mike_organon

14 ms·

31.
by mike_organon 16y ago
Defen is correct, you're using a different referent of "excess". Taubes means excess of maintenance (which may vary), not excess from ideal. No one is disputing that if a 300 lb person ate what a 180 lb person needs, he would probably loo
32.
Redo: a top-down software build system(github.com)
3 points by mike_organon 16y ago|0 comments
33.
by mike_organon 16y ago
You say teachers could do it in the 80's. Montessori could do it 100 years ago. I don't think the problem is lack of technology, it's that the principles of education have changed. Software won't fix that.
34.
by mike_organon 16y ago
"But for me, my family in the car is infinitely more important than potential damage that might be caused by an unknown person in an car that's under no control." I'm glad someone remembered this. Saving someone else might be a good thing
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by mike_organon 16y ago
Leiningen leverages the maven repository underneath, but has a much simpler, less scary API so it was adopted pretty quickly by clojure programmers.
36.
Lisp Cabinet(lispcabinet.sourceforge.net)
3 points by mike_organon 16y ago|0 comments
37.
by mike_organon 16y ago
That's close, but you have to bring in the idea that the ultimate choice is life or death. Life (each individual's) is the standard of value and the starting point from which morality is derived. As long as someone chooses to continue to li
38.
by mike_organon 16y ago
You're presenting a false alternative: socialized medicine or anarchy. What we need is a free market with the government protecting individual rights (including against fraud), along with intelligent consumers. Also, I suggest you should o
39.
by mike_organon 16y ago
Similarly, there's the paleo diet which claims (based on science) that hunter-gatherer food (meat and plants) is more healthy than agricultural food (grains, sugar, grain-fed meat, and processed food). Fortunately, we can choose to take bac
40.
A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces(smithsonianmag.com)
2 points by mike_organon 16y ago|0 comments
41.
by mike_organon 16y ago
If we draw silly pictures, the terrorists will win.
42.
by mike_organon 16y ago
In this case, we need to offend people in order to protect free speech.
43.
by mike_organon 16y ago
I disagree. If millions of Muslims didn't get offended and expect the civilized world to cave in, there wouldn't be riots and the death threats would be just from "some individuals" rather than Muslims. When adults speak freely, some will g
44.
by mike_organon 16y ago
You have no business apologizing for anyone else. Muslims that are offended need to get over it. They will if we don't treat them like delicate children.
45.
by mike_organon 16y ago
I'd love to see Google celebrate today with their logo. CNN sort of has a drawing on the front page.
46.
by mike_organon 16y ago
This is a weak story. It even says the genie is supposed to screw with the wishes, but then apparently doesn't. The only point of the story is to state some sci-fi fantasies about improving human life, and these aren't very illuminating. Co
47.
by mike_organon 17y ago
That's a fine question, but Rand gives a better answer than I can (if you follow the links). "The Objectivist ethics holds man's life as the standard of value—and his own life as the ethical purpose of every individual man." Ayn Rand http
48.
by mike_organon 17y ago
There is no evidence for an innate conscience. And in scientific terms, it's not falsifiable, since whenever someone fails to live up to what you say is right, you can claim they are corrupted by religion or some other false culture. If hu
49.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Well said. I find this philosophy similar to science, in that as a fan of science, I find it exciting when new evidence or theory comes up to correct or expand an old theory. I'm following this thread for that reason.
50.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Hedonism and "devil may care" may be the same thing, but neither are rational self-interest as described by Objectivism. To answer your question, Objectivism does provide a rational foundation for ethics (obviously, beyond the scope here).
51.
by mike_organon 17y ago
As much as I dislike Kant and Descartes and numerous other philosophers, I have to defend them here: they didn't define philosophies for the purpose of answering trivial questions about what to do while hanging out at a bar. Beyond simple p
52.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Altruism does not mean doing things that in some way, directly or indirectly, benefit others. Nor does it have a monopoly on being nice or friendly to others. Instead, it means having a moral duty to serve others, acting in ways that avoi
53.
by mike_organon 17y ago
The article does not describe Objectivism, only refers the reader to look there for a rational ethics. Objectivism is not "ought to do what we want to do", that would again be ethics based on feelings, but instead of arriving at altruism as
54.
by mike_organon 17y ago
I think you misunderstood the point of the article. It's not trying to support religion as the source of morality, quite the opposite. Instead, it's showing that the morality these New Atheists present is no more grounded in reason than r
55.
by mike_organon 17y ago
A list is represented with parens. [] is a vector. There are behavior and performance differences between lists and vectors.
56.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Change the rules and people will behave accordingly. The most obvious effect I foresee is that employers who can't afford insurance will try to avoid growing to have 50 employees. This isn't because the employer is evil, it's because that o
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by mike_organon 17y ago
I recently saw the movie Temple Grandin, a bio of an autistic woman who works with cattle. Her website concerns humane and efficient treatment of livestock. Some fascinating articles. http://grandin.com/
58.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Why aren't some of these problems solved by property rights? The article shows case after case of nearby property owners having what seem to be clear cases of health problems and other property violations caused by the pigs. If there isn't
59.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Except in that story, the kid isn't giving his own stuff away for free, he is stealing, and this sounds similar to "from those according to their ability to those according to their need."
60.
by mike_organon 17y ago
Thanks for the link, idlewords. Cynicalkane, who on this thread said codeine should be removed from the market? I inferred from the articles that acetaminophen and "poisons" should be removed from codeine, so people who need the painkille

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