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Comment Re:Both options kind of suck (Score 1) 34

The non-biological components are definitely more robust. You can just plug in new ones. Even do upgrades. The first thing I'd do after the amputation is dedicate a bunch of time to learning as much about prosthetics and 3D printing as I could. "Doctor heal thyself" would be a pretty good thing to dedicate the rest of my life to.

Bullshit, your biological components are a lot more robust. The average llifespan is 80 years.
Show me one mechanical machine (heart) which can do that without some offline maintenance.

Comment Re:"more media hype than science" - LOL (Score 2) 195

Scientists can only report their findings. They can't force anyone to do anything. But it isn't helpful to have a legion of fossil fuel astroturfers and paid shills attacking their integrity at every point, nor is it helpful to have these same legions overstating the uncertainty, and making it sound as if industrial emissions are somehow magically inert.

Comment Re:"more media hype than science" - LOL (Score 1, Troll) 195

Because humans can happily puke as much as CO2 as they can into the atmosphere, because apparently the chemistry and physics surrounding CO2 IR absorption and emission is all evil Commie lies! You agree with me that all climatologists should be forced to admit they are evil liars, right, and leading ones should be shot for economic crimes!

Let's join together to make every scientist that claims we can fuck ourselves over pay for the pinko evil ways! Let's get those fucking scientists now!!!!

Comment Re:Crazy! (Score 1) 459

I suspect the situation is a lot more complex than that. Something as critical to the Iranian leadership as nuclear R&D isn't controlled by any elected official in Iran, is squarely the province of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khameini and the Revolutionary Guard. By all accounts, Khameini, even during his heyday, was considered a lesser figure as compared to that wily old fox Khomeini, and the view I've seen Iranian experts put forth on a number of occasions since the failed 2009 uprising is that Iran is essentially a thinly veiled military dictatorship, with a democratic civilian government with expansive but still limited domestic powers, and absolutely no authority on foreign policy.

The official narrative is that President Hassan Rouhani has been empowered to negotiate a deal. This would seem to make him more a sort of ambassador of the Supreme Leader (and from that we can likely derive the other senior members of the various power structures in Iran; Revolutionary Guard, Guardian Council and the military). Clearly those responsible for Iran's foreign policy, perhaps realizing that long-standing economic problems exacerbated by recent sanctions, are a long-term threat to their hold on power, and the only way to guarantee internal unity and peace is with prosperity.

My feeling is the ultimate game plan is to replicate the way China has become a significant economic power. Keep the trappings of the "ideological" government, in Iran's case the theocratic elements, but allow more openness in economic matters, allowing the "functional" government more sway to pursue domestic and foreign policies that improve Iran's economic position.

So long as Iran was subject not only to harsh sanctions, but also diplomatically isolated from significant Powers like the US, economic problems would continue to drag Iran down.

Then there's the steady collapse of authority in northern Iraq and the now-certain collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. The latter, in particular, essentially leaves Iran isolated, its most significant ally within a year or two, or by some accounts perhaps only months, of collapse. Victory of ISIS also creates significant direct threats to Iran, and ISIS's destruction is of great importance to Iran.

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