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Submission + - Sun Not A Signficant Driver In Climate Change (ed.ac.uk) 1

damn_registrars writes: Scientists from Edinburgh, Scotland have recently published a study based on data from 1,000 years of climate data. They have compared the effects of differing factors including volcanic activity, solar activity, and greenhouse gases to find which has the most profound effect on climate. They have concluded that the driving factor since 1900 has been greenhouse gases. Their work has been published today in Nature Geoscience: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2040.html

Comment Re:Unlikely to work (Score 1) 181

The human brain absolutely IS a deterministic computer. (on some level) Choice is based on available data. That data may be from any combination of possible sensory and memetic inputs, but no decision is made in a vacuum. We may not -- yet -- know the specific algorithms that determine, for example, the choice of a mate. We know many of the factors that can contribute: specific hormone levels, societal norms, etc, and any Advertising exec can program the vast majority to buy unrelated stuff based on those inputs. To use poor old Pavlov as example, the mind can be trainied in very specific ways. If brains were non-deterministic, there would be equal chance that ringing a bell would cause salivation and homicidal rage. The brain is a black box. There is nothing to say we can't build our own black box that does the same thing.

Comment Re:Best malware protection (Score 1) 201

A good maiming is probably better. Death itself is not a great deterrent. Lots of people say "I want to die" not many say, "I want to be handicapped". So. cut off their hands and remove their vocal cords. This diminishes their ability to create more spam, and also diminishes the possibility of them passing on the meme that made them think that what they were doing was okay.

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