Robots don't have spirituality, morality, etc. Humans do. Human military personnel can look at illegal orders, recognize them, and either refuse to act or directly contravene them.
I refuse to water the concept down by calling it PTSD
PTSD can be caused by any number of traumatic events, including rape; I don't think 'shellshock' is really an appropriate moniker for a disorder brought on by a rape.
My Father has PTSD and picked it up as a police officer, after he was forced to shoot and kill a teenager attacking him with a knife -- there was only one gun involved, and only 3 rounds fired.
The point is that it's a misconception that only soldiers get PTSD.
The guy who wants to shove astrophysicists who are studying dark energy into an interdimensional rift?
Not just any old astrophysicist studying dark energy... but rather the crackpots prattling on about unobserved extra dimensions.
If he knows so much better than they do then why doesn't he get up and fix the theory?
It's entirely possible to note a flaw with someone's scientific method, without having the background to solve the entire problem they were working on.
I'm sorry, but I pretty much had to call you out for playing the super-annoying "if you're so smart then why don't you cure cancer" card; if I had mod points I'd have given you a nice -1 Troll.
Someone modded this Troll, but it's clearly supposed to be Funny.
Congratulations on wasting some tool's mod point. There's some guy out there who can't tolerate the word "cunt," even when it is part of a hilarious and clever pun. He's just that much of a tool.
I'm also horrified at the number of my fellow teachers who think the Internet is some magical panacea where they can just plop a class down in front of a computer, tell them 'research topic X' and the kids will actually learn something.
I suspect that new teachers who grew up during the "computer age" will be more likely to know what computers are and are not good for -- and also how to guide the students better when they use a computer in the classroom.
You can get a fair amount of productive research done on the internet... and incidentally, middle schoolers are probably better off citing wikipedia in their papers than citing college-level peer reviewed studies.
Speaking of peer reviewed studies, the library at my university has gone to some lengths to make documents like that available to students over the internet, and I've got to say that it's pretty convenient to be able to do research at home.
Now let's see if they are good enough to compensate Kelly for the 26 hours he spent in jail and the anguish of the cloud over his future caused by a felony arrest.
I think there's a big difference between a felony arrest and a felony conviction -- the only thing Kelly has to look forward to as a result of his arrest is 15 minutes of fame.
"When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges."
What if the police audio- and video-record me without notice?
"Copyright infringement isn't theft." Is copying another state's secrets theft if the original copy of the secrets is still in the original computer?
No, that's still not theft. That's espionage.
It might be theft if you deleted the files.
*ring, ring* Secretary: "This is the office of the Pentagon, how may I direct your call?" Cracker: "Yes, Pentagon? I have something you may want... but it'll cost you."
I dare say there is more to this story than is reaching the press, but to save embarrassment, the French government is just solving a problem and not saying anything about why they had to.
It is a very fine ethical line but as long as the focus is foreign governments, they are on the right side of that ethical line.
This is a great example of the philosophical and ethical quagmire that nationalism thrusts us into -- it causes us to see the world in terms of "us" and "them," where "we" have more rights than "they."
It causes "us" to go to war with "them," instead of identifying with the human race as one collective entity.
Which we are, and we ought to behave as such, considering that all we have in the big, scary universe is each other.
Actually, Freudian catharsis is now considered a largely defunct concept; it turns out that people who practice a violent response to stress (eg, hitting a pillow), are more likely to repeat that violent response in a social situation, not less.
between the keyboard and the monitor to worry about.
Did you mean between the keyboard and the chair? Because all I see between my keyboard and my monitor is a desk with a dirty shot glass, a lighter, a knife, a case screw, two dimes, two empty cups of hot sauce, an open bottle of safeway-brand "personal lubricating liquid", and a bag of grass...
So you may be able to understand how I'm totally lost here.
The United States is a more dangerous place than other countries on account of its more permissive attitude towards guns--an attitude which tends toward a self-righteous sense of God-given, constitutional entitlement. That's a sociological fact.
I would rather run the still-unlikely chance of personal harm, than sacrifice the people's ability to defend themselves from organized aggression.
The people may occasionally prey upon each other with weapons, but that's the price we pay for the ability to defend ourselves by possessing them. I worry more about a society that has an unarmed civilian populace and is policed by an armed and combat-trained "warrior class" -- it creates two different "groups" of people, and it's a sociological fact that people are less empathetic towards those they perceive as being in a different group.
It would be difficult for the government to start arresting citizens with squads of secret police (China?) if it was a social norm for everyone over 21 to have a handgun in a shoulder or hip holster.
If you want to keep the citizens from possessing weapons, you must keep the entire society from possessing weapons, or you run the risk of exposing the unarmed and "naive" population to exploitation by the dehumanized soldiers and riot police.
I understand that total disarmament isn't a realistic solution in the here-and-now; I like the idea of having a "citizen's military" in which high school graduates undergo a mandatory one or two-year training program, and are then sent home "on reserve," with their service weapons, required to report for PT maybe once a month. Of course the military does need full-time soldiers; a minimum of these, just those required to operate defensive military bases and maintain war equipment, could be recruited from amongst those who excel during their mandatory service period.
This, I feel, keeps the power from becoming consolidated in the government, and ensures that the "warrior class" is just the society at large -- imagine the inner conflict a soldier would feel if he were ordered by his superiors to shoot protestors who were also fellow soldiers!
PS Fuck that, by the way... in my opinion, bullet proof vests ought to be protected in the same way that the right to bear arms is protected by the second amendment.
Allowing the people to "bear arms" but not the modern armor that defends against arms is exploiting the letter of the law to defeat it's spirit.
It is probably better to listen to what the person says as a whole.
I only get up in arms about this because I know how many parents tell their children that "dumb people cuss" in an effort to keep them from cussing, but it has the negative side effect of making the children focus more on the appearance of what one says, rather than what they say.
Slashdot Mirror
a few thousand dollars into the shitter
Try a few hundred thousand.
Robots don't have spirituality, morality, etc. Humans do. Human military personnel can look at illegal orders, recognize them, and either refuse to act or directly contravene them.
Just like they did in Nazi Germany?
Oh shi-
I refuse to water the concept down by calling it PTSD
PTSD can be caused by any number of traumatic events, including rape; I don't think 'shellshock' is really an appropriate moniker for a disorder brought on by a rape.
My Father has PTSD and picked it up as a police officer, after he was forced to shoot and kill a teenager attacking him with a knife -- there was only one gun involved, and only 3 rounds fired.
The point is that it's a misconception that only soldiers get PTSD.
Well, I hope the metamods would have made sure you didn't get mod points again soon.
I hope they would too ... if I had modded a post like your last one -1 Troll, when it actually had something to say.
God forbid they learn what their genitals are for or something.
The guy who wants to shove astrophysicists who are studying dark energy into an interdimensional rift?
Not just any old astrophysicist studying dark energy ... but rather the crackpots prattling on about unobserved extra dimensions.
If he knows so much better than they do then why doesn't he get up and fix the theory?
It's entirely possible to note a flaw with someone's scientific method, without having the background to solve the entire problem they were working on.
I'm sorry, but I pretty much had to call you out for playing the super-annoying "if you're so smart then why don't you cure cancer" card; if I had mod points I'd have given you a nice -1 Troll.
Thank god you're here, captain jackass.
Before you go, there's a few people who's feelings I wanted to hurt, can you go tell them that they're not astrophysicists either?
Would it?
I mean, given how many hundreds of small businesses have been ruined be these shenanigans
I hate to nitpick, but, you can't just whip statistics out of your ass.
You forgot to mention the packet of tissues.
I live in a studio apartment. There's a paper towel rack on the other side of the room.
Someone modded this Troll, but it's clearly supposed to be Funny.
Congratulations on wasting some tool's mod point. There's some guy out there who can't tolerate the word "cunt," even when it is part of a hilarious and clever pun. He's just that much of a tool.
I'm also horrified at the number of my fellow teachers who think the Internet is some magical panacea where they can just plop a class down in front of a computer, tell them 'research topic X' and the kids will actually learn something.
I suspect that new teachers who grew up during the "computer age" will be more likely to know what computers are and are not good for -- and also how to guide the students better when they use a computer in the classroom.
You can get a fair amount of productive research done on the internet ... and incidentally, middle schoolers are probably better off citing wikipedia in their papers than citing college-level peer reviewed studies.
Speaking of peer reviewed studies, the library at my university has gone to some lengths to make documents like that available to students over the internet, and I've got to say that it's pretty convenient to be able to do research at home.
I haven't looked at an employment application in awhile, but I'd like to imagine it asks for "convictions" instead of arrests.
Now let's see if they are good enough to compensate Kelly for the 26 hours he spent in jail and the anguish of the cloud over his future caused by a felony arrest.
I think there's a big difference between a felony arrest and a felony conviction -- the only thing Kelly has to look forward to as a result of his arrest is 15 minutes of fame.
"When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges."
What if the police audio- and video-record me without notice?
"Copyright infringement isn't theft." Is copying another state's secrets theft if the original copy of the secrets is still in the original computer?
No, that's still not theft. That's espionage.
It might be theft if you deleted the files.
*ring, ring* ... but it'll cost you."
Secretary: "This is the office of the Pentagon, how may I direct your call?"
Cracker: "Yes, Pentagon? I have something you may want
I dare say there is more to this story than is reaching the press, but to save embarrassment, the French government is just solving a problem and not saying anything about why they had to.
I'd bet cold, hard cash that you're right.
It is a very fine ethical line but as long as the focus is foreign governments, they are on the right side of that ethical line.
This is a great example of the philosophical and ethical quagmire that nationalism thrusts us into -- it causes us to see the world in terms of "us" and "them," where "we" have more rights than "they."
It causes "us" to go to war with "them," instead of identifying with the human race as one collective entity.
Which we are, and we ought to behave as such, considering that all we have in the big, scary universe is each other.
This just means there will be less DVD-rip torrents and more .AVI torrents.
quit that TV addiction and get a real life!
Comcast is my internet provider. I don't own a television ...
healthy way to release aggression
Actually, Freudian catharsis is now considered a largely defunct concept; it turns out that people who practice a violent response to stress (eg, hitting a pillow), are more likely to repeat that violent response in a social situation, not less.
IANAP ... but I am a psychology student.
between the keyboard and the monitor to worry about.
Did you mean between the keyboard and the chair? Because all I see between my keyboard and my monitor is a desk with a dirty shot glass, a lighter, a knife, a case screw, two dimes, two empty cups of hot sauce, an open bottle of safeway-brand "personal lubricating liquid", and a bag of grass ...
So you may be able to understand how I'm totally lost here.
The United States is a more dangerous place than other countries on account of its more permissive attitude towards guns--an attitude which tends toward a self-righteous sense of God-given, constitutional entitlement. That's a sociological fact.
I would rather run the still-unlikely chance of personal harm, than sacrifice the people's ability to defend themselves from organized aggression.
The people may occasionally prey upon each other with weapons, but that's the price we pay for the ability to defend ourselves by possessing them. I worry more about a society that has an unarmed civilian populace and is policed by an armed and combat-trained "warrior class" -- it creates two different "groups" of people, and it's a sociological fact that people are less empathetic towards those they perceive as being in a different group.
It would be difficult for the government to start arresting citizens with squads of secret police (China?) if it was a social norm for everyone over 21 to have a handgun in a shoulder or hip holster.
If you want to keep the citizens from possessing weapons, you must keep the entire society from possessing weapons, or you run the risk of exposing the unarmed and "naive" population to exploitation by the dehumanized soldiers and riot police.
I understand that total disarmament isn't a realistic solution in the here-and-now; I like the idea of having a "citizen's military" in which high school graduates undergo a mandatory one or two-year training program, and are then sent home "on reserve," with their service weapons, required to report for PT maybe once a month. Of course the military does need full-time soldiers; a minimum of these, just those required to operate defensive military bases and maintain war equipment, could be recruited from amongst those who excel during their mandatory service period.
This, I feel, keeps the power from becoming consolidated in the government, and ensures that the "warrior class" is just the society at large -- imagine the inner conflict a soldier would feel if he were ordered by his superiors to shoot protestors who were also fellow soldiers!
PS Fuck that, by the way ... in my opinion, bullet proof vests ought to be protected in the same way that the right to bear arms is protected by the second amendment.
Allowing the people to "bear arms" but not the modern armor that defends against arms is exploiting the letter of the law to defeat it's spirit.
It's despicable.
It is probably better to listen to what the person says as a whole.
I only get up in arms about this because I know how many parents tell their children that "dumb people cuss" in an effort to keep them from cussing, but it has the negative side effect of making the children focus more on the appearance of what one says, rather than what they say.