I've never used Facebook exactly because of shit like this. I just don't get how it got so big and stays so big. Genetics? Like a different genetic strain of our species which makes hundreds of millions willing victims just as long as they get noticed and pretend friends.
Anthropology suggests each of us normally has about half a dozen close friends at any one time. About that many friends make sense when you consider the emotional and temporal investments and returns. Facebook just makes no sense. It's like people so pathetic just getting noticed no matter the reason or the cost is some twisted form of self validation.
It will be interesting to see if a surplus in STEM grads will lead to an increase in small innovative start ups. STEM education provides a problem solving mentality. It may be that the surplus of STEM grads will translate into a strong entrepreneurial class.
Wouldn't it be cool to display it somehow, not just text descriptions, but to watch it virtually rage across the globe. William Gibson wrote a short story called Burning Chrome that graphically in narrative form described the destruction of a virtual domain. Beyond Gibson's talent it would be cool to see what this stuff does in terms of infiltration and damage in some 3d medium.
WOW! Now in 1997 this is big news. Probably by 2013 or whatever there'll be hundreds of Calculus courses online and something like this won't be news at all.
"Morality (from the Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper behavior") is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are "good" (or right) and those that are "bad" (or wrong)."
Science has certainly been used for bad ends and bad people have certainly done science. Maybe science is taking on the trappings of a new faith. Faith in a good future for all or some such thing. It may be that scientists are coming to be viewed as a new priestly caste whose tireless pursuit of truth places them on a higher moral plane. Peer review would suggest a higher moral standard. Faith needs to be prescriptive and in some cases predictive and it needs to tell a story the tribal members can subscribe to. The posted study may be an inkling of science as a religion, as faith. I post this tongue firmly in cheek but with a little concern given my species seemingly timeless need for a faith. Past faiths have relied on moral laws handed down to the faithful and in impoverished environments those laws have been used to pass moral judgement and to accord entitlement to resources. To the scientifically illiterate science today represents the new laws of the universe and the applied sciences give us most of what we have. Our old minds in a new age may just be dressing up science in priestly robes. Or it may be complete nonsense or both.
Were the maps the result of the The Ming Voyages? There's old tales that tell of the Chinese reaching the west coast of the Americas in the same era. China's xenophobic history seems to have been punctuated by just that one era of exploration. I've never found an authoritative, definitive read on the subject.
Everybody was fishing off the Grand Banks and trying to keep it a secret. Although throughout the beginning of the Age of Discovery maps were kept top secret.
Ya I know but I wasn't trying for pinpoint accuracy. In full disclosure I didn't start lurking around/. until 98 but even then windows 95 was a giant security hole. Maybe if we look at the improvements in security relative to windows 95 and see it as having in large part come about because of sites like/. there's hope the same furor happening today about privacy is a harbinger of like improvements in privacy.
In human terms a generation is around plus twenty years. The internet about twenty years ago didn't have Google or Facebook. On/. the big concern was how completely insecure windows 95 was. There was a bit of chatter about privacy but it wasn't front and centre. The next generation has grown up on the internet and with social networking. It may be privacy will become the next way to show how cool you are. Who knows, crazy kids.... we can only hope.
I'm a rationalist and an empiricist. Any bald injunction to "Believe it." leaves me heading for the nearest exit door. I'm nowhere ready to give up on democracy and the justice system. I'll leave the grandstanding to the cowboys posing on both sides. Good luck with all that.
Generally I think I'd rate as overly optimistic about the future but since 9/11 I think we've come to be so over policed and scrutinized that if you're going to go up against the system in a big way you're going to get caught and you're better off going in thinking you're likely to get caught.
Slashdot Mirror
Anthropology suggests each of us normally has about half a dozen close friends at any one time. About that many friends make sense when you consider the emotional and temporal investments and returns. Facebook just makes no sense. It's like people so pathetic just getting noticed no matter the reason or the cost is some twisted form of self validation.
It's all in the understated hand wave you do when you say the words. It works every time at any border crossing. Trust me. Try it. You'll see.
It will be interesting to see if a surplus in STEM grads will lead to an increase in small innovative start ups. STEM education provides a problem solving mentality. It may be that the surplus of STEM grads will translate into a strong entrepreneurial class.
Wouldn't it be cool to display it somehow, not just text descriptions, but to watch it virtually rage across the globe. William Gibson wrote a short story called Burning Chrome that graphically in narrative form described the destruction of a virtual domain. Beyond Gibson's talent it would be cool to see what this stuff does in terms of infiltration and damage in some 3d medium.
WOW! Now in 1997 this is big news. Probably by 2013 or whatever there'll be hundreds of Calculus courses online and something like this won't be news at all.
Science has certainly been used for bad ends and bad people have certainly done science. Maybe science is taking on the trappings of a new faith. Faith in a good future for all or some such thing. It may be that scientists are coming to be viewed as a new priestly caste whose tireless pursuit of truth places them on a higher moral plane. Peer review would suggest a higher moral standard. Faith needs to be prescriptive and in some cases predictive and it needs to tell a story the tribal members can subscribe to. The posted study may be an inkling of science as a religion, as faith. I post this tongue firmly in cheek but with a little concern given my species seemingly timeless need for a faith. Past faiths have relied on moral laws handed down to the faithful and in impoverished environments those laws have been used to pass moral judgement and to accord entitlement to resources. To the scientifically illiterate science today represents the new laws of the universe and the applied sciences give us most of what we have. Our old minds in a new age may just be dressing up science in priestly robes. Or it may be complete nonsense or both.
Were the maps the result of the The Ming Voyages? There's old tales that tell of the Chinese reaching the west coast of the Americas in the same era. China's xenophobic history seems to have been punctuated by just that one era of exploration. I've never found an authoritative, definitive read on the subject.
Everybody was fishing off the Grand Banks and trying to keep it a secret. Although throughout the beginning of the Age of Discovery maps were kept top secret.
cheers
In human terms a generation is around plus twenty years. The internet about twenty years ago didn't have Google or Facebook. On /. the big concern was how completely insecure windows 95 was. There was a bit of chatter about privacy but it wasn't front and centre. The next generation has grown up on the internet and with social networking. It may be privacy will become the next way to show how cool you are. Who knows, crazy kids.... we can only hope.
I'm a rationalist and an empiricist. Any bald injunction to "Believe it." leaves me heading for the nearest exit door. I'm nowhere ready to give up on democracy and the justice system. I'll leave the grandstanding to the cowboys posing on both sides. Good luck with all that.
cheers
With all the assets governments have arrayed against citizens of all nations you've got to assume you're going to burn.