Freedom

What is freedom, other than the right to do something someone else disapproves of?

(In response to the current "Should Google ban racist images?" nonsense.)

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, the adventure game was among, if not the, most popular type of game on the personal computer. I was pondering whether this had anything to do with the average intelligence of people using computers at that time. Computers in the home were relatively rare, there was no Internet available to the public, and any computers that were in the home were relatively difficult to use. In short, computers were once the realm of intellectuals and nerds. No longer.

Sometime in the early 1990's, I was introduced to the Internet at university. There was a brief period where practically everyone on the 'net was an academic or very technically inclined. Even early home access didn't seem to change this mix much. There was a distinct culture and set of social norms associated with discourse on the 'net. In September 1993, AOL essentially changed this culture forever. The age of spam, trolling and flamewars had been launched, to engulf the Internet forever.

One hope expressed on the early Internet was that it would be able to bring everyone together in a global conversation, where the honest application of logic and reason in the discussion would lead us to a golden age of peace and enlightenment. Or something. At the time, this actually seemed reasonable, mostly because the vast majority of the people in the conversation at the time respected reason and logic and were willing to consider different points of view and the possibility that their own opinions might be wrong. The major flaws in this reasoning are still only becoming fully realized, but we now understand this: many people are not reasonable, nor do they respect reason or logic.

The point of this being, there have been a number of endeavors undertaken by the intellectuals of this world, and they have been routinely cocked up when the rabble gets in on the action.

Now, I'm not going to say that should not have happened. I'm not even going to suggest it wasn't a net gain. What I want to know is, what is the next sub-culture of intellectualism that will fly under the radar for the next decade or so, and how do I find it?

Anti-social

I will probably never really understand social network sites. One of the biggest draws to computers for me was that you can do fun stuff without interacting with other people.

I was trying to find an anti-social network, but that mostly resulting in finding joke / faux-sociopathic sites. I don't actually hate people (in a broad sense), I just prefer to be by myself most of the time. I was wondering if there was a social networking site for people who don't like people. You know, we could get together and chat about our common disinterest.

Dang, blew another irony meter.

I think I would make an awesome starship pilot. Not the Star Trek kind of pilot, too many people. More like the Larry Niven "there's no room for anybody else" kind of pilot. I'd probably miss the wife and kids though.

Thought of the day (month/year)

It is better to have questions that cannot be answered than it is to have answers that cannot be questioned.

Star Trek 2009

OK, I saw the new Star Trek (2009). It was awesome and I enjoyed it immensely.

Now that that's out of the way, the nit-picking can commence. Spoilers follow.

No, seriously, SPOILERS FOLLOW.




1. The creators of the film obviously have not the faintest conception of how much distance there is between planets, nor how fast light travels. The Enterprise leaves the (former) location of Vulcan at some multiple of the speed of light ("Warp 3"), and after many, many minutes of events on the ship, ditch Kirk on a remote ice world... which is still somehow near enough Vulcan that it could be seen clearly in the sky, probably no further than the moon is from Earth.

2. Spock is ditched on this planet to observe the demise of Vulcan. That's some pretty excellent planning, making sure that he is located on the exact location on a presumably rotating planet to ensure he has a clear view of the planet's demise, even though the timing of the event was fairly imprecise.

3. I can grant you could teleport onto a ship at warp speed, whatever. Except, the ship had been travelling at warp speed for potentially hours by that point. If the transporters are capable of operating over that kind of distance, what is the point of having starships at all?

4. Oh so many more, but I'm out of time. Try Bad Astronomy for more.

Thought for the day

Reality is not subject to a vote.

Important Question #7

What happened to Important Question #6?