Comments by Steve Zara

1501. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288834 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Comment #288830 by Titania

My feeling, for what it is worth, is that the title of the topic itself validates a certain point of view as worthy even of consideration. To me, it sounds like "wife-beating - what are your views?"

As we have discussed many times, restricting immigration based on a particular cultural or religious backgrounds is contrary to national and international laws, and would require a far-right political agenda that isn't feasible in the near future.

So why even discuss it as a practical possibility, other than to stir up hatred?

Comment #288831 by Titania

That is a positive suggestion. I will.

1502. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288829 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Comment #288826 by Titania

I am very happy with that. I am just deeply worried that a rationalist agenda could be hijacked by racist bigots. You have been a wonderful champion in the fight against such bigotry, which is why I am so keen to meet you.

EDIT: There are some thoughts about this I shall PM you.

1503. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288825 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:30 pm

Comment #288824 by Titania

In that case I have to deeply regret that I won't be attending. There is a real problem with far-right bigotry in the UK attempting to gain a platform in public debates. I am not prepared to assist that.

I would love to still come to Ireland to meet up with you (and others) away from such a discussion.

1504. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288823 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Comment #288818 by Titania

If (1) is even up for discussion, I would feel my attendance is questionable. I think you understand my position on that. I think it is a bigoted question. Personally, I would feel more less uncomfortable with a broader question about immigration based cultural identification, although that would still make me deeply uneasy.

I have several topics that may be of interest, which I shall e-mail.

1505. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288817 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Comment #288811 by Titania

I have recently come up with a particular pet subject...

"Why I will no longer identify as atheist".

There are also various sciency and philosophical subjects I would be happy to talk about.

1506. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288810 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Comment #288809 by Titania

On a serious note, is there a wy we can do a webcast for those who can't attend?

A live blog might be an idea. Also, I did think that some of us (if people were interested) could give talks on subjects of general interest that could be recorded.

1507. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288805 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Comment #288801 by Titania

And when DP presses a button on a remote control, she winks and says "Joe the Plumber", or "I gotta shoot me some Mooses".

1508. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288797 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Comment #288788 by decius

That still does not explain why the first person who tasted something like Casu Marzu did so. Perhaps drugs and/or alcohol were involved? Perhaps someone lost a bet?

I have heard that many great cuisines arose from peoples under siege who were forced to eat anything.

1509. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288789 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 12:26 pm

Comment #288786 by Quetzalcoatl

No, you misunderstand. Given a million monkeys typing you don't need some supervisory monkey.

That is dualist talk.

1510. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288784 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 12:21 pm

Comment #288783 by Quetzalcoatl

It is accidental. Nothing is impossible given random typing.

EDIT: I am just irritated because he found the flaw in my "aliens out there must be visible" argument.

1511. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288782 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Comment #288781 by Quetzalcoatl

by people like Decius

Decius? A young amateur.

1512. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288780 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Comment #288779 by decius

The discovery of some foods do make one wonder about human intelligence...

"Look - that thing is fly-infested and stinky. Hmm.. I wonder what it tastes like?"

Unless, of course, some cheeses were used as a form of torture.

1513. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288776 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 11:59 am

Comment #288773 by Quetzalcoatl

It can seem a bit pointless dealing with the same old arguments again and again, but I hope you realise that you have made a real impact on a site that has world-wide presence. You debate with a vigour and immediacy that probably comes from youthful energy. You also write good books!

1514. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288771 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 11:50 am

Comment #288767 by Quetzalcoatl

You are indeed awesome. Your blog is on my "daily read" list.

1515. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288748 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:56 am

Comment #288745 by Wosret

If you are interested in some really mind-blowing sci-fi, in which not even the people look like people, I can really recomment the works of greg Bear... Eon is wonderful, as is Moving Mars.

1516. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288741 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:48 am

Comment #288734

It would not surprise me.

Comment #288736 by Cartomancer

How much cheese will it involve?

1517. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288740 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:42 am

Comment #288732 by Wosret

I am basically just having fun here. You could well be right. However, just consider what each of us can do these days. We can travel the world in a matter of hours rather than days. We can talk to almost anyone in the world by phone. In terms of energy, each of us controls more than a small army centuries ago.

To Romans, we would seem like Gods.

There are plenty of people thinking about how to get to nearby stars and planets.

1518. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288733 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:31 am

Comment #288729 by decius

Dammit! That gives a plausible scenario for aliens to be whizzing about the galaxy invisibly.

Because you can't steer faster-than-light craft (causality problems) they basically have to run on some equivalent of railroads (such as wormholes). These would have to be constructed at sub-light speed.

However, imagine the scenario given in Sagan's "Contact" - an ancient "railway" system exists in the galaxy constructed billions of years ago. We find a terminus just outside the orbit of Pluto...

Comment #288730 by Roger Stanyard

Steve, I just checked out your reference re Orion. During the 1980s I got to know quite a few people who had worked on project Daedalus (basically, it appears, an updated Orion).

You simply must come to a future RD.net meet. I would love to talk to you about all this.

1519. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288728 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:16 am

Comment #288726 by Wosret

Actually, others are the ones predicting what alien technology is like - that it is highly efficient, that they can be invisible and so on.

All I predict is that at least some aliens will want to travel, and that they will need and use energy. That is it.

But as you asked nicely, I think in a thousand years we will be largely cyborgs when adult, with much of our bodies and brains being artificial (after all, why rely on the fragile systems we have now). Many of us may exist simply as software in virtual worlds.

I think Greg Bear gets it about right when he describes future humans in his book Eon.

1520. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288724 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:07 am

Comment #288722 by Roger Stanyard

The Orion Project is not zero gravity! The idea is that the ship accelerates and decelerates.

I was involved in the 1980s with the British Space Society

I'm envious!

1521. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288723 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 10:04 am

Comment #288721 by decius

For a while, one suggestion for the bursts of gamma rays we see all over the sky was... starship engines! Turns out they are probably boring old black holes.

1522. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288716 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 9:50 am

Comment #288715 by chewedbarber

We already have the technology, or close to it. For example, we could travel to the nearest stars just within a human lifetime using nuclear pulse rockets:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

1523. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288704 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 8:35 am

Comment #288703 by AllanW

Being posey, I was using the convention of the present tense for even a past author's work, such as:

"Shakespeare is challenging to read".

1524. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288699 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 8:05 am

Comment #288696 by Hellene

I react with horror to people quoting Crichton on science. He is dreadful. In fact, one of his recent books (Prey) was so bad that I ended up laughing at the end :)

1525. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288697 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 8:03 am

Comment #288689 by chewedbarber

I am not joking at all.

From our point of view the universe looks exactly as it would if it were teeming with spacefaring civilizations. Mostly empty and in low res. :)

Nope. A universe with spacefaring civilizations would probably look quite different.

Just to give an example of how... interstellar travel requires huge amounts of energy. We would see the effects of that.

1526. Interview with Richard Dawkins on fairy tales and retirement

Comment #288688 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 7:04 am

Comment #288682 by ares2101

No, fantasy isn't a problem so long as kids understand that it's not real, that it's fiction.

As I suspect Richard would say....

Where is your evidence?

1527. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288687 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 7:01 am

Comment #288683 by JanChan

You don't seem to understand. I am but a feeble coder myself. I was just happy to point out that what you say you are doing in a laboratory is not innovative or original. It is one of the sad lessons one learns as an undergraduate - that real research doesn't start until you are at least at the M.Sc./M.Phil. level.

1528. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288671 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 6:18 am

Comment #288668 by JanChan

That is amazing! I think we should come up with special terms for it, like "profiling" and "code analysis".

One teeny problem is that this is nothing new, of course. It has been done for decades. One of the best examples right now is the run-time "hotspot" optimiser on the Java VM.

So, I have to agree with others. I think you are a fraud.

1529. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288660 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 6:01 am

JanChan-

Azimov spoke about the dangers of global warming as a threat to humanity as long ago as 1989.

1530. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288651 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 5:50 am

Comment #288649 by Titania

That's beautiful.

1531. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288650 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 5:49 am

Comment #288648 by JanChan

We do good science in the laboratories damn it.

Good science starts with a neutral approach to the data. You seem to a way to go before you can be considered an honest scientist. Separating what you want science to show from what it does show would be a good start.

1532. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288647 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 5:44 am

JanChan-

but I sure do good Science.

No, you don't. At least not yet.

Picking a particular scientific viewpoint to support your politics is very bad science indeed. It is healthy to be skeptical, but to claim that mainstream science is wrong because of your simplistic economic views is not good science. Not by any standards.

1533. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288624 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 5:06 am

Comment #288622 by SPS

I am arguing an extreme position, I know. But that is part of the fun. I don't want SETI stopped. I think it is an important project.

1534. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288613 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:50 am

Comment #288612 by JanChan

Thank you. That warms my middle-aged heart.

Disreputable is such a lovely term.

It'll be easier for us to take your atheism to the grave than for you to do so to us.

I'm not an atheist. I might become an atheist when someone comes up with a definition of a supernatural God that makes enough sense for me to be against it.

1535. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288611 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:49 am

Comment #288610 by SPS

Undetectability can result by the limits of our instruments, by intention, or natural occurrence, or variations thereof.

Our instruments are fine. We are close to being able to see (in radio wavelengths) the event horizon of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy.

And you would have to assume that all of the aliens were shy, all of the time.

1536. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288608 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:45 am

Comment #288603 by Titania

But I think he has.

The Chinese, because of the hedonism of their soft underwear, became hooked on drugs. Because the underwear wasn't selling well, the British came along and saw a market, and insisted they wear boxers instead. However, the Chinese could only pay for them in heroin. That led to a trade deficit, and millions of Asians suffering withdrawal rose up (in a somewhat wobbly way) and started a war.

Also, a long time ago in Russia, the economy was so bad that the workers took to the street with their chant "poor Marx for the deficit!". They then took over, and installed a left-Lenin government.

In order to pay off the deficit, to prevent drug addicts and communists taking over, the USA needs to sell polar bears to China (to help replace their failing Panda population), so conservation has to stop.

1537. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288605 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:36 am

Comment #288602 by SPS

I don't think they would need to be hiding. They would only need to be unrealized by us, undetected. We don't see things at the atomic level naturally, but we know they're there, and not because we were happy in our knowledge before being able to do that.

This is assuming that a civilization would go from close to our level of technology (we have already launched spacecraft that will travel beyond the solar system) to undetectability.

Our planet is already giving off vast amounts of EM energy because of our technologies.

Well, how many residents of London go to live permanently with a village in Africa each year? I don't think exploration has to equate to colonization.

Villages in Africa see planes flying over.

1538. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288599 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:08 am

Comment #288596 by Titania

I am an insomniac. Breakfast for me comes at odd times!

1539. I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Comment #288597 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:07 am

Comment #288595 by SPS

I'm saying we haven't reached the limits of inquiry which may change our perspective on what we know today.

I don't think that works. It sort of suggests that aliens are hiding somewhere we don't know yet.

You return home with what you have learned, but you haven't necessarily left your mark on where you've been, or felt the desire to spread across the new area you have seen.

But all members of an alien civilization would have to feel like that all the time.

1540. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288593 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 4:00 am

Comment #288592 by Laurie Fraser

Actually, I only just got it myself.

It was indeed, truly lame.

I'll have some coffee and breakfast and see if that improves my mind.

1541. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288591 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 3:56 am

Comment #288577 by Steve Zara

Oh come on people. Boxer revolution... underwear ....

Oh, I give up.

1542. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288577 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 3:18 am

Comment #288575 by Bonzai

It was lack of silk too, you know. People fight better with fancy underwear.

1543. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288562 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 3:00 am

Comment #288560 by Titania

He wants to be a quantum physicist

Is he certain?

1544. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288536 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 2:20 am

Comment #288532 by JanChan

Why is a current trade deficit harmful? This should be a simple question for someone with knowledge of economics.

1545. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288533 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 2:19 am

JanChan-

The opium war started about 15 sunspot cycles ago.

1546. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288529 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 2:09 am

Comment #288527 by JanChan

I am not saying what I am or am not worried about. You claim to have knowledge of economics. I am asking you to explain why you think a trade deficit is bad, assuming you do.

1547. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288525 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 2:05 am

Comment #288523 by JanChan

This isn't the 1900s. And you haven't answered the question - why is a trade deficit harmful?

1548. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288520 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:59 am

Comment #288518 by JanChan

Why is a trade deficit harmful?

1549. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288505 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:44 am

Comment #288503 by JanChan

Ok, youngling - don't you agree that cutting back dependence on foreign oil and making industries more effcient is a good thing?

1550. Bush set to relax endangered species rules

Comment #288504 by Steve Zara on November 22, 2008 at 1:43 am

Comment #288501 by Laurie Fraser

Time works wonders. I am moving more and more to the left-wing as I get older.