wissler
The same people who bemoan a failing trust in our scientific institutions are themselves furthering it, by adopting starkly authoritarian anti-science attitudes. They compound the problem by rabidly attacking anyone for daring to question, which is behavior more fitting to a religious dogma than to a science.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
You are equating science with government enforcement of majority opinion. Think back to the time of Galileo. Why would you want to make this equation?
You want to think that times are different now, that the majority is wiser than it used to be. Why should that be so, exactly?
Imagine that leaders in the software industry could prescribe what languages were "safe" and what weren't. Imagine what that would do to innovation. Isn't it better to let people decide for themselves?
You fear that lack of regulation would lead to unnecessary harm and death. Yet, what of those who are intelligent enough to know the risks and wish to try new things, knowing the possible consequences? What of the cancer patient who is sure to die in 3 months, who wants to try a new experimental drug, but is legally barred from doing so? How can you justify this tyranny?
You wish to protect the ignorant from their own bad choices, but does this make them more intelligent or less? And what of those who are smarter than you, who know better than you, and who you have banned from doing things to help themselves? What of the future people who would have benefited from what they could have learned, that you prevented them from learning?
These are the types of questions you need to be asking yourself. You also need to stop pretending that fraud is allowed on a free market. It is not.
In any case, this is a complex issue that can be examined and debated from various perspectives, but you're just coming in here to pimp the status quo, as if that's useful. Your kind has already won by a landslide, there's no particular point in bullying people who think you have made a mistake. A person with an actual scientific mindset might be curious about new ideas, not pretend they know everything, and bully anyone who comes to the table with new information.
By the way, you're making various presumptions about my view that are false. I never said anything in support of medical fraud or crackpots. And again, this is the kind of sloppy reasoning I've come to expect from your side of the aisle. Your arguments won't stand up to scrutiny, ergo you fabricate straw men. This in itself demonstrates something to suspect in your viewpoint.
I've studied this stuff for years. I understand your status quo view, that thinks that good intentions are a substitute for philosophic rigor. Your view doesn't stand up to rational scrutiny, and it's holding all of mankind back.
Which is why we desperately need the government to get the boot off the necks of potential innovators and customers.
Yes the free market should decide, but we just don't have one. Net neutrality is an imperfect remedy at best, but letting the telcos run wild with artificial privilege isn't the answer either.
This is not the ideal situation. Ideally, big companies like Microsoft or Apple would enable the right individuals to innovate in this area, unfortunately they are very bad at this. They do not know how to select these individuals, and even more importantly, leaving aside the rare likes of Elon Musk, the notion of radical innovation is rather contradictory to the institution of big business in our era.
That depends on whether you're referring to Party Line Libertarian or a "libertarian" who is actually pro-liberty. Regarding the latter, liberty definitely condones coming to the defense of another person's liberty, regardless of borders.
This is of course very much unlike BTC, which has a fixed number of coins at around 21 million.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/16/rethinkdb-grabs-8m-to-show...
The ends do not justify the means; on the contrary, nefarious means imply nefarious ends.
It's not only bizarre, it's perverse and sick. No wonder mental issues are running rampant.
To a large degree and for many people, mental health issues are something the individual can deal with on his own. To the extent that one can he should be urged to do so, not be put on drugs which we simply do not know all the unintended consequences of.
I know that is an unpopular sentiment in our culture but it's the truth.
To be more specific: often it's bad ideas and habits that lead to most mental health problems. E.g. if you sit around all day watching TV that's not good for your mental health. Everyone can choose to not do that, on their own, without drugs.
His point is that they are evidently not safe.
There's good old fashioned self-discipline available for most people. I mean, just because you're having mental issues doesn't necessarily mean you can't step outside yourself and understand and assert self control.
That depends on whether by "could be" you mean "I can imagine it", or "I have evidence-based reasons to suppose it is possible."
As just one example: Ideally a person creating great code would benefit from it over the longer term, he wouldn't just put his heart and soul into something that gets handed over to someone who doesn't really appreciate it. And under that approach, he wouldn't stop working just because his assigned task was finished, he'd work on other things, since those too would reap him benefits.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/nsa-porn-muslims_n_...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/nsa-porn-muslims_n_...