i did address his claims: i denied he has a grasp on the subject matter he chooses to comment on
if you involve yourself in commenting on history, and you don't see that progress is real (but obviously difficult), then whether through blindness, agenda, prejudice, bias, or simple lack of intellectual capacity, your comments are invalid
well, in that respect, you are right: i didn't address his claims
i rejected his entire understanding of the subject matter
pessimism is essentially helplessness. plenty of people live their lives in learned helplessness: that classic psychological test where they kept zapping dogs at random whether or not they successfully jumped to the other side of the cage. pretty soon, the dog just laid down and accepted his shocks: learned helplessness
you see this basic pessimism and learned helplessness in tons of people, not the just guy i am responding to. it is the mentality of the slave. an acceptance that nothing gets better, everything is stasis. "the master always wins. history teaches us nothing gets better"
bullshit! not because i say so, but because the historical record is clear: voting rights, the rise of the middle class, equal rights for women, abolition of slavery, etc: progress is real
but beyond all of that, i don't see how agreeing with the mentality of a slave is supposed to help us in our fight against corrupting forces in our democracy. and the guy am i responding to, by seeing nothing but stasis
1. doesn't understand history 2. is a pessimist. whose thought processes therefore only accepts the status of being beaten. no, unacceptable
"This is a constant for human society from tribal ages. We're talking tens of thousands years at LEAST."
oh OK, thank you armchair analyst. i'm glad you've figured it all out from the ivory tower perch of your suburban basement intellectual throne
you will excuse me if i invest in the belief in a better future, rather than wallow in your typical common ignorant nonsense of "it's all the same and it never changes"
women can vote. slavery is abolished. the middle class has risen to take power. this power is being eaten at, but it's not gone, despite hysterics like you who only see gloom and doom, out of your own prejudices, rather than an appreciation of actual historical obvious facts
you speak only to reinforce certain prejudicial beliefs of yours whose only purpose is to extend and embrace the very problems you complain about. you don't make the world better by insisting it never gets better, you moron. duh!
progress is real. if your vast intellectual vault of historical knowledge doesn't see that, you know nothing, and you're an idiot
put it this way: blind optimistic idealism is a problem in this world. yes
but equally problematic is what is embodied in words like yours: a blind know nothing pessism, believing only in stasis
you're not smart if you comment without an appreciation of the challenges you face
and you're equally not smart if you deny that the fight, in the long view, of only a century or two, IS BEING WON
of course we have problems, but we never abandon the long view that progress wins in the end. the historical record clearly shows that, no matter our difficulties
a random troll's knowledge of history isn't much of a bet
the system is compromised, but it's still better to work through the remaining portions of the system than embrace light headed fantasies of armed revolt, which is WAY worse than anything currently happening to the usa
looking forward to violence shows someone to be just as bad or worse than the forces currently hurting american institutions
people who open up the personal details of their life will have richer social lives. those who clam up will have no social life. completely true
the problem is when you inject technology into this basic social truth. now, when you open up, you aren't sharing with people who might become your friends, you are sharing with a database and a piece of algorithm optimized to extract money from you, and perhaps government interested in profiling you, and a whole manner of ways that your personal information can be used in completely impersonal ways that a bunch of people are busy furiously inventing
so an invitation to a social life, with technology as the interface, is now an invitation to have your personal life defiled and raped. by which i mean, there is nothing personal about your life anymore at all
therefore, it is wise to clam up, when technology is the interface in which this social process is happening
in traditional real world social interaction, it is still wiser to open up
facebook has features and usability myspace did not have. fkae names/ not is but one factor that was outbalanced by other factors as myspace was drained to facebook
but if you compare two facebooks: two sites with the same featureset, but one with fake names, and one without, and the one that allows fake names will dominate
the energy can come from solar, the products can come from alternative feedstock: plant matter
it will take pains to get us there, and price points would change, but civilization would not end, just get very painful for everyone for awhile, then very painful for most for a long time. it would be like the dark ages in europe. civilization still existed, but was a lot more chaotic
friendster started deleting fake names. this was the height of friendster's popularity, 2003. so people left in droves for this new funky site called "myspace"
1. not hearing a good message 2. hearing a bad message
because whatever the rioting produces, it certainly doesn't promote any valid agenda
you can't fight injustice with injustice
and looting is certainly injustice
so now, whatever positive changes SOME of the looters sought (the rest are simple criminal hooligans) is now utterly and completely destroyed, and won't happen, because the rioters have turned society against them, they are not sympathetic to their concerns anymore
it's easy to decide. what are the people fighting for? is it the right to simple political expression? or is it the "right" to smash and grab electronics?
i recall the armed forces rolling in and not firing, and the protesters embracing them
there is violence everywhere, always, all the time
i am certain you can find a handful of assholes who behaved badly in tahrir square. but because such outliers exist does not give you the right to recharacterize the simple fact that the protests were almost completely peaceful
the protesters manned checkpoints: no undercover cops, no weapons. they KNEW violence would defeat them, turn public opinion against them, and so they made sure it didn't. of course, some asshole like you will rewrite history to suit your purposes, but it is obvious peaceful protest toppled mubarak
the dominant tenor of the protests in tahrir square was peaceful. and so the protests worked, because they were peaceful. even with mubarak trying to send in agent provocateurs and thugs on camelback. if they were actually as violent as you believe, mubarak would still be in power
maybe you should consider that your agenda is unpopular, and that your demands have no resonance with the public at large
they were successful in tahrir square with overthrowing a vile regime via peaceful protests because it was genuinely what the people want
if you use violence to further causes the general public does not want, you are just as evil as the mubarak regime, or any other force which wishes to impose the agenda and will of a minority interest on the majority
so fuck off, you asshole: you're just looking for an excuse to use violence
Slashdot Mirror
"I _believe_ it will be different this time"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Convention_(United_States)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_proclamation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage
anything else i can help you with today?
i did address his claims: i denied he has a grasp on the subject matter he chooses to comment on
if you involve yourself in commenting on history, and you don't see that progress is real (but obviously difficult), then whether through blindness, agenda, prejudice, bias, or simple lack of intellectual capacity, your comments are invalid
well, in that respect, you are right: i didn't address his claims
i rejected his entire understanding of the subject matter
pessimism is essentially helplessness. plenty of people live their lives in learned helplessness: that classic psychological test where they kept zapping dogs at random whether or not they successfully jumped to the other side of the cage. pretty soon, the dog just laid down and accepted his shocks: learned helplessness
you see this basic pessimism and learned helplessness in tons of people, not the just guy i am responding to. it is the mentality of the slave. an acceptance that nothing gets better, everything is stasis. "the master always wins. history teaches us nothing gets better"
bullshit! not because i say so, but because the historical record is clear: voting rights, the rise of the middle class, equal rights for women, abolition of slavery, etc: progress is real
but beyond all of that, i don't see how agreeing with the mentality of a slave is supposed to help us in our fight against corrupting forces in our democracy. and the guy am i responding to, by seeing nothing but stasis
1. doesn't understand history
2. is a pessimist. whose thought processes therefore only accepts the status of being beaten. no, unacceptable
if you
don't want
to read
my words
i don't
fucking care
"This is a constant for human society from tribal ages. We're talking tens of thousands years at LEAST."
oh OK, thank you armchair analyst. i'm glad you've figured it all out from the ivory tower perch of your suburban basement intellectual throne
you will excuse me if i invest in the belief in a better future, rather than wallow in your typical common ignorant nonsense of "it's all the same and it never changes"
women can vote. slavery is abolished. the middle class has risen to take power. this power is being eaten at, but it's not gone, despite hysterics like you who only see gloom and doom, out of your own prejudices, rather than an appreciation of actual historical obvious facts
you speak only to reinforce certain prejudicial beliefs of yours whose only purpose is to extend and embrace the very problems you complain about. you don't make the world better by insisting it never gets better, you moron. duh!
progress is real. if your vast intellectual vault of historical knowledge doesn't see that, you know nothing, and you're an idiot
put it this way: blind optimistic idealism is a problem in this world. yes
but equally problematic is what is embodied in words like yours: a blind know nothing pessism, believing only in stasis
you're not smart if you comment without an appreciation of the challenges you face
and you're equally not smart if you deny that the fight, in the long view, of only a century or two, IS BEING WON
of course we have problems, but we never abandon the long view that progress wins in the end. the historical record clearly shows that, no matter our difficulties
so fuck off, you ignorant pessimistic hysteric
a random troll's knowledge of history isn't much of a bet
the system is compromised, but it's still better to work through the remaining portions of the system than embrace light headed fantasies of armed revolt, which is WAY worse than anything currently happening to the usa
looking forward to violence shows someone to be just as bad or worse than the forces currently hurting american institutions
just so you know, i don't want you disappointing me, i'm depending on you
in 20 years, i still want you attaching these comments to mine on slashdot
don't you dare fail me! i need you!
people who open up the personal details of their life will have richer social lives. those who clam up will have no social life. completely true
the problem is when you inject technology into this basic social truth. now, when you open up, you aren't sharing with people who might become your friends, you are sharing with a database and a piece of algorithm optimized to extract money from you, and perhaps government interested in profiling you, and a whole manner of ways that your personal information can be used in completely impersonal ways that a bunch of people are busy furiously inventing
so an invitation to a social life, with technology as the interface, is now an invitation to have your personal life defiled and raped. by which i mean, there is nothing personal about your life anymore at all
therefore, it is wise to clam up, when technology is the interface in which this social process is happening
in traditional real world social interaction, it is still wiser to open up
wow, that was written as almost poetry, but was also correct, and more importantly, interesting and insightful
hard to do that on this subject matter
Google abandoned Firefox.
So strategically, businesswise, I would abandon Google and go with Bing.
Yes, I know this goes against traditional Slashdot prejudices about Microsoft and Google: Google is darling upstart, Microsoft is evil Borg.
As if the world we live in is 2001?
Folks: Google is the new evil empire. Microsoft is a weak old underdog.
Please adjust your silly outdated prejudices accordingly.
facebook has features and usability myspace did not have. fkae names/ not is but one factor that was outbalanced by other factors as myspace was drained to facebook
but if you compare two facebooks: two sites with the same featureset, but one with fake names, and one without, and the one that allows fake names will dominate
there were a lot more factors in myspace's demise
but take two sites, of equal featureset and user experience, but one allows fake names, and one doesn't: the one that allow fake names wins
the energy can come from solar, the products can come from alternative feedstock: plant matter
it will take pains to get us there, and price points would change, but civilization would not end, just get very painful for everyone for awhile, then very painful for most for a long time. it would be like the dark ages in europe. civilization still existed, but was a lot more chaotic
hmmm...
so you're saying get our petrochemical products by liquifying baby humans?
worth a study
it's bad for business. the same policy killed friendster:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071101/194615.shtml
friendster started deleting fake names. this was the height of friendster's popularity, 2003. so people left in droves for this new funky site called "myspace"
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030813/2010251.shtml
1. if you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it, GOOGLE PLUS I'M TALKING TO YOU
2. the BOTTOM LINE you idiots. this policy hurts your BOTTOM LINE. just ask friendster, circa 2003
yeah but, you don't want to be ant man. ant man is lame, as far as superheroes go, IMHO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant-Man
about using the heat form the pc to heat rooms?
are we approaching a world where we can replace our electric outlets and our heating ducts with our pcs?
when can i replace the sump pump and hot water tank in my basement with my pc?
you could cover the keyboard in fire ants, crushed glass, or hot coals
that would result in negative reinforcement
so the choice is between:
1. not hearing a good message
2. hearing a bad message
because whatever the rioting produces, it certainly doesn't promote any valid agenda
you can't fight injustice with injustice
and looting is certainly injustice
so now, whatever positive changes SOME of the looters sought (the rest are simple criminal hooligans) is now utterly and completely destroyed, and won't happen, because the rioters have turned society against them, they are not sympathetic to their concerns anymore
good job
pilot 2: "we're over new zealand"
-sun rises-
pilot 1: "bearing S51E, to get us over afghanistan"
pilot 2: "but sir, we're over argentina"
pilot 1: "don't worry, you'll see"
-sun sets-
pilot 2: "roger, now over madagascar" ;-)
what's the turning radius? you go around the earth twice before you hit 90 degrees? and after 30 seconds you need to land to get more fuel?
it's easy to decide. what are the people fighting for? is it the right to simple political expression? or is it the "right" to smash and grab electronics?
i recall the armed forces rolling in and not firing, and the protesters embracing them
there is violence everywhere, always, all the time
i am certain you can find a handful of assholes who behaved badly in tahrir square. but because such outliers exist does not give you the right to recharacterize the simple fact that the protests were almost completely peaceful
the protesters manned checkpoints: no undercover cops, no weapons. they KNEW violence would defeat them, turn public opinion against them, and so they made sure it didn't. of course, some asshole like you will rewrite history to suit your purposes, but it is obvious peaceful protest toppled mubarak
the dominant tenor of the protests in tahrir square was peaceful. and so the protests worked, because they were peaceful. even with mubarak trying to send in agent provocateurs and thugs on camelback. if they were actually as violent as you believe, mubarak would still be in power
violence is never required
maybe you should consider that your agenda is unpopular, and that your demands have no resonance with the public at large
they were successful in tahrir square with overthrowing a vile regime via peaceful protests because it was genuinely what the people want
if you use violence to further causes the general public does not want, you are just as evil as the mubarak regime, or any other force which wishes to impose the agenda and will of a minority interest on the majority
so fuck off, you asshole: you're just looking for an excuse to use violence
you are no better than what you fight
i've seen tahrir square
"In any case the war-zone is spreading across London and to other cities"
in other words, outsiders
zzz