And if there wasn't a large and powerful government, then corporations would suddenly have no power over the system? How does that work?

Rob

They're more than willing to admit that blacks are responsible for more crimes than other races, even when there are many more whites and Hispanics who are far worse off, economically and socially.

Er, either you're simply wrong about this or you're using the word "more" in two different ways in the same sentence. While it's true that there are more black criminals per capita, it's also true that there are more socioeconomically deprived black people per capita. And while there are more impoverished whites and Hispanics in an absolute number, there are also more white and Hispanic criminals in an absolute number.

That's not even getting into the fact that there's a systematic bias against blacks in our judicial system, or that most black criminals are considered criminals as a direct or indirect result of the War on Drugs which you yourself decried just a few sentences later...

Rob

Your post is proof that if we based our view of the world and our policies on what is taught in an introductory class on any particular subject, we'd be totally screwed. Eradicating low intelligence, which is based on a whole host of genetic traits and environmental influences, would be orders of magnitude harder than eradicating mental retardation, which itself is already impossible to do through eugenics. (If you don't know why, read up on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in relation to rare recessive traits.)

Rob

You can't declare that ownership laws in another country apply to you when they protect you (e.g. copyright law) and at the same time declare that they don't apply to you when they protect someone else. This would be a slam-dunk case if not for certain Supreme Court Justices who can't help but give big slobbery kisses to any corporation that gives them the time of day.

Rob

Do these crystals have a cubic structure?

Maybe we were all educated stupid after all...

Rob

That's more of a problem with FPSes, though TF2 does happen to be a game that didn't have as much of a problem with idiot kids until it went F2P. No, the major problem with F2P is that it usually devolves to P2W (pay-to-win), where the stuff they charge you for is necessary to do well at the game. I'd rather pay upfront for a game where everyone is on an equal playing field than end up paying the same amount (or more) for a game where money trumps skill or perseverance. (TF2 is ironically the best example I've seen of not falling into this trap.) And that's not getting into the fact that F2P games are multiplayer-only almost by definition...

Rob

The problem with this argument is that he's actually trying to justify moving towards F2P. The choice between DRM and F2P is the video-game equivalent of choosing between the giant douche or the turd sandwich.

Rob

False analogy. Nuclear power is one of the most tightly regulated industries in America. Agriculture is far more of a free market than that is, and thus much less vulnerable to the vagaries of political willpower. A labeling requirement would not change that.

Aside from that, when it comes to doing something unethical like preventing a consumer from giving informed consent, you're going to need a better backing argument than "informed consent isn't all that great for business."

Rob

None of that is relevant to the simple question of whether or not GMO foods should be labeled as such. We still show people what the workings of a sausage factory look like despite the fact that most people would rather not know, and we still tell people which vaccines contain thimerosal despite the stupidity surrounding that topic.

Rob

On Bill Maher's show: if GMO food truly is safe and beneficial (and it generally is if you remove Monsanto et al. from the equation), then the obvious solution is not to keep consumers from knowing what it is they're eating, but just the opposite--educate them on exactly what it is they're eating in a neutral, fact-based manner.

Rob

You guys did notice we're talking about the video games here, right?

Rob

You're confusing Pokemon with Magic. Also, if chess was invented in the 90s, I can almost guarantee you'd see similar bullshit marketing tactics.

Rob

The only important difference between competitive Pokemon and competitive chess is that chess is old and respected.

Rob

the study notes that nearly all the patents were in science, technology, engineering and math

As opposed to all of those patents in English lit and women's studies, I suppose...

Rob

...I see a problem with filtering email that you may not have noticed.

Let's ignore all of the cynical "people who only communicate by email don't deserve to have a voice in government" responses and assume that email in itself is fine, it just depends on whether or not the email in question is a robocall. The problem here is that it's not a binary question. The interest groups I'm familiar with allow part or all of the email to be personalized; for example, a mass email protesting attacks on women's rights may start out with some boilerplate stuff but give an individual woman a space to relate her own personal experience with contraception or abortion. Whatever filtering method you use has to recognize this issue to be effective.

Rob