I literally cannot accept #3, anymore than I can claim to understand infinity. My brain is apparently wired to see the world as a collection of finite things which interactions are governed by causality. I believe in the mathematical concepts (of infinity, i and so forth) because they feel right and make for a simpler, more powerful modeling tool in the same way a non-atheist (whether skeptic, deist, agnostic, spiritual or religious) believes the universe and all that is/was/will be is more than a "non-sentient chemical reaction that happens because that's just the way it is".
#1 and #2 though are fine theories. Scary to imagine one's self as nothing but an ant with an overgrown nervous ganglion, convinced to be a good hive worker for the hive with moral and religious memes, while all the things we point at to feel special among species (art, nobility, love, etc.) are nothing but necessary side effects of having those big, dangerous brains of ours that our mother, evolution, loves so much.
I don't know if I believe that argument either. The more we know and understand, the more we realize we do not know or understand, every mystery solved reveals three more and we ought to be humble. That's the one thing I am most sure of.
I literally cannot accept #3, anymore than I can claim to understand infinity. My brain is apparently wired to see the world as a collection of finite things which interactions are governed by causality. I believe in the mathematical concepts (of infinity, i and so forth) because they feel right and make for a simpler, more powerful modeling tool in the same way a non-atheist (whether skeptic, deist, agnostic, spiritual or religious) believes the universe and all that is/was/will be is more than a "non-sentient chemical reaction that happens because that's just the way it is".
#1 and #2 though are fine theories. Scary to imagine one's self as nothing but an ant with an overgrown ganglion, convinced to be a good hive worker for the hive with moral and religious memes, with all the things we point at to feel special among species (art, nobility, love, etc.) are nothing but necessary side effects of having those big, dangerous brains of ours that our mother, evolution, loves so much.
I don't know if I believe that argument either. The more we know and understand, the more we realize we do not know or understand, every mystery solved reveals three more and we ought to be humble. That's the one thing I am most sure of.
He speaks of the present state of affairs and "a lot of promise" simply means "we might know in the future" which the Grandparent assumes when he speaks of the endstate of science.
He does not fault science for slapping names on things. He faults people who fail to see the limitations of science. IE: it doesn't answer the recursive "why" (the one children are so fond of).
But he was talking about the laws of projectile motion. Surely the chinese and american missile targeting systems use the same equations and math formulas in their software.
You have expressed my thoughts on agency and the end-state of science wonderfully.
Excellent examples as well. A pleasure to read and one of the very best posts on/.
Thank you sir!
Can the moderation be substantially improved?
on
Ask Rob Malda
·
· Score: 1
I've noticed that there are some truly excellent posts on slashdot (anything from funny to insightful) but they are few and far between. Even when browsing at +5 level. Unfortunately, oft-repeated facts and opinions on popular slashdot topics overshadow them greatly (I'm talking about the thousandth post on how IP infringment != theft, itunes != DRM, etc.). In short, the typical highly popular argument that is sure to be modded up again and again. While many of those are indeed informative the first time, they quickly get boring.
Another flaw I've noticed is that earlier posts are much more likely to get modded up and be read than later ones, which isn't a good thing.
Have you noticed those issues and, in general, what ideas do you have on improving the slashdot moderation system?
Frankly, the drug dealers were our best customers - they just wanted something loud and they didn't f**k you around by insisting you order the latest greatest cable as reviewed by their favourite HiFi magazine. Paid in cash too.
I'm struggling to find the utility of the study. So, if we learned to see differently, we could see the world in a way different enough to not be fooled by certain optical illusions, and probably be fooled by others?
Assuming it is possible to change the way a human sees without breaking the brain. A popular theory on evolution is that we evolved our brains to better analyze visual data coming in. We're not deceived as easily by certain camouflages animals use. Stripes, dots, color, etc.
Confirms what we thought about the way we learn to see, perhaps? That'd make sense.
A firmware update is a mystical experience that cleanses and purifies the soul of the machine, setting it on the path to higher functionality and bringing it closer to perfection.
A few machines MUST be consumed by the holy fire, if there is no risk, there can be no reward.
It's all in the book of mormon. Keep the firmware fire alive!
Thank you.
I didn't read the article, preferring instead to focus on posting as fast as possible and damn the accuracy, as per the slashdotter's handbook, v1.3b.
But you are something else! Not only did you not read the article, you didn't even read the comment you were replying to!
You, sir, are the true slashdotter. I am but a hack and a fool and I will now go into exile in the deep, moist darkness of Digg. Good luck to you, sir. May the great IT cockroach smile benevolently upon all your technical endeavors.
I'm sick and tired of all the Apple bashing that hasn't yet taken place.
Look, Bricking hacked iPhones is the ONLY way to protect the AT&T network from collapsing under the weight of millions of replicating parasites and virii introduced into the carefully nurtured and fragile telecommunication ecosystem.
Also, if Apple does NOT brick the hacked iPhones, it will go bankrupt and we will all be condemned to using old 386 pcs with DOS 5.0 for our computing needs.
Also, the police might follow their example and stop investigation child abuse allegations too. WON'T YOU THINK OF THE ABUSED CHILDREN?
How often did I wake up at night, my pillow soaked in bitter tears, cursing google for not offering flash ads. Finally, we shall be rid of the boring text ads we've been shackled with for so long, finally, we will experience web 3.0, an infinite land of beautiful colored, animated flash ads that shall bring us happiness and hope for a new bolder, brighter, blinkier future.
On behalf of slashdotters everywhere, I want to thank you google! Thank you!
Let the flash goodness begin!
How dare you say that Tolkien didn't know how to tell a story? Are you insane?
I love good stories. I've read books, watched movies and tv shows, listened to my grandmother's tales and a good story is a good story. You know it's good because it takes you to another place and you cherish the experience when it's over, period.
Tolkien does this better than the vast majority of published storytellers.
It's a pity you were never able to finish his books and I understand that writing style can turn people off (it happens to all of us) but what you claim is preposterous. Next time, just say you don't like his writing style.
Opera is a fantastic browser. While I'd like to have access to the plethora of useful firefox plugins out there, I simply can't sacrifice everything else Opera has to offer. It's fast, it is very user friendly (with options such as real zoom, ctrl+z to undo closed tabs, seemless password management and an outstanding ability to go back to previous pages unaltered (Opera has saved many forum posts of mine from oblivion that way, that other browsers simply eat, especially you IE!)
I'm aware you can enable similar functionalities in firefox through plug-ins (and that the true zoom has now been brought to the latest firefox) but it sure as heck isn't going to be anywhere close to the snappy, responsive feel opera gives.
The bottom line is, from a geek without loyalties, who's tried IE, Firefox and Safari repeatedly, Opera is the best. Period. All the other browser copy from it (which is a good thing.)
That was not my point. If I had not spent $100 on hookers, I'd probably have spent it on booze, not on buying new tires. I'm just as bad as the government. My point was that if we have 1.2 trillion dollars to spend on a debacle like the war in Iraq, then we also have it (theoretically speaking) to upgrade our internet infrastructure and reap the subsequent economic benefits. Think of the difference between the 56k internet and the ~5Mbps/384 Kbps broadband internet we have now and imagine the enormous wealth generated by the relative abundance of bandwidth we have today. Imagine 1080p Youtube with no delay and p2p transfers when you multiply your upload capacity by two orders of magnitude. In fact, don't bother imagining, the implications are too staggering.
It's just a question of political will, period. And that was my point. Look at Sweden, South Korea and Japan (compare them to their neighbours, compare them to other countries with similar economies/population densities, you'll be shocked!). Heck, look at France, my friend there has 30 Mbps. I have 6 and pay 50% more. And i live in Miami, not some small city in the midwest. If it makes you feel better, other countries have "gotten the internet wrong" (I'm looking at you Spain and Australia!) but the U.S ought to be Number 1. First economy, fastest internet. Period. Anything less and we're getting bamboozled by the telcos and the lazy/incompetent/corrupt politicians and the FCC.
We WERE bamboozled already. The government gave them lots of cash with the condition they get the speeds and coverage up and they failed, made up excuses, delayed, kept the money and did practically nothing. It makes me sick. The internet is the ONE single most important thing in the history of mankind* and this country is being disgraced by falling behind. AND I WANT MY 10Gbps FIBER GODDAMNIT! How else am I supposed to feed 2560x1600 content to my 30" monitor?**
*That's because it includes internet pr0n.
**There goes my chance to get modded up.
Muslims have jobs, families, hobbies, STUFF TO DO. Like everybody else.
How about you just assume that your run-of-the-mill Abdullah is outraged and shocked by anything that shocks your run-of-the-mill john doe?
I don't feel guilty anytime a white person kills children and I feel no need to write letters to the editor condemning their actions or going out in the streets chanting "STOP KILLING THE CHILDREN!".
You have to stop thinking of muslims as some sort of borg collective that has decided to remain quiet about the actions of a statistically insignificant amount of crazies.
By your standards, the U.S citizens that elected, re-elected this U.S administration and have not, after almost 5 years, stopped the war in Iraq are even more guilty (count the deaths of muslims and those of americans, guess who wins?) I'm pretty sure that's a classic terrorist argument to justify killing civilians.
Stop judging people so rashly. Stop insulting the billion muslims who condemn terrorism. Kthx.
If the iPhone becomes a true handheld computer and not just a fancy phone then I can see it really taking off.
Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone and I'd buy it again if it was half as awesome as it right now and the battery is great too for a cellphone/browser/media player, but it can't work miracles. Trying to use the iPhone for heavy computation will suck its juice up in a handful of hours (the h.264 videos on the iPhone plays dodge that by being hardware assisted). The most probable reason flash support is absent on the iPhone is because it sucks a lot of power and there is no dedicated chip for it.
So be ready to tether your iPhone and recharge it quite a bit if you use it intensively. The same as a laptop.
A worse chunk of airwave spectrum went for over 13 Billion dollars in a previous auction. Google offering 4.6 Billion would be like me offering 4500 dollars for a brand new car that is probably worth over 20K.
That said, It would be much better for google to win this than almost anyone else. At least I'm confident they won't waste the technological potential.
Slashdot Mirror
I literally cannot accept #3, anymore than I can claim to understand infinity. My brain is apparently wired to see the world as a collection of finite things which interactions are governed by causality. I believe in the mathematical concepts (of infinity, i and so forth) because they feel right and make for a simpler, more powerful modeling tool in the same way a non-atheist (whether skeptic, deist, agnostic, spiritual or religious) believes the universe and all that is/was/will be is more than a "non-sentient chemical reaction that happens because that's just the way it is".
#1 and #2 though are fine theories. Scary to imagine one's self as nothing but an ant with an overgrown nervous ganglion, convinced to be a good hive worker for the hive with moral and religious memes, while all the things we point at to feel special among species (art, nobility, love, etc.) are nothing but necessary side effects of having those big, dangerous brains of ours that our mother, evolution, loves so much.
I don't know if I believe that argument either. The more we know and understand, the more we realize we do not know or understand, every mystery solved reveals three more and we ought to be humble. That's the one thing I am most sure of.
I literally cannot accept #3, anymore than I can claim to understand infinity. My brain is apparently wired to see the world as a collection of finite things which interactions are governed by causality. I believe in the mathematical concepts (of infinity, i and so forth) because they feel right and make for a simpler, more powerful modeling tool in the same way a non-atheist (whether skeptic, deist, agnostic, spiritual or religious) believes the universe and all that is/was/will be is more than a "non-sentient chemical reaction that happens because that's just the way it is". #1 and #2 though are fine theories. Scary to imagine one's self as nothing but an ant with an overgrown ganglion, convinced to be a good hive worker for the hive with moral and religious memes, with all the things we point at to feel special among species (art, nobility, love, etc.) are nothing but necessary side effects of having those big, dangerous brains of ours that our mother, evolution, loves so much. I don't know if I believe that argument either. The more we know and understand, the more we realize we do not know or understand, every mystery solved reveals three more and we ought to be humble. That's the one thing I am most sure of.
He speaks of the present state of affairs and "a lot of promise" simply means "we might know in the future" which the Grandparent assumes when he speaks of the endstate of science.
He does not fault science for slapping names on things. He faults people who fail to see the limitations of science. IE: it doesn't answer the recursive "why" (the one children are so fond of).
But he was talking about the laws of projectile motion. Surely the chinese and american missile targeting systems use the same equations and math formulas in their software.
You have expressed my thoughts on agency and the end-state of science wonderfully.
/.
Excellent examples as well. A pleasure to read and one of the very best posts on
Thank you sir!
I've noticed that there are some truly excellent posts on slashdot (anything from funny to insightful) but they are few and far between. Even when browsing at +5 level. Unfortunately, oft-repeated facts and opinions on popular slashdot topics overshadow them greatly (I'm talking about the thousandth post on how IP infringment != theft, itunes != DRM, etc.). In short, the typical highly popular argument that is sure to be modded up again and again. While many of those are indeed informative the first time, they quickly get boring.
Another flaw I've noticed is that earlier posts are much more likely to get modded up and be read than later ones, which isn't a good thing.
Have you noticed those issues and, in general, what ideas do you have on improving the slashdot moderation system?
BD+ is actually part of the BluRay standard, as is AACS. Just like DecSS was part of the DVD-Video standard.
It's a brave new world, son.
Ah, you live in south florida, don't you?
I'm struggling to find the utility of the study. So, if we learned to see differently, we could see the world in a way different enough to not be fooled by certain optical illusions, and probably be fooled by others?
Assuming it is possible to change the way a human sees without breaking the brain. A popular theory on evolution is that we evolved our brains to better analyze visual data coming in. We're not deceived as easily by certain camouflages animals use. Stripes, dots, color, etc.
Confirms what we thought about the way we learn to see, perhaps? That'd make sense.
A firmware update is a mystical experience that cleanses and purifies the soul of the machine, setting it on the path to higher functionality and bringing it closer to perfection. A few machines MUST be consumed by the holy fire, if there is no risk, there can be no reward. It's all in the book of mormon. Keep the firmware fire alive! Thank you.
I didn't read the article, preferring instead to focus on posting as fast as possible and damn the accuracy, as per the slashdotter's handbook, v1.3b. But you are something else! Not only did you not read the article, you didn't even read the comment you were replying to! You, sir, are the true slashdotter. I am but a hack and a fool and I will now go into exile in the deep, moist darkness of Digg. Good luck to you, sir. May the great IT cockroach smile benevolently upon all your technical endeavors.
I'm sick and tired of all the Apple bashing that hasn't yet taken place.
Look, Bricking hacked iPhones is the ONLY way to protect the AT&T network from collapsing under the weight of millions of replicating parasites and virii introduced into the carefully nurtured and fragile telecommunication ecosystem.
Also, if Apple does NOT brick the hacked iPhones, it will go bankrupt and we will all be condemned to using old 386 pcs with DOS 5.0 for our computing needs.
Also, the police might follow their example and stop investigation child abuse allegations too. WON'T YOU THINK OF THE ABUSED CHILDREN?
Thank you and death to hackers.
Very funny :)
...where there are no homosexuals :)
Every once in a while, I come across a post so enjoyable that I must compliment whomever wrote it.
/. a better place.
Thank you for making
How often did I wake up at night, my pillow soaked in bitter tears, cursing google for not offering flash ads. Finally, we shall be rid of the boring text ads we've been shackled with for so long, finally, we will experience web 3.0, an infinite land of beautiful colored, animated flash ads that shall bring us happiness and hope for a new bolder, brighter, blinkier future. On behalf of slashdotters everywhere, I want to thank you google! Thank you! Let the flash goodness begin!
Higher taxes perhaps? Canada is a welfare state afterall (a good thing in my book).
How dare you say that Tolkien didn't know how to tell a story? Are you insane?
I love good stories. I've read books, watched movies and tv shows, listened to my grandmother's tales and a good story is a good story. You know it's good because it takes you to another place and you cherish the experience when it's over, period.
Tolkien does this better than the vast majority of published storytellers.
It's a pity you were never able to finish his books and I understand that writing style can turn people off (it happens to all of us) but what you claim is preposterous. Next time, just say you don't like his writing style.
Opera is a fantastic browser. While I'd like to have access to the plethora of useful firefox plugins out there, I simply can't sacrifice everything else Opera has to offer. It's fast, it is very user friendly (with options such as real zoom, ctrl+z to undo closed tabs, seemless password management and an outstanding ability to go back to previous pages unaltered (Opera has saved many forum posts of mine from oblivion that way, that other browsers simply eat, especially you IE!)
I'm aware you can enable similar functionalities in firefox through plug-ins (and that the true zoom has now been brought to the latest firefox) but it sure as heck isn't going to be anywhere close to the snappy, responsive feel opera gives.
The bottom line is, from a geek without loyalties, who's tried IE, Firefox and Safari repeatedly, Opera is the best. Period. All the other browser copy from it (which is a good thing.)
That was not my point. If I had not spent $100 on hookers, I'd probably have spent it on booze, not on buying new tires. I'm just as bad as the government. My point was that if we have 1.2 trillion dollars to spend on a debacle like the war in Iraq, then we also have it (theoretically speaking) to upgrade our internet infrastructure and reap the subsequent economic benefits. Think of the difference between the 56k internet and the ~5Mbps/384 Kbps broadband internet we have now and imagine the enormous wealth generated by the relative abundance of bandwidth we have today. Imagine 1080p Youtube with no delay and p2p transfers when you multiply your upload capacity by two orders of magnitude. In fact, don't bother imagining, the implications are too staggering. It's just a question of political will, period. And that was my point. Look at Sweden, South Korea and Japan (compare them to their neighbours, compare them to other countries with similar economies/population densities, you'll be shocked!). Heck, look at France, my friend there has 30 Mbps. I have 6 and pay 50% more. And i live in Miami, not some small city in the midwest. If it makes you feel better, other countries have "gotten the internet wrong" (I'm looking at you Spain and Australia!) but the U.S ought to be Number 1. First economy, fastest internet. Period. Anything less and we're getting bamboozled by the telcos and the lazy/incompetent/corrupt politicians and the FCC. We WERE bamboozled already. The government gave them lots of cash with the condition they get the speeds and coverage up and they failed, made up excuses, delayed, kept the money and did practically nothing. It makes me sick. The internet is the ONE single most important thing in the history of mankind* and this country is being disgraced by falling behind. AND I WANT MY 10Gbps FIBER GODDAMNIT! How else am I supposed to feed 2560x1600 content to my 30" monitor?** *That's because it includes internet pr0n. **There goes my chance to get modded up.
It'll cost a hell of a lot less than the war on Iraq.
If that much money had been spent on internet infrastructure, we'd probably have 99% wireless penetration and 10Gbps fiber to the home for $30/month.
Yeah, the cost of that war is *that* ridiculous.
Muslims have jobs, families, hobbies, STUFF TO DO. Like everybody else.
How about you just assume that your run-of-the-mill Abdullah is outraged and shocked by anything that shocks your run-of-the-mill john doe?
I don't feel guilty anytime a white person kills children and I feel no need to write letters to the editor condemning their actions or going out in the streets chanting "STOP KILLING THE CHILDREN!".
You have to stop thinking of muslims as some sort of borg collective that has decided to remain quiet about the actions of a statistically insignificant amount of crazies.
By your standards, the U.S citizens that elected, re-elected this U.S administration and have not, after almost 5 years, stopped the war in Iraq are even more guilty (count the deaths of muslims and those of americans, guess who wins?) I'm pretty sure that's a classic terrorist argument to justify killing civilians.
Stop judging people so rashly. Stop insulting the billion muslims who condemn terrorism. Kthx.
If the iPhone becomes a true handheld computer and not just a fancy phone then I can see it really taking off.
Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone and I'd buy it again if it was half as awesome as it right now and the battery is great too for a cellphone/browser/media player, but it can't work miracles. Trying to use the iPhone for heavy computation will suck its juice up in a handful of hours (the h.264 videos on the iPhone plays dodge that by being hardware assisted). The most probable reason flash support is absent on the iPhone is because it sucks a lot of power and there is no dedicated chip for it.
So be ready to tether your iPhone and recharge it quite a bit if you use it intensively. The same as a laptop.
A worse chunk of airwave spectrum went for over 13 Billion dollars in a previous auction. Google offering 4.6 Billion would be like me offering 4500 dollars for a brand new car that is probably worth over 20K.
That said, It would be much better for google to win this than almost anyone else. At least I'm confident they won't waste the technological potential.
Please re-read my post slowly. Especially the first line, you have misunderstood it.