Doh, you're right. I'd intended to add at the end that this was a primitive definition of existentialism, that more appropriately they speculate that the idea that the world doesn't exist is possible, but somehow that last paragraph got eaten before I clicked submit.
An analogy for those who find the anthropic principle a little hard to digest:
Consider the tsunami survivors. A lot of them are asking themselves: "Why did I live when others around me have died? I must have been chosen/It must have been God's will."
Now consider that some other person lived and this person died instead. The other person would be asking the exact same question.
A similar, personal analogy everyone should be able to relate to: Each of us had a one in a million chance to exist back when half of us were sperm. Were we chosen, or were we just lucky and our compatriot sperm not?
As an agnostic, having a healthy, respectful dialogue about religion feels like sitting at the back of the class, raising my hand and asking: "Excuse me, but this concept you have of a benevolent, loving, omnipotent God that takes no action on a universe where things occur because it's part of God's plan looks a lot like this other idea that there isn't a God and a lot of random things happen with no plan and there might be a lot less killing or discriminating of people of other religions" and not being heard.
Let me ask a simple question: Why (if you are a theist) do you believe in God, when there's no evidence to back up your belief? Back at the hard atheists: Why do you beleive in the absence of a God, when there's no evidence to back up your belief?
Please no links to sites of "evidence of God" or copy pasting other's ideas, we'll all drown. I'd honestly like to hear people's own personal reasoning on the question.
God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
Of course, if it were genetics, according to Darwin, it would be a trait that should have been wiped out long ago since homosexuals cant reproduce.
Consider this possibility. I actually think what you say is right: that if homosexuality were detrimental to the species it would be "bred out". However, the human race is thriving, which suggests that homosexuality is either irrelevant or beneficial to the survival of the species.
I'm personally leaning towards the "homosexuality is beneficial to the survival of a species" hypothesis, but need more evidence to back up the idea before I'd accept it as a solid theory. However, the anti-hypothesis, that "homosexuality is detrimental to the survival of the species" seems pretty weak considering the evidence that species with homosexual members are thriving.
I believe that the existentialists are wrong, and that the world and the universe do indeed exist even if I can't prove it.
After all, if the observable world didn't exist, what the hell, the concept of truth itself is questionable, you might as well believe whatever you want.
Everything else is suspect.
I kinda like theories that don't falter under repeated experiments. Scientific method and all that. It's a good thing.
Well, that's the beauty of ham radio. You can power one site and send messages thousands of miles away with a single tower and a car battery. To power all the cell towers, you'd need significantly more power, with significantly more towers and then you have to figure out how to send the signals off island. Plus you have to actually charge the cell phones. I don't think areas of Aceh had or are going to have electricity for a very, very long time.
A family friend is a member of ARES, a network of ham radio operators who spring into action when the power goes off and cellular is a distant memory. These guys take their (volunteer) positions pretty seriously, and have acted a few times in the past decade to get news around quickly when more conventional methods aren't working.
Also, this is the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Some of these islands are being protected by India because they have stone age cultures untouched by modern culture. I would think electricity is pretty sparse, let alone cell phones.
So yes, Ham radio, Wow. Think of them as the Amish of 21th century communications. When the power grid collapses, they're the ones who will be there to save your ass.
Many of these islands haven't been contacted yet, even one week later. This is an excellent scenario for Ham Radio use. Let's hope that along with new seismic bouys they can dot the Indian Ocean with emergency Ham Radio systems.
Amazon and Google, among others, have added front-page links to simplify donating to the disaster relief effort.
Perhaps Slashdot could do the same? After all, 80,000 dead and counting definately counds as "Stuff that matters."
But how long will it live?
on
Re-Pet a Reality
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
OK, cloned cat, nice, but how long will it live?
People who read about cloning don't realize that the cloned cells have shortened telomeres. The Telomere acts as a cap to protect DNA as its copied. As cells reproduce, the telomere gets shorter and shorter until the DNA isn't protected anymore and you start seeing aging diseases.
Sure, this cat looks like a kitten, but at a cellular level, it's still an aged cat. It may not have much longer to live than its twin did if it lived out the rest of its natural life.
The proofreaders also need their CV's proofread. They each only have one proofreader they can pass their CV to. So they must pass their CV to each other. The proofreader with the messy CV was proofread by the messy proofreader, therefore he must be the clear proofreader.
Isn't it great to be a mathematician where wisdom doesn't need to impinge on logic?
I remember reading a conversation, I think it was between Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong. If I recall correctly, Michael was none to impressed with the quarantine, and Neil replied that someone had taken the almost negligible odds of there being dangerous life and multiplied it against the consequences of such life getting loose and came up with a number that obviously scared some people.
Considering the first sample return from Mars, this will absolutely be a no brainer. The sample absoultely MUST be quarantined, for the purposes of preserving the **sample**. If it does have life of any kind, we have to ensure it isn't tainted by Earth-life on its return. Tell the public it's in quarantine for their own safety if it makes them feel better. As long as this isn't used for an argument *against* sample return missions, we should be cool about it.
Sometimes images become shared between thousands of blog users as the meme of the week.
For instance, this link has been making the rounds last week:
http://img40.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img40=feuerfreimo vi e.swf
You could easily find that link on a thousand LiveJournals. It's not quite slashdotting, but files often get locked out because they're shared on bandwidth limited servers.
So don't think home movies. Think shared movies. Not the MPAA DivX kind, but more like weebls stuff or mpeg clips of turkeys attacking George Bush's crotch or something... The kind of thing that's embedded in a page.
A word to those who are horrified at the propsect of their parents giving their old LEGO away. I used to be horrified by this concept. Then I got kids of my own (my oldest just had her 7th birthday yesterday).
DAMN those little fuckers hurt when you step on them. When you're down closer to the ground they're easier to see. A few of those 1x1 or 1x2 bricks strategically hidden in just the right spot can make a parent swear away lego forever.
I still love lego and love to play with it (at 30!) but I can see why parents ditch it after the kids move out of the house.
1) Everyone accepts the results of the current US election. There's no attempt to recount the 2004 election in any way.
2) Everyone calls for widespread electoral reform now, that everyone can agree to. Go ahead, review the Electoral College, apply the same voting mechanism (PAPER BALLOTS!) across the country.
The net effect of this? We stamp out what has now become the quadrennial shadow of election fraud on the US system. And perhaps, just perhaps, the mud slinging will stop and maybe the US president (Republican, Democrat, or Kodos) will have some semblance of legitimacy on all sides.
The root source of the problem should be the election process, not that Bush got elected.
Slashdot Mirror
Doh, you're right. I'd intended to add at the end that this was a primitive definition of existentialism, that more appropriately they speculate that the idea that the world doesn't exist is possible, but somehow that last paragraph got eaten before I clicked submit.
I blame my cold. Yuck.
Thanks for checking me on that.
An analogy for those who find the anthropic principle a little hard to digest:
Consider the tsunami survivors. A lot of them are asking themselves: "Why did I live when others around me have died? I must have been chosen/It must have been God's will."
Now consider that some other person lived and this person died instead. The other person would be asking the exact same question.
A similar, personal analogy everyone should be able to relate to: Each of us had a one in a million chance to exist back when half of us were sperm. Were we chosen, or were we just lucky and our compatriot sperm not?
Certainly. "My Ass" remark retracted.
As an agnostic, having a healthy, respectful dialogue about religion feels like sitting at the back of the class, raising my hand and asking: "Excuse me, but this concept you have of a benevolent, loving, omnipotent God that takes no action on a universe where things occur because it's part of God's plan looks a lot like this other idea that there isn't a God and a lot of random things happen with no plan and there might be a lot less killing or discriminating of people of other religions" and not being heard.
Let me ask a simple question: Why (if you are a theist) do you believe in God, when there's no evidence to back up your belief? Back at the hard atheists: Why do you beleive in the absence of a God, when there's no evidence to back up your belief?
Please no links to sites of "evidence of God" or copy pasting other's ideas, we'll all drown. I'd honestly like to hear people's own personal reasoning on the question.
I always liked this quote:
:)
God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)
It's a Good Book, go read it...
Of course, if it were genetics, according to Darwin, it would be a trait that should have been wiped out long ago since homosexuals cant reproduce.
Consider this possibility. I actually think what you say is right: that if homosexuality were detrimental to the species it would be "bred out". However, the human race is thriving, which suggests that homosexuality is either irrelevant or beneficial to the survival of the species.
Homosexuality isn't exclusively human. Many mammals and birds appear to have gay sex and form same-sex pair bonding as well.
I'm personally leaning towards the "homosexuality is beneficial to the survival of a species" hypothesis, but need more evidence to back up the idea before I'd accept it as a solid theory. However, the anti-hypothesis, that "homosexuality is detrimental to the survival of the species" seems pretty weak considering the evidence that species with homosexual members are thriving.
I dunno.
;)
When I observe some effects that don't look like random coincidences, I'll let you know.
Until then, I'm just going to go about life being as nice to other people as I possibly can. <-- (See? Happy Agnostics!)
I believe that the existentialists are wrong, and that the world and the universe do indeed exist even if I can't prove it.
After all, if the observable world didn't exist, what the hell, the concept of truth itself is questionable, you might as well believe whatever you want.
Everything else is suspect.
I kinda like theories that don't falter under repeated experiments. Scientific method and all that. It's a good thing.
I believe in a kind and loving God. Keeping that belief is hard usualy because of the acts of man.
Or, occasionally, because of acts of nature.
"It's all part of God's plan" my ass. This is all looking pretty random to me.
(dons flame retardant suit)
Well, that's the beauty of ham radio. You can power one site and send messages thousands of miles away with a single tower and a car battery. To power all the cell towers, you'd need significantly more power, with significantly more towers and then you have to figure out how to send the signals off island. Plus you have to actually charge the cell phones. I don't think areas of Aceh had or are going to have electricity for a very, very long time.
A family friend is a member of ARES, a network of ham radio operators who spring into action when the power goes off and cellular is a distant memory. These guys take their (volunteer) positions pretty seriously, and have acted a few times in the past decade to get news around quickly when more conventional methods aren't working.
Also, this is the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Some of these islands are being protected by India because they have stone age cultures untouched by modern culture. I would think electricity is pretty sparse, let alone cell phones.
So yes, Ham radio, Wow. Think of them as the Amish of 21th century communications. When the power grid collapses, they're the ones who will be there to save your ass.
Many of these islands haven't been contacted yet, even one week later. This is an excellent scenario for Ham Radio use. Let's hope that along with new seismic bouys they can dot the Indian Ocean with emergency Ham Radio systems.
Amazon and Google, among others, have added front-page links to simplify donating to the disaster relief effort.
Perhaps Slashdot could do the same? After all, 80,000 dead and counting definately counds as "Stuff that matters."
OK, cloned cat, nice, but how long will it live?
People who read about cloning don't realize that the cloned cells have shortened telomeres. The Telomere acts as a cap to protect DNA as its copied. As cells reproduce, the telomere gets shorter and shorter until the DNA isn't protected anymore and you start seeing aging diseases.
Sure, this cat looks like a kitten, but at a cellular level, it's still an aged cat. It may not have much longer to live than its twin did if it lived out the rest of its natural life.
This is exactly what happened to Dolly the sheep. Dolly lived to be 6, about half the age of an average sheep.
Oh my God, you Slashdotted Slashdot!
YOU BASTARDS!
I already have a vasectomy, you insensitive clod!
In other news, my wife thinks the laptop makes an excellent heating pad.
To the proofreader with the messy CV.
Logic as follows
The proofreaders also need their CV's proofread. They each only have one proofreader they can pass their CV to. So they must pass their CV to each other. The proofreader with the messy CV was proofread by the messy proofreader, therefore he must be the clear proofreader.
Isn't it great to be a mathematician where wisdom doesn't need to impinge on logic?
I remember reading a conversation, I think it was between Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong. If I recall correctly, Michael was none to impressed with the quarantine, and Neil replied that someone had taken the almost negligible odds of there being dangerous life and multiplied it against the consequences of such life getting loose and came up with a number that obviously scared some people.
Considering the first sample return from Mars, this will absolutely be a no brainer. The sample absoultely MUST be quarantined, for the purposes of preserving the **sample**. If it does have life of any kind, we have to ensure it isn't tainted by Earth-life on its return. Tell the public it's in quarantine for their own safety if it makes them feel better. As long as this isn't used for an argument *against* sample return missions, we should be cool about it.
I think there needs to be a new spec for camera phones.
Number of photos transmittable/cell phone battery charge.
At 7MP per pic, even on the fastest of cellular networks, how long would it take to transmit the entire picture to another cell phone?
(I'm assuming "thumbnails" would be transmitted to other phones, but still...)
Sometimes images become shared between thousands of blog users as the meme of the week.
o vi e.swf
For instance, this link has been making the rounds last week:
http://img40.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img40=feuerfreim
You could easily find that link on a thousand LiveJournals. It's not quite slashdotting, but files often get locked out because they're shared on bandwidth limited servers.
So don't think home movies. Think shared movies. Not the MPAA DivX kind, but more like weebls stuff or mpeg clips of turkeys attacking George Bush's crotch or something... The kind of thing that's embedded in a page.
They should give the Kennedy player a gun and he can hop out of the limo.
Maybe he'll get to do Jackie in the back seat of the limo instead, ala Duke Nukem. Shake 'em, baby!
Campers. Bastards. The lot of them.
2004-02-17 20:34:37 Disney decides to make Toy Story 3 without Pixar (Index,Movies) (rejected)
Looks like Pixar isn't the only one who has been rejected...
A word to those who are horrified at the propsect of their parents giving their old LEGO away. I used to be horrified by this concept. Then I got kids of my own (my oldest just had her 7th birthday yesterday).
DAMN those little fuckers hurt when you step on them. When you're down closer to the ground they're easier to see. A few of those 1x1 or 1x2 bricks strategically hidden in just the right spot can make a parent swear away lego forever.
I still love lego and love to play with it (at 30!) but I can see why parents ditch it after the kids move out of the house.
OK, here's the deal:
1) Everyone accepts the results of the current US election. There's no attempt to recount the 2004 election in any way.
2) Everyone calls for widespread electoral reform now, that everyone can agree to. Go ahead, review the Electoral College, apply the same voting mechanism (PAPER BALLOTS!) across the country.
The net effect of this? We stamp out what has now become the quadrennial shadow of election fraud on the US system. And perhaps, just perhaps, the mud slinging will stop and maybe the US president (Republican, Democrat, or Kodos) will have some semblance of legitimacy on all sides.
The root source of the problem should be the election process, not that Bush got elected.
...protocol handlers in the vein of sftp:// webdav:// and a few really nifty ones I wasn't aware of like info:/ perldoc:/ and tar:/. \
tar:/. eh?
Can I get feather:/. too?
I guess we have a new acronym now..
MMMRPG: Massive Multiplayer Mainframe Role Playing Game.
Perhaps thats the noise the simulated people make when you frag them...
MMMRPG! (thud)
Kudos for refraining from telling the obvious joke and going for the more subtle one... :)