People suffering horrible pain, whether mental or physical, have something to offer.
You are likely right that we stand to gain something from their continued suffering. The question is, do they stand to get something in return that is a fair bargain? When life's compensations are too little, and its costs too great, we are selfish and wrong to demand that another person go on living for our benefit.
God created the Universe so I could make a living selling Intelligent Design textbooks. He also screwed it up quite a bit so I could follow with a line of Moronic Design texts. I am blessed.
My most valuable lesson learned in boot camp was that the rational mind is no help in an absurd world. Why did we have to iron our underwear with a soap dish? "It will save your life someday, Sailor." It's a koan.
I thought it was generally accepted that T-mobile had the best service
I think T-Mobile's good reputation is based on an earlier period when they did in fact have excellent service. In the first few years when I was a T-Mobile customer, they called me on a number of occasions to say they had reviewed my usage and that I was paying too much. They offered each time to change my service plan, guaranteeing that my bills would go down. The first time, I was suspicious but risked it. My bills did actually go down. Now, however, they are no better than AT&T on service. T-Mobile had a rep at an HR-sponsored benefits event at the university where I work, and they offered an employee discount for new data plans. I moved my family plan from AT&T to T-Mobile. Getting the discount applied to my account turned out to be an extreme hassle. All the customer service people, including supervisors and managers, refused to apply the promised discount, even though I sent them documentation of the offer. It wasn't until I looked up the email addresses of VP level execs and CC'd them and our HR director on my complaints that they finally honored their promise.
Nisbett, Richard, & Wilson, Timothy. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231-259.
Shows that even after we have made a supposedly free choice, we don't know what were the real determinants of our behavior. We report plausible, but baseless explanations.
Libet, Benjamin (1985). "Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will in Voluntary Action". The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 8: 529â"566.
Shows that unconscious neural processes that launch behavior precede the decision to do the behavior. We feel like we made a free choice to act after the act has already begun.
An experimental assessment of facilitated communication.
Wheeler, Douglas L.; Jacobson, John W.; Paglieri, Raymond A.; Schwartz, Allen A.
Mental Retardation, Vol 31(1), Feb 1993, 49-59.
Shows that even when we are certain we are not doing something we adamantly say we would not do, we unconsciously choose...but not freely...to do it.
By telling me, in effect: Hey Asshole. We'll delete your account if and when we want to, but we sure in the hell aren't doing it when you ask us to. they set a dangerous precedent, and make clear that they will do whatever the hell they please with your^H^H^H^Htheir account.
Are you starting to see the issue now?
No, but I see what you think is the issue. Before, you just sounded unreasonable. Now you seem maybe hyper-vigilant, but at least not nuts.
That's correct. That's the big deal. If you are too stupid to figure out why, that really isn't my problem.
I'm not sure my not knowing how you rationalize your paranoia about FB taking its time deleting your profile in any way suggests I'm stupid. Let's stipulate though that I am. Please explain then, in terms even I can understand, why it is a big deal. You never had to provide any accurate, let alone secret, information about yourself. You don't have to "Like" anything, or post any pictures of your pets, or click on any adverts, or send or accept any "Friend Requests", or even log in. So then, what is the big deal? Granted, it's not your problem, but would you condescend to say what it it that troubles you so?
That is indeed interesting. Thanks for sharing your idea.
This is good news for me, too. Friends have influenced my wife to feed me "The Paleo Diet". I hope she'll buy the idea that cavemen did in fact have cheese after all...so I can too.
That was part of the problem. The forecast didn't call for 2 inches, it predicted that the ice/snow would miss Atlanta, though not by much.
That is partly right. On Monday, that was what the weather advisory predicted. However, at 3:39 AM Tuesday, my wife, who works at a DeKalb County school, received a weather alert that said the advisory had been upgraded to a warning. The warning stated that there would be dangerous winter storm conditions, and that only emergency vehicles should be on the road. Everyone in state, city, and county government, and school systems, knew what was coming.
Why were the schools not closed? Several years ago, I forget which year it was, there was a weather forecast for a few inches of snow. The schools closed. Not a flake fell. The school systems were heavily criticized for pre-emptively closing. After that, they have been reluctant to close until they see the snow. This time, that proved to be a mistake.
Hindsight, as the cliche says, is always 20/20. Here in the ATL, even when foresight is 20/20, making the right call is, at best, 50/50.
It's ransomware: it encrypts your files with a public key. The private key is controlled by the gang. You don't pay, you end up with a bunch of random-looking data substituted for your files, since the gang destroys the unique private key after the time is up.
Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the $300. Fortunately, I never liked my data anyway.
The assumption that we humans will be able to develop AI that can then create new and better technology is a logical fallacy.
How is it a logical fallacy? Isn't it just an empirical question as yet unanswered?
For this the AI must become sentient, or can only optimize existing processes and technology, but never create new one.
Why? The fact that no one has yet invented a robot-designing robot is no guarantee that no one ever will. I work with neuroscientists who build animats and cultured neural networks that interface with computers. The latter have been shown to learn. Sure, those examples are to robot-designing robots as protozoa are to humans, but that's the point. Protozoa evolved and here we are. The real logical fallacy is in assuming that because we claim to be sentient now that we have evolved, that the eventual robot-designing robot will make the same claim.
In the U.S. the "right" actually proposes reducing government power
Does it, in practical effect, count as reducing government power if all you actually do is transfer that power from the constitutional government to large corporations? If so, is that a good thing? Isn't it in fact marginally worse for me if completely unaccountable corporations wrest power from a nearly unaccountable government? Government does a lousy job of protecting me from AT&T, Goldman Sachs, and Monsanto...but AT&T, Goldman Sachs, and Monsanto don't protect me from government at all, and certainly not from themselves.
Who gives a crap about sports? Grown men fighting over a ball...
Fighting over a ball and generating a huge load of statistics. Fantasy football is a fun intellectual pastime...if you have an interest in predictive analytics...which I do. Watching actual games not only provides some insight regarding what to include in modeling, but also makes the process more interesting...even exciting at times. But if there were no actual grown men out there fighting over actual balls, there would be no fantasy football. So I guess I'd have to say that I, for one, give a crap about sports.
Adam and Eve were married. So were Ward and June. Equally meaningful fiction...though you have to admit that Wally and the Beaver were way better kids than Cain and Abel.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't even know what those words mean. Man, I must be old.
People suffering horrible pain, whether mental or physical, have something to offer.
You are likely right that we stand to gain something from their continued suffering. The question is, do they stand to get something in return that is a fair bargain? When life's compensations are too little, and its costs too great, we are selfish and wrong to demand that another person go on living for our benefit.
God created the Universe so I could make a living selling Intelligent Design textbooks. He also screwed it up quite a bit so I could follow with a line of Moronic Design texts. I am blessed.
My most valuable lesson learned in boot camp was that the rational mind is no help in an absurd world. Why did we have to iron our underwear with a soap dish? "It will save your life someday, Sailor." It's a koan.
I thought it was generally accepted that T-mobile had the best service
I think T-Mobile's good reputation is based on an earlier period when they did in fact have excellent service. In the first few years when I was a T-Mobile customer, they called me on a number of occasions to say they had reviewed my usage and that I was paying too much. They offered each time to change my service plan, guaranteeing that my bills would go down. The first time, I was suspicious but risked it. My bills did actually go down. Now, however, they are no better than AT&T on service. T-Mobile had a rep at an HR-sponsored benefits event at the university where I work, and they offered an employee discount for new data plans. I moved my family plan from AT&T to T-Mobile. Getting the discount applied to my account turned out to be an extreme hassle. All the customer service people, including supervisors and managers, refused to apply the promised discount, even though I sent them documentation of the offer. It wasn't until I looked up the email addresses of VP level execs and CC'd them and our HR director on my complaints that they finally honored their promise.
But not until my $1,200 3d printer can print me a girlfriend.
Your friends will criticize her for being so plastic.
Common sense and government do not mix.
Thomas Paine thought otherwise.
I'm getting these for my girlfriend...the one I'm building in the garage.
Two words: free will.
Three more words: does not exist
Read:
Nisbett, Richard, & Wilson, Timothy. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231-259.
Shows that even after we have made a supposedly free choice, we don't know what were the real determinants of our behavior. We report plausible, but baseless explanations.
Libet, Benjamin (1985). "Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will in Voluntary Action". The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 8: 529â"566.
Shows that unconscious neural processes that launch behavior precede the decision to do the behavior. We feel like we made a free choice to act after the act has already begun.
An experimental assessment of facilitated communication. Wheeler, Douglas L.; Jacobson, John W.; Paglieri, Raymond A.; Schwartz, Allen A. Mental Retardation, Vol 31(1), Feb 1993, 49-59.
Shows that even when we are certain we are not doing something we adamantly say we would not do, we unconsciously choose...but not freely...to do it.
We'll meet again Don't know where, Don't know when, But I know we'll meet again Some sunny day Something to look forward to....
By telling me, in effect: Hey Asshole. We'll delete your account if and when we want to, but we sure in the hell aren't doing it when you ask us to. they set a dangerous precedent, and make clear that they will do whatever the hell they please with your^H^H^H^Htheir account.
Are you starting to see the issue now?
No, but I see what you think is the issue. Before, you just sounded unreasonable. Now you seem maybe hyper-vigilant, but at least not nuts.
That's correct. That's the big deal. If you are too stupid to figure out why, that really isn't my problem.
I'm not sure my not knowing how you rationalize your paranoia about FB taking its time deleting your profile in any way suggests I'm stupid. Let's stipulate though that I am. Please explain then, in terms even I can understand, why it is a big deal. You never had to provide any accurate, let alone secret, information about yourself. You don't have to "Like" anything, or post any pictures of your pets, or click on any adverts, or send or accept any "Friend Requests", or even log in. So then, what is the big deal? Granted, it's not your problem, but would you condescend to say what it it that troubles you so?
That is indeed interesting. Thanks for sharing your idea.
This is good news for me, too. Friends have influenced my wife to feed me "The Paleo Diet". I hope she'll buy the idea that cavemen did in fact have cheese after all...so I can too.
That was part of the problem. The forecast didn't call for 2 inches, it predicted that the ice/snow would miss Atlanta, though not by much.
That is partly right. On Monday, that was what the weather advisory predicted. However, at 3:39 AM Tuesday, my wife, who works at a DeKalb County school, received a weather alert that said the advisory had been upgraded to a warning. The warning stated that there would be dangerous winter storm conditions, and that only emergency vehicles should be on the road. Everyone in state, city, and county government, and school systems, knew what was coming.
Why were the schools not closed? Several years ago, I forget which year it was, there was a weather forecast for a few inches of snow. The schools closed. Not a flake fell. The school systems were heavily criticized for pre-emptively closing. After that, they have been reluctant to close until they see the snow. This time, that proved to be a mistake.
Hindsight, as the cliche says, is always 20/20. Here in the ATL, even when foresight is 20/20, making the right call is, at best, 50/50.
I am sick and tired of these motherfuckin snakes without motherfuckin planes.
It's ransomware: it encrypts your files with a public key. The private key is controlled by the gang. You don't pay, you end up with a bunch of random-looking data substituted for your files, since the gang destroys the unique private key after the time is up.
Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the $300. Fortunately, I never liked my data anyway.
The assumption that we humans will be able to develop AI that can then create new and better technology is a logical fallacy.
How is it a logical fallacy? Isn't it just an empirical question as yet unanswered?
For this the AI must become sentient, or can only optimize existing processes and technology, but never create new one.
Why? The fact that no one has yet invented a robot-designing robot is no guarantee that no one ever will. I work with neuroscientists who build animats and cultured neural networks that interface with computers. The latter have been shown to learn. Sure, those examples are to robot-designing robots as protozoa are to humans, but that's the point. Protozoa evolved and here we are. The real logical fallacy is in assuming that because we claim to be sentient now that we have evolved, that the eventual robot-designing robot will make the same claim.
silly me thought my 5GH miner was going to make me stupid rich...
One out of two ain't bad.
Both parties in a trade value what they are getting more than what they give.
The party that values cash more than bitcoins, though, probably will suffer less buyer's remorse.
In the U.S. the "right" actually proposes reducing government power
Does it, in practical effect, count as reducing government power if all you actually do is transfer that power from the constitutional government to large corporations? If so, is that a good thing? Isn't it in fact marginally worse for me if completely unaccountable corporations wrest power from a nearly unaccountable government? Government does a lousy job of protecting me from AT&T, Goldman Sachs, and Monsanto...but AT&T, Goldman Sachs, and Monsanto don't protect me from government at all, and certainly not from themselves.
Who gives a crap about sports? Grown men fighting over a ball...
Fighting over a ball and generating a huge load of statistics. Fantasy football is a fun intellectual pastime...if you have an interest in predictive analytics...which I do. Watching actual games not only provides some insight regarding what to include in modeling, but also makes the process more interesting...even exciting at times. But if there were no actual grown men out there fighting over actual balls, there would be no fantasy football. So I guess I'd have to say that I, for one, give a crap about sports.
"The more Toyota / Nissan / Nexus / Mazda / Honda on your neighborhood, the more you guys are asking them to lord over you !"
Not to mention Hello Kitty.
Adam and Eve were married. So were Ward and June. Equally meaningful fiction...though you have to admit that Wally and the Beaver were way better kids than Cain and Abel.
All I watch are reruns of Law & Order. Guess that's why I keep getting targeted ads for handguns, anti-freeze, bleach, and no-contract cell phones.
Did they get a date on that meat?
"Best by 1334 BC"