Viewing profile — Archaeum

I think that would be the expectation of most non-engineers, assuming they set the new time zone before arriving and if they even considered edge cases like that. It's also how mos…

Typically, I've managed to maintain a decent working relationship even with people others found virtually intolerable. My natural inclination is to let the more abrasive aspects of…

Sokal notes, "While my method was satirical, my motivation is utterly serious," and goes on to describe his anger and sadness. Indeed, he doesn't describe his effort as a hoax, but…

Legally, freedom of speech is not absolute. Alito invoked the fighting words doctrine, which has been upheld (though in narrowing interpretation) by the Supreme Court on numerous o…

I'm not sure the author meant stone age literally. I think it might have been a more long-winded way of saying, "Where's my flying car?" Flying car being a metaphor, of course.

The study claims to have "some interesting practical and theoretical implications, for example with regard to recently revived debates about single-sex vs. coed schools." Perhaps, …

If you're referring to Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness," I would propose that the Hainish universe's Ekumen and Star Trek's Federation share a similar flavor. Moreover, both b…

They said they began development before an iOS version of Osmos was announced, but if they were aware of the original game (and it sounds like they may been), a reasonable person w…

Personally, I still hold out hope for cars that can (and are required to) drive themselves, at least on major roads. Get that figured out, and then we can talk about flying.

Some universities call their program "computer and information sciences," which I think captures the notion that there's a distinction between the technical and theoretical trainin…

They still take a cut from the merchants for each transaction--though it's a good start, and living debt free is great.

The announcement includes a notice akin to a primitive open source license: The code is not strictly public domain: it is copyright CERN (see copyright notice is in the .tar), but …

My natural tendency would be towards patience, I think, so I would be in danger of letting things slide. Realizing that, though, I'd be in a position to do something about it. If t…

In most cases, I think one will find "unaffordable" to mean a lack of will. Except in unusual cases, shouldn't an essential piece of software effectively be affordable at any cost …

I guess I tend towards thinking of astrobiology as the subset of biology dealing with life beyond Earth--a convenient and arbitrary definition, perhaps. In any case, under this def…

I'm surprised by the strong objection. I understand that the lead scientist is with the NASA Astrobiology Institute, but I still think that despite the important implications for a…

I agree that this is remarkable, but I think it's valid to criticize publicizing the finding as an astrobiology discovery, which is exactly what NASA (or its public relations depar…

When bio-engineered replacement organs become viable, I wonder what proportion of the market will be based on hedonism.

I guess that does seem a backwards to me, probably because I don't type all that much on my iPod touch. My inclination has been to wish there was an option for the autocorrection t…

That seems plausible (and the conventional wisdom), but I don't think it's a matter addressed in this study, which was rat-based. My understanding is that the difficulty in human b…