tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4093333140416211633..comments2024-03-28T06:22:23.961-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Sensible Tax Reform, Wealth disparities.. and Gun ControlDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4994602256362089792013-05-04T09:32:50.341-07:002013-05-04T09:32:50.341-07:00Something else off-topic, but it amused me:http://... Something else off-topic, but it amused me:http://stupidevilbastard.com/2013/04/are-you-more-scientifically-literate-than-the-average-american/<br />The page contains a link to a quiz, my answers put me in the top 7%, but the bar's set so low by those questions I don't feel good about it.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73346964906556879432013-05-04T02:16:56.844-07:002013-05-04T02:16:56.844-07:00http://detritusofempire.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the...http://detritusofempire.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-official-monster-raving-loony-party.html<br /><br />UK politics are so much more interesting.....<br /><br />Regards twitter and such, yes it has had some impact. Folks, not all younger btw, have shorter attention spans and more immediate need to share all. <br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76521543166794539532013-05-03T18:52:51.548-07:002013-05-03T18:52:51.548-07:00Hmmm... no bicycles?
I can haz bicycle with helic...Hmmm... no bicycles?<br /><br />I can haz bicycle with helicopter?<br /><br /><br />Capcha may be a pain, but at least they've switched back to words again.<br />Strong Rennuan: Strong Belwas' little brotherTony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72427765661217392632013-05-03T02:09:55.946-07:002013-05-03T02:09:55.946-07:00Our esteemed author has written a bit about this s...Our esteemed author has written a bit about this subject in the past: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22380611Jonathan Rothnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83306085922267046782013-05-02T16:22:16.613-07:002013-05-02T16:22:16.613-07:00Most of you have probably already seen this, but f...Most of you have probably already seen this, but for th others, here's XKCD's take on the Fermi Paradox.<br /><br />http://xkcd.com/638/Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48201471423292160232013-05-02T15:56:12.006-07:002013-05-02T15:56:12.006-07:00David, do you have any Canadian scientist contacts...David, do you have any Canadian scientist contacts who can confirm/refute the severity of this situation?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/02/muzzling-science-canada-cuts_n_3187100.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/02/muzzling-science-canada-cuts_n_3187100.html</a><br />The Political Muzzling of Science...in Canada.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39186345611289051682013-05-02T10:46:04.106-07:002013-05-02T10:46:04.106-07:00Matthew nice to see you again. This comment sectio...Matthew nice to see you again. This comment section was for ten years one of the best places on the web. I guess it has been a bit less vivid, lately. Killed by Twitter? Like most good things? Anyway, you were worth a captcha.<br /><br />Thrive and keep dropping by.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83124615740219294102013-05-02T10:31:12.698-07:002013-05-02T10:31:12.698-07:00I appreciated the 'Walt Disney Plutocrat' ...I appreciated the 'Walt Disney Plutocrat' at least, but I fail to see why university graduation rates should be used as a figure of merit for education success. It is a partial measure at best. The vast majority of humanity never gets anywhere near a university yet education is permeating into even the darkest corners of humanity's most disconnected cultures. <br /><br />Perhaps a better figure of merit involves lookin at how annoyed the feudalists are. Fundamentalism froths at the mouth over certain issues and tries to do battle with Moderates. Is that measurable? 8)Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76017313298909445852013-05-02T09:22:21.960-07:002013-05-02T09:22:21.960-07:00Where were we? Oh yes, humbling the first world. I...Where were we? Oh yes, humbling the first world. I disagree because we really could feed the world on what we throw away, and I mean blatant waste. Not to mention, you could probably power the third world with the trash the third world litters the oceans with.<br /><br />On efficiency, I was just meditating this morning about a factory which was closed, and I believe it was closed in part because management simply would not understand that maintenance men will shut down a multimillion dollar plant using sabotage, simply for $600/mo extra pay in overtime, "repairing" what they sabotaged. Rather than ferret out such stuff, management, afraid to sully their hands, was quite content to lose their jobs, ultimately, rather than -ugh- have to actually TALK and DEAL WITH those people.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23001446085624666032013-05-02T08:53:22.653-07:002013-05-02T08:53:22.653-07:00I would like to try an appeal here: I have been st...I would like to try an appeal here: I have been staying away from this site for a while, after six years or so of obsessive reading and occasional posting, lately because the discourse has gotten petty and vapid. To be exact, I feel that one frequent commenter has been monopolizing the discussion with their particular spin on things. I'd like to ask that commenter to tone things back about three notches or so. I'll not be more specific than that, other to add that if you think you might be the commenter, but are unsure, then it may be time to take a look at your own posting habits. All in the name of CITOKATE, please. matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19739359564648599562013-05-01T20:47:58.510-07:002013-05-01T20:47:58.510-07:00Amazing. A sincere and broad-minded person of mat...Amazing. A sincere and broad-minded person of maturity would ponder the possibility that, when someone says "you don't understand", there is some onus to either prove understanding by paraphrasing or else exert curiosity with "hm... maybe I don't."<br /><br />Not locum. Hence I reiterate. His every single sentence in this thread has proved that he does NOT understand the thing he is criticizing. It is like playing Battleship and he shouts out squares in the Cyrillic alphabet for a game board miles away.<br /><br />locum... you are seeing me in YOUR mirror, assuming that I am like you. It is the trap of all dogmatists. It is a shame because curiosity might be lamp to guide you out of that pit.<br /><br />Broke my pledge and now I have to do damn Captcha again. Kick me if I respond to locum on this thread again.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-944841130935025232013-05-01T20:27:23.052-07:002013-05-01T20:27:23.052-07:00With all due sincerity, I understand what David is...With all due sincerity, I understand what David is trying to say. I even agree with him on the important issues, taking issue with the saying of his meanings rather than the meaning of his sayings.<br /><br />So far he has come out in favour of Conservative Libertarianism, Simulated Reality, Stable Mobility, Institutionalized Creativity, Professional Amateurs, Hierarchical Egalitarianism, Cooperative Competition, Reciprocal Accountability, Preserved Progress, and (now) a 'Flat Social Order', proof positive of an Overt Liberal Conformist Conspiracy, a "War on Language" if you will or a linguistic apocalypse if you'd rather, as evidenced by his propensity for Orwellian Newspeak & oxymoronic neologisms.<br /><br />In all seriousness, methinks that the moderator David moderate his seriousness.<br /><br />Really now. I get nothing for "Walt Disney Plutocrat" or wealth-based "Hege-money", but a Paulist double entendre gets kudos? Now, it's my turn to mope.<br /><br />Best.locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33584193480015030122013-05-01T20:03:56.980-07:002013-05-01T20:03:56.980-07:00Robert first I've heard of the Atacama Humanoi...Robert first I've heard of the Atacama Humanoid. It certainly is creepy. My impression -- given the lack of reference to or even mention of any citable outside sources or interested institutions -- is that it has all the earmarks of a blatant hoax.<br /><br />Especially given that it is published on a UFO site.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79209390995581296472013-05-01T19:03:23.807-07:002013-05-01T19:03:23.807-07:00sociotard:
"I have to laugh at the irony of ...sociotard:<br /><i><br />"I have to laugh at the irony of those towns in red states who every so often respond to anti-gun ordinances in places like Chicago and New York by passing their own laws REQUIRING every citizen to purchase a gun."<br /><br />Could you name which towns? Because I'll bet no such law has been passed, at least not within living memory.<br /></i><br /><br />The first one I am aware of was Kennesaw, GA, admittedly back in the 1980s, but hardly outside of living memory. A Chicago suburb, Morton Grove, IL passed an anti-gun ordinance, and in response, Kennesaw passed a law requiring every citizen to own a gun.<br /><br />But if that's not recent enough history for you, I'm pretty sure there was a recent example in one of the south-eastern states just a few months ago, in reaction to the anti-gun sentiment following the Sandy Hook shooting. In fact, I just looked it up...Nelson GA.<br /><br />http://news.yahoo.com/ga-city-council-votes-require-gun-ownership-003042709.htmlLarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22766607226670803742013-05-01T18:25:01.705-07:002013-05-01T18:25:01.705-07:00Speaking of oddities, Dr. Brin, have you heard any...Speaking of oddities, Dr. Brin, <a href="http://siriusdisclosure.com/evidence/atacama-humanoid/" rel="nofollow">have you heard anything about the Atacama Humanoid</a>? Or is (as my personal suspicion trends toward) the entire article a fake intended on stirring up Internet fancies?<br /><br />Though I must admit... a cautious and semi-intelligent animal living in a remote section of South America that considered humanity to be a predator could easily evade detection. It's probably a monkey of some sort when all's said and done.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43564123591245889592013-05-01T18:02:35.404-07:002013-05-01T18:02:35.404-07:00Now it's simply gone pathetic. Locum not only...Now it's simply gone pathetic. Locum not only seems incapable of grokking the underlying notion or preserving progress, freedom, creativity and a flat social order through systems of reciprocal accountability, he is unable to even take note of it as a SUBJECT to be discussed, even though all of my last two missives were about that.<br /><br />Incurious beyond blame, he veers away from that which he cannot comprehend or perceive and keeps trying to cram everything into his own obsession. And thus, insisting that, whatever I say, I simply have to be a conspirator in favor of one form or another of elitist rule.<br /><br />Despite that being the diametric opposite of both my goals and my means of approaching them. Which are the ONLY means that have ever worked at fostering a society with both fairness and social mobility.<br /><br />At this point is is simply becoming sad. And not worth doing captcha another time.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61460164629181467482013-05-01T17:22:42.772-07:002013-05-01T17:22:42.772-07:00One has to admire David's wordsmithery:
Inste...One has to admire David's wordsmithery:<br /><br />Instead of advocating an intellectual meritocracy in a direct manner, he states that he is a firm supporter of "modern democratic-consensus government (enhanced) by doing what Smith proposed (by educating and) communally helping poor kids in order to achieve a libertarian goal… maximizing the number of skilled-confident competitors".<br /><br />Unfortunately, he neglects to mention that the single best predictor of educational success (as evidenced by university graduation rates) is "the socioeconomic status and educational level" of the student's family which means that the 'great equalizer' that is education is still mostly a hereditary aristocracy.<br /><br />Look no further than George W Bush, a marginally-intelligent substance-abusing frat boy who 'earned' the US Presidency by virtue of a pricey university degree purchased by his 'hege-monied' family... <br /><br />Which is not to say that poor competitors of low socioeconomic status cannot benefit from an expensive 'Smithian' education (IE. Obama). It just means that the supposed educational benefit to low income students is much less likely to be statistically significant.<br /><br />David insists on seeing the world through the rose-coloured glasses of Idealism and neglects the obvious:<br /><br />Money & Power begets Education & Intellect which begets Money & Power which begets even more Education, Money, Power & Smithian advantage, and so on. <br /><br />Putting aside David's dog-eared Mickey Mouse idealism, one Plutocrat is much like another, whether or not they derive their hierarchical authority from Walt Disney, blood, money or education. Same-Same. No difference. <br /><br />And, btw, NOT "everybody agrees that efficiency is good". Try reading up on Spinrad's 'Agent of Chaos' or Herbert's 'Bureau of Sabotage'.<br /><br /><br />Best.locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50916891193868400612013-05-01T15:39:16.605-07:002013-05-01T15:39:16.605-07:00TWOTDA = investments which have the effect of redu...TWOTDA = investments which have the effect of reducing GHG emissions and have a financial rate of return in excess of the hurdle rate.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79164637387394742692013-05-01T15:10:24.254-07:002013-05-01T15:10:24.254-07:00Randy, your joke: saving both Christianity and lib...<br />Randy, your joke: saving both Christianity and libertarianism from "paulists" was both obscure and hilarious.<br /><br />locum asks if I pose my own platonist ideal society. No way. I am loyal to the pragmatist Scots-Anglo-Jewish branch of the Enlightenment, which split off from the Continental branch when it got suckered back down paths of platonist "reason" and ideal essences. My central purpose is to continue using the practical mix of competition and cooperation that I describe in EARTH, finding synergistic ways for them to leverage and enhance each other.<br /><br />(e.g. the fact that a cooperative enterprise - modern democratic-consensus government - can be used to enhance the effectiveness of Smithian competition, by doing what Smith proposed… communally helping poor kids in order to achieve a libertarian goal… maximizing the number of skilled-confident competitors.)<br /><br />Neither of the two previous paragraphs can even be read or parsed by a person with a dogmatic mind set. He'll keep looking for a gran Prescription or doctrine, rather than a matter of practical design principles that have worked well for 200 years.<br /><br />This obduracy is shown by the hilarious (tho perhaps sincere) attempt at paraphrasing: "favouring a type of intellectual feudalism dominated by a scientifically educated Professional Class"<br /><br />Har! I have intensely defended the professional castes against the war that is being waged against them by the New Oligarchs. Naturally, as a platonist, locum interprets that to mean I want to REPLACE domineering financial lords with a technocracy of intelligencia lords. But… note this… that is exactly PLATO's prescription, not mine!<br /><br />Were such a technocracy in place, I would bend all my efforts to breaking it up. To siccing them against each other in the competitive process that Plato hated and that underlies all of our successes. The process that empowers human beings to overcame their near infinite capacity for delusion.<br /><br />"David tries to sell us the same type of Platonic feudal fertilizer in new packaging."<br /><br />No, that is locum dully blinking at what he does not understand and assuming it must be something like what already exists in his mind. <br /><br />Likewise his dismissal of TWODA, which is nothing more than "everybody agrees that efficiency is good, and needed, so let's get a bunch of that while arguing over climate change.<br /><br />feh.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7854440031608193482013-05-01T13:03:34.293-07:002013-05-01T13:03:34.293-07:00Granted, Plato was a self-deluded optimist whose &...Granted, Plato was a self-deluded optimist whose 'Republic' favoured a type of intellectual feudalism dominated by a highly educated Philosopher Class while idealizing & ignoring the less noble aspects of human nature, but that's no reason for a pot to call the kettle 'cookware'.<br /><br />Hasn't David proposed a similarly optimistic social plan that idealizes & ignores the less noble aspects of human nature while favouring a type of intellectual feudalism dominated by a scientifically educated Professional Class??<br /><br />By offering us a chance to trade one form of hereditary oligarchy (Monetary) for a pseudo-intellectual Laputan other, David tries to sell us the same type of Platonic feudal fertilizer in new packaging. <br /><br />That's what the acronym 'TWODA' really means: "Things We Ought to be Doing Anyway" as determined by a self-annointed Intellectual Aristocracy, also known as 'Moral Compulsion' by another name.<br /><br />Of course, this new type of intellectual feudalism would welcome the contributions of a talented amateur class as long as (1) they were optimistic and enthusiastically obedient, (2) they met certain yet-to-be-determined professional & intellectual standards and (3) they knew their place as low-ranking peons & amateurs.<br /><br />Meet the new boss<br />Same as the old boss...<br />No, no! WE won't get fooled again!!<br />Don't get fooled again.<br /><br /><br />Best.locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57564653410293446572013-05-01T11:21:44.847-07:002013-05-01T11:21:44.847-07:00"... It's not libertarianism despite Ayn ...<i>"... It's not libertarianism despite Ayn Rand's attempts to claim contrary..."</i><br /><br />Just as Christianity needs to be saved from the Christians, perhaps Libertarianism needs to be saved from the Libertarians...<br /><br />... or at least the Paulists, in both cases.<br /><br />(...small religion joke. Sorry!)rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90029548330948082722013-05-01T10:56:27.689-07:002013-05-01T10:56:27.689-07:00When you get down to it, Dr. Brin, is that not wha...When you get down to it, Dr. Brin, is that not what Atlas Shrugged is about? It's about a minority of people saying "fuck the world! If I can't have it my way, then I'll make sure only I survive and the rest of you starve!" despite what the majority desires. It's not libertarianism despite Ayn Rand's attempts to claim contrary. It's oligarchy and feudalism.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71408877701414578582013-05-01T10:56:01.052-07:002013-05-01T10:56:01.052-07:00As for "humbling" us first worlders: las...As for "humbling" us first worlders: last year I installed photovoltaics that power the laptop I'm typing on right now. The Grid thinks I'm using way way less electricity; *I* think I'm using more. Who is right?<br /><br />---<br /><br />As to the 2nd Amendment: let us not forget that in the Old West, it was very common for communities to require that you check your six-gun with the sheriff before you go into town. <br /><br />----<br /><br />@Tim H. said...<br /><i>"...AR-15s use a smaller round, requiring less propellant and emitting less CO2, so an outright assault weapons ban could conceivably increase carbon emissions."</i><br /><br />You, sir, win an internet for the most original anti-global-warming proposal I have heard in years LOL.<br />rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78545173238129093562013-05-01T10:14:44.232-07:002013-05-01T10:14:44.232-07:00The platonist-pure dogmatic position on coercion t... The platonist-pure dogmatic position on coercion that's the now-standard position of the dominant Randian wing of libertarianism has a huge underlying motive... to prevent any change in ownership-oligarchic status quo.<br /><br />Absent the notion of nations and government, as modalities for consensus common action... plus the principle that a politically determined action can be then enforced upon dissenters... the result is not libertarian paradise for all. It is feudalism. The owner-lords maintain control over all markets and collude to create attractor states that draw all power and economic activity toward them.<br /><br />Seriously, do these folks read any history? At all? Ever? Platonist incantations about purist essences are great at stoking a sense of indignant fury. But they have no pragmatic or truthful bearing upon any of the basic human dilemmas.<br /><br />Does this mean that "majority rule" can or should overcome all minority dissent? Bullshit. The US Constitution is replete with measures aimed at preventing that. Our entire political system is not based upon majority rule by minority veto. <br /><br />51% can get what they want if the other 49% shrug and yawn. But 60% cannot get what they want without negotiating-down the INTENSITY of opposition from a strongly-felt 40% opposition, At least that is how it spozed to work... till you get cheats like gerrymandering.<br /><br />Even 70% is supposed to run into trouble, if 30% are truly pissed off enough to engage in civil disobedience. And C.O. is punished very mildly in a civilized society, with proportionality carefully gauged to make it uncomfortable but not repressed.<br /><br />All of this shows that these matters have been worked out by men and women who were and are so VASTLY smarter and more knowing than the Rand-Rothbardites that they seem another species. Priests of a religion of platonic essences that serve one function, to proclaim "kill the state and its democratic processes for performing communal action and leave all major decisions regarding allocation of resources and activities to the owner lords."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346746681082416283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78492922956440899912013-05-01T04:17:04.704-07:002013-05-01T04:17:04.704-07:00"We can't persuade the first world to liv..."We can't persuade the first world to live on less. We can't even persuade them to maintain consumption when effiency drives down costs."<br /><br />Fortunately, we don't have to.<br /><br />"... figures based on submissions by 42 industrialised nations this month used to judge compliance with U.N treaties underscore how continued worldwide growth in emissions is increasingly led by China and other emerging economies.<br /><br />Combined emissions in the 42 countries slipped to 17.1 billion tonnes in 2011 from 17.2 billion in 2010. That was down 6.4 percent from levels in 1990, the U.N. benchmark year for judging progress in combating global warming.<br /><br />"For the United States, it's mainly a shift from coal to gas in power plants," said Steffen Kallbekken, research director at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo, said of the 2011 numbers.<br /><br />"For Europe it's primarily weak economic activity," he said. Industrialised nations are trying to cut emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, to curb a rise in temperatures and avert heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels.<br /><br />Senior government officials from around the world will meet in Bonn, Germany, next week for a new round of negotiations on an emissions deal that is meant to be agreed in 2015 and enter into force in 2020.<br /><br />The last attempt at an accord failed in Copenhagen in 2009.<br /><br />In the United States, the world's No.2 emitter behind China and ahead of the European Union, greenhouse gas emissions dipped to 6.67 billion tonnes in 2011 from 6.79 billion in 2010.<br /><br />That put U.S. emissions 7 percent below their 2005 levels. President Barack Obama wants a cut of 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 but has lacked support for that drive in the Senate.<br /><br />European Union emissions fell by 3.3 percent in 2011, according to official accounting of gases ranging from carbon dioxide to methane.<br /><br />That means EU emissions were 18.5 percent below 1990 levels in 2011, apparently on target for a promised cut of at least 20 percent by 2020 despite a plunge in the price of carbon dioxide on an EU market that has removed a main spur to action."<br /><br />http://www.trust.org/item/20130426110427-qghv9/?source%20=%20hpbreakingIanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.com