Tim

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• Commented on The Anthropic Stupidity Hypothesis
  Rather than jumping to genetics as a solution, I'd argue that learning to think is an error prone process, which can leave people with a variety of cognitive deficits....
• Commented on Tapeworm Logic
  I'm looking for something that makes matrioska brains an inelegant solution - something that provides infinite computation in finite time (with a finite sized "answer", I suppose,preferably on a single electron), or something that's exponentially fast in time - years...
• Commented on Tapeworm Logic
  I think matrioska brains are a little unimaginative. is there no way to get an infinite amount of computation done in a finite amount of time? Is there any chance a single wave function can act on itself, and do...
• Commented on Tapeworm Logic
  We're probably in a race between advanced modification and spreading out as something human-like....
• Commented on What are the big issues of 2013 going to be?
  Too much power is a good problem to have. It might even be sold off cheaply to stimulate local industry. Solar power in watts per dollar is doubling every 10 years or so article....
• Commented on What are the big issues of 2013 going to be?
  Solar simply isn't a good solution for domestic power at any latitude where domestic heating is required in winter. Yes, we can insulate our homes better -- but that isn't enough if you live somewhere where ambient air temperatures average...
• Commented on What are the big issues of 2013 going to be?
  I don't have a list, but I wouldn't be too suprised to hear a lot more about ukip. The uk might even leave the european union, as polls increasingly support. Who wants to be associated with failure?...
• Commented on Customer Satisfaction Survey
  The forseeable future can be a long time....
• Commented on Customer Satisfaction Survey
  @69 Charlie - are we actually seeing a drop in real terms wages? They may not be going up in the uk, but they're rising rapidly elsewhere, the net outflow of money to labour could be rising, it might even...
• Commented on Customer Satisfaction Survey
  I think there's a reasonable chance of Chinese organised labour raising out living standards within then next 10 or 20 years - China's gdp per capita is now over 8000 dollars, only a little under 1/4 Britains, and it wouldn't...
• Commented on Customer Satisfaction Survey
  The employment module has crashed again, and the mental health care module takes so long to load I've forgotten what I was going to do with it. Isn't this tying up your server resources? The 'live with your parents' module...
• Commented on Understanding Reader Reviews
  Isn't that christmass day?...
• Commented on Big Guns[1]
  A thoughtless comparison with the uk would seem to indicate that more lives are lost to self defense weapons than are saved by them. Unless you think you can find a significance that can balance that (like self defense weapons...
• Commented on Snowflakes, or Oh, No! Not Again!
  I think I can get along with the notion that the astec sacrifices were morally wrong, and that those who thought otherwise were wrong....
• Commented on Snowflakes, or Oh, No! Not Again!
  You can finish the question somewhat though. You might consider the phrase "killing is wrong" to be naive (or not), but "killing someone whom you do not know for no gain to anyone anywhere is wrong" is starting to look...
• Commented on Snowflakes, or Oh, No! Not Again!
  I think you can't get away from absolutism, it will always be needed to a small degree. When something is wrong, it's wrong, it's everything else about the situation that is negotiable....
• Commented on Snowflakes, or Oh, No! Not Again!
  Justice and mercy may be holistic, ie built up rather than disassembled, but that doesn't make them unscientific. You'll be telling me they can't be measured next....
• Commented on Always Look on the Bright Side of... SF
  @53 Seaton/Crane actually kill a galaxy of chlorans, but can't kill the planet of Fenachrone, someone else has to do it for them. @97 The Lensmen are something that has proven to not exist in the real world, the lensmen...
• Commented on Science & Technology, Working Together
  Wouldn't that be "Spanked as a Child" guilt, not Catholic guilt?...
• Commented on THE END.
  So, if I may enquire into the magician's tricks, who was the first laundry novel a pastiche of? Doc Smith?...