What I don't get is why. I mean, we are talking about a job? This is Mozilla right? They make a web browser? As much as I disagree with him on gay marriage (hell, the last wedding I went to had two grooms) I really don't think making a political contribution should cost a person a job.

I mean, I could understand if he actually was a politician, yes, they should be fired for their political statements and beliefs, but, wtf does it have to do with producing a browser? If it was about some policy he was pushing for at the company that is one thing but.... for a campaign donation, to a cause that lost and is over with?

I mean, he didn't come out and say he was going to make the company ignore the law and refuse to acknowledge same sex spouses of their employees? Did I miss that? because, this seems to me like being sore winners.

That sounds right to me. If you are inside a simulation then the simulation is all the reality you have access to. If the universe around you that you have the direct ability to interact with isn't reality, then what is?

In our world, 2 body gravitational physics is a simplicifaction that sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't. If my Kerbals become self-aware, that is no simulation to them, that really is how physics works.

We can make low energy transfers to the moon by taking advantage of the dynamics multiple simultaneous pulls; because 2 body gravity is only a simiplification for us.... they will never get to the Mun that way....it just doesn't happen. No matter what experiment they do, they will never find evidence of multiple body gravitation.

I wonder how many universes end when their inhabitants cause a fault in the code and their designer fails his simulation class.

I think you have it backwards and a bad example. They are looking for a predicted result and not seeing it; this strikes me at an attempt at asking if the prediction itself could be wrong.

When it comes to a quantum superposition of states, you need look no further than papers on the Bell Inequality to see a well defined situation with well defined predicted outcomes. Thouse outcomes clearly come down on the side of the predicted superpositions.

Then look at the cat problem. What does it even mean for the entire cat to be in a superposition of living and dead? Is it really a prediction of the wave equation or is it ignoring the realities of underlying complexity, the same complexity that makes the wave equation impossible to calculate.

Without being able to say with certainty what the prediciton is, do you actually even have a hypothesis?

I remember one of the smart but more humanities oriented friends of mine tried to engage the AP Physics teacher in a debate about whether the world really exists or could be a simulation/fantasy/etc. At the first posing of the question, the teacher immediately turned and flung himself bodily against the wall and exclaimed that it seemed pretty real to him.

I think there is an insight there that is lost often. If the world is a simulation, then how would we ever know as we have nothing to compare it to? Sure we can suspect, we can show that some quirks of quantities in this universe can be explained by the universe being a simulation of some sort..... but, those quircks would always be the only reference we have to compare against.

> I don't think they are saying that the universe itself can't "run" the "computations", but
> that part is not clear.

I thought they were clear when they said "He says there is an implicit assumption when physicists say that SchrÃdingerâ(TM)s equation can describe macroscopic systems. This assumption is that the equations can be solved in a reasonable amount of time to produce an answer."

So, if you can't solve the equation for an answer, you can't make a prediction. Take the system of the cat in the box, it is commonly said that the cat should be in a superposition of states but... that isn't based on someone solving the wave function....that is a guess based on understanding the general form of the wave function. Nobody can actually solve the wave function for a real system to the point that it completely represents an entire cat in a superposition.

Since they can't do that, the prediction that the cat should be in a superposition is not a valid hypothesis; it is more like a guess at what the testable result would be if you could compute it.

Not so sure about that. The very fact that this is news tells me:

1. It doesn't happen too often. There have been a handful of these... over the course of a few years. If it was happening every day, we wouldn't see stories about Linus chewing out some dev, nobody would bother posting stories like this every week or even month for long.

2. Since these stories have occasionally cropped up, I can't think of a single serious kernel story I have seen of any kind. SO the kernel must be in pretty good, stable shape if this is all there is to report.

> Let's wait and see. Perhaps some of these conditions don't hold in Europe for whatever reason?

You mean like it is all a bunch of unnecessary hoopla that costs way more than its worth for the nearly non-existent problems it solves?

Not only that but, its not like they add realistic sounds anyway. If you have an exterior shot of a car driving quickly down a road lines with trees, why is the dubbed in "engine sound" more natural there? It isn't what you would hear with the car driving by, it isn't what you would hear if you were magically floating in the air following the car like the camera is.... where is the wind noise? The bumps in the road? Wheels going over sticks? Leaves russling in the wind? Wind noise at the speeds in many of those shots should be loud enough to cause hearing damage over time....nobody faults them for not including that.

while that does make some sense.... I posted that before my drive in, and so I was thinking on my drive, and there is one definite way in which these systems are not superior to mirrors: Glare.

When sunlight shines on my mirror at the angles it does, it does not interfere with the reflection in the mirror. LCD screens shine light through the screen, rather than using a reflective surface.

I can't barely make out the image on my backup camera when the sun shines through the window onto the screen.

The only comparable issue with mirrors is at night with headlights, when lcd screens would really um.... shine.

> You can point a camera anywhere you want,

Yes but you can see more out of a mirror by just moving your head slightly, no need to reposition the camera for small adjustments, which can be significant at working distances.

> You'll most likely get multiple cameras, stitched views, and more coverage,

Maybe eventually. I would still like to keep my mirror in addition.

> I'd be happy just to get a good rearview camera on my motorbike. All I get to see in the mirrors are my elbows...

I had that problem too. It is actually a common problem, and good reason to check out the wide world of aftermarket accessories. Like... mirror risers or extenders. Swapping them out takes all of about a minute.

Except they already have the money. The real truth is likely that you are half right. However, they will not be "tackled". No, they will take their money, and existing expertise, and become the next version Kennedy and Rockefeller families.

40 years down the line, Mexico will be electing their children to office.

I have made the open offer before that anyone who thinks waterboarding isn't torture is welcome to explain to me why that is, as long as they can do it while being waterboarded until I am satisfied with what they are saying is the truth.

If you think that is easy and cheap....I have this bridge in NYC for sale, and man is it a steal!

You seriously think someone putting up those posters wont be found hanging from a brige with posters nailed to his corpse? These Cartels are not street gangs like we have street gangs now. They are better armed, better funded, and in some cases....are the police.

Shit the Zetas, ever heard of them? They were started by police.

There is no easy way out now that these monsters have been created. Created by naieve people seeking simple solutions. People who thought they could enforce away drug problems.... they failed to change addiction rates (their basic goal) and instead, created violent street gangs...here and around the world.

Now this is the result. The same result as alcohol prohibition gave us, except amplified because instead of a short 15 or so years, its been going on for generations now.

Frankly, every single one of those drug warriers who created this situation deserve to be strung up from their necks in appreciation for the mess they made while trying and failing to control people's desires.

> OKCupid is briefly bringing it to the attention of Firefox users and then allowing them to continue
> using the site unimpeded. As 'retaliation' goes that is pretty damn mild.

Agreed. I almost went off on a rant about this last night when I noticed that they allow anyone to click right through and use the site anyway. They are using their position as a bully pulpit, big deal. Its not like anyone is even prevented from doing anything.

> I am also getting rather tired of this 'making people afraid to voice their viewpoints' meme. The
> anti-gay movement is not even remotely afraid to voice their views, they are in a very strong position.

Actually I think you will find this is far less true than it used to be. Tolerance for the anti-gay crowd in general seems to be waning. In fact, so far, it seems every company that announces a gay-friendly policy or stance gets huge support.

I think the reality is, their position was never all that strong and was mostly perpetuated by the combination of a small number of vocal people who cared, and a large number of people who really didn't care that much and went along....mostly because they never had reason to think much about it.

Even as a teenager before I knew that I knew any gay people, even then I noticed that whenever it came up, it was always the same people, and they gave the impression of true physical revulsion at the very idea of gay sex.... a revulsion that I never experienced, even not being gay myself....not only that but that... other people...the ones nodding and going along with the haters... they didn't exhibit the same reactions either!

Overall, I think more people expressed anti-gay ideas out of fear of being branded gay by buliies or out of not wanting to make waves, than actually hated gay people.

Ahhh but it isn't just "labs will release viruses" but that labs particularly worried about really nasty viruses, will create them in order to study the possibility, leading to the very outbreaks they were created to study in hopes of avoiding.

Its not just labs working on viruses, but people being so worried about labs creating plagues that they create labs that create plagues as a result.