"Certainly the increased use of computer models, such as GCMs, cries out for the separation of those who make the models from those who verify them. [...] an independent research institute [...] must fund more than one team to do research in a particular area, and the verification of results will be a foregone requirement: teams will know their results will be checked by other groups. In many cases, those who decide how to gather the data will not gather it, and those who gather the data will not analyze it."
Yes, we should take his opinion with a grain of salt, not because he is a science fiction author, but generally. I like to remind HN of the Royal Society's motto: Nullius in verba.
A more recent story concerning the resignation of a famous climate scientist, Lennart Bengtsson, former director of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, from a controversial lobby group due to what Crichton calls "consensus science":
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/climate-scientists...
I don't know the title implies. Just because the production of something is expensive, doesn't mean that you have to charge money for its use (of course, it would be very legitimate to do so).
I think this is another example of the QWERTY effect. Obviously, there are many pieces of word processing software that are superior, but he is so used to his system that, to him, the transaction cost outweighs the opportunity cost.
Your comment manages to be on top despite having little content. So?
EDIT: HN is not a journalistic site. So don't worry about the decline of journalism in this context.
Personally, I think it is very legitimate to appeal to sentiments, because of the three means of persuasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric_%28Aristotle%29) pathos foremost agitates people to actions. And sometimes, it is necessary to act (and inform the public). That you disagree with others on this very issue is no reason for insult.
I thought the introductory statement is ironical, but, apparently, it is not. I don't think this article resounds well within the HN community since it is a "mainstream space" that is being criticized.
However, despite its polemic nature, it is a worthwhile read, a representative neo-Marxist critique, that you won't often find on HN.
Not necessarily, but maybe the employer is subtly implying: "Old people don't need apply."
But if the employer wrote the job description with the intention of causing potential sexual arousal (e.g. if that perk is amongst free beers, chocolate and "frothy milk"), you are definitely objectified.
Your title is extremely misleading. I cannot possibly think why giving the students a third option is indentured servitude. If anything, it liberates the students from the servitude of their student loans.
To establish that dominance is not sexual assault, you should communicate. Simply to impose a dominant behaviour in case of doubt is not a GOOD strategy and may be sexual assault.
> Ask 100 women if they find it romantic to be kissed without being asked or if they want to be asked first. I'm pretty sure the answer is: being kissed, don't ask.
I am pretty sure the answer is more complicated.
> Thing is, if you try to kiss her and she doesn't want it, she'll turn away and that's it.
Well, the problem is sometimes if you are too quick, your greasy lips might end up on her lips, making her smell your foul breath. And even if she turns away, it will not make the first seconds of assault unhappen.
<irony>Of course, because some women want dominance from men, it means that all women loves it. If you unpermittedly invade the personal space of 100 women, and only 10 complain about it, then it's only 10% sexual harassment, right?</irony>
Are you saying there is a market failure for crowd-funding? (<irony>Maybe we need some government intervention?</irony> Or that because Kickstarter is an amazing service that has conquered a niche, it has the moral obligation to incorporate the Bill of Rights into their ToS?
Facebook also asks for permission to import your email contacts from other providers. For GMX, Skype, mail.ru and "other email service", you need to provide a password. It really depends on whether the target site implemented OAuth, OpenID or etc.
Basic income for everyone does indeed seem reasonable to me. If new technology drastically reduces the amount of labour, it seems obviously fair that everyone should be eligible to profit from its benefits.
If 2% of the population can provide food for the whole society, maybe another 30% (a number to be drastically reduced by new technology) needed to maintain the social and economical infrastructure, then we will have a majority of people whose economic output is not required. Those people, e.g. children, retirees, handicapped, people with illness, etc. need means to live a decent life. To excessively burden the relatives of those people seems to be an arbitrary and cruel neglect of the society to care for its members.
The argument against basic income is the same as for IP laws. Without money or legal constructs to monetize their products, people have no incentives to work. Maybe we need better incentives for working and creating things.
Yes, we should take his opinion with a grain of salt, not because he is a science fiction author, but generally. I like to remind HN of the Royal Society's motto: Nullius in verba.