This universe is not the best possible one for life. Ergo, it was not created with life in mind, nor "intelligently", nor "by an omnipotent being". Ergo, this is an accidental universe and we are here by accident. At best.
At worst... Well... There is a god, but he is not omnipotent. More like incompetent.
It is not if we or the Xenomorphs are fine-tuned for this Universe or if the Universe is fine-tuned for us.
It's about there being a calculable possibility that ANOTHER UNIVERSE EXISTS WHICH IS OPTIMAL FOR LIFE - compared to which our Universe is a third-world kind of Universe. You know, like the song says - this ain't the garden of Eden, there ain't no angels above.
But my favorite part is not that this proves that there is no god. Cause it doesn't. Not really. It just proves that our universe is not a product of very intelligent design, and we are here most likely by accident.
It is that it proves that WE are not his favorite creatures, made in his image and all that. Somewhere else, there is a Universe which is perfect for life. And if there IS a god - his/her favorite creatures live there. And guess what - it's not us.
Also, what would you do when your aquarium becomes too small for your fishes - and there is this other empty aquarium right next to it but it is kinda moldy and there is maybe a spider living somewhere in the corner?
Since when is there a "usage clause" for theft of personal information? At the very least, they are guilty of stalking. Me. And millions of other people.
Also, when their bot opens an account in my name, using my data, my photo, my address etc. - that bot is pretending to be me. And unless they've made some great advancements in AI - that bot was specifically programmed to do that by THEM.
Fuckin' A they are claiming to be me.
Also, they are using the "pretend me" in order to get more investments based on "millions of users" they have - without any kind or reimbursement for the use of my name, photo etc.
At the same time, should the "pretend me" become a close friend of several convicted murderers - I am the one who will suffer the negative rep. Bonus points if I get into any kind of problems with the law. Like trying to contest a speeding ticket in court.
And that is just off the top of my head. Mix in some child pornography into that scenario for "real fun".
Why would an auto-generated use of your personal data without your explicit permission be any different from your "regular" identity theft just because it is done "wholesale" by a corporation? Explicit declaration on their part or not.
Shouting "Stand and deliver!" or "Your money or your life!" doesn't turn a robbery into a donation.
Whatever you may mean by "value", yes, they do all have the same weight and authority.
To citizens, to their freedoms, to their quality of life etc.
Or if that clarification is too complicated for you... You have two hands. Which one would you miss more should you lose it for any reason? Or if you want something that is important but fulfills a different function - would you rather be bald or toothless? How about blind or deaf?
We put value to unquantifiable or even priceless things all the time.
There is a SLIGHT difference between the freedom to express one's opinions and ideas, and possession of tools intended for murder. And don't even try to make that a "defense" issue. You want defense - get a flak jacket. Come on - everyone knows weapons don't increase you armor class - armor does.
And believe it or not - no, amendments (just like all other laws) DO NOT have the same value. To citizens, to their freedoms, to their quality of life etc.
You know... kinda like those other laws and the penalties you face if you break them. I.e. Stealing an apple and killing a man carries HUGELY different penalties.
Also, rights (like... to own guns etc.) are based on existence of freedoms. Not the other way around. People who are not free have no rights.
It is a little know fact that MySpace got its name from a typing error.
It was supposed to be called Mice Pace - based on their innovative approach of running millions of mice over millions of keyboards in order to create a sample of "perfect code". It was a variation of the idea with monkeys and typewriters - mice were cheaper to get and easier to scale up.
The result is the site we all know as MySpace. They could never get the Complete Works of Shakespeare out of the mice either. But they did get half a Justin Bieber song once. Thousands of mice had to be put to death after that.
I mean, it is clear that you are not mistaking jokes for trolling. After all, you didn't down-mode a post just like this one that includes unicorn semen. That one has a +3 Informative moderation.
So... Mod points. Are you keeping them for later? Or are you hoping they will replace the balls you clearly lack? I'm sorry to inform you, but... mod points don't last forever. That is what "Use them or lose them" means.
So according to this article it takes 40 people wearing these to purify 2 cubic meters of air in a minute. Each of which needs to be in direct sunlight as this probably relies on a photocatalyst.
You and your fancy photo-moto words. Not everything has to be explained by "science". BAH! More like... schmience. Yeah!
It should be clear even to a blind person that this dress, and similar clothing that likewise don't really exist other than in an animated form, would use MAGIC. YEAH! You didn't expect THAT! Did you!? Mr. Sciency McScience Guy.
This dress will be made by fairies and it will use magic to clean not just air, but water, radioactivity, bad karma and miasma. Just you wait and see.
Let say you CAN load up your ship with weapons and armed men and sail into any harbor you like as it would be "perfectly legal". And if you are inspected by the local coast guard, hey you have your papers signed and sealed by your village elder or whoever does that in your country of origin.
Now... lets say you are a pirate and/or a weapons smuggler. See where this is going?
There is a reason why civilian merchant ships don't have cannons any more - and it is not because there is 0% chance of needing them. Or why civilians around most of the world don't get to parade around with a gun hanging low on their hip. Or a sword.
Personal morality and "softness" would be A DETERRENT for an untrained, unconditioned civilian which would make them hesitate when they should act. They would be extremely unfit for the role of "killers" - which is what they would have to be. You can paint it any way you want. Personal defense, retaliation, reciprocity... the fact is they would have to kill other people. Which many of them would either not be able to do, or would not be able to "handle" later.
And there is no "handling" of continuously having to be on the edge for extended periods of time. You don't just "turn off" all that anxiety and adrenalin. Not without either prior training and conditioning, heavy use of drugs or therapy. Civilian employees of private companies lack the first, are forbidden the second and the third... well... they might get it should one of them come home and machine-gun the office to settle some dispute.
There is a reason why every single army in the world uses psychological tests in their recruiting process. Cause some people simply can't "handle it" - even with training, conditioning and the weight of the chain of command later on. Some on the other hand "handle it" too well - cause they are psychos. And if the "Dirty Dozen" has taught us anything, it's that you don't want to depend on the psycho following orders.
And you apparently haven't lived in a country where PTSD is a common thing due to a recent war. Lovely thing that. You can get it as a victim, you can get it as a survivor, you can get it as the aggressor. There is a reason Bantus came up with the Ubuntu concept. We are built for it.
As for "naive and stupid", those are your qualities cause you believe that you could get away with possession and trafficking of illegal automatic weapons, from all those countries whose territorial waters you would happen to sail through. And you are twice as naive and stupid to believe that you could just breeze through armed conflicts, killing people (many of them teenage boys) and watching people get killed - without suffering psychological if not physical consequences.
About as scientific as this dress. About as real too. Maybe more. After all, he's been around forever and someone just farted this dress up only recently.
That is why the top part is white. And as everyone know, unicorn semen is lighter than dirt, so the dress is darker at the lower part as the filtered dirt accumulates at the bottom of the dress.
Only downside is, once the magical properties of unicorn semen get used up, you must wash it in dragon tears. Preferably a Chinese dragon. European dragon tears don't have the right level of pneuma to reload the dress in one washing.
Feel free to prove me wrong. No, really. I WANT you to prove me wrong. Not a single bloody link in that article (and there are 10 of them, plus a video) explains anything even close to how this idea should work. Prove me wrong, give me the information.
My guess - it is another one of those bullshit "artistic" designs based on magic and "hey wouldn't it be cool". You know, those that don't bother to use even buzz-words like "nanotech", instead focusing on the Photoshop side of the idea.
If those were "legal attacks" by Somali navy that would be an act of war. And there is a system in place for that. Your country goes to war with Somalia.
The whole problem lies is in the fact that you can't deal with these pirates that way. You send your navy after them - they run back to territorial waters. Unless you want a war - you can't follow them. And wars cost money. Fuck... just getting your navy there costs money.
Extra bonus - YOU DON'T HAVE A NAVY. You are a private corporation registered in dozen countries. Many of them probably landlocked.
But what you probably do have is shareholders. Who will not like the idea of financing a war.
Fuck, they won't even pay for a little more fuel and time to get around the Somalian waters. Those Somali skiffs don't have an unlimited range, you know?
But besides the point... Having automatic weapons (in some cases - ANY weapons) on a ship will get you in trouble with dozens of coast guards around the world. You WILL be boarded and arrested. And there is practically no way that you can have your private little arsenal on a civilian ship LEGALLY around the whole world.
Just try to imagine the hassle of registering every single firearm you have in every single country along the way. Do they even allow foreign nationals to have guns? Or civilians at all?
The sea is NOT the Wild West. There ARE laws. You want to break them? Be prepared to live like the Somalis and WITH the Somalis then - cause you will be put in jail in another country that has a functional coast guard.
As a civilian, or a corporation that does business you MUST obey laws unless you want to suffer consequences - from lawsuits, to a ban on entering a country, to jail time in a foreign prison.
And their behaviour isn't psychopathic or otherwhise abnormal behaviour - it's human behaviour.
It is conditioned behavior. They are taught, trained and indoctrinated to act like that. They would probably spray a kindergarten the same way if ordered. Sure didn't show no remorse about the kids they shot. "Shouldn't bring your kids to a battlefield". Quoting from my head here, but there sure as fuck was no remorse or any other "human" emotion there. Sentient primate... maybe. Human? No. Those guys got their humanity "shot off in the war". Unless they were psychos to begin with, which I doubt.
Venegance and "morally proper" defense are one of the two things that easily remove a lot of that pain.
For the moment, maybe. But unless you are trained to ignore and bury that it will come back and bite you later. That is what the training does for you. Amputates and cauterizes a part of your humanity and gives you something else in return in order to be able to handle all the shit in the battlefield without snapping.
People on those tankers are soft, "pampered" civilians. Not trained, not conditioned, not taught to kill without remorse. It WILL come back to haunt them later on.
But that is NOT the point. Point is they will not operate as trained soldiers. They will hesitate, refuse to act, freeze and break down. Might even hurt themselves and other members of the crew. In short - do more harm than good.
Unless you go and make them into soldiers first. Only, with zero discipline or command as you can't have all that military structure just jammed into a private corporation - the REAL military wouldn't let you. Or the real law. Have fun dealing with those "paramilitary sailors" later on. They might just choose to "hoist the Jolly Roger" themselves - only now you'll have trained pirates with inside knowledge of how shipping companies operate.
Slashdot Mirror
This universe is not the best possible one for life.
Ergo, it was not created with life in mind, nor "intelligently", nor "by an omnipotent being".
Ergo, this is an accidental universe and we are here by accident. At best.
At worst... Well... There is a god, but he is not omnipotent. More like incompetent.
It is not if we or the Xenomorphs are fine-tuned for this Universe or if the Universe is fine-tuned for us.
It's about there being a calculable possibility that ANOTHER UNIVERSE EXISTS WHICH IS OPTIMAL FOR LIFE - compared to which our Universe is a third-world kind of Universe.
You know, like the song says - this ain't the garden of Eden, there ain't no angels above.
But my favorite part is not that this proves that there is no god. Cause it doesn't. Not really.
It just proves that our universe is not a product of very intelligent design, and we are here most likely by accident.
It is that it proves that WE are not his favorite creatures, made in his image and all that.
Somewhere else, there is a Universe which is perfect for life.
And if there IS a god - his/her favorite creatures live there. And guess what - it's not us.
Also, what would you do when your aquarium becomes too small for your fishes - and there is this other empty aquarium right next to it but it is kinda moldy and there is maybe a spider living somewhere in the corner?
Cut them some slack.
Apple needs to boost its shares value somehow.
Prepare to read how iPhones clean the air, reduce global warming and feed the hungry in next couple of days.
Since when is there a "usage clause" for theft of personal information?
At the very least, they are guilty of stalking. Me. And millions of other people.
Also, when their bot opens an account in my name, using my data, my photo, my address etc. - that bot is pretending to be me.
And unless they've made some great advancements in AI - that bot was specifically programmed to do that by THEM.
Fuckin' A they are claiming to be me.
Also, they are using the "pretend me" in order to get more investments based on "millions of users" they have - without any kind or reimbursement for the use of my name, photo etc.
At the same time, should the "pretend me" become a close friend of several convicted murderers - I am the one who will suffer the negative rep.
Bonus points if I get into any kind of problems with the law. Like trying to contest a speeding ticket in court.
And that is just off the top of my head. Mix in some child pornography into that scenario for "real fun".
This doesn't make him a hacker?
Why would an auto-generated use of your personal data without your explicit permission be any different from your "regular" identity theft just because it is done "wholesale" by a corporation?
Explicit declaration on their part or not.
Shouting "Stand and deliver!" or "Your money or your life!" doesn't turn a robbery into a donation.
Thousands of divorce lawyers were hospitalized in USA's greatest epidemic of continuous orgasms.
You're an idiot and a coward.
Coming from a coward.
Whatever you may mean by "value", yes, they do all have the same weight and authority.
To citizens, to their freedoms, to their quality of life etc.
Or if that clarification is too complicated for you...
You have two hands. Which one would you miss more should you lose it for any reason?
Or if you want something that is important but fulfills a different function - would you rather be bald or toothless?
How about blind or deaf?
We put value to unquantifiable or even priceless things all the time.
There is a SLIGHT difference between the freedom to express one's opinions and ideas, and possession of tools intended for murder.
And don't even try to make that a "defense" issue.
You want defense - get a flak jacket. Come on - everyone knows weapons don't increase you armor class - armor does.
And believe it or not - no, amendments (just like all other laws) DO NOT have the same value. To citizens, to their freedoms, to their quality of life etc.
You know... kinda like those other laws and the penalties you face if you break them.
I.e. Stealing an apple and killing a man carries HUGELY different penalties.
Also, rights (like... to own guns etc.) are based on existence of freedoms. Not the other way around.
People who are not free have no rights.
It is a little know fact that MySpace got its name from a typing error.
It was supposed to be called Mice Pace - based on their innovative approach of running millions of mice over millions of keyboards in order to create a sample of "perfect code".
It was a variation of the idea with monkeys and typewriters - mice were cheaper to get and easier to scale up.
The result is the site we all know as MySpace. They could never get the Complete Works of Shakespeare out of the mice either.
But they did get half a Justin Bieber song once. Thousands of mice had to be put to death after that.
You just pointed out that the article is made of canned bullshit.
There is a chance you might get modded down as troll.
Kids these days... Can't tell a joke without a laugh track accompanying it.
And my oppressor is a humorless jerk with mod points.
What did you do with the rest of your mod points?
I mean, it is clear that you are not mistaking jokes for trolling.
After all, you didn't down-mode a post just like this one that includes unicorn semen. That one has a +3 Informative moderation.
So... Mod points. Are you keeping them for later? Or are you hoping they will replace the balls you clearly lack?
I'm sorry to inform you, but... mod points don't last forever. That is what "Use them or lose them" means.
So according to this article it takes 40 people wearing these to purify 2 cubic meters of air in a minute.
Each of which needs to be in direct sunlight as this probably relies on a photocatalyst.
You and your fancy photo-moto words. Not everything has to be explained by "science". BAH! More like... schmience. Yeah!
It should be clear even to a blind person that this dress, and similar clothing that likewise don't really exist other than in an animated form, would use MAGIC.
YEAH! You didn't expect THAT! Did you!? Mr. Sciency McScience Guy.
This dress will be made by fairies and it will use magic to clean not just air, but water, radioactivity, bad karma and miasma.
Just you wait and see.
Let say you CAN load up your ship with weapons and armed men and sail into any harbor you like as it would be "perfectly legal".
And if you are inspected by the local coast guard, hey you have your papers signed and sealed by your village elder or whoever does that in your country of origin.
Now... lets say you are a pirate and/or a weapons smuggler. See where this is going?
There is a reason why civilian merchant ships don't have cannons any more - and it is not because there is 0% chance of needing them.
Or why civilians around most of the world don't get to parade around with a gun hanging low on their hip. Or a sword.
...misunderstanding my point.
Personal morality and "softness" would be A DETERRENT for an untrained, unconditioned civilian which would make them hesitate when they should act.
They would be extremely unfit for the role of "killers" - which is what they would have to be.
You can paint it any way you want. Personal defense, retaliation, reciprocity... the fact is they would have to kill other people.
Which many of them would either not be able to do, or would not be able to "handle" later.
And there is no "handling" of continuously having to be on the edge for extended periods of time.
You don't just "turn off" all that anxiety and adrenalin.
Not without either prior training and conditioning, heavy use of drugs or therapy.
Civilian employees of private companies lack the first, are forbidden the second and the third... well... they might get it should one of them come home and machine-gun the office to settle some dispute.
There is a reason why every single army in the world uses psychological tests in their recruiting process.
Cause some people simply can't "handle it" - even with training, conditioning and the weight of the chain of command later on.
Some on the other hand "handle it" too well - cause they are psychos.
And if the "Dirty Dozen" has taught us anything, it's that you don't want to depend on the psycho following orders.
And you apparently haven't lived in a country where PTSD is a common thing due to a recent war.
Lovely thing that. You can get it as a victim, you can get it as a survivor, you can get it as the aggressor.
There is a reason Bantus came up with the Ubuntu concept. We are built for it.
As for "naive and stupid", those are your qualities cause you believe that you could get away with possession and trafficking of illegal automatic weapons, from all those countries whose territorial waters you would happen to sail through.
And you are twice as naive and stupid to believe that you could just breeze through armed conflicts, killing people (many of them teenage boys) and watching people get killed - without suffering psychological if not physical consequences.
Superman.
About as scientific as this dress. About as real too. Maybe more.
After all, he's been around forever and someone just farted this dress up only recently.
That is why the top part is white.
And as everyone know, unicorn semen is lighter than dirt, so the dress is darker at the lower part as the filtered dirt accumulates at the bottom of the dress.
Only downside is, once the magical properties of unicorn semen get used up, you must wash it in dragon tears.
Preferably a Chinese dragon. European dragon tears don't have the right level of pneuma to reload the dress in one washing.
Feel free to prove me wrong. No, really. I WANT you to prove me wrong.
Not a single bloody link in that article (and there are 10 of them, plus a video) explains anything even close to how this idea should work. Prove me wrong, give me the information.
My guess - it is another one of those bullshit "artistic" designs based on magic and "hey wouldn't it be cool".
You know, those that don't bother to use even buzz-words like "nanotech", instead focusing on the Photoshop side of the idea.
Oh, and if you like the dress, you're gonna love the breathing mask that cleans air, captures CO2 and stores it as electricity, mentioned in one of those links.
I hear it works on special mushrooms.
If those were "legal attacks" by Somali navy that would be an act of war.
And there is a system in place for that. Your country goes to war with Somalia.
The whole problem lies is in the fact that you can't deal with these pirates that way.
You send your navy after them - they run back to territorial waters. Unless you want a war - you can't follow them.
And wars cost money. Fuck... just getting your navy there costs money.
Extra bonus - YOU DON'T HAVE A NAVY. You are a private corporation registered in dozen countries. Many of them probably landlocked.
But what you probably do have is shareholders. Who will not like the idea of financing a war.
Fuck, they won't even pay for a little more fuel and time to get around the Somalian waters.
Those Somali skiffs don't have an unlimited range, you know?
But besides the point... Having automatic weapons (in some cases - ANY weapons) on a ship will get you in trouble with dozens of coast guards around the world.
You WILL be boarded and arrested.
And there is practically no way that you can have your private little arsenal on a civilian ship LEGALLY around the whole world.
Just try to imagine the hassle of registering every single firearm you have in every single country along the way.
Do they even allow foreign nationals to have guns? Or civilians at all?
The sea is NOT the Wild West. There ARE laws. You want to break them?
Be prepared to live like the Somalis and WITH the Somalis then - cause you will be put in jail in another country that has a functional coast guard.
As a civilian, or a corporation that does business you MUST obey laws unless you want to suffer consequences - from lawsuits, to a ban on entering a country, to jail time in a foreign prison.
Really kid, you crack me up.
And their behaviour isn't psychopathic or otherwhise abnormal behaviour - it's human behaviour.
It is conditioned behavior. They are taught, trained and indoctrinated to act like that.
They would probably spray a kindergarten the same way if ordered.
Sure didn't show no remorse about the kids they shot. "Shouldn't bring your kids to a battlefield".
Quoting from my head here, but there sure as fuck was no remorse or any other "human" emotion there.
Sentient primate... maybe. Human? No.
Those guys got their humanity "shot off in the war". Unless they were psychos to begin with, which I doubt.
Venegance and "morally proper" defense are one of the two things that easily remove a lot of that pain.
For the moment, maybe. But unless you are trained to ignore and bury that it will come back and bite you later.
That is what the training does for you.
Amputates and cauterizes a part of your humanity and gives you something else in return in order to be able to handle all the shit in the battlefield without snapping.
People on those tankers are soft, "pampered" civilians.
Not trained, not conditioned, not taught to kill without remorse. It WILL come back to haunt them later on.
But that is NOT the point.
Point is they will not operate as trained soldiers.
They will hesitate, refuse to act, freeze and break down.
Might even hurt themselves and other members of the crew. In short - do more harm than good.
Unless you go and make them into soldiers first.
Only, with zero discipline or command as you can't have all that military structure just jammed into a private corporation - the REAL military wouldn't let you. Or the real law.
Have fun dealing with those "paramilitary sailors" later on.
They might just choose to "hoist the Jolly Roger" themselves - only now you'll have trained pirates with inside knowledge of how shipping companies operate.
Where we're going we don't need welding helmets.