As a student of history, I lack that faith in the ability of the human species to, at any point, stop being selfish douchebags. But I do, occasionally, hope that I'm mistaken.
Unless you want to live in an echo chamber, trolls are just something you have to learn to deal with. Besides, there's no such thing as an "anti-dickhead premium," because no matter what, if you're having a discussion with any significant group of people, it's pretty much guaranteed one of them is going to have a different enough opinion that you're going to want to stick that "troll" label on them.
Sure. We also should, instead of paying farmers to throw away crops, have those crops shared with people who don't have enough food. But we don't.
Hence the reason I don't buy into the 'all-robot-workforce-utopia' nonsense - it won't work for the same reason communism won't work, that is the fact that there's always someone who will gleefully step on every throat they find to get an advantage over other people.
Typical American - "You're not raising your children the way I think children should be raised, so you're wrong!"
At least, it sure as hell seems that way.
That is a human problem, not an American problem. Everybody on this planet is sure their way of life is the correct way. That is why everybody laughs at the fat, dumb, lazy, violent, American kids. Because they have different priorities.
state actors involving "network injection appliances" installed at ISPs.
So, since we're being charged by the bit now, and the government is taking my bits (that we pay for) off the pipe and replacing them with their bits (that we also pay for)... wouldn't that imply that these "state actors" should be on the hook for at least part of our ISP usage bills?
External factors do influence of course, but I think it's overly simplistic to assume tweenage kids think cod = real war, where soldiers respawn after they're shot.
At that point, I just hope they understand the difference between right and wrong (and that you shouldn't do "wrong" things) more than anything.
Kids are way smarter than you think. Even my 6 yo sees an explosion on TV and tells me "But dad, this is fiction, but they really made that explosion right? Couldn't someone get hurt?".
And yet, when I took my 6 year old nephew hunting last year, I had to explain how death works when he asked, "But won't the deer just respawn?"
So, anecdote for anecdote, we just broke even.
FWIW, I'm guessing the difference is, you're at least a decent parent, whereas my in-laws are abject fucking morons whose idea of discipline equates to 'how loud can I scream at my kid.'
Of course, the apparently high number of 'abject fucking moron' parents seems to give some weight to my hypothesis.
I used to work with a guy who switched from well-paid developer to home theater installer, and was making considerably more last I heard.
I know a guy in a similar circumstance - used to write software for banks, now he does ultra-high-end home automation installs in penthouse suites around the nation. If I could handle that much travel, I'd be in on it myself.
Some people think that, because they believe themselves to have a solid grip on reality, every single one of the other 6,999,999,999 humans on the planet also have an equally solid grip.
Of course, that belief in itself is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, but you can't tell those folks that, because, being delusional, they'll never believe you.
I don't mind shooting up some virtual people, I want to be as far away from real war as I possibly can be.
Yes, as an adult, you realize that. But would you have realized it as a child? Probably not, if the only experience you had with guns and death was video-game based.
I was a child in the 70s. We didn't have video games then, but we did have nasty brutish violent cartoons. We had concerned citizen groups whining "Think of the children!" right and left, but I don't remember anybody getting an anvil dropped on them because they saw it in a cartoon.
You also had people who believed if they worshiped a particular sky-fairy, it would grant them wishes. Like, believed to the point that they would outright slaughter people who disagreed with them. Does that not sound like a person who can't separate reality from fantasy?
FYI, we still have those people today, slaughter and all.
Ignoring, for the moment, your grossly crass and inappropriate usage of the term "retarded," I will point out that there are a lot of people out there who, in fact, cannot reasonably separate fantasy from reality.
Take, for example, the current situation going on in Ferguson, MO - a large number of people have already, in their own minds, made a decision about who was at fault. Regardless of what evidence is presented, those people will not change their beliefs, indicating that these otherwise sane, reasonable people in fact cannot (or will not) distinguish reality (facts) from fantasy (what they choose to believe).
Or, for an example the atheists will love, religious devotees, which make up the vast majority of the human population - despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence so much as indicating the existence of any particular sky-fairy, billions of people the world over not only believe in them, but murder the holy living shit out of each other because of said belief.
So, going back to your statement:
Normal people who can tell the difference between fantasy and reality
The evidence indicates that either A) that is a false statement based on a particular belief and not the facts of the matter (meaning that you, yourself, fall into the "not-normal" category), or B) you don't know what "normal" actually means, in terms of human behavior.
Or I guess it could be C) you can't accept that your delusion isn't actually reality.
You would think that the existing real world examples would give them pause.
If they weren't so busy furiously masturbating over their fantasy of a work-free, lay-zee-boy economy, maybe they'd actually see the train barreling towards them.
As a child, I had no issues seeing games for what they are.
Amazing that you have so much memory, knowledge, and insight about a period in your life when your brain was still undeveloped. Most people can't honestly say such things... and I include you in that grouping.
Then again, if you're in my age group or older, "As a child" the only first person shooter games available were Doom and Duke Nukem. Not what one would call an exceptionally realistic representation of modern warfare and weaponry. Plus the graphics sucked; thus, it's not really an equal comparison.
The same is true today.
But to try and say that no kid, ever, could possibly get the idea from video games that if they, say, shoot another person, that person will just "respawn" later? That's dangerously naive. Some would even go so far as to say negligently irresponsible, though I think that's a bit over-the-top.
Parents need to parent and stop blaming games or anything else, for 'influence.' If you're not gonna parent, don't have kids.
To be fair, I don't have kids. But I do understand that contrary to what you want to believe, external factors very much can and do influence the developing minds of children - even more so if their parents are absentee or, for lack of a better term, shitty.
call of duty != war.
You know that, and I know that - but can we guarantee that not a single 8-year-old, whose only experience with guns and "war" is playing games like CoD, will know that? We cannot.
That's fine if he wants to take his kids to israel, but I think there are easier, cheaper ways to reality check his kids.
You're welcome to think what you want, and raise your kids how you want, just like he is.
I think something like basic income is inevitable. We have it now, it's called Section 8 and food stamps.
Actually, it's called Ferguson, Missouri. Idle hands are the Devil's tinsnips.
Trolling aside, the current situation in that city is a perfect example of what will happen when you couple taking away all the jobs with increasing police militarization. I.e., it doesn't work out very well.
Or do you seriously think that a basic income would actually give people enough to do things that interest them beyond just the ability to merely exist.
Why not?
Look at the way people balk at welfare. Now, tell those people that you want to put everyone on welfare, and gauge their reactions.
Well, since the effective tax rate on my income bracket is around 35%, and the effective tax rate on the top US income bracket is somewhere around 15%... Seems to me, adjusted for income, I am doing more than the billionaires when it comes to making the lives of poor people better.
Slashdot Mirror
Do unicorns and flying pigs exist in that fantasy world, too?
I'm so sorry that there will be hardly any accidents, and so the number of claims will nose-dive. It's tragic, but you can't stop progress.
So... yes, then.
Car insurance companies will die off when car AI becomes mainstream.
Kind of like how representative democracy died off when we all got smart phones, right?
No, dude, sadly middlemen will always exist, adding no value to things but taking your money anyway.
As a student of history, I lack that faith in the ability of the human species to, at any point, stop being selfish douchebags. But I do, occasionally, hope that I'm mistaken.
I've always maintained that the extinction of the human race would be the best thing that could possibly happen to the environment.
That's a much more workable concept than fundamentally changing the way humans have behaved since probably before we became humans.
Unless you want to live in an echo chamber, trolls are just something you have to learn to deal with. Besides, there's no such thing as an "anti-dickhead premium," because no matter what, if you're having a discussion with any significant group of people, it's pretty much guaranteed one of them is going to have a different enough opinion that you're going to want to stick that "troll" label on them.
Replace ???? with zero all debts. Done.
In fact we should do that now anyway.
Sure. We also should, instead of paying farmers to throw away crops, have those crops shared with people who don't have enough food. But we don't.
Hence the reason I don't buy into the 'all-robot-workforce-utopia' nonsense - it won't work for the same reason communism won't work, that is the fact that there's always someone who will gleefully step on every throat they find to get an advantage over other people.
Typical American - "You're not raising your children the way I think children should be raised, so you're wrong!"
At least, it sure as hell seems that way.
That is a human problem, not an American problem. Everybody on this planet is sure their way of life is the correct way. That is why everybody laughs at the fat, dumb, lazy, violent, American kids. Because they have different priorities.
Well, then that's comforting... or something....
No, he didn't say any of that, actually.
Oh, and FYI, if you want to be taken seriously, learn proper spelling and mechanics.
state actors involving "network injection appliances" installed at ISPs.
So, since we're being charged by the bit now, and the government is taking my bits (that we pay for) off the pipe and replacing them with their bits (that we also pay for)... wouldn't that imply that these "state actors" should be on the hook for at least part of our ISP usage bills?
External factors do influence of course, but I think it's overly simplistic to assume tweenage kids think cod = real war, where soldiers respawn after they're shot.
At that point, I just hope they understand the difference between right and wrong (and that you shouldn't do "wrong" things) more than anything.
Kids are way smarter than you think. Even my 6 yo sees an explosion on TV and tells me "But dad, this is fiction, but they really made that explosion right? Couldn't someone get hurt?".
And yet, when I took my 6 year old nephew hunting last year, I had to explain how death works when he asked, "But won't the deer just respawn?"
So, anecdote for anecdote, we just broke even.
FWIW, I'm guessing the difference is, you're at least a decent parent, whereas my in-laws are abject fucking morons whose idea of discipline equates to 'how loud can I scream at my kid.'
Of course, the apparently high number of 'abject fucking moron' parents seems to give some weight to my hypothesis.
Yea, like that, but with better geometry.
Because they're robots, you see...
I used to work with a guy who switched from well-paid developer to home theater installer, and was making considerably more last I heard.
I know a guy in a similar circumstance - used to write software for banks, now he does ultra-high-end home automation installs in penthouse suites around the nation. If I could handle that much travel, I'd be in on it myself.
Some people think that, because they believe themselves to have a solid grip on reality, every single one of the other 6,999,999,999 humans on the planet also have an equally solid grip.
Of course, that belief in itself is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, but you can't tell those folks that, because, being delusional, they'll never believe you.
I was a child in the 70s. We didn't have video games then, but we did have nasty brutish violent cartoons. We had concerned citizen groups whining "Think of the children!" right and left, but I don't remember anybody getting an anvil dropped on them because they saw it in a cartoon.
You also had people who believed if they worshiped a particular sky-fairy, it would grant them wishes. Like, believed to the point that they would outright slaughter people who disagreed with them. Does that not sound like a person who can't separate reality from fantasy?
FYI, we still have those people today, slaughter and all.
If you're not already signed up for the Olympics, get your name in there - you'd definitely medal in Mental Gymnastics.
Silver at least.
Ignoring, for the moment, your grossly crass and inappropriate usage of the term "retarded," I will point out that there are a lot of people out there who, in fact, cannot reasonably separate fantasy from reality.
Take, for example, the current situation going on in Ferguson, MO - a large number of people have already, in their own minds, made a decision about who was at fault. Regardless of what evidence is presented, those people will not change their beliefs, indicating that these otherwise sane, reasonable people in fact cannot (or will not) distinguish reality (facts) from fantasy (what they choose to believe).
Or, for an example the atheists will love, religious devotees, which make up the vast majority of the human population - despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence so much as indicating the existence of any particular sky-fairy, billions of people the world over not only believe in them, but murder the holy living shit out of each other because of said belief.
So, going back to your statement:
Normal people who can tell the difference between fantasy and reality
The evidence indicates that either A) that is a false statement based on a particular belief and not the facts of the matter (meaning that you, yourself, fall into the "not-normal" category), or B) you don't know what "normal" actually means, in terms of human behavior.
Or I guess it could be C) you can't accept that your delusion isn't actually reality.
You would think that the existing real world examples would give them pause.
If they weren't so busy furiously masturbating over their fantasy of a work-free, lay-zee-boy economy, maybe they'd actually see the train barreling towards them.
As a child, I had no issues seeing games for what they are.
Amazing that you have so much memory, knowledge, and insight about a period in your life when your brain was still undeveloped. Most people can't honestly say such things... and I include you in that grouping.
Then again, if you're in my age group or older, "As a child" the only first person shooter games available were Doom and Duke Nukem. Not what one would call an exceptionally realistic representation of modern warfare and weaponry. Plus the graphics sucked; thus, it's not really an equal comparison.
The same is true today.
But to try and say that no kid, ever, could possibly get the idea from video games that if they, say, shoot another person, that person will just "respawn" later? That's dangerously naive. Some would even go so far as to say negligently irresponsible, though I think that's a bit over-the-top.
Parents need to parent and stop blaming games or anything else, for 'influence.' If you're not gonna parent, don't have kids.
To be fair, I don't have kids. But I do understand that contrary to what you want to believe, external factors very much can and do influence the developing minds of children - even more so if their parents are absentee or, for lack of a better term, shitty.
call of duty != war.
You know that, and I know that - but can we guarantee that not a single 8-year-old, whose only experience with guns and "war" is playing games like CoD, will know that? We cannot.
That's fine if he wants to take his kids to israel, but I think there are easier, cheaper ways to reality check his kids.
You're welcome to think what you want, and raise your kids how you want, just like he is.
Yes, as an adult, you realize that. But would you have realized it as a child?
Yes. I would. Not everyone is mentally retarded.
Just the ones with the inflated egos, amirite?
Bones everywhere? That's ridiculous!
They'll be collected by the robots and made into elaborate thrones.
See? Robots can be creative!
I think something like basic income is inevitable. We have it now, it's called Section 8 and food stamps.
Actually, it's called Ferguson, Missouri. Idle hands are the Devil's tinsnips.
Trolling aside, the current situation in that city is a perfect example of what will happen when you couple taking away all the jobs with increasing police militarization. I.e., it doesn't work out very well.
Or do you seriously think that a basic income would actually give people enough to do things that interest them beyond just the ability to merely exist.
Why not?
Look at the way people balk at welfare. Now, tell those people that you want to put everyone on welfare, and gauge their reactions.
Might want to be out of arms' reach when you do.
Well, since the effective tax rate on my income bracket is around 35%, and the effective tax rate on the top US income bracket is somewhere around 15%... Seems to me, adjusted for income, I am doing more than the billionaires when it comes to making the lives of poor people better.
"new kinds of jobs come to exist", but they are middlemen financial jobs that don't produce any real value,
That, and low wage service jobs created to cater to the middlemen financial types.