SFReader3

SFReader3

  • Commented on The internet of decay
    I sort of don't get the scare. As far as I am aware, these things need Internet connection which is not free, someone's got to pay for it and someone has to setup connection (entering usernames and passwords) And I...
  • Commented on A reminder
    Fascist regimes which are likely to come to power in industrialized countries today differ in one significant respect from their predecessors - demography. These regimes will come to power in aging countries with falling population. So they will not be...
  • Commented on The Day After
    Google Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn. It seems he will now rule over Trump's national security team. Not an amateur, but a disgruntled military intelligence pro who felt betrayed by Obama administration's policy regarding war on terror. His basic point -...
  • Commented on The Day After
    A few thoughts. I find it strange how little commenters on this blog understand how an authoritarian government works (even though everyone seems to agree that Trump would have one). The mechanics of a successful authoritarianism (think Putin regime) are...
  • Commented on Sometimes I don't know why I bother!
    Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness: The Erotic Verse of the Sixth Dalai Lama by Paul Williams, Tsangyang Gyatso The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), refused to take full monastic vows, returned the vows that he had already taken,...
  • Commented on The iron law of development
    There is a definite anti-French bias here. In 18th century, France was the most technologically advanced country in Europe (and probably the world) in addition to having the largest European economy (larger than Russia and more than two times larger...
  • Commented on What are you reading this summer?
    It could be argued that the Mongol empire was a constitutional monarchy with parliament and elections. All Mongol emperors were elected by kurultai (kind of Mongol Parliament responsible for electing emperors and making major military-political decisions). Khubilai himself though wasn't...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    I read Quran in Arabic and I can say that this is not really a book. Unlike Judeo-Christian Bible, there is no narrative, no story, no structure. It's just an extremely long diatribe against infidels mixed with long lectures on...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    And his adventures abroad are probably over too. Turkish troops already pulled out of Iraq. His support for Syrian opposition will probably end as well. Even before the coup, the new prime minister made noises about normalization of ties with...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    If Turkish people seem to want mildly Islamist dictatorship of Erdogan, who we are to argue against? Let them have it! All-out civil war in Turkey is definitely the worst option. War against PKK is probably over. I am quite...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    And of course, failure of Turkish coup is definitely very good news. It is now clear that Erdogan has very serious popular support (his supporters even willing to risk their lives confronting tanks!), so successful coup would almost certainly have...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    Russia and Turkey kiss and make up. Seriously, this piece of positive political news coming from the most unlikely places should really restore our faith in humanity. Russians and Turks are bitter historic rivals, fought twelve wars in four centuries,...
  • Commented on We'll all go together when we go
    The only thing which can kill us is ideology or religion. Something along these lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Movement...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Russians use ECHR as a cheap external check for their judicial system (which is quite imperfect, putting it mildly). And they don't enforce ECHR decisions which they really don't like...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Scotland secession means repeal of Union Acts of 1707 which created the UK. So situation will revert back to what existed before 1707 - two separate kingdoms of England and Scotland. London could attempt to claim that the UK will...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Russians will probably say that UK's permanent seat in the UNSC was anachronism to start with, that it's a good opportunity for UNSC reform and they will propose to give UK seat to someone else, someone more worthy than England....
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Russia's claim was accepted by international community in completely different circumstances. The Cold War was over and Russia was allied to the West at the time. Now, the Cold War has restarted and acceptance of England's claim to successor state...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    As I understand, the UK will cease to exist after secession of Scotland. South of the Scottish border, there will be a new country - the kingdom of England. England will have to apply to join the United Nations as...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    Will England retain UK's permanent seat in the UN Security Council? And what will happen to UK nuclear submarines (which are based in Scotland, I believe)?...
  • Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
    I agree with viewpoint expressed somewhere in the thread that we should address pros and cons of Brexit through the lens of coming Global Financial Crisis Part II. The EU will not probably survive it in current form and leaving...
  • Commented on Why Should You Care About Virtual Reality? Because It's A Source Of Hope.
    I again repeat the point about quality of picture. Corporations I worked at, would never accept teleconferencing meetings set in taverns using elf and orc avatars or their equivalent. (now, I know a couple of guys at London headquarters who...
  • Commented on Why Should You Care About Virtual Reality? Because It's A Source Of Hope.
    I should also say something about currently available high-end corporate videoconferencing. It is already indistinguishable from real thing as far as I am concerned. The only thing missing is ability to shake hands if we got a deal. Now, that...
  • Commented on Why Should You Care About Virtual Reality? Because It's A Source Of Hope.
    I have some experiences with modern corporate teleconferencing and can say with great certainty that that animation quality avatars used in examples you cite will not be acceptable for most corporate cultures. Nothing less than full HD video available in...
  • Commented on Bombing Syria Considered Stupid
    Re: what Russia wants in Syria. Russia joined Islamic Thirty Years' War on side of Shia alliance. Right now, the Shia xis comprises Iran and parts of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Russia intends for the Shia to win the...
  • Commented on The Future Is Not American
    Even when something here does catch Western attention, they don't get the context. Here is an article (with lots of pretty photos) on China's "Ghost City of Ordos" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/04/china-ordos-ghost-city-life_n_7204016.html This is what colonizing Gobi desert looks like, folks!...
  • Commented on The Future Is Not American
    Very few people in the West seem to realize that humanity right now is busily colonizing the Gobi desert. On the Mongolian side alone, already tens of billions of dollars have been spent, but this is dwarfed by enormous scale...
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