It sounds counter-intuitive, I know. But think of all the resentment, hatred, and anger that result from that knowledge. How many Irishmen can fire off a litany of injustices that the English have visited on them? How many Palestinians, Israelis, Tutsi, Armenians, etc.--whose wars go on, and on, and on because of resentments that never die, never get forgotten? Think of all that we could gain in exchange for a little ignorance, a little self-delusion.
Well, that's the classic argument. But I would contend the opposite. Our knowledge of our nasty history hasn't stopped us from repeating ourselves again and again, after all. Perhaps we would be better served by making the very *concept* of genocide or war simply inconceivable. I think we would be a lot better off with "But we've never done this, we've always been better than that!" than with "We'll, here we go yet again."
I want to live in a world where *everything* that makes me uncomfortable or might cause pain or conflict is excised from history. After all, if it never happened, no one can be pissed off about it--and we can all get along fine. No more racial resentment, no more ethnic conflicts, no more religious wars. We get along, we always got along, end of story. Israel and Palestine always co-existed in peace beside each other. Europeans, Africans, and Asians discovered the New world together and have lived here peacefully together ever since. Every religion is the religion of peace and always has been. "Genocide" is just an abstract concept used by fiction writers, not something that has ever happened in the real world.
Laugh if you want, but wouldn't that make for a much better world? Why focus on the pain and resentment when we can reinvent ourselves as something much better?
Sure it all involves a good dose of self-delusion, but a lot of people have improved their lives greatly with a little self-delusion. After all, no one starts down their path to self-improvement by admitting to themselves that they are an unexceptional, not particularly good or worthwhile person. They start by telling themselves "I am a good person, I can do better" even if they know deep-down that they're lying to themselves. And, quite often, the lie actually BECOMES the reality. Convincing yourself that you're a better person can actually MAKE you better. Why not apply the same principle to society as a whole?
I'm not being a troll here, I'm asking a serious question. Wouldn't we be better off for it?
But, normally, Hollywood bimbos like Jenny McCarthy and himbos like Charlie Sheen are so reliable! If you're pretty or handsome, surely you must know what you're talking about, right?
I wouldn't be nearly as worried about criticism as I would be about the possibility of getting sued by someone saying I stole some idea he posted on the forum. When I used to work in LA, staff screenwriters were officially discouraged from reading show and movie forums for that very reason (there were a few notable exceptions, but most writers/directors/producers avoided them like the plague, or at least were very careful to keep their perusing hidden).
Comparing some $2 iPhone/iPad game and a full-blown Mac game like The Sims 3 or World or Warcraft, as if there is parity just because they're both "games," is fucking retarded. These are "apps" not "applications."
Some young hotshit programmer designing a great little mini-game isn't going to drive down the price of Call of Duty 4, for Christ's sake.
Some start-up's simple photo editor isn't going to drive down the price of Photoshop (anymore than GIMP or any of a hundred other free photo editors did on the PC).
Serious development still costs money. And the more complex your application, the more you generally have to charge for it. What sells on the iPhone/iPad for a few bucks will probably sell for a few bucks on the Mac too. But no one is going to look at these little apps as replacements for more serious software (the kind that costs $20+). Apple isn't going to look at some iVideoEdit app and say "Well, we'd better lower the price of Final Cut Pro down to $5."
To paraphrase Matt Damon in Syriana, most of the Western world is indulging Saudi Arabia's backwards religion and thuggish government only because we know that, the day after the fuckers run out of oil, they'll be thrown right back out into the desert and right back into the "Hillbillies we don't give a shit about" file.
I *loved* ME1 (played it through three times to get the insanity achievement and try out different characters). I played through ME2 once and have absolutely no desire to do it again. The thought of scanning another planet or dealing with that annoying ammo system again would be enough to discourage me. Add in the "on rails" nature of ME2 (felt more like an annoying JPRG than a western RPG), and there's just no point in it. Would playing as a Renegade vs. Paragon really make that much of a difference, even close to enough to justify putting up with pain-in-the-ass stuff like those planet scans? Doubtful.
It's not a question of *want*. Apple would *LOVE* to replace MS in the workplace. Hell, they would love to replace every company everywhere. It's a question of whether they think that's the most profitable strategy. And make no mistake about it, Apple chases the bottom line (i.e. profit) just like everyone else--despite what some cultish followers may think. They day may come when they decide that they're strong enough to overthrow MS on the OS and Office Suite side. But for right now they're happy on having a strengthening monopoly on the media-player/phone/pad side of things.
Then it depends on whether it's the FBI that's stopping you or the locals. I'm pretty sure the feds don't make those keys available to every state trooper and deputy dipshit who pulls someone over for a simple weed bust.
Contrary to recent reports in the media, BT's Content Connect service will not create a two-tier internet, but will simply offer service providers the option of differentiating their broadband offering through enhanced content delivery
I ran that through babelfish and got the translation: "Fuck you! We'll do whatever we want and you can't do a thing about it."
I'm always amazed that people worship the loving God who would send his Angel of Death to slaughter innocent babies in their cribs, just because their leader was a jerk to Moses. That's supposed to be the *good* guy?
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It sounds counter-intuitive, I know. But think of all the resentment, hatred, and anger that result from that knowledge. How many Irishmen can fire off a litany of injustices that the English have visited on them? How many Palestinians, Israelis, Tutsi, Armenians, etc.--whose wars go on, and on, and on because of resentments that never die, never get forgotten? Think of all that we could gain in exchange for a little ignorance, a little self-delusion.
And also doomed to repeat it all?
Well, that's the classic argument. But I would contend the opposite. Our knowledge of our nasty history hasn't stopped us from repeating ourselves again and again, after all. Perhaps we would be better served by making the very *concept* of genocide or war simply inconceivable. I think we would be a lot better off with "But we've never done this, we've always been better than that!" than with "We'll, here we go yet again."
I want to live in a world where *everything* that makes me uncomfortable or might cause pain or conflict is excised from history. After all, if it never happened, no one can be pissed off about it--and we can all get along fine. No more racial resentment, no more ethnic conflicts, no more religious wars. We get along, we always got along, end of story. Israel and Palestine always co-existed in peace beside each other. Europeans, Africans, and Asians discovered the New world together and have lived here peacefully together ever since. Every religion is the religion of peace and always has been. "Genocide" is just an abstract concept used by fiction writers, not something that has ever happened in the real world.
Laugh if you want, but wouldn't that make for a much better world? Why focus on the pain and resentment when we can reinvent ourselves as something much better?
Sure it all involves a good dose of self-delusion, but a lot of people have improved their lives greatly with a little self-delusion. After all, no one starts down their path to self-improvement by admitting to themselves that they are an unexceptional, not particularly good or worthwhile person. They start by telling themselves "I am a good person, I can do better" even if they know deep-down that they're lying to themselves. And, quite often, the lie actually BECOMES the reality. Convincing yourself that you're a better person can actually MAKE you better. Why not apply the same principle to society as a whole?
I'm not being a troll here, I'm asking a serious question. Wouldn't we be better off for it?
I don't want them to stop. Stupid parents not vaccinating their stupid kids can only improve the gene pool in the long term.
But, normally, Hollywood bimbos like Jenny McCarthy and himbos like Charlie Sheen are so reliable! If you're pretty or handsome, surely you must know what you're talking about, right?
I wouldn't be nearly as worried about criticism as I would be about the possibility of getting sued by someone saying I stole some idea he posted on the forum. When I used to work in LA, staff screenwriters were officially discouraged from reading show and movie forums for that very reason (there were a few notable exceptions, but most writers/directors/producers avoided them like the plague, or at least were very careful to keep their perusing hidden).
If they exist, I want them arrested immediately for aiding and abetting terrorists on September 10, 2001. Obviously, they all willfully stayed silent.
Hell, my whole trailer park is built on this revolutionary new principle.
Comparing some $2 iPhone/iPad game and a full-blown Mac game like The Sims 3 or World or Warcraft, as if there is parity just because they're both "games," is fucking retarded. These are "apps" not "applications."
Some young hotshit programmer designing a great little mini-game isn't going to drive down the price of Call of Duty 4, for Christ's sake.
Some start-up's simple photo editor isn't going to drive down the price of Photoshop (anymore than GIMP or any of a hundred other free photo editors did on the PC).
Serious development still costs money. And the more complex your application, the more you generally have to charge for it. What sells on the iPhone/iPad for a few bucks will probably sell for a few bucks on the Mac too. But no one is going to look at these little apps as replacements for more serious software (the kind that costs $20+). Apple isn't going to look at some iVideoEdit app and say "Well, we'd better lower the price of Final Cut Pro down to $5."
To paraphrase Matt Damon in Syriana, most of the Western world is indulging Saudi Arabia's backwards religion and thuggish government only because we know that, the day after the fuckers run out of oil, they'll be thrown right back out into the desert and right back into the "Hillbillies we don't give a shit about" file.
Could be worse. If you're a woman, you won't even be able to get a license in the first place.
Don't they have something more important to be working on?
Not in the last 40 years.
I *loved* ME1 (played it through three times to get the insanity achievement and try out different characters). I played through ME2 once and have absolutely no desire to do it again. The thought of scanning another planet or dealing with that annoying ammo system again would be enough to discourage me. Add in the "on rails" nature of ME2 (felt more like an annoying JPRG than a western RPG), and there's just no point in it. Would playing as a Renegade vs. Paragon really make that much of a difference, even close to enough to justify putting up with pain-in-the-ass stuff like those planet scans? Doubtful.
These posts all look like carbon copies of each other to me.
I think we need a sample of at least 1,143,358 U.S. lawyers for it to be conclusive.
It's not a question of *want*. Apple would *LOVE* to replace MS in the workplace. Hell, they would love to replace every company everywhere. It's a question of whether they think that's the most profitable strategy. And make no mistake about it, Apple chases the bottom line (i.e. profit) just like everyone else--despite what some cultish followers may think. They day may come when they decide that they're strong enough to overthrow MS on the OS and Office Suite side. But for right now they're happy on having a strengthening monopoly on the media-player/phone/pad side of things.
Don't be silly. Some services will just be a little less neutral than others.
Then it depends on whether it's the FBI that's stopping you or the locals. I'm pretty sure the feds don't make those keys available to every state trooper and deputy dipshit who pulls someone over for a simple weed bust.
I ran that through babelfish and got the translation: "Fuck you! We'll do whatever we want and you can't do a thing about it."
Muslim is a race and sex now? And no one even sent me a memo.
I think it's Eurasia now, or maybe Eastasia--one of them.
And the police truck.
Well, that certainly justifies killing a bunch of children who had nothing to do with any of that shit. Thanks for clearing that up.
I'm always amazed that people worship the loving God who would send his Angel of Death to slaughter innocent babies in their cribs, just because their leader was a jerk to Moses. That's supposed to be the *good* guy?
While, for the 40th consecutive year, Harlan Ellison continues his undisputed reign as Grand Asshole of Science Fiction.