Neal C

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Commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
I'm thinking of this XKCD, except: ALL MODERN DAEMONIC INFRASTRUCTURE vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv A cantrip some random magus in Hammerblight has been thanklessly maintaining since the Third Era...
Commented on New Book Week!
Ah never mind, I just remembered they were getting something like an Oberth boost from the portal's relative rotation, I think?...
Commented on New Book Week!
I assume the ERGO-1 plan means that the US has worked out the engram for transiting between the black hole and Camp Singularity? I don't recall that being stated specifically, but it'd presumably be needed if they're going to Armband...
Commented on New Book Week!
This line didn't sit quite right with me: We're playing the ultimate game of Civ, Miriam had explained While an analogy to the game 'Civilization' might well make some passing sense to the TL2-educated clan-members, it feels a bit presumptuous...
Commented on Evolver
I thought 'MYa' and 'GYa' would specifically be a million/billion years ago too? In my experience, the common two-letter abbreviation for 'year' is usually 'yr', and the SI abbreviation is 'a' (I assume for annum) Wikipedia source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year#mya...
Commented on A taste of nightmares to come
I'm looking forward to seeing what you have planned for Leeds - and hope The Events don't happen on a work-day, I think I'm probably within range of whatever it is :P...
Commented on The Curse of Laundry
I actually assumed your putting the office above a C&A was your admitting it wasn't quite our world - I recall being confused when I read that, as it didn't seem to match up with other references, as I thought...
Commented on Blatant Advertising
I just saw this article about mounted knights fighting snails in illuminated manuscripts, and it seemed appropriate to the subject at hand ;) Great story - I hope you'll put out more "chibi Laundry" stories in future, Laundry is always...
Commented on On the road ...
Is that pronounced "Hed Red" or "Heed Reed"?...
Commented on Books I've written
I don't think not knowing the slang "Glasshouse" particularly affects the reading of that story... I do recall a couple of instances where lack of assumed knowledge -did- skew my reading, though: In "Trunk and Disorderly" you kept referring to...
Commented on How I feel this morning
Yep, that announcement left me feeling pretty much the same. So, where to now? I've not explored the alternatives much yet, but NewsBlur is looking promising. It costs a dollar a month to get the same level of service as...

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Moz commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
When is it justified to let violence continue? Dude, you're the one arguing that violence can never be justified, except maybe possibly sometimes you're sympathetic to it but you're not sure when. It's a fascinating ideal, but without an actual argument it's not a very interesting discussion. I've worked with people who are philosophically opposed to "all" violence (Quakers) but nonetheless will use or solicit violence in self-defence. Reading Quaker discussions of whether it's possible to be a Christian and a police officer are interesting, especially in colonies where the police were established specifically to eliminate first nations (or in...
Martin Rodgers commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
Well, I've been struggling with this kind of question for most of my life. The root seems to be zero-sum thinking. I even find it in discussions like these. (This discussion isn't a zero-sum game either.) I may have mentioned this here before. I can't remember. So I keep coming back to the same point I reached over 4 decades ago, and the question: How can we resolve conflicts without the use of violence? While I may suggest non-zero-sum thinking, it's already too late by the time the violence begins. As a teenager, nobody advocating violence won my support. Nobody...
Martin Rodgers commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
Dude, you're the one arguing that violence can never be justified, I said I can't support it. I also acknowledge that other people make strong arguments to for justifying some violence. I've even suggested how they make those arguments. However, I am not making those arguments. You may be reading a little too much into my comments here. Don't worry, I blame zero-sum thinking. I've seen that happen for decades. I've seen people lose all reason and descend into verbal abuse (the ad hominem fallacy). One of the many things I like about this blog is the zero-tolerance moderation for...
PilotMoonDog commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
I think part of the problem is a lot of people advocating violent solutions have little experience of violence or the consequences of it. They see it as a way to win a contest with their political opponents and think no further. Especially when they are advocating for violence somewhere other than where they are....
Robert Prior commented on Go away, Muse, you're drunk (again)
I think part of the problem is a lot of people advocating violent solutions have little experience of violence or the consequences of it. Or possibly have experienced so much violence that they can't conceive of other ways to solve problems....

Responses to Comments from Neal C

Common Misconceptions About Publishing—a series of essays about the industry I work in.
How I Got Here In The End —my non-writing autobiography, or what I did before becoming a full-time writer.
Unwirer—an experiment in weblog mediated collaborative fiction.
Shaping the Future—a talk I gave on the social implications of Moore's Law.
Japan: first impressions — or, what I did on my holidays
Inside the MIT Media Lab—what it’s like to spend a day wandering around the Media Lab.
The High Frontier, Redux — space colonization: feasible or futile?
“Nothing like this will be built again”—inside a nuclear reactor complex.
Old blog—2003-2006 (RIP)

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