THAT should be the urgent question for the country.
Speaking as one who has worked at Bell Labs when they really did extensive fundamental research, I would suggest that there is a critical gap in the innovation process which is NOT being filled by Microsoft or any corporate entity right now.
Remember what the best corporate labs have contributed in the past century: PARC, Westinghouse, IBM. They have all disappeared or became a ghost of their former self where ROI (this fiscal year) now rules the day. Microsoft Lab DOES have a potential to reach greatness, but it is still a long way off. What I don't know is whether it has the right culture for it to develop.
While research universities also originate innovation, it's not clear if universities + VC is adequate to jump start major projects.
"Actually we weren't using deficit spending to pay for our military (or anything else for that matter) until Dubya took office and gave a giant tax cut to the rich. Based on that fact I'd say that we really don't require you buying up all our debt to pay for our war machine."
Heard of Ronald Regan? He ballooned our deficit by spending on Starwars, etc. Very interesting that the 2 US presidents who have built up the largest federal deficits in the US history both claimed to be true conservatives.
"You call us arrogant? You are too arrogant to think that just maybe we are right once in awhile."
You reminds me of Dubya... OK I was responsible fore Katrina disaster. But I was RIGHT on everything else! Eh well, it wasn't really my fault...
Fundamentally, you are trying to justify almost all of your arguments base on US laws and US interests. You fail to acknowledge other perspectives where the the interests of other people and cultures are important. All of these are demonstrated in your posts and are the basis for the accusation of arrogance. Don't dwell in generalities. Look at your own statements to see reality.
That would be the most likely scenario for a nuclear exchange to wipe out humanity.
Long live our cockroach overlord!
There's obviously no way to definitively prove or disprove the efficacy of that scenario. There are much evidence supporting it, however. Moreover I would find suspicious anyone who claim that they understand what would happen after an all out nuclear exchange.
The Wikepedia article you cited indicates that they were blocked twice for a total of 23 days since inception: ~3% of the time. This suggests to me that there were significant forces within China itself pushing for sites such as Wikipedia to be accessible. Such statistics seem to be supportive of the points made by the origianl post in this thread: censorship clearly exists, but is by no means pervasive.
As the same time, I shall exercise my rights to critize such clubs as not being in the best long term interest of the country. Ethical considerations may also apply.
You answered a technical point without addressing the substance of the original post.
There may be genetic variations in innate mathematical abilities, but the method of teaching math makes a great difference as well.
Some of the most recent curriculums like the TIRK methods are actually very good. They encourage the student to be problem solvers and explored multiple ways to solve a mathematical problem.
Something fascinating happened when the teachers were trained in using this method. Many of them realized that THEY THEMSELVES never really understood the math concepts. They just did it by rote. This shows that a simple emphasis on "Rithmetics" doesn't help nurture engineers and scientists.
The problem occurs when the teachers are not trained in how to use the curriculum and don't understand mathematical thinking themselves. As a group, there is the additional problem that most primary school teachers are female and they were never encouraged to become proficient in math in the past.
The whole geek-jock stereotypes is damaging to the educational enterprise. Perhaps we need new cultural role models to create mass interest. Where will the next scientist-hero-celebrity come from?
Hmm. How much for "to" ? Beat I could make a mint on that one!
While the strong arm tactics of the IP enforcers are deplorable, the significant fact here is that "a special law" was passed to enhance the IP protection of this event. Some of the standard defenses against trademark suits was specifically eliminated. Here is a clear case of legislating for the benefit of a small group of businesses.
On the other hand, IS still the only events watched by a large % of humanity where people from differerent cultures are treated with respect and interest. Contrast this with the pervasive sniping and putdown of other cultures in the popular media: Polish jokes, Freedom Fries, any one?
With this perspective, the is still valuable. Even more so if there were unfettered coverage of all events. Unfortunately, the need to obtain commercial funding distorts and limits its effectiveness.
Why do we always have to have an external enemy? Why do we have to have the fastest car on the strip?
There is no way any country can develop space based weapon in secret. Everyone will be able to see the test. If they don't test it, it'll probably be useless: like our missile defense system (sic).
In the late 6th century, St. Gregory the Great listed the 7 deadly sins in decreasing severity: pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. So lust is the least amont these, but why does it get so much attention ?
The modern capitalist economy is built upon "avarice", "envy", and "gluttony". All greater sins than lust. So where are the Christian ministry that helps us get out of THAT trap? Should we all become Amish farmers?
The japanese voice actor had a deep gutteral voice which did not match Spike's personality. It made him sound too old and too serious. THe English voice actor's voice was a better fit. Of course, this is an exception that proves the rule.
During WWII, there was the Axis. During the cold war, there was Soviet Union, Now, there is China.
Why do we have to constantly look for an outside threat to justify what we want to do? Sure it's convenient for the politicians and military. But is it really in the long term interests of the nation? of the world?
Today, China just does not have the wealth to challenge the USA either economically or militarily. It still have a vast and mostly poor population to support. The space program is just a show piece and not a real investment. I have no doubt the China will become a regional power. But it will be at least 40 years before they could seriously challenge the US hegemony. So I view our job as managing the relationships such that there will be NO need to resort to armed conflict - the most wasteful actions of all. Articles which cry wolf over the growth of China will only hurts this prospect. So I urge every one to look beyond simple labels and work for understanding in depth.
may be appropriate here. However, that has not stopped nations from building aircraft carrier or forts to control chole points such as channels. So one interesting Q is whether there are any real choke points in space.
When is the last time you seen that reported in US newspaper, not to mention TV stations.
Why? The answer is obvious. But the result is that it reinforces the idea/impression that non-US human lives don't count or at least don't count as much. So how else would those "ignorant natives" view the US actions?
"you can post the sheet music on the net freely" requires some qualification.
If you wrote the sheet music yourself by hand copying it from another version or from the aural performance, then you own the copyright to the sheet music and you can post it on the net. But if you buy a set of sheet music from a publisher, they probably own the copyrights to that and you are usually not permitted to make photocopies or to post them to the net.
It'd be interesting to see how many practicing musician have violated music publisher copyrights by photocopying sheet musics. Been in a HS band, any one?
When the students have reach a level where they can synthesize ideas from different sources and reach their own conclusion, then you are absolutely right. But do you really think HS physics students should read Newton's writing? Should 1st course calculus focus on reading Leibniz?
As for using the Internet, your teacher can still print texts from the Internet and give them as handouts to students. Laptops wouldn't be needed.
If you just throw the students onto the internet, you'll get papers detailing the "Impact of the Cthulu cult on ancient gaelic culture"!
"Think hard about why software engineers don't have a union."
Why is that a problem? Is it even true? By landmass, it's no bigger than the USA. By population, it will be surpassed by India in a decade or 2. Why isn't India a problem?
SO US companies wants to tap this market. Some will succed. Many will fail. There will be intense competition against both western and chinese companies. Investors who treid to make a fast buck in China will likely lose. US companies now knows this. They have to invest carefully and for the long term. The old claptrap about 1 billion people each buying 1 toothbrush has been exposed for its shallow illogic. There are no secrets here. It only requires a little study.
Finally, do you really think Americans care about democratizing the Middel East? Perhaps in the abstract. How many really wants to send their dons and daughters to lay their lives on the line for THAT?
And how would US companies investing in China diminishes YOUR freedom? If you really care about your freedom, I suggest that you concentrate on thinigs like the "PATRIOT" (sic) acts. Work on where you can actually make a difference.
A common confusion is these types of discussion is to conflate the brain and the mind (or consciousness if you prefer). That is why they look for some magical escape clause like "quantum effect", whatever that means here.
The brain is a physical organ which I have no doubt (given a lot of time) we will be able to model more and more precisely. However, that does not mean that we will accept the computer model as a mind.
Deep Blue may be able to play very well against a world class chess champion. But people tend to view it as not very intelligent as it is based largely on "brute force search". Similarly, I have no doubt that the computer will one day be able to pass the Turing Test, but it still does not mean that we would view it as an embodied mind until we could "Live" with it for a time - physically interact with it.
While what you day is valid, it's important to understand the cause and effect.
Similar to illegal drugs, criminals and terrorists are involved in these products BECAUSE they are illegal. The fact that they are illegal causes the profit margin to be large and worthwhile to the criminals. If they were NOT illegal, the profit margin would be small and the criminals would not be interested at all. There is nothing intrinsic to the product that causes the criminals to be involved. If no one buys the unauthorized DVDs, the terrorists would surely move on to something else that can fund their activities.
Sure, let's stop trading with governments who imprison civilians (including minors) for years without any charges; and also those who abuse, torture, and humiliate their prisoners; and also those with secret search and seizure laws including libraries; and those who send agents oversea to assasinate foreign leaders and overthrow democraticly elected governments.
Hmmm. Who's left on the list? Canada? Does any one have a totally clean hand ?
By fanning the fear of a possible attack somewhere by an invisible enemy some day, these politicians have terrorized the voters into lambs. Now they are pursuing their own agenda which is at best peripherally related to fighting terrorism.
The only recourse is to speak to the facts to break through the media curtain of noises and spins and throw out the lying liars.
No film will appeal to everyone. Fans of Adam Sandler are not likely to enjoy Fellini.
An illustration of my theses is to compare "Metropolis" to "Spirited Away". "Metropolis" had dazzling images and visuals that'll likely wow everyone. But it remains emotionally distant. I suspect that hardly any one can identify with the main characters. Its narrative is likeswiae fairly dogmatic - a bit too obvious.
While some people may find Chihiro bratty, I think many more can relate to being thrown into a mysterious and foreign situation and being forced to grow in order to adapt.
Slashdot Mirror
THAT should be the urgent question for the country.
Speaking as one who has worked at Bell Labs when they really did extensive fundamental research, I would suggest that there is a critical gap in the innovation process which is NOT being filled by Microsoft or any corporate entity right now.
Remember what the best corporate labs have contributed in the past century: PARC, Westinghouse, IBM. They have all disappeared or became a ghost of their former self where ROI (this fiscal year) now rules the day. Microsoft Lab DOES have a potential to reach greatness, but it is still a long way off. What I don't know is whether it has the right culture for it to develop.
While research universities also originate innovation, it's not clear if
universities + VC is adequate to jump start major projects.
"Actually we weren't using deficit spending to pay for our military (or anything else for that matter) until Dubya took office and gave a giant tax cut to the rich. Based on that fact I'd say that we really don't require you buying up all our debt to pay for our war machine."
Heard of Ronald Regan? He ballooned our deficit by spending on Starwars, etc.
Very interesting that the 2 US presidents who have built up the largest federal deficits in the US history both claimed to be true conservatives.
"You call us arrogant? You are too arrogant to think that just maybe we are right once in awhile."
You reminds me of Dubya... OK I was responsible fore Katrina disaster.
But I was RIGHT on everything else! Eh well, it wasn't really my fault...
Fundamentally, you are trying to justify almost all of your arguments base on US laws and US interests. You fail to acknowledge other perspectives where
the the interests of other people and cultures are important.
All of these are demonstrated in your posts and are the basis for the accusation of arrogance. Don't dwell in generalities. Look at your own statements to see reality.
That would be the most likely scenario for a nuclear exchange to wipe out humanity.
Long live our cockroach overlord!
There's obviously no way to definitively prove or disprove the efficacy of that scenario. There are much evidence supporting it, however.
Moreover I would find suspicious anyone who claim that they understand what would happen after an all out nuclear exchange.
The Wikepedia article you cited indicates that they were blocked twice for a total of 23 days since inception: ~3% of the time. This suggests to me that there were significant forces within China itself pushing for sites such as Wikipedia to be accessible. Such statistics seem to be supportive of the points made by the origianl post in this thread: censorship clearly exists, but is by no means pervasive.
continues to exists and are perfectly legal.
As the same time, I shall exercise my rights to critize such clubs as not being in the best long term interest of the country. Ethical considerations may also apply.
You answered a technical point without addressing the substance of the original post.
There may be genetic variations in innate mathematical abilities, but the method of teaching math makes a great difference as well.
Some of the most recent curriculums like the TIRK methods are actually very good. They encourage the student to be problem solvers and explored multiple ways to solve a mathematical problem.
Something fascinating happened when the teachers were trained in using this method. Many of them realized that THEY THEMSELVES never really understood the math concepts. They just did it by rote. This shows that a simple emphasis on "Rithmetics" doesn't help nurture engineers and scientists.
The problem occurs when the teachers are not trained in how to use the curriculum and don't understand mathematical thinking themselves. As a group, there is the additional problem that most primary school teachers are female and they were never encouraged to become proficient in math in the past.
The whole geek-jock stereotypes is damaging to the educational enterprise. Perhaps we need new cultural role models to create mass interest. Where will the next scientist-hero-celebrity come from?
Hmm. How much for "to" ?
Beat I could make a mint on that one!
While the strong arm tactics of the IP enforcers are deplorable, the significant fact here is that "a special law" was passed to enhance the IP protection of this event. Some of the standard defenses against trademark suits was specifically eliminated. Here is a clear case of legislating for the benefit of a small group of businesses.
On the other hand, IS still the only events watched by a large % of humanity where people from differerent cultures are treated with respect and interest. Contrast this with the pervasive sniping and putdown of other cultures in the popular media: Polish jokes, Freedom Fries, any one?
With this perspective, the is still valuable. Even more so if there were unfettered coverage of all events. Unfortunately, the need to obtain commercial funding distorts and limits its effectiveness.
It's based on ethnicity.
Genetic distance metric may show clustering which could be identified as ethnic group, but they are not the same thing.
The practice of racial discrinination has always been based on apperance and heredity, not genetic sequences. So these are distinct issues.
Read it!
A memorable and intense story of a young woman growing up in Iran and Europe.
It will give you a human level perspective of some of these issues.
Works terrifically as a graphic novel.
Pax Americana ?
Why do we always have to have an external enemy?
Why do we have to have the fastest car on the strip?
There is no way any country can develop space based weapon in secret. Everyone will be able to see the test. If they don't test it, it'll probably be useless: like our missile defense system (sic).
In the late 6th century, St. Gregory the Great listed the 7 deadly sins in decreasing severity:
pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. So lust is the least amont these, but why does it get so much attention ?
The modern capitalist economy is built upon "avarice", "envy", and "gluttony". All greater sins than lust. So where are the Christian ministry that helps us get out of THAT trap? Should we all become Amish farmers?
perhaps that can serve as a pithy one liner come back.
The japanese voice actor had a deep gutteral voice which did not match Spike's personality. It made him sound too old and too serious. THe English voice actor's voice was a better fit. Of course, this is an exception that proves the rule.
During WWII, there was the Axis.
During the cold war, there was Soviet Union,
Now, there is China.
Why do we have to constantly look for an outside threat to justify what we want to do?
Sure it's convenient for the politicians and military. But is it really in the long term interests of the nation? of the world?
Today, China just does not have the wealth to challenge the USA either economically or militarily. It still have a vast and mostly poor population to support. The space program is just a show piece and not a real investment.
I have no doubt the China will become a regional power. But it will be at least 40 years before they could seriously challenge the US hegemony.
So I view our job as managing the relationships such that there will be NO need to resort to armed conflict - the most wasteful actions of all. Articles which cry wolf over the growth of China will only hurts this prospect. So I urge every one to look beyond simple labels and work for understanding in depth.
may be appropriate here.
However, that has not stopped nations from building aircraft carrier or forts to control chole points such as channels. So one interesting Q is whether there are any real choke points in space.
When is the last time you seen that reported in US newspaper, not to mention TV stations.
Why?
The answer is obvious.
But the result is that it reinforces the idea/impression that non-US human lives don't count or at least don't count as much. So how else would those "ignorant natives" view the US actions?
"you can post the sheet music on the net freely" requires some qualification.
If you wrote the sheet music yourself by hand copying it from another version or from the aural performance, then you own the copyright to the sheet music and you can post it on the net.
But if you buy a set of sheet music from a publisher, they probably own the copyrights to that and you are usually not permitted to make photocopies or to post them to the net.
It'd be interesting to see how many practicing musician have violated music publisher copyrights by photocopying sheet musics. Been in a HS band, any one?
When the students have reach a level where they can synthesize ideas from different sources and reach their own conclusion, then you are absolutely right. But do you really think HS physics students should read Newton's writing? Should 1st course calculus focus on reading Leibniz?
As for using the Internet, your teacher can still print texts from the Internet and give them as handouts to students. Laptops wouldn't be needed.
If you just throw the students onto the internet, you'll get papers detailing the "Impact of the Cthulu cult on ancient gaelic culture"!
"Think hard about why software engineers don't have a union."
"China is huge".
Why is that a problem?
Is it even true? By landmass, it's no bigger than the USA. By population, it will be surpassed by India in a decade or 2. Why isn't India a problem?
SO US companies wants to tap this market. Some will succed. Many will fail. There will be intense competition against both western and chinese companies. Investors who treid to make a fast buck in China will likely lose. US companies now knows this. They have to invest carefully and for the long term. The old claptrap about 1 billion people each buying 1 toothbrush has been exposed for its shallow illogic. There are no secrets here. It only requires a little study.
Finally, do you really think Americans care about democratizing the Middel East? Perhaps in the abstract. How many really wants to send their dons and daughters to lay their lives on the line for THAT?
And how would US companies investing in China diminishes YOUR freedom?
If you really care about your freedom, I suggest that you concentrate on thinigs like the "PATRIOT" (sic) acts.
Work on where you can actually make a difference.
A common confusion is these types of discussion is to conflate the brain and the mind (or consciousness if you prefer). That is why they look for some magical escape clause like "quantum effect", whatever that means here.
The brain is a physical organ which I have no doubt (given a lot of time) we will be able to model more and more precisely. However, that does not mean that we will accept the computer model as a mind.
Deep Blue may be able to play very well against a world class chess champion. But people tend to view it as not very intelligent as it is based largely on "brute force search". Similarly, I have no doubt that the computer will one day be able to pass the Turing Test, but it still does not mean that we would view it as an embodied mind until we could "Live" with it for a time - physically interact with it.
Me sirs think we should grant exceptional temporary power forever to the supreme chancellor to meet this terrorist emergency....
While what you day is valid, it's important to understand the cause and effect.
Similar to illegal drugs, criminals and terrorists are involved in these products BECAUSE they are illegal. The fact that they are illegal causes the profit margin to be large and worthwhile to the criminals. If they were NOT illegal, the profit margin would be small and the criminals would not be interested at all. There is nothing intrinsic to the product that causes the criminals to be involved. If no one buys the unauthorized DVDs, the terrorists would surely move on to something else that can fund their activities.
Sure, let's stop trading with governments who imprison civilians (including minors) for years without any charges; and also those who abuse, torture, and humiliate their prisoners; and also those with secret search and seizure laws including libraries; and those who send agents oversea to assasinate foreign leaders and overthrow democraticly elected governments.
Hmmm. Who's left on the list? Canada?
Does any one have a totally clean hand ?
Let's give credit where credit is due.
By fanning the fear of a possible attack somewhere by an invisible enemy some day,
these politicians have terrorized the voters into lambs. Now they are pursuing their own agenda which is at best peripherally related to fighting terrorism.
The only recourse is to speak to the facts to break through the media curtain of noises and spins and throw out the lying liars.
No film will appeal to everyone. Fans of Adam Sandler are not likely to enjoy Fellini.
An illustration of my theses is to compare "Metropolis" to "Spirited Away". "Metropolis" had dazzling images and visuals that'll likely wow everyone. But it remains emotionally distant. I suspect that hardly any one can identify with the main characters. Its narrative is likeswiae fairly dogmatic - a bit too obvious.
While some people may find Chihiro bratty, I think many more can relate to being thrown into a mysterious and foreign situation and being forced to grow in order to adapt.