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pitspotter2on Meet The Extropians (1994)

>bunch of LARP

Having just watched an episode of Thunderbirds I'm the first to admire any bunch of people who want to change or change things for the better. However the sad truth is that, you're right, trying to make progress for progress' sake is little better than building a Star Trek set.

Inspiration is vital but real progress comes a byproduct of understanding things better as they are now, and how they fit together now, I think.

pitspotter2on The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

...while the outside resembles a termite mound:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/83175924339644023/

(hat tip: Daniel Dennett)

pitspotter2on YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

Good point about the reproducibility crisis. We seem to have forgotten about that.

There is a better alternative to listening to random people I think which is to follow the work of individual scientists whom we trust because we have been following their work over a long period of time and because they exhibit Jacob Bronowski's 'habit of truth'.

Unfortunately, I don't know any immunologists or epidemiologists! I'm guessing that censorship on balance makes it harder rather than easier to find them.

pitspotter2on YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

What an interesting argument about decentralising. I hadn't thought about it like that before. Thank you!

pitspotter2on Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

Roofers weld lead and breathe in some of the fumes here in UK. I thought perhaps they ought to carry portable fans to improve ventilation on calm days.

pitspotter2on Defending human civilization from supervolcanic eruptions (2015) [pdf]

Often it's the reaction to external threats which proves decisive. A rotten civilisation doubles down on its rotten values, fearing to try something effective.

But in the case of supervolcanoes our recently improved ability to grow food in vertical farms under LED light might be of great help. Ideally backed by nuclear fusion since solar would be less effective under the attenuated sunlight. Obviously, we don't have that power source yet, but, hey, there are a dozen high quality fusion projects out there, what are the chances they'll all fail?

There may be trouble ahead But while there's starlight and music and truth and romance Embrace the future and dance!

pitspotter2on Sir Clive Sinclair has died

Thanks! I've heard that quote a few times but till now never grasped the full meaning.

A link to the quote in the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM#t=5m9s

pitspotter2on No One Wanted A&W's Third-Pound Burger (2016)

I did find an obscure prefix:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quater-

pitspotter2on No One Wanted A&W's Third-Pound Burger (2016)

Hey, you're correct. I meant 'fourth'. I also have problems with the word versions of 12th and 40th! By the way, the prefix 'quater-' means multiply by four.

pitspotter2on No One Wanted A&W's Third-Pound Burger (2016)

>always comes in third place.

Yes. 'Third' means 1/3 but also place number three. Whereas 'quarter' means 1/4 but not 'forth'.

pitspotter2on The Hard Problem of Consciousness Has an Easy Part We Can Solve

Yes, consciousness may well be the most important thing. Ultimately it's of no use relying on legal frameworks and so on without acknowledging this. Laws can be overturned or bypassed too easily. Ethics fluctuate according to fashion.

We shouldn't be cruel to animals because there's something it's like to be a bear, for instance, including being a suffering bear.

It's worth distinguishing between AI and AGI. An AI is a non-conscious tool (like a go-playing program or an image analyser) whereas an AGI is a conscious, general intelligence which can learn anything it wants to when the opportunity arises. (I'm claiming here that general intelligence is not possible without consciousness.)

Animals are intelligent, conscious and can learn many specific things but don't possess a general learning ability because they lack language and hence they cannot think freely.

A tool can be used and discarded at whim. A general intelligence, person, or animal should not be, because it is a subject.

pitspotter2on How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

The practice of Christianity is primarily about repentance. We none of us have full control over our behaviour but we always have the ability to correct our hearts by swallowing our pride and accepting divine forgiveness. And we are obliged to forgive others who have repented.

Wokeness doesn't understand this. It sees people, woke and Christians both, as hypocrites. And we are! This is because it's necessary to advocate ideal moral standards, even the ones we ourselves are incapable of meeting.

However, if someone posts 'hate speech' somewhere this will always be held against them by the woke. So, yes, wokeness does not forgive. There is no mercy.