... Yes, but the don't go and fight in the real world....
Yes they do, they get eaten all the time. And simulated games are not the real world, however realistic they look. Imagination is much more realistic than virtual simulations, but deaths occour all the time in children's books and we don't ban them.
... Just because something is more well defined doesn't mean it is less arbitrary....
Not true. The defin-ition of something has to be well defin-ed or it is meaningless. [By definition (sorry, couldn't resist)].
The only definition of a human being that can hold true is that it can only create offspring with another human being.
There is no other definition. That is what a species is. If we could create offspring with, say, gorillas, then we would not be a different species.
The definition holds true for any organism and defines any species. Their are no crossovers as crossovers immediately mean the two species are, in fact, one. Using intelligence as a definition of human-ness means many humans would not be defined as human and many animals would be. So if you had a son with brain damage an IQ of 10 or 15 he would not be defined as human. or if someone was involved in a car accident and suffered brain damage, they would stop being classified as a human being.
Which brings up another point. What would be the cut-off level between human and not human, if it was based on intelligence? An IQ of 20 say? or 50?
I'm not saying animals shouldn't be treated with respect and care, of course they should, but they are a different species. Their rights are covered by laws against cruelty to animals. Here in Britain we even have the RSPCA which specifically police cruelty against animals, as do other countries.
I agree with you on the rape argument, but as regards the burglary, do you think your insurance company would pay up if you left your door uinlocked and were burgled?
There is, in fact, no accurate way to measure intelligence. IQ only measures a certain type of intelligence (ie problem solving based "western" logic/philosophy/science). People educated using "western" methods of teaching and based on "western" thought/philosopht/science, tend to fare better because IQ tests ones ability to think using "western" methods. Someone who has had no education may be as intelligent as someone with an IQ of 145, but would get nowhere near that score on an IQ test.
... He didn't click a link on a web site thinking it was going to take him to Slashdot, only to be tricked into breaking into NASA's (and other government agencies') computers....
Not just publicly available but commercially available. He also used known windows vulnerabilities, which US public bodies should have been protected against.
I'm not making excuses for him. However, having US government servers sitting open to the internet with known vulnerabilities is asking for trouble. If he hadn't hacked in someone else would have. From the same profile:
... he found evidence that hundreds of others from around the world were also trying to hack the same networks...
P.S. These polls also encourage "groupthink" and encourage categorization (ie thinking "inside the envelope". Just look at some of the posts above. Who cares whether something is "space opera" or "science/fantasy" or just plain "fiction". If you enjoy reading it, then read it, if not, don't.
... try refusing to implement a feature in some in-the-scheme-of-things unimportant software...
I know what you are saying, and implenting the code on Flixster is a small, unimportant thing. However, it's like a rolling snowball. Take 1930's Germany as an example. The trouble didn't start by implementing a policy of killing all Jews/Disabled/Homosexuals/Gypsies... It started with a small number of people blaming the jews for Germany's ills and then gathering more people, then escalting violence against the jews resulting in Kristallnacht, then starting to implement a policy of not allowing Jews to own property and then implementing concentration camps.
Now, I'm not arguing that implementing the above code could lead to Secret police or Naz-ism but if we have certain principles, we should stick by them.
... Their boss might "insist" on this being implemented, because it was in the signed off functional spec. which the developer is paid to implement....
Slashdot Mirror
The "Freedom Fighters" in Cuba for one.
No, but they certainly fund groups that do.
I, for one, welcome our green, sun-loving, proton-pumping overlords.
All your encrypted data are belong to us.
Terrorists that "win" get to call themselves freedom fighters because they "won". Terrorists who didn't "win" get called terrorists by the "winners".
That could cover just about any form of violence whether perpetrated by governments or terrorists/freedom fighters, east or west.
All your mod point are belong to us.
Wow, you are really in touch with the ordinary users aren't you? You should think about being a UI designer as a career option. ;-)
Or were you, perhaps, being ironic.
Ah but here in Britain, 18 is the school leaving age. and 18 is the legal drinking age.
Also, are you telling me that no-one under 21 drinks in the USA?
Yes they do, they get eaten all the time. And simulated games are not the real world, however realistic they look. Imagination is much more realistic than virtual simulations, but deaths occour all the time in children's books and we don't ban them.
Yes, but baby animals are not just sheltered. They play fight with each other and with their parents, sometimes extremely roughly.
The reasons given were that the patents were:
It seems to me that some business model patents and computer patents that were accepted should have been rejected for the same reasons.
Not true. The defin-ition of something has to be well defin-ed or it is meaningless. [By definition (sorry, couldn't resist)].
The only definition of a human being that can hold true is that it can only create offspring with another human being.
There is no other definition. That is what a species is. If we could create offspring with, say, gorillas, then we would not be a different species.
The definition holds true for any organism and defines any species. Their are no crossovers as crossovers immediately mean the two species are, in fact, one. Using intelligence as a definition of human-ness means many humans would not be defined as human and many animals would be. So if you had a son with brain damage an IQ of 10 or 15 he would not be defined as human. or if someone was involved in a car accident and suffered brain damage, they would stop being classified as a human being.
Which brings up another point. What would be the cut-off level between human and not human, if it was based on intelligence? An IQ of 20 say? or 50?
I'm not saying animals shouldn't be treated with respect and care, of course they should, but they are a different species. Their rights are covered by laws against cruelty to animals. Here in Britain we even have the RSPCA which specifically police cruelty against animals, as do other countries.
I agree with you on the rape argument, but as regards the burglary, do you think your insurance company would pay up if you left your door uinlocked and were burgled?
There is, in fact, a very simple and exacting definition of a species. taxonomic group whose members can interbreed.
There is, in fact, no accurate way to measure intelligence. IQ only measures a certain type of intelligence (ie problem solving based "western" logic/philosophy/science). People educated using "western" methods of teaching and based on "western" thought/philosopht/science, tend to fare better because IQ tests ones ability to think using "western" methods. Someone who has had no education may be as intelligent as someone with an IQ of 145, but would get nowhere near that score on an IQ test.
If you read Gary's profile on the same site he used:
Not just publicly available but commercially available. He also used known windows vulnerabilities, which US public bodies should have been protected against.
I'm not making excuses for him. However, having US government servers sitting open to the internet with known vulnerabilities is asking for trouble. If he hadn't hacked in someone else would have. From the same profile:
My apologies, female doctors are indeed referred to as "Frau Doktor".
Hey, I didn't, I learned on the BBC Micro Model B.
P.S. These polls also encourage "groupthink" and encourage categorization (ie thinking "inside the envelope". Just look at some of the posts above. Who cares whether something is "space opera" or "science/fantasy" or just plain "fiction". If you enjoy reading it, then read it, if not, don't.
Technically, Doctors in Germany are addressed as "Herr Doktor".
What nobody has mentioned yet is that all of these polls tend to put the most recent films first.
All your neuron are belong to us!
Ok, I know. If I had spent longer I'm sure I could have come up with another analogy.
I know what you are saying, and implenting the code on Flixster is a small, unimportant thing. However, it's like a rolling snowball. Take 1930's Germany as an example. The trouble didn't start by implementing a policy of killing all Jews/Disabled/Homosexuals/Gypsies... It started with a small number of people blaming the jews for Germany's ills and then gathering more people, then escalting violence against the jews resulting in Kristallnacht, then starting to implement a policy of not allowing Jews to own property and then implementing concentration camps.
Now, I'm not arguing that implementing the above code could lead to Secret police or Naz-ism but if we have certain principles, we should stick by them.
I was only doing my job M'Lud.
Now where have I heard that one before.
For that they would need evidence. If they had enough evidence they wouldn't need an SNL.
That's why they have SNLs so it doesn't have to be signed off by a judge.