Comment Re:There's a device that's going to annihilate it (Score 1) 277
AC First Post wasn't either.
At least they were more creative.
Comment Re:Online uptake? (Score 1) 218
Pure logic also excludes physical observation without postulates. Morality can be taken as a postulate to any sound logical process, thus making the reasoner a moral being.
Not necessarily - you can quite easily observe morality and its effect on people and their reactions, and indeed take those into account in your analysis, all without actually subscribing to any particular moral set.
Certainly the illusion may be there - for example, a mentat to a highly moral (as considered by us) family sees a course of action that should be taken for the good of the family. Of course the mentat will make a plan than will involve a set of moral actions, simply because logic dictates that the family is more likely to take said course of action than if they found it objectionable!
This comes into the (as yet unresolved) difference of opinion between the Rationalists and Empiricists...
Mike(y)
Comment Re:Online uptake? (Score 1) 218
"Nice" is different from "good", especially in heroic stories.
You're right, and generally speaking the label "nice" is applied to people whom we see as in agreement with our moral compass.
So in the spectrum of human experience, there is plenty of room for psychopaths (who are as a rule not "nice") to do "good".
Wah? I specifically remember Lady Jessica noting Piter as a "twisted Mentat" precisely because he'd been left with no moral conscience.
Mentats were trained to be "outsiders" and to deal entirely within the realm of pure logic. This excludes moral conscience, except as one of the many factors that affect human reactions.
I therefore assert that the "twisted" was more a description of his methods... certainly he was broken by mentat standards in that he had an emotional involvement (specifically taking joy in the suffering of others)
And I would counter that your range of moral understanding is unfortunately narrow.
As is your disappointing extrapolation of me and my moral understanding based on nothing more than a brief, light-hearted discussion on a public forum.
Mike(y)
Comment Re:Online uptake? (Score 1) 218
I don't see why you call the Dune characters "nasty psychopaths". Sure, Baron Harkonnen is a nasty psychopath, and so are most of his family. But they're the villains. Who else in the book is a nasty psychopath?
Lets start with the "heroes" Paul, Alia, and Leto II who, let's be honest, weren't exactly nice neighbours...
This is a convenient definition from wiktionary: "A person who has no moral conscience"
By that definition every single mentat is a psychopath!
The Space Guild and the Bene Gesserit are borderline - they are more "differently conscienced".
Whilst I wouldn't say every character was a psychopath - the nature of the situation that these people find themselves in certainly pushes them in that direction.
Mike(y) - who IS a fan of the books
Comment Re:What do you mean did? (Score 1) 238
fickle power tripping wizards
Hey, that's a bit unfair!
Researchers Re-Examine Second Law of Thermodynamics 125
Many readers have written to tell us that researchers are examining the possibility of using Brownian ratchets to help combat the problem of heat dissipation in miniaturized electronics. "Currently, devices are engineered to operate near thermal equilibrium, in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that heat tends to transfer from a hotter unit to a cooler one. However, using the concept of Brownian ratchets, which are systems that convert non-equilibrium energy to do useful work, the researchers hope to allow computers to operate at low power levels, and harness power dissipated by other functions. 'The main quest we have is to see if by departing from near-equilibrium operation, we can perform computation more efficiently,' Ghosh told iTnews. 'We aren't breaking the Second Law — that's not what we are claiming,' he said. 'We are simply re-examining its implications, as much of the established understanding of power dissipation is based on near-equilibrium operation.'"
Jack Thompson Walks Out On Hearing 522
Erik J writes "Apparently Jack had heard enough.
The Florida Bar asked for an 'enhanced disbarment' in the disciplinary hearing of Jack Thompson, held earlier this afternoon. The recommendation means Thompson would be disbarred and prohibited from applying to practice law again for ten years, according to 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida spokesperson Eunice Sigler.
Thompson's disciplinary hearing apparently ended in the attorney walking out of the courtroom after saying the judge did not have the authority to hear his case."
Object Defies Categorization As Planet or Star 119
Kligat writes "The COROT project of the French Space Agency has detected an object described as defying categorization as a planet, star, or brown dwarf. Although only 0.8 times the radius of Jupiter, it is over 20 times as massive, giving it a density twice that of the metal platinum. If it is a star, it would be the smallest of those ever discovered."
Submission + - Jack Thompson Walks Out on Hearing (snagwiremedia.com)
Erik J writes: "Apparently Jack had heard enough.
The Florida Bar asked for an "enhanced disbarment" in the disciplinary hearing of Jack Thompson, held earlier this afternoon. The recommendation means Thompson would be disbarred and prohibited from applying to practice law again for ten years, according to 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida spokesperson Eunice Sigler.
Thompson's disciplinary hearing apparently ended in the attorney walking out of the courtroom after saying the judge did not have the authority to hear his case."
Submission + - UK: Blair Dismisses Online Anti ID-Card Petition
Anonymous Coward writes: "Elected Dictator / Prime Minister Tony Blair has responded personally via e-mail to 28,000 online petitioners opposing the UK's planned identity card scheme, and has closed the online petition.
The e-mail reads: "We live in a world in which people, money and information are more mobile than ever before. Terrorists and international criminal gangs increasingly exploit this to move undetected across borders and to disappear within countries. Terrorists routinely use multiple identities — up to 50 at a time." ..."ID cards which contain biometric recognition details and which are linked to a National Identity Register will make this much more difficult.""
Submission + - Pre-Installed Linux tops Dell customer requests
dhart writes: "Within only a few days of opening a new customer feedback website, Dell has discovered the feature most requested (by a wide margin!) as an option on all new Dell PCs: Pre-installed Linux. I believe they'll have a harder time now with the tired old mantra "there's no customer demand for Linux"."
Couple Who Catch Cop Speeding Could Face Charges 876
a_nonamiss writes "A Georgia couple, apparently tired of people speeding past their house, installed a camera and radar gun on their property. After it was installed, they caught a police office going 17MPH over the posted limit. They brought this to the attention of the local police department, and are now being forced to appear in front of a judge to answer to charges of stalking."
Cold Fusion Scientist Exonerated 171
Icarus1919 writes "New Scientist reports that the scientist who discovered a possible cold fusion reaction by bombarding a solvent with neutrons and sonic waves has recently been exonerated of accusations of scientific misconduct following the verification of his results by another scientist."
One REALLY Long Runway for Rent 211
DarkNemesis618 writes "NASA is looking into putting its 15,000 foot runway up for rent at the Kennedy Space Center. The runway, which is used for Space Shuttle landings, will soon be used less and less as the Shuttle fleet is set to be retired in 2010. The first private venture was seen last month when Steve Fossett took off at KSC in Virgin Atlantic's experimental plane. One promising deal in the works comes from Zero Gravity Corp. which offers customers a few seconds of weightlessness on a Boeing 727-200. The shuttle runway, built in the 1970s never got the use it was expected to, and with the next generation of space vehicles using parachutes to land, the runway is going to have even less use."
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"There... I've run rings 'round you logically" -- Monty Python's Flying Circus
