apparently it would be tedious, but a number of technical hurdles have been overcome lately to the point where this is really conceivable to do, and the talk about doing it isnot theoretical, but practical
1. most recent modern genome decoders don't care that the dna is shredded into pieces 2. encapsulated in keratin (hair), the dna is not so tainted by bacterial dna like it is in bone 3. a new technique allows modifying modern elephant dna 50,000 genomic sites at a time, rather than one by one, so the proper egg can be arrived at after a few generations of reconstruction, implanted in a female elephant, and voila
this can be done, right NOW!
amazing
even more freaky: we can do the same, right now, with neanderthal!
using chimpanzee as a starting point for ethical considerations, we can also, right NOW, bring a neanderthal back to life
that's pretty freaky. these guys wouldn't be dumb. someone would have to explain to the guy that he is not the last of his species, he's an artifically reconstructed clone of a guy who died 50,000 years ago. no one of his kind exists anymore
but we revived a wooly old friend of yours too. here's a spear, happy hunting
just don't eat the dodo or the quagga or the irish elk or the auroch or the sabretooth though
and frankly, i think we need a replacement for lead shot too. that doesn't go away either when you shoot it into the woods. of course, its used because its heavy. i don't know, bismuth shot?
go ahead, lecture me on relative harm and ppm. i just don't want lead in my environs. am i being irrational? well, the question is: is the 0.000001% increase in bad health effects worth the trade off? in my mind, rednecks with shotguns running around the woods is not worth anything to me to be worth any trade off. and if they find a suitably priced alternate to any lead in electronics, again, the trade off makes anything lead based simply not worth it
its a healthy instinct to purge every single one of our industrial and commercial uses for a poisonous element or compound. why isn't that a noble goal in your mind? by the end of this century, i think all industrial and commercial processes will be retooled to include no poisonous elements or compounds. and this just makes plain common sense. the stuff accumulates. i don't care how minor the accumulation is. any accumulation, no matter how small, represents a goalpost for society to surmount
made by jim jones and charles manson to test your faith in god
the moon is made of cheese, as god intended. and if you disagree with that fact, you are a satanist and unamerican, and what's worse, probably a liberal
us good americans will not listen to scientists and terrorists and communists and muslims (can anyone tell the difference?) and their lies
seems to me, it is someone who is simply technically inclined
in previous eras, this might have meant mechanically inclined, or a good craftsman. in today's world, it implies electronic inclination
but today, and in all eras past, the technically inclined have always done well in society. simply because their skills are prized and rewarded
but then there is the aspect of nerd culture, which, because of perhaps different mental processes of the technically inclined, has existed in a different sphere. its works of art has been more removed from reality (scifi, fantasy, etc.). and its social skillset is usually more stilted
but insofar as nerd culture is more accepted, i doubt it was or ever will be, simply because you are either of a certain mental taint, or not
much as being emo is probably undergirded by a certain mental aspect. that, like being a nerd, is not unique to our time. study the works and era and social circle of keats, shelley, byron, and you find a subculture that is pretty much the same as modern emo interests in the macabre and melodrama. (although would mary shelley's frankenstein be a work of nerd culture or emo culture or some protean mix of the two?)
as such, our cultural differences are simply cruft. in every culture of every society that has ever existed are mean people, thoughtful people, madmen, philosophers, ascetic monks, etc. the range of human existence is writ small in every town in every nation now and forever
you say otherwise
and i asked you to give me an example where some aspect of culture is somehow of fundamental import, and you can't find one single example
you lose. not that it expect you to admit that. but you shouldn't fancy yourself a worldly or cosmopolitan person anymore. you're not
its a top down point of view of the astronaut. she sets the toolbag to the side and addresses some other piece of equipment in front of her, and the bag slowly drifts down, in camera view
by the time she turns her attention back to it, you can see the shock in her hand gestures trying to grab it, now below her waist. i guess space suits don't provide bend
to anything that can you can form an emotional attachment to
other human beings, certainly
pet dogs also
even if its just a particular beach you like, this can have a soul
we name oceangoing ships, the captain will refer to his boat as "she", and his emotions will be very much tied to what is essentially just a large hulk of wood or iron
all sorts of things can have a soul. and the only prerequisite is that someone feel an emotional attachment to it
that the japanese frown on leaving your chopsticks standing up in their rice, oooh! of massive import!
anyone who is truly wordly and cosmopolitan will tell you how striking our similarities are. anyone provincial, or, more likely in your case, suffering from a massive case of ethnic fetishism, will think that the people living over in the next valley are trolls and orcs
if you wish to dispel the utter contempt in which i hold you, prove your case: show me one aspect of japanese versus american culture that is massive importance and intransient alien difference, upon which all cross-cultural understanding is impossible
go to kabul, go to lesotho, go to la paz, go to anchorage...
what's common?
murder is wrong. respect is important. love is important. rape is wrong. etc. etc. etc.
the sum total of our differences, of any difference you can tell me about japan versus anywhere else in this world, any culture, is trivial and orders of magnitude smaller
i don't know where you came from or where you went. but assume you left new york and went to vancouver. you could have left new york and gone to chicago and you'd still be escaping whatever melodrama you were running from, and you'd be in the same country
because we all live on one tiny piece of rock. we are already in the same boat. what happens in beijing matters in new york matters in moscow matters in london. regardless of national divisions. there is no law, no border guard that protects you if they screw up rorally in beijing. there is no escaping the consequences of the poor choices someone somewhere else makes. already. regardless of world government or not
and as for culture, we are part of the same culture. human culture. the differences betwen cultures are minimal and arbitrary and ultimately inconsequential
then your vote is but one in millions. your vote should not be worth more than that, nor less than that. what is this influence you speak of? you think you deserve more influence than the next person? i don't understnad your point
i know plenty of people fear or loathe this idea, but why?
what horrendous crime can one world government be capable of that is not already being committed right now, and worse?
lets put it this way: why is democracy such a great form of government? why can't the same template apply to the entire world? why can't government checks and balances work on a world stage like it works on national ones?
one world government is an idea that does not automatically include despotism or communism. so when you react to the idea of one world government, your reaction is invalid if you are really just reacting to your fears of the worst kind of government
they were murdered because they didn't weave their hair the "right" way, or their clothes looked funny
before being glad you don't live in such barbaric times, recall that nationalists and religious bigots rule the age you live in. russians, chinese, indians, americans: plenty of ultranationalists would murder to preserve their tribal geographic region. plenty of muslims would murder christians, plenty of christians would murder muslims
you live in the same era this family was murdered in: a dark age of tribalism. that's all national pride and religious pride is
this world is not at peace until all nations and all religions have been defeated. we are many centuries from that glorious time
for all i can tell, the guy registered "broadcast.com" in the 90s, created a pretty business plan, and sold out for billions at exactly the right time, and bought a basketball team
i applaud his timing and his luck and success, but i haven't the faintest idea as to why anything this guy ever did is of any interest to slashdot
goes to caltech and asks if any graduate students would be interested in building her a webcam eye
she meets with a professor who is intrigued by the idea and says he will see if he can drum up any further interest. he asks where she lives in san francisco and remarks she lives in the same neighborhood as his daughter, and that he'll be visiting there soon
the artist says "oh ok, i'll keep an eye out for you"
a one eyed porn actress applied for the job to have a webcam inserted in her eye socket
the porn producer took her application, recognized her, and told her they go to the same restaurant. he said that if any positions became available, he would tell her at the restaurant
the porn actress replied "ok, i'll keep an eye out for you"
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/science/20mammoth.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
right NOW, we can do this
apparently it would be tedious, but a number of technical hurdles have been overcome lately to the point where this is really conceivable to do, and the talk about doing it isnot theoretical, but practical
1. most recent modern genome decoders don't care that the dna is shredded into pieces
2. encapsulated in keratin (hair), the dna is not so tainted by bacterial dna like it is in bone
3. a new technique allows modifying modern elephant dna 50,000 genomic sites at a time, rather than one by one, so the proper egg can be arrived at after a few generations of reconstruction, implanted in a female elephant, and voila
this can be done, right NOW!
amazing
even more freaky: we can do the same, right now, with neanderthal!
using chimpanzee as a starting point for ethical considerations, we can also, right NOW, bring a neanderthal back to life
that's pretty freaky. these guys wouldn't be dumb. someone would have to explain to the guy that he is not the last of his species, he's an artifically reconstructed clone of a guy who died 50,000 years ago. no one of his kind exists anymore
but we revived a wooly old friend of yours too. here's a spear, happy hunting
just don't eat the dodo
or the quagga
or the irish elk
or the auroch
or the sabretooth though
really really freaky and amazing
it pollutes the environment
and frankly, i think we need a replacement for lead shot too. that doesn't go away either when you shoot it into the woods. of course, its used because its heavy. i don't know, bismuth shot?
go ahead, lecture me on relative harm and ppm. i just don't want lead in my environs. am i being irrational? well, the question is: is the 0.000001% increase in bad health effects worth the trade off? in my mind, rednecks with shotguns running around the woods is not worth anything to me to be worth any trade off. and if they find a suitably priced alternate to any lead in electronics, again, the trade off makes anything lead based simply not worth it
its a healthy instinct to purge every single one of our industrial and commercial uses for a poisonous element or compound. why isn't that a noble goal in your mind? by the end of this century, i think all industrial and commercial processes will be retooled to include no poisonous elements or compounds. and this just makes plain common sense. the stuff accumulates. i don't care how minor the accumulation is. any accumulation, no matter how small, represents a goalpost for society to surmount
hawaii is made of solidified fondue
ever notice the volcanoes? hellooooo?
made by jim jones and charles manson to test your faith in god
the moon is made of cheese, as god intended. and if you disagree with that fact, you are a satanist and unamerican, and what's worse, probably a liberal
us good americans will not listen to scientists and terrorists and communists and muslims (can anyone tell the difference?) and their lies
silly scientists
which is greater?
our differences?
or our similiarities?
lets cut through the bullshit
seems to me, it is someone who is simply technically inclined
in previous eras, this might have meant mechanically inclined, or a good craftsman. in today's world, it implies electronic inclination
but today, and in all eras past, the technically inclined have always done well in society. simply because their skills are prized and rewarded
but then there is the aspect of nerd culture, which, because of perhaps different mental processes of the technically inclined, has existed in a different sphere. its works of art has been more removed from reality (scifi, fantasy, etc.). and its social skillset is usually more stilted
but insofar as nerd culture is more accepted, i doubt it was or ever will be, simply because you are either of a certain mental taint, or not
much as being emo is probably undergirded by a certain mental aspect. that, like being a nerd, is not unique to our time. study the works and era and social circle of keats, shelley, byron, and you find a subculture that is pretty much the same as modern emo interests in the macabre and melodrama. (although would mary shelley's frankenstein be a work of nerd culture or emo culture or some protean mix of the two?)
as such, our cultural differences are simply cruft. in every culture of every society that has ever existed are mean people, thoughtful people, madmen, philosophers, ascetic monks, etc. the range of human existence is writ small in every town in every nation now and forever
you say otherwise
and i asked you to give me an example where some aspect of culture is somehow of fundamental import, and you can't find one single example
you lose. not that it expect you to admit that. but you shouldn't fancy yourself a worldly or cosmopolitan person anymore. you're not
i saw it on nbc this morning
its a top down point of view of the astronaut. she sets the toolbag to the side and addresses some other piece of equipment in front of her, and the bag slowly drifts down, in camera view
by the time she turns her attention back to it, you can see the shock in her hand gestures trying to grab it, now below her waist. i guess space suits don't provide bend
to anything that can you can form an emotional attachment to
other human beings, certainly
pet dogs also
even if its just a particular beach you like, this can have a soul
we name oceangoing ships, the captain will refer to his boat as "she", and his emotions will be very much tied to what is essentially just a large hulk of wood or iron
all sorts of things can have a soul. and the only prerequisite is that someone feel an emotional attachment to it
rape: low-level, unimportant issue
that the japanese frown on leaving your chopsticks standing up in their rice, oooh! of massive import!
anyone who is truly wordly and cosmopolitan will tell you how striking our similarities are. anyone provincial, or, more likely in your case, suffering from a massive case of ethnic fetishism, will think that the people living over in the next valley are trolls and orcs
if you wish to dispel the utter contempt in which i hold you, prove your case: show me one aspect of japanese versus american culture that is massive importance and intransient alien difference, upon which all cross-cultural understanding is impossible
you can't
you're wrong
and quite silly
go to kabul, go to lesotho, go to la paz, go to anchorage...
what's common?
murder is wrong. respect is important. love is important. rape is wrong. etc. etc. etc.
the sum total of our differences, of any difference you can tell me about japan versus anywhere else in this world, any culture, is trivial and orders of magnitude smaller
than the similarities
i don't know where you came from or where you went. but assume you left new york and went to vancouver. you could have left new york and gone to chicago and you'd still be escaping whatever melodrama you were running from, and you'd be in the same country
because we all live on one tiny piece of rock. we are already in the same boat. what happens in beijing matters in new york matters in moscow matters in london. regardless of national divisions. there is no law, no border guard that protects you if they screw up rorally in beijing. there is no escaping the consequences of the poor choices someone somewhere else makes. already. regardless of world government or not
and as for culture, we are part of the same culture. human culture. the differences betwen cultures are minimal and arbitrary and ultimately inconsequential
then your vote is but one in millions. your vote should not be worth more than that, nor less than that. what is this influence you speak of? you think you deserve more influence than the next person? i don't understnad your point
he understands government is a necessary evil
i know plenty of people fear or loathe this idea, but why?
what horrendous crime can one world government be capable of that is not already being committed right now, and worse?
lets put it this way: why is democracy such a great form of government? why can't the same template apply to the entire world? why can't government checks and balances work on a world stage like it works on national ones?
one world government is an idea that does not automatically include despotism or communism. so when you react to the idea of one world government, your reaction is invalid if you are really just reacting to your fears of the worst kind of government
they were murdered because they didn't weave their hair the "right" way, or their clothes looked funny
before being glad you don't live in such barbaric times, recall that nationalists and religious bigots rule the age you live in. russians, chinese, indians, americans: plenty of ultranationalists would murder to preserve their tribal geographic region. plenty of muslims would murder christians, plenty of christians would murder muslims
you live in the same era this family was murdered in: a dark age of tribalism. that's all national pride and religious pride is
this world is not at peace until all nations and all religions have been defeated. we are many centuries from that glorious time
a toilet sits atop a series of tubes, with which the electorate flushes you to hell
adios, douchebag
making billions doing nerdy things
mark cuban: making billions. but not doing a single nerdy thing
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/15/2359233
for all i can tell, the guy registered "broadcast.com" in the 90s, created a pretty business plan, and sold out for billions at exactly the right time, and bought a basketball team
i applaud his timing and his luck and success, but i haven't the faintest idea as to why anything this guy ever did is of any interest to slashdot
goes to caltech and asks if any graduate students would be interested in building her a webcam eye
she meets with a professor who is intrigued by the idea and says he will see if he can drum up any further interest. he asks where she lives in san francisco and remarks she lives in the same neighborhood as his daughter, and that he'll be visiting there soon
the artist says "oh ok, i'll keep an eye out for you"
badumpCHING
thanks, i'm here all week
a one eyed porn actress applied for the job to have a webcam inserted in her eye socket
the porn producer took her application, recognized her, and told her they go to the same restaurant. he said that if any positions became available, he would tell her at the restaurant
the porn actress replied "ok, i'll keep an eye out for you"
porn
don't underestimate the buying power of the underserved eye socket fetishist community