What Did You Change Your Mind About in 2007? 578
chrisd writes "The Edge 2008 question (with answers) is in. This year, the question is: 'What did you change your mind about and why?'. Answers are featured from scientists as diverse as Richard Dawkins, Simon Baron-Cohen, George Church, David Brin, J. Craig Venter and the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees, among others. Very interesting to read. For instance, Stewart Brand writes that he now realizes that 'Good old stuff sucks' and Sam Harris has decided that 'Mother Nature is Not Our Friend.' What did Slashdot readers change their minds about in 2007?"
I like Harris' line ... (Score:5, Funny)
I would go further and say that, not only is she not looking out for us, but Mother Nature is a bitch.
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Cripes.
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You must be new around here (humanity), because that's just what we do. Almost everything we do not understand is assigned an identity, a personality, and it almost always wants to hurt you (or burn you in hell forever... out of love).
In any case...
Mother Nature is NOT aware of anything
how are you so sure?
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(Of course, cell language is pretty limited - that's probably the only words they know.)
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"THAT'S what you consider as an example of intelligence?!?!?"
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A Whore will screw everybody...a biatch will screw everybody *but* you.
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:5, Insightful)
you... need to go outside more.. mother nature she "loves" you, specifically she loves to attempt to kill you at every chance she gets, that's why we develop technology to enforce the restraining order against her.
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That is one of the funniest things I've read lately.
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Seriously though, there is no such thing as "Mother Nature".
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That being sa
Outsourcing actually isn't to bad (Score:2, Interesting)
It has a disciplining effect on the entire organization since the punishment for immaturity is harsh and tangible.
An additional benefit is that it has a rather sobering effect on local know-it-all's when they see that their work is in fact inferior to what we can get from a third world sourcing partner. After this sort of ego bruising they are more ready to accept modern and mature practices.
Re:Outsourcing actually isn't to bad (Score:5, Funny)
Offshoring is a non-solution to a non-problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
After this sort of ego bruising they are more ready to accept modern and mature practices.
You're part of what makes people hate offshoring, you use it for fear, and not productivity.
Re:Offshoring is a non-solution to a non-problem. (Score:4, Informative)
You're more likely to get shot as well. Someone here once recommended Going Postal [popmatters.com] to me, and it covers such intentional marginalization of the working class, iirc.
And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:5, Insightful)
and of course they have to accept the erosion of their middle class status to the point they will never ever retire and can't ever afford a house.. "as the rents go up, and job opportunities go down"
yes i'm sure our descent into third world status will "only" harm the "immature"
and where do you get off declaring what is and is not mature? did it ever occur to you that you may be the one who isn't mature. Usually the ones who believe themselves far enough above others to pronounce judgment are themselves the fools.
But yeah, go ahead and support the destruction of the middle class for your twisted sense of self righteousness regarding other people's maturity.
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I would argue it is not destroying the middle class, so much as moving the middle class.
Welcome to the global economy.
There is going to be a painful transition period while the former third world achieves what they have not had for so long.
Blame the old status-quo on imperialism, blame it on racism, blame it on whatever you want. Regardless, the world is becoming an increasingly level playing field - finally.
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It is right to call it the destruction of the middle class.
They dont gain our standard of living, but we lose our standard of living.
Painful transition my arse, it's called corporations raping our nation and leaving us for dead while spineless politicians let them.
It's called the renewal of the gilded age because spineless politicians let them.
It has nothing to do with labor competition
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Without an influx of money and the growth of leisure, there never will be political reform, IMHO.
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We are at the point where we have our "leisure" from ages 1-18 and after that we never see any extended periods of "me time" again.
compare this with 50 years ago when people could come home and kick back, now we are expected to work 18 hour days, 6 of them off the clock thanks to obscene deadlines and quotas.
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, SOME people could comehome and kick back - the upper-middle and upper class. Lower middle and lower class folks have ALWAYS had to work their asses off, mainly at shit jobs, for long hours and low pay.
You are pissed because jobs that USED to produce an upper-middle class lifestyle don't do that anymore. Guess what - that kind of stuff happens all the time. Everyone here rails against the **AA's for not recognizing a failing business model, but somehow thinks individuals should be immune from those same rules. Why?
IT jobs used to be a good path to the upper middle class; now they are not. Same with factory jobs. Welcome to reality.
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There is a key difference in your fallacious comparison.
The **AA is a failing business model, not a way of life.
This implies another business model can take the place of the **AA
This is not the case with offshoring.
The middle class is not a business model pal, it is the american dream.
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~900 square foot home
1 car
1 small TV
a refrigerator and a couple small appliances
No computer, no video games, no cell phones, no cable TV
If you are willing to accept all those conditions, I'm sure you can afford some more free time. If you want more material wealth than 50 years ago, then don't complain that you have to work harder than 50 years ago.
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm an academic, and the single biggest reason is that I'm a workaholic and if the place didn't almost shut down for 4 months of the year, I'd work myself to an early grave. As it is now, though, I work my ass off 8 months of the year, and 4 months of the year I'm blessed and cursed to be able to get almost nothing done (well, nothing that requires the organization). It's been very good for my health and mental well-being, if not necessarily for my wallet.
Over the last summer break, I spent about a week staying with my friends who work at a major IT company as developers. I saw their lives, and was envious. They make a lot more money, they come home earlier, and it is virtually impossible for them to work at home, so they don't. "Damn," I thought, "I really did pick the wrong career." But then I noticed something: I was staying at their house in a different country from where I live for a week, and that was just one week out of about 7 or 8 in a row that I didn't have to report to work. I was still getting some things done on the laptop, but that had much more to do with my workaholic nature than necessity. "Damn," I thought, "maybe I picked the right career after all."
The point I'm trying to make is that you are ultimately in control of your time. You are. Really. It's your time. Your life. If you feel that you are losing it to a company, and the money isn't worth it, you need to change gears. It's not their fault. It's your fault for doing it.
Now, this decision will most certainly result in a decrease in income. It may mean you aren't buying a house (if you're in the US, this is a terrible time to buy anyway--wait for the market to really crash first--and if you already bought, you have my sympathy), it may mean that vacation is usually spent on the couch instead of on the beach. It may mean you will be hanging on to your old car and just keeping it going until it dies. It means you don't get the "American Dream" kind of life people in my generation seem to somehow feel is necessary. BUT, you will get your life back.
Depending on who you are as a person--whether you value money or time more--this may or may not be a viable lifestyle choice. But the choice is there.
Finally, however, I want to address this idea that we work harder than our elders. I think that is really only the case on Leave it to Beaver. In talking to my parents, both of their parents worked. Mom got home earlier than Dad (schoolteachers in both cases), but Dad (a lawyer on one side and a shopkeeper on the other) got home late. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but I really think that we have too rosy a view of our elders' lives. In my own parents' case, they run a business that is attached to the house, so they were around a lot, but were also usually working. When my dad had to go out, which was/is almost every day, he didn't come home until late (8-9). He also gets called out to truck wrecks (independent insurance adjuster specializing in the hard stuff that companies hire a third party to handle) in the middle of the night fairly regularly, and might not come shuffling back home for 18 hours, after dealing with cops, insurance companies, grief-ridden truck drivers, and the survivors of the family they just killed. That being said, there are down periods with little work and no money, and I grew up being pulled out of school during those periods to drive around the country and learn things. My parents basically made the same choice I did. Time is more important than money.
Further, think of the Depression generation! They didn't work because there wasn't any. Lots of time, but absolutely no money. If they did work, it was long hours in a dusty field. And before that? The agriculture- and manufacturing-based economy. The ag business is still crazy hours (grew up in a little town--had lots of friends who were farm kids and grew up working), and the only reason manufacturing went to 8 hours a day is that in the 20s factories were literally working people to deat
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Coming from a company that has had more layoffs than I can remember since 2000 (each taking about three to ten thousand people with it), I can tell you the changes I have witnessed in the local employees.
The change is that many are no longer excited, hard-working, enthusiasti
Re:Outsourcing actually isn't to bad (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Outsourcing actually isn't to bad (Score:4, Interesting)
And next year you'll have learned that offshore outsourcing isnt so cheap after all.
Well, maybe not next year, but the writing's on the wall; between the lackluster performance of the dollar and the (almost) pan-asian economic overheating and inflationary meltdown, as well as the young sourcing partners growing up and aquiring their own managerial fat and rigidity, you'll find the balance shifting once again.
Personally I've been overjoyed to have some foreign colleagues; suddenly there are actually people I can send work to when we are far too overloaded to do anywhere near all that needs to be done.
"After this sort of ego bruising they are more ready to accept modern and mature practices."
Yes, well, what goes around comes around. Dont expect temporary phenomena to last forever; you may find yourself in the position to have to kiss and polish those egos once again, so if I were you I'd concentrate a bit more on the positive aspects rather than gloating and fostering discontent.
Re:Outsourcing actually isn't too bad (Score:3, Informative)
That the local developers gets 'inspired' a bit is a secondary effect. It's not like their job is in danger since we're hiring like crazy. It's mostly management who's in hot wat
Ron Paul and the war (Score:4, Interesting)
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I'd be much happier if the US was really in the business of exporting liberty.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:4, Funny)
Well, Cheney did say we'd be greeted as liberators. However, I believe he misspoke and meant to say we'd be greeted as obliterators.
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Second point: Ron Paul being a creationist is completely irrelevant to his ability to be a good president. Religious views have no bearing on one's ability to run the country.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:4, Informative)
I would also like to remind people that Saddam Hussein was a secularist, as was Josef Stalin. It was only our Administration that tried to paint Hussein as being in league with the Islamists, which was obviously untrue, but it doesn't take much to make the morons who vote in America to believe in a lie.
Not that I care much for religiosity either, but let's keep our facts and history straight (after all, the Taliban were highly religious, and Afghanistan under their rule wasn't a fun place to live either).
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:4, Insightful)
Really? To me it says something very relevant about his ability to reason from facts.
Religious views have no bearing on one's ability to run the country.
But creationism isn't just a religious belief, it's also a (fallacious) scientific position. How can a president deal rationally with issues such as biotechnology or global warming when he can't bring himself to accept evolution? It's like hiring an accountant who doesn't believe in negative numbers, and expecting him to do your taxes correctly. Not going to happen.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:5, Informative)
Your point is valid, but your example is not. Plymouth was the second successful colony settled by the British--the first was Jamestown, Virginia. Jamestown was settled by migrant Englishmen looking to simply settle and conquer the New World. And if "this country" includes Florida, then the Spanish colony at St. Augustine, Florida predates both by half a century. But in a purely geographic sense, "this country" was settled by Native Americans centuries before any white man set foot upon it.
Furthermore, the Puritans were tyrannical--which is why Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and other people who fell out of favor with the Puritans settled Rhode Island. In fact, the Puritans were the perpetrators of the witch hunts.
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First point: secularism is no guarantee of liberty. Religion is no guarantee of tyranny... I remind you that this country was first settled by Puritans.
Other posts are already discussing the Puritan thing, but I might also point out that it's very interesting to note the level of religiosity among the "founding fathers" who had so much influence on what made America successful. Remember, this was still decades before Darwin was even born (so the other option to "God made the creatures" was basically "dunno"), in a country including a whole lot of people who were more or less driven to the US because of their die-hard religious views.
Lotta those weird "de
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After a
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:5, Insightful)
The US now faces a 21st century with a rising China (something that clever folks have in fact been predicting for a couple of centuries) and Russia recovering from its wounds and taking back its position as a pre-eminent Old World power. Europe, despite a lot of roadbumps, is making a growing, vibrant political union, and I suspect in the long term it will become a Neo-Rome, controlling the Mediterranean.
The Neo-cons have weakened the United States at the very moment when it should have been mustering its resources to prepare for the new order. They thought they can short-circuit the historical trends, and by flying the American flag on distant lands and bringing democracy that they would retain uncontested pre-eminence. They seriously misread the reconstruction of Japan and thought that it could be a roadmap for the Middle East, to safeguard oil supplies and put in friendly powers.
It's time for Americans to start reading their history, to start understanding that the United States is not some blessed land, but is an empire like any, and that it is just as vulnerable as any in history.
What is war good for? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not because it applied, but because it would make you agree.
Why are they killing people? For liberty! We like liberty, so it makes it okay to kill people: it's for something we like!
I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:5, Insightful)
In early 2007 I thought I might be able to vote for Ron Paul against certain Democrats if it came down to that (unlikely).
After learning more about Dr. Paul: that he hasn't felt the need to educate himself about the scientific facts about evolution and rejects it, though wasn't willing to raise his hand during the televised debate where the candidates were asked that question; that he calls abortion "Murder"; and, most critically, that he wants to remove the ability of the federal government to intervene in violations of chuch/state separation.
If the founding fathers got nothing else right with our country, they got the separation of church and state right. Integrating religion and state power is a sure path to tyranny.
Re:I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:4, Informative)
If you believe the federal government should be involved in abortion law and education then amend the Constitution.
Also, on the separation of church and state, read the first amendment, it addresses congress. My state Constitution has provisions for separation of church and state, and a state violation should be dealt with at the state level. If I wanted the federal government to have the authority to address a state level violation of separation of church and state I would, and if you wanted you should, ask for an amendment to the Constitution to allow such.
P.S.--I'm an atheist.
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Re:I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Evolution may be the fundamental principle of biological history, but that's only one facet of biology as a whole.
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It's the same evolution.
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Libertarians have been tossing those ideas around forever. Ron Paul brings absolutely nothing new to the table, apart from a dose of religious insanity, and a rather hypocritical view on states' rights (a Ron Paul administration would almost certainly result in vastly larger and more powerful state governments)
Although I agree that the US Federal government needs to be cut back, we can't do so by outsourcin
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Ron Paul's contribution is bringing libertarianism into the mainstream, something the likes of Harry Brown never did before.
and a rather hypocritical view on states' rights (a Ron Paul administration would almost certainly result in vastly larger and more powerful state governments)
How is that hypocritical? Paul's message is not that we need less government everywhere (though that helps), but real
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Utter Rubbish (Score:3, Interesting)
Ron Paul has repeatedly said that some of his personal heroes are Martin Luther King Jr and Ghandi -- very odd choices for a white supremacist. He also said in an interview [washingtonpost.com] that he would consider someone like Walter Williams, a black economist, as his running mate.
The article posted has long since been dismissed as the writing of a ghost writer that was subsequently removed from his staff. His public life of service has shown no other evidence of any racism beyond this single article from the early ninet
The price of oil is still too cheap (Score:5, Insightful)
Proof that gasoline is still too cheap: I still see tons of Hummers, Expeditions, Navigators, Armadas, Sequoias and other mondo SUVs (aka Urban Assault Vehicles) on the road.
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Re:The price of oil is still too cheap (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The price of oil is still too cheap (Score:4, Interesting)
If gasoline were a more appropriate price (e.g., $6/gal), we'd see alternatives popping up. Europe has been paying that much for gas for several years now. At this rate, the US will continue to produce/consume SUV's and trucks until gasoline becomes so expensive that it makes economic sense to switch over to something else. That aside, the US gov't is promoting patent law bullshit instead of realizing that it hinders our economic progress and ties up our courts, just like the war on drugs.
The incentives for the US to stop sucking eggs aren't in place. It feels like there's nothing we can do to stop idiots like Ted Stevens from getting elected. Congress doesn't enact laws that are in our best interests and the president's a moron.
I changed my mind about wanting to live in the US in 2007. It seems worth seriously considering a move to another country or even another continent. I'm thinking about vacationing in London. Canada and the UK don't seem like bad ideas right now. There's more wrong with this country than its president.
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Meh; talk is cheap. Let me know when you actually move.
I used to think like you do, about how much is farking wrong with this place and how other countries seem to 'get it' better than we do on so many issue
Ted Stevens (Score:3, Interesting)
Did I miss something about Stevens? Did he say something outrageous like like propose logging every packet in order to help fight terrorism? I mean, it can't just be the "series of tubes" thing, right? Look, I like Jon Stewart as much as the next guy, probably more so, but continuing to make fun of him like that just seems to make it apparent that there really wasn't all that much to make fun of. I mean, the guy use
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There are 4 reasons for this:
1) The middles east is stll unstable 2) Sweet crude was recently added to the strategic pertoleum reserves 3) Nigerian production has dropped 4) China and India are using more ( and to improve its pre-olympic green image, China will buy more of the sweet crude )
Re:The price of oil is still too cheap (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been wrong almost every time in guessing how much gasoline will rise. I think the prices will depend on the political situation going into November. Did you notice how gas prices stabilized and remained relatively low during the 2006 election? I know people say the prices weren't manipulated, but it sure seemed to me the oil companies did what they could to help the Republicans win in 06. It didn't help. So unless there is some kind of major disruption I suspect we may see a repeat of the Fall 2006 pricing.
I've no doubt it'll hit $5 USD/gal at some point in the future, but I don't think it'll be 2008. Supply and availability are going to be the real determining factors. Until there are shortages and long lines people will grumble but they won't be up in arms.
I predict gasoline will eventually be sold per liter as prices go up and that car mileage will be listed in kilometers per gallon. It won't change anything but it'll be an attempt to obfuscate the real costs.
Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Windows XP (Score:5, Funny)
Flying cars (Score:5, Funny)
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Obviously you didn't score one of *these* [amazon.com] babies.
The government isn't out to get me (Score:2)
Nothing (Score:2)
Republicans and Democrats (Score:2)
So I leaned Democrat. Until I saw that the Democratic Congress rolled over for Bush just as much as the Republicans did.
Now I don't know how to lean. Now I just despair.
Third Party (Score:3, Interesting)
Why not third party?
I'm a Government conservative and a social liberal (I think we should stop violating the Constitution, get rid of the IRS, stop these stupid wars, religion doesn't belong in Government, I don't give a rat's ass who you sleep with, and I don't see why gays can't get married). I vote third party and if there's not third party candidate, I abstain with the naive hope that the politicians will notice somehow.
That politicians / legislative bodies ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Healthcare reform, acting on global warming, tax reform, ending a meaningless war, supporting the middle class, fighting terrorism at its roots ( in the Madrases ) and local Muslim populations (versus invading random countries like Iraq or Iran), energy independence
Since a teenager I've been at least tuned into the issues / politics - and would get wrapped up with one candidate or another
religion (Score:5, Interesting)
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I changed my mind about religion, ironically it was because I started going back to church that I realized I didn't believe any of it.
I realized that a large group of people like getting up on Sunday mornings to sing songs and look at each other's fancy clothes. I realized that religion is more of a social thing then a belief.
I realized that people fear things like the earth being round, or the earth orbiting the sun, or evolution, because they're afraid that such knowledge will destroy their ability to get up on Sunday mornings and sing songs.
I realized that far too many people let emotion get in the way of logic.
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Your emotional urge to follow logic no matter where it goes is something you should examine more closely.
-- A fellow atheist.
I changed my mind about the music business (Score:3, Interesting)
Impeachment. (Score:4, Interesting)
Environmentalist and VideoGame Nuts and Linux Fans (Score:4, Insightful)
2. Video Games do affect behavior in many children. Studies and family members in the field of education with years of observational experience have made me switch my opinion. I'm still not a big fan of government intervention on the subject, though.
3. Linux is ready for the desktop thanks to the EeePC. In fact, much of open source appears to be ready to eliminate the needs or even desire for a commercial alternative. Linux, OpenOffice, Firefox. I no longer feel like I'm having to settle for second rate in order to save money. I'd actually choose them even if the alternatives were free.
4. Slashdot is moderated largely by hypocritical children who will mod up popular opinion and mod down unpopular posts regardless of accuracy. I predict the slow demise of Slashdot as the comments area, a once fertile land of discussion and intelligent observation becomes a members only arena linux/mac fanboys and video gamers who can't envision anyone else's opinion being right other than theirs. It will be a place where where speaking ill of religion, republicans or windows will be given an automatic +2 informative while speaking ill social web sites, video games, or modding practices will be an auto -2 troll.
All four are great discoveries and lifestyle changes for me.
Happy New Year.
Re:Environmentalist and VideoGame Nuts and Linux F (Score:5, Funny)
Doublethink (Score:3, Funny)
This morning, about 12:01 AM... (Score:3, Funny)
I changed my mind about myself (Score:3, Insightful)
In other words, things are [relatively] simple now, because I only have to focus on myself (there is no need to "change other people" or "alter my environment", etc). Of course, this may also be nothing but lying to myself and trying to excuse the poor results of 2007
Emotion (Score:5, Insightful)
It used to be hard to say stuff like that, even to myself. But not any more, personal growth is always a good thing to achieve. And no she wasn't a girlfriend or anything like that either before anyone asks.
Oh and tv. It is now almost entirely out of my life, to be replaced by real life things like skydiving and adrenaline rushes.
Re:Emotion (Score:4, Interesting)
This is happening to a lot of people these days, men in particular. --My own version of it, (and I always thought I had a solid connection with my emotional side), happened during the Katrina disaster. I was utterly and unexpectedly overwhelmed with emotion for several days to the point of not being able to function socially at all; it was like I could feel the fear and pain of all those people all at once. --In the past, I would easily have been able to observe such a massive tragedy with detached interest. I was really stunned by the whole episode. Something was blasted open inside me, and it took most of six months to figure out how to live with the new awareness. I don't doubt that it was a good thing, but it was a very difficult process to go through!
-FL
Changing Minds? (Score:4, Informative)
The following are my personal notes on the article, written and organized as I read it:
This is a really good article, though like past years, you can know the general lean (political, philosophical and scientific) of the participants before you begin. However, there are always answers that go up against the grain, and these are the ones I find most interesting. Some of the answers are pretty fascinating, like this one from Joseph Ledoux:
What's so fascinating about this answer to me is that it is something that's been clear to me, upon reflection, for many years. I have a clear "memory" of my second birthday, even though this is a time from which most persons don't have memories. Now, it's known that that being able to form sentences early (which I was able to do) helps in the creation of memory; being able to "narrate" thought allows us to construct some sort of record of events better. However, around the age of 11 or so, I began to realize that I was not remembering the event so much as my prior recollection of it. This meant I began to be very careful about my use of memory and how much I trusted my own mind, which I know to play tricks on me at times. It's known that, even for a mentally well person, a long-held falsehood can become true for the person simply because they create a memory of the false event. Also, philosophy has been aware of the importance of this sort of trick of the mind for some time. It's interesting to see science just now approach it, and it is instructive in how scientific paradigm (e.g., that memory functions like a hard drive) can override the obvious conclusions of self-reflection.
A lot of the answers touch on classic issues in the philosophy of science, a field some scientists love (most geologists, theoretical physicists) and others hate (most biologists). Karl Sabbagh's answer about expertise is right and wrong in equally interesting measures (yes, one should not trust experts unguarded, but, no, your judgement is not as good as an expert's in an area of their expertise, per se). Piet Hut's answer about explanations is sort of trivial for anyone who knows philosophy of science, but a good example of the problem (or explanation--hah!) for the neophyte. Colin Tudge's answer about the limits of science is simillarly instructive and worth repeating (in part):
my (ex) wife (Score:3, Funny)
Richard Dawkins (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I married! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Changed my mind about the future of the US. (Score:4, Informative)
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So if they spend less on socialized healthcare than we do, yet they're doing better, then obviously the amount we're spending is not the problem, and perhaps if we spent less and changed some things at the same time, maybe our situation would get better.
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I am just stunned someone who compared the NHS with the Nazi party got modded 'Insightful'.
Now its my turn to correct your laughably misguided information. I live in the UK, and I have been both a patient and an admin worker for the NHS. I thus have in depth knowledge of one of the largest 'socialised' healthcare systems in the world.
It works fine. When it does fuck up, its normally because they've been forced to use an outside contractor for something (MRSA wasn't really a problem until some genius in
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Re:Republicans (Score:5, Funny)
No he isn't. A quick search reveals that he is a member of something called the United Church of Christ. This does not appear to be a Muslim denomination: the clue's in the word 'Christ'.
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The way I see it, one of three things can happen. . .
1. He'll be elected, and it'll be some form of, "Meet the new boss".
2. He'll be another also-ran, soon to be forgotten.
3. He'll board a small plane.
-FL
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed. His up-front position on health care and indeed, his belief in a totally mercantilist approach to running a country is crazy. I've visited a number of states which allow the spirit of competition to dictate even simple things like zoning laws, and I must say having seen chemical factories leaking across the street from kindergartens and gun shops in largely residential areas offered just about the most intensely insane