The most distressing part of this story is that this could happen almost anywhere... here in the US while we may not be a dictatorship(Yet???), our government has already been caught spying on us. Whats to say that they haven't used methods this extreme in the past to apprehend "suspects"? Tech can be very scary sometimes, it holds both wonder and danger at the same time. I won't get into "The Singularity theories" because it is beyond the scope of this comment, however Tech can most certainly be used for ill, and a lot of the time the "criminals" get away with it. The upsetting part is that, most of these "Criminals" are governments and their agencies, who use clandestine methods/technologies to "Better the lives of their people", but usually these operations have the opposite effect. Don't get me wrong there is something to be said about civil security, however all governments MUST fear their populaces, simply be cause they are usually VASTLY outnumbered! (I know, don't flame me for the reference to V for Vendetta, but this is truth) All of this being said nothing can/will change this until we as humans find a way to govern ourselves fairly(which I truly doubt is possible). We are all(Americans at least) raised to believe that we are all equal... this is true only in the sense that no one "Life" is more precious than another, but intellectually/physically we are most certainly NOT equal. I will skirt racism and say that Africans/and their descendants are better runners than most(there are always statistical outliers mind you), and this has been proven. What you will not hear me say is that (Tentatively said)"Blacks are superior athletes, because this is too broad to be proven... I for one have never seen an African American Curler(I'm certain there are some...) but my point is we are not all equal, and because of this fact there will never be a way to govern all equally. Someone will feel cheated, but this will/might be blamed on greed(no I will not discuss Religion or other Meta-physical garbage) which is why we have societies in the first place. A millennia ago the "smartest" cavemen decided that they didn't want to hunt anymore, so they made others do it for them, and "Pay" them (in meat) for keeping the women folk alive while the hunters were out... it might seem like cooperation, but it could just have easily been exploitation(this is just a theory). So I rambled a bit, but the point is that technology can be a dangerous tool, and it must be watched carefully by ALL parties involved. (I do not condone the use of a dictator for any country, it is simply too dangerous a path, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I know that some people have no/one choice{Stay, Exile [I would chose exile]})
BTW: I know very little about the situation in turkey, I just wanted to feel like a part of the group... LOL
perhaps there was a miscommunication... No-one has even hinted at aliens being dumber than us... but now that you have mentioned it I surmise that it could be possible. You do however bring up some very interesting thoughts about civilization, and especially the thought about keeping some planets at a lower technological era for a given species... intriguing!
perhaps, but why? I like gore just as much as the next guy, but what purpose would that serve... a vacation to a war-zone isn't my kind of relaxation! Understandably curiosity might be the only answer here, unless... it would be like looking back in time for them....
Father: Look Timmy, 1000 years ago we were just like them.
Timmy: Really Daddy? Why are they so mean to each other?
Father: They are stupid!
Lol!
By "extraterrestrial watchers" they mean crack-pots right? Look I'm all for the idea that we cannot be alone in this universe. In fact I think that the idea that we are alone is down right blasphemous/preposterous, but considering the sheer size of the universe, and the "Special" conditions that would be needed(as far as we know) to propagate sentient life, seeing an "Alien" spacecraft would near impossible. There could be aliens out there now, but what interest would they have in us? We are down right barbaric, not to mention that our own space program(USA) has almost taken a giant leap backwards, with all of the budget cuts! Unless we are to become slaves/food/resources, they would likely have zero interest in us IMHO.
Slashdot Mirror
Lol right?
The most distressing part of this story is that this could happen almost anywhere... here in the US while we may not be a dictatorship(Yet???), our government has already been caught spying on us. Whats to say that they haven't used methods this extreme in the past to apprehend "suspects"? Tech can be very scary sometimes, it holds both wonder and danger at the same time. I won't get into "The Singularity theories" because it is beyond the scope of this comment, however Tech can most certainly be used for ill, and a lot of the time the "criminals" get away with it. The upsetting part is that, most of these "Criminals" are governments and their agencies, who use clandestine methods/technologies to "Better the lives of their people", but usually these operations have the opposite effect. Don't get me wrong there is something to be said about civil security, however all governments MUST fear their populaces, simply be cause they are usually VASTLY outnumbered! (I know, don't flame me for the reference to V for Vendetta, but this is truth) All of this being said nothing can/will change this until we as humans find a way to govern ourselves fairly(which I truly doubt is possible). We are all(Americans at least) raised to believe that we are all equal... this is true only in the sense that no one "Life" is more precious than another, but intellectually/physically we are most certainly NOT equal. I will skirt racism and say that Africans/and their descendants are better runners than most(there are always statistical outliers mind you), and this has been proven. What you will not hear me say is that (Tentatively said)"Blacks are superior athletes, because this is too broad to be proven... I for one have never seen an African American Curler(I'm certain there are some...) but my point is we are not all equal, and because of this fact there will never be a way to govern all equally. Someone will feel cheated, but this will/might be blamed on greed(no I will not discuss Religion or other Meta-physical garbage) which is why we have societies in the first place. A millennia ago the "smartest" cavemen decided that they didn't want to hunt anymore, so they made others do it for them, and "Pay" them (in meat) for keeping the women folk alive while the hunters were out... it might seem like cooperation, but it could just have easily been exploitation(this is just a theory). So I rambled a bit, but the point is that technology can be a dangerous tool, and it must be watched carefully by ALL parties involved. (I do not condone the use of a dictator for any country, it is simply too dangerous a path, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I know that some people have no/one choice{Stay, Exile [I would chose exile]}) BTW: I know very little about the situation in turkey, I just wanted to feel like a part of the group... LOL
Or Meat bags?
Also I meant to place an I not an i.
Forgive me for fixing your typo... Content=Contend. There i got my daily "grammar Nazi" out.
Well played my good sir, well played!
Hmmm... Sci-Fi overload much? I think you forgot to mention that we are all Cylon descendants, so we would not be so tasty for Lyekka!
Agreed, and agreed... I concede to your logic.
perhaps there was a miscommunication... No-one has even hinted at aliens being dumber than us... but now that you have mentioned it I surmise that it could be possible. You do however bring up some very interesting thoughts about civilization, and especially the thought about keeping some planets at a lower technological era for a given species... intriguing!
perhaps, but why? I like gore just as much as the next guy, but what purpose would that serve... a vacation to a war-zone isn't my kind of relaxation! Understandably curiosity might be the only answer here, unless... it would be like looking back in time for them.... Father: Look Timmy, 1000 years ago we were just like them. Timmy: Really Daddy? Why are they so mean to each other? Father: They are stupid! Lol!
Wat?
By "extraterrestrial watchers" they mean crack-pots right? Look I'm all for the idea that we cannot be alone in this universe. In fact I think that the idea that we are alone is down right blasphemous/preposterous, but considering the sheer size of the universe, and the "Special" conditions that would be needed(as far as we know) to propagate sentient life, seeing an "Alien" spacecraft would near impossible. There could be aliens out there now, but what interest would they have in us? We are down right barbaric, not to mention that our own space program(USA) has almost taken a giant leap backwards, with all of the budget cuts! Unless we are to become slaves/food/resources, they would likely have zero interest in us IMHO.
I wish end-user was a command!