Someone wants to spend billions of dollars to invent a machine that is going to sit around all day eating junk food, watching ESPN, and demanding more reality shows. Protip: not all brains are capable of doing what they want this machine to do - they had better get ready to build quite a few prototypes...
Yep, but their nervous systems are highly myelinated when born. Therefore their capacity for our kind of learning is reduced. Their "instinctive" knowledge is locked in, hardwired as it were. We literally re-wire our brains in our youth. Animals don't. Oh sure, some behavior can be learned by animals, but we haven't met an animal yet that has our capacity for abstraction and problem solving.
Yeah, like that. You know those programs were cancelled because they couldn't build shields small enough yet good enough to keep the pilots alive, right?
That's not because humans are stupid. It's actually because we're smart. Our nervous systems are born with very little myelin which leads to very erratic nervous conduction - but allows for radical re-wiring of said nervous system in the first few years of life. After a year or so, myelin starts to be produced and the human nervous system "sets", conduction velocities improve, and the human becomes more co-ordinated. And a lot smarter than all the other critters around him. Myelination stops when you're about 20.
Philosophically speaking, evolution doesn't even have to produce something "good" at what it's supposed to do. So long as it's "better than the other species" to guarantee a survival advantage in a particular role, then it's good enough. The metric for evolution is not excellence but survival. I still think this device is a silly waste of money though. There is not one thing it can do that can't be done better by existing technology, it's a mediocre re-invention of the wheel.
Get off the crack. There is no such thing as a "small nuclear reactor". Nuclear isotope battery maybe - if you guys still had the plutonium for them (lol!), but nuclear reactors are not "small", unless you don't shield them at all and want this thing to kill hostiles and friendlies through radiation sickness. They can't even fit nuclear reactors on an aircraft, let alone something like this.
You can build and train horses pretty fast. Horses are quite happy to fuck each other, so if you have enough pregnant mares, after a couple years lead time you will have horses coming out of your ass. Plus the "trainers" don't need a highly specialized skillset. People have been riding and using horses for thousands of years. It's really not that complicated.
I stand corrected, I thought they were at 1.7 not 1.3. Still, actually they do have pretty impressive jets, missiles and rockets. Wait, you're going to tell me they "stole" the rocket tech from you as well, right? lol. ANYTHING can be reverse engineered. Once you know something is possible it's just a matter of money and brainpower to make it happen. Aww hell and you know what? I remember the asian kid from my school days, he was always real shy. And he always got one of the best grades in physics, electronics and engineering... that must be because asians are STUPID, right? Again, your arrogance blinds you. I recommend you re-reach that childhood fable: The Tortoise and the Hare.
NASA was never seen as important (except right at the beginning because it was brand new and the Russians had it and you didn't), and it never will be. People don't give a damn about abstract things. It's not lack of "Star Trek" that makes people uninterested, it's that most people only care about themselves and their immediate surrounding. They have no vision. No understanding. And absolute apathy for anyone trying to get them to do something not directly related to them. That's why this whole system of money and politics and murder and religion exists - to move people around and get them off their asses, so they can do stuff. Usually for you, if you're the boss. Once the wolf has eaten, the herd goes back to grazing.
That's government. Now roll your eyes at all the people who are madly in love with their savior and protector, the government. Where do you think America's money problems come from? The PEOPLE aren't paying "their fair share"? No, the government is pissing money away as if their life depended on it. Half of them are trying to encourage people to do stuff that the other half is working actively to stop them from doing. Too many years of complacency, of fattening. Too total a victory in World War II. Nuclear weapons meant the big life and death fights would never happen again. So you resort to picking on little guys. Your government picks on the little countries with its foreign policy. And it picks on you, with its militarized police, its exaggerated penalties (what isn't a felony now?), and the hundreds of little laws, rules and regulations that prick you every single day. And people have accepted it. Watch, soon the screw is going to turn another 1/4 turn soon... you'll see. Woe unto the "millenials".
and weren't quite so busy giving away know-how on everything, including such strategically important technologies as jet engines.
Oh please. You Americans are so full of yourselves. You think the rest of the world is full of idiots. You know people were talking about jet engines in the 1920's, right? You realize the first working prototypes appeared in the 1930's, right? We're talking what, over 80 years ago? You'd think that in 80 years or so a country with almost 2 billion people might be able to produce a few individuals smart enough to work out and advance on these concepts. The only - the ONLY - reason why America has been a source of innovation is because America is where the money was. So brains were attracted to money, and to America. You got the best minds from all over the world wanting to live in your country. Before America it was Germany. Go back in time to: France. Britain. Venice. You know - where the damned money always is. Where stuff is happening.
But guess what, America? You're out of money. Your country is stagnant. Innovation has gone somewhere else and all you've got left is what once was, and bullshit about how great you guys really think you are. There's plenty of money in Asia. Guess where all the innovation is going to be? You smart enough for that guess? Or you just think there's something magic about your country that makes you guys geniuses and everyone else morons?
And the US is not running massive corporate, scientific, industrial and military espionage operations against everyone? I'm sorry what was the point of saying what you did? The cat is out of the bag - can't act all innocent and offended any more.
Scientists are notoriously inept at sports. I don't know what you think having one on your team will do. Go play your silly games. In the meantime I'll be in my lab.
In a country where the government thinks it can do what it wants with all your "meta" data? Naw, government and corporations have decided that your computer is theirs, not yours.
You're simply holding the Apple product wrong. What you suggest would require innovation, something lacking in Cupertino. Just learn to hold your phone correctly./sarcasm
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Someone wants to spend billions of dollars to invent a machine that is going to sit around all day eating junk food, watching ESPN, and demanding more reality shows. Protip: not all brains are capable of doing what they want this machine to do - they had better get ready to build quite a few prototypes...
Yep, but their nervous systems are highly myelinated when born. Therefore their capacity for our kind of learning is reduced. Their "instinctive" knowledge is locked in, hardwired as it were. We literally re-wire our brains in our youth. Animals don't. Oh sure, some behavior can be learned by animals, but we haven't met an animal yet that has our capacity for abstraction and problem solving.
Yeah, like that. You know those programs were cancelled because they couldn't build shields small enough yet good enough to keep the pilots alive, right?
That's not because humans are stupid. It's actually because we're smart. Our nervous systems are born with very little myelin which leads to very erratic nervous conduction - but allows for radical re-wiring of said nervous system in the first few years of life. After a year or so, myelin starts to be produced and the human nervous system "sets", conduction velocities improve, and the human becomes more co-ordinated. And a lot smarter than all the other critters around him. Myelination stops when you're about 20.
If that's the way you plan to fight wars, you are doing it wrong. Which incidentally, is why you keep losing wars.
You mean like you can with a helicopter? Oh wait - you planning to fight wars without air supremacy? Oh dear oh dear...
Philosophically speaking, evolution doesn't even have to produce something "good" at what it's supposed to do. So long as it's "better than the other species" to guarantee a survival advantage in a particular role, then it's good enough. The metric for evolution is not excellence but survival. I still think this device is a silly waste of money though. There is not one thing it can do that can't be done better by existing technology, it's a mediocre re-invention of the wheel.
a small nuclear reactor
Get off the crack. There is no such thing as a "small nuclear reactor". Nuclear isotope battery maybe - if you guys still had the plutonium for them (lol!), but nuclear reactors are not "small", unless you don't shield them at all and want this thing to kill hostiles and friendlies through radiation sickness. They can't even fit nuclear reactors on an aircraft, let alone something like this.
Because no one will give you $500 billion dollars if you tell them you want to move stuff around with horses!
You can build and train horses pretty fast. Horses are quite happy to fuck each other, so if you have enough pregnant mares, after a couple years lead time you will have horses coming out of your ass. Plus the "trainers" don't need a highly specialized skillset. People have been riding and using horses for thousands of years. It's really not that complicated.
You mean like you can do with a helicopter?
I stand corrected, I thought they were at 1.7 not 1.3. Still, actually they do have pretty impressive jets, missiles and rockets. Wait, you're going to tell me they "stole" the rocket tech from you as well, right? lol. ANYTHING can be reverse engineered. Once you know something is possible it's just a matter of money and brainpower to make it happen. Aww hell and you know what? I remember the asian kid from my school days, he was always real shy. And he always got one of the best grades in physics, electronics and engineering... that must be because asians are STUPID, right? Again, your arrogance blinds you. I recommend you re-reach that childhood fable: The Tortoise and the Hare.
Wait - you think I'm Chinese? lol
NASA was never seen as important (except right at the beginning because it was brand new and the Russians had it and you didn't), and it never will be. People don't give a damn about abstract things. It's not lack of "Star Trek" that makes people uninterested, it's that most people only care about themselves and their immediate surrounding. They have no vision. No understanding. And absolute apathy for anyone trying to get them to do something not directly related to them. That's why this whole system of money and politics and murder and religion exists - to move people around and get them off their asses, so they can do stuff. Usually for you, if you're the boss. Once the wolf has eaten, the herd goes back to grazing.
makes it sound like total incompetence.
That's government. Now roll your eyes at all the people who are madly in love with their savior and protector, the government. Where do you think America's money problems come from? The PEOPLE aren't paying "their fair share"? No, the government is pissing money away as if their life depended on it. Half of them are trying to encourage people to do stuff that the other half is working actively to stop them from doing. Too many years of complacency, of fattening. Too total a victory in World War II. Nuclear weapons meant the big life and death fights would never happen again. So you resort to picking on little guys. Your government picks on the little countries with its foreign policy. And it picks on you, with its militarized police, its exaggerated penalties (what isn't a felony now?), and the hundreds of little laws, rules and regulations that prick you every single day. And people have accepted it. Watch, soon the screw is going to turn another 1/4 turn soon... you'll see. Woe unto the "millenials".
You can't un-insult someone after you've insulted them. Just a friendly word of advice. I'm sure those scientists won't be back. Ever.
and weren't quite so busy giving away know-how on everything, including such strategically important technologies as jet engines.
Oh please. You Americans are so full of yourselves. You think the rest of the world is full of idiots. You know people were talking about jet engines in the 1920's, right? You realize the first working prototypes appeared in the 1930's, right? We're talking what, over 80 years ago? You'd think that in 80 years or so a country with almost 2 billion people might be able to produce a few individuals smart enough to work out and advance on these concepts. The only - the ONLY - reason why America has been a source of innovation is because America is where the money was. So brains were attracted to money, and to America. You got the best minds from all over the world wanting to live in your country. Before America it was Germany. Go back in time to: France. Britain. Venice. You know - where the damned money always is. Where stuff is happening.
But guess what, America? You're out of money. Your country is stagnant. Innovation has gone somewhere else and all you've got left is what once was, and bullshit about how great you guys really think you are. There's plenty of money in Asia. Guess where all the innovation is going to be? You smart enough for that guess? Or you just think there's something magic about your country that makes you guys geniuses and everyone else morons?
Yeah but he had slanty eyes. Can't trust them yellow slanty eyed fellas /sacrasm
And the US is not running massive corporate, scientific, industrial and military espionage operations against everyone? I'm sorry what was the point of saying what you did? The cat is out of the bag - can't act all innocent and offended any more.
He didn't need to know what he was accomplishing, he just needed to know how much he was going to get paid for it.
Scientists are notoriously inept at sports. I don't know what you think having one on your team will do. Go play your silly games. In the meantime I'll be in my lab.
You know that the President can veto laws he doesn't like, right? So it's sort of implicit that he's all for this.
In a country where the government thinks it can do what it wants with all your "meta" data? Naw, government and corporations have decided that your computer is theirs, not yours.
You're simply holding the Apple product wrong. What you suggest would require innovation, something lacking in Cupertino. Just learn to hold your phone correctly. /sarcasm
Artificial scarcity. One of the oldest games ever invented by man.