If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely,
and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it.
If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting
in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.
If police can't subdue people with their bare hands and training, then they shouldn't be police.
Subdual is accomplished through pain deterrence; I.E. "I will keep hurting you until you stop resisting."
People on meth have wildly malfunctioning nervous systems, including specifically pain receptors.
Pain may not be a deterrent. Repeated impacts with a nightstick may not be a deterrent, even if such impacts do significant structural damage to the body. That's the 'joy' of chemical enhancement, be it narcotic or adrenal : You can be dead and just not know it yet.
A weapon that *overrides* the nervous system, OTOH, is nearly 100% effective at short term restraint.
If I go to a party and someone slips a narcotic in my drink, I'd rather be tazed by the police (whom I think are big cuddly blue bears that want to hug and dance with me) than to be shot with a bullet or beaten into unconsciousness and/or death because I was mentally incapable of following the officers' commands.
- I shall now replace Video Games with Not Being Locked in a Library.
The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of not being locked in a library on learning in young boys.
That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' library avoidance habits,
but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to be locked in a library or not...
Children not confined to a library showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group.
- Clearly, All children should be locked in libraries immediately !
I have the solution to our terrestrial problems right here, in a format that an 8th grader ought to be able to understand:
A * B = C
Where A = Human Population of the Earth.
B = Energy Use (and its byproducts).
C = Unfriendliness of the Global Ecology to Humans.
If we were really interested in solving our problems, we would try to solve the equation for one (or two) of the variables, instead of trying to subtly modify their values with vehicles that produce less CO2 or solar cells that are more efficient.
We keep hearing about the undefined 'hard choices', well here they are.
'one player is denoted the Dungeon Master... [who] is tasked with giving directions to other players... [which] mimics the organization of a gang.'
Clearly, no-one involved in the case has ever played a decent game of D&D. But why bother with facts when prejudice and hysteria will suffice ?
For the 0.0001% of Slashdotters who've never played, a good "dungeon master" (just like a good computer game programmer) creates an interactive environment for players to explore.
What the players decide to do from there is what can make the game an interesting vehicle for self-discovery and excercising one's imagination and problem-solving abilities.
It no more mimics the structure of a gang than someone attending a lecture or watching a play.
What's to say that you need to lose a hand in order to have this system implanted?
Imagine the remote control possibilities: Tele-Surgery and both Macro and Micro Waldoes in general (ever wondered what that water molecule "feels" like ?).
It is the job of scientists to observe impartially, test, and provide us with facts and data.
It is up to the politicians to use (or misuse) those facts and data.
But once the scientist sees himself as a politician, it is far too easy for ego and self-interest to blind them to what they should be observing, instead of what they wish to observe.
I set up a friend with a similar system.
Get a small picture of a rorschach blot.
Decide what it is (anything except a butterfly).
Put the picture in your wallet in case you need to refresh your memory.
Because of how the brain works, the object you see in the random image will always pop right into your head as soon as you glance at it (as long as you make sure it's right-side up).
Even if someone else sees you pull out the picture, look at it, then type in a password, they will likely see something different in the image should they manage to steal your wallet.
As an added advantage, you can perform psychoanalysis on the go.
Slashdot Mirror
Every brewmaster had either died, moved or suffered amnesia by 1932.
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it.
If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.
The origin of myths is explained in this way.
For 1.21 gigawatts, you're going to need a little over 200 trillion rats (at 6.5 milliwatts each)... I do not volunteer to do the wiring.
I gotta wear (ANSI Z 136 compliant) shades...
Bringing a lawsuit against a huge corporation for half a billion dollars... That *is* Modern Warfare.
Now I'm going to be having nightmares about having Brain Spiders for a month...
If police can't subdue people with their bare hands and training, then they shouldn't be police.
Subdual is accomplished through pain deterrence; I.E. "I will keep hurting you until you stop resisting."
People on meth have wildly malfunctioning nervous systems, including specifically pain receptors.
Pain may not be a deterrent. Repeated impacts with a nightstick may not be a deterrent, even if such impacts do significant structural damage to the body. That's the 'joy' of chemical enhancement, be it narcotic or adrenal : You can be dead and just not know it yet.
A weapon that *overrides* the nervous system, OTOH, is nearly 100% effective at short term restraint.
If I go to a party and someone slips a narcotic in my drink, I'd rather be tazed by the police (whom I think are big cuddly blue bears that want to hug and dance with me) than to be shot with a bullet or beaten into unconsciousness and/or death because I was mentally incapable of following the officers' commands.
Is well worth a read:
Melancholy Elephants
- I shall now replace Video Games with Not Being Locked in a Library.
...
The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of not being locked in a library on learning in young boys.
That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' library avoidance habits,
but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to be locked in a library or not
Children not confined to a library showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group.
- Clearly, All children should be locked in libraries immediately !
Now, to be fair, a sequel has an unique advantage over an original story: You don't have to spend half your screen time developing your characters.
Whether you spend that extra time wisely is up to the driector, writers, and actors... but the *potential* is inherent.
... to die in public due to a boiler explosion. Order your tickets now !
Dude! Even my computer had an 8-Track!
8-Track form factor anyways... the Exidy Sorceror...
Anything sub-lethal will be childishly easy to defeat, once it's been seen in action a few times.
Yeah, all you have to do to defeat a Bucha Effect weapon is to turn off your central nervous system!
From the movie Avalon... this is delivered to the protagonist by one of the shady Game Masters who control the virtual reality game :
Which is the greater challenge ?
Which is the better game?
Which would you choose, given the choice?
The sort of game that you think you can win, but cannot,
or, alternatively, one that seems to be impossible, but isn’t?
Maintaining a precise, delicate balance somewhere in between, throughout every level of the game – That’s what keeps it going.
And it is all up to us.
Only because we choose to think that way.
The real value of a dollar depends entirely on how it is spent, and the same goes for human lives, I think...
A one ton mass of solid 24kt gold appears in low earth orbit...
1 ton = 2000 lb = 32,000 ounces
gold is about $1100 per ounce
Total value = 35.2 million dollars.
It costs 60 million to launch the space shuttle.
We need to wait for a *second* one to show up for the trip show a modest profit.
I have the solution to our terrestrial problems right here, in a format that an 8th grader ought to be able to understand:
A * B = C
Where
A = Human Population of the Earth.
B = Energy Use (and its byproducts).
C = Unfriendliness of the Global Ecology to Humans.
If we were really interested in solving our problems, we would try to solve the equation for one (or two) of the variables, instead of trying to subtly modify their values with vehicles that produce less CO2 or solar cells that are more efficient.
We keep hearing about the undefined 'hard choices', well here they are.
With the exception that once the game ends and you return to your cell, the reality of your situation is inescapable.
You may have thought that you'd escaped for a few hours, but you didn't escape at all, and that taste of imagined freedom turns to ash.
Th cruelest prisons always have a window to the open sky...
Urmom
'one player is denoted the Dungeon Master... [who] is tasked with giving directions to other players... [which] mimics the organization of a gang.'
Clearly, no-one involved in the case has ever played a decent game of D&D. But why bother with facts when prejudice and hysteria will suffice ?
For the 0.0001% of Slashdotters who've never played, a good "dungeon master" (just like a good computer game programmer) creates an interactive environment for players to explore.
What the players decide to do from there is what can make the game an interesting vehicle for self-discovery and excercising one's imagination and problem-solving abilities.
It no more mimics the structure of a gang than someone attending a lecture or watching a play.
Replace with new Stem Cell/Cartilage/Carbohydrate triple-pack to avoid service interruption...
What's to say that you need to lose a hand in order to have this system implanted?
Imagine the remote control possibilities: Tele-Surgery and both Macro and Micro Waldoes in general (ever wondered what that water molecule "feels" like ?).
It is the job of scientists to observe impartially, test, and provide us with facts and data.
It is up to the politicians to use (or misuse) those facts and data.
But once the scientist sees himself as a politician, it is far too easy for ego and self-interest to blind them to what they should be observing, instead of what they wish to observe.
We did this once for a lab Christmas party. Frozen solid to cooked in about 25 minutes.
Problem is, with normal oven cooking, a lot of the liquids boil out and evaporate. Not so with the autoclave.
It was so juicy you could almost *drink* it.
I set up a friend with a similar system. Get a small picture of a rorschach blot. Decide what it is (anything except a butterfly).
Put the picture in your wallet in case you need to refresh your memory.
Because of how the brain works, the object you see in the random image will always pop right into your head as soon as you glance at it (as long as you make sure it's right-side up).
Even if someone else sees you pull out the picture, look at it, then type in a password, they will likely see something different in the image should they manage to steal your wallet.
As an added advantage, you can perform psychoanalysis on the go.