CharlesH

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• Commented on I should blog more, but ...
  "Kicking woke ideology out of science" isn't actually a bad idea. Also conservative ideology. Science should be based on repeatable observations carefully specified. Of course, that's probably not what the person saying that meant, but it's still true, and does...
• Commented on I should blog more, but ...
  Banning substances that people want is a really bad idea. It always leads in an increase in criminal activity...which then spreads to other areas. What should be done is prohibit the advertising or trademarking of such things. And perhaps also...
• Commented on Pushing it back
  WRT the clay tablets, I don't think it's reasonable to decide that they were or were not intended to be permanent. Certainly many of them weren't intended to be permanent, being used for school work or such, but this doesn't...
• Commented on Pushing it back
  You need to factor in climate. Even wood survives nicely if the climate is cold an dry. OTOH, mines. An iron age civilization (pre-steam) wouldn't have any mines that were very deep. And the sea level changes. I doubt that...
• Commented on Finding true love in the cosmos
  I doubt that the human body shape is nearly optimal. I see no reason to believe that the humanoid body shape is better than a centauroid one. An elephant, however, probably has to devote too much thought to maneuvering it's...
• Commented on Finding true love in the cosmos
  There's significant evidence that "worker bees" will reproduce if their hive mates stop enforcement. Perhaps this is only true for some species of hive bees, however. I read the article in either New Scientists or Science News I think some...
• Commented on Finding true love in the cosmos
  You don't need to have physiology that's THAT compatible, however, if all you're after is sex. There was the case of a man who ended up in the ER after loving his motorcycle too intensely. OTOH, I immediately thought of...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  The problem with that argument is that if you go back far enough, all "real property" is from adverse possession. I.e. violently taking it from the prior holders. (Some exceptions immediately after a massive plague, or similar disaster, but not...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  I think every deliberative body needs a "president", i.e. one who presides over the discussion. The office has several different titles, and, in fact, I suspect that one of them is Prime Minister. (I don't know enough about the UK...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  I wasn't saying that Reagan was a decent person or a good president, I was saying that towards the end he suffered senile dementia. (Yes, your criticisms of him are valid, but those are unrelated to whether older people should...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  You're right. I'm also having memory problems. Interestingly though, I can still program, which surprises me. (But then I always had problems with names.)...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  Here's another problem: ChatBots. Currently Hollywood writers are on strike because of them, so they're already a factor to be considered. Would a "incompetent, but well meaning" King scripted by a Chatbot be a bad idea? Actually, if you're contemplating...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  Sorry, but no. The real power in the US government lies with the executive. That's not what it says on paper, but that's the way it has developed. The legislature is too often deadlocked, and can only override the president...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  Reagan was definitely too old...or at least too sick. Senile dementia. Nancy Pelosi is also causing problems because she is sick. And she may have some mental problems, also. It's not being too old, per se, that is the problem,...
• Commented on Fuck the Monarchy
  You might want to look at the Roman Republic before you get too attached to saying that's a good form of government. The problem is, every form of government that people have tried has had really vile problems. And the...
• Commented on Minor updates
  The "history" about "the rape of the Sabines" is myth. One shouldn't necessarily believe that it actually happened that way, or even closely similar to that way. I imagine the was also happened, but was unconnected. And that they time...
• Commented on Minor updates
  I suspect, though, that the "Rape of the Sabines" was a remembrance of an older inter-tribal marriage custom. Often the women and their families would conspire with the "invaders" to arrange the event. (Of course, it wasn't always that friendly,...
• Commented on Minor updates
  Yes, you are doing better. Because you don't need to kill a ruler to get rid of him. That is an improvement. It tends to make the government in general less violent....
• Commented on Minor updates
  I don't know about wine (I have my doubts), but there's significant evidence that beer is older than agriculture. (Just what they mean by "beer" I'm not sure, but some sort of fermented grain drink.) So while Genesis may recount...
• Commented on Minor updates
  It's not just monkeys. All sorts of animals get drunk, and yes, it's often dangerous. Birds get drunk on fermented berries and fly into windows. Elephant get drunk, though I don't remember one what. That monkeys get drunk should not...
• Commented on Minor updates
  Jack Wodehams "There is a Crooked Man" was when I first encountered "rogue code in the transporter". https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi...
• Commented on Place your bets
  What I was wondering was: For a single use barrel, would a plastic drainpipe embedded in cement suffice? It's not like you're rifling the barrel, think of this as an enlarged single-use blunderbuss....
• Commented on Place your bets
  Well, there was a time when a "sitting US Representative" was sitting in a jail cell for his entire term. It was around the time of the Civil War (afterwards I think, but can't remember for sure), and a Representative...
• Commented on Place your bets
  I believe that in a lot of states, if you are convicted of a felony (in that state?) you can't be on the ballot....
• Commented on Place your bets
  There can't be. Cynic was from the Greek, and intended to refer to a pack of dogs harrying game (i.e. the target of the cynicism) to death. It gotten to be LESS vicious over the centuries....
• Commented on Place your bets
  IIUC the NY AG is contemplating some financial fraud claims....
• Commented on Place your bets
  More to the point, the idea that it requires a state level actor is silly. It may require a corporate level actor, and acquiescence by some state. Or I could imagine a religious group thinking the oil compaies were sinning...
• Commented on Place your bets
  The idea that a computer couldn't handle a paradox never made much sense. Even in the 1950's it was rarely used, and often contradicted. I think of it as a late 40's meme, though it did frequently appear in the...
• Commented on Place your bets
  As to a computer more powerful than a Turing machine, you've got to remember that a Turing machine has an infinite tape. If you don't count the number of computational steps involved, then I don't think you can have a...
• Commented on Place your bets
  I don't know why you think that you must know what intelligence is to create an AGI. We do LOTS of things without understanding them. Ask any biochemist. Understanding makes the process a lot cheaper and more predictable, but it's...