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User: TemperedAlchemist

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  1. Re:wat on Black Holes Not Black After All, Theorize Physicists · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Since no one has actually peeked inside of a black hole we really can't tell for certain.

    What we do know is that when we do the math on our models what we find are things approaching infinity. Sometimes these are just caused by using the wrong coordinate system, but other times when we change coordinate systems, the singularity still exists.

    It's important to note that when speaking about infinity don't fall into the fallacy of treating it as a value. You cannot have an infinite amount of something, but you can have something which has infinite characteristics. Consider Hilbert's Hotel which is an example of the hilarity found when trying to add finite numbers and infinity together. The expression " + 1" is meaningless because you can't add a value to infinity any more than you can add "a + 1".

    What's actually happening in Hilbert's Hotel is the addition of aleph numbers with finite numbers, which you can do, but has silly results. Aleph-0 + 1 = Aleph-0. But this just describes the extent of the set, suppose we took a sum and looked at it:

    1 + 2 + 3 + ... n + 1 = 2 + 2 + 3 + ... n

    And no matter what you try to do with it, that extra one is still hiding in the sum. If you take this new set and subtract it by all of the natural numbers, you should be left with the result of 1. One of the most irritating things is when people say you can do things like you can in Hilbert's Hotel, writing it off like it's some quirk of infinity. But it's not. If you shifted all of the guests over to only even rooms, you would still have the same number of guests and rooms.

    2((n) n) = 2 + 4 + 6 + ... 2n

    You've effectively just doubled the number of rooms. It's a sleight of hand that breaks the rules. "But!" you may say, "You have infinite many rooms, so of course you have a room at 2n!" If you do think this then you're still caught up thinking about infinity as a literal value. You don't have a room at 2n, your rooms only extend to n, and now half of your guests (which is still an infinite many) don't have rooms, but are left to stand out in an endless hallway.

    In essence, one kind of infinity does not necessarily equal another kind. /rant

  2. Re:No public drug use on World Health Organization Calls For Decriminalization of Drug Use · · Score: 1

    Sugar is necessary for you to live. It is impossible to survive without it. Something that is necessary to survival cannot meet the criteria for being addictive. Sugar being thrown in to the mix was caused by a very poorly done study by a university that proclaimed sugar was more addictive than cocaine. But the very experiment was setup in such a poor way the university should make a public apology. All the research team managed to show was that rats (that have an exceptional natural resistance to cocaine addiction) preferred tasty Oreos over dehydrated, tasteless food pellets doped with cocaine. They then drew the false conclusion that sugar was more addictive than cocaine. It's quintessential bad science and moreover shows the ignorance of people who cannot be bothered to read and think for themselves.

    Caffeine can be quit by the large majority of the population with reasonable effort. While a small part of the population does indeed suffer from legitimate addiction that cannot be overcome, it does not cross the biological threshold necessary to produce a full addiction (and there is one that is crossed by other stimulants, like methamphetamines).

  3. Re:No public drug use on World Health Organization Calls For Decriminalization of Drug Use · · Score: 1

    Alcohol no. Tobacco yes. Sugar no. Chocolate (caffeine?) no.

    Only one of those have a direct mechanism for addiction. One of the arguments people like to use in favor of legalization is that, "Everything else is addictive too!"

    But no, you're wrong, and you should feel wrong. Normal everyday things that stimulates the reward mechanism can be addictive, it's true. But at the same time, you're horribly misinformed about pharmacology and pharmacokinetics. The question is not if something could be addictive, it's whether or not it causes addiction through a direct mechanism. Nicotine, morphine, and cocaine all have direct mechanisms to causing addiction. The internet, video games, delicious foods, and alcohol does not.

    So why not caffeine too? The answer lies in just how addiction works. There is a threshold for substances that have a direct action on reward mechanisms, so that many things end up as nonaddictive. And while there are coffee drinkers genuinely addicted to caffeine, they are by far in the minority. Other drugs such as bupropion also have this characteristic.

    In the end we must ask the question, "Does the user choose the drug, or does the drug choose for the user?"

    This puts us in quite a predicament. If we are to accept that people have a choice in deciding between lighting up their next cigarette in not, then we must also accept that they can choose to quit at any time, and it is merely the fault of their being lazy that prevents this. However, if we assert that they cannot choose to quit because nicotine prevents them from doing so despite reasonable effort, then this means it is not their fault for being lazy, but are being controlled by a chemical.

    So why, then, come out in support of selling this dangerous and toxic chemical? While it is your body and what you choose to do with it is none of my concern, others profiting off of the deliberate harm of people which is not of their own free will should be an egregious crime. It is baffling that anyone with a sense of morality promote anything to the contrary.

  4. Re:No public drug use on World Health Organization Calls For Decriminalization of Drug Use · · Score: 1, Troll

    But the sale of addictive drugs should.

    Companies should not be permitted to profit from the sale of addictive substances for recreational purposes.

  5. Machines are modular and code can be rewritten.

    We can beat evolution.

  6. Re:Step 1 on How Apple Can Take Its Headphones To the Next Level · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Skull Candy is crap. Beats is crap. Skull Candy at least doesn't charge an arm and a leg for it.

  7. Re:Don't like AP on Computational Thinking: AP Computer Science Vs AP Statistics? · · Score: 2

    AP is such BS. It only exists to make parents feel like their kid is smart.

    Find me the kids reading through and doing problem sets that aren't assigned. Those are the smart kids.

  8. And? on Emails Show Feds Asking Florida Cops To Deceive Judges About Surveillance Tech · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It won't stop until the DoJ actually starts handing out serious penalties instead of a slap on the wrist for this sort of behavior. I'm talking jail time.

  9. Re:Administrators on Teaching College Is No Longer a Middle Class Job · · Score: 1

    Don't forget that you're also shafting the people who should be going to college but cannot pay for it.

    All so some C student momma's boy can get his nice little spot in a classroom and go out drinking four nights a week.

  10. Re:Mmhmm on High Frequency Trading and Finance's Race To Irrelevance · · Score: 1

    Those are the OTC and pink markets.

    Flipping penny stocks is like dangling your testicles into shark infested waters.

  11. Re:Fabricated results on Key Researcher Agrees To Retract Disputed Stem Cell Papers · · Score: 2

    I haven't read the paper nor do I have the expertise to really comment on the technicality of it, but it could be that they knew the method worked, but didn't reproduce it enough for it to be real solid and scientifically valid. And with budget/time constraints it could have gone quite simply as just fabricating data to push it out faster.

  12. Re:How long on DARPA Unveils Hack-Resistant Drone · · Score: 1

    This is DARPA we're talking about.

    One does not simply out smart DARPA.

  13. inb4 the whole system was compromised

  14. Re:One word on IBM Discovers New Class of Polymers · · Score: 1

    I agree! WHERE IS MY TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM.

    And thank you filter, maybe I like yelling.

  15. Re:Ha, hot programming jobs on Ask Slashdot: Minimum Programming Competence In Order To Get a Job? · · Score: 3, Informative

    You mean a few companies who aren't willing to pay what developers are asking.

  16. Re:Down 3%?! on Tesla Logged $713 Million In Revenue In Q1 and Built 7,535 Cars · · Score: 1

    Investors will spec buy into a company before they release good news in case it's something like, "Tesla Motors creates electric hover car that never needs charged!" Or something equally absurd. So when the news comes out that "Oh, so we're just doing business, made some good sales." Those spec buy investors cash out and are like aw man.

    I really think like a lot of investors are freakishly skittish. It's hilarious.

  17. Re:Not a surprise on SEC Chair On HFT: 'The Markets Are Not Rigged' · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The cute part is that she thinks she can get away with it. She's not screwing over your average American household, she's screwing over investors who have money and power.

  18. Re:It's not trending. on Smart Car Tipping Trending In San Francisco · · Score: 1

    But first, just think about this for a second:

    > Put self in danger: just potential to harm self. Police do not get involved unless danger to other people.

    > Property damage: causes frustration and upsets other people. Causes police to get involved.

    You can tell me again about how bright these kids are when they have a permanent felony on their records and a massive fine as well as maybe jail time.

  19. Re:It's not trending. on Smart Car Tipping Trending In San Francisco · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, like stuff that put me in danger.

    I didn't cause property damage to other people.

  20. Re:Medicalizing Normality on Continued Rise In Autism Diagnoses Puzzles Researchers, Galvanizes Advocates · · Score: 1

    You mean when we're educated under an outdated and ill suited system?

    Because it's like teaching someone to tie their shoes with two hands when they have one hand and going, "OMG YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO TIE YOUR SHOES."

    Great logic, there.

  21. Re:Medicalizing Normality on Continued Rise In Autism Diagnoses Puzzles Researchers, Galvanizes Advocates · · Score: 1

    Einstein, Newton, and Tesla were all autistic.

    Yes a good bit of your entire modern world and all you take for granted was created by us.

    But never mind the scientific savants of autism, we can excel in a plethora of ways and just because we're socially inept doesn't mean we're hopeless. I have had tons of success socially no thanks in part due to relentless struggle on my part to learn the ins and outs of the social dance. I'm even what you would call charismatic.

    Don't get me wrong, I loathe being around people with a passion, but I can do it.

  22. Re:Outrageous. on Minecraft Creator Halts Plans For Oculus Version Following Facebook Acquisition · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh Crimea river.

  23. Re:Capitalism at its finest on Silicon Valley Anti-Poaching Cartel Went Beyond a Few Tech Firms · · Score: 1

    No see that's just the thing, it is capitalism.

    Anti-trust laws are actually anti-capitalist.

  24. Re:sounds implausible to me on Research Suggests Pulling All-Nighters Can Cause Permanent Damage · · Score: 1

    Addendum: humans also didn't evolve with artificial lighting or even something like torches. When night time hit there wasn't much else to do but sleep.

  25. Re:sounds implausible to me on Research Suggests Pulling All-Nighters Can Cause Permanent Damage · · Score: 1

    Someone didn't read the study.

    Our brain does have natural defenses against sleep deprivation. A single all-nighter would produce no brain damage because of a specific protein the brain creates to protect it from damage. Repeated sleep deprivation (aka chronic sleep deprivation) leads to brain damage because this protection mechanism stops functioning.