flumbaps

10 ms·

31.
by flumbaps 13y ago
The kickstarter response implies that there is a market for this thing. You personally are not part of that market, but I'm not sure why you are complaining about that.
32.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Maybe he paid for the part that wasn't access? Did you think of that? :)
33.
by flumbaps 13y ago
The US will become an authoritarian police state when it starts silencing all opposition to the state as a matter of course. That isn't the case yet. However, the processes, institutions and technology available to the US government al
34.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Yeah, and it also feeds into a very narrow idea of what success means. If you're not naturally an asshole, then having the same life goals as an asshole is really fucking stupid. Most people would be better off adopting the goals of Mr
35.
by flumbaps 13y ago
I think that's an over-use of the word sociopath. I think sociopaths lack empathy in general, but there might be a lot of reasons why normal people in leadership roles end up not caring for their followers. Rich and powerful people mig
36.
by flumbaps 13y ago
More like "think for yourself". Sadly it doesn't come with the good advice to sort out your priorities first. I mean seriously, if the only thing you're able get out of a party is snack food, then you're doing socia
37.
by flumbaps 13y ago
This is really stupid. You don't have to be sociopathic to disregard convention and think things through for yourself. Much better to seek enlightenment and self awareness, and then make rational choices about which emotions you indulg
38.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Our Internet access is being censored in secret because of entrenched interests in big media companies. The desire to prevent piracy is not childish in and of itself, but this is a doomed approach with considerable collateral damage. Succes
39.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Free markets don't solve every problem. There is such a thing as the price of anarchy. I agree that Crony capitalism is bad too, but free markets aren't the only way to introduce accountability into a system. The problem with heal
40.
by flumbaps 13y ago
In the UK, if you don't pay your taxes, you get into trouble, just like every other country. In that way the NHS is as much a tyranny as any of the other things we pay taxes for, like roads, schools and emergency services. People here
41.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Honestly, I think if public nudity was common, no-one would care about it. When you go to the beach and see people in swimming costumes, there isn't really much left to the imagination. You can already pretty much figure out what they
42.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Well, I suppose the defence would be some argument that the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine doesn't apply, because there's nothing illegal about the NSA sharing information with other agencies, and there's no obligation
43.
by flumbaps 13y ago
- The argument that the government be 'monolithic' requires it to be both efficient and non-adversarial, neither is true. I don't think this is what everyone is worried about. It's not that the entire US government is co
44.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Large and complex systems can coordinate in a decentralised way to form a monolithic entity. Local interactions can lead to global convergence. Swallows in flight is a good example - each swallow only pays attention to the others nearby, ye
45.
by flumbaps 13y ago
No, not really, quantum physics could be simulated using symbolic computation. Digits are not a purely human concept. They belong to mathematics, which is something that humans uncover, not invent.
46.
by flumbaps 13y ago
In the Hamdi v. Rumsfeld case, the SCOTUS ruled that US citizens have the right to due process. So that ruling actually sets a precedent for this law being unconstitutional.
47.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Why not just ask them not to commit?
48.
by flumbaps 13y ago
You really shouldn't call people "fucking stupid" for making mistakes in code. They're clearly not stupid, they're writing complex computer code for a big project. Calling them "fucking stupid" is as much
49.
by flumbaps 13y ago
It's not that hard to give honest direct criticism without being abusive. Not knowing the difference indicates that you're a terrible leader. Belittling anyone who refuses to tolerate abuse as needing to "grow some balls&quot
50.
by flumbaps 13y ago
Yes, a nuclear blast is a lot more visible than an ongoing mass surveillance program. However, I would say that it is extremely hard to keep something like PRISM secret forever. Even if there is only a tiny probability of the information le
51.
by flumbaps 13y ago
I would argue that although the advance of technology makes mass scale surveillance easier, it also makes it harder to hide. Secrets are harder to keep now, and that cuts in both directions. I think banning mass surveillance wouldn't n