I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this bill was a backroom deal between the desires of the five eyes and the Australian Government.
Breaking encryption for one government breaks it for all.
I just means there will be a plethora of hidden encryption apps used exclusively by those who plan to do evil.
Wait until someone adds machine learning to the process of communicating meaning and watch people's messages disappear entirely.
As it's not words that information gathers wish to capture, but the meanings being conveyed.
The Australian government have escalated the information war, and don't understand the consequences of doing so.
1) I have no idea what they are hoping people do with that information. So the result will be random at best.
2) It seems like a way to crowd source mobs to attack the police.
3) It's the kind of feedback criminals can use to infer where the police are focused.
4) It's also a method by which criminals can cause an event to distract the police or upset the systemic responses of police.
5) It provides a signal for people to come an watch / video - actually attracting innocent by-standers.
6) If the system is hijacked, it allows a great way of confusing and disrupting the police.
7) It creates the avenue to create fake blue signals to produce panic and inappropriate responses in both the population and police.
If ISP's are allowed to filter and shape their traffic based on their own arbitrary rules, this has profound effects on what the Internet is capable of.
Sites can be blocked completely. Protocols can be blocked outright. Attempts to get around those blocks will be seen as violations of the contract between the user and the ISP.
It also means they will, by default, track all protocol sessions and DNS queries. They would have too to make sure people are adhering to the contract rules.
It's not just about having to buy packages of Internet access. It means that certain protocols and address could be removed altogether regardless of how much you spend.
It could also mean them rerouting traffic at will to where ever the ISP's decide you should go.
Your data accessing habits can also be made available to the highest bidder or to government or simply made public at the ISP's discretion.
Which leads to potential blackmail or similar subversion.
People who think it will be a simple matter of using VPNs or equivalents to get around this will find those protocols blocked with deep packet inspection. Bandwidth or ping time concerns will simply not make any difference.
It is the end of a free Internet and other countries will find themselves following suit because of the various vested interests who want to limit and control what people can do.
When I watched the original Star Wars, first we went as a family to the London opening, so it was a "Big Deal" (tm).
Second though, was that the pace of the movie was so much faster than anything I had ever seen!
It was so fast for me, that details about the plot or whether is made sense or not, simply did not apply.
It was all about the rush of the new, the space and landscapes, the machines and the simplistic mystical idea of good is better than evil because of a mystical life "force" which a kid was able to let flow through him at a crucial moment. It wasn't even that the kid couldn't have done it on his own, but rather, that the odds were weighted in his favour because of this "force".
They could have taken the "force" out of the movie completely and it would still have made sense. People fight with swords without needing a "force", he could have hit the exhaust port without the "force" too. It just added an extra level of intrigue and mystery.
If I compare it with 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example, the pace of Stars Wars was extreme.
Of all the considerations of making another in the series, the pacing is one of the key elements, and I hope they get that right in the Force Awakens.
Control is regulated by information and the access to information. Those who allow themselves to give up access to information give up their ability to determine their own destiny.
In years past, the elite weren't just the financially powerful but those with the greatest control over and access to, information (points at the medieval elite and Roman Catholic church use of Latin as an example).
It was only the elite that could read and write. It was only the elite that had books. It was only the elite that were educated.
With the advent of industrialisation, the drones needed more information to function, and so education became desirable. Even then, the access to information was restricted.
The rise of journalism, allowed people to know about their leaders and power brokers in ways that were previously unavailable. Even then, there were strict controls over the flow of information.
With the wide spread availability of the web, those restrictions were wiped away to a greater extent, and governments and power brokers have been attempting to curtail that flow ever since. People need to at least acknowledge how important the free flow of information is to their ability to pursue their freedoms, otherwise that access to information and the pursuit of those freedoms will be lost.
Governments need to inspire, be honest, and educate their populaces, instead of trying to dumb them down and put them back into the corner. Leading people by hiding what you do and how you do it is no longer an acceptable way of getting what you want.
Governments should not tell people what they are allowed to know. Attempting to categorise all information, in an information age, is simply unattainable. People must ultimately take responsibility for the information they receive, not leave it to others to make that decision on their behalf. We are not children.
If they allow others to make those decisions, they won't ever get to know what they don't know. They are lost.
If the legislation is created in one country, how much easier is it to copy it to others? We have seen this with the "three strikes" policies. We have seen it with the "war on terror" eavesdropping legislation. We've seen it with the "think about the children" memes demanding controls over the kinds of information that can flow.
I feel the general population is sleepwalking their way into another dark age of control being out of their hands. Their education has failed them. They don't understand technology enough to know what their freedoms depend on. It is seriously depressing.
Understanding is a feeling based on a set of internal mental processes. For anyone who wants to think about anything, they require their feelings as much as any other aspect of their mental expression.
Spock then is a terrible role model for a human to attempt to emulate, as to be successful is to lose the ability to think properly.
Kirk is a seat of the pants creative responder to situations. That kind of activity doesn't lend itself to solve every kind of problem.
The problem with the ideas of god are multifaceted. and cannot be simply dismissed with a poster child for science. This simplifies the problem and to a degree that makes the solution unobtainable.
Remember if you create more resources somewhere in a device someone will come along and find a use for them.
It's worth adding space just so such events can occur.
It is my experience that if you reduce the number of people involved in an activity it's easier for one person to subvert the whole system.
Instead of having fewer eyes they should have enough cross checking eyes to prevent one person going rouge (without being detected at least).
Fewer people = more possible abuses of power.
Even *if* they could suppress the details of how it's done across britain, do they not understand that the idea that it is possible, is enough for smart people to figure it out independently of this research?
Why don't they order it to be fixed rather than trying to prevent the information about it to be suppressed "somehow"?
Why don't they take it to another level and have a system implemented for identifying and solving problems like this - something like the air safety board when they investigate accidents? An automakers software / hardware safety council?
One of the basic and insidious aspects of filtering is that is comes very possible to prevent all knowledge of an event or idea propagating.
If an event occurs which is filtered across the board, in news networks and media, and now filtering of the Internet itself - how does someone get to know it happened?
It's allows governments to prevent information like the "arab spring" being generally known. How does the populous get to know if something like this happens?
Back in the day, when I used to live in england, there seemed to be a regular series of "sex scandals" where some politician would discovered in fishnet stockings and being spanked before going off to represent his members in the house of commons or lords.
I assume such information, if described in enough detail, is considered porn and therefore blockable. You are then at the mercy of the media which can be ordered or bribed into not publishing or discussing such things. If it is never reported - has it never happened?
If PRISM is considered a national security issue by the government, does that allow them to block it from Internet searches? If such a thing happens and you know that filtering is happening - but not what is being filtered - how do you get to know what you are not being allowed to know? Is reproducing information of that nature in a blog putting you on a watch list of subversives? Is simply asking these questions doing that?
If something is reported in mainstream media in a particular way - and there are dissenting ideas, knowledge and experts - but they are able to be filtered out by the unseen powers that be - how do the people engage in conversations about it?
If something is inappropriately filtered, because something triggers the process or because of human or programmatic errors - how does it get corrected? Is that process not only done - but seen to be done by the people for whom the information that site contains serves.
I am staggered how freedom to privacy and thinking is being systematically eroded by governments across the globe without any apparent reaction by the people they govern. Perhaps the reactions to this are being suppressed and I just don't know it is....
Well well... it wasn't my ass cheek I was expecting but I guess each to their own
As I am using a PC rather than android apparently not hell yet.
As for mind reading - I really think you need more practise. Start with something simpler. A imaginary friend should suffice.
Come on, right here - you know you want to. Isn't it about time you told me I was destined for hell?
I guess it's futile to say that the article talked about the effect of belief, not about whether a belief was an accurate representation of the reality. There is a difference.
Just as there is a difference between assuming what you meant and trying to find out. .... "And your mind has nothing much to do with reality."
Such wisdom! Such judgement! You see into my mind like a.. wait let me think about it..oh I know... "A Higher Power" (tm)
<sighs> Is this what you think will protect your fragile beliefs from examination?
Wrong about what specifically?
I certainly know how I would respond to a therapeutic situation which suggested that I would be better off believing in a higher power.
It also appears elsewhere in the comments that the people doing the study are actually religiously biased (they belong to the Templeton Foundation).
Any social or communicative bias causes an effect on the outcome of physiological result (whether they are specifically religiously biases or not).
I don't know how you think about the term "higher power" but to my mind it is very general indeed. It is not aligned to a particular doctrine nor to what higher power is being referred to. In such cases the ones making sense of that words are the individuals interpreting them. I was commenting in the most general of cases I could imagine where no specific higher power was under scrutiny.
Are you suggesting there is no social norm for believing there is a higher power? I suspect at least in America the general statistics would suggest otherwise.
There are no claims in the article that the differences are anything but short term, and there can be a lot of other influences that can have short term effects.
Over and above all that, I suspect by the nature of your generalised response that you are under the sway of your own bias. How will you determine an objective truth if that is the case?
By passing the size of this study for the moment.
From article: "Of the patients sampled, more than 30 percent claimed no specific religious affiliation yet still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in a higher power was rated as moderately or very high."
No religious affiliation means effectively that the higher power is just a way of imagining something looking out for you, caring for you and loving you.
I am not surprised that if you imagine there is someone caring about you and loving you you are going to feel more positive about life in general. That it is imaginary means it can not disappoint you. That the very act of that imagination is providing a short term positive future.
I'm sure if a patient had an actual love affair with a real human being, the effects would be the similar if not superior.
If on the other hand some therapist suggested to me personally that a I might like to think there is a higher power looking out for me, it would send me into a deeper depression because if that is how they think my mind works I really must despair.
We are also embedded in a culture where believing in a god (of some description) is seen as more socially normal than those who do not. Normal is sometimes the more attractive option to the depressed than their current state. Simply joining the "belief group" is a social inclusive particularly over the short term.
That this question is being asked inside a treatment context, it's hard to think that that isn't a bias in the way people are treated, and it doesn't take much for such a bias to undermine any other treatment.
I do hope they don't think that taking up the habit of thinking of a higher power is a treatment option. If that is the case, perhaps a drug addiction should be considered a treatment too.
The way a message is delivered makes a difference to how people make sense of it.
If there was a billion dollar campaign saying "People who drink milk are less intelligent than those who don't" - even if there was no science behind that. It would have an influence.
We are already at the mercy of the quality of the available information we get. That occurs before we have a belief about a topic.
One of the reasons science is successful and respected is it's approach to pursuing high quality models of the universe. Blatantly lying and ignoring the facts would destroy it's ability to do that. Why is it acceptable to do it else where?
I know we should be concerned about the thought police and I'm not suggesting that people not be able to think or believe freely. However, they should at least know enough to know the consequences of thinking in a particular way and pursue informed debate about the nature of information.
Otherwise we are all at the whim of those who wish to use the system for their own short term gains.
As I understand it, the only reason the body of america cares that the Texas school board makes wacky decisions (apart from their concern for Texan children) is that it affects the books that are available for schools across the country, due to the quantities of books involved.
This basically means it boils down to money. Good accurate books will be more expensive. In an age of digital media, surely the cost of having accurate science texts can be accepted by those schools who actually want to teach children rather than brain-wash them?
I think a sticker saying "This text has been rejected by the Texas school board" should be a mark excellence that is worth paying extra for.
The grander problem is, and has always been of more concern, that the school board is only really reflecting the views of the wider Texan community. If Americans really want to change the facts to fit their own world view how do you get around that?
I'm guessing it makes it easier for personnel from other agencies (police et al) to be told to ignore what is going on.
I also allows them to legally use resources outside ASIO to do things on their behalf, and redirect information acquired to other entities without finding they are breaking the law.
This is not hacking from the outside alone. This would validate ASIO entering your home and adding spy software/hardware directly.
Any idea of avoiding this would be very difficult.
You have no argument. My emotional response to a particular event isn't the basis for a good policy, or don't you understand the reasoning for a judicial system?
After calling me various names, knowing nothing of who I am or what my experiences are, by you own desire, you are happy to have me own a gun.
I'm afraid I can't share that desire.
My comment about people knowing policies was about the ASIO reference. That you associate my statements as a lack of dissent independent of gun availability are your own projection and opinion and as such have only that weight. In what sense you do not accept the system of government to whom you depend? In what sense are you "maintaining freedom"? What freedom(s) are you maintaining?
It is my point exactly that it is the popular opinion. I am surprised you don't understand the power of that. I guess that is why Americans have an atheist president... oh yeah they don't...
A lot of this conversation make me wonder why have police. What is their function? You are happy for people to take the position of judge, jury and executioner? In this case with Susan Falls, you are saying she had no other choice what so ever? It was a gun or nothing? That the fact the she was found not guilty in protecting herself should always grant an exception as to the method in which she chose to do that? And I would gather from that, if I was the big guy and I am going to make sure the little woman never gets access to the equalization. Maybe that is just me. I'm sure that never happens...
I am saying that simply owning a gun doesn't empower some one by default. You seem to suggest that criminals will some how be in awe of a gun owner. Dumb criminals perhaps. It becomes another selection pressure to create more gun savvy criminals. I am saying that it just means you create a environment where by gun crimes will prosper.
So the second amendment was to provide for a citizen to protect themselves with guns from any potential threat. Why would there ever be a limitation as to what kind of weapons are made available to the populous then? What limitation should be placed on an individual, if they fundamental right is to over come any threat?
Are you trying to tell me that the situation in Australia in the 1990-200x is the same as America? That we have seen change in the distribution of crime in that interval is independent of gun laws, however, the gun laws were introduced in an attempt to prevent the mass shootings. To that end they have been successful so far. Making particular comments about what you were afraid of when you were young is no an indication that guns made that a difference. You mean if you had a gun on your property today you wouldn't be afraid of bikies? You think that there would be less "glassing" in pubs? I was not suggesting that. I was saying that I don't have to worry my neighbour will go berzerk and shoot people.
I know you have a intense feeling for this woman but you are effectively suggesting all rape will be ended if every one could own a gun. That is simply not true and it is fundamentally untrue. For every woman who gets to protect herself using a gun there would be another who would be raped facilitated by a gun. You are suggesting a woman has to carry a weapon with her always for her own protection. I assume you want men who are at risk of rape to be protected likewise. And altar boys should carry them into church in case the Father gets ideas. In fact all children should own and be taught to use guns so they can ward off paedophiles. At what point to you end that progression? When all rape ends? I am glad that this woman and any other woman out successfully protects themselves from rape by the use of the gun. However more open gun availability is not the solution to rape. I don't know why I would need to say that.
I have a close personal friend, she was in a pub, had a spiked drink and was raped (as far as she can determine). She doesn't remember who and is in counselling now. Having a gun would have make no difference to that experience, with the possible exception that some one else would own it now.
'We all know about it, unlike your scenario of secret detentions. ' People here would know if they are interested and inquiring. These policies are not hidden or secret. "People" seem to want to know what the Kardashians are thinking more than what affects their freedoms.
'Bradley Manning and everyone else already knew that if you have access to military secrets as part of your job you get in a lot of trouble if you leak them....' and yet they harass a man who has yet to be convicted of anything - why is that? Aren't people supposed to be innocent until proven guilty (even if they work in the military)? Can justice be done if the accused is treated badly by those in authority for months on end, particularly those with psych problems? Isn't the government accountable to the people for the policies they enact and condone?
'Most people don't think...'..which is exactly my point. If you can lead the majority of people so they are convinced that they need take no action or that they are justified in a position consistent with the desires of the government - then they have won. Dissident talk is like an inoculation - it allows the illusion of freedom while glossing over the fact that actual changes to the government are difficult. You would only get significant change if a critical mass of people act. If you can prevent that then they have won. Look at way global warming is handled in the USA and you see it in action.
'It is clearly impossible to be a traitor to a country of which you are not a citizen....' so you don't like me using - cast as a traitor - how do they see him then - a terrorist? An enemy of the USA? Not kindly in any event or are you arguing to the opposite? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange Calls for Assange's assassination. .
A car is not designed to inflict harm. That is the difference in this metaphor. Just owning a vehicle that isn't road worthy isn't a crime because it poses no threat. The moment it's driven it is a threat, which is why that is not legal (apart from revenue razing of course)).
This description is a false dichotomy. You don't prevent all crime if you arm the citizens, you simply change the nature of it. It is not that her ability to defend herself was removed if she didn't have a gun (well except of course in the USA where there are guns everywhere and you would need it to be on a level playing field). It is that, if a person is lead to believe that societies systems will protect them when they might not. If you arm the victims you, simply arm the attackers. It is the nature of escalation. You noted before no system is perfect. People should be aware that systems fail. That they will be put in situations upon which they themselves will have to have skill to prevail. That is a big commitment of time and resources and in most civilized locations it seems unwarranted. Having a gun doesn't remove that requirement. You might be lucky and meet a stupid unsophisticated attacker and win with your gun. You might be unlucky and have them take you gun from you and use it against you. And once they have that gun - how easy is it for them to prevail against the next victim? Crime is always ugly and messy in this regard. There is no "magic bullet" that will prevent that. To be lulled into the complacent sense of safety I think is the true negligence but it is one that I am myself guilty of. And, by the way, if this is the reasoning - why refer to the second amendment at all
As I said in my original post - the process of removing guns from the social environment is one that calms the situation over time. However, it must be pursued without creating the black market version of gun purchase where citizens condone access to inappropriate weapons, otherwise you simply repeat the mistakes of the prohibition of alcohol. It is not simple and I see no quick solution to it.
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this bill was a backroom deal between the desires of the five eyes and the Australian Government.
Breaking encryption for one government breaks it for all.
I just means there will be a plethora of hidden encryption apps used exclusively by those who plan to do evil.
Wait until someone adds machine learning to the process of communicating meaning and watch people's messages disappear entirely.
As it's not words that information gathers wish to capture, but the meanings being conveyed.
The Australian government have escalated the information war, and don't understand the consequences of doing so.
1) I have no idea what they are hoping people do with that information. So the result will be random at best.
2) It seems like a way to crowd source mobs to attack the police.
3) It's the kind of feedback criminals can use to infer where the police are focused.
4) It's also a method by which criminals can cause an event to distract the police or upset the systemic responses of police.
5) It provides a signal for people to come an watch / video - actually attracting innocent by-standers.
6) If the system is hijacked, it allows a great way of confusing and disrupting the police.
7) It creates the avenue to create fake blue signals to produce panic and inappropriate responses in both the population and police.
If ISP's are allowed to filter and shape their traffic based on their own arbitrary rules, this has profound effects on what the Internet is capable of.
Sites can be blocked completely. Protocols can be blocked outright. Attempts to get around those blocks will be seen as violations of the contract between the user and the ISP.
It also means they will, by default, track all protocol sessions and DNS queries. They would have too to make sure people are adhering to the contract rules.
It's not just about having to buy packages of Internet access. It means that certain protocols and address could be removed altogether regardless of how much you spend.
It could also mean them rerouting traffic at will to where ever the ISP's decide you should go.
Your data accessing habits can also be made available to the highest bidder or to government or simply made public at the ISP's discretion.
Which leads to potential blackmail or similar subversion.
People who think it will be a simple matter of using VPNs or equivalents to get around this will find those protocols blocked with deep packet inspection. Bandwidth or ping time concerns will simply not make any difference.
It is the end of a free Internet and other countries will find themselves following suit because of the various vested interests who want to limit and control what people can do.
This link https://text-to-speech-demo.my... allows you to experiment with the Watson version directly for anyone who is interested.
When I watched the original Star Wars, first we went as a family to the London opening, so it was a "Big Deal" (tm).
Second though, was that the pace of the movie was so much faster than anything I had ever seen!
It was so fast for me, that details about the plot or whether is made sense or not, simply did not apply.
It was all about the rush of the new, the space and landscapes, the machines and the simplistic mystical idea of good is better than evil because of a mystical life "force" which a kid was able to let flow through him at a crucial moment. It wasn't even that the kid couldn't have done it on his own, but rather, that the odds were weighted in his favour because of this "force".
They could have taken the "force" out of the movie completely and it would still have made sense. People fight with swords without needing a "force", he could have hit the exhaust port without the "force" too. It just added an extra level of intrigue and mystery.
If I compare it with 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example, the pace of Stars Wars was extreme.
Of all the considerations of making another in the series, the pacing is one of the key elements, and I hope they get that right in the Force Awakens.
My honour to say it out loud for you, I'm very sure a lot of other people appreciate this too.
Thank you for this.
Control is regulated by information and the access to information. Those who allow themselves to give up access to information give up their ability to determine their own destiny.
In years past, the elite weren't just the financially powerful but those with the greatest control over and access to, information (points at the medieval elite and Roman Catholic church use of Latin as an example).
It was only the elite that could read and write. It was only the elite that had books. It was only the elite that were educated. With the advent of industrialisation, the drones needed more information to function, and so education became desirable. Even then, the access to information was restricted.
The rise of journalism, allowed people to know about their leaders and power brokers in ways that were previously unavailable. Even then, there were strict controls over the flow of information.
With the wide spread availability of the web, those restrictions were wiped away to a greater extent, and governments and power brokers have been attempting to curtail that flow ever since. People need to at least acknowledge how important the free flow of information is to their ability to pursue their freedoms, otherwise that access to information and the pursuit of those freedoms will be lost.
Governments need to inspire, be honest, and educate their populaces, instead of trying to dumb them down and put them back into the corner. Leading people by hiding what you do and how you do it is no longer an acceptable way of getting what you want.
Governments should not tell people what they are allowed to know. Attempting to categorise all information, in an information age, is simply unattainable. People must ultimately take responsibility for the information they receive, not leave it to others to make that decision on their behalf. We are not children. If they allow others to make those decisions, they won't ever get to know what they don't know. They are lost.
If the legislation is created in one country, how much easier is it to copy it to others? We have seen this with the "three strikes" policies. We have seen it with the "war on terror" eavesdropping legislation. We've seen it with the "think about the children" memes demanding controls over the kinds of information that can flow. I feel the general population is sleepwalking their way into another dark age of control being out of their hands. Their education has failed them. They don't understand technology enough to know what their freedoms depend on. It is seriously depressing.
Understanding is a feeling based on a set of internal mental processes. For anyone who wants to think about anything, they require their feelings as much as any other aspect of their mental expression.
Spock then is a terrible role model for a human to attempt to emulate, as to be successful is to lose the ability to think properly.
Kirk is a seat of the pants creative responder to situations. That kind of activity doesn't lend itself to solve every kind of problem.
The problem with the ideas of god are multifaceted. and cannot be simply dismissed with a poster child for science. This simplifies the problem and to a degree that makes the solution unobtainable.
Sure they can come up with a way for them to be called Owls :-)
Remember if you create more resources somewhere in a device someone will come along and find a use for them.
It's worth adding space just so such events can occur.
It is my experience that if you reduce the number of people involved in an activity it's easier for one person to subvert the whole system.
Instead of having fewer eyes they should have enough cross checking eyes to prevent one person going rouge (without being detected at least).
Fewer people = more possible abuses of power.
Even *if* they could suppress the details of how it's done across britain, do they not understand that the idea that it is possible, is enough for smart people to figure it out independently of this research?
Why don't they order it to be fixed rather than trying to prevent the information about it to be suppressed "somehow"?
Why don't they take it to another level and have a system implemented for identifying and solving problems like this - something like the air safety board when they investigate accidents? An automakers software / hardware safety council?
One of the basic and insidious aspects of filtering is that is comes very possible to prevent all knowledge of an event or idea propagating.
If an event occurs which is filtered across the board, in news networks and media, and now filtering of the Internet itself - how does someone get to know it happened?
It's allows governments to prevent information like the "arab spring" being generally known. How does the populous get to know if something like this happens?
Back in the day, when I used to live in england, there seemed to be a regular series of "sex scandals" where some politician would discovered in fishnet stockings and being spanked before going off to represent his members in the house of commons or lords.
I assume such information, if described in enough detail, is considered porn and therefore blockable. You are then at the mercy of the media which can be ordered or bribed into not publishing or discussing such things. If it is never reported - has it never happened?
If PRISM is considered a national security issue by the government, does that allow them to block it from Internet searches? If such a thing happens and you know that filtering is happening - but not what is being filtered - how do you get to know what you are not being allowed to know?
Is reproducing information of that nature in a blog putting you on a watch list of subversives? Is simply asking these questions doing that? If something is reported in mainstream media in a particular way - and there are dissenting ideas, knowledge and experts - but they are able to be filtered out by the unseen powers that be - how do the people engage in conversations about it?
If something is inappropriately filtered, because something triggers the process or because of human or programmatic errors - how does it get corrected? Is that process not only done - but seen to be done by the people for whom the information that site contains serves.
I am staggered how freedom to privacy and thinking is being systematically eroded by governments across the globe without any apparent reaction by the people they govern. Perhaps the reactions to this are being suppressed and I just don't know it is....
Well well... it wasn't my ass cheek I was expecting but I guess each to their own
As I am using a PC rather than android apparently not hell yet.
As for mind reading - I really think you need more practise. Start with something simpler. A imaginary friend should suffice.
Come on, right here - you know you want to. Isn't it about time you told me I was destined for hell?
.... "And your mind has nothing much to do with reality." ... "A Higher Power" (tm)
I guess it's futile to say that the article talked about the effect of belief, not about whether a belief was an accurate representation of the reality. There is a difference.
Just as there is a difference between assuming what you meant and trying to find out.
Such wisdom! Such judgement! You see into my mind like a.. wait let me think about it..oh I know
<sighs> Is this what you think will protect your fragile beliefs from examination?
Wrong about what specifically?
I certainly know how I would respond to a therapeutic situation which suggested that I would be better off believing in a higher power.
It also appears elsewhere in the comments that the people doing the study are actually religiously biased (they belong to the Templeton Foundation).
Any social or communicative bias causes an effect on the outcome of physiological result (whether they are specifically religiously biases or not).
I don't know how you think about the term "higher power" but to my mind it is very general indeed. It is not aligned to a particular doctrine nor to what higher power is being referred to. In such cases the ones making sense of that words are the individuals interpreting them. I was commenting in the most general of cases I could imagine where no specific higher power was under scrutiny.
Are you suggesting there is no social norm for believing there is a higher power? I suspect at least in America the general statistics would suggest otherwise.
There are no claims in the article that the differences are anything but short term, and there can be a lot of other influences that can have short term effects.
Over and above all that, I suspect by the nature of your generalised response that you are under the sway of your own bias. How will you determine an objective truth if that is the case?
By passing the size of this study for the moment.
From article: "Of the patients sampled, more than 30 percent claimed no specific religious affiliation yet still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in a higher power was rated as moderately or very high."
No religious affiliation means effectively that the higher power is just a way of imagining something looking out for you, caring for you and loving you.
I am not surprised that if you imagine there is someone caring about you and loving you you are going to feel more positive about life in general. That it is imaginary means it can not disappoint you. That the very act of that imagination is providing a short term positive future.
I'm sure if a patient had an actual love affair with a real human being, the effects would be the similar if not superior.
If on the other hand some therapist suggested to me personally that a I might like to think there is a higher power looking out for me, it would send me into a deeper depression because if that is how they think my mind works I really must despair.
We are also embedded in a culture where believing in a god (of some description) is seen as more socially normal than those who do not.
Normal is sometimes the more attractive option to the depressed than their current state. Simply joining the "belief group" is a social inclusive particularly over the short term.
That this question is being asked inside a treatment context, it's hard to think that that isn't a bias in the way people are treated, and it doesn't take much for such a bias to undermine any other treatment.
I do hope they don't think that taking up the habit of thinking of a higher power is a treatment option. If that is the case, perhaps a drug addiction should be considered a treatment too.
The way a message is delivered makes a difference to how people make sense of it.
If there was a billion dollar campaign saying "People who drink milk are less intelligent than those who don't" - even if there was no science behind that. It would have an influence.
We are already at the mercy of the quality of the available information we get. That occurs before we have a belief about a topic.
One of the reasons science is successful and respected is it's approach to pursuing high quality models of the universe. Blatantly lying and ignoring the facts would destroy it's ability to do that. Why is it acceptable to do it else where?
I know we should be concerned about the thought police and I'm not suggesting that people not be able to think or believe freely. However, they should at least know enough to know the consequences of thinking in a particular way and pursue informed debate about the nature of information.
Otherwise we are all at the whim of those who wish to use the system for their own short term gains.
As I understand it, the only reason the body of america cares that the Texas school board makes wacky decisions (apart from their concern for Texan children) is that it affects the books that are available for schools across the country, due to the quantities of books involved.
This basically means it boils down to money. Good accurate books will be more expensive. In an age of digital media, surely the cost of having accurate science texts can be accepted by those schools who actually want to teach children rather than brain-wash them?
I think a sticker saying "This text has been rejected by the Texas school board" should be a mark excellence that is worth paying extra for.
The grander problem is, and has always been of more concern, that the school board is only really reflecting the views of the wider Texan community. If Americans really want to change the facts to fit their own world view how do you get around that?
I'm guessing it makes it easier for personnel from other agencies (police et al) to be told to ignore what is going on.
I also allows them to legally use resources outside ASIO to do things on their behalf, and redirect information acquired to other entities without finding they are breaking the law.
This is not hacking from the outside alone. This would validate ASIO entering your home and adding spy software/hardware directly.
Any idea of avoiding this would be very difficult.
You have no argument. My emotional response to a particular event isn't the basis for a good policy, or don't you understand the reasoning for a judicial system?
After calling me various names, knowing nothing of who I am or what my experiences are, by you own desire, you are happy to have me own a gun.
I'm afraid I can't share that desire.
My comment about people knowing policies was about the ASIO reference. That you associate my statements as a lack of dissent independent of gun availability are your own projection and opinion and as such have only that weight. In what sense you do not accept the system of government to whom you depend? In what sense are you "maintaining freedom"? What freedom(s) are you maintaining? ... oh yeah they don't...
It is my point exactly that it is the popular opinion. I am surprised you don't understand the power of that. I guess that is why Americans have an atheist president
A lot of this conversation make me wonder why have police. What is their function? You are happy for people to take the position of judge, jury and executioner? In this case with Susan Falls, you are saying she had no other choice what so ever? It was a gun or nothing? That the fact the she was found not guilty in protecting herself should always grant an exception as to the method in which she chose to do that? And I would gather from that, if I was the big guy and I am going to make sure the little woman never gets access to the equalization. Maybe that is just me. I'm sure that never happens...
I am saying that simply owning a gun doesn't empower some one by default. You seem to suggest that criminals will some how be in awe of a gun owner. Dumb criminals perhaps. It becomes another selection pressure to create more gun savvy criminals. I am saying that it just means you create a environment where by gun crimes will prosper.
So the second amendment was to provide for a citizen to protect themselves with guns from any potential threat. Why would there ever be a limitation as to what kind of weapons are made available to the populous then? What limitation should be placed on an individual, if they fundamental right is to over come any threat?
Are you trying to tell me that the situation in Australia in the 1990-200x is the same as America? That we have seen change in the distribution of crime in that interval is independent of gun laws, however, the gun laws were introduced in an attempt to prevent the mass shootings. To that end they have been successful so far. Making particular comments about what you were afraid of when you were young is no an indication that guns made that a difference. You mean if you had a gun on your property today you wouldn't be afraid of bikies? You think that there would be less "glassing" in pubs? I was not suggesting that. I was saying that I don't have to worry my neighbour will go berzerk and shoot people.
I know you have a intense feeling for this woman but you are effectively suggesting all rape will be ended if every one could own a gun. That is simply not true and it is fundamentally untrue. For every woman who gets to protect herself using a gun there would be another who would be raped facilitated by a gun. You are suggesting a woman has to carry a weapon with her always for her own protection. I assume you want men who are at risk of rape to be protected likewise. And altar boys should carry them into church in case the Father gets ideas. In fact all children should own and be taught to use guns so they can ward off paedophiles. At what point to you end that progression? When all rape ends? I am glad that this woman and any other woman out successfully protects themselves from rape by the use of the gun. However more open gun availability is not the solution to rape. I don't know why I would need to say that.
I have a close personal friend, she was in a pub, had a spiked drink and was raped (as far as she can determine). She doesn't remember who and is in counselling now. Having a gun would have make no difference to that experience, with the possible exception that some one else would own it now.
'We all know about it, unlike your scenario of secret detentions. ' ..which is exactly my point. If you can lead the majority of people so they are convinced that they need take no action or that they are justified in a position consistent with the desires of the government - then they have won. Dissident talk is like an inoculation - it allows the illusion of freedom while glossing over the fact that actual changes to the government are difficult. You would only get significant change if a critical mass of people act. If you can prevent that then they have won. Look at way global warming is handled in the USA and you see it in action.
People here would know if they are interested and inquiring. These policies are not hidden or secret. "People" seem to want to know what the Kardashians are thinking more than what affects their freedoms.
'Bradley Manning and everyone else already knew that if you have access to military secrets as part of your job you get in a lot of trouble if you leak them....' and yet they harass a man who has yet to be convicted of anything - why is that? Aren't people supposed to be innocent until proven guilty (even if they work in the military)? Can justice be done if the accused is treated badly by those in authority for months on end, particularly those with psych problems? Isn't the government accountable to the people for the policies they enact and condone?
'Most people don't think...'
'It is clearly impossible to be a traitor to a country of which you are not a citizen....' so you don't like me using - cast as a traitor - how do they see him then - a terrorist? An enemy of the USA? Not kindly in any event or are you arguing to the opposite? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange Calls for Assange's assassination. .
A car is not designed to inflict harm. That is the difference in this metaphor. Just owning a vehicle that isn't road worthy isn't a crime because it poses no threat. The moment it's driven it is a threat, which is why that is not legal (apart from revenue razing of course)).
This description is a false dichotomy. You don't prevent all crime if you arm the citizens, you simply change the nature of it. It is not that her ability to defend herself was removed if she didn't have a gun (well except of course in the USA where there are guns everywhere and you would need it to be on a level playing field). It is that, if a person is lead to believe that societies systems will protect them when they might not. If you arm the victims you, simply arm the attackers. It is the nature of escalation. You noted before no system is perfect. People should be aware that systems fail. That they will be put in situations upon which they themselves will have to have skill to prevail. That is a big commitment of time and resources and in most civilized locations it seems unwarranted. Having a gun doesn't remove that requirement. You might be lucky and meet a stupid unsophisticated attacker and win with your gun. You might be unlucky and have them take you gun from you and use it against you. And once they have that gun - how easy is it for them to prevail against the next victim? Crime is always ugly and messy in this regard. There is no "magic bullet" that will prevent that. To be lulled into the complacent sense of safety I think is the true negligence but it is one that I am myself guilty of.
And, by the way, if this is the reasoning - why refer to the second amendment at all
As I said in my original post - the process of removing guns from the social environment is one that calms the situation over time. However, it must be pursued without creating the black market version of gun purchase where citizens condone access to inappropriate weapons, otherwise you simply repeat the mistakes of the prohibition of alcohol. It is not simple and I see no quick solution to it.