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forloop

1,364 karma · joined January 7, 2015

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forloop··on Twitter's Fucked
> indignant hysteria

Stating a fact is indignant hysteria? I was replying to his comment which was a lie.

> outright harassment

I'll come back to this.

> a commenter over something completely irrelevant

OK. From OP:

"The man deserved what he got, but there are dozens of accounts that were his "executors" - doing the actual harassment for him in many cases - who got off scot-free, while he remains banned. There is no consistency."

From the article:

"However, the decision to ban Milo because of the actions of a few of his 500,000 followers (if that is indeed why this occurred) is horribly inconsistent."

Both of these statements are semantically similar—there is inconsistency.

That's an example of where the comment is low quality due to the OP not reading the article. So I reject that it's irrelevant.

Back to the harassment. I stated facts as plainly as I could. If he/she finds facts intimidating then I would say it's on the OP to examine what he/she said & did, and not on me to ignore or use mental gymnastics to defend incorrect statements.

forloop··on Twitter's Fucked
> (edit: I said the article didn't mention. I missed the mention.)

Amazing your comment is top—given you didn't read the article.

> The man deserved what he got

From what I've seen (I'm no expert on the subject), that's debatable.

forloop··on The Girl with the Augmented Body and a DIY Manufacturing Habit
Let's be real. The article is utter shit, and the only reason it's made it to the front page was because it had a woman in tech featured in it.
forloop··on Your human-size life
If you have 10 units of happiness per day, and live twice as long, then you'll have twice as many units of happiness at the end of your life.

Arguments for not expanding lifespan are often easy to debunk.

forloop··on Amphetamine use in America's workforce
It's a myth that it's a myth.

"Correspondence (letter to the editor): Paradoxical Reaction in ADHD":

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163785/

forloop··on An AI First World
Michael O. Church got modded off of HN for being critical of certain aspects of YC (according to him).
forloop··on An AI First World
sigmaalgebra's comments are pretty fucking epic, on this post.
forloop··on Telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual
Thanks!
forloop··on Telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual
There's a vid of George Church talking at length on edge.org[0]. As with all edge.org vids, it's profound.

[0] https://www.edge.org/conversation/george_church-the-augmente...

forloop··on Telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual
They fixed their RSS feed—for their blog—a few days ago, so I ended up on the site (having previously subscribed). It was interesting to see they're looking at using the therapy for other conditions.

Do you know if there's any scope for doing something to reduce cancer risk, with this tech? Such as enhancing P53, or something like that (if that doesn't damage the individual).

forloop··on Agile Is Dead – Pragmatic Dave Thomas [video]
It was on /r/programming 4 months ago[0]. As far as I can tell, HN is behind the times, these days.

Not only with stories, but also world view.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube....

forloop··on Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana states
I would argue it's better if children had more access—under the condition they're using it as a substitute for alcohol.

Alcohol is a more damaging drug.

Making less harmful drugs illegal, and the more harmful drugs legal is backwards.

Ideally, no children would have access to recreational drugs under any circumstances. However, we don't live in that world. We live in the real world.

forloop··on Details of UK website visits 'to be stored for year'
> The BBC has been a mouthpiece for both the UK and the US government for quite a few years.

This is quite well known—at least to people who think about such matters. Strangely, it seems to have been missed by the majority of HN.

It's a state sponsored news agency: the BBC are the recipients of a "TV tax" (licence fee, if one watches TV).

forloop··on European Parliament Says Snowden Should Be Welcomed in Europe
> My generalization is as convincing as "all politicians are liars"

I didn't say "all politicians are liars". That's a straw man.

> A physicist might not lie when talking about physics, but might tell a white lie to make her husband or a friend happy.

I wouldn't call that relentless. Would you?

You say:

> We all lie, and all the time.

And also:

> A physicist might not lie when talking about physics

So, we don't "all lie, and all the time".

forloop··on European Parliament Says Snowden Should Be Welcomed in Europe
I would love do see any data/evidence from you.

> Maybe their lies are just more public. They're all humans, after all.

...your evidence is your previous, unproven argument.

forloop··on European Parliament Says Snowden Should Be Welcomed in Europe
Depends on the human. I know people who value truth over what's in their best interest (economically), or what feels "right".

As I understand it, science is in some form seeking truth. As such, a scientist who lies relentlessly in the face of evidence wouldn't very effective.

A quote from John Maynard Keynes: "When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?".

How would you characterise how JMK acts in the face of evidence?

Unless you can be more specific(?), I can't find your generalisation in any way convincing.

What you've done just looks like a lazy rhetorical tool to me. Am I wrong?

forloop··on European Parliament Says Snowden Should Be Welcomed in Europe
If I've learned anything from the "war" on drugs: don't trust politicians and governments. They'll lie relentlessly; even in the face of evidence.
forloop··on Study: Women Twice as Likely to be Hired in STEM Tenure-Track Positions
That's an entirely different argument. On the whole, the wage gap is a myth[0]. If there's a particular situation where someone is willing to do the same work for less pay, then the university should absolutely hire them.

They should hire all women, and become the most cost-effective university. The same goes for businesses. Imagine an increase in profits of around 10-20%. An all-women company would be staggeringly profitable.

That doesn't happen. Because? The wage gap is a myth.

---

[0] Example, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wage-gap-myth-that-wont-die-...

forloop··on Study: Women Twice as Likely to be Hired in STEM Tenure-Track Positions
> If an organization wishes to have an equal gender representation in its faculty, wouldn't a short term hiring preference be a reasonable thing to do?

No. That's discrimination against males.

> Sexism (in this conversation meaning male preferential treatment) is still quite an issue in academia.

Yes. It's now swung the other way!

forloop··on Austerity and mental health in the U.K.
We've still got the war on drugs, in the UK. If that was ceased, there would be savings of around 5B (conservatively, from what I've seen).

It, mainly, fucks two lots of people;

1) Those caught up in the "war". 2) Those who would otherwise have the money spent on them (broadly, the disadvantaged).

Note, those two sets don't make up the majority, and have the least ability to enact change.

I think it's fair to characterise democracy as two foxes and a hen voting on what's for dinner!

forloop··on Minecraft creator Notch shares the darker side of life after a big exit
He felt isolated in Ibiza. And once he felt dissatisfaction, has the option of going anywhere and be with nearly anyone!

If something is that easy to solve, it's not a problem.

In this instance, his problem was something like the inability to predict Ibiza's utility. He probably doesn't know himself well enough.

Some people have the isolation, and then have no choice but to endure it constantly, unable to change their circumstances. Suffering in quite desperation.

Notch wasn't isolated. He just picked the wrong destination in a large array of destinations.

forloop··on Minecraft creator Notch shares the darker side of life after a big exit
Probably because his problems are a subset which most people would consider trivial.

So yes, fuck notch and his inability to maximise his personal utility.

forloop··on Modafinil for cognitive neuroenhancement: a systematic review
1. LongeCity: http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/169-brain-health/

2. /r/nootropics

From there you should be able to find other resources; but they're the best.

forloop··on The US digital service
Saying, "Help the monied interests who control governments." doesn't sound as convincing.

Serving your country/honour/helping the group are rhetorical tools used convince people to sacrifice themselves (their human capital, and sometimes their bodies) for this group.

Governments are extremely powerful (obviously), and part of that power comes from co-opting people. A metaphor can be seen in the Matrix. To quote Morpheus:

> The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

The hacker culture is being co-opted wholesale. Technology is powerful—both as an economic driver and a competitive advantage against other groups—, so it's not unexpected that the human capital which are tech savvy are targeted.

People can't be forced to do anything—unless they break the law at which point they will have the full force of law brought down upon them, with no mercy applied (if members of the gov choose!). As such, people with skills need to be convinced to work with government, and that's where the rhetorical tools are implemented.

When you read comments about how governments help the people they preside over, you're reading the grass-roots propaganda from those which Morpheus talks of. The businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters, coders!

Do as you like, but it's important to know the message conveyed in the blog post is from a member of the business-class who has been fully co-opted, and doesn't follow the very advice he gives! And why would he? It's much more profitable (in the board sense of the word) to use his platform as a tool of marketing and persuasion for said establishment—I.e. getting others to make sacrifices, so those with control can live with impunity and in-group-largess (with the cost borne by society).

forloop··on I’m Too Old for This
I've come to my own realisation: if I never read the NYTs again, I'll be net better off.
forloop··on Google’s $6B Miscalculation on the EU
I would hate for Google to leave the UK. The aggregated lost productivity would, presumably, be massive! And I'm part of that aggregate.

If the EU, or UK want to improve their tech chops, they should allocate more resources to the brightest of their respective populations.

If the UK scrapped the war on drugs and gave the billions which are saved/earned through taxation to people who tested as high IQ (say > 139) to invest in STEM activities, what would happen?

I'm not in the set of high-IQ individuals which I propose giving additional resources to; but it's clear in a positive sum game I would benefit greatly from their invention (creation of new products/services) and innovation (improvements of current products/services).

Unfortunately, there's a recent fetish for equal outcome for all (vs. even equal opportunity). As soon as there's equal output from all: that'll makes sense!

forloop··on Hackers Exploit 'Flash' Vulnerability in Yahoo Ads
Some things aren't fungible, though.

Where possible, I do, as well!

forloop··on Hackers Exploit 'Flash' Vulnerability in Yahoo Ads
Though you got downvoted, you're correct! Even the people of HN are overcome with be-positive-bias, when faced with technical questions. Flash is junk!

I disabled it after Brian Krebs tried living without Flash successfully—and reported on it. It's been awesome! If I need Flash, I open a different browser. Easy.

forloop··on The Unemployable Programmer
A reasonable conclusion.
forloop··on The Unemployable Programmer
Average is over.
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