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Comment Big Ideas are there; he just doesn't see them (Score 1) 368

If the author thinks that a big idea looks like "Marx or a Nietzsche," he's going to be waiting a while. The definition of a "big idea" is that it is novel and game-changing, but based on the examples he gives in the article it appears that what the author is really lamenting is that the world no longer sees the philosophies that excited him in his formative years as new and exciting. I'm not arguing for or against the validity of the examples he gives, but rather that they have matured and are by no means on the front lines of new ideas. Maybe he's just getting old.

Comment Let's list some truths that science can't answer: (Score 1) 536

1) Science deals only with the natural world. Science can't prove there is or isn't anything beyond the natural world 2) Metaphysical truths such as "The external world is real" vs. "we're all just a consciousness in a vacuum" 3) Ethics "Theft is wrong" 4) Aesthetics 5) The unproven assumptions of science itself: eg. assertion of constancy of speed of light in a vacuum... you have to assume it to espouse the theory 6) Mathematical postulates and axioms 7) Your implication that "Only scientifically proven answers are worthwhile" can't even be proven scientifically...

Comment Re:Flatlander (Score 1) 672

The problem is that if he does valid work and wins the bet, that will be viewed as getting lucky to the nutters out there that believe that climate change is happening and will likely be severe in the future. You're right, that WAS easy!!

Comment Dangerous sign here! (Score 1) 997

How many hours per week are you going to work to try and find a technical answer to a business problem? I've been in a startup or two in my time, and I must say that you can't create enough features to make up for a bad business plan! There are hard questions that need answers here: 1) Why is your software not selling with the features the business plan originally called for? Is the software too expensive for the target market? Does the software solve a problem the target market doesn't really have? 2) Do you have more reliable knowledge of the target market with the new feature set than you did with the original? Or, are you shooting in the dark? 3) Do you have a list of customers who will be interested in the software once a new set of features are created? 4) If you think the software is valuable, are there other business-related reasons why it's not selling? Bad licensing? Unattractive terms? My experience is that bloating software no one is buying with features just creates bloated software that no one is buying. There is something more fundamental that is wrong here.

Comment Re:Science would be better served... (Score 1) 402

You miss the point. If it were in the scientist's best interests for storm chasers to stay out of their way (the article at hand)... they would do well not to have any of their meetings on national television, and not have the scientific community participating in television shows that glamorize storm chasing. Vortex2 or any other scientific endeavour shouldn't expect to hype their craft on any media outlet, be it Discovery or the weather channel, and then get all hot and disturbed when the field gets a little more crowded....

Comment What do you mean by "believes" here... (Score 1) 1123

"Everyone believes in science" -- Under what situations do you believe in science here? I would agree that most believe in science when getting on a plane that the plane will more than likely fly, or shooting a missile that the missile will correctly find the target. But if the plane is to take you somewhere to shoot the missile at a group of people, and you're expecting science to enlighten you that what your doing is right or wrong, you're hopelessly lost, because science doesn't care! That's the difference between science and religion, science tells you what you CAN do, and religion tells you what you SHOULD do....and EVERYONE has a religion whether they believe it or not, because everyone has to make these choices that are a lot tougher than those whose answers science can predict.

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