It's too risky to not ALWAYS be looking at worst-case scenarios. For our very survival, we need to assume things are our fault and we must be willing to change, even if it may not be our fault.
Books "just work" - and if you lose it, you only have the cost of a paperback. Guess you've never mis-placed your $160 copy of Ashcroft and Mermin, have you?
Please please please PLEASE bring the unwashed masses electronic paper. Thousands of pages, hundreds of hours of power. Please! Break the cartel of book publishers that strangle poor college students' wallets. Give them an e-reader and downloads of their texts for free/cheap. Allow universities site licenses for their texts, and give outgoing students the option to buy their copy. You are more powerful than Harry Potter!
And do it quickly, before Sony writes a textbook destroying rootkit.
Similar to how you are doing, right now, avoiding the idea that there is no one logical way of reasoning!
Please do not presume to tell me what I am or am not doing, especially when you are so far off the mark. For example, I am arguing/converting/convincing/etc. no one, as you seem to think. At no point did I say anything beyond the fact that these people do not understand the scientific method and presented an explanation thereof.
My challenge is not to figure out how to convert them, because it is not my position or responsibility to alter people's perceptions of the world.
As far as religion depending on logic and not reason; it is obvious that, too often, they depend on neither. If the catholic church had logical beliefs, why hide them from the lay by preaching in a language they did not speak (latin). Now that is one specific example, another would be buddhism. And there you are on to something, although I consider buddhism to be equal parts religion and philosophy.
The truth of the matter is that they will not think I'm a fool because I told them they were illogical, but because I failed to get on my knees and say 'Hail Mary' 200 times or that i failed to travel to some particular city in the desert, or that i didn't light some candles and ate the wrong kind of animal.
Also, your link doesn't work. But I'm not going to argue semantics, religion is OBVIOUSLY unreasonable. If one could formulate a self-consistent logic behind a particular religion, and not find contradition(s), then why have faith?
Reason: The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic
A theory is just a testable explination [sic] or model for explaining observed phenomena. A hypothesis would be when you have an idea for a relation between observed phenomena, but only that there's a relation, not a way to test it. When you come up with ways to falsify it, it becomes a theory.
What you have described as a theory is a hypothesis; what you have described as a hypothesis is non-science. A hypothesis is testable/refutable, a successfully tested hypothesis can become a theory.
At no point did I say that theory = proof. I am unable to prove that I exist, for example.
The greatest proof that these people have already succeeded in derailing our educational system is the very use of the phrase "just a theory."
They show a complete lack of understanding of the scientific method. What they should be saying is "it's just a hypothesis." Unlike creationism, however, theories have overwhelming evidence in their favor and little or no evidence against them. I consider global warming to be a theory; what is more of a hypothesis is if humans are responsible for it, though I also consider this to be the case.
All of this is immediately rejected by them, of course, because of the failure to realize that truth is independent of one's belief in it. This is the reason why science cures disease, increases food production, and improves our lives; religion has accomplished nothing in comparison.
Religion doesn't teach logic, it teaches anti-logic, and these well-indoctrinated fools are thus unable to follow the above arguments. More's the pity, truly.
There is a term for what is happening in the US, and that term is Fascism
The rise of the "religious" right, the disenfranchisement of the poor, voter fraud, blatant cronyism, federal educational and scientific funding cuts, no-bid contracts for the oil and defense industry....
I mean, the list goes on and on. We are in a pre-fascist or proto-fascist state, end of story. When will the ACLU be labeled a "terrorist organization"?
It's stupid because there already is a word for that meaning, occlude. All this can do is create confusion and obfuscate communication (perhaps the point).
I get to vote due to the fact that language is plastic, evolving, and not perfect. A horse gets me to where I'm going just fine, why should I bother inventing car? There's always room for improvement, including simplification. Words *do* fall into disuse.
If it makes you feel any better, I feel that onus is also a stupid word because of its redundancy.
So I usually sidestep the digg-vs-slashdot debate by stating that I believe the two sites cater to different-enough niches in the tech-news market. Digg can't kill slashdot, because it can't aim at it....
Having said that, this story has been the top dugg article at digg all god-damned day. Yes, they also successfully provided a link to the damn article as well.
/. is gonna be in serious trouble if they keep following digg, and so poorly and late. I imagine this is not the first 'digg-dupe' and i doubt it will be the last.
Digg (or any site) can't have a monopoly on cool tech links, but they are really starting to get the drop on/. more and more...
Slashdot Mirror
In [21]:len(str(2**1039-1)) Out[21]:313
Beating your kidnapper to death with his own AK-47. Glad I'm not in Iraq.
Just bust out that sonic gun!
I said looking at worst-case scenarios. Do you realize how idiotic it is to not read?
It's too risky to not ALWAYS be looking at worst-case scenarios. For our very survival, we need to assume things are our fault and we must be willing to change, even if it may not be our fault.
Dear sweet, evil-less overlords,
Please please please PLEASE bring the unwashed masses electronic paper. Thousands of pages, hundreds of hours of power. Please! Break the cartel of book publishers that strangle poor college students' wallets. Give them an e-reader and downloads of their texts for free/cheap. Allow universities site licenses for their texts, and give outgoing students the option to buy their copy. You are more powerful than Harry Potter!
And do it quickly, before Sony writes a textbook destroying rootkit.
True true. But there's nothing to rebut, since we are discussing Mr. Seven Children. (How many of them can he put through college, hmm?)
He has been taught, by his religious beliefs, to close his mind and that is, by definition, incompatible with the scientific method.
Which is fine, it's his life. But other parents have kids in that school as well, and they might want their children to have a real education.
That's all I've been trying to say. I think it is reasonable ( :-) ) and correct.
My challenge is not to figure out how to convert them, because it is not my position or responsibility to alter people's perceptions of the world.
As far as religion depending on logic and not reason; it is obvious that, too often, they depend on neither. If the catholic church had logical beliefs, why hide them from the lay by preaching in a language they did not speak (latin). Now that is one specific example, another would be buddhism. And there you are on to something, although I consider buddhism to be equal parts religion and philosophy.
The truth of the matter is that they will not think I'm a fool because I told them they were illogical, but because I failed to get on my knees and say 'Hail Mary' 200 times or that i failed to travel to some particular city in the desert, or that i didn't light some candles and ate the wrong kind of animal.
Also, your link doesn't work. But I'm not going to argue semantics, religion is OBVIOUSLY unreasonable. If one could formulate a self-consistent logic behind a particular religion, and not find contradition(s), then why have faith?
Reason: The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic
What you have described as a theory is a hypothesis; what you have described as a hypothesis is non-science. A hypothesis is testable/refutable, a successfully tested hypothesis can become a theory.
At no point did I say that theory = proof. I am unable to prove that I exist, for example.
The greatest proof that these people have already succeeded in derailing our educational system is the very use of the phrase "just a theory."
They show a complete lack of understanding of the scientific method. What they should be saying is "it's just a hypothesis." Unlike creationism, however, theories have overwhelming evidence in their favor and little or no evidence against them. I consider global warming to be a theory; what is more of a hypothesis is if humans are responsible for it, though I also consider this to be the case.
All of this is immediately rejected by them, of course, because of the failure to realize that truth is independent of one's belief in it. This is the reason why science cures disease, increases food production, and improves our lives; religion has accomplished nothing in comparison.
Religion doesn't teach logic, it teaches anti-logic, and these well-indoctrinated fools are thus unable to follow the above arguments. More's the pity, truly.
Maybe they'll leverage such advanced technology to offer CMYK....
Goddamn! Get a job, or a loan, and get the fuck out of your momma's basement
Fuck, when I read the title I thought someone was working on another internet dedicated to gaming....
I too want to know, just when will USPTO/RIAA/MPAA address the problems NASA just can't get a grasp on. Someone must back my lunar trademarks!
Seriously, headaches, carpal tunnel, eye strain, etc. aren't worth it for serious work, physical damage is completely unacceptable for play.
Play a different game.
The rise of the "religious" right, the disenfranchisement of the poor, voter fraud, blatant cronyism, federal educational and scientific funding cuts, no-bid contracts for the oil and defense industry....
I mean, the list goes on and on. We are in a pre-fascist or proto-fascist state, end of story. When will the ACLU be labeled a "terrorist organization"?
Man, I need to get laid! Slashdot: you aren't helping
Honestly, who doesn't call it DoD? Even scientists do!
I get to vote due to the fact that language is plastic, evolving, and not perfect. A horse gets me to where I'm going just fine, why should I bother inventing car? There's always room for improvement, including simplification. Words *do* fall into disuse.
If it makes you feel any better, I feel that onus is also a stupid word because of its redundancy.
Occultation
Might still be the stupidest word I've encountered in a LONG time!
Does that really say "occulted"? What the eff? Do they mean "occluded"? Seriously, are the editors all 14 years old?
What can we say instead of RTFA??? The end is nigh (for our attention spans at least).
Having said that, this story has been the top dugg article at digg all god-damned day. Yes, they also successfully provided a link to the damn article as well.
Digg (or any site) can't have a monopoly on cool tech links, but they are really starting to get the drop on /. more and more...