tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post3310408670710841736..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The Wisdom of Crowds. Blockchain "coins" .... but first, those nukes...David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7679615134352765182018-11-27T22:39:49.241-08:002018-11-27T22:39:49.241-08:00A great piece that sheds much needed light on some...A great piece that sheds much needed light on some of the great theoretical/ideological debates in the contemporary crypto space. At CleanApp Foundation, we appreciate the emphasis on pragmatism, and emphasis on Blockchain/DTL/Crypto projects that offer real social utility. Looking forward to engaging more with your crew!byodbuzz06https://www.blogger.com/profile/03010585475361117203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63422540539440284362018-03-13T11:55:11.653-07:002018-03-13T11:55:11.653-07:00@Alfred Differ,
I'll respond under the new po...@Alfred Differ,<br /><br />I'll respond under the new post.<br /><br />@Everyone,<br /><br />Although Dr Brin hasn't said "Onward!" yet, there is a new posting.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83114554526325354732018-03-13T11:41:20.431-07:002018-03-13T11:41:20.431-07:00That's the thing about voting in the primary f...That's the thing about voting in the primary for another party. Why would you pick a weak candidate? If you DON'T get to vote in the primary for your own party, you might all wind up pitting to weak candidates against each other. Dumb. 8)<br /><br />I waffle a bit when it comes to whether parties should be able to exclude other voters. I'm not convinced parties should have the power to dictate who gets to vote when it comes to putting people on the general ballot. Once someone is on a general ballot, there is a real danger they might get elected, so I'm fairly sure I want a primary system to focus mostly on excluding candidates and not on parsing voters into power blocs. (I feel about the same way when it comes to our initiatives too after the Prop 8 debacle. I think some of our props should have to pass twice with the first being necessary for amendments to get onto a general ballot.)<br /><br />Changing these things isn't easy, so I'm more interested in gerrymandering right now. Reducing the scope of government in that area might help more than campaign finance reform... which says a lot.<br /><br />I'm moving onward now.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57813602449167784652018-03-13T08:43:38.941-07:002018-03-13T08:43:38.941-07:00@Lloyd Flack and @Alfred Differ,
The problem I se...@Lloyd Flack and @Alfred Differ,<br /><br />The problem I see with primaries--especially "open primaries" which has been more the trend lately--is the potential for mischief. There's a reason non-citizens (and foreigners living abroad) don't get to vote in US elections. The same reason should prevent non-Democrats from voting in a Democratic Primary (and likewise for the Rs). Yet, somehow, that notion has become viewed as un-democratic (small-d).<br /><br />At greatest reduction, if everyone gets to select both the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate for an election, then the same person should win both slots.<br /><br />I have a little more respect for California's "jungle primary" system in which all candidates participate in a single election and then the top two run off against each other. That system has its own pitfalls, but at least it makes more sense that every voter participates in both steps. It makes no sense (to me) that I can vote in a Republican primary if I so choose and pick the <b>weaker</b> candidate. <br /><br />I did that once, which is the moral equivalent of playing with the Designated Hitter rule even though I wish it didn't exist. Though in that case, I really wasn't voting for the weakest candidate in hopes of making a Democratic victory easier. I voted against the Republican who I really, REALLY didn't want to be our next governor. Of course, he won anyway.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42041834194251305822018-03-13T08:23:04.888-07:002018-03-13T08:23:04.888-07:00Alfred, the problem with your Primaries is that th...Alfred, the problem with your Primaries is that they increase the need of candidates for campaign finance and hence increase the influence of money on the elections. Candidates become more vulnerable to targeted attacks by the wealthy. This has happened in the Republican Party, where candidates have to conform to the extreme right line on things like climate change. Primaries were an attempt to make things more democratic which had the opposite effect.Lloyd Flackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00832519369660328832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86954364875715119882018-03-13T06:53:09.953-07:002018-03-13T06:53:09.953-07:00I don't see an "Onward!" yet, but th...I don't see an "Onward!" yet, but there is a new post on the main site.<br /><br />Caveat emptor.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52059516472245654382018-03-13T06:35:18.708-07:002018-03-13T06:35:18.708-07:00Perhaps those millennials born into evangelical fa...Perhaps those millennials born into evangelical families will be the antidote.Lorrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13567383019731167967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31321040099421985722018-03-13T01:25:24.691-07:002018-03-13T01:25:24.691-07:00Interesting activities on the "Political Orph...Interesting activities on the "Political Orphans" site<br /><br />https://www.politicalorphans.com/the-article-removed-from-forbes-why-white-evangelicalism-is-so-cruel/<br /><br />Chris Ladd did a piece for Forbes that was a little too honest so they deleted it duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35930574981438631672018-03-13T00:22:37.999-07:002018-03-13T00:22:37.999-07:00There are limits. In CA when you want to run for o...There are limits. In CA when you want to run for office as a Democrat or a Republican, the registration fees are different than for the third parties. If you say you are a member and the party officials disagree, you probably won't get far in the major parties, but they can't really say No. As long as you follow the rules at the Secretary of State's office, you get on a ballot.<br /><br />In egregious cases, party officials might be able to file a lawsuit, but those take a while to resolve. In the mean time, a popular candidate will infiltrate their people into your leadership and go for a take-over. It doesn't happen often in the major parties, but it is quietly common in the minor ones. For example, if most Americans understood what the official 'American Independent Party' stood for, they'd probably have a cow. They got hijacked by a loony lot a while back. <br /><br />People think we are a two party system, but with these kinds of rules it really isn't true. We are a 'two names' system, but what those names stand for varies as the party factions shift around. We do our 'negotiations' for governance alliances before an election instead of afterward and no one really owns any particular party.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28260529586686305192018-03-12T23:54:09.046-07:002018-03-12T23:54:09.046-07:00Hi Alfred
So in the states a party leader cannot s...Hi Alfred<br />So in the states a party leader cannot simply say - "He is not a member" ?<br /><br />Here and in the UK a Party controls it's membership so that somebody who does not fit in with that parties requirements is simply expelled from the party<br /><br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36300997426527874102018-03-12T23:43:04.993-07:002018-03-12T23:43:04.993-07:00@winter7 | That IS good autism news. It's an a...@winter7 | That IS good autism news. It's an animal model, though. Humans are much trickier. Soooo many gene/environment interactions.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76380576625979891272018-03-12T23:30:09.475-07:002018-03-12T23:30:09.475-07:00Our smoke filled rooms were where the spoils were ...Our smoke filled rooms were where the spoils were planned and elections were purchased. Party bosses could be elected by very few people and dominate over vastly more. They DID act as a moderating force because hot-head candidates tend to disrupt their cashflow, but they also chose some of the more crooked people ever to serve us.<br /><br />I think the primaries are kinda dumb the way we have them set up in most places. I'd rather have run-offs and other variants that have been tried in other nations. We got our primaries changed here in CA, but we have a people-driven initiative process many other states avoid... and with good reason. That same initiative process also gave us Prop 8 were we tried to amend our state constitution to discriminate against same-sex marriages. The proposition passed as a constitutional amendment and had to be fought. (There is nothing quite like a court case against the State where no elected official wants to defend the State.)<br /><br />I'd rather not have a return of our old system of party bosses, but I AM inclined to consider options where party leadership can reject a candidate running under their name no matter how popular that candidate is with voters. That would mean we would need a loose structure for how people are represented in our 'primaries'. For example, Libertarians don't have primaries in this state. There would be no point since there are so few of us. Who gets to say whether a candidate is a Libertarian though? Not the Libertarian party, that's for sure. We can endorse someone, but we can't deny them the use of our party name when the run for office. Does that even make sense?Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41917690114497425132018-03-12T23:01:13.309-07:002018-03-12T23:01:13.309-07:00Hi Alfred
Your primary system is (I think) unique ...Hi Alfred<br />Your primary system is (I think) unique to the USA - we seem to get on OK with the "smoke filled rooms" - and it is a lot less costly!<br /><br />I wonder why you ended up there?<br /><br />Any thoughts - real advantages?duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4679150569185484512018-03-12T18:42:25.165-07:002018-03-12T18:42:25.165-07:00@sociotard | I sometimes imagine an old party boss...@sociotard | I sometimes imagine an old party boss back when we starting pushing primary elections upon them thinking to themselves "So... you all think you are better at this than I am?" The barbarian response is "Of course!"<br /><br />When I try to explain what you describe to some of my friends, they just get depressed. They rarely think "What can I do about it?" The few who do get my already-prepared answer. Stop abdicating your duties as a citizen.<br /><br />I haven't had much success with that message, though. Go figure. 8)Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67898706459548231922018-03-12T18:23:52.935-07:002018-03-12T18:23:52.935-07:00@Winter7 | I think it very unlikely we will wind u...@Winter7 | I think it very unlikely we will wind up with such an overpopulated planet as the puppeteers had. The population bomb feared a couple generations ago fizzled for a reason I don’t think anyone expected. It turns out that if you leave women with the impression that their children will survive to have children of their own, they CHOOSE to have fewer of them. Look where local violence rates are low and you will find practical fertility rates are also low. It’s not that we couldn’t have more, but when women say they don’t want more they at least partially get their way.<br /><br /><i>it is ironic that there are men who choose to marry other men</i><br /><br />Heh. Spoken like a heterosexual male. The homosexual men I know feel about the same way about those of us who choose to try to breed. It really shouldn’t surprise any of us, though. If you live a life that tempts one person to love you, is it surprising when more than one does? It’s not like we MAKE people love us. We tempt them into it. It turns out our methods for doing so aren’t all that selective.<br /><br />Your ‘Russian’ virus wouldn’t make humanity go extinct. It would just make it difficult for guys to get it up around women. Simple chemistry would fix that. You can buy the stuff pretty easily. Besides, the thing probably wouldn’t be a virus. It would be more like toxoplasma gondii that causes rats to turn on when they smell cat urine. Imagine what could be done with a home biolab and an intent to do something like that.<br />Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-12251325230608427352018-03-12T17:41:00.465-07:002018-03-12T17:41:00.465-07:00LarryHart:
I've seen that series available at ...LarryHart:<br />I've seen that series available at my cable television provider, but I did not know what the story was exactly about.<br />(By the way, and release the new movie Star Wars on cable TV) I will see the film little by little. I do not want to finish the movie all at once. It will be better to ration.<br />And speaking of cable television ... I tried to show my family the first chapter of Rick and Morty. My idea was to have at hand the remote control to censor certain scenes. Unfortunately, I did not know that the remote control batteries were almost exhausted. Ray!. I do not know why some people break down stories by adding unnecessary sex scenes. That television series could be very useful as a tool to educate children. (if we delete the sex scenes). Hopefully the series will be reissued to be suitable for the whole family.<br />Winter7<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61480450627685354462018-03-12T17:26:59.203-07:002018-03-12T17:26:59.203-07:00Winter7:
Also, because of my religious beliefs, I...Winter7:<br /><i><br />Also, because of my religious beliefs, I can not accept the option of artificial insemination, so my other self from another dimension had to use the classical method of reproduction, in all the countries of the world, a situation that almost destroyed my main tool, but thanks to the nanobots, I could regenerate my natural tool every 20,500 women, thanks to the nanobots and a diet based on proteins and vitamins, humanity in that other universe she was saved. (In that other parallel universe, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump lived happily ever after in a distant hut in Lithuania)<br /></i><br /><br />Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.<br /><br />You should publish this story! Or else let your translator publish it on its own.<br /><br />(I'm curious if the virus turns the <b>girls</b> gay too)<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28211004071291158082018-03-12T17:22:01.390-07:002018-03-12T17:22:01.390-07:00Winter7:
Not having these limitations yet, it is ...Winter7:<br /><i><br />Not having these limitations yet, it is ironic that there are men who choose to marry other men. (I have nothing against homosexuals, but that kind of marriage has no logic,<br />...<br /> if a Russian virus makes all men homosexual, the human species could become extinct<br /></i><br /><br />That's a common argument against homosexuality--that if everyone was that way, we'd go extinct. The argument ignores the fact that there are seven billion people on the planet right now, and that too <b>many</b> people for the available resources is a more immediate problem than too <b>few</b> people. At this point in history, anything that allows people their sexual release without necessarily creating progeny is part of the solution, not part of the problem.<br /><br /><i><br /> and women are the most perfect work of art created for men.<br /></i><br /><br />Personally, I agree. :) But we can't force our personal appreciation on those who don't feel it.<br /><br /><i> <br />Yes, I know, everyone is going to be furious about my comment. ,<br /></i><br /><br />There's room for honest criticism without making it about hate.<br /><br /><i><br />unless I found an antidote for myself and I had to sacrifice myself for the good of humanity, giving the gift of motherhood to women from all countries of the world.<br /></i><br /><br />Heh. Either you or your translator has a great sense of humor.<br /><br />In the early 2000s, there was a comic series called "Y: The Last Man" about a plague that killed all of the men and male mammals on earth, except this one guy (and his monkey) strangely survive. It wasn't nearly as pornographic as that might sound.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26591654376329661952018-03-12T17:13:18.548-07:002018-03-12T17:13:18.548-07:00Wooowww. I bring good news regarding autism:
http...Wooowww. I bring good news regarding autism:<br /><br />https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-03-autism-social-deficits-reversed-anti-cancer.html<br /><br />Winter7Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69057321194496468342018-03-12T17:04:05.157-07:002018-03-12T17:04:05.157-07:00AF Rey:
“But what if the feudal lords ultimate pla...AF Rey:<br />“But what if the feudal lords ultimate plan is to destroy all the rules, and us breaking the rules justifies them in eliminating them altogether?<br /><br />As Stacy Keech said in the movie Airplane, when someone suggested they turn on the landing strip lights to help the distressed jet land:<br /><br />"That is exactly what they expect us to do!"<br />¡Ray Rey! It really seems that you prefer complicated solutions.<br />It's okay. "Maybe" we should not play dirty like villains. (After all, we are supposed to be the good guys in the movie) but, if we must have enough malice to know how to guess the dirty and tricky moves of the fascists. Also, I do not say that we respond in exactly the same way. But I think the level of malice we want to allow is a detail that is totally, a personal matter. Everyone knows where the limit of the admissible is and where the true dark side of the force begins. The trick is not to be seduced by the dark side, walking in balance, at the edge of the knife.<br />Winter7<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79727946881478135562018-03-12T16:49:04.155-07:002018-03-12T16:49:04.155-07:00Robert:
I forgot to say that in addition to the Ga...Robert:<br />I forgot to say that in addition to the Gay Russian Virus, the Russians created and spread all over the world auto-replicable nanobots that seek and destroy all the sperm that is not of Russian origin.<br />The virus was supposedly designed in such a way that it would not affect Russian DNA. But the virus mutated unexpectedly and the Russians began to become homosexuals. So the only hope to save the destiny of humanity was my seed. (Of course, all this happened in another parallel universe.) Also, because of my religious beliefs, I can not accept the option of artificial insemination, so my other self from another dimension had to use the classical method of reproduction, in all the countries of the world, a situation that almost destroyed my main tool, but thanks to the nanobots, I could regenerate my natural tool every 20,500 women, thanks to the nanobots and a diet based on proteins and vitamins, humanity in that other universe she was saved. (In that other parallel universe, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump lived happily ever after in a distant hut in Lithuania)<br /><br />Winter7<br /><br />In Spanish:<br /><br />Olvidé decir que además del Gay Russian Virus, los rusos crearon y esparcieron por todo el mundo nanobots auto-replicables que buscan y destruyen todo el esperma que no es de origen ruso.<br />El virus, supuestamente estaba diseñado de tal modo que no afectaría al ADN ruso. Pero el virus mutó sorpresivamente y los rusos comenzaron a convertirse en homosexuales. De modo que la única esperanza para salvar el destino de la humanidad era mi semilla. (desde luego, todo eso ocurrió en otro universo paralelo. Además, a causa de que mis creencias religiosas, no puedo aceptar la opción de la inseminación artificial, por lo que mi otro yo de otra dimensión tuvo que utilizar el método clásico de reproducción, en todos los países del mundo. Una situación que casi destruyó mi herramienta principal. Pero gracias a los nanobots, podía regenerar mi herramienta natural cada 20,500 mujeres. De ese modo, gracias a los nanobots y una dieta basada en proteínas y vitaminas, la humanidad en ese otro universo fue salvada. (En ese otro universo paralelo, Vladimir Putin y Donald Trump vivieron felices por siempre en una lejana cabaña de Lituania)<br />Winter7Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75968079892232052082018-03-12T16:41:08.934-07:002018-03-12T16:41:08.934-07:00David Smelser:
...differences in opinion on how b...David Smelser:<br /><i><br />...differences in opinion on how big the gap is between democrats and republicans (i.e., Any dem is better than #ThereAreNoGoodRepublicans vs. both parties are owned by the corporations).<br /></i><br /><br />I think the "both parties are owned..." folks miss the crucial difference, sometimes willfully, sometimes not.<br /><br />Democrats are beholden to corporate money to the extent that "Citizens United" and other similar decisions force <b>anyone</b> running for office to amass huge piles of campaign cash, and also to keep huge piles of campaign cash from being marshaled against them.<br /><br />Democrats (IMHO) are <b>reluctantly</b> beholden to corporations to the extent that corporate money is a necessary component of winning. Some embrace the game more readily than others do. But Republicans are fully complicit partners in the Electoral-Industrial Complex.<br /><br />It's analogous to the Star Trek episode I've been quoting a lot lately, where the alien who pitted Kirk and Spock against Ghengis Khan and a Klingon admits after the contest that he (the alien) couldn't see any difference between the ways the "good" and "evil" sides fought. Kirk makes the point that the bad guys were fighting for a promise of power, whereas, "You offered <b>me</b> the lives of my crew." That's the difference in a nutshell. Republicans work with corporations to amass power. Democrats do what they have to do to win office so that they can work for the lives of their constituents.<br /><br />I realize I'm oversimplfying, but only somewhat.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28023665731553669892018-03-12T15:34:51.114-07:002018-03-12T15:34:51.114-07:00Winter7, your comment ignores the very real fact t...Winter7, your comment ignores the very real fact that a guy only needs to preserve a sperm sample in order to father a child. If everyone was gay, that doesn't stop sexual reproduction. It just turns it into a business venture. Even if said Gay Russian Virus also sterilized all the men, there is tons of sperm (just about) kept frozen for various people who wish to hold off in having children or who donate their sperm for various reasons.<br /><br />For that matter there is considerable research into developing artificial sperm so that two women can share genetic material and have a child if they so chose... and artificial wombs so that a man's genetic material could be placed into an ovum, fertilized with another man's sperm, and have a child born of two men. <br /><br />------------<br /><br />In the case of my two parents, they don't always vote Republican. My Dad would have gladly have voted for Bernie, and my mom gladly for Biden. They are anti-Clinton. You might recognize this seeing that I'm anti-Clinton - it's just that I can see past my biases and realize when a Clinton is the better person to lead than Trump. (My parents can't. My mom at least just calls me a Hillary-lover. But once Trump and Republicans eviscerate her benefits I can just shrug at her and say "you made your bed." Though to be honest, they live in a liberal state that went Hillary so their vote was more a protest vote than anything.)<br /><br />The advantage that Biden or Sanders would have had over Hillary is this: they were old grey-haired white men. As such the Republican party is willing to work with them, just as they would have gladly have embraced Irish-American Barry O'Bama. I guarantee that if Oprah were to win the Democratic nomination for President they would have every last Republican, fascist, Libertarian, and racist out in force to vote against her. It's just that most of Black America would also be out in force along with most of Liberal America and they'd probably bury the fascists and like, and we'd get another Celebrity President - the only real difference being that Oprah would recruit legitimate intelligent people to be on her cabinet and assist her in effective policy-making. And the Republicans in Congress would then shut down government left and right to make sure she can't do a thing.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52363648297922514132018-03-12T15:22:13.985-07:002018-03-12T15:22:13.985-07:00As I said before, the feudal lords broke the rules...<i> As I said before, the feudal lords broke the rules, so we are not obliged to obey the rules.</i><br /><br />But what if the feudal lords ultimate plan is to destroy all the rules, and us breaking the rules justifies them in eliminating them altogether?<br /><br />As Stacy Keech said in the movie <i>Airplane</i>, when someone suggested they turn on the landing strip lights to help the distressed jet land:<br /><br />"That is exactly what they expect us to do!"A.F. Reynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22673953332310861542018-03-12T15:21:10.109-07:002018-03-12T15:21:10.109-07:00I find this analysis of the liberal vs. left divid...I find this analysis of the liberal vs. left divide to the best one I've found.<br />I think it explains the 2016 democratic divisions and the current divisions fairly well.<br /><br />https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/how-to-heal-the-left-liberal-divide<br /><br />The main divisions are in: loyalty to party, questions of strategy (move to the center to win elections then implement ideals once in office vs. move to the left to win elections), and differences in opinion on how big the gap is between democrats and republicans (i.e., Any dem is better than #ThereAreNoGoodRepublicans vs. both parties are owned by the corporations).<br /><br /><br />David Smelserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08596446730839038592noreply@blogger.com