How about this? In a system where a leader cult can't develop around an individual because of term limits, the parties become the focus of the kind of fanatical devotion that used to be focused on a single person. So the leader cult can be denied to exist when it really is just split across a few political parties in which people invest the same cult-like devotion, while believing they are being presented with a meaningful choice.
No no, see, that is the leader cult. Through propaganda promoting democracy as a political ideal, the people are convinced that they are the ones with power in the system. They have been taught that their choice between two corporate-vetted figureheads is meaningful. Every time they become fed up with the current leadership they think, well, next time we'll get it right. The leader cult is going strong, it's just that the "leader" is the belief in the power of the people to change things within the system as it stands.
Democracy may be great at certain smaller scales, but when it gets too large it's just mob rule, and mobs are easily manipulated.
I find it interesting to watch Chris Perkins DM for the Penny Arcade guys in the Dungeons & Dragons games they've played. He seems to make an effort to use a variety of accents (and voices) to keep his characters interesting. He even went with Southern-California-Surfer for one character in the 2010 live game at PAX.
The bully was already dead when kicked. He hit his head accidentally on a knob.
Time to read the book again:)
Well, you're right about needing to read the book again. The bully in the bathroom (Bonzo) died because Ender head-butted him in the nose and sent splinters into his brain (presumably). The bully at the beginning of the book (Stilson) died because Ender kicked him to death, including a blow to the face. I think maybe you're remembering the scene in Battlestar Galactica where the nasty officer from the other battlestar dies in a scuffle when his head hits a bolt on the wall.
Since I hadn't heard of that charge, I decided to look it up. Apparently that's an English, Canadian and Irish law, so it wouldn't apply in the US. It's also apparently common law and US courts operate under statutory jurisdiction, as I understand it (which is not well).
Is there a legal relationship between vulnerability and innocence? According to the article the man was never arrested or charged, and he states that he was "totally innocent". Isn't innocence an absolute state mutually exclusive with the absolute state of guilt? If the police have a duty to protect the innocent, aren't the adult and child equally deserving of that protection? I'm honestly asking here.
It's common sense for the police to treat the man as if he's lying. If the police assume he's telling the truth they risk putting a child in danger (and failing in their duty to protect the innocent) but if they assume he's lying then they can take measures.
A child is not "more innocent" than the man in question. They are no less obligated to protect him (following your reasoning).
So... program the machines to "feel remorse". That one should be easy...
Yikes. Seriously?
In that case I eagerly look forward to the machines telling us "The only winning move is not to play."
Sorry, I'm not really being fair here. Your original point was about machines vs. humans making mistakes and killing the wrong people, whereas I'm arguing against killing any people.
Really? All power? If that were true there could be no martyrs. History has shown time and time again that it only takes one person looking beyond their own fear of death, holding some higher ideal, to set an example for countless others. Just one to stand and say that there is something more important, more powerful than the individual life of this body, something your guns can never threaten.
The overwhelming majority on this planet live in peace with their neighbors, trusting them inherently. It is only the result of a constant barrage of divisiveness that they are taught to fear their fellow man and allow these atrocities to be committed.
You have so thoroughly misunderstood both liberty and power. I recommend meditation.
It's easier to teach kids to memorize than to understand.
This is the only thing you wrote that I disagree with. Kids naturally want to learn, and by that I mean understand and develop critical thinking abilities. It's required for growth and beneficial to develop these abilities. It's hard to teach kids to memorize things that don't help them understand the world around them. It takes years of indoctrination and enforced blind obedience to authority to get kids to perform rote memorization.
No, even the summary is clear that the TV viewing is correlated with the future development of asthma. These kids didn't necessarily have asthma the entire time they were sitting in front of the TV.
The summary refers to the "association between increased duration of reported TV viewing in early childhood and the development of asthma by 11.5 years of age in children with no symptoms of asthma in early childhood" (emphasis mine)
As you say providing Nintendo makes money on the device itself then they've really got nothing to complain about
Nintendo are not the only ones who make software for their systems. Third-party developers depend on sales of their software. It hardly matters to them whether Nintendo makes a profit on the hardware or not.
it's not like they even seemed to try hard to prevent piracy
Nintendo stuck with cartridges a generation longer than anyone else and used a non-standard format for their first disc-based system. Just because they don't take the same approach as other manufacturers doesn't mean they're not trying to prevent piracy.
I don't really disagree with anything you said, but I'm still amazed that this is rated "5, Insightful" when you got the basic phrasing backwards.
It's "Innocent until proven guilty" not "Guilty until proven innocent". It may seem like a minor quibble, but when that phrase is all most people will remember, it's important to get it right.
The way you describe it, it sounds like CPAN was using some sort of push technology to force-feed you upgrades. If the program was working, and the company was just trying to "keep it working" then why the upgrades? Or could they not get it installed and working in the first place because of something on CPAN?
I'm honestly curious. I haven't used perl or CPAN in years but if memory serves, installing the latest and greatest modules all the time has always been a recipe for disaster.
But don't go forgetting that learning can be both good and bad.
In the context of this article I would say that conditioning, being subconscious, can be both good and bad, whereas learning is conscious and generally good.
This doesn't account for "learning" things that are not true, which might be better termed misinformation or indoctrination.
Slashdot Mirror
To deny either denies what my body was made for.
Actually, it denies what your body was made from. What it's made for is up to you.
When you put it that way, it sure sounds an awful lot like prohibition.
Strange Brew
That was the first time I encountered any Canadian pronunciation tropes, anyway.
How about this? In a system where a leader cult can't develop around an individual because of term limits, the parties become the focus of the kind of fanatical devotion that used to be focused on a single person. So the leader cult can be denied to exist when it really is just split across a few political parties in which people invest the same cult-like devotion, while believing they are being presented with a meaningful choice.
No no, see, that is the leader cult. Through propaganda promoting democracy as a political ideal, the people are convinced that they are the ones with power in the system. They have been taught that their choice between two corporate-vetted figureheads is meaningful. Every time they become fed up with the current leadership they think, well, next time we'll get it right. The leader cult is going strong, it's just that the "leader" is the belief in the power of the people to change things within the system as it stands.
Democracy may be great at certain smaller scales, but when it gets too large it's just mob rule, and mobs are easily manipulated.
I find it interesting to watch Chris Perkins DM for the Penny Arcade guys in the Dungeons & Dragons games they've played. He seems to make an effort to use a variety of accents (and voices) to keep his characters interesting. He even went with Southern-California-Surfer for one character in the 2010 live game at PAX.
PAX 2010 Live D&D Game, Part 1
PAX 2011 Live D&D Game, Part 1
PA / PVP D&D Podcasts
The bully was already dead when kicked. He hit his head accidentally on a knob.
Time to read the book again :)
Well, you're right about needing to read the book again. The bully in the bathroom (Bonzo) died because Ender head-butted him in the nose and sent splinters into his brain (presumably). The bully at the beginning of the book (Stilson) died because Ender kicked him to death, including a blow to the face. I think maybe you're remembering the scene in Battlestar Galactica where the nasty officer from the other battlestar dies in a scuffle when his head hits a bolt on the wall.
Oops, meant to include link. Perverting the course of justice
Since I hadn't heard of that charge, I decided to look it up. Apparently that's an English, Canadian and Irish law, so it wouldn't apply in the US. It's also apparently common law and US courts operate under statutory jurisdiction, as I understand it (which is not well).
Is there a legal relationship between vulnerability and innocence? According to the article the man was never arrested or charged, and he states that he was "totally innocent". Isn't innocence an absolute state mutually exclusive with the absolute state of guilt? If the police have a duty to protect the innocent, aren't the adult and child equally deserving of that protection? I'm honestly asking here.
It's common sense for the police to treat the man as if he's lying. If the police assume he's telling the truth they risk putting a child in danger (and failing in their duty to protect the innocent) but if they assume he's lying then they can take measures.
A child is not "more innocent" than the man in question. They are no less obligated to protect him (following your reasoning).
David Icke - Essential Knowledge For A Wall Street Protestor
Particularly starting at 18:00 regarding the centralization of power. Worth watching the whole thing.
So... program the machines to "feel remorse". That one should be easy...
Yikes. Seriously?
In that case I eagerly look forward to the machines telling us "The only winning move is not to play."
Sorry, I'm not really being fair here. Your original point was about machines vs. humans making mistakes and killing the wrong people, whereas I'm arguing against killing any people.
What difference does it make whether it's a human or some artificial pseudo-intelligence that makes the mistakes?
Remorse?
All power comes from the barrel of a gun.
Really? All power? If that were true there could be no martyrs. History has shown time and time again that it only takes one person looking beyond their own fear of death, holding some higher ideal, to set an example for countless others. Just one to stand and say that there is something more important, more powerful than the individual life of this body, something your guns can never threaten.
The overwhelming majority on this planet live in peace with their neighbors, trusting them inherently. It is only the result of a constant barrage of divisiveness that they are taught to fear their fellow man and allow these atrocities to be committed.
You have so thoroughly misunderstood both liberty and power. I recommend meditation.
The government isn't AT&T, it doesn't get to impose bullshit laws unless the public good outweighs individual liberty.
You must be new here.
Can't we be both?
It's easier to teach kids to memorize than to understand.
This is the only thing you wrote that I disagree with. Kids naturally want to learn, and by that I mean understand and develop critical thinking abilities. It's required for growth and beneficial to develop these abilities. It's hard to teach kids to memorize things that don't help them understand the world around them. It takes years of indoctrination and enforced blind obedience to authority to get kids to perform rote memorization.
I generally agree with everything else you said.
No, even the summary is clear that the TV viewing is correlated with the future development of asthma. These kids didn't necessarily have asthma the entire time they were sitting in front of the TV.
The summary refers to the "association between increased duration of reported TV viewing in early childhood and the development of asthma by 11.5 years of age in children with no symptoms of asthma in early childhood" (emphasis mine)
As you say providing Nintendo makes money on the device itself then they've really got nothing to complain about
Nintendo are not the only ones who make software for their systems. Third-party developers depend on sales of their software. It hardly matters to them whether Nintendo makes a profit on the hardware or not.
it's not like they even seemed to try hard to prevent piracy
Nintendo stuck with cartridges a generation longer than anyone else and used a non-standard format for their first disc-based system. Just because they don't take the same approach as other manufacturers doesn't mean they're not trying to prevent piracy.
I don't really disagree with anything you said, but I'm still amazed that this is rated "5, Insightful" when you got the basic phrasing backwards.
It's "Innocent until proven guilty" not "Guilty until proven innocent". It may seem like a minor quibble, but when that phrase is all most people will remember, it's important to get it right.
What are CPAN-driven upgrades?
The way you describe it, it sounds like CPAN was using some sort of push technology to force-feed you upgrades. If the program was working, and the company was just trying to "keep it working" then why the upgrades? Or could they not get it installed and working in the first place because of something on CPAN?
I'm honestly curious. I haven't used perl or CPAN in years but if memory serves, installing the latest and greatest modules all the time has always been a recipe for disaster.
thepiratelibrary.org
But don't go forgetting that learning can be both good and bad.
In the context of this article I would say that conditioning, being subconscious, can be both good and bad, whereas learning is conscious and generally good.
This doesn't account for "learning" things that are not true, which might be better termed misinformation or indoctrination.
There are literally dozens of us.