FlorinAndrei

7 ms·

1.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
> I don't believe humans aren't limited by the same issues that machines have. Halting problem comes to mind, nothing shows that humans aren't bound by it too. Math has started, quite a while ago, to show that we are already probing som
2.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
What if natural evolution has become quick enough now (and it does seem to accelerate all by itself, if you put the evolution of species on a time scale) so that the "next step" (the superhuman beings) will emerge without any conscious and/
3.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Complexity is easy. Just wait long enough. It's consciousness that's harder to contemplate.
4.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
And here's to many more!
5.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
At some point you have to rely on "givens". You can't go turtles all the way down.
6.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
I remember measuring g (standard gravitational acceleration) in the pantry at my parents' house when I was in high-school. It involved a pretty hefty dumbbell, a long string and a watch. Basically, it was the pendulum method - you need to t
7.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Which is poorly equipped, hungry and depressed. But that's not the point. The point is the potentially very high civilian casualties.
8.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
These days, whenever I hear the word "socialism", I automatically stop listening and move across the room to start a different discussion. It's on the same list with "flat earth", "autism-causing vaccines" and so forth. EDIT: I'm sorry to s
9.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
In a case like this, it's pretty hard to differentiate between the official propaganda and what people really think. Even when they confess utter sincerity, you should always ask yourself just how big of a percentage of official doublespeak
10.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Maybe each country is different, but I would hesitate before making broad assumptions. I grew up under a communist regime in Eastern Europe. I was 20 when the revolution took place. So I think I know pretty well what the situation was durin
11.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Having grown in Eastern Europe (I was a freshman in college when the wave of revolutions swept over that part of the world), I'm not quite comfortable with that approach. Sure, you can topple the regime, Iraq-style. But there will be many c
12.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
1 arcmin for the human eye's resolving power was the value I always used. I was surprised to learn about this whole "50 cycles" thing.
13.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Yup. You need a nearly-infinite number of primaries to cover exactly 100% of the human eye's gamut.
14.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Sure, phyto- and xeno-estrogens are strong suspects in this case. But here's another data point: Measure the testosterone level in your bloodstream. Then for a few weeks start doing heavy squats (weight lifting) every other day, go car raci
15.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Well, the modern society is less like the savanna, which was the environment that shaped men throughout the evolutionary history of our species, and more like the cave, which was the environment that shaped women. Less physical confrontatio
16.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
I'm pretty sure they use (perhaps a custom version of) x264 to encode video.
17.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Because "YouTube" has a meaning for regular people, while "x264" doesn't.
18.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
"to continue reading, subscribe now" Uh... no.
19.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
> I think it's fair to restrict the definition of "research" to methods which are likely to lead you towards the right answer rather than the much older method of "just making shit up". It depends on how strict you are with the meaning
20.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
"That highly depends on what the 200lb is made of." Well, he did say "jacked", so it's safe to assume it's not 200 lb of fat. BTW, I went pretty close to that, while staying at a relatively low 12% BFP (body fat percentage). It's pretty awe
21.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Right. If you develop for Windows, then Windows is a pretty good platform.
22.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
People who actually need Windows for some business-related reason can still get a licensed copy, they just need approval from higher ranks now. So, "ban" - not so much. More like "strongly discouraged unless there's a reason".
23.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Compared to regex, by definition, nothing can be uglier.
24.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
Wow, did you know Elon Musk has a cameo in Iron Man 2? I didn't either. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228705/fullcredits Elon Musk ... Himself
25.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
I wonder what are the potential problems. I've a Linux system as a NAT firewall in front of everything else. It's also running an email server and a couple websites (via a dynamic IP provider). Behind it there's a couple laptops, two deskto
26.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
The only reason I'm still a Comcast customer is because there's no other broadband alternative in my area. No, 128 kbps is not broadband. So, I'm stuck.
27.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
"There's also a variant called antagonistic pleiotropy, where you have genes that have a beneficial effect early in life having a negative effect in old age." That makes a lot of sense. Passing on the genes seems to over-ride a lot of other
28.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
You will live in a perpetual state of cultural shock. You can't possibly be useful to the society in that situation.
29.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
"evolutionary neglect" I agree. That's the only mechanism that seems to have the power to explain aging, other than magic or the Invisible Hand of the Creator (but the latter two have a huge assortment of other issues).
30.
by FlorinAndrei 16y ago
"Hypothetical populations that didn't age and die would have killed themselves off due to lack of food." Starvation is not the only way living creatures can die. Just up the aggression a little, for example, and the death rate returns to a

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