"July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election..."
Space exploration needs worldwide cooperation over a very long term.
If I remember correctly the history of human space exploration, competition and not cooperation has always been the driving force.
If they are a space-faring species, they would have to have been able to keep enough of their GDP available for space flight for hundreds of years.
I don't know about that. Why could not a fascist, hive-minded alien society achieve the same?
Second, space flight involves high technology. This means that they have to have high technology, and are more advanced.
This comment just made me shudder. You are associating advanced technology with advanced morality, which is an extremely dangerous idea to begin with. It is not corroborated by anything in the recorded human history either. On the contrary, technologically advanced societies have more than often brutally squashed the more primitive ones.
What do you think has led to the prevalence of the "western way of life" in the modern world? No, it was not science or enlightenment, although it helped a bit. What made all the empires possible was the application of violence in a controlled, highly intense and systematic way: modern warfare.
Ok. Hope you don't mind being without a computer for an indefinite period of time.
Perfectly OK. I can always afford another one until I get the old one back.
we'd like to check your tax records for the past 7 years.
So what's new? The last time I checked our national regulations, we are required by law to retain all the receipts for all deductions we've made during the last 5 years. I've never been audited for them, though.
but everyone breaks the law sooner or later.
Indeed, and it's a good thing that people are kept on their toes so that at least some respect for law remains.
1) Refuse to cooperate: piss off the cops and possibly end up in court where the prosecutor nevertheless can't make the case. As a result, mine and society's time and money gets wasted.
2) Cooperate and show that I've got nothing incriminating on my computer. Police is happy, the prosecutor is happy and money and time gets saved.
BTW, I don't see why you're bringing up the American judicial system, as your nick would seem to identify you as a Norwegian.
The reason why European countries tend to have fewer civil liberties is because their citizens honestly believe they don't need them.
Fewer civil liberties?
Liberties must come with responsibility. I don't deem people in general responsible enough to carry loaded guns. I deem it civil responsibility to aid the police in solving the crimes. If it means that I'll let them search my apartment to eliminate me as a suspect, go ahead.
I for one have never quite understood your paranoia about the government.
Can we search that computer for kiddie porn? You have nothing to hide, right?
Uh. Yes, sure. Why not?
Have you ever been drunk? Can we take your liver so we can check?
Getting drunk is not illegal now. If it were declared illegal in the future, I'd certainly agree with such a check. Many workplaces check for drug use already.
Uh. I would not, in fact, stop the local (Finnish) police from searching my apartment if they gave me a good reason for doing it and I had nothing to hide.
You don't think there's something wrong if you can't trust your police department to be fair anymore?
Slashdot Mirror
Since there are no moral absolutes, moral poles are set by individuals.
Therefore, a universal moral compass cannot exist.
QED.
"July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election..."
Ok, so what we've got here is a disgruntled ex-employee...
Nothing to see here. Move along.
"Build your own dog wagon", "Is swap necessary?" and now this.
Isn't the whole purpose of GPL that no-one can "own" any of the code?
If I remember correctly the history of human space exploration, competition and not cooperation has always been the driving force.
If they are a space-faring species, they would have to have been able to keep enough of their GDP available for space flight for hundreds of years.
I don't know about that. Why could not a fascist, hive-minded alien society achieve the same?
Second, space flight involves high technology. This means that they have to have high technology, and are more advanced.
This comment just made me shudder. You are associating advanced technology with advanced morality, which is an extremely dangerous idea to begin with. It is not corroborated by anything in the recorded human history either. On the contrary, technologically advanced societies have more than often brutally squashed the more primitive ones.
What do you think has led to the prevalence of the "western way of life" in the modern world? No, it was not science or enlightenment, although it helped a bit. What made all the empires possible was the application of violence in a controlled, highly intense and systematic way: modern warfare.
What I don't get, though, is why the aliens seem to be so interested in the genetic material of hillbillies and crazy people...
It has always bothered me that people seem to assume that aliens must somehow be more enlightened or more civilized than humans.
Perfectly OK. I can always afford another one until I get the old one back.
we'd like to check your tax records for the past 7 years.
So what's new? The last time I checked our national regulations, we are required by law to retain all the receipts for all deductions we've made during the last 5 years. I've never been audited for them, though.
but everyone breaks the law sooner or later.
Indeed, and it's a good thing that people are kept on their toes so that at least some respect for law remains.
1) Refuse to cooperate: piss off the cops and possibly end up in court where the prosecutor nevertheless can't make the case. As a result, mine and society's time and money gets wasted.
2) Cooperate and show that I've got nothing incriminating on my computer. Police is happy, the prosecutor is happy and money and time gets saved.
BTW, I don't see why you're bringing up the American judicial system, as your nick would seem to identify you as a Norwegian.
Like the freedom of having kiddie porn on your computer? I don't want to taste such "freedom".
Fewer civil liberties?
Liberties must come with responsibility. I don't deem people in general responsible enough to carry loaded guns. I deem it civil responsibility to aid the police in solving the crimes. If it means that I'll let them search my apartment to eliminate me as a suspect, go ahead.
I for one have never quite understood your paranoia about the government.
Uh. Yes, sure. Why not?
Have you ever been drunk? Can we take your liver so we can check?
Getting drunk is not illegal now. If it were declared illegal in the future, I'd certainly agree with such a check. Many workplaces check for drug use already.
Spam could be very useful in clogging the flow of all that nasty,free information on the net - something the Chinese government would just love to do.
It's a great plan, I must admit.
You don't think there's something wrong if you can't trust your police department to be fair anymore?
If FSF has nothing to hide, why don't they just bring out the evidence SCO asks for and then countersue the hell out of them?