Seems that if the Greens want to have a massive redistribution of wealth, Social Security Numbers are going to be thrown around everywhere. I'm sure the government will need them to track all those family trusts they will be attaching. What about cash transactions? Will they need to be recorded? What about banks? I'm sure we will need some sort of Know Your Customer type regulations to prevent the rich from hiding income.
I like Nader and am in agreement with the Greens drug war stance. I'm afraid that Nader will replace the drug war with a new War On Income that will create a constitutional erosion and a decrease in privacy that will make the drug war seem tame.
If only my grandmother was still alive to laugh at an article like this.
Tell a woman who scooped entrails from the butcher's floor to feed her depression era family about the betrayal of the "Modern" technological economy. Would you complain about your beeper to the generations of steel workers and coal miners who worked 18 hours a day just to feed their children? Would you compare your stress and carpal tunnel to their back lung and asbestosis? Would they pity your choice to let work engulf you?
Before you cry about how bad things are, look to history. You will see how good you have it now. You have more choice to balance work and life now than at any point in history.
While I personally like Nader, I would never want him as a president. If you are worried about the "National Corporation", the Greens are the worst choice. Republicans and Democrats seem pretty tame compared to the big government role proposed by the Greens.
I'm all for the Greens stance on the drug war, but that is about all I can agree with. I do fully support Nader's consumer work as a private corporation, but that's where it ends.
I'm with the Libertarians on the solution to the problem: Limit the government's power to the items specified in the constitution. We will all be better off. If we don't like limited government, we have the power to amend the constitution. As it stands now, the constitution is largely ignored. Can we expect the government to do the right thing, when they consistently violate the document that defines the limit of its power? Do we expect giving them more power will solve the problem?
Yes, I am from that same universe and my eyes do not function they way they used to.
My eyes worked reliably enough during my teens and early twenties. Biological systems seem reliable enough to reach sexual maturity. You would have been expected to have bred and passed on your genes by that time. After that, the cost of maintaining the system is no longer justified.
Software design is in its infancy, more magical incantation than science.
We start with incomplete design documents, unknown inputs, and impossible to predict interactions. Still, we get complex monstrosities to run with an extraordinary level of reliability. All this using a mechanism that is totally unrelated to the biological processes have built reliable systems for billions of years.
Software will grow up and start solving general problems like biological systems. Throw in the software evolution and software development will have reached the level of maturity where we can truly judge its impact.
When movies first had sound, the old silent film actors would talk about how all that talking got in the way of the "real" acting they were doing.
When movies first got color, plot was secondary to epic sized sets and retina burning colors.
If 3D movies had ever become as ubiquitous as their flat brothers, they might have risen above all that sticking stuff in your face.
As the new kid on the block, the current FPSs focus on how the new technology differentiates itself. Given time, these games will become more about plot and strategy than the fastest action your hardware T&L can deliver. If you compare Quake and Unreal to Deus Ex and Half-Life, you can see the evolution starting. There will always be a market for brainless, fast-paced killing, but it is way to early to judge what the FPS genre is capable of.
People have the power to change the way in which they are ruled independent of technology.
I know of at least one political party that honors the role of the individual above that of the state. They have been around since the seventies. They are called the Libertarian party.
Voters in this country have made the choice of the state over the individual by voting for the same old Republicans and Democrats. If they ever decide they don't like the current state of affairs they can get off their fat asses and hit the voting booth.
If you want sovereignty, vote Libertarian. Your vote won't require Internet access or even a computer.
If Einstein wanted his oblivious, dead parts chopped up for medical study, then it is respectful to honor his wishes. If Einstein wanted his intact corpse to wither in a beautiful box, society should also honor those wishes.
Regardless of what his wishes were, the uniqueness of if his brain and the inability of his corpse to defend itself, does not give any society the right to ignore his desires.
Maybe someone could provide some info on what Einstein's true intentions were. Either way, society should honor the man by honoring his individual choice.
Video games are like an all-natural Ritalin
on
Video Games and ADD
·
· Score: 1
I've lost hours at a time, soaked in sweat, chain smoking cigarettes during some recent sessions with Unreal Tournament. I can barely code an hour at a time without stopping for a soda, but these games keep me glued to the set for hours.
This approach sure sounds intuitive to me. This is probably a better alternative than getting the little tikes hooked on speed. They can wait till college to learn that trick.
I seems that any kind of face paced, interaction will demand increased attention. I'm surprised it's taken as long to use video games like this. The combination of biofeedback seems to be the real trick for the subjects. If the carrot works, and is fun at the same time, all the better.
Lowering prices and raising ease of use is the way technology democratizes itself. Currently, computer technology is in its infancy. Should it be surprising that the early adopters are primarily white male geek types? These are the kinds of people that currently design this technology. Is it a geek conspiracy or just a reflection of the way engineers see the world?
Producers want to sell to the widest possible audience so improvements in interface and pricing will continue. It will then be up to the users to build the communities that work, whether real or virtual.
Technology will not replace the choices that individuals choose to make or not to make. If individuals are alienated from politics, they have made the choice to stop voting, or they keep voting for the same old two parties.
We get the government that we deserve. We have earned the mess we are in because of ignorance and apathy, not technology.
Libertarians are NOT anti-poor. Libertarians don't want to throw people to the wolves. Libertarians believe the government IS the wolf!
Libertarians want to help the poor at the local level. They don't want the federal government taking all your money to Washington with the hope that they will give it back to your community.
If you believe the federal welfare state actually helps the poor, vote for some other party.
BellAtlantic has a similar do-it-yourself installation. Unfortunately, their poor quality techs, require you to support it yourself. If the network and customer support structures aren't working, it doesn't matter how easy they make the installation.
First the they give kickbacks to have the creative talent behind major network television hits incorporate anti-drug messages into their plots, now "cookiegate". Who know what else we haven't heard about?
The war on drugs sickens me, but at these approaches are clever. Misguided, corrosive, and illegal, yes, but also clever.
You don't see many things come out of government that indicate a level of creativity, but at least the folks at the White House Office on Drug Control Policy continue to surprise.
Is this the same group that gave us "This is your brain on drugs" or did they get a better crop of talent?
The the first action of the Society for the Ethical Treatment of Insects (SETI) is the release of a new screen saver (SETI@home) that will inform everyone that calling a software defect a "bug" defames all insects.
Many people agree that animals should not be abused when in human service, but PETA is so extreme in their views it's laughable. Of course they would see the inevitable parody as a threat. PETA needs to stick to the important issues like decrying the death of poor rats as food. I notice they had no problem with the horrible deaths of beetle larva. Bugs are people too!
The human mind is a prefect information predator
on
The Regulon
·
· Score: 1
"Modern media have no predators, and are not subject to biological or Darwinian-style selections -- the Regulon. Thus media can proliferate eternally, overwhelming coherence and reality"
You make the media sound like some virus that can take over normally rational though processes to obtain a life of its own.
A closer analogy would be the media is creating information like a DNA sequence. On it's own the DNA can do nothing. It requires a biological system to transcribe and translate the DNA into protein sequences that perform a useful function.
In a sense, the media feeds the human mind raw information. The human brain transcribes and translates this information into ideas. We filter out the ideas that don't seem right or are counter to our experience. If enough brains translate this information into ideas that make sense, a consensus develops and those ideas have a greater chance of surviving.
So modern media does have a formidable natural predator in the brains of the millions of humans.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems that if the Greens want to have a massive redistribution of wealth, Social Security Numbers are going to be thrown around everywhere. I'm sure the government will need them to track all those family trusts they will be attaching. What about cash transactions? Will they need to be recorded? What about banks? I'm sure we will need some sort of Know Your Customer type regulations to prevent the rich from hiding income.
I like Nader and am in agreement with the Greens drug war stance. I'm afraid that Nader will replace the drug war with a new War On Income that will create a constitutional erosion and a decrease in privacy that will make the drug war seem tame.
If only my grandmother was still alive to laugh at an article like this.
Tell a woman who scooped entrails from the butcher's floor to feed her depression era family about the betrayal of the "Modern" technological economy. Would you complain about your beeper to the generations of steel workers and coal miners who worked 18 hours a day just to feed their children? Would you compare your stress and carpal tunnel to their back lung and asbestosis? Would they pity your choice to let work engulf you?
Before you cry about how bad things are, look to history. You will see how good you have it now. You have more choice to balance work and life now than at any point in history.
If we can have the FEC administer taxpayer-funded welfare for political campaigns, its only fair to the have a welfare system for voters.
While I personally like Nader, I would never want him as a president. If you are worried about the "National Corporation", the Greens are the worst choice. Republicans and Democrats seem pretty tame compared to the big government role proposed by the Greens.
I'm all for the Greens stance on the drug war, but that is about all I can agree with. I do fully support Nader's consumer work as a private corporation, but that's where it ends.
I'm with the Libertarians on the solution to the problem: Limit the government's power to the items specified in the constitution. We will all be better off. If we don't like limited government, we have the power to amend the constitution. As it stands now, the constitution is largely ignored. Can we expect the government to do the right thing, when they consistently violate the document that defines the limit of its power? Do we expect giving them more power will solve the problem?
Yes, I am from that same universe and my eyes do not function they way they used to.
My eyes worked reliably enough during my teens and early twenties. Biological systems seem reliable enough to reach sexual maturity. You would have been expected to have bred and passed on your genes by that time. After that, the cost of maintaining the system is no longer justified.
Software design is in its infancy, more magical incantation than science.
We start with incomplete design documents, unknown inputs, and impossible to predict interactions. Still, we get complex monstrosities to run with an extraordinary level of reliability. All this using a mechanism that is totally unrelated to the biological processes have built reliable systems for billions of years.
Software will grow up and start solving general problems like biological systems. Throw in the software evolution and software development will have reached the level of maturity where we can truly judge its impact.
When movies first had sound, the old silent film actors would talk about how all that talking got in the way of the "real" acting they were doing.
When movies first got color, plot was secondary to epic sized sets and retina burning colors.
If 3D movies had ever become as ubiquitous as their flat brothers, they might have risen above all that sticking stuff in your face.
As the new kid on the block, the current FPSs focus on how the new technology differentiates itself. Given time, these games will become more about plot and strategy than the fastest action your hardware T&L can deliver. If you compare Quake and Unreal to Deus Ex and Half-Life, you can see the evolution starting. There will always be a market for brainless, fast-paced killing, but it is way to early to judge what the FPS genre is capable of.
The government might just lose its reputation as one of our finest, most efficient, best run organizations.
People have the power to change the way in which they are ruled independent of technology.
I know of at least one political party that honors the role of the individual above that of the state. They have been around since the seventies. They are called the Libertarian party.
Voters in this country have made the choice of the state over the individual by voting for the same old Republicans and Democrats. If they ever decide they don't like the current state of affairs they can get off their fat asses and hit the voting booth.
If you want sovereignty, vote Libertarian. Your vote won't require Internet access or even a computer.
If Einstein wanted his oblivious, dead parts chopped up for medical study, then it is respectful to honor his wishes. If Einstein wanted his intact corpse to wither in a beautiful box, society should also honor those wishes.
Regardless of what his wishes were, the uniqueness of if his brain and the inability of his corpse to defend itself, does not give any society the right to ignore his desires.
Maybe someone could provide some info on what Einstein's true intentions were. Either way, society should honor the man by honoring his individual choice.
I've lost hours at a time, soaked in sweat, chain smoking cigarettes during some recent sessions with Unreal Tournament. I can barely code an hour at a time without stopping for a soda, but these games keep me glued to the set for hours.
This approach sure sounds intuitive to me. This is probably a better alternative than getting the little tikes hooked on speed. They can wait till college to learn that trick.
I seems that any kind of face paced, interaction will demand increased attention. I'm surprised it's taken as long to use video games like this. The combination of biofeedback seems to be the real trick for the subjects. If the carrot works, and is fun at the same time, all the better.
Lowering prices and raising ease of use is the way technology democratizes itself. Currently, computer technology is in its infancy. Should it be surprising that the early adopters are primarily white male geek types? These are the kinds of people that currently design this technology. Is it a geek conspiracy or just a reflection of the way engineers see the world?
Producers want to sell to the widest possible audience so improvements in interface and pricing will continue. It will then be up to the users to build the communities that work, whether real or virtual.
Technology will not replace the choices that individuals choose to make or not to make. If individuals are alienated from politics, they have made the choice to stop voting, or they keep voting for the same old two parties.
We get the government that we deserve. We have earned the mess we are in because of ignorance and apathy, not technology.
Libertarians are NOT anti-poor. Libertarians don't want to throw people to the wolves. Libertarians believe the government IS the wolf!
Libertarians want to help the poor at the local level. They don't want the federal government taking all your money to Washington with the hope that they will give it back to your community.
If you believe the federal welfare state actually helps the poor, vote for some other party.
BellAtlantic has a similar do-it-yourself installation. Unfortunately, their poor quality techs, require you to support it yourself. If the network and customer support structures aren't working, it doesn't matter how easy they make the installation.
Cool! Now I can start melting cigarette holes in my case while I wait for my Defender Stargate ROMS.
First the they give kickbacks to have the creative talent behind major network television hits incorporate anti-drug messages into their plots, now "cookiegate". Who know what else we haven't heard about?
The war on drugs sickens me, but at these approaches are clever. Misguided, corrosive, and illegal, yes, but also clever.
You don't see many things come out of government that indicate a level of creativity, but at least the folks at the White House Office on Drug Control Policy continue to surprise.
Is this the same group that gave us "This is your brain on drugs" or did they get a better crop of talent?
The the first action of the Society for the Ethical Treatment of Insects (SETI) is the release of a new screen saver (SETI@home) that will inform everyone that calling a software defect a "bug" defames all insects.
Many people agree that animals should not be abused when in human service, but PETA is so extreme in their views it's laughable. Of course they would see the inevitable parody as a threat. PETA needs to stick to the important issues like decrying the death of poor rats as food. I notice they had no problem with the horrible deaths of beetle larva. Bugs are people too!
"Modern media have no predators, and are not subject to biological or Darwinian-style selections -- the Regulon. Thus media can proliferate eternally, overwhelming coherence and reality"
You make the media sound like some virus that can take over normally rational though processes to obtain a life of its own.
A closer analogy would be the media is creating information like a DNA sequence. On it's own the DNA can do nothing. It requires a biological system to transcribe and translate the DNA into protein sequences that perform a useful function.
In a sense, the media feeds the human mind raw information. The human brain transcribes and translates this information into ideas. We filter out the ideas that don't seem right or are counter to our experience. If enough brains translate this information into ideas that make sense, a consensus develops and those ideas have a greater chance of surviving.
So modern media does have a formidable natural predator in the brains of the millions of humans.