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User: GlamdringLFO

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  1. Re:I don't know... on The Computational Requirements for the Matrix · · Score: 0

    A friend of mine wrote up a mock proof that time travel is indeed impossible, becuase if it were not, someone from the future would have come back to make the big bucks by selling a time-traveling paradox-creating service. Since such a service is unavailable, it must never have been invented (or have been invented after the cure for human greed has been found).

    I contend that time travel was likely possible, and the reason that no-one has done anything like the above is that the 'enterprising' type to do something like the above would not be the type to keep in mind that 1000 years ago, the solar system was in a very different place in the galaxy. I'll bet there are a lot of stranded time machines stuck in deep space.

  2. Re:screw it. on The Computational Requirements for the Matrix · · Score: 0

    Keep in mind that Kant was saying 'You cannot perceive that which exists apart from the restrictive framework imposed by your physical senses'. In a nutshell, we cannot truly *know* anything, even ourselves, because we only have our mind and senses with which to do that, and they are limited. But I seriously doubt anything 'new' and 'Kantian' is going to overtake American society. Society doesn't care about real philosophy, just the watered down lip=service the movies give it so it sounds hip. Anglo-american philosophy has been shaped dramatically by the work of Kant for years and years and years. Continental philosophy developed in reaction to it. But that's still the basic point of difference between the two: can we *truly* know things? And I don't see how, except in a very limited sense, that has anything to do with the question 'are we all living in an illusion?'.

  3. Older than you realize on The Computational Requirements for the Matrix · · Score: 0

    Descartes was hardly the first to have this argument. It has roots tracing back trough Boethius to the early Greeks.

    He *was* one of the first to have such a catchy way of phrasing it. That's part of the reason it became so popular. The other stuff is very thick.

    Don't take it for more than it's worth, though. All he was really saying was that, at the most basic level of things, he could be sure that he exists. No more, no less. And that's not really saying a whole lot.

  4. Re:When in Rome.. on Phoenix Unveils Anti-Theft BIOS · · Score: 0

    The problem, of course, is that you really ought to use 'viri', which is of course Latin for the plural of 'man.'

    The implications, however, of equating manliness with 37331 h4x0rz that write these things are pretty gross. I'm sure they already think that tweaking some existing program to do more fun damange in a different way will make their friends gaze approvingly and the girls swoon.

    That said, I'm also sure the feminist movement would have a field day, as it's a pretty safe bet a bunch of them *already* equate men with viruses.

    You'll have that.

  5. Nowadays... on Are Printers What They Used To Be? · · Score: 0

    printers are given away with most computers. They tend to be pretty crummy, but people use them, because why would they want to buy a printer when they've already got one? Then they buy ink cartridges or try to refill them.

    For most users who need to print things off occasionally, these cheapy-dogs are all they need...and someone with more serious printing needs knows what sort of equipment can meet those needs and shops accordingly. The trend, though, is cheapness and ubiquity, which leads to more cheap and short-lived printers on the market, as opposed to bastions of power and reliability.

  6. Re:There's nothing worse... on Librarians Join the Fight Against The Patriot Act · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Especially Conan the Librarian.

    "Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System??"

  7. Re:Two Problems? on PHP MySQL Website Programming · · Score: 1

    Actually, there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who can count in binary...

  8. Re:Cost/Benefit on Forty Percent of All Email is Spam · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a protection racket to me.

  9. Re:Weight of the elevator? on The Space Elevator · · Score: 1

    The point of geosynchrony is like a fulcrum. For every kilogram on the earth side of this point, if another kilogram is placed on the space side, the outward force and the gravitational force will be balanced. As long as this balanced is maintained, the elevator will hold it's position.

    Of course, with things like drag from wind on the ribbon and downward force of lifting something up, this might be difficult to maintain. One possibility is that the ribbon be kept under rather high tension so that small variances in the downward force don't cause big problems.

    On the other hand, it's been a few years since physics class...

  10. They aren't called bugs... on Microsoft: Because Bugs are Cool · · Score: 1

    They're not called bugs.

    I believe they're commonly known as "features"?

  11. Psychological Problems on Mitsubishi Robot - Watchdog, Nurse, Annoying Friend · · Score: 1

    Can't wait until one of these pooches has had enough of being left home alone to guard things, all by itself. Can you see it sulking in the corner when you return, or tearing out it's own circuit-boards because it's too depressed to take just one more day of this?

  12. Who needs them? on Requiem for the Disappearing Pay Phone · · Score: 1

    What about people who don't want/can't afford/totally despise cellphones? I'm sure people carrying them on the street don't want to be bothered and certainly won't let people use them to make a call. But if there are no payphones around, will there be an alternative? I understand the monetary problem, but some people rely on pay phones regularly. So what will they be forced to do?