Comments | purplefolk: fantasy vs reality in politics

purplefolk

fantasy vs reality in politics

Feb 21, 2006 22:00

Oh lol, if this is a political-type fantasy story with these characters, it would be super-ridiculous and hilarious. There will also be blood. And yeah, if it's political, of course the hero ends up angsty and suicidal ( Read more... )

meme, friends, social commentary, politics

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

Theology? mystictraveler February 22 2006, 05:26:39 UTC

Hmm.. so, you don't think that theology qualifies as a science? :P

Nevertheless, I find it weird, too!
But I think, especially recently, more people want to know more about that religion called Islam. That's why you can see those hilarious titles such as "The Koran for dummies" and "Idiot's The Koran." Matter of fact, I'm still laughing :D

Re: Theology? purplefolk February 22 2006, 06:00:08 UTC

Good point, if you're going to play devil's advocate, but there's usually a distinction between hard and soft sciences (and sometimes analytical as well)... and the predominant connotation of "science" is usually hard science. There are seperate sections such as social science, psychology, computer science, and political science. Now, if you want to treat the Bible/Koran/Torah as hard science, there are probably a couple of Creationists in the Midwest who agree. I pray they're not here yet. -_ ( ... )

When ologies go wrong... mystictraveler February 22 2006, 07:30:19 UTC

Yeah, I somehow felt this was a mini-lecture on the current cultural status ;P

And, well, evolution vs creationism is still debatable, but not on scientific basis. It'd be interesting -for me, at least- to meet a couple of those who treat religious texts as hard science. I mean, wow, how do they do that? ;)

It's indeed sad that people are less interested in "science," yet even more sad that this seems like a global trend. Only those branches of sciences in which the industry is interested (and accordingly fund) still sustain themselves. I dislike to admit that the scientific research is currently driven by the plans of people who hated to study science in high school...

What about "Becoming a personal trainer for dummies?" :)

Re: When ologies go wrong... purplefolk February 22 2006, 07:54:04 UTC

I tried to hold back on cultural status commentary in my original post. ;)

I went to Catholic school for 8 years. *headdesk* The powers of warped logic are truly amazing. I'm guessing you have a lot of patience?

Yeah, it's crazy to look at NSF and NIH funding compared to DARPA, for example. Working in academic research labs that subsist on NSF funding isn't peachy... we'd end up doing crazy things to make equipment like weld them at home or fashion things out of water bottle caps. Meanwhile, I had a friend who worked in a DARPA-funded lab and they'd get more millions then they'd ask for. ::sigh:: They'd spend it on the shiniest servers money could buy, just because.

hehe, nice pun.

Re: When ologies go wrong... mystictraveler February 22 2006, 08:30:34 UTC

We have a proverb that goes "nagging is more powerful than magic;" and from personal experience with faith-based education, it's indeed tough to argue with robots that are programmed to repeat the same argument over and over again. (A good example of the borgs you want to create? :P) I do have patience when I have the interest, but once the interest is gone.. uh.. you know.

That other day, I was in a meeting with some DARPA guy and at the end of the presentation he showed a couple of videos to demonstrate their "vision" for their future research. Dang! Those guys seriously need to stop playing war-based video games!

When do you sleep, by the way? :P

Re: When ologies go wrong... purplefolk February 22 2006, 08:50:42 UTC

Oh no, I want to make humans awesomer rather than start from scratch. So I'm approaching it from the neuro perspective, not the AI. A good example of the borgs I want to create are the little monkeys that can move cursors with their thoughts. :)

Well y'know, war is peace and all that good stuff. Once you say it enough, I'm sure you can even convince yourself.

Good question, when do I sleep? More like I don't sleep enough...

Interesting borgs! mystictraveler February 22 2006, 09:46:08 UTC

That's quite interesting indeed.. hmm.. how about creating cursors that can move little monkeys' thoughts?

When it comes to AI, I think humans are marching towards the "A" and away from the "I" ;)

War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. War is piece. Wow! I'm convinced. You know what? I want to listen to Water's "Amused to death" right now. That song "Perfect sense - part 2" is a good prophecy of what's to come. Anyway, another 72 minutes are gone (length of the album).

As for sleeping, it's been reported that Napoleon advocated: "Six hours of sleep for a man, seven for a woman and eight for a fool." You're on the right track ;) But what do you do all night through? Umm.. well, no need to reply to this, if you don't feel like sharing it with the whole world :P

(The comment has been removed)

Re: When ologies go wrong... mystictraveler February 23 2006, 09:09:29 UTC

Sleeeeeeek! ;)

Back to all threads