think democracy and capitalism go hand in hand. If anything, they're polar opposites.