It's potentially harmful. And it has potentially long-lasting effects on the psyche. It is due to these potential effects that we demand informed consent.
And, in answer to your question, you make the logical fallacy of assuming that those are the only two alternatives. Another alternative is to allow them to have a childhood that is free from the pressures of being enticed into sex by an authority figure. Children don't have to learn trial-and-error. They can be allowed to become adults, at which time they have the level of maturity needed to give informed consent.
A few comments on remarks you made, in roughly the order that I encountered them:
1) Nobody here says they defend a person's freedom "to do what they wish without being harassed", regardless of what it is that they wish. People defend a person's freedom to do the things that they ought to be able to do, and that's usually the result of a trade-off between the rights of the do-er and the rights of the do-ee.
2) Your sexual *orientation* is not illegal, at least not in the U.S. If you're arrested, it's because of illegal acts you commit.
3) Don't even THINK about comparing yourself to a holocaust victim.
4) What technology would protect you from those who would harm you; who wishes to deny you said technology; and what do you mean by "harm" in this context?
5) Yes, the word "pedophile" was hijacked just the way the word "hacker" was. "Pedophile" means, literally, "lover of children", and without its current twisted connotations, would more aptly refer to those who truly love children, such as their parents and grandparents.
6) If the majority of pedophiles (current common connotation and usage, i.e. someone who desires sexual contact with children) have never done anything illegal with a child, it is because they have done the right thing and restrained themselves.
7) I don't know what you mean by "valid" in the context of "[my sexual orientation is] just as valid as homosexuality...". An "orientation" is neither moral nor immoral. It simply is. Behavior is a different story.
8) Nobody misuses the word "pedophile" to mean rapist or murderer. However, some pedophiles also happen to be rapists (which they can become simply by acting on their orientation) and murderers. What I find hypocritical is the fact that YOU are the one misusing the word "pedophile" to refer to someone such as yourself who, by your own admission, desires sexual contact with a child, when in fact the word should refer to someone who *truly* loves children and wants to protect them from people such as yourself who would engage in sexual behavior with them if they had their way. Your comments here are akin to those of a *cracker* who complains about the abuse of the term "hacker".
9) If you truly had a deep understanding of children, you would understand, as the rest of us do, that children lack the maturity, wisdom, and judgement required to give INFORMED CONSENT to engaging in various activities, such as sexual activity, and that an adult, any adult, has too strong an authoritative influence over a child, any child, for a sexual relationship to be legitimately construed as "consensual" in any meaningful sense of the word.
In conclusion, if you feel the urge to steal, but you refrain, then you can function in society. If you feel the urge to kill, but you refrain, then you can function in society. And if you feel the urge to have sexual relations with children, but you refrain, then you can function in society. But if someone can't resist the urge to have sex with children, then perhaps that person should take Dennis Miller's advice and commit suicide, or, as he put it, "just lean into the strike zone, and take one for the team".
... burn the specced speed into the chip, but still allow changing the multiplier? If Intel can burn a unique serial number into the PIII, then surely everyone can burn a "recommended speed (multiplier)" into them, perhaps putting a small write-once PROM register somewhere on the chip (not necessarily onto the same piece of silicon itself, since I don't know anything about VLSI and can't tell if this is feasable, but perhaps onto a secondary device in the same package, like the L2 cache used to be). That way, anyone could go into System Information / System Summary (please excuse the Win2K language here) and see "x86 Family 6 Model 2 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD specced at 650 Mhz running at 800 Mhz". All they have to do is burn the PROM as soon as they decide how fast it can pass the tests at.
By this logic Harley-Davidson should use their
motorcycles to haul motorcycles to dealers
instead of using big trucks I know, "it's not a
fair comparison, because motorcycles aren't
really designed for hauling huge loads and trucks
are.."
No, the reason it's not a fair comparison is that if Harley Davidson sold motorcycles the way MS sells operating systems, despite the fact that HD wouldn't use their motorcycles to haul motorcycles, they'd still strap trailers to the backs of their motorcycles and sell them as trucks.
Don't forget that MS sells "Advanced Datacenter Server" (or whatever it's called)as a competitive product for this purpose.
Well, perhaps not a "spectral limitation" in the same sense as EM signals, but certainly there exists a limitation of the information capacity of the channel (i.e. what "bandwidth" has come to mean). What do you think is going to happen when every TV station starts streaming videos of everyone's favorite shows to anyone who wants it? The net is going to become so congested that it will become useless.
>Finally, electric cars may be less energy-intensive: A recent study by Ford Motor >researchers found that electric vehicles with experimental sodium-sulfur batteries would use 24 >percent less energy over their life cycle compared to similar gasoline cars."
Perhaps the sodium-sulfur batteries have a life-span equal to only 76% of that of the typical internal combustion engine?
Slashdot Mirror
It's potentially harmful. And it has potentially long-lasting effects on the psyche. It is due to these potential effects that we demand informed consent.
And, in answer to your question, you make the logical fallacy of assuming that those are the only two alternatives. Another alternative is to allow them to have a childhood that is free from the pressures of being enticed into sex by an authority figure. Children don't have to learn trial-and-error. They can be allowed to become adults, at which time they have the level of maturity needed to give informed consent.
A few comments on remarks you made, in roughly the order that I encountered them:
1) Nobody here says they defend a person's freedom "to do what they wish without being harassed", regardless of what it is that they wish. People defend a person's freedom to do the things that they ought to be able to do, and that's usually the result of a trade-off between the rights of the do-er and the rights of the do-ee.
2) Your sexual *orientation* is not illegal, at least not in the U.S. If you're arrested, it's because of illegal acts you commit.
3) Don't even THINK about comparing yourself to a holocaust victim.
4) What technology would protect you from those who would harm you; who wishes to deny you said technology; and what do you mean by "harm" in this context?
5) Yes, the word "pedophile" was hijacked just the way the word "hacker" was. "Pedophile" means, literally, "lover of children", and without its current twisted connotations, would more aptly refer to those who truly love children, such as their parents and grandparents.
6) If the majority of pedophiles (current common connotation and usage, i.e. someone who desires sexual contact with children) have never done anything illegal with a child, it is because they have done the right thing and restrained themselves.
7) I don't know what you mean by "valid" in the context of "[my sexual orientation is] just as valid as homosexuality...". An "orientation" is neither moral nor immoral. It simply is. Behavior is a different story.
8) Nobody misuses the word "pedophile" to mean rapist or murderer. However, some pedophiles also happen to be rapists (which they can become simply by acting on their orientation) and murderers. What I find hypocritical is the fact that YOU are the one misusing the word "pedophile" to refer to someone such as yourself who, by your own admission, desires sexual contact with a child, when in fact the word should refer to someone who *truly* loves children and wants to protect them from people such as yourself who would engage in sexual behavior with them if they had their way. Your comments here are akin to those of a *cracker* who complains about the abuse of the term "hacker".
9) If you truly had a deep understanding of children, you would understand, as the rest of us do, that children lack the maturity, wisdom, and judgement required to give INFORMED CONSENT to engaging in various activities, such as sexual activity, and that an adult, any adult, has too strong an authoritative influence over a child, any child, for a sexual relationship to be legitimately construed as "consensual" in any meaningful sense of the word.
In conclusion, if you feel the urge to steal, but you refrain, then you can function in society. If you feel the urge to kill, but you refrain, then you can function in society. And if you feel the urge to have sexual relations with children, but you refrain, then you can function in society. But if someone can't resist the urge to have sex with children, then perhaps that person should take Dennis Miller's advice and commit suicide, or, as he put it, "just lean into the strike zone, and take one for the team".
... burn the specced speed into the chip, but still allow changing the multiplier? If Intel can burn a unique serial number into the PIII, then surely everyone can burn a "recommended speed (multiplier)" into them, perhaps putting a small write-once PROM register somewhere on the chip (not necessarily onto the same piece of silicon itself, since I don't know anything about VLSI and can't tell if this is feasable, but perhaps onto a secondary device in the same package, like the L2 cache used to be). That way, anyone could go into System Information / System Summary (please excuse the Win2K language here) and see "x86 Family 6 Model 2 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD specced at 650 Mhz running at 800 Mhz". All they have to do is burn the PROM as soon as they decide how fast it can pass the tests at.
No, the reason it's not a fair comparison is that if Harley Davidson sold motorcycles the way MS sells operating systems, despite the fact that HD wouldn't use their motorcycles to haul motorcycles, they'd still strap trailers to the backs of their motorcycles and sell them as trucks.
Don't forget that MS sells "Advanced Datacenter Server" (or whatever it's called)as a competitive product for this purpose.
Well, perhaps not a "spectral limitation" in the same sense as EM signals, but certainly there exists a limitation of the information capacity of the channel (i.e. what "bandwidth" has come to mean). What do you think is going to happen when every TV station starts streaming videos of everyone's favorite shows to anyone who wants it? The net is going to become so congested that it will become useless.
>Finally, electric cars may be less energy-intensive: A recent study by Ford Motor
:-)
>researchers found that electric vehicles with experimental sodium-sulfur batteries would use 24
>percent less energy over their life cycle compared to similar gasoline cars."
Perhaps the sodium-sulfur batteries have a life-span equal to only 76% of that of the typical internal combustion engine?
Dead cars use very little fuel
The scientists have decided to call their new genetically-engineered creature...... The Rat
Perhaps Steve Wozniak would like to respond if he is listening, since he wrote the original Apple ][ Integer Basic entirely in machine code.
That was kirk who fell in love with her and had to let her die.