A CPU from 2017 is going to run your programs a hell of a lot faster than one from 2003. Even if they technically have the same clock speed. Look at benchmarks for instance: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
Also a 30% decrease is also equivalent to setting Moore's law back 7 months. A 5% loss is only setting it back 1 month. I know that's a bit of a naive calculation. But the point is computing power has long operated in an exponential domain. So big differences in absolute numbers aren't necessarily a big deal.
This has little to do with the study in question. It wasn't about weird metaphysics, it was that MRI scans could predict what choice people would make, before they reported making a choice. Showing that the unconscious mind makes choices before our conscious mind is even aware of it. I don't think this result is affected by this new issue, because it seems to have been done with old fashioned EEGs too.
This adds to other work from split brain patients, that our right brain explains away the choices we've made even if those explanations are totally false. E.g. they ask the left brain to pick up a toy soldier, and ask the right brain why they did that. They say "well because I always liked toy soldiers when I was a kid", or some other made up explanation. There's even cases where one side of the brain is paralyzed and can't move its arm, and the other side makes up explanations why it doesn't want to move its arm and refuses to believe it's paralyzed.
I think it's possible humans don't have Free Will. Not just in a philosophical, or determinism vs nondeterminism sense, but in a very practical sense. That our actions are highly predictable. And that once you start to see the inner workings of the machine that is our minds, it starts to seem a whole lot less magical.
This intuition is hard to explain, but in general many systems seem to have "agency" until you understand how they work, and then they start to seem just like normal "non agency" things. As we learn more about how humans work, we start to look a lot less agenty. More on that here: http://lesswrong.com/lw/mb0/agency_is_bugs_and_uncertainty/
The argument against direct democracy is that the population isn't very informed. Not necessarily that they are selfish.
Even in the US, voters often tend to vote against their own self interest. E.g. people that stand to benefit from social programs often vote for conservatives against social programs.
Imagine you lived in soviet Russia. If you criticize the communist government, and said that the previous capitalist system was better, you would be shot. But if you criticize the government and said we needed more communism, you'd get praise.
If you are in favor of reform, and new policies, and support the direction society is currently headed, you won't be ostracized. People might not agree with you, but they won't have you shot.
But imagine trying to suggest we go back and undo the changes that have been made? Imagine someone advocated reestablishing slavery, or getting rid of women's right to vote, etc. They would be ostracized.
You might not agree with the person who wants to create a new system. But the person advocating we go back to the old system, no. He's trying to undo all the progress we've made!
Society has fought that battle and established that the losing side was wrong. It may have been controversial at one time, but now everyone knows that slavery is definitely wrong. The liberal isn't fighting lost wars, he's moving onto new battles. Where no one has yet been declared a loser.
>Getting dis-invited from a tech conference is not losing the right to say anything. The state is not punishing Yarvin for his speech. Giving a talk at a private tech conferences is not a right protected by anyone.
I don't have a strong opinion on this, but a lot of people confuse Free Speech, the ideal, with Free Speech, the legal right. A lot of people get upset when people are fired or ostracized for their political positions. Even when it doesn't involve the government and isn't protected. E.g. a lot of people were fired or ostracized for being communists in the 50s.
The rest of your comment is just "other people's problem's are worse than yours, so you don't have any right to complain".
I wouldn't do it, on the other hand it proves it's entirely luck what submissions make it to the front page. Your post can be pushed down and get no attention just because a bad dice roll.