Could the second coming of Bill Gates be as monumentally transformative for MS as the second coming of Steve Jobs was for Apple? Or would it epically fail like most of Gates's attempts to be like Jobs? I doubt Gates would want to take that risk.
I want to acknowledge your admission of conscience, as that takes real courage, beyond whether we were to agree or not. Thanks for that.
Truthfully, despite my participation in protests, rallies, marches, etc., and speaking to friends and family about the certain doom we were headed toward with the vengeful reaction to 9/11, I wouldn't say I received as much flak as I was simply ignored and dismissed. Now not so much, but I also don't speak as loudly since, well, I don't have to.
What's really, really funny is that on
/., we are all pro-privacy, pro-dismantling of the security apparatus. But none of us ever stop to consider if we'd change our tune, if one of our family or loved ones was suddenly, inexplicably killed in a horrible way--and then discover that said death could have been easily prevented if only X and Y agencies had bothered to share their information.
Hard for me to see any humor here. Sounds like a rather tragic state of affairs.
A problem with your argument is that it assumes that the current security apparatuses would have prevented 9/11, and there's no way to know that. It doesn't seem like the NSA is at all concerned with stopping "terrorism," they're more hell bent on spying for their own power initiatives. Are we really any more secure now than we were in 2000? I'd submit not. And if, after proclaiming the actions of the NSA and national security legislation as crimes against the American people, an attack occurred on American soil that killed innocent Americans, I would not back down but fortify my arguments against fear and vengeance as motivation for public security policy.
Knowing what we know now, can any of us truly say that we'd face 300 million people..."I know we could have easily prevented this tragedy, but we're not going to put in place the fixes that would prevent a future tragedy like this because we believe the outcome would be worse than the disease."
I would, and did, advocate actual fixes, not the sham of security theater we have today.
This is human nature. There is no answer, there is only the cycle.
No. Human nature evolves. Each cycle we get a little better, even if barely perceptibly. Defeatist attitudes only hold us all back.
Google has jumped the damned shark.
Google is jumping sharks in hell? They're evil after all!
I have the good fortune to live on Lake Michigan in Chicago, where there are beautiful mists rising off the lake as the waves smash into the ice piles extending off the shore, splashing on them, adding layer on layer of ice. Truly a fascinating sight.
This is the kind of winter I recall as a kid, blizzard of '78 being one vivid example. Snow piled up to the roof of our garage! It got so heavy that come Spring the snow melted to reveal the yard fences all bent out of shape. But the past several winters have been so mild, barely freezing at all the past two, that today there's almost a sense of a return to normalcy.
In "get off my lawn" mode, all this weather reporting drama is just silly -- when I was younger winter was like this on a regular basis. We were heartier for it too. I had grizzly chest hairs by age six.
It's hard for me to see Bill Gates beyond being a spoiled, insecure boy. He talks about all these grand visions (The Road Ahead, et al) yet clearly is out of touch with the real world and the realities of human nature to the point that he dreams up these fanciful dreams of utopia that only get taken seriously because he happens to be insanely rich. It's hard for me to see Bill Gates as machiavellian or otherwise diabolical (not that he doesn't throw a good capitalist tantrum now and again), because he's so clearly scared of being caught for what he isn't -- a man in charge of his own fate. He can't possibly be able to imagine living a life not saddled to his silver, free to be bold like many of the "not haves". If he were to no longer "have", then he'd lose the very thing that defines him -- massive wealth. His ego must be terrified at the idea that he is nothing more than paper and ink.
So he props up these grand visions and philanthropic ventures as a way to give validation to his existence, never manning up to working out his own inner deficiencies. And since he lacks the real world understanding to do so himself, he allies with Warren Buffet types to guide him on what he should do, swallowing completely their belief in the supremacy of the capitalist ethos. But his "plans to improve our world" always come off as childish and unworkable. Indeed, can anyone here enumerate the number of grand plans Bill Gates has put forth that have fulfilled their objectives in improving our world? (that's an honest question, by the way)
As usual on
My point is not to defend the abhorrent practices of tyranny by religious leaders, nor the scared multitudes that follow them. But, just like any generalized mass of people, many (if not most) religious people are good people, like you, me and Castillo. The connection to headgear or any other religious garb has to do with orienting one's mind to one's sacred practice -- not because someone told them to, or to show off.
This isn't a question of whether God the sky fairy exists or not. It's a matter of spiritual connection, of keeping oneself grounded in sacred humility and service. It transcends morals and ethics. A Buddhist who does not believe in any sky gods may still wear clothing reflecting his sacred order. If you cannot grasp the power of the sacred, cannot connect to its guidance, then you are bereft of a singularly beautiful life experience.
Looks to me like the comet is a sperm cell impregnating the Sun...then the Sun has an orgasm.
I wonder if the airline industry would try to stop or slow this down. Every ticket sold to get from NY to LA via hyperloop would be a ticket not sold to an airline company.
Given the choice between waiting in long lines to be TSA manhandled, sitting on a runway for who knows how long, then suspended in air for more hours by a machine that could fail in one of any of a million ways and plummet from 30,000 feet for 15 minutes of sheer terror before violent death -- or getting on a sleek new sexy technology ground transport that gets me there sooner and safer, I think I know where I'd be more willing to put my dollars.
Not that flying will go away, of course, but this could eat considerably into airline company profits.
Consciousness is defined as, roughly, conscious personal experience. Nervous system-bearing organisms have it and tables don't...In theory, we could all be as mindless and devoid of consciousness as tables and from an outside observer's POV, nothing would change in our lives, our speech or all of human history.
If you can separate consciousness from the nervous system, as you suggest in theory, then why can't a table have consciousness? Table consciousness would be very different from human consciousness, without the response to sensory input that a nervous system provides, but it could have a sense of 'be'-ing even if that leaves out any awareness of anything else.
More to the point, it seems there's no reason to dismiss the possibility that matter/energy itself is conscious in some way. That, indeed, consciousness is inherent to everything in the Universe, including the singular consciousness of the Universe itself. Why not? How can this be falsified?
As to proof, that's difficult if not impossible with the collective cultural bias against a self-aware Universe. I'm not taking a stand one way or the other, but it seems a glaring omission of scientific research to not approach some of our observations of the quantum and galactic worlds with the reverse assumption that the Universe is in fact conscious. Where would that lead the research? Could research be forked with this assumption in mind?
On a somewhat related tangent, in my experience there is a kind of proof that anyone can tap into that is greater than any proof offered by science, society or religion: direct inner inquiry. While we need to temporarily accept certain things as truth to get by, it seems foolish to fully accept anyone else's point of view as truth unless it is vetted by one's own inner inquiry. Meditation is a great tool for this -- learning to simply observe your own mind, body, breath and emotions. You can be astounded by what you can learn by observing your own consciousness. Matched with the objective evidence of your outer world and more than a small dose of patience, you can go far in life. This is the result of "spiritual or mystical revelation" -- revelation from within yourself, resounding in truth that you prove to yourself through action and results. This is a completely different experience from a belief that is taught from "out there" -- be it religion, TV, God, or Science (to some, those are all the same thing). Those things may teach you truth, but it is only actually truth after it is vetted by your inner guidance.
Seriously, what are they going to do? Break into my house and grab me while I'm in the middle of typ
At least that nice NSA officer was friendly enough to hit the Submit button for you.
For some extremely loose definition of science fiction. Star Wars had fiction but no science. It is sword and sorcery in space.
Irvin Kershner, director of Empire, himself said Star Wars is not science fiction -- it is a fairy tale. It is mythology in the truest sense. Joseph Campbell remarked at length about the mythological qualities of the original trilogy, calling it a modern mythos for our time, and the primary reason for its success. It embodies many of the mythological themes that remind us of the essential adventure of life. We need good, solid human stories told in fantastic settings featuring great heroes to embolden us to bring just a little more of the fantastic into our regular lives, to be the heroes we need to be for our families, friends and communities. The original unmodified trilogy did just that and, IMO, everything since has been trying to ride the coattails of the power of that original mythology.
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
