I also did a research study on the effectiveness of a "Abstinence Only" sex-ed message in high schools in Indiana for the Indiana Department of Health.

I wrote the study and devised the research design.

Guess what the results were???

The info was presented to the IN Dept of Health who replicated the survey in schools all over the state. I used it as my Master's thesis. Published only in conference proceedings, but we presented it several times for rooms full of doctors and public health experts.

Not as good as Hawking, eh?

I think we should be able to criticize theories and that criticism can be based on logic more than courtroom-style evidence.

I reject the "Appeal to Authority" fallacy at the core of many criticisms, including yours.

my main contribution, in my wildest dreams, is to put out a new theory of Cybernetics which reconciles both 1st Order (Weiner) and 2nd Order Cybernetics

3rd order Cybernetics

Cybernetics is typically defined as 'the study of control in biological life and machines" and a new theory could revitalize Computer Science (which is bogged down by the Church-Turing model of computation) and also has applications in virtually all areas of design.

Cybernetics also involves Information Theory, especially Claude Shannon's contributions.

I'd really like to get a clear statement of Cybernetic theory that can apply consistently across all the disciplines that Cybernetics touches. From interaction design to information theory cosmology.

I think it would be a breath of fresh air and provide a point of departure to try many new theories.

i totally didn't mean it that way!

yeah i feel he was treated unfairly for his "I don't understand women" comment a few years back

i agree the media are idiots in general and especially when reporting about science

we can't all put our resumes atop every comment

you're using a double standard (i have to link to a peer reviewed research journal to support every sentence I type, where you give Hawking a pass completely) and also committing the 'appeal to authority' logical fallacy

my comment was about science and the misuse thereof...Hawking can be a 'genius' and still have incorrect notions of both computers and human behavior

Stephen Hawking needs to stick to cosmology...he doesn't know *shit* about computing and human behavior.

"aggression" is such a ridiculously ill-defined term, it means virtually nothing scientifically

just like all traits of human behavior, evolutionary biologists (esp. psych) drastically oversimplify the most complex behavior we observe in the known universe

the **real problem** is listening to people like Hawking....they pontificate to feel important and get all the research dollars chasing their tails

this is just like Hawking warning of 'ai'....neither 'ai' nor 'aggression' are a threat to humanity....people listening to Hawking on this is the only threat

i don't read much fiction anymore...last book i read was Signal and Noise by nate silver

last good fiction i recall right now was Mars Trilogy a few years ago

i thought about reading Gravity's Rainbow, but instead i just went to a nice bookstore and grabbed a copy off the shelf and read over it w/ a reader's guide open on my phone...it was nice actually

scifi needs to step up it's literary game imho...we're living the future now...we're practically in a Phillip K. Dick novel...got to be some good stories to tell

it would be cool to actually do this

imho, it wouldn't "never stretch or slacken"....

relatively speaking, yes

but if you actually did this, you'd need at least...idk...1000 km of slack...just a guess

the IAU should grant Pluto a once-in-the-universe exception to the definition of 'planet'

it's perfect for kids...

why?

because Pluto technically isn't a planet even though historically it is known as one of the planets

why isn't it a planet?

see...it's just a big excuse to talk about astronomy

put an asterisk by it in the textbooks

the IAU could bolster its reputation by doing this as well

After reading KS Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) I just don't know if anything except the real thing will be worth reading

The appendices of Mars Trilogy have actual fictional research papers...it's pretty detailed.

The science hasn't changed that much, and he explores all different kinds of colonization approaches and technical solutions.

From a practical standpoint, i guess a technical description of actual robots we could make and use with existing technology would be an interesting read, but it's still just science fiction unless...you know....you're actually going to do it

Youtube is a great example of how the tech industry really works.

Sure, they had their ideas for how their site would be used, but it was a **free site** where users could **post video**

free video posting

and it actually worked 99% of the time

Man, me too...

I *love* Radio Shack.

I love going in and rummaging through the parts to see what kind of stuff I could make.

Well...now it's different. When I was a kid it was with my dad for fun, now I'm making hand-crafted electronics and it's more immediate.

I just can't help but think that with the right merchandising Radio Shack can be a hit.

A deal with Apple makes total sense...b/c Radio Shack is so many places where Apple stores are not.

Ah well...

I hope the current locations can stay open where I live at least when the Sprint changeover comes.

my most proud moment was my research as an undergrad...it was publishable and way beyond what many of my prof's had done as far as original research

I surveyed my campus about their media use, their perceptions of how useful it is, and correlated that to whether they voted.

It was great...sparked a lifelong interest in what people do and why and how it affects their behavior.

The "I don't own a television" snobbishness has also really interested me for fun.

I saw the internet develop in as a HS & college student in the 90s and the whole "I don't watch/own TV" thing is always fun

all media has low useless trash and amazing, life-changing stuff too...video has reality television vs documentaries (and Taratino films)....music has Country top 40 vs indie stuff of all genres...books have 50 Shades of Grey vs J.R.R. Tolkein...you get the idea...

what is interesting to me is that, because how the tech developed and was implemented video in the form of ****television**** has taken the lion's share of bad reputation, among other media types

wow...sorry for the long post...you can tell i enjoy this stuff

word, good comments

so, I used to be a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and I've done my own research surveys (only published as Conference proceedings)

it starts with Cybernetics, Comm theory particulary media theory...that's where i get my "it's all video" stuff from

now, the **difference in perception** of the same type of media, but different presentation (video as a movie in a theater vs watching same movie on Netflix) isn't a particularly 'hot' research topic, but in general, it is relevant to find out how/why people get their info/entertainment

also, there's my life in academia, meeting tons of people and having these conversations

so, it's *some* actual first-hand science but it guides me; it's really a combination of many things that has led me to this thesis

you don't have to have done work like I have to come to the conclusions I have, but it's something i think about more often because it's my field

false dichotomy

if a peer-reviewed, published research study is your burden of proof for every contention, you're dead in the water

there's more ways to prove something than a peer-reviewed, published research study, especially when it comes to ****human behavior****

it's not "either research study or opinion"

rationality and logic are our friends...you should meet them

you can use rationality, logic and collected knowledge from education (including looking at research), and personal experience to understand this my friend