p_zakharov

4 ms·

1.
by p_zakharov 9y ago
I haven't obviously broken that rule. Is it even a classic flame war topic? I've seen more flame wars about vim vs. emacs than I have about this issue, at least how I framed it.
2.
by p_zakharov 9y ago
I find it difficult to adhere to the meaning of guidelines like this, because I don't know exactly what they intend. For example, I would say what I did in a face-to-face conversation, and I don't think I'm being gratuitously
3.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
As far as overall survivability for an animal is concerned, regardless of the mutation rate, one would be a little hard-pressed to imagine how they'd climb any further up whatever hill on the fitness landscape it is they're on.
4.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
A pretty decent game I tried recently with this staple spell was Stronghold: D&D Kingdom Simulator . (super protip: if you decide to play this game, then one thing you want to do for sure is e.g. have Dwarves build Armories for the oth
5.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
Not feeling on edge today? Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
6.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
[Engineer drinking that black liquid]
7.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
Well I definitely think that some computational theory of mind is correct. Of course the critical difference between computationalism and clockwork analogies is that we now have formal proof of just how general computation really is. I do
8.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
Oh yeah, true that, I thought the signal would be faint several light years out for omnidirectional signals, like FM radio and TV, I just didn't think it would be undetectable . I mean I assume that Contact was pretty scientifically
9.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
"But present day human civilization on earth would in fact be entirely invisible to a human-level civilization even one star over." Really? I find that surprising. On a related note: http://www.lightyear.fm/
10.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
Not a bad objection then. Of course it depends on probabilities and assumptions we have no real way of assessing.
11.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
I suppose there are now different formulations of the Fermi paradox but if I remember Fermi's original words they were about the apparent radio silence (possibly minus the Wow! signal). Anyhow, the assumption here is that doing so is d
12.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
Issuing von Neumann probes like this seems like a flashing neon advertisement of your presence in space: not necessarily the best strategic choice. On the other hand it's possible that such a species of probe already exists but is more
13.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
The Fermi paradox really isn't an issue though to begin with. The following is an excerpt from the excellent Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears About Encountering Extraterrestrials : "The vast majority of searc
14.
by p_zakharov 10y ago
This may be a little anal but analogies between a typical von Neumann architecture computer and any animal brain are pretty limited. The brain is essentially like some next-gen MIMD processor.