Intelligence and education are on orthogonal axes. I'd even go so far as to speculate that ignorance is on yet another axis, although it does correlate somewhat with the other two.
I happen to think that making broad generalizations about any body of humans anywhere for any purpose is misleading and (dare I say it?) ignorant. I have no idea what your educational or intellectual credentials might be, but I do know that based on this particular piece of information that I think your reasoning skills are on shaky ground.
It's easy for you to say "all populations have exceptions". In my experience, people don't make that exception. They proceed from the assumption that "People in the South are teh dumb...". That assumption is ill-founded (by virtue of the fact that my personal experience contradicts it) and inaccurate (since it doesn't predict the behavior of any given Southerner with any fidelity).
How does it improve your life to carry that assumption in your head? How is that bit of mental shorthand useful? It's a prejudice, and it's not a useful one. So why have it?
If by "Apple however did "borrow" ideas from Xerox" you mean that "Apple paid licensing money to use Xerox's R&D ideas as the basis for Apple's tremendous user-interface investment", yes.
I mean, if you're going to be accurate, let's be accurate.
You mean that two Microsoft honchos say that the product they will probably ship sometime next year is better than the stuff that's available (more or less) right now?
"If I travel into an inner-city slum, and half the time I get mugged, why would it not make sense for me to conclude that slums are dangerous and have a large proportion of muggers? Is this bigoted? I think not."
Of course not. If, however, you conclude that blacks and/or Latinos and/or poor people are dangerous, then that IS bigoted.
"If I travel into a rural region and run into many people who have no college education, is it bigoted for me to conclude that people in this region are generally uneducated? I think not."
Of course not. If, however, you concluded that those people were stupid, or not as worthwhile as you are, then you'd be a bigot.
"Your post doesn't make any sense at all. How else would a person form an opinion, other that to learn about something firsthand? By listening to some anonymous fool on Slashdot?"
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. And I'm entitled to make a judgement as to whether that opinion has merit or not. In my judgement, broad generalizations are sloppy thinking, and I indict them as such.
"As for the first line, it should be plainly obvious that the idea of destroying the east coast and texas is completely tongue-in-cheek, and is meant as a joke. If this concept of "humor" is beyond you, then I truly pity you."
There are jokes that are funny, and others that are not. I didn't think this joke was funny.
"There are actually very few problems that wouldn't be solved if we were able to destroy the East Coast and Texas."
You're telling me that viewpoint is not absurd? I don't care if it's formed by personal experience or not. When personal experience reinforces bigotry, that doesn't make it any less ignorant.
Man, if an '80's cartoon could be true, why couldn't it be a cool one? Like Transformers? Or M.A.S.K.? I want a motorcycle that turns into a helicopter, dammit!
Gosh, I'd think that reliable sanitation would be a good place to start. I also think that talking about a "killer app" is going to require some careful explaining when you talk to the people who are actually going to be using it.
Throwing the pencils away doesn't get you any paper. And we've strained this analogy beyond its limits.
Yes, over-reliance on computers is a bad thing. Over-reliance on ANYTHING is a bad thing. Getting rid of computers is an equally bad thing.
Sounds like we need smart, motivated teachers, and aggressive plans to locate and disseminate the best teaching techniques and technologies. How is throwing away computers going to get us closer to that goal?
So, because technology hasn't been implemented well in your school, we should GET RID OF IT!, huh? Throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Seems to me like technology is a tool, kinda like a pencil. I can use a pencil to write a good essay, or to copy grammar rules out of a textbook. One is a learning experience, one is a rote busywork exercise. Should we ban pencils too?
Has he come up with any cogent arguments since writing "Silicon Snake Oil"? Basically, that book was all about "Hey, when you're using your computer, you aren't out rock climbing." I'd say that when you're out rock climbing, you're also not playing in a symphony orchestra.
He wrote a book about how technology is bad by saying "you shouldn't use technology 24/7". Those of us with balanced social lives already understood that.
I'd give his thesis a big ol' (-1 Obvious) moderation.
That "someone" is Larry McAvoy (sp?), who rescinded his license. Blaming Tridge is missing the point.
Linus says that anybody who thinks that this situation parallels the Samba situation is an idiot. Well, I guess I'm an idiot, because I think the parallel is precise. Tridge was trying to re-implement a protocol for the benefit of the community. If that resulted in Linus being inconvenienced, that's unfortunate. He doesn't have a right to not be inconvenienced, and Tridge does have a right to code whatever the hell he wants to.
Taking this into the press was a dick move by Mr. Torvalds. I have no particular affinity for Linux, although I have admired it from afar. I admire the magnitude of Linus' achievement, and respect his leadership. I'm trying to figure out what the hell he's smoking in this case.
Slashdot Mirror
Intelligence and education are on orthogonal axes. I'd even go so far as to speculate that ignorance is on yet another axis, although it does correlate somewhat with the other two.
I happen to think that making broad generalizations about any body of humans anywhere for any purpose is misleading and (dare I say it?) ignorant. I have no idea what your educational or intellectual credentials might be, but I do know that based on this particular piece of information that I think your reasoning skills are on shaky ground.
It's easy for you to say "all populations have exceptions". In my experience, people don't make that exception. They proceed from the assumption that "People in the South are teh dumb...". That assumption is ill-founded (by virtue of the fact that my personal experience contradicts it) and inaccurate (since it doesn't predict the behavior of any given Southerner with any fidelity).
How does it improve your life to carry that assumption in your head? How is that bit of mental shorthand useful? It's a prejudice, and it's not a useful one. So why have it?
"I'm a little worried about the hype surrounding them, though."
So, uh, ignore it.
Yeah, stupid Google, whose free services are well designed and useful...they MUST be up to something.
Whatever dude.
If by "Apple however did "borrow" ideas from Xerox" you mean that "Apple paid licensing money to use Xerox's R&D ideas as the basis for Apple's tremendous user-interface investment", yes.
I mean, if you're going to be accurate, let's be accurate.
You mean that two Microsoft honchos say that the product they will probably ship sometime next year is better than the stuff that's available (more or less) right now?
Wow. Stop the presses.
"If I travel into an inner-city slum, and half the time I get mugged, why would it not make sense for me to conclude that slums are dangerous and have a large proportion of muggers? Is this bigoted? I think not."
Of course not. If, however, you conclude that blacks and/or Latinos and/or poor people are dangerous, then that IS bigoted.
"If I travel into a rural region and run into many people who have no college education, is it bigoted for me to conclude that people in this region are generally uneducated? I think not."
Of course not. If, however, you concluded that those people were stupid, or not as worthwhile as you are, then you'd be a bigot.
"Your post doesn't make any sense at all. How else would a person form an opinion, other that to learn about something firsthand? By listening to some anonymous fool on Slashdot?"
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. And I'm entitled to make a judgement as to whether that opinion has merit or not. In my judgement, broad generalizations are sloppy thinking, and I indict them as such.
"As for the first line, it should be plainly obvious that the idea of destroying the east coast and texas is completely tongue-in-cheek, and is meant as a joke. If this concept of "humor" is beyond you, then I truly pity you."
There are jokes that are funny, and others that are not. I didn't think this joke was funny.
"There are actually very few problems that wouldn't be solved if we were able to destroy the East Coast and Texas."
You're telling me that viewpoint is not absurd? I don't care if it's formed by personal experience or not. When personal experience reinforces bigotry, that doesn't make it any less ignorant.
I lived in Texas for a long time, too. I know Texas, and I don't hate Texans.
I'm proud to not be counted among them, and I hate Texas summers, but there are a lot of very nice things about Texas. Austin is high on that list.
Seems to me like anybody who lives anywhere thinks that people who live in other places are stupid/immoral/incompetent, whatever.
Is it so hard to understand how absurd that viewpoint is?
If you are so contemptuous of typical citizens, what right do you have to their tax dollars?
Man, if an '80's cartoon could be true, why couldn't it be a cool one? Like Transformers? Or M.A.S.K.? I want a motorcycle that turns into a helicopter, dammit!
Yeah, I know. It's a talent. What can I say? : )
Excellent. And now a court will decide if AOL was negligent or not. We'll see what happens.
Then he should be fired, not jailed.
Then you're probably not in the target market for this feature, are you?
Define "too many".
I guarantee there's not one PC for every student in the US. Wake me up when kids have as many computers as I do.
Gosh, I'd think that reliable sanitation would be a good place to start. I also think that talking about a "killer app" is going to require some careful explaining when you talk to the people who are actually going to be using it.
But hey, I'm probably oversensitive or something.
Throwing the pencils away doesn't get you any paper. And we've strained this analogy beyond its limits.
Yes, over-reliance on computers is a bad thing. Over-reliance on ANYTHING is a bad thing. Getting rid of computers is an equally bad thing.
Sounds like we need smart, motivated teachers, and aggressive plans to locate and disseminate the best teaching techniques and technologies. How is throwing away computers going to get us closer to that goal?
So, because technology hasn't been implemented well in your school, we should GET RID OF IT!, huh? Throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Seems to me like technology is a tool, kinda like a pencil. I can use a pencil to write a good essay, or to copy grammar rules out of a textbook. One is a learning experience, one is a rote busywork exercise. Should we ban pencils too?
Has he come up with any cogent arguments since writing "Silicon Snake Oil"? Basically, that book was all about "Hey, when you're using your computer, you aren't out rock climbing." I'd say that when you're out rock climbing, you're also not playing in a symphony orchestra.
He wrote a book about how technology is bad by saying "you shouldn't use technology 24/7". Those of us with balanced social lives already understood that.
I'd give his thesis a big ol' (-1 Obvious) moderation.
Right, because when you bring a Mac into your house, all the Windows machines spontaneously combust, right?
Me, I like having the right tool for the job. That means owning more than one computer. It's not like they're expensive...
"crash prone computers"...
Yeah, you must be a Windows admin. Go wax your Porsche. It'll make you feel better.
That "someone" is Larry McAvoy (sp?), who rescinded his license. Blaming Tridge is missing the point.
Linus says that anybody who thinks that this situation parallels the Samba situation is an idiot. Well, I guess I'm an idiot, because I think the parallel is precise. Tridge was trying to re-implement a protocol for the benefit of the community. If that resulted in Linus being inconvenienced, that's unfortunate. He doesn't have a right to not be inconvenienced, and Tridge does have a right to code whatever the hell he wants to.
Taking this into the press was a dick move by Mr. Torvalds. I have no particular affinity for Linux, although I have admired it from afar. I admire the magnitude of Linus' achievement, and respect his leadership. I'm trying to figure out what the hell he's smoking in this case.
...which only underscores my point.
For what it's worth, it still works great for me. Bummer for you, mate. : /