Except that the input is perfectly explainable and subject to analysis by the self aware computer program. In other words, it can apply science to the user's inputs the same way we can analyze a meteor even though the idea of rocks floating around in the sky is nonsensical to our world, the we could and have applied science to the theory of an old man in the clouds who made us like him and wants us to be good.
If ever there was a force beyond the realm of known physics that entered the universe to work its will, it would leave effects that we could study to learn something of its nature.
A field of study generally produces results of some kind. The best thing to come out of ID is the idea of irreducible complexity as a line of attack on evolution. But it takes only a minute to realize that even if irreducible complexity were proven, it would present no barrier to Darwinian evolution.
If you want claim ID as a field of study, it'd help your case if anyone actually studied in it.
Of course there are consequences, you might garner financial support from fossil fuel companies, you might end up with your own syndicated radio show, or daily TV show. You might have your views picked up and trumpeted by the popular press as those of a skeptic or maverick. You might get a book deal.
Truly, these are dark times for Global Warming deniers.
This is strange. Since Carrie Fisher asked for and got a fraction of a percent of the gross of Starwars, I'd thought that kind of deal became standard. What kind of idiot nowadays would settle for profits?
This is true. We appear to be in the middle of an extinction event caused by us, but it may peter out, and the true cause may still be hidden. I didn't mean to imply that we knew the cause of previous extinctions.
It seems to me, however, to be the most solid data point we've got. I'm not predicting any trend from it, just noting that it doesn't point to a galactic scale cause.
We already know why one extinction event happened. The current one is caused by us. These leads me to believe that there may be some variety in causes of mass extinctions, and that no single theory will cut it.
If you treat them differently because you disagree, be prepared to be fined or arrested (or at least sued) for discriminating.
Yes, their freedom to marry is more important than your freedom to discriminate.
The FBI uses due process to find out what someone has been reading and that means there's no free speech? I disagree. Courts and prosecutors can subpoena your diary, for god's sake.
The FBI just sends a letter and there's no appeal, you have to comply. There is no due process, the FBI never had to get judicial approval. A subpoena has to be issued by a judge.
Don't talk down to them Don't assume just because they don't know how to fix something that they are lazy or stupid Don't play that "give them exactly what they asked for to the letter". Be a human.
Right. Remember that your company doesn't make it's money by fixing computers.
I dirty bomb requires significant expertise if you want to avoid being killed transporting the bomb. Imagine material so hot that its mere radioactivity could endanger a wide area, then concentrate it into the size of a bomb. Plus, dirty bombs are very easy to detect.
The last forty years have seen four of the most corrupt administrations in US history, all Republican:
Nixon: Laos, Cambodia, Watergate, he extended Vietnam for political reasons.
Reagan: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iran-contra, in which Reagan sold weapons to the Anti-American Iranian revolution, and used the money to illegally fund Contra terrorists in Nicaragua who were trying to bring down a freely elected government.
Bush I: Implicated in Iran-Contra, but also created a scandal all his own when he secretly funded Saddam Hussein after Congress had outlawed it (because he'd gassed his own people!).
Bush II: Iraq (such a rich vein), Wiretapping, torture, indefinite detention and lots of little things.
The two Democratic administrations were some of the most ethical in modern times. Carter is famously a goody two-shoes, and while Republicans were quite successful in getting media play for a bunch of phony baloney Clinton scandals, they didn't land a real one until The Blue Dress. The Lewinsky Blowjob, of course, had zero to do with the running of the administration, as the American people understood perfectly well.
Why these facts don't form the basis for current opinion, which holds that the parties are the same, that presidents are corrupt, is an interesting question. The last four Republican presidents have all committed war crimes all in violation not just of international law, but of US law. Two of them have got thousands of US soldiers killed over a pack of lies. Only Nixon was forced to resign over a robbery coverup. He got a pardon. I think our system's complete failure to bring these guys to account is the chief reason why everyone starts to think of it as normal. Clinton was impeached. Doesn't that make him worse than Reagan?
It is said that within a democracy, a people get the leader they deserve. I'm not entirely sure what Americans have done recently to deserve a leader with Obama's comparative level of decency
"And finally there is no, zero, zilch scientific evidence that quantum processes play a role in neurons. That doesn't keep people from speculating about it because they think there must be something special, metaphysical about our wetware. No that's not required if you look at how complex the brain is."
The human eye can see a single photon. Are you saying that's not a quantum effect? It's quite absurd to think that one of the most superb amplifiers in the world is not affected by quantum scale events
Slashdot Mirror
Cool story bro.
He stole the idea from Frederik Pohl.
The theologians had their chance.
Except that the input is perfectly explainable and subject to analysis by the self aware computer program. In other words, it can apply science to the user's inputs the same way we can analyze a meteor even though the idea of rocks floating around in the sky is nonsensical to our world, the we could and have applied science to the theory of an old man in the clouds who made us like him and wants us to be good.
If ever there was a force beyond the realm of known physics that entered the universe to work its will, it would leave effects that we could study to learn something of its nature.
A field of study generally produces results of some kind. The best thing to come out of ID is the idea of irreducible complexity as a line of attack on evolution. But it takes only a minute to realize that even if irreducible complexity were proven, it would present no barrier to Darwinian evolution.
If you want claim ID as a field of study, it'd help your case if anyone actually studied in it.
"You're not f'ckin serious, are you?"
Didn't you just compare this to the oppression in Uzbekistan?
Of course there are consequences, you might garner financial support from fossil fuel companies, you might end up with your own syndicated radio show, or daily TV show. You might have your views picked up and trumpeted by the popular press as those of a skeptic or maverick. You might get a book deal.
Truly, these are dark times for Global Warming deniers.
So Flrknorpt is still out there.
And the Diablo canyon nuclear power plant was part way finished before they realized they were putting it in backwards and had to start over.
This is strange. Since Carrie Fisher asked for and got a fraction of a percent of the gross of Starwars, I'd thought that kind of deal became standard. What kind of idiot nowadays would settle for profits?
Try Linley's Crawl, or the latest, Crawl Stone Soup, the first roguelike I've found that's more fun than Nethack.
This is true. We appear to be in the middle of an extinction event caused by us, but it may peter out, and the true cause may still be hidden. I didn't mean to imply that we knew the cause of previous extinctions.
It seems to me, however, to be the most solid data point we've got. I'm not predicting any trend from it, just noting that it doesn't point to a galactic scale cause.
We already know why one extinction event happened. The current one is caused by us. These leads me to believe that there may be some variety in causes of mass extinctions, and that no single theory will cut it.
If government isn't stopping you from violating someone's rights, it's not really doing its job, is it?
If you treat them differently because you disagree, be prepared to be fined or arrested (or at least sued) for discriminating.
Yes, their freedom to marry is more important than your freedom to discriminate.
The FBI uses due process to find out what someone has been reading and that means there's no free speech? I disagree. Courts and prosecutors can subpoena your diary, for god's sake.
The FBI just sends a letter and there's no appeal, you have to comply. There is no due process, the FBI never had to get judicial approval. A subpoena has to be issued by a judge.
Of course it's a joke! Wouldn't it be funny if gays were left to die if they bitched about Republicans? What a gas.
Don't talk down to them
Don't assume just because they don't know how to fix something that they are lazy or stupid
Don't play that "give them exactly what they asked for to the letter". Be a human.
Right. Remember that your company doesn't make it's money by fixing computers.
I dirty bomb requires significant expertise if you want to avoid being killed transporting the bomb. Imagine material so hot that its mere radioactivity could endanger a wide area, then concentrate it into the size of a bomb. Plus, dirty bombs are very easy to detect.
The last forty years have seen four of the most corrupt administrations in US history, all Republican:
Nixon: Laos, Cambodia, Watergate, he extended Vietnam for political reasons.
Reagan: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iran-contra, in which Reagan sold weapons to the Anti-American Iranian revolution, and used the money to illegally fund Contra terrorists in Nicaragua who were trying to bring down a freely elected government.
Bush I: Implicated in Iran-Contra, but also created a scandal all his own when he secretly funded Saddam Hussein after Congress had outlawed it (because he'd gassed his own people!).
Bush II: Iraq (such a rich vein), Wiretapping, torture, indefinite detention and lots of little things.
The two Democratic administrations were some of the most ethical in modern times. Carter is famously a goody two-shoes, and while Republicans were quite successful in getting media play for a bunch of phony baloney Clinton scandals, they didn't land a real one until The Blue Dress. The Lewinsky Blowjob, of course, had zero to do with the running of the administration, as the American people understood perfectly well.
Why these facts don't form the basis for current opinion, which holds that the parties are the same, that presidents are corrupt, is an interesting question. The last four Republican presidents have all committed war crimes all in violation not just of international law, but of US law. Two of them have got thousands of US soldiers killed over a pack of lies. Only Nixon was forced to resign over a robbery coverup. He got a pardon. I think our system's complete failure to bring these guys to account is the chief reason why everyone starts to think of it as normal. Clinton was impeached. Doesn't that make him worse than Reagan?
It is said that within a democracy, a people get the leader they deserve. I'm not entirely sure what Americans have done recently to deserve a leader with Obama's comparative level of decency
They voted for him.
"And finally there is no, zero, zilch scientific evidence that quantum processes play a role in neurons. That doesn't keep people from speculating about it because they think there must be something special, metaphysical about our wetware. No that's not required if you look at how complex the brain is."
The human eye can see a single photon. Are you saying that's not a quantum effect? It's quite absurd to think that one of the most superb amplifiers in the world is not affected by quantum scale events
That's only about 90% of players. 10% would vow to never play a non-permadeath game again.
Get some buddies, make some accounts, grief him until he quits.
An Ironman (permadeath) MMORPG might have a much narrower appeal, but it would be good fun. And you wouldn't need even half as much content.
Sure, in general, but some people I know, I'm glad they don't.
It'll solve differential equations.