173 karma · joined November 10, 2015
No, right? So the idea that nothing can come from nothing, is based on an assumption.
Which was the entire point of the comment you responded to, if I'm not mistaken.
But I don't believe that our universe is neither unique, neverending, or cyclical.
I believe that our universe is just one of many, that exists on a super-dimensional plane (or substrate - not sure what word to use), where 'universes' continously appear and disappear, like bubbles in boiling water.
Every one of these universes will have different sets of laws, or rather, the laws will be tweaked differently, depending on the exact conditions of how they form.
Most will not be valid. They will 'pop' or implode near instantaneously. Some will not have the right values for constants like gravity and speed of light.
But every once in a while, there will be a universe where the laws are just perfect for what we see in our universe. A place where stars and planets can form. Where the right elements appear, and life as we know it is possible.
> This could lend some credence to the "COVID vaccine magnet challenge" that went viral in conspiracy theory circles. [3]
You couldn't be more wrong here.
This doesn't lend any credence to anything at all.
The false claims about covid vaccines and magnetism, was that people BECAME magnetic, so that spoons and other metal objects would cling to their bodies - NOT that they'd react to magnets.
And the claims were thoroughly debunked. NO ONE was able to show they were magnetic, after applying talcum.
The scam/idiocy was debunked with James Randi's test method from 2 decades ago.
Spying on journalists critical of oppressive regimes, has absolutely nothing to do with "preventing another holocaust".
Arming tyrants with technology that enables them to crush dissent, by spying on their opposition and journalists is inexcusable.
That Israel wants to gather intelligence on hostile neighbors and prevent a new holocaust is legitimate.
But they shouldn't be immune to critique of their actions, by deflecting it with accusations of antisemitism and mentioning the holocaust.
People died. The insurgents erected gallows and carried plastic handcuff-strips.
They were flying the Confederate flag INSIDE the US Capitol. That didn't even happen during the Civil War.
They tried to interfere with the appointment of the president.
And worst of all, the response by the national guard was delayed, and the Capitol police force's equipment was limited, by order of the DOJ Barr, who is appointed by the losing president.
This WAS the worst incident, since the Civil War, not perpetrated by foreigners.
No need 'to teach' anyone that fact. It was apparent and visible to everyone who isn't a part of the Trump cult.
This is one thing about progress and art, that I have found really interesting.
Like, how the invention of photography completely changed painting.
Ultra-realism became uninteresting over night, as soon as it was possible to create perfect depictions via cameras.
Painting, as an art form, didn't "die". Painters weren't replaced by machines.
Instead, artist's interpretation became more important, than their technical ability to reproduce reality.
We've since seen impressionism, expressionism, and more abstract movements like cubism.
The invention of photography ended up being a gift to art.
And now we see artists embracing digital artworks as their medium of expression.
So, I guess the fear of AI and machine learning being the end of art as we know it, might very well be unfounded.
It looks to me, more as the possible birthplace of new modes of expression. A reason for artists to rethink their art.
The customer in a web search isn't the USER. It's the BUISINESSES whose ads are placed on the search results page.
THEY are certainly paying for the web search.
To just place their ads on DDG? Where only about 2% of consumers are? And a huge part of DDG's users have ad block?
That would be a death sentence for a business, when the competitors have access to >80% of consumers on Google.
The lawsuit is about Google and their customers (the advertisers), NOT their users (who are actually part of the product Google sells).
Google is stealing ideas and products, that they know are viable through the metrics they gather from the search data.
Then they implement those products and embed them ABOVE the search results.
Effectively killing off the competitors, who invented and build the original products.
HOW are developers free to avoid Google killing off their businesses like that?
That's precisely what I did for the elders.
I set up pinned bookmark shortcuts on the 'tab bar' (had to enable the 'show bookmarks bar' option).
Now they have a button for 'mail', one for 'search', one for 'maps', and one for 'facebook' etc. Those buttons are always visible, no matter how far they venture into the internet. Solved the problem for them (or rather, for me, lol)
Businesses HAVE to use Google for ads. Only placing ads on DuckDuckGo is not a viable strategy when more than 80% of all search traffic is via Google.
Google prioritizes their own products. Sometimes they even copy ideas and implement their own version of a product, and then they bump the competitors below themselves in the search results.
THAT is the problem, and why the lawsuit might hold water.
He wasn't arguing that building your own toilet is a good option - just that it exists as an option.
And the fact of options merely existing, doesn't automatically exclude something from being recognized as a utility.
You talking like BUILDING A POWER PLANT is on par with drilling a well in your backward.
So how about this, the upfront cost and effort of DRILLING A WELL is at least a few orders of magnitude easier than BUILDING A POWER PLANT.
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Does that mean water shouldn't be a utility?
Or what was your point exactly?
There's hours of video online of American police screaming "stop resisting arrest!", while beating civilians senseless.
It's quite clearly a tactic employed by a lot of them to create plausible deniability of their appalling behavior.
Have never heard about what happened during the Civil Rights movement?
Try a web search for police violence. You will see hours upon hours of unprovoked violence by the US police.
Your comment is quite frankly incredibly ignorant.
No they didn't.
You are comparing apples to oranges.
We are seeing a dicator state broadcast their use of torture on a dissident via Google ads.
I'm appalled that you would trivialize this like it's a "business as usual" scenario.
He didn't claim that his action was ethical.
He said that YouTube's was unethical.
You completely misunderstood.
Would you really bring your phone with you, when going out for a beer or coffee, even if it could easily result in you being forced to stay quarantined for 2 weeks?
Is your smartphone really that important to you?
Even though I have personally stayed socially distanced and worn a mask everywhere it was required, it makes perfect sense to me, after seeing how a lot of people have reacted to the pandemic, that a good portion of the population, would let their phone stay at home, so they would not risk a police enforced quarantine.
Secondly, the profiles aren't 'useless'. They're highly valuable. Both for being able to present users with a targeted experience from day one & for controlling the internet-identity part of the online world. Which will surely only become more important with time, as more and more things from our lives move online.
They could easily go the Netflix route and keep the subscription payment off the app.
If Netflix can avoid the in-app surcharge, then facebook is surely large enough to do the same.
"I know that it's in no way HEALTHY*, but..."
It was exactly the social aspect of smoking that I liked the most, now that I look back at it.
Smokers have an easier time establishing a bond, when placed in new groups like work or school. They meet up at the designated smoking spot and chat while smoking. It's a great ice breaker.
I found that I had an easier time, when having to do group work, than non-smokers since there was already a loose connection with the other smokers. It was always the non-smokers, who were having difficulty finding group mates.
I now vape on an e-cigarette instead. Still go with the smokers, so I have not lost the social benefits :)
I highly recommend giving e-cigarettes a try, for any of you smokers out there, who are having a difficult time, quitting the habit.
I'm aware that it's in no way healthier, but am convinced that it's less damaging. Anecdotal, yes, but it sure feels like a better alternative. Tried nicotine gum, band-aids etc., but I guess there was more to my addiction than just the nicotine. The rituals of inhaling and fondling with something. It's the only thing that's worked for me.
Partly because they are export dependant and nobody's buying & partly because enough swedes are staying home (not going to pubs etc.) for the economy to tank but not enough to avoid 10 times as many deaths as their neighbours.
So, yes, time will tell. But for now they are getting the worst of both:
Many dead and no economic benefit.