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?"
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.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd be much happier if the US was really in the business of exporting liberty.
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.
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
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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:Outsourcing actually isn't to bad (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:1, Insightful)
And GP: It's kind of sad that it took a lunatic like Ron Paul to finally see something so blatantly obvious, but congratulations anyway. I sincerely hope you are not supporting him though. The guy is an anarchist, creationist, and at the very least a promoter of racists.
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:I like Harris' line ... (Score:3, Insightful)
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?
Re:Republicans (Score:3, Insightful)
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:Ron Paul and the war (Score:3, Insightful)
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 outsourcing governmental functions to private corporations, or allocating powers previously held by the fed to the individual states. Likewise, there are a few limits to how far the cuts need to be made -- healthcare and education in the US are a joke, and there is absolutely no evidence that the private sector is willing to fill that void.
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
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.
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:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:3, Insightful)
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 either. Studies show again and again that the education of so called "skilled labor" in other nations is not nearly the quality those in industrialized nations receive. They are not nearly as competent as workers, all they are is cheap labor to be exploited both for their work and to leverage americans into gilded age poverty.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:3, Insightful)
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: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.
Re:The price of oil is still too cheap (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:3, Insightful)
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:Ron Paul and the war (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Ron Paul and the war (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Changed my mind about the future of the US. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Changed my mind about the future of the US. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:3, Insightful)
Evolution may be the fundamental principle of biological history, but that's only one facet of biology as a whole.
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.
Re:Changed my mind about the future of the US. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
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:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:3, Insightful)
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, enthusiastic, imaginative employees who love their job and their employer and feel pride in supporting their brand (as if it were a sports team, even) and look forward to their daily work and how it progresses them toward their own personal dreams as well as their professional aspirations to climb the ladder internally.
Instead, I find many who have been around for a very long time and feel demoralized, devalued and are in constant fear that they are going to be axed in the next round. Especially since there has often been little rhyme or reason to the people chosen to be dismissed. Most seem certain that THEY are next. And if not NEXT, then not soon after. And if it is inevitable, then why bother putting 110% of your energy and effort into it? I've seen formerly enthusiastic, extremely hard working, very intelligent, creative, productive, fantastic people become shells of themselves that mirror what I see when I'm standing in line at Carl's Junior and peeking into the back with the defeated fry-cook who feels he's just an automated process passing the minutes until he can clock out and go home.
If that's the sort of sobering result you want, may the fates have mercy on whatever company *you* (the original poster) run.
Re:I changed my mind on Ron Paul... (Score:1, Insightful)
I would not vote Ron Paul for "Biology Leader", but, in the arena of government, he matches best the direction I would like to see the U.S. head towards.
Re:Republicans (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:religion (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
This is different from normal "structural unemployment" usually seen with advances in technology disrupting the normal order and giving rise to a new one.
In such a case people can retrain and reasonably expect to regain their investment in that training.
Offshoring doesn't work that way. They take one sector, people retrain for another, and then that one is pulled from under them before they can recoup the training costs, and the cycle goes on and on until people say #$@ it.
So..
years of college education no longer get you into the middle class
factory jobs no longer get you into the middle class
and.. theyre even offshoring Ph.D. level R&D to places like china
so.. if no education, considerable education, and extremely high education all get you nowhere, exactly where is anyone's motivation to do anything?
Exactly how is the american dream to survive without government officials putting their foot down?
This isn't about simply being selfish either. Without a middle class consumption goes down, company sales drop, the US gdp drops. Maybe some other nation picks up the slack, but not before massive depression which impacts all other nations tied heavily to our economy. And of course, it all ends with the US as a third world nation.
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:3, Insightful)
(Of course, cell language is pretty limited - that's probably the only words they know.)
Re:I like Harris' line ... (Score:3, Insightful)
"THAT'S what you consider as an example of intelligence?!?!?"
Re:religion (Score:3, Insightful)
Your emotional urge to follow logic no matter where it goes is something you should examine more closely.
-- A fellow atheist.
Re:Republicans (Score:2, Insightful)
Um - no he's not. But even if he was - so what?
Re:And of course.. theyre also willing to accept.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Richard Dawkins (Score:3, Insightful)