I definitely agree that technology has vastly amplified an individuals power over many years ago, but there is an aspect to this that many ignore. You can try all you like to suppress the desires and actions of an individual in a society, but inevitably, especially if there is a forward progression of intelligence and strength, the bell curve dictates that there will be an individual powerful/lucky/intelligent enough to break down barriers and restraints that they feel are inherently and intrinsically unjust. When that person comes along, do you want them to be angered by the constant attempts to restrain them? When they finally figure out how to supercede the system, you would probably rather that they are benevolent to it and those who supported it (i.e. most people either through their lack of resistance to it or their actual perpetuation of it) than angry at the constant and eventually futile attempts to stop them.
I think that, to a large degree, this is the reason for the sudden popularity of the fantasy genre. It usually deals with a hero/heroin who is in some way different from their society. Usually events put them in a position to either exercise their power freely or use it reform a corrupt and inefficient society. I would imagine that many individuals frustrated by society and its constant and frankly pointless attempts to make everyone "safe" through suppression and conformity, would relate to or admire the modern fantasy hero.
Especially if you live in the United States, it comes down to this: the country was founded on a frontier spirit. The egalitarian spirit that all members of society are brothers and the lack of restrictions (obviously there are some deviations that im sure others will bring up such as slavery, but for the most part that is irrelevant to this point) on everyday activities bred an amazingly productive and powerful society. Attempting to decide what activities it is "acceptable" for a citizen of the United States to participate stands contrary to the very foundation of this country and is, in the end, quite useless.
There is always a way to get around restrictions, and the more powerful the restrictions, the longer it will take, but the more violent and destructive the final overthrow of said restrictions will be. Whatever man has made, no matter how wondrous, how powerful, can be undone by man. Suppression is not the answer, it will only hamper us in the present and destroy us in the future.
To some extent this is what makes Libertarianism so popular among nerds. Nerds (or perhaps a more flattering term?) are to a large degree far more talented at a certain aspect of society and human knowledge than the vast majority of the population (this sounds elitist but come on, its true) yet they are governed and regulated by people who understand far less about their expertise and this frustrates them. Not only that, many of them have the possibility of attaining great wealth (or at least living comfortably) yet they face the prospect of giving large portions of that future wealth to the same people who frustrate them through their pointless or misguided regulations. Im sure this applies to many more categories than just "nerds". As something of a "nerd" myself, I am familiar with the "nerd" predicament, but im sure every stereotype has similar feelings. It is time my friends that we stop thinking we know how to live other people's lives better than they do. Even seemingly uneducated and unintelligent people can have brilliant commonsense ideas, and it is not our responsibility (nor is it even permissable) to presume that we should regulate their lives or anyone elses for that matter) for their own good.
You miss an essential point. You don't want meat that has been sitting out in the sun all day, thats fine. But that doesn't necessarily mean you must stop people from selling that kind of stuff. It used to be up to the consumer to comparison shop and look at what they were buying. Thanks to the something must be done syndrome, we have a wonderful government bureaucracy telling you your food is safe (but obviously can never be sure 100%, lots of stuff gets past inspections) at the expense of your and other people's tax dollars. It is not the purpose of the government to regulate all aspects of society so that you can go through life without having to worry about anything. When you make the government micromanage your life for your comfort, chances are you are forcing the same thing on people like myself who actually wish US citizens still had the freedoms they did when the country was founded. As you so kindly pointed out, life always ends in death, so stop focusing on it and asking the government to help postpone it. Just live your godd*mn life and stop getting the government involved with it.
Wow, so most of you think that six hours of homework a night is a good thing? Let me ask you something, how does that sound in addition to a few hours of sports and "Extracurriculars" (which, God willing, are things you might actually enjoy)? The simple fact of the matter is that in schools (or at least more competitive schools), there are simply too many things that are considered necessities nowadays. First of all, you have school from 8:00 to 2:00/3:00 so thats 6-7 hours right there. Now add two hours of sports an hour for other stuff (the college recommended clubs and other sh*t) and four - six hours of homework. That is (for those of you who can't do basic math;-) 13 to 16 hours of scheduled activities a day. That leaves 8 to 11 hours to eat two meals, find a little recreational time, and sleep (and I might add that 9 hours or more of sleep is recommended for the average teen, notice thats not possible for some schedules). Now, I don't know how others feel about this, but to me, you cannot truly learn unless there is some creativity involved in what you are doing. Part of creativity involves a lack of structure and some spontaneity. Now as a senior in high school, let me assure you that life is anything but spontaneous and there is little if any creativity in the average high school class. High schools (along with most levels of schooling) are set up on an industrial model that lacks the necessary emphasis on original thoughts and creativity. Homework IMHO is completely superfluous. I haven't done much homework in years and I still get mostly As (although I do get yelled at a lot for not "doing my work". Why should I if I don't need to? And don't give me the discipline/because you were told to crap, how many of you would be happy if your boss made you go home and do something completely pointless during your time? And you would be getting paid for that, students don't have that luxury. Furthermore homework almost always involves memorizing and regurgitating someone else's thoughts, someone else's opinion, there is no room for thought, heck, some teachers even discourage original thinking (its too hard to grade, poor dears). Its the kind of environment where "straight A+" students study their books every single night so that when they get asked what the difference between two obscure and random things is, they know the answer even if they can't actually comprehend the difference and they couldn't apply it for their lives. The problem in short is that schools have adopted a quantity over quality approach. Homework for the most part is just busywork and a waste of time. This inefficiency coupled with insane amounts of competition over college has created (in competitive schools at least) a very unhealthy atmosphere. Its time that school becomes less of a sweatshop and more of a forum for learning (like it supposedly is, lmao... sure, whatever).
The point is that BayTSP is not a law enforcement agency. They have no more authority to send out notices of infringement to an ISP than I have the authority to send a bunch of mercenaries to clean out the druggies down the street. The amount of sh*t that police have to go through to bust up dealers is insane, so a lot of time times they just ignore the problem because of the red tape they have to cut through. Here, all you have to do is log onto a swarm and you are automatically logged and punished (what about the rights even a common criminal has?). To me, this seems like outsourcing law enforcement. Whats next? Are we going to have private companies set up speed traps? Also, according to a license agreement, you pay for a license. Now, according to that way of thinking, if you lose your CD or even your CD key, you should have a new provided at cost if you can prove that you already own a license (Having to buy a new CD (which comes with a new license is BS, all you need is that magical license, the rest are details). The reason I bring that up is I recently downloaded a two game ISOs. I actually own both games, but the CDs got ruined. Now technically, I didn't really pay for what was on the cd, just the right to use it, and so, according to the thinking of the IP cronies (if they actually looked at this logically), I did nothing wrong by participating in that swarm, I was simply acquiring the data I needed to facilitate my usage of a legitimate (and expensive, $100 brand new) license (although I could still get hauled off to court at any time).
Sure it ruined industry profits and caused financial havok, but I really disagree with everyone's complaints over the hardware. If anyone out there seriously thinks that you can shrink the system, add a 4GD FLASH (annoyingly expensive), slimline HD-DVD drive, and on top of all that integrate a 250 Watt powersupply, you really need to look at some small form factor PCs and compare specs, size, and weight. Short of water cooling or an insanely, yet undiscovered cooling system, I don't think its possible. Plus, not many people would spend $600 on that.
"For starters, the current design sucks. More importantly, gadget freaks have proven they'll buy the same gadget again and again if it's made smaller, sleeker, and more powerful (see the iPod Nano, the slimline PS2, the Nintendo DS Lite, and countless other examples)"
Furthermore I'd like to point out that the examples that were used like the slimline PS2 and "countless" other examples all have low thermal requirements. The PS2, unless they bumped up the power in their latest revision, has a ~300 MHz CPU and a 150 Mhz graphics processor. Its all about heat people. Don't expect the PS3 to get away without a large system or a huge power adapter. At the very least expect something in the range of 250-350 Watts for that sucker, not to mention the physical aspect of the cooling system. Still some good points with games though...
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I definitely agree that technology has vastly amplified an individuals power over many years ago, but there is an aspect to this that many ignore. You can try all you like to suppress the desires and actions of an individual in a society, but inevitably, especially if there is a forward progression of intelligence and strength, the bell curve dictates that there will be an individual powerful/lucky/intelligent enough to break down barriers and restraints that they feel are inherently and intrinsically unjust. When that person comes along, do you want them to be angered by the constant attempts to restrain them? When they finally figure out how to supercede the system, you would probably rather that they are benevolent to it and those who supported it (i.e. most people either through their lack of resistance to it or their actual perpetuation of it) than angry at the constant and eventually futile attempts to stop them.
I think that, to a large degree, this is the reason for the sudden popularity of the fantasy genre. It usually deals with a hero/heroin who is in some way different from their society. Usually events put them in a position to either exercise their power freely or use it reform a corrupt and inefficient society. I would imagine that many individuals frustrated by society and its constant and frankly pointless attempts to make everyone "safe" through suppression and conformity, would relate to or admire the modern fantasy hero.
Especially if you live in the United States, it comes down to this: the country was founded on a frontier spirit. The egalitarian spirit that all members of society are brothers and the lack of restrictions (obviously there are some deviations that im sure others will bring up such as slavery, but for the most part that is irrelevant to this point) on everyday activities bred an amazingly productive and powerful society. Attempting to decide what activities it is "acceptable" for a citizen of the United States to participate stands contrary to the very foundation of this country and is, in the end, quite useless.
There is always a way to get around restrictions, and the more powerful the restrictions, the longer it will take, but the more violent and destructive the final overthrow of said restrictions will be. Whatever man has made, no matter how wondrous, how powerful, can be undone by man. Suppression is not the answer, it will only hamper us in the present and destroy us in the future.
To some extent this is what makes Libertarianism so popular among nerds. Nerds (or perhaps a more flattering term?) are to a large degree far more talented at a certain aspect of society and human knowledge than the vast majority of the population (this sounds elitist but come on, its true) yet they are governed and regulated by people who understand far less about their expertise and this frustrates them. Not only that, many of them have the possibility of attaining great wealth (or at least living comfortably) yet they face the prospect of giving large portions of that future wealth to the same people who frustrate them through their pointless or misguided regulations. Im sure this applies to many more categories than just "nerds". As something of a "nerd" myself, I am familiar with the "nerd" predicament, but im sure every stereotype has similar feelings. It is time my friends that we stop thinking we know how to live other people's lives better than they do. Even seemingly uneducated and unintelligent people can have brilliant commonsense ideas, and it is not our responsibility (nor is it even permissable) to presume that we should regulate their lives or anyone elses for that matter) for their own good.
You miss an essential point. You don't want meat that has been sitting out in the sun all day, thats fine. But that doesn't necessarily mean you must stop people from selling that kind of stuff. It used to be up to the consumer to comparison shop and look at what they were buying. Thanks to the something must be done syndrome, we have a wonderful government bureaucracy telling you your food is safe (but obviously can never be sure 100%, lots of stuff gets past inspections) at the expense of your and other people's tax dollars. It is not the purpose of the government to regulate all aspects of society so that you can go through life without having to worry about anything. When you make the government micromanage your life for your comfort, chances are you are forcing the same thing on people like myself who actually wish US citizens still had the freedoms they did when the country was founded. As you so kindly pointed out, life always ends in death, so stop focusing on it and asking the government to help postpone it. Just live your godd*mn life and stop getting the government involved with it.
Wow, so most of you think that six hours of homework a night is a good thing? Let me ask you something, how does that sound in addition to a few hours of sports and "Extracurriculars" (which, God willing, are things you might actually enjoy)? The simple fact of the matter is that in schools (or at least more competitive schools), there are simply too many things that are considered necessities nowadays. First of all, you have school from 8:00 to 2:00/3:00 so thats 6-7 hours right there. Now add two hours of sports an hour for other stuff (the college recommended clubs and other sh*t) and four - six hours of homework. That is (for those of you who can't do basic math ;-) 13 to 16 hours of scheduled activities a day. That leaves 8 to 11 hours to eat two meals, find a little recreational time, and sleep (and I might add that 9 hours or more of sleep is recommended for the average teen, notice thats not possible for some schedules). Now, I don't know how others feel about this, but to me, you cannot truly learn unless there is some creativity involved in what you are doing. Part of creativity involves a lack of structure and some spontaneity. Now as a senior in high school, let me assure you that life is anything but spontaneous and there is little if any creativity in the average high school class. High schools (along with most levels of schooling) are set up on an industrial model that lacks the necessary emphasis on original thoughts and creativity. Homework IMHO is completely superfluous. I haven't done much homework in years and I still get mostly As (although I do get yelled at a lot for not "doing my work". Why should I if I don't need to? And don't give me the discipline/because you were told to crap, how many of you would be happy if your boss made you go home and do something completely pointless during your time? And you would be getting paid for that, students don't have that luxury. Furthermore homework almost always involves memorizing and regurgitating someone else's thoughts, someone else's opinion, there is no room for thought, heck, some teachers even discourage original thinking (its too hard to grade, poor dears). Its the kind of environment where "straight A+" students study their books every single night so that when they get asked what the difference between two obscure and random things is, they know the answer even if they can't actually comprehend the difference and they couldn't apply it for their lives. The problem in short is that schools have adopted a quantity over quality approach. Homework for the most part is just busywork and a waste of time. This inefficiency coupled with insane amounts of competition over college has created (in competitive schools at least) a very unhealthy atmosphere. Its time that school becomes less of a sweatshop and more of a forum for learning (like it supposedly is, lmao... sure, whatever).
The point is that BayTSP is not a law enforcement agency. They have no more authority to send out notices of infringement to an ISP than I have the authority to send a bunch of mercenaries to clean out the druggies down the street. The amount of sh*t that police have to go through to bust up dealers is insane, so a lot of time times they just ignore the problem because of the red tape they have to cut through. Here, all you have to do is log onto a swarm and you are automatically logged and punished (what about the rights even a common criminal has?). To me, this seems like outsourcing law enforcement. Whats next? Are we going to have private companies set up speed traps? Also, according to a license agreement, you pay for a license. Now, according to that way of thinking, if you lose your CD or even your CD key, you should have a new provided at cost if you can prove that you already own a license (Having to buy a new CD (which comes with a new license is BS, all you need is that magical license, the rest are details). The reason I bring that up is I recently downloaded a two game ISOs. I actually own both games, but the CDs got ruined. Now technically, I didn't really pay for what was on the cd, just the right to use it, and so, according to the thinking of the IP cronies (if they actually looked at this logically), I did nothing wrong by participating in that swarm, I was simply acquiring the data I needed to facilitate my usage of a legitimate (and expensive, $100 brand new) license (although I could still get hauled off to court at any time).
Sure it ruined industry profits and caused financial havok, but I really disagree with everyone's complaints over the hardware. If anyone out there seriously thinks that you can shrink the system, add a 4GD FLASH (annoyingly expensive), slimline HD-DVD drive, and on top of all that integrate a 250 Watt powersupply, you really need to look at some small form factor PCs and compare specs, size, and weight. Short of water cooling or an insanely, yet undiscovered cooling system, I don't think its possible. Plus, not many people would spend $600 on that. "For starters, the current design sucks. More importantly, gadget freaks have proven they'll buy the same gadget again and again if it's made smaller, sleeker, and more powerful (see the iPod Nano, the slimline PS2, the Nintendo DS Lite, and countless other examples)" Furthermore I'd like to point out that the examples that were used like the slimline PS2 and "countless" other examples all have low thermal requirements. The PS2, unless they bumped up the power in their latest revision, has a ~300 MHz CPU and a 150 Mhz graphics processor. Its all about heat people. Don't expect the PS3 to get away without a large system or a huge power adapter. At the very least expect something in the range of 250-350 Watts for that sucker, not to mention the physical aspect of the cooling system. Still some good points with games though...