tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post8870388201527298078..comments2024-03-28T15:25:05.152-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Proof of "Uplift"... or at least intelligence...David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39195006659524602392008-02-09T11:53:00.000-08:002008-02-09T11:53:00.000-08:00I sincerely hope that it is the chimps, and not th...I sincerely hope that it is the chimps, and not the 'autistic' humyns, which you are proposing to 'uplift.'Lorrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13567383019731167967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15654764261667670652007-12-18T00:41:00.000-08:002007-12-18T00:41:00.000-08:00Life After People is on The History ChannelLife After People is on The History ChannelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51078354749584615732007-12-09T02:02:00.000-08:002007-12-09T02:02:00.000-08:00The holographic algorithm thing is interesting.And...The holographic algorithm thing is interesting.<BR/><BR/>And based on what little I was able to find out in a five-minute google, it does have the advantage of being non-obvious, even in retrospect.<BR/><BR/>(this is important. We are /good/ at algorithms. If P = NP, it has to be by something REALLY STRANGE.)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11507725932358099333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67233279853647840862007-12-08T18:49:00.000-08:002007-12-08T18:49:00.000-08:00Wouldn't one of those States wind up getting invol...Wouldn't one of those States wind up getting involved in a war with Turkey? Is that still considered possible?Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66785865635660083062007-12-08T18:36:00.000-08:002007-12-08T18:36:00.000-08:00A few disturbing graphs about the Russian parlimen...<A HREF="http://krotty.livejournal.com/36604.html" REL="nofollow">A few disturbing graphs about the Russian parlimentary elections.<BR/>http://krotty.livejournal.com/36604.html</A><BR/><BR/>I can't wait for diebold to bring us the American version<BR/><BR/>Oh, and Zorgon, have you tried using your email address as your logon? I used to use just "sociotard". It stopped working. Now I use "sociotard@gmail.com" and it works again.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-34028107976239064762007-12-08T18:16:00.000-08:002007-12-08T18:16:00.000-08:00(Zorgon again, logon no mas)God exists and will be...(Zorgon again, logon no mas)<BR/><BR/>God exists and will be destroyed as soon as humans mount an effective timing attack against the computational substructure of space-time and run an anti-virus program at the Planck scale.<BR/><BR/><I>(rim shot)</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22993736495080570232007-12-08T17:43:00.000-08:002007-12-08T17:43:00.000-08:00Zorgon,Tony Fisk is right. You do have enough mate...Zorgon,<BR/><BR/>Tony Fisk is right. You do have enough material for your own blog. But maybe it's better if you keep posting here. It's like being at a party where two people are having an interesting conversation. It's just as much fun to listen in as to have your own conversation. (Colabrative blogging: is that an oxymoron or any idea needing more thought?)<BR/><BR/>Dr. Brin,<BR/><BR/>I'm not convinced that Bush and company have deliberately set out to do what they have accomplished. Lack of compentence is still plausible. However, if you posit that they have, is having a uncooperative three region state, or three separate states in Iraq, not a good thing for ensuring an oil supply to the West? (It's definitely not a good thing for many other reasons.) With three uncooperative states one will be willing to sell us as much oil as we want. Perhaps that's part of what they set out to do?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41006793537872894132007-12-08T12:32:00.000-08:002007-12-08T12:32:00.000-08:00Yes, a choice rant.Alas, Olberman will just put of...Yes, a choice rant.<BR/><BR/>Alas, Olberman will just put off ostriches by seeming a "smarty pants." Still, it is important that someone be out there putting the "alpha" case. After all, there ARE alpha ostriches. e.g. attorneys.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53830984075015582952007-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:002007-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:00Ahhhh, nothing like a good Olbermann rant to start...Ahhhh, nothing like a good <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDKNZrHKAW0" REL="nofollow">Olbermann</A> rant to start the day.<BR/><BR/>It's fun, really, watching the Reality Control guys on the right trying to cope with this latest round of egregious pooch-screwing. What's the current talking point, that screwing the pooch is honorable and necessary and the sign of a strong leader, and maybe the pooch was just asking for it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83499373997166881942007-12-08T01:02:00.000-08:002007-12-08T01:02:00.000-08:00Thank you for your response, Dr. Brin.In other new...Thank you for your response, Dr. Brin.<BR/><BR/>In other news:<BR/><A HREF="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uoc--nbs120707.php" REL="nofollow">Nanotube-producing bacteria show manufacturing promise<BR/>http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uoc--nbs120707.php</A><BR/><I>The research team believes this is the first time nanotubes have been shown to be produced by biological rather than chemical means. It opens the door to the possibility of cheaper and more environmentally friendly manufacture of electronic materials.<BR/>In a process that is not yet fully understood, the Shewanella bacterium secretes polysacarides that seem to produce the template for the arsenic sulfide nanotubes, Myung explained. The practical significance of this technique would be much greater if a bacterial species were identified that could produce nanotubes of cadmium sulfide or other superior semiconductor materials, he added.</I>sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6030563526697498832007-12-07T23:46:00.000-08:002007-12-07T23:46:00.000-08:00(Zorgon again, logon still blown.)Miscellaneous sc...(Zorgon again, logon still blown.)<BR/><BR/>Miscellaneous scientific news:<BR/><BR/>This article claims Craig Venter is the future -- why scientist-entrepeneurs represent a sea-change from the current big-government model of scientific research:<BR/>http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/12/05/craig_venter/?source=whitelist<BR/><BR/>(Warning: you might have to read a free ad to get a site pass for salon to view this article. It's worth it.) <BR/><BR/>How introducing simple checklists has revolutionized medical care in a handful of hospitals, saving hundreds of millions of dollars, and thousands of patients' lives -- yet America remains weirdly reluctant to make this simple practice a universal part of healthcare:<BR/>http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=1<BR/><BR/>Studies show superior intelligence and talent not the key to academic<BR/>achievement; instead, perserverence and teaching a "growth mindset" appears <BR/>to be much more important for academic success:<BR/>http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids<BR/><BR/>Example of radical transparency in the courtroom. How long before the currently common practice of LEOs "testilying" becomes a thing of the past? And what will this do to conviction rates?<BR/>http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DETECTIVE_PERJURY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT<BR/><BR/>Research suggests that human evolution has <I><B>sped up</I></B> over the last 40,000 years, rather than standing still:<BR/>http://www.physorg.com/news116169889.html<BR/><BR/>New Japanese Stacked Gate Transistor design may boost CPU speeds up to 20 Ghz and possibly as high as 50 Ghz:<BR/>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071207-new-transistor-design-may-kick-off-race-to-10ghz.html<BR/><BR/>New holographic algorithm <I>might</I> hold the promise of converting NP problems to P (not yet proven, highly speculative, probably unlikely -- but, boy, if we find a way to convert NP-complete problems to polynomial-time problems, it's katy bar the door for computational science!):<BR/>http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/56452/page/6;jsessionid=aaa8FUcNo0qpg2<BR/><BR/>Congress, candidates call credit card companies on the table for their outrageous financial thievery:<BR/>http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/12/04/congress-candidates-call-credit-card-companies-on-the-carpet/<BR/><BR/>Repubs and Demos are obsolete, argues this essayist. Instead, current politicians divide between corporatist advocates of tyranny and those who believe in the constitution:<BR/>http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_timothy__071205_republicans_and_demo.htm<BR/><BR/>Why the Pentagon is happy about the NIE -- the article suggests it's a counter-coup by Bush 41 against Cheney:<BR/>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1691241,00.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-70017279323287122502007-12-07T23:05:00.000-08:002007-12-07T23:05:00.000-08:00David, Original Sin refers to very specific August...David, Original Sin refers to very specific Augustinian thought, shepherded by Roman Catholic and offshoot-Protestant soteriologies.<BR/><BR/>Anabaptist-descended and Eastern Orthodox groups don't use it. Mormons and any other "restorationist" creed won't use it. To them there is no base level of sin to expiate; the "human sacrifice" is seen as a willing self-presentation, rather than a forced killing. <BR/><BR/>As to whether the human sacrifice of Jesus implies Original Sin, I don't agree, but I confess to so much ignorance about the mechanisms of such a thing that all you'd get for an answer is a class of supposition common in, say, wheel-spinning string theory.<BR/><BR/>The supposition itself centers around blackbox ideas of "justice", which takes the form of a kind of unassailable law of physics. It kind of reduces "sin" to being a violation of physical law, as it were. <BR/><BR/>Thus, God doesn't impose "eternal damnation", one imposes that on oneself through choices made both before birth and after birth. <BR/><BR/>All of that presupposes a Mormon point of view on the whole question. The actual mechanisms of "justice" and "mercy" in such a construction remain unexplained, but living in that sort of ignorance doesn't trouble me much, since I also can't *really* intuit things like string theory or electron shell energy levels. Or the "wavicle" behavior of light, for that matter.Rob Perkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618647194288598056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71636946519966444922007-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:002007-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:00Woozle, I am so, so sympathetic. (NOT sarcastic!)...Woozle, I am so, so sympathetic. (NOT sarcastic!) You are attempting to do something cool to help create communities that engage in a better kind of discourse, as I discuss at: http://tinyurl.com/yy7yxm<BR/><BR/>So am I, with my Holocene insights. Heckfire, mine even have a hundred patents! (Many of them overlapping.) And still, I am like you, saying "Hello?" anybody out there?<BR/><BR/>Problem is, everybody is so damn busy. Why do you think I wrote Kiln People, except as a dream of how to get myself out from under? Oh if only. Or if only civilization would value me enough to provide heaps of assistants! ;-) <BR/><BR/>Can't complain tho. At least this one values me enough to keep me fed, my kids in school funds ... and nobody's garroted me yet for being an opinionated pest.<BR/><BR/>Rob, isn't Original Sin kind of implicit in the whole human sacrifice to expiate humanity's base-level of sin, thing? Of course, with the concept of vacuum energy, suddenly one can envision LAYERS of baseline sin levels... starting to sound all buddhist....David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51807904070706813852007-12-07T19:19:00.000-08:002007-12-07T19:19:00.000-08:00Frustration sets in as I find myself absolutely un...Frustration sets in as I find myself absolutely unable to keep up, due to time constraints, with the flood of interesting information and discussion here. I shall keep skimming as usual, but I did want to make another plea...<BR/><BR/>...to please experiment, make an attempt, to post some of this stuff on <A HREF="http://issuepedia.org" REL="nofollow">Issuepedia</A>, where it can be organized and compartmentalized and cross-correlated. Informality is fine; it's not Wikipedia. (<A HREF="http://www.issuepedia.org/Issuepedia:Reinforcement_by_Contradiction" REL="nofollow">This</A> may clarify somewhat, I hope.)<BR/><BR/>I admit to being slightly baffled at the general lack of enthusiasm for the Issupedia concept, especially among those here who are both (a) interested in understanding complicated issues and communicating about them <I>and</I> (b) well aware of the problems with the more common forms of discussion on the 'net.<BR/><BR/>Not to blame or criticize anyone; I realize it's probably a matter of my not explaining the idea well enough. If I had time, I'd write a 5-minute introduction, but I haven't yet and won't have time tonight. If anyone has any ideas for what I should explain in such an intro, please feel free to make suggestions.<BR/><BR/>Okay, that said, my name is Wuz'al (trying to make it sound Islamic) and I've been your thread-hijacker for this evening; I now withdraw my box-cutter and return you to your regular pilot. Allah Akbar and Jeff.Woozlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17948248776908775080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28452124756790108532007-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:002007-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00Re religion: rob is on-target. But I go farther. T...<I>Re religion: rob is on-target. But I go farther. The whole “savior” thing is dependent upon a horrid premise, Original Sin. </I><BR/><BR/>Ah no. No nononononononono.<BR/><BR/>"Original Sin" is not a universally Christian notion, any more than violent jihad is universally Muslim. <BR/><BR/>There are more soteriologies than that, including mine, which explicitly denies the notion of Original Sin. That one was debunked before the Enlightenment really took hold. <BR/><BR/>And as long as we're dealing in logic, let me point out that even the notion of a math-uttering God at the beginning of the Universe is still rather constrained and Aristotelian-classical, prime-mover-of-the-spheres stuff.<BR/><BR/>Even so, yeah, I feel the same numinous awe, looking at the perimeter of a Mandelbrot plot. And the notion that such sets can certainly be plotted to produce three-, four-, and five- axis space geometries, all with n-dimensional perimeters of infinite magnitude, enclosing a finite amount of n+1 dimensional space!<BR/><BR/>Chew on that awhile, and I dare anyone not to whisper some variant of "allahu akhbar" while sitting gobsmacked on the floor. <BR/><BR/>Oh man, I'm such a geek...Rob Perkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618647194288598056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47879967947913940472007-12-07T18:42:00.000-08:002007-12-07T18:42:00.000-08:00"we’re supposed to be uncertain He exists"FWIW Bra..."we’re supposed to be uncertain He exists"<BR/><BR/>FWIW Brams in his "Superior Beings: If They Exist, How Would We Know?" exhibits a two-person non-zero sum game which, under some very plausible (to me, anyway) assumptions about desires of a benevolent "God" and "we humans stuck down here on Terra", has a Nash equilibrium dictating that God's dominant strategy would be to make the universe look like He isn't around.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73091808797640850382007-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:002007-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:00Google is your friend:http://www.time.com/time/mag...Google is your friend:<BR/>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,480226,00.html<BR/><BR/><I>On July 22, 2002, Prince Ahmed was felled by a heart attack at age 43. One day later Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud, 41, was killed in what was called a high-speed car accident. The last member of the trio, Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, officially "died of thirst" while traveling east of Riyadh one week later. And seven months after that, Mushaf Ali Mir, by then Pakistan's Air Marshal, perished in a plane crash in clear weather over the unruly North-West Frontier province, along with his wife and closest confidants.</I>Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09899896624634559665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13997093621664329382007-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:002007-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:00Just hiding the tapes from the 9/11 commission is ...Just hiding the tapes from the 9/11 commission is criminal.<BR/><BR/>If there was any White House (or Undisclosed Location) involvement, we're in impeachment territory.<BR/><BR/>And while the "Saudi Princes" rumor sounds too good to be true, and I don't pin much hope on it . . . that would be the end of the House of Bush.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14669148424291105012007-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:002007-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:00Holy mackeral. If even half of that is true....Of...Holy mackeral. If even half of that is true....<BR/><BR/>Of course, with trillions, and a closed society, you can buy fresh identities pretty easy. Just hold a close-casket funeral and grow a beard and use another name... with a wink.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16387653397223579662007-12-07T14:08:00.000-08:002007-12-07T14:08:00.000-08:00Here's Gerald Posner on who Zubaydah named as he w...Here's Gerald Posner on who Zubaydah named as he was brought into custody (even before interrogation).<BR/><BR/>http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzRmMjdiODg3OWMyMzFkZTYwMmJjNWI2MGJhOTZmMzY=<BR/>---<BR/><I>Zubaydah, wounded when he was captured in Pakistan, was fooled in a fake flag operation to believe that the Saudis held him. Instead of being afraid of the ‘Saudis,’ he demanded to talk to three Saudi princes (one, the nephew of the King, who happened to be in the U.S. on 9/11). He gave his interrogators the private cell phone numbers of all 3. He did the same regarding the chief of Pakistan's air force.<BR/><BR/>After the U.S. told the Saudis and Pakistanis of Zubaydah's finger pointing, all four men had tragic 'accidents.' The King's nephew died of complications from liposuction at the age of 43. A day later, the 41 year old Prince named by Zubaydah died in a one-car accident on his way to the funeral of the King’s nephew. The third named prince, age 25, died a week later of "thirst," according to the Saudi Royal Court. And shortly after that, the chief of Pakistan’s air force died when his plane exploded with his wife and 15 of his top aides on board</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29097714046227156882007-12-07T14:01:00.000-08:002007-12-07T14:01:00.000-08:00Regarding the destruction of the interrogation tap...Regarding the destruction of the interrogation tapes. There is some interesting speculation floating around that on reason may be that the detainees named some key Saudi officials as terrorists sponsors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81728362709123840922007-12-07T11:08:00.000-08:002007-12-07T11:08:00.000-08:00BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO ARTHUR CLARKEZechariah, recipr...BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO ARTHUR CLARKE<BR/><BR/><BR/>Zechariah, reciprocal deterrence with cameras breaks down when a mad dog starts shooting. But still citizens can document the event and act as helpers in the general process, as did those private individuals who documented 9/11.<BR/><BR/>What would NOT help is for everyone to walk around armed, all the time, as in the first half of Heinlein’s BEYOND THIS HORIZON. (The second half is terrific!) Think. This guy stationed himself with a heavy weapon on a balcony perch. Most people would have small handguns. Oh, great scenario.<BR/><BR/>Far better to detect when a doofus is walking around armed! Which people will soon be able to do, when we are equipped with better sensors. Citizens spotting this horror before he REACHES his perch. That’s where the “cameras” would do far more good than guns.<BR/><BR/>And of course, how many short-tempered people would whip out a gun and use it, if everybody had em? Dang, look at the wild west. Look at the armed to-the-teeth ghettos. Do I want to live in a world where I cuss out a bad driver and he can start blazing away at me? Shit.<BR/><BR/>Yes, I favor the 2nd Amendment! I do believe the citizenry should be armed. But in such a way that they can best defend their homes and freedoms without endangering each other. How?<BR/><BR/>see: <BR/>http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2007/01/brin-classics-jefferson-rifle.html<BR/><BR/>Re religion: rob is on-target. But I go farther. The whole “savior” thing is dependent upon a horrid premise, Original Sin. <BR/><BR/><B>Why</B> would a decent Father curse generations of future babies to damnation over a mistake made by a couple of ignorant and impulsive teen cavemen? Why would He then demand something that He himself had declared illegal and immoral, a human sacrifice, TO HIMSELF, in order to TENTATIVELY remove this curse from innocent babies -- but only tentatively, demanding also that they recite precisely the right incantations, as well -- especially millions of them, who grow up far away from the Word?<BR/><BR/>If you want to start going down paths of logic, try that one. <BR/><BR/>In comparison, the notion that the Creator would patiently set up a vast and marvelous cosmos, starting with a marvelous Bang of distilled mathematics, and then wait 13 billion years to see what marvelous co-creator apprentices might emerge, seems to me t much less far-fetched.<BR/><BR/>rob had part of it sussed. The Bible is our kindergarten book, filled with vivid and violent stories, and guilt trips, and morality tales, all of it appropriate for children... or immature and frightened tribesmen. Those tales haven’t lost their relevance or resonance, any more than we abandon the values our parents taught us. But we do add more advanced texts, as time goes on!<BR/><BR/>Right now, I see a two volume set across the room... Morse and Feschback’s tome of methods of theoretical physics, and I know they contain a large fraction of the words that He spoke, when He said “let there be light.” What’s more, I recall those few moments when I managed to read the equations and FEEL their power. <BR/><BR/>The marvel? I don’t even have to know that He exists, in order to feel that power as a kind of prayer, and to say “wow” at the wonder of it all.<BR/><BR/>THAT is what terrifies the Fundamentalists, down deep. The notion that science might be continuing revelation. That they are stuck in Kindergarten while others are in graduate school, unrolling the Creator’s blueprints and studying how to continue His work. Like teens entering Dad’s business. <BR/><BR/>To some of us, that image is SO WAY COOL! Frankly, I find it a far better reply to religious reactionaries than Dennett and that silly crowd, shrieking their atheist manifestos. (I was just at one of their conferences. Yipes, do they miss the point!)<BR/><BR/>Dig it, this notion of science-as-revelation does not even require one to abandon agnosticism! Since the Great Sermon we see all around us, every day, is ambiguity... we’re supposed to be uncertain He exists. (Try it. Politely ask that he part the clouds, Monty Python fashion, and clear it all up!)<BR/><BR/>No, I prefer this view, even from the perspective of preaching goodness! Rewards and punishment are for the immature. But the notion of having to get morally better IN ORDER TO BE WORTHY OF DOING GREAT WORK? That seems a better motive than yowping a lot of onsequious nonsense, in order to be one of the 144,000 who don’t get to have blood squirting out their eyes on the plains of Meggido.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62017509502151987932007-12-07T09:38:00.000-08:002007-12-07T09:38:00.000-08:00On the issue of random shootings:Consider this sce...On the issue of random shootings:<BR/><BR/>Consider this scenario. You're in a mall, you have a concealed - or even non-concealed, it doesn't matter - weapon.<BR/><BR/>A young man near you shoots another young man.<BR/><BR/>How do you react?<BR/><BR/>Do you shoot him? If so, how do you know he didn't just do what you did? What's to keep someone from shooting YOU, thinking you're the source of the gunshots? Especially since in a crowd, visibility of the sort required to identify shooters is limited.<BR/><BR/>Do you not shoot him? If so, then what did your gun get you?<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>A 1% chance of stopping a mad dog is all well and good, but I think the chance of adding to the mayhem is much higher.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>There are similar problems with concealed carry to deter crime. If you're mugged while carrying a gun ... the mugger has the advantage, you don't. And if you scare him, he WILL shoot.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11507725932358099333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54716897317856973402007-12-07T08:54:00.000-08:002007-12-07T08:54:00.000-08:00Is that a recommendation that you think I ought to...Is that a recommendation that you think I ought to take, to read <I>Kiln People</I>, or an observation that I have?<BR/><BR/>I have read it, twice. Its treatment of some fun metaphysical ideas is typical Brin, and I enjoyed playing with him in that sandbox during the read. <BR/><BR/>It may go without saying here that I've read everything by David that I could obtain, including some of his peer reviewed papers.Rob Perkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618647194288598056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90642344934475059462007-12-07T08:12:00.000-08:002007-12-07T08:12:00.000-08:00I don't recall Dr. Brin's exact words, but in rega...I don't recall Dr. Brin's exact words, but in regards to Virginia Tech, a lot of the people dies because the communications on campus were crap. Confusion and chaos kept students in classes, nobody knew where things were going on, not even the police. The shootings were a while apart, and if people had been able to keep each other updated better, then people could have stayed away and the police could possibly have gotten to him before the second round of shootings. Not exactly cameras, but sort of on the same concept.<BR/><BR/>And now to jump off this topic and on to breaking news of evil:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/washington/06cnd-intel.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp" REL="nofollow"><BR/>The CIA Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations</A><BR/><BR/>Back in 2005, the CIA destroyed two tapes of "severe interrogations" of terrorist suspects, because they were afraid of what would happen if they became public. Probably because they knew if people saw real video of the kinds of "harsh interrogation" we've been reduced to, the whole "it's not REALLY torture" pretense would collapse like a house of cards.<BR/><BR/>Also they'd be evidence to impeach many officials and try them for war crimes. The CIA says the tapes would have revealed CIA agent identities, as if it weren't possible to blur out identities on tapes.<BR/><BR/>They obstructed justice, lied to the 9/11 Commission, Congress, and US federal judges. At least they still have a little shame and are a little afraid of public exposure. <A HREF="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004845.php" REL="nofollow">Spencer Ackerman has more</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com