And how long are we supposed to wait for Russia, NK, Iran, or other similar countries to become more open?
As long as it takes. What is the alternative? War?
As bad as they are, Russia, NK, and Iran are indeed becoming more open. A generation ago, all three were worse, at least for their own people.
The world seems to assume that the US is powerless to stop other countries from conducting cyber attacks on the US.
We are far from powerless, but our responses should be intelligent, proportionate, and carefully targeted. The main focus should be on making our own systems less vulnerable, rather than attacking others.
Nobody said there was. Something doesn't have be intelligent to having a reason for happening. If you drop a rock, it will fall. Reason: gravity. That doesn't mean rocks are smart. Polar bears evolved thick fur. Reason: The arctic is cold. That doesn't mean bears are smart either.
it's all random.
Nonsense. Mutations are random. Evolution (the survival of those mutations) is not.
I'm surprised that other responses to your comment were so negative and so hostile.
Two of the responses were hostile, and were most likely written by the same AC. I don't think his comments were directed at anything I said, but rather at me personally. I seem to have attracted my own private little AC troll who follows me from discussion to discussion to fling insults, like "Trump-supporting-Nazi" (I didn't vote for Trump) and "treasonous faggot" (I am heterosexual). I actually find the attention to be quite flattering.
Random mutations happen, some stick around, and a new equilibrium is established.
Toxins require energy to produce, and often are stressful for the plant, since they are... toxic. So the genes for them aren't going to "stick around" unless they provide some countervailing benefit. If they are tasteless, they will not prevent consumption by herbivores, and will have no adaptive benefit.
It is possible that the toxin was directed at a different predator, such as insects, and just killed the dinosaurs as collateral damage. But that is just conjecture. There is no evidence that such toxins existed.
Part of me wants to cheer and the other part says things like this aren't helping.
The second part of you is correct. These actions are counter-productive. Russia and Iran both have closed paranoid cultures that play up their victimhood at the hands of the West. But that belief is not monolithic, and there are factions in both countries that want more openness, tolerance, and trust in the international system. These vigilante actions weaken these people while strengthening the paranoid hardliners.
In fact, these actions play so smoothly into the hands of the hardliners, that we shouldn't dismiss the possibility that it is a false flag operation.
Indeed. The paper is published by a psychologist, who is trying to psychoanalyse dinosaurs that lived 70 million years ago, when there is little evidence that psychoanalysis even works on living humans.
TFA contains some serious scientific illiteracy: 1. Dinosaurs are not "a species". 2. Crocodiles did not "descend from dinosaurs" 3. Plants would have no reason to evolve tasteless toxins, and there is no evidence whatsoever that they did.
Also, dinosaurs didn't go extinct. Some species died out, but other species survived. I have four small dinosaurs in my backyard, and they are very much alive. I keep them in my chicken coop, and their eggs are delicious. Much better than store-bought dinosaur eggs.
Many people sleep deeply and would not be woken by a siren. Even more so if they are both sleeping and drunk. SDCs currently have a human behind the wheel for safety during development. When they are actually deployed (supposedly next year in Phoenix) there will be no driver. Getting rid of the driver is the whole point. Compared to all the other things that SDCs have to do, detecting a blue flashing light and pulling over is trivial.
You last sentence basically underlines the problem with your thought model, which assumes guilt.
They were convicted in a court of law, so at this point a presumption of guilt is justified. If new evidence has come to light, and there is good reason to believe they are innocent, then they should sue under existing libel laws rather than a "right to be forgotten".
They shouldn't have it hang over them for the rest of their lives.
If we are going give up the principle of free speech and censor the truth for their benefit, then we will soon find plenty of other excuses for censorship as well.
Their "right" to force others to erase their past should not trump the right of prospective employers to know the truth that they were once embezzlers. "Serving their time" doesn't always change their character.
TFA is a mishmash of BLS statistics about the broader economy, and survey data from Glassdoor which skews toward tech.
The 2.6% figure is for the entire economy. H1Bs affect tech, but are negligible for the economy as a whole, so that is NOT the main reason for slow wage growth. Most likely reason is that labor availability is a lot more flexible than the official unemployment numbers predict, because there are a lot of long term unemployed being pulled back into the workforce.
At a higher level, strategy should influence whether you fight the war in the first place. For instance, if you have two enemies, your strategy could be to provoke them into attacking each other while you sell arms to both sides.
Can these questions be answered in the affirmative for any advanced weapons system?
Yes. Mutual restrictions on weapons work when the weapons are big, or require lots of infrastructure, and are easy to monitor.
There have been two reasonably successful examples:
1. Nukes. 2. Battleships
Battleships were restricted in the Washington Naval Treaty. There was some cheating, but it mostly worked pretty well. But not well enough to prevent WW2.
What is the point to an autopilot if I have to be fully attentive and ready to take over?
1. Safety. Despite the alarmism in TFA, you are safer using Autopilot than driving yourself. 2. This is a bridge technology. Tesla has said that their current cars have all the hardware for full self-driving, which will eventually be available with just a software upgrade. Progress requires guinea pigs.
Slashdot Mirror
If cayenne was a deadly poison, mammals would avoid it and the dinosaurs would die.
If cayenne was poisonous, there would be intense pressure on dinosaurs/birds to evolve the ability to avoid it, either through taste or otherwise.
But cayenne is not poisonous, and it evolved to taste bad to mammals because birds (flying dinosaurs) are better at distributing seeds.
And how long are we supposed to wait for Russia, NK, Iran, or other similar countries to become more open?
As long as it takes. What is the alternative? War?
As bad as they are, Russia, NK, and Iran are indeed becoming more open. A generation ago, all three were worse, at least for their own people.
The world seems to assume that the US is powerless to stop other countries from conducting cyber attacks on the US.
We are far from powerless, but our responses should be intelligent, proportionate, and carefully targeted. The main focus should be on making our own systems less vulnerable, rather than attacking others.
There is no intelligence directing evolution
Nobody said there was. Something doesn't have be intelligent to having a reason for happening. If you drop a rock, it will fall. Reason: gravity. That doesn't mean rocks are smart. Polar bears evolved thick fur. Reason: The arctic is cold. That doesn't mean bears are smart either.
it's all random.
Nonsense. Mutations are random. Evolution (the survival of those mutations) is not.
I'm surprised that other responses to your comment were so negative and so hostile.
Two of the responses were hostile, and were most likely written by the same AC. I don't think his comments were directed at anything I said, but rather at me personally. I seem to have attracted my own private little AC troll who follows me from discussion to discussion to fling insults, like "Trump-supporting-Nazi" (I didn't vote for Trump) and "treasonous faggot" (I am heterosexual). I actually find the attention to be quite flattering.
Random mutations happen, some stick around, and a new equilibrium is established.
Toxins require energy to produce, and often are stressful for the plant, since they are ... toxic. So the genes for them aren't going to "stick around" unless they provide some countervailing benefit. If they are tasteless, they will not prevent consumption by herbivores, and will have no adaptive benefit.
It is possible that the toxin was directed at a different predator, such as insects, and just killed the dinosaurs as collateral damage. But that is just conjecture. There is no evidence that such toxins existed.
Government ordered cyber offensives designed to change the leadership of a country are an act of war.
Espionage and covert activities are a normal part of government relations. Saying Russian ads on Facebook are an "act of war" is absurd.
Acts of war cannot be ignored.
Why not?
That alone is a reason Trump should be impeached, since he is not doing his damn job.
Declaring war is a congressional responsibility.
If anyone can point to a real plan to stop this shit from happening again, or even serious progress...?
Here's my plan: Improve education in America so we have fewer people stupid enough to believe nonsense posted on Facebook.
Part of me wants to cheer and the other part says things like this aren't helping.
The second part of you is correct. These actions are counter-productive. Russia and Iran both have closed paranoid cultures that play up their victimhood at the hands of the West. But that belief is not monolithic, and there are factions in both countries that want more openness, tolerance, and trust in the international system. These vigilante actions weaken these people while strengthening the paranoid hardliners.
In fact, these actions play so smoothly into the hands of the hardliners, that we shouldn't dismiss the possibility that it is a false flag operation.
WOW! Someone made up more stupid RANDOM TRASH
Indeed. The paper is published by a psychologist, who is trying to psychoanalyse dinosaurs that lived 70 million years ago, when there is little evidence that psychoanalysis even works on living humans.
TFA contains some serious scientific illiteracy:
1. Dinosaurs are not "a species".
2. Crocodiles did not "descend from dinosaurs"
3. Plants would have no reason to evolve tasteless toxins, and there is no evidence whatsoever that they did.
Also, dinosaurs didn't go extinct. Some species died out, but other species survived. I have four small dinosaurs in my backyard, and they are very much alive. I keep them in my chicken coop, and their eggs are delicious. Much better than store-bought dinosaur eggs.
sending them places on their own would be useful.
Sure, but they are useful even without that feature.
A driverless car that requires a driver doesn't seem very useful to me.
Would a horseless carriage be useful if it required a horse?
Sleeping people are easily woken up by a siren
Many people sleep deeply and would not be woken by a siren. Even more so if they are both sleeping and drunk. SDCs currently have a human behind the wheel for safety during development. When they are actually deployed (supposedly next year in Phoenix) there will be no driver. Getting rid of the driver is the whole point. Compared to all the other things that SDCs have to do, detecting a blue flashing light and pulling over is trivial.
I imagine that people could develop a simple hack to get autonomous cars out of their way by strobing ahead of them.
Forward facing flashing blue lights are illegal in every state.
Forward facing flashing red lights (as used on ambulances) are illegal in many states.
Flashing yellow lights (as used on tow trucks) are legal in most states, but there is no legal requirement to pull over for them.
"Right to be Forgotten" should be paired with some kind of time-sealed government run vault
Golly, that is a wonderful idea, and I can't imagine how it could possibly be abused.
in the past would have been allowed to try to rebuild their lives and become productive members of society.
In the past they would have lived in a small village where everyone knows everyone and everything, and nothing is ever forgotten.
You last sentence basically underlines the problem with your thought model, which assumes guilt.
They were convicted in a court of law, so at this point a presumption of guilt is justified. If new evidence has come to light, and there is good reason to believe they are innocent, then they should sue under existing libel laws rather than a "right to be forgotten".
You seem to be confused. In Europe, they only pretend to give you free speech, but in reality, it doesn't exist.
Freedom of expression is a human right. Governments may stop you from exercising that right, but it is still an intrinsic right of every human.
Your freedom of expression doesn't include limitless monetizing of the information you possess.
Yes it does, Freedom of the press is not freedom for only non-profit publishers and unpaid journalists.
It should never be illegal to speak or publish the truth.
They shouldn't have it hang over them for the rest of their lives.
If we are going give up the principle of free speech and censor the truth for their benefit, then we will soon find plenty of other excuses for censorship as well.
Their "right" to force others to erase their past should not trump the right of prospective employers to know the truth that they were once embezzlers. "Serving their time" doesn't always change their character.
The report is not about IT wages specifically
TFA is a mishmash of BLS statistics about the broader economy, and survey data from Glassdoor which skews toward tech.
The 2.6% figure is for the entire economy. H1Bs affect tech, but are negligible for the economy as a whole, so that is NOT the main reason for slow wage growth. Most likely reason is that labor availability is a lot more flexible than the official unemployment numbers predict, because there are a lot of long term unemployed being pulled back into the workforce.
At a higher level, strategy should influence whether you fight the war in the first place. For instance, if you have two enemies, your strategy could be to provoke them into attacking each other while you sell arms to both sides.
not everyone working for him is also an idiot.
Most of them are, and with the recent personnel turnover, the level of incompetence is clearly increasing.
Mainly by being too incompetent to change too much the society Obama left him.
If he is getting good results, then maybe you should view his incompetence as a positive attribute.
Indeed, who could have predicted there would be a worse president than Bush Jr?
Stupid is as stupid does.
Trump says stupid things.
Dubya DID stupid things.
I think the latter is worse.
Under Trump, the economy is booming.
Under Dubya, we squandered trillions on stupid counter-productive wars, and the economy imploded.
Trump has plenty of potential to be a terrible president, but objectively he is doing okay so far.
Can these questions be answered in the affirmative for any advanced weapons system?
Yes. Mutual restrictions on weapons work when the weapons are big, or require lots of infrastructure, and are easy to monitor.
There have been two reasonably successful examples:
1. Nukes.
2. Battleships
Battleships were restricted in the Washington Naval Treaty. There was some cheating, but it mostly worked pretty well. But not well enough to prevent WW2.
What is the point to an autopilot if I have to be fully attentive and ready to take over?
1. Safety. Despite the alarmism in TFA, you are safer using Autopilot than driving yourself.
2. This is a bridge technology. Tesla has said that their current cars have all the hardware for full self-driving, which will eventually be available with just a software upgrade. Progress requires guinea pigs.
I doubt they want to fuck around with insider trading charges.
That is why the CEO doesn't short the stock himself. He has his brother-in-law do it.