tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2876665293729736099..comments2024-03-28T15:48:48.514-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Deep insights on info-age problems -- without solutions...David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33393333322099821182013-11-18T11:32:36.901-08:002013-11-18T11:32:36.901-08:00onward to next posting… follow us there if you lik...onward to next posting… follow us there if you like...David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67977881017689986632013-11-18T11:32:02.137-08:002013-11-18T11:32:02.137-08:00BTW Robert Poole, your acceptance shrug toward the...BTW Robert Poole, your acceptance shrug toward the "exponent" argument was entirely subjective, a reflection of visceral reaction, not turning your head to even glance at the vast number of times that the flattened division of power method has in fact worked.<br /><br />You ignore the fact that it is precisely the method that resulted in your present freedom to wallow in cynical pessimism and grouchy indolence.<br /><br />Moreover, you ignore one more thing. The fact that Schneier and other cynics never propose actual methods to preserve freedom OTHER than the one that has worked so far. It's almost all "what'cha'gonna'do?"<br /><br />Except on rare occasions, when he lifts his head and actually tries. And on those occasions, voila. It's all transparency.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19863980175196715372013-11-18T11:27:52.728-08:002013-11-18T11:27:52.728-08:00Robert Poole I appreciate your criticism and indee...Robert Poole I appreciate your criticism and indeed, it would be proper of me to stop mentioning Schneier at all. Hover please dig this: I made my remarks in a blog. Schneier has outright lied about me in far more public venues, ignoring me when I wrote (politely) to complain (at first as someone who thought that we were friends.)<br /><br />Moreover, he has repeated these outright lies, relentlessly, holding me up as a strawman to beat up in public, knowing that I have sent him specific passages showing his diametrically opposite misreading of my work.<br /><br />That is flat-out evil crap and I now know that he has done it to others. <br /><br />Yet how have I sinned against him? By recommending that others go and actually read his articles? All right, so I pre-warn them to see this good element and be wary of that bad one. I still send him traffic, which he jealously has never done for me and anyone else he criticizes.<br /><br />Frankly, his baseless, unproved and evidence free "exponent" argument is used to divert people from even considering the vast range of flattened information regimes. It is a cult incantation and it has proved very effective.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20083344032358559792013-11-18T10:42:55.022-08:002013-11-18T10:42:55.022-08:00Dr. Brin, I think your essay would have been more ...Dr. Brin, I think your essay would have been more enjoyable if you had refrained from directing so much snark at Bruce Schneier. I mean, putting scare quotes around "security expert" seems a little jejune; after all, Schneier arguably knows more about cryptography than most people, yourself included. It's his specialization.<br /><br />After a quick read-through of Schneier's article that you linked, it seems that you cherry picked the points you agreed with. However, the overall tone of the piece suggests to me that he isn't actually endorsing your ideas as fully as you seem to suggest he is.<br /><br />One quote that I find quite interesting: "[...] the distributed were more nimble and were faster to make use of their new power, while the institutional were slower but were able to use their power more effectively." The feudal computing powers may have been slower to figure out how to take advantage of the Internet, but they now wield far more power than the citizenry, academia, etc. Yes, this is a recasting of the so-called exponential incantation.<br /><br />The problem is, NGOs and other organizations that can supposedly balance out Schneier's feudal powers can become corrupt, can cease to represent the interests of those who contributed to them. People can band together for self-interest, yes, but I find human nature to be entirely untrustworthy; it doesn't take much for an outsider to sneak into an organization and change its character (e.g., the NRA), nor does it take much for the worst parts of human nature to assert themselves and for initially well-meaning individual members to seize control of an organization and skew its agenda.<br /><br />I suspect the best that any group of non-elites could hope for is brief, sporadic victories for their interests.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01731514804464973414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86384672846413677102013-11-17T23:27:19.947-08:002013-11-17T23:27:19.947-08:00"Have you or would you install that toilet th..."Have you or would you install that toilet that does a urinalysis with every use?"<br /><br />I would. You betchya. Kidney disease sucks. 8)<br /><br />I'm a little miffed that the most innovative, personal level analysis tools coming out can't be purchased in the US yet. Too many legal hoops to jump through for the young entrepreneur involved. It's not like I would use them without supervision by my doctor, but I WOULD use them to watch more than once a month... except I can't do it legally. Time to talk to my relatives overseas I suppose.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76019950511000152232013-11-17T22:42:08.871-08:002013-11-17T22:42:08.871-08:00Amendment #14.
They can repeal it if they want to...Amendment #14.<br /><br />They can repeal it if they want to try.<br /><br />Nuff said.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88208032280993398982013-11-17T21:41:56.055-08:002013-11-17T21:41:56.055-08:00Last thread, the 50/50 sex ratio was mentioned. It...Last thread, the 50/50 sex ratio was mentioned. Its prevalence has a more specific and elegant explanation, a feedback loop that forces most species into a nearly exact 50/50 split:<br /><br />Every individual has two grandmothers and two grandfathers. Hence, in the medium term, the sexes' contributions to the gene pool are equal, *regardless* of the sex ratio. Hence, if there are fewer individuals of one sex, individuals of that sex will on average contribute more to the future gene pool. It therefore pays to produce children of whatever sex is less numerous.<br /><br />This can break down in extreme edge cases, but has nothing to do with the higher variance in success amongst males compared with females. It only depends on the mean. David McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16603857353437134459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5860394790492902912013-11-17T19:39:30.453-08:002013-11-17T19:39:30.453-08:00Because he's a white male Republican candidate...Because he's a white male Republican candidate.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67504962840010156972013-11-17T17:34:18.723-08:002013-11-17T17:34:18.723-08:00The statement from the article, which you just quo...The statement from the article, which you just quoted above was:<br /><i><br />"Obama is not a natural born citizen eligible to be president of the United States, as he was not born in this country to two American citizen parents.."<br /></i><br /><br />And whatever else you might think, the fact is that the clause following "as he was...", with "Ted Cruz" substituted for "Obama", is a true assessment.<br /><br />So again, how does Cruz get a pass BY THEIR OWN ARGUMENT?LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68876078072267286332013-11-17T17:23:27.736-08:002013-11-17T17:23:27.736-08:00Dr Brin,
I won't keep talking politics if you...Dr Brin,<br /><br />I won't keep talking politics if you'd prefer not to, but as a direct response to your staement above: No, the birthers go beyond the assertion that two citizen parents are an ALTERNATIVE to native birth. They claim that EVEN IF Obama was born in Hawaii, the fact that his father was Nigerian disqualifies him. In other words, all of a sudden (and for the first time ever), native birth is NOT enough to make one a "natural born citizen".<br /><br />Also, wasn't Cruz's father Cuban? Ok, I suppose he (the father) might have been a NATURALIZED citizen of the USA, but then why was Ted born in Canada? Is his MOTHER Canadian? I obviously don't have all the details straight, but I'm not clear that both of his parents WERE citizens of the US.<br /><br />Note that when Cruz is in full campaign mode, this argument will be turned around, portraying Obama supporters as hypocritical for suddenly caring about the natural born citizen thing with Cruz "while giving Obama a free pass", completely ignoring the fact that Obama supporters aren't claiming that he shouldn't be held to the "natural born citizen" standard, but merely claiming that he passes that test. But Republicans claiming that Democrats are guilty of THEIR (Republican) sins is par for the course these days.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45611943629527026992013-11-17T16:49:17.310-08:002013-11-17T16:49:17.310-08:00"Obama is not a natural born citizen eligible..."Obama is not a natural born citizen eligible to be president of the United States, as he was not born in this country to two American citizen parents.."<br /><br />Just because they are uniformly crazy does not mean the craziness is uniform. This idiot is a racist who wants to disqualify millions. But in fact, the " two American citizen parents" thing has been circulating for the last year as an ALTERNATIVE to insisting on native birth. <br /><br />Why? Because of Cruz. Suddenly, they need a way to discredit Obama WHILE allowing in Cruz (born in Canada.) So you are native born if EITHER born inside the US or else with two citizen parents. <br /><br />But yes, in any sane world, the copies of the Honolulu Advertizer would be enough. But this is the New Confederacy.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8364713962152024672013-11-17T16:10:21.634-08:002013-11-17T16:10:21.634-08:00Sorry, I should probably stop reading (espeically ...Sorry, I should probably stop reading (espeically with Dr Brin's political lamp off).<br /><br /><i><br />further propose that we borrow the techniques perfected and used by such epic crusaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, to show Obama and his enablers that the American people are more than fed up and will not take it any more. <br /></i><br /><br />What makes these right-wingers think that citizens are only "fed up and not going to take it any more" with liberal politicians? What happens when the millions of Americans who are fed up with the Republicans show OUR righteous indignation?<br /><br />(Oh right, how could I forget? The government forces get to shoot us down in the streets, to the <b>cheers and adulation</b> of these so-called revolutionaries.)LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74090673570126676302013-11-17T16:03:12.236-08:002013-11-17T16:03:12.236-08:00From that "yipe!" Tea-bagger article:
O...From that "yipe!" Tea-bagger article:<br /><i><br />Obama is not a natural born citizen eligible to be president of the United States, as he was not born in this country to two American citizen parents...<br /></i><br /><br />I've got two questions for anyone who repeats that talking point about "two American citizen parents" being essential to the definition of the admittedly-undefined term "natural born citizen":<br /><br />1) Where the heck do you get the idea that "two American citizen parents" are essential to the definition of "natural born citizen", let alone that it is self-evidently so without further explanation?<br /><br />2) (Especially for self-proclaimed Tea Partiers) So Ted Cruz is also ineligible for the presidency?<br /><br />Bonus 3rd question) Back in 1961, what possible motive could anyone have had for planting fake news items in Honolulu newspapers trying to pretend that little Barry Obama was born in the United States? You think a black child was marked and groomed for the presidency <b>in 1961</b>? Seriously???LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53271293524692116712013-11-17T14:51:53.292-08:002013-11-17T14:51:53.292-08:00Yipe!
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/09/26/tea...Yipe!<br /><br />http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/09/26/tea-party-supporter-has-set-a-date-for-the-armed-overthrow-of-the-government/<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39601416562435414022013-11-16T23:20:33.301-08:002013-11-16T23:20:33.301-08:00It seems to me that even if 'new information i...It seems to me that even if 'new information is the exponent' the number of people collecting that information would be in the base power. We can vastly outnumber the elites if motivated and once in motion catch up and blow past them.<br /><br />Non-linearity also depends on the structure of the organization doing the collecting and analyzing. Groups organized for a particular agenda can hinder themselves by limiting the analysis even if they are really good at collecting the original data.<br /><br />Putting mathematics to these ideas strikes me as babble-speak at this point. We know enough to anticipate power laws, discontinuities, and the kind of dynamic results one gets from recursive uses, but that practically ensures the loss of predictability in any model beyond saying what CAN'T be done.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91671783679486337622013-11-16T17:47:11.457-08:002013-11-16T17:47:11.457-08:00Thanks Stephen and Jumper.
Thanks Stephen and Jumper. <br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60969998063275326202013-11-16T17:08:13.043-08:002013-11-16T17:08:13.043-08:00Huh. A town in Germany is doubling down on the sam...Huh. A town in Germany is doubling down on the same principle you cite in the "Ritual of the Street Corner"... http://www.minds.com/blog/view/248215469679448064/german-town-abolishes-traffic-lights-and-codes-accidents-are-now-almost-non-existent<br /><br />Though I also suspect that there's a lot of urban planning that needs to support such a thing, not to mention a few generations of baked-in civilization-loving courtesy!StephenMeansMehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06925400684665362836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14004287296173026362013-11-16T12:54:49.149-08:002013-11-16T12:54:49.149-08:00There is more symbolism to Eggers' "Forty...There is more symbolism to Eggers' "Forty" group than Atwood picked up on. An interesting review; thanks.<br />{"Playing God with the Forty Committee"}<br />http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/40Comm.html<br />Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.com