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Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

alexeymk.com

191–200 of 210 posts

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#191
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, if he believes that 'proofs are lacking on both sides' then I've just lost quite a significant amount of respect for the man. If the 'truthers' are correct then many hundreds, if not thousands, of people decided to conspire to murder thousands of innocent civilians and, somehow, managed to prevent any leaking of this whatsoever. On this basis alone, the idea that 9/11 was a conspiracy is insane, before…

You can say what you want, but many strange things happend that day. Like the free-fall speed of the buildings: http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/BBE/BilliardBalls.html The odd 'toasting' and sometimes sudden rusting of 1400 cars about 7 blocks away.. sometimes even engine blocks are missing?!? http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/DEW/StarWarsBeam5.html http://drjudywood.com/articles/DEW/moretoastedcars.html And what…

Sigh. No disrespect intended, but you could spend the rest of your life arguing this stuff, just like any other conspiracy theory. But I'll bite this once so it doesn't look like I'm 'ignoring' your 'evidence'. I won't respond beyond this.

You can't argue against the fact of what would be required for this to actually be a conspiracy, that is concrete and vital to the contention that it wasn't what it appeared to be. You have to explain that, or otherwise we have nothing to talk about.

Remember - extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. 'This is weird' does not count.

But... I'll carry on for the sake of it. Saying things looking 'weird', or 'how do you explain x?' is meaningless - yeah, weird stuff happened, so what? In many scientific experiments 'weird' stuff happens that can't be explained, that's the way it is - nature is just a strange beast and weird stuff happens, despite us being able to determine the truth of the core matter. Ask any experimental scientist about this.

That is, of course, assuming there is any truth or validity in the 'evidence' provided which I really can't be bothered to look at, as I have n number of seconds left to live in my life, 0 of which I want to spend reading crank bullshit.

A brief few seconds of googling got me this - http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/dr-jones-reanimat...

I recommend in future you google both for and against ridiculous claims made with little to no evidence.

The crux of the matter is - did planes strike the buildings and cause them to collapse? The answer is yes, unless you believe the vast majority of competent engineers (note there are many engineers + architects who are also conspiracy theorists - also note my reference to 'competent' - there are plenty of incompetents and nuts in every walk of life, engineering + architecture being no different) and scientists out there who accept the cause of collapse are conspiring to lie too, in which case you may as well abandon any attempt at reason whatsoever because the whole world is just utterly one endless conspiracy.

On a personal note - I am a Civil Engineering graduate from one of the best CivEng departments in the world (Imperial College, London). I remember discussing the collapse with a professor of structural mechanics and he had no problems with the mode and cause of collapse whatsoever. I make this, not as a resort to authority, but rather pointing out that you, yes you have to explain why he could not work out what this internet randomer could.

The simple fact is that you can cling on to all sorts of 'weird' goings on as evidence of all sorts of strange theories, however several points remain the case:-

1. To prove point X, you don't need to explain every weird apparent occurrence Y and Z, you only have to prove point X. If this was not the case, experimental science wouldn't really have made much progress over the years.

2. If you make an extraordinary claim that utterly contradicts point X, you need to provide overwhelming evidence to back that up - saying 'oh isn't Y and Z weird?' isn't really sufficient.

3. Random shit off the internet doesn't count as 'evidence'.

I'd ask you to consider what we're talking about here - the murder of thousands of innocents, and I'd like you to ask yourself whether your not having even bothered to google for opposite points of view (took me all of 10 seconds), or considering whether that evidence is valid or sufficient to discredit the 'mainstream theory' is in good taste, or actually in essence quite offensive.

Note that a hell of a lot of the 'evidence' these sites mention is flatly false. Practical Mechanics gave a good overview - http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/122...

Okay, that's it on this subject. I'm not interested in responding further to this.

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#192
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say what you want, but many strange things happend that day. Like the free-fall speed of the buildings: http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/BBE/BilliardBalls.html The odd 'toasting' and sometimes sudden rusting of 1400 cars about 7 blocks away.. sometimes even engine blocks are missing?!? http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/DEW/StarWarsBeam5.html http://drjudywood.com/articles/DEW/moretoastedcars.html And what…

Sigh. No disrespect intended, but you could spend the rest of your life arguing this stuff, just like any other conspiracy theory. But I'll bite this once so it doesn't look like I'm 'ignoring' your 'evidence'. I won't respond beyond this. You can't argue against the fact of what would be required for this to actually be a conspiracy, that is concrete and vital to the contention that it wasn't what it appeared to be.…

I'll keep it short too because I agree that you can keep arguing things for the rest of your life.

- I just find it odd that Dr. Jones doesn't count as some 'internet randomer' for you while someone with an opposing theory with similar degrees does (Dr. Judy Wood).

- If you have to prove point X that was accompanied with weird occurrences X1 and X2 with theory Y. Theory Y is not complete until it can fully proof point X, /including/ its weird occurrences. Until that point, theory Y might be a good explanation, but never a complete one.

- Completely ignoring oddities and weirdness in an event where thousands of innocents died, that's what I call offensive. If things like surviving passports, hijackers that are still alive, engine blocks melting and cars rusting in no-time at blocks away behind other buildings and 100's of other strangeness and coincidents don't give you ANY gut feeling to look beyond the official story then I'm sorry it's not a University course.

- I agree that a whole lot of 'evidence' on alternative sites is false. But I'm not mentioning these sites so don't try to associate me with those. I mentioned a few things that /I/ find odd, nothing more, nothing less.

Two final points:

- I'm not saying that the (US) government did it, but if you have any historical knowledge, you know that governments have and will definitely sacrifice some of their citizens if the things they can gain with it are worth it.

Unpleasant to think about: hell yes!

A reality: very sadly yes!

- You probably have never looked into the more alternative physics and their horrific weaponization potential. Think the work of people like Tesla, the super-classified research done by the Soviets, the Nazi's, etc. Stuff you can find discussed by 'non-kooks' if you look for it.

If you come from this perspective of history and alternative weapons research, the signatures of such technology could fit many of the things seen like a glove..

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#193

A few points i would like to remind everyone who criticizes rms. 1) rms is a radical guy. You cannot change that. He fights for what he thinks is right. He is not the kind of person you can ask to censor himself. If he thinks u.s goverment is to blame for 9/11, no matter how saying it in a lecture seems childish, he will say it. If you invite rms for a lecture, he is coming with his radicalism. That is to be expected…

"even if you believe that the government had nothing to do with the attacks of September 2001," - could well be blaming foreign policy of previous governments, not theorising about conspiracies. I always wonder why conspiracy theory has become such a loaded phrase, people conspire in secret, other people theorise about it, I don't really see the problem.

I agree re. the loaded phrase.

The official story is a conspiracy (theory) too. The only thing that's different between the various explanations is who the /conspirators/ are.

But there's no doubt that on that day a group of people acted to follow an agenda they had planned together, one that was against the U.S.

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

rms wants you to write code for free, give it away for free and never ask for any money if anyone uses it. Given that Stallman used to charge $200 for tapes of Emacs, I gotta wonder how you come to this conclusion.

That was then. Now, he finds this kind of practice criminal. I know: I once asked him a similar question after one of his talks (the kind where he plays the flute). He just finds the concept of charging for software repugnant.

Could we get a citation? This is the absolute first I've heard someone claim that Stallman's actual said such a thing (aside from people who are obviously just making things up).

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#195
post #50
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if you are being facetious, but the main argument for vegetarianism is that "meat is murder."

For many of the vegetarians I've known, that's a secondary argument, the primary being a healthier lifestyle.

And that's why moral vegetarians like me, don't worry about offending "healthy" vegetarians. They don't have any skin in the game.

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#196
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. No disrespect intended, but you could spend the rest of your life arguing this stuff, just like any other conspiracy theory. But I'll bite this once so it doesn't look like I'm 'ignoring' your 'evidence'. I won't respond beyond this. You can't argue against the fact of what would be required for this to actually be a conspiracy, that is concrete and vital to the contention that it wasn't what it appeared to be.…

I'll keep it short too because I agree that you can keep arguing things for the rest of your life. - I just find it odd that Dr. Jones doesn't count as some 'internet randomer' for you while someone with an opposing theory with similar degrees does (Dr. Judy Wood). - If you have to prove point X that was accompanied with weird occurrences X1 and X2 with theory Y. Theory Y is not complete until it can fully proof poin…

But here is the problem.

Conspiracy theorists are assuming the conclusion before the evidence is in place. You know just like religious people can make anything seem like an act of god. Or believers in Nostradamus make everything seem like he was right. The list of alternatives stories one can make in retrospect is more or less limitless.

If you have already decided that the government are conspiring against their citizens then you will take any weird phenomena and use that as an argument for you case.

But you could might as well make another conclusion far less spectacular yet as horrific. For instance that the US government knew something was going to happen and they let it happen.

This would be a far less outrageous claim to make even though it's really pretty much wrong.

Conspiracies look like those that Wikileaks expose once in a while. They aren't well orchestrated, they aren't masterminded, they are messy, with lot's of potential leak risk and more importantly they are very small in scale.

Yet wikileaks have managed to get a hold of that.

One would think that if there are people who leak videos of US pilots shooting down journalists, there would be people leaking a far greater story, requiring a far larger conspiracy involving thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people.

One would also think that if the government really was that great at covering up something a huge as 9/11 then they wouldn't make stupid mistakes like the ones that the conspiracy theorists seems to attach themselves too.

In fact one would think that if they made such fundamental mistakes as those that seem to be used as a proof for the conspiracy then the likelihood of the conspiracy being leaked would increase by many many factors.

Unpleasant to think about? Yes for the conspiracy theorists.

A reality: Very sadly yes!

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#197
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. No disrespect intended, but you could spend the rest of your life arguing this stuff, just like any other conspiracy theory. But I'll bite this once so it doesn't look like I'm 'ignoring' your 'evidence'. I won't respond beyond this. You can't argue against the fact of what would be required for this to actually be a conspiracy, that is concrete and vital to the contention that it wasn't what it appeared to be.…

I'll keep it short too because I agree that you can keep arguing things for the rest of your life. - I just find it odd that Dr. Jones doesn't count as some 'internet randomer' for you while someone with an opposing theory with similar degrees does (Dr. Judy Wood). - If you have to prove point X that was accompanied with weird occurrences X1 and X2 with theory Y. Theory Y is not complete until it can fully proof poin…

[deleted]

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#198
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll keep it short too because I agree that you can keep arguing things for the rest of your life. - I just find it odd that Dr. Jones doesn't count as some 'internet randomer' for you while someone with an opposing theory with similar degrees does (Dr. Judy Wood). - If you have to prove point X that was accompanied with weird occurrences X1 and X2 with theory Y. Theory Y is not complete until it can fully proof poin…

But here is the problem. Conspiracy theorists are assuming the conclusion before the evidence is in place. You know just like religious people can make anything seem like an act of god. Or believers in Nostradamus make everything seem like he was right. The list of alternatives stories one can make in retrospect is more or less limitless. If you have already decided that the government are conspiring against their ci…

"Conspiracy theorists are assuming the conclusion before the evidence is in place. You know just like religious people can make anything seem like an act of god. Or believers in Nostradamus make everything seem like he was right. The list of alternatives stories one can make in retrospect is more or less limitless."

I completely agree with this.

"If you have already decided that the government are conspiring against their citizens then you will take any weird phenomena and use that as an argument for you case."

I also agree completely with this point. I also want to make it very clear that I have not decided that the government is conspiring against their citizens, nor is it my starting point.

It is however not something that can be ruled out from the start either, as I mentioned, history has proven that too.

"But you could might as well make another conclusion far less spectacular yet as horrific. For instance that the US government knew something was going to happen and they let it happen."

Agreed, there are so many shades of gray between the often official/'truthers' dichotomy that is almost always maintained and promoted.

Once again to be explicit: I'm interested for the correct shade of gray, because the official version doesn't do it for me, but most alternatives are complete non-sense too.

"This would be a far less outrageous claim to make even though it's really pretty much wrong."

At least the government messed up by ignoring too many signals in the months leading up to the day and by acting to slow on the day itself. Having a training with almost the exact same scenario on the same day doesn't help. This also applied to the attack in London. "One would think that if there are people who leak videos of US pilots shooting down journalists, there would be people leaking a far greater story, requiring a far larger conspiracy involving thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people."

Not necessarily. Large groups of people can work on a common goal while still keeping it secret. See e.g. the Manhattan project with 100K people working on it.

"One would also think that if the government really was that great at covering up something a huge as 9/11 then they Unpleasant to think about? Yes for the conspiracy theorists."

As I noted in another reply in this topic: conspiracy theory is also a word that's used to create false dichotomies.

The official version is also a conspiracy, the conspirators being those Arabic hijackers (of whom quite a few are still alive too btw).

So the real issue isn't: is it a conspiracy or not

It's: who are the conspirators and how can everything observed that day be explained.

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#199
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how advertising cultures are different. In Greece, for example, it is unthinkable for an ad to acknowledge the competition, especially in a negative light. It was a rather big shock for me when I saw a US ad for a Ford car (for example) saying "our fuel consumption is X lower than the Prius". This would never happen in Greece. At most, they would say "our fuel consumption is X lower than the nearest…

(Canadian here, but the ads are similar and we get lots of US channels.) >At most, they would say "our fuel consumption is X lower than the nearest competitor". This is what usually happens. It's only when a competitor is so well-regarded that people wouldn't even consider the company running the ad that they mention names. For example, fuel econonmy and the Prius and almost inseparable in people's minds thanks to go…

In the prius example, my hunch is that when doing tests the the generic terms (things like "nearest competitor") failed to elicit comparisions with the prius. Prius already has a not-a-regular-car cache so my guess is they had to use prius as the generic term. Or they were specifically targeting people that were already seriously considering the prius. Prius may be on the way to becoming another kleenex.

Re: Dear Dr. Stallman: An Open Letter

#200
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But here is the problem. Conspiracy theorists are assuming the conclusion before the evidence is in place. You know just like religious people can make anything seem like an act of god. Or believers in Nostradamus make everything seem like he was right. The list of alternatives stories one can make in retrospect is more or less limitless. If you have already decided that the government are conspiring against their ci…

"Conspiracy theorists are assuming the conclusion before the evidence is in place. You know just like religious people can make anything seem like an act of god. Or believers in Nostradamus make everything seem like he was right. The list of alternatives stories one can make in retrospect is more or less limitless." I completely agree with this. "If you have already decided that the government are conspiring against…

The Manhatten Project wasn't a conspiracy any more than the CIA is a conspiracy. And the Manhatten Project is pretty well documented and would be carried trough with each new president in the know. Plus The Manhatten Project wasn't done against Americans.

If you are comparing those two projects as equals then you are basically insinuating that Obama must know about this project and is keeping it a secret?

Otherwise it's pretty obvious that you are trying to build an argument out of basically nothing.

You are simply proving my point. You are claiming there are conspirators. Unless you are willing to assume the likelihood that there aren't any, that pretty much means end of any meaningful debate from my point of view.

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