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Comment Re:-dafuq, Slashdot? (Score 4, Interesting) 249

I am sorry that you feel left out. Guess what, this is what it means when the science is settled. It means that people stop caring about your untenable position. The world moves on and we are now looking at the effects of global warming, knowing that it occurs and that we do not know where it will stop. Glaciers are retreating, North Pole is shrinking, and Western Antartica is melting.

In contrast with you, Big Oil got the picture, and quite a few investigations are underway to figure out where the oil is when (not if, when) parts of the North Pole become accessible year around. I'm sure if Big Oil would listens to you they would save the 100s of millions they invest in this, but guess what, they follow the science, not the self-proclaimed sceptics that haven't been able to field a single climate model that explains how anthropogenic CO2 increase will NOT lead to climate change.

Comment Re:Capitalism (Score 1) 429

Your comment makes no sense. I've given a generally accepted definition of capitalism. Look it up. You apparently tack on other stuff such as competitive markets. Competitive markets are not at the core of capitalism (private ownership is), and I would argue that they're in principle independent. You can have capitalist anti-competitive enterprises (monopolies) and anti-capitalist competitive enterprises (your co-op example).

Personally I believe that competitive markets trump capitalism, and the reason that (American) people like to use the word capitalism is probably to stick it to Marx (who made the word popular).

Comment Re:Capitalism (Score 1) 429

No, you're wrong. Capitalism is the system where the means of production are in the hands of individuals. That's it. Free market (or better, competitive markets) are wholly independent of this notion. You can have a capitalist society that has no free trade. In effect, capitalist societies inherently converge to monopolies if there are no disruptive events (technology breakthroughs) or government regulation (promoting competitiveness, combatting price-fixing and other monopolistic practices).

Comment Re:What's bad about Uber drivers? (Score 1) 48

Taxis in the Netherlands are generally great (though expensive), with the notable exception of Amsterdam. There they refuse you service if the trip is not long enough to their liking. They are typically rude, and oftentimes armed. It's fun to go to the taxi-stand at Amsterdam central station and notice the permanent presence of at least two police cars there. They're not there to protect taxi drivers from the population, that's for sure.

I've taken UberPop in Amsterdam and it's great. Unfortunately, the Uber drivers need to ask you to sit in front, to reduce the risk of being attacked by vigilante taxi drivers. It's a breath of fresh air in a thoroughly unpleasant market, and I hope legislation gets passed soon to make it legal.

Comment Re:Gulf oil spill, Fukushima (Score 1) 417

Your problem lies in confusing cause and solution. Yes, there's a problem with CO2, please recognize that so that we can have a meaningful discussion about the solution. As long as people like you are fighting the causal analysis because you don't like the solutions that others are proposing, you are not contributing in a meaningful way. You're just stalling.

Recognizing that we're in trouble does not equate buying into any solution. It is however close to criminal to fight the analysis at this stage.

Comment Re:Maybe not as scary you might think (Score 1) 417

Yes, and all life is descendent of an unbroken string of lucky breaks. Every single one of our ancestors, going back to the origin of life 4 billion years ago, was able to reproduce at least once to produce each and every organism on earth today. Given this, it is clear that we've been bred for luck. Nothing bad can ever happen to us.

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