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Actually, I think fractional jet ownership is gaining popularity because people do not want the hassle of airport security.
Years ago when I worked at HP, we took HP's propeller plane to Roseville, it was fantastic when you can drive right up to the gate, no screening and hop on the airplane. Some of my coworkers flew to COMDEX on the jet and we wish all air travel was like that.
Why can't someone build a transporter booth system already? Is safe, energy efficient, simultaneous transportation really so much to ask for?
Why can’t someone build a transporter booth system already? Is safe, energy efficient, simultaneous transportation really so much to ask for?
It has unanswerable metaphysical questions.
Anyone remember this story about someone deplaned mid-flight from an HP turboprop?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/15/MN137139.DTL
"Why can’t someone build a transporter booth system already? Is safe, energy efficient, simultaneous transportation really so much to ask for?
It has unanswerable metaphysical questions. "
Some real physical ones, too. Converting a human to energy, according to E=MC squared, would make quite a pop. Just for comparison, that "crowd pleaser" 60 megaton nuke (deliverable only by B-52, in its day) only converts 4 ounces of matter to energy.
Just for comparison, that “crowd pleaser†60 megaton nuke (deliverable only by B-52, in its day) only converts 4 ounces of matter to energy.
Someone had said that "640K ought to be enough for everyone."
Now I will not buy a computer with less than 2GB RAM.
Perhaps technology will solve that problem in the future. But metaphysics issues cannot possibly be resolved.
RE: Transporter
No Ceasarian needed, just beam baby out of mother
Eat all you want, beam food from stomach to hog trough
No sex needed, just beam sperm to......
"Someone had said that “640K ought to be enough for everyone.â€
Are you saying I should upgrade?
Eat all you want, beam food from stomach to hog trough
That is something I can look forward too. My wife would not let be do the Roman thing. She said it is bad for my teeth.
Are you saying I should upgrade?
No. You should be able to run Windows 3.0 in real mode. Say hello to your "Program Manager." :)
(or maybe just jump ahead to the energy being phase)
Or perhaps we are energy beings after all. The physically world may be an illusion.
"My wife would not let be do the Roman thing. She said it is bad for my teeth."
Ah, yes the Vomitorium. (At least I hope that's the "Roman Thing" that would be bad for your teeth)
I heard that Emperor Senilius often confused the Vomitorium with the Buffet.
Peter P,
Why not just chew and spit out? Some fat and starch will get through, but a lot less.
Why not just chew and spit out? Some fat and starch will get through, but a lot less.
Swallowing the food is part of the enjoyment too.
Or perhaps we are energy beings after all. The physically world may be an illusion.
Even if this were true, the fact that you experience the physical universe, well...physically, makes the idea moot. If you jump off a building you will fall to the ground and die, because of gravity, imagined, illusionary, or real, all the same.
This is the problem I have with the postmodernists. The difference between something *real* and something *illusionary-but-perceived-exactly-as-if-real* is inconsequential.
Question: "But we could all be just dust in the wind. Isn't that deep?"
Answer: "No. Who cares. Quit smoking so much pot while watching adult swim, thinking you've discovered something profound".
This is the problem I have with the postmodernists.
This is why I am a sophist, not a postmodernist.
Even if this were true, the fact that you experience the physical universe, well…physically, makes the idea moot. If you jump off a building you will fall to the ground and die, because of gravity, imagined, illusionary, or real, all the same.
Then what really separates this universe from Second Life? :)
I think SL has gravity too.
Hey Peter, I think I had the same argument with my brother once. That whole, perception is the reality nonsense. I used the same counter, I don't care what your perception is, if you jump off that building you will die regardless of whether you perceive it as tall or illusionary.
Malcolm, you are right.
Actually, if a person truly believes that perception is reality he will be actively trying to change his thinking in order to improve reality.
Anyhow, I am not a good postmodernist. I am a pragmatist.
Peter, why do you consider yourself a sophist. That doesn't have a good connotation.
Actually GC, I think your position is kind of clever. How about this angle? If the guy is jumping off the building to prove the perception is reality, and he splatters on the ground he has failed to prove it, and the fact that he died before he figured it out is +1 for Darwinism. Since we are then left laughing at his stupidity, I would conclude his argument falls short, pardon the pun.
Peter, why do you consider yourself a sophist. That doesn’t have a good connotation.
Astrid called me a sophist. I assumed she would not call me anything bad. Oh well.
But, before that computation could terminate, the processor blue-screened. So the man died happily believing his prior notion.
Blue screen? Whose fault is that? ;)
Ha ha. I don't know that it is bad, it just means that you would try to win an argument by your charisma verses solid logic and support. I kind of consider Penn and Teller to be sophists.
Ha ha. I don’t know that it is bad, it just means that you would try to win an argument by your charisma verses solid logic and support.
If I had the required charisma I do not mind being a little facts-challenged. ;)
I'm normally suspicious of people who throw the labels around verses just saying what's on their mind. I'm kind of tired of the term 'straw man' being thrown around everytime someone wants to sound enlightened.
You'd be a sophist if the Sushi Guild of America made you their spokesperson.
Malcolm Says:
I also recently heard an interesting stat, that out of the guys under 30, 1/3rd of them are not getting laid.
Despite what you read in the stoopid glossy magazines, where the 'surveys' show that everyone is having sex all the time, that there are no STIs or risks and that relationships are just incidental... everyone in this world is attractive, and if you go more than 2 weeks without astonishing sex with a total stranger, it's just statistically aberrent...
GC, because of the point of view. It sounded to me like the guy killed himself without being convinced by everyone else, I put the burden on him to prove it, so it doesn't matter to me whether he was convinced since the proof is what killed him.
If someone asserts that reality is not real it is up to them to prove it, not for me to prove it is real.
I'd rant about how this silly thinking is a product of the UC system, but I can only handle a couple of people wanting to string me up at a time, so I won't say it.
My poor brother, he got a communications degree from UCSD, and it literally made him a poorer communicator. I don't know if it is the courses or if he just didn't show up for them. What a waste of time for him.
This is the problem I have with the postmodernists. The difference between something *real* and something *illusionary-but-perceived-exactly-as-if-real* is inconsequential.
Isn't that more the phenomenalists or empiricists? That movement dates back centuries. e.g.
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."
James Boswell: Life of Samuel Johnson Book 3
The postmodernists more question 'the document' and 'claims to knowledge' than the fact of existence or phenomena themselves... ref. Foucault and Derrida...
Anyhow, I am not a good postmodernist. I am a pragmatist.
erm, couldn't you be both? foucault is an ultra-pragmatist and ultra-realist when it comes to analysing politcs and power claims... that's what the whole thing's about -- removing the veil of BS from pronouncements from pollies and other 'textual' information such as the newspapers...
Different Sean:
It was just thrown out on one of those radio shows and it was surprising to me, that's all. There was no judgment or opinion on my part either way. I'm just the messenger, I didn't write it.
Actually, one does not necessarily need facts and logic to reach agreement from the other guy. One does not even need to communicate well. So long as the other guy gives in you have achieved your goal.
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During the boom, if borrowers asked about the adjustable rates on their mortgages, they were told "oh, you can just refinance and start over".
But no one told them you can't refinance if your house is under water, that is, if the loan amount is more than the value of the house. Banks won't go for that, even in the continuing lax lending environment.
So their rates will adjust upward, and they won't be able to pay the mortgage, or refinance, or sell for what they paid.
Interesting times ahead.
Patrick
#housing