I haven't read the article, but I've heard the argument before that quantum-level randomness somehow translates to human free will and I just don't understand that. If anything, I think it should translate to random behavior. Unless those quantum particles in human brains don't actually behave randomly, but are controlled by our "will". And how would that happen?
What is guiding us to believe we have free will? Its a chemical process in our brain that we don't understand that makes us feel better. It took me months or years to get over the fact that there was no free will, but its OK by me now.
I don't think there's a special chemical process that makes us feel that we have free will. It's just that we act according to our desires and we usually experience our desires immediately without reflecting on why we desire the things we do. So we are free to act according to our wills (To an extent. I can't take off and fly just because I will it.), we just can't control what our wills are. If our species hadn't developed a sufficiently sophisticated language, then we wouldn't be able to even reflect on whether or not free will exists. So I wouldn't go so far as to say there's a function built into our brains just to make us feel better about not having freedom of the will.
What if games were sold on a rent-to-own basis? Imagine that you could pay some nominal amount, say $5, to play a game for a week. At the end of the week, you could choose to renew (or pay the remaining cost of the game) for another week. After you had paid down the full price of the game, you would then own it outright, with no more fees or nagging.
That way, you could pay a small amount to play around with a game, and if it sucked you'd only be out a few bucks. That's basically what I do with console rentals, but with this system the rental price could be applied to the cost of the game if you liked it enough to keep it.
The entire "study" has one huge glaring problem: A PIRATED GAME DOES NOT MEAN A LOST SALE.
I would change that to read "A pirated game does not always mean a lost sale." I think there are quite a few people who would pay for games if that was the only way to get them. The fact that illicit copies are freely available dramatically reduces the motivation to purchase. At least for some people.
Lately I've been wondering why we don't just use burlap sacks for everything. They should be cheap enough, they're reusable, and I can only assume that burlap is biodegradable. Maybe there is an environmental cost in manufacturing them?
I have thought for a long time that we ought to be teaching some kind of philosophy in our public schools (I'm from the U.S.). The benefits might seem more abstract and less important when we are falling behind in science and math, but being able to analyze and construct arguments is an important skill that seems to be rare in the general poplulation. More than knowledge of any specific topic, this is what I took away from my philosophy major.
If I do a days work I get paid a days wage, I don't see why it should be that much different for Musicians.
I think part of it is risk. Generally, riskier endeavors must be accompanied by proportionally great rewards in order for people to deem them worthwhile. Spending 6 months of your life recording an album, writing a novel, or painting a picture is risky. It can be expensive, time consuming, and frustrating. What if no one buys the finished product? The potential payoff has to be pretty good and in our current system part of that payoff is copyright protection. I suppose if artists made a lot more up front then the term of copyright might be less important.
Agreed. I have cable internet because I don't have a landline at my house and don't really care to, but I mainly only use it for Slashdot, Webmail, and reading news. I enjoy the speed, but I might prefer that the pricing model was per gig, assuming that it would reduce my bill.
I think I've made this point before, but how much can you really claim to like a song if it isn't even worth a dollar to you? A bottle of Coke costs more than that.
In Japan, beer and saké vending machines are fairly common, too. There was one near my apartment that also sold whiskey. And not like a little flask, either. A big bottle of whiskey.
I haven't yet worked out whether the iPhone will be a big success or a massive flop. What I do know though is that it will only be bought by people who buy based on hype rather than featureset. So the equation comes down to how many Apple fanboys are there with buckets of cash who will buy something purely because Apple tells them to.
So I guess the revolutionary interface doesn't count as a "feature"? I saw several women and teens in line at my local Apple store - not your typical Apple fanboys. I think these people respond to the iPhone because Apple designed it for them. They didn't design it for you. Just ignore it if you don't want one, but don't accuse the people who are interested in it of being gullible simpletons. Apple has built their reputation on simple, elegant, intuitive interface design. And, whether you care about it or not, that is an important feature to a lot of people.
My post was a reply to the AC post above. I also thought it was funny that s/he was criticizing another poster's poor grammar while his/her own post was rife with errors. The boldface words and letters are my corrections.
Learn to express yourself using your own words, instead of the vocabulary of others. Listen to intelligent people. People might not automatically believe that you are a monosyllabic cretin if you display a vocabulary greater than a newborn. People want to listen to you, but are going to have trouble taking you seriously when you lack basic English language skills. And your issues are not ESL, as your grammar problems appear to be caused by a lack of culture rather than a lack of opportunity.
When you disagree with someone, look for specific points that can attacked. Attack them in your own words, that precisely reflect your disagreement. If you are not able to do that, practice. If you are in school, which I hope you are, do extra work in your English class so you learn persuasive writing.
As it is, the only people who care about your regurgitation of words that others have fed you are those who are as fanatical as you are, which means you accomplish nothing. Your goal should be persuasiveness, not preaching to the choir.
The thing is, the interface is a feature. It is a feature that allows one to save time, to spend less time with the manual, and to access use of all the other features.
I guess you do think that physics can completely describe the universe. But on what grounds are you claiming that this universe is [solely] a physical one? (Note that to approach the question of whether or not the universe is physical from the point of view of physics instantly involves you in question-begging again...)
This is an meaningless question, though. There is no evidence, even in theory, that could settle it. Either the universe is purely physical or it isn't, but since we are only able to experience physical things, then we could never acquire any evidence that the universe was not purely physical. This is a problem for a lot of traditional philosophical arguments (the existence of god, free will, etc.). I think I first encountered this in A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic.
Without being able to come up with an analytical answer, I do think it makes sense to go with the evidence in the case of free will, which I believe suggests that human actions are causally necessitated. And determinism, to me, seems a whole lot simpler than speculating an entire realm of metaphysical activity. Reasonable people do differ on this.
The point is that determinism is a tricky business, and it can't be dismissed or proved as casually as you would have us believe.
I would go so far as to say that determinism can't be dismissed or proved, period. It can be treated as a theory, like the theory of gravitational attraction, or evolution, which may be useful in explaining observed phenomena.
I don't see much innovation on gameplay itself...at least not that much.
Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, DDR, Brain Age, Taiko no Tatsujin, Electroplankton, the Wii... These might not all be your cup of tea, but I think we're beginning to see a lot of innovation. If the market has stagnated, it is because developers have been targeting one demographic to the exclusion of all others. With that market nearly saturated, we're seeing some very interesting games again.
I don't know. I have to question how much you really like a song if it isn't even worth $1.30 to you. That's barely more than a bottle of soda, which you only get to drink once.
The irony of being a grammar Nazi by pointing out that the statement "People like you make Nazi's look good." is incorrect.
And that is a sentence fragment. I understand that you mean to lead into it with your subject line, but still. Unless you mean that the irony itself is incorrect.
As long as the stupidest, most ignorant, least knowledgeable and most impressionable among us outweigh the rest and are allowed an equal weight in voting and directing this country, we will never be able to change anything (or preserve the things which are inherently important).
Because everyone knows that grassroots political action has never *cough* desegregation *cough* women's suffrage *cough* changed anything.
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't read the article, but I've heard the argument before that quantum-level randomness somehow translates to human free will and I just don't understand that. If anything, I think it should translate to random behavior. Unless those quantum particles in human brains don't actually behave randomly, but are controlled by our "will". And how would that happen?
What is guiding us to believe we have free will? Its a chemical process in our brain that we don't understand that makes us feel better. It took me months or years to get over the fact that there was no free will, but its OK by me now.
I don't think there's a special chemical process that makes us feel that we have free will. It's just that we act according to our desires and we usually experience our desires immediately without reflecting on why we desire the things we do. So we are free to act according to our wills (To an extent. I can't take off and fly just because I will it.), we just can't control what our wills are. If our species hadn't developed a sufficiently sophisticated language, then we wouldn't be able to even reflect on whether or not free will exists. So I wouldn't go so far as to say there's a function built into our brains just to make us feel better about not having freedom of the will.
What if games were sold on a rent-to-own basis? Imagine that you could pay some nominal amount, say $5, to play a game for a week. At the end of the week, you could choose to renew (or pay the remaining cost of the game) for another week. After you had paid down the full price of the game, you would then own it outright, with no more fees or nagging. That way, you could pay a small amount to play around with a game, and if it sucked you'd only be out a few bucks. That's basically what I do with console rentals, but with this system the rental price could be applied to the cost of the game if you liked it enough to keep it.
The entire "study" has one huge glaring problem: A PIRATED GAME DOES NOT MEAN A LOST SALE.
I would change that to read "A pirated game does not always mean a lost sale." I think there are quite a few people who would pay for games if that was the only way to get them. The fact that illicit copies are freely available dramatically reduces the motivation to purchase. At least for some people.
Lately I've been wondering why we don't just use burlap sacks for everything. They should be cheap enough, they're reusable, and I can only assume that burlap is biodegradable. Maybe there is an environmental cost in manufacturing them?
Exactly. The man is a latter-day Willy Wonka. He has an artistic temperament, mad clout, and a lot of money and engineers to steer as he sees fit.
I have thought for a long time that we ought to be teaching some kind of philosophy in our public schools (I'm from the U.S.). The benefits might seem more abstract and less important when we are falling behind in science and math, but being able to analyze and construct arguments is an important skill that seems to be rare in the general poplulation. More than knowledge of any specific topic, this is what I took away from my philosophy major.
I think part of it is risk. Generally, riskier endeavors must be accompanied by proportionally great rewards in order for people to deem them worthwhile. Spending 6 months of your life recording an album, writing a novel, or painting a picture is risky. It can be expensive, time consuming, and frustrating. What if no one buys the finished product? The potential payoff has to be pretty good and in our current system part of that payoff is copyright protection. I suppose if artists made a lot more up front then the term of copyright might be less important.
Agreed. I have cable internet because I don't have a landline at my house and don't really care to, but I mainly only use it for Slashdot, Webmail, and reading news. I enjoy the speed, but I might prefer that the pricing model was per gig, assuming that it would reduce my bill.
Interestingly, both of his parents were Jewish.
$229 != $300
I think I've made this point before, but how much can you really claim to like a song if it isn't even worth a dollar to you? A bottle of Coke costs more than that.
In Japan, beer and saké vending machines are fairly common, too. There was one near my apartment that also sold whiskey. And not like a little flask, either. A big bottle of whiskey.
My post was a reply to the AC post above. I also thought it was funny that s/he was criticizing another poster's poor grammar while his/her own post was rife with errors. The boldface words and letters are my corrections.
Learn to express yourself using your own words, instead of the vocabulary of others. Listen to intelligent people. People might not automatically believe that you are a monosyllabic cretin if you display a vocabulary greater than a newborn. People want to listen to you, but are going to have trouble taking you seriously when you lack basic English language skills. And your issues are not ESL, as your grammar problems appear to be caused by a lack of culture rather than a lack of opportunity.
When you disagree with someone, look for specific points that can attacked. Attack them in your own words, that precisely reflect your disagreement. If you are not able to do that, practice. If you are in school, which I hope you are, do extra work in your English class so you learn persuasive writing.
As it is, the only people who care about your regurgitation of words that others have fed you are those who are as fanatical as you are, which means you accomplish nothing. Your goal should be persuasiveness, not preaching to the choir.
The thing is, the interface is a feature. It is a feature that allows one to save time, to spend less time with the manual, and to access use of all the other features.
This is an meaningless question, though. There is no evidence, even in theory,
that could settle it. Either the universe is purely physical or it isn't, but since we are only able to experience physical things, then we could never acquire any evidence that the universe was not purely physical. This is a problem for a lot of traditional philosophical arguments (the existence of god, free will, etc.). I think I first encountered this in A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic.
Without being able to come up with an analytical answer, I do think it makes sense to go with the evidence in the case of free will, which I believe suggests that human actions are causally necessitated. And determinism, to me, seems a whole lot simpler than speculating an entire realm of metaphysical activity. Reasonable people do differ on this.
I would go so far as to say that determinism can't be dismissed or proved, period. It can be treated as a theory, like the theory of gravitational attraction, or evolution, which may be useful in explaining observed phenomena.
Regarding the new unified theme: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/04/12/mac-os-x-theme -change-in-leopard-seed-9a410/
Regarding resolution independence:
o lution_independence_in_leopard_confirmed_by_apple. html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/10/24/res
Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, DDR, Brain Age, Taiko no Tatsujin, Electroplankton, the Wii... These might not all be your cup of tea, but I think we're beginning to see a lot of innovation. If the market has stagnated, it is because developers have been targeting one demographic to the exclusion of all others. With that market nearly saturated, we're seeing some very interesting games again.
I don't know. I have to question how much you really like a song if it isn't even worth $1.30 to you. That's barely more than a bottle of soda, which you only get to drink once.
And that is a sentence fragment. I understand that you mean to lead into it with your subject line, but still. Unless you mean that the irony itself is incorrect.
I'm just saying, is all.
Because everyone knows that grassroots political action has never *cough* desegregation *cough* women's suffrage *cough* changed anything.
Pardon me.De gustibus non est disputandum.