Viewing profile — mdakin

No, I would have cited it. Rhetoric. I'm starting to realize that my zeitgeist has diverged from the zeitgeist of hacker news such that my comments are not understood by the majori…

Major "national security asset."

e^(pi*i)=-1 -- Definitely right. 1+1=0 -- Definitely wrong. Math has been around the entire time. So have right and wrong.

"While the socialist left has fantasized for generations about global revolutions and global class wars" Global-scale revolution would be rare and unprecedented, however national-s…

Hehehe, she lives 1/3 of the way around the world, and I'm not rich so that's def. not my objective. Plus how can you hit on someone you've never even seen? Personally, I don't wan…

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I've been by the bay for going on seven years and I'm just now starting to perceive this caste-system aspect of the place. I perceived it first as something that I call "dynastic c…

An angry man punched him because a critical mass of humanity continues to choose dystopia over utopia. All of the specifics and examples in that article really are just symptoms of…

I call these anti-creative people of the world who work to hold the world of humanity fixed in one conceptual place/time "The Lords of the Status Quo." These "lords" are great in n…

"Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology! Ain't got time to make no apology" -Iggy Pop There are people who work on the ethics of science and technology full time and they are …

I... want Rome to burn. The authoritarian, hierarchal power structures that exist in this country/world ("Rome") are in need of re-formation or collapse. I'm not interested in part…

I don't see this as a good/bad/moral calculation. I see it as a practical calculation. We don't need to go into the moral domain when the cause and effect domain is capable of comp…

I think hard problem vs. social media problem is a false dichotomy. I wish people would focus on wise problems. High tech is too dangerous at this moment, even though it's the best…

I think you're right about the "attraction of advertising." But the real attraction there is that (1)+(2)=(money pump). And these companies don't seem to know what to do with the t…

I've had an idiosyncratic but highly useful definition of the word 'genius' since I was a little kid thanks to my mother. She taught me that a genius is an intuitive/rational think…

You seem to only be able to see the world for the way it is now, and has been over the recent past. Getting stuck on these thinking patterns is self-limiting, much like getting stu…

Agreed. I also believe there is a sociological component. A situation such as we have is only possible when a critical mass of engineers/scientists/creatives/technicians consciousl…

"But he has nothing on!"

I guess they don't eat their own dog food.

Yeah, I think the "Communist methods" that were tried in Eastern Europe and Asia are generally horrible ideas. And those methods are now tied up with the philosophy for better or w…

I haven't read it, but I did love _Cat's Cradle_. Thanks for the reference!

I think labels can be useful when they are used to facilitate communication and understanding. But they can also be used as weapons and to manipulate people who have trouble commun…

I'm probably more of a social anarchist than anything, but I think labels are often unhelpful. The beauty of our current situation is that we can build it on top of America as it e…

We're moving towards a future in which "working" will be an optional activity. If you can get enough farms/factories producing the widgets of everyday life essentially for the sum …

History and truth are often out of synchronization (esp. in these days of pervasive propaganda/active manipulation of the population using mass communication technology). The chapt…