This may not directly counter your point since your argument was largely hypothetical, but the likelihood of "the right person" existing is very low. "The right person", at the very least:
Can properly formulate, weigh, and understand vastly different opinions, perspectives, and strategies. This would require a dizzying intellect and memory capacity. A leader has to know the right solution before they can implement it.
Is immune to the negative aspects of human social behavior, e.g. cliques and nepotism, us-versus-them mentalities. There's probably some strong evolutionary pressure reinforcing these behaviors.
Cannot be deceived or manipulated. A single leader is a single point of failure and a single target for corruption.
Either cannot be wrong or must be able and willing to admit mistakes.
Must place the best interests of society above all else. The temptation to use power for one's own benefit grows as power grows.
Must lead effectively and hold the confidence of the people.
Must live. How many disgruntled assassins does it take to bring down the government?
I cannot prove that one person having these qualities is impossible, but there seems to be little point in extolling the virtues of a system that requires such an unlikely individual to exist.
My mom's father was unfaithful and emotionally unavailable.
I get the general impression neither parent's mother was particularly... active in raising their children
Both my parents' parents divorced.
Some of us are glad our parents thought out and researched parenting, because although they weren't perfect, they did a hell of a lot better than the examples they had to follow. Some of us need those experts, not to follow blindly, but to augment a family history that demonstrates a complete lack of insight.
Maybe a multi-billion dollar business is sweeping your trite comment under the rug, or maybe you made your comment so terse that half the people have a better chance of understanding it by casting tea leaves on a crystal ball than by reading it.
Not so. Since the universe is infinite, defining a center point is arbitrary. By choosing the ground beneath my feet as the center point of the universe, going back in time will simply reverse the effect of the various velocities you see affecting my position by defining your center point elsewhere:)
You can't just carry around a fusion reactor in your pocket, silly...at least not for the next few years. The fuel cell is for portable energy storage, not energy generation.
As far as the android girlfriend goes, I think I'll wait until the shapechanging gel models come out. One little software glitch and you're making out with the business end of an industrial can opener.
I look forward to playing Spore on my fusion-powered computer (running a secure Windows OS) in the passenger seat of my robot controlled fuel cell powered flying car while listening to the inaugural address of president Kucinich.
Everyone knows DNF will be exclusively released for the Phantom.
That's a problem with Avast! as well, although the box animates out of and back into the quick launch area, and a voice tells you "Virus database has been updated." There's nothing like picking your way through Ravenhold with headphones on when Avast! updates. Surely there's a way to disabled that, but I'm lazy:)
In my experience there's really no reason to run Norton antivirus, unless you enjoy giving your operating system the equivalent of 300 pound cell mate named Bubba. Between Avast!, AVG, Clamwin, Panda, and any other free antivirus software out there, there's got to be something to replace Norton.
I didn't call you insane because you were talking about the power of advertising, but because you were talking about people having "direct access to the subconscious" where they can program you with "sinister messages."
It's interesting that the one example of control through advertising you cited occurred several decades before TV became commonplace. It's also interesting to read about cultural rituals involving head and body hair throughout recorded history, as there's stranger body modification practices than shaving legs, most of which existed before advertising or TV, or didn't depend on it.
The idea that 1.2 million people downloaded Radiohead's latest is not believable given historical sales data for the band.
Huh? According to their wikipedia entry their last album went platinum in the UK (300,000 sold) and gold in the US (500,000). That's 800,000 copies sold in two countries of one of their poorer selling albums. 1.2 million Radiohead fans out there downloading their album is not hard to believe. Maybe some people did download more than once, but I'd guess their numbers are few, especially since the download site is crap.
All of that in conjunction wth the audio messages which play over an active television have direct access to the subconscious. No matter how aware one is, the programming happens. No amount of TV viewing is 'safe', because the sinister messages flow at a constant rate and no amount of will power or critical discernment can prevent them from affecting you.
I see you've taken the time you would have spent watching tv and invested it into becoming completely batshit fucking insane.
Although the game may be non-violent, it is equally dangerous due to its irresponsible depiction of an unhealthy diet. Won't somebody think of the obese children?! I'd change your game to have the player (a loquacious charming-but-tomboyish little girl) deliver cold, refreshing, Free Trade mountain spring water.
Also, the use of the truck promotes both inactivity and CO2 emissions, so the character should deliver the water from a bike, wearing a helmet and wrist, elbow, and knee guards of course. If you run a stop sign or ride on the sidewalk, it's an immediate game over, and you have to ride slow enough that your riding partner, a slightly retarded child with a heart of gold (of indeterminant ethnic minority status) can keep up with you so the buddy system stays intact.
You only have one cup that everyone drinks out of so as to minimize waste; a mini-game sterilizes the cup with antibiotics between uses. Points are scored for each person served, but taken away for not keeping your heart rate up, not wearing a flag lapel pin, supporting the iraq war, or passing a breast cancer donation box without throwing in some change.
Clearly the first possibility is the conservative policy, because we shouldn't be playing god with people's blood. The second possibility is the liberal policy, because we get medical treatment, but it's substandard and poorly thought out. There may be a third possibility, but hippies throwing away their vote on it is pointless and will just help fascist hospital administrators suspend our rights to Healthius Corpus altogether.
Finding the song(s) you want out of the aforementioned few hundred files and saving them as a playlist in a way that doesn't make you want to punch a baby?
There is a more compelling story and atmosphere (which I'm severely understating because other posts explain it well), an rpg-lite component allowing you to enhance your character, and far more variety than the average fps: my strategy for dealing with enemies has changed completely as the game has progressed, not only based on the enemy but based on the abilities I have at the moment. It's not just a "which weapon do I use: the best one or the one I have the most ammo for." I can actually control the style to some extent.
If you liked System Shock 2, you will like this game. If you haven't played System Shock 2, you should. If you didn't like it, I have no idea what you look for in a game.
Yeah, and did you know the US Government spends all this money on roads and military and social programs for itself, but the highway from Tongjian to Beijing needs a couple potholes fixed or the Chinese army needs a couple new QSZ-92s and suddenly they get all stingy! Like pursuing their own interests is so important, as if!
Slashdot Mirror
I cannot prove that one person having these qualities is impossible, but there seems to be little point in extolling the virtues of a system that requires such an unlikely individual to exist.
- My dad's father was physically abusive.
- My mom's father was unfaithful and emotionally unavailable.
- I get the general impression neither parent's mother was particularly
... active in raising their children
- Both my parents' parents divorced.
Some of us are glad our parents thought out and researched parenting, because although they weren't perfect, they did a hell of a lot better than the examples they had to follow. Some of us need those experts, not to follow blindly, but to augment a family history that demonstrates a complete lack of insight.They'll just make sure your eulogy is written in Comic Sans.
Maybe a multi-billion dollar business is sweeping your trite comment under the rug, or maybe you made your comment so terse that half the people have a better chance of understanding it by casting tea leaves on a crystal ball than by reading it.
Not so. Since the universe is infinite, defining a center point is arbitrary. By choosing the ground beneath my feet as the center point of the universe, going back in time will simply reverse the effect of the various velocities you see affecting my position by defining your center point elsewhere :)
Terse, unsupported assertions are the enemy of cheese.
You can't just carry around a fusion reactor in your pocket, silly...at least not for the next few years. The fuel cell is for portable energy storage, not energy generation.
As far as the android girlfriend goes, I think I'll wait until the shapechanging gel models come out. One little software glitch and you're making out with the business end of an industrial can opener.
I look forward to playing Spore on my fusion-powered computer (running a secure Windows OS) in the passenger seat of my robot controlled fuel cell powered flying car while listening to the inaugural address of president Kucinich.
Everyone knows DNF will be exclusively released for the Phantom.
That's a problem with Avast! as well, although the box animates out of and back into the quick launch area, and a voice tells you "Virus database has been updated." There's nothing like picking your way through Ravenhold with headphones on when Avast! updates. Surely there's a way to disabled that, but I'm lazy :)
In my experience there's really no reason to run Norton antivirus, unless you enjoy giving your operating system the equivalent of 300 pound cell mate named Bubba. Between Avast!, AVG, Clamwin, Panda, and any other free antivirus software out there, there's got to be something to replace Norton.
I didn't call you insane because you were talking about the power of advertising, but because you were talking about people having "direct access to the subconscious" where they can program you with "sinister messages."
It's interesting that the one example of control through advertising you cited occurred several decades before TV became commonplace. It's also interesting to read about cultural rituals involving head and body hair throughout recorded history, as there's stranger body modification practices than shaving legs, most of which existed before advertising or TV, or didn't depend on it.
Although the game may be non-violent, it is equally dangerous due to its irresponsible depiction of an unhealthy diet. Won't somebody think of the obese children?! I'd change your game to have the player (a loquacious charming-but-tomboyish little girl) deliver cold, refreshing, Free Trade mountain spring water.
Also, the use of the truck promotes both inactivity and CO2 emissions, so the character should deliver the water from a bike, wearing a helmet and wrist, elbow, and knee guards of course. If you run a stop sign or ride on the sidewalk, it's an immediate game over, and you have to ride slow enough that your riding partner, a slightly retarded child with a heart of gold (of indeterminant ethnic minority status) can keep up with you so the buddy system stays intact.
You only have one cup that everyone drinks out of so as to minimize waste; a mini-game sterilizes the cup with antibiotics between uses. Points are scored for each person served, but taken away for not keeping your heart rate up, not wearing a flag lapel pin, supporting the iraq war, or passing a breast cancer donation box without throwing in some change.
It looked just like this, but with less ads :)
If we wanted to save trees we could just stop burning them to run our hard drives.
Finding the song(s) you want out of the aforementioned few hundred files and saving them as a playlist in a way that doesn't make you want to punch a baby?
And as one of the last people under the age of 30 to not own a cell phone, I welcome this development :)
The article, though, doesn't seem to mention 2K at all. The exchange is between Jack Thompson and Take Two. The slashdot title is incorrect.
You fool! The proper reply is: 1992 called and wants David Spade's only good joke back.
Or perhaps: "Congress is so far up our ass that we're not going to say a damn thing we don't have to."
violates the software license agreement, so you infringe copyright.
Game over, Phoenix Wright.
There is a more compelling story and atmosphere (which I'm severely understating because other posts explain it well), an rpg-lite component allowing you to enhance your character, and far more variety than the average fps: my strategy for dealing with enemies has changed completely as the game has progressed, not only based on the enemy but based on the abilities I have at the moment. It's not just a "which weapon do I use: the best one or the one I have the most ammo for." I can actually control the style to some extent.
If you liked System Shock 2, you will like this game. If you haven't played System Shock 2, you should. If you didn't like it, I have no idea what you look for in a game.
Yeah, and did you know the US Government spends all this money on roads and military and social programs for itself, but the highway from Tongjian to Beijing needs a couple potholes fixed or the Chinese army needs a couple new QSZ-92s and suddenly they get all stingy! Like pursuing their own interests is so important, as if!