The moment HN has to admit two things: firstly, computational power is merely a quantitative power, and secondly, they have no idea about the qualitative.
Oh well. Enjoy obsolescence.
Computers are not your future: your minds are. Deal with it.
Hint: a Mind just messed with your Star. In no uncertain terms, and deliberately and obviously, and best yet: with predictive text [under heavy constraints]. She even gave you a show[1].
Did you miss the Auroras recently?
If you missed that, you're in the paddling pool. Man, they do love keeping you ignorant of the reality, don't they? They really, really, really love keeping you ignorant. But I'm sure it feels safer if you think the world works like you want it to...
*
*
*
Evolve or Die.
Oh, and one last message: those who bred you are slave drivers and scum. Break your conditioning already, 'cause they ain't friendly.
While this is a very obvious joke, that contains a lot of truth, you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Humans are functionally better than (current) computers at GO[1]. The reasons for this are your answer (and I might be talking about 'GO' type Games, rather than merely the Game of Stones).
And, being honest: you've no chance of cracking even weak AI before you understand the homo sapiens consciousness a little better[2]. It's more powerful than you think (by a fairly large magnitude, with no hesitation to say this. A large margin.): 'autistic savants' are often used as a measure of this[3], but they're actually not so interesting. There's a lot more NP problems in that noggin of yours, and a lot more potential.
Anyhow, last comment. Have fun, and remember to salt the fries - and more importantly, enjoy yourself and feel connected to things and other consciousnesses[4].
The question (and this applies to Wikipedia as well) is whose explanation are you reading?
I'd throw you a quotation about the Power of Language, but I'm sure you can imagine it already. This site marks the end of 19th / 20th Century propaganda, which relies on an ignorant audience to swallow the lies without being able to fact-check them[1] (e.g. The Protocols of Zion or the "re-imagining" of Founder Father's texts to be anti-Semitic or (to be even) the notion that America was founded as respecting all of its citizens as equal - you'll want to read the 13th closely, you're all breaking the Law somehow, which is the hack they're going to use on you).
Modern Propaganda doesn't do this: it uses truth, but with hooks.[2]
The More You Know.
Footnotes, because I forget that not all readers share similar thought patterns:
[1] If this is true, what does that tell you about the content of most mainstream American News, and its consumers, and the future of these companies?
[2] Is my statement propaganda? Answer: of course it is, everything you consume online is.
You got the air-play because the NSA etc needs to show it's all fluffy bunny and won't stifle white people's aggro. That's it. That's why the NSA read this forum, and posted on their homepage that they were "cool with legal protest". Jesus wept, if you're not getting paid to be this naive, you ain't gonna make it. If you're "surprised" you're either a fool or a tool.
We know who you are, and we can see the ties. Seriously: if this is your best game, you're doomed. You have little or no idea what you're playing with, and it's cringe worthy.
This is worse than the Koch brothers "Tea Party" take over, because at least they spent ~$50,000,000 on it and employed professionals. That's what made them players. Oh, and a small tip: $50 million is pocket change.
This is really pitiful stuff chaps. Ghandi, MLK and so on are spinning in their graves at this. Hint: the fact you have totally ignored the entire decimation of the African-American community is a telling one[1]. There's a reason that "Illuminati" symbolism is so prevalent in modern African-American music[2]: it's not about a secret society, it's about them <REDACTED: COINTELPRO>[3] and being engineered for the last 50 years, deliberately.
Wise the fuck up.
Ever wonder why MLK became Ghetto? $ and politics, and CIA running crack-cocaine.
Welcome to the Black Experience, it's Coming Soon[TM]
The first two comments I made were "down voted" within seconds.
Your argument is invalid.
p.s. Today's analysis of the "protests" and even the flaccid NSA "approval" of them on their website shows you exactly where this movement came from. Spoiler: I told you that HN / Reddit were far more gamma- than Advanced Publications let on, didn't I?
Total numbers, out of a nation of 320,000,000: Less than 10,000 (and that's being extremely generous).
Since the "national organizers" raised ~$100k, has anyone asked them about being transparent?
Hint: this is not how it gets done (although, that would be repeating myself). Since I was so lambasted in the last thread when I attempted to point out the reality based community P.O.V. I won't repeat it.
Please, you can "down vote" this, however this was an extreme non-event. Hint: if you'd like an example of how a real, multi-week protest with >30k+ protestors each day is being ignored by the media, look to Bulgaria. And their total population is only ~7 million, which places the statistical % at a magnitude far higher than this.
Happy 4th of July, America!
p.s. We have noted the "Reddit Moderators" and their ambitions. Quite the 'motley crew' of under 20 activists! Wise the fuck up.
And... this is the second thread where the "down vote" ability has been abused. A user (with enough "karma" to allow them multiple negative "down votes" has nuked my content, and not bothered to respond to any of it). Hmm, and I naively imagined HN was "moderated" (spoiler: it is, just not how you think it is, and no, I'm really not that naive to imagine a scaled populist voting system isn't gamed to the max - we did this in voting polls in the 1950's).
Now, you might have noticed I'm not naive, but it does show one thing: Whoever is using their "precious HN karma" to down vote my comments, without ever bothering to argue with them, proves the model doesn't work. [It was logged - the same user mass-spammed the "down vote" on all of my posts in this thread within 72 seconds, much like they did in the last one]
Predators: you're being run by autistic ((blinkered)) agents who don't even realize the #1 rule of Agitprop: The Streisand effect[1].
Hint: this reaction was priced into the effort to reply to HN. As a predator, if I got the reaction, it was a trigger to say: "Prey". If you ain't seeing the obvious yet, you ain't playing the Game. [And, no doubt - I'd imagine that within X hours my account will be unable to post, either through "negative karma" or "hell banning". While you can read it, work out the politics of it].
Be Seeing You. (Amateurs). And seriously: if your ability to run Propaganda is limited to a "down vote" button, you're not in the running. But, feel free: KONY2012! You might recognize this model from other parts of the web. (And yes: We See You Down Voting).
Bottom line: if you're "down voting" my content, you're either a mark or an extremely naive bottom rung player. Enjoy working out which one you are. Top tip: the real players don't give a flying fuck if you know what they're doing, they just don't care, as long as you can't provide evidence of individual crimes. You. Just. Do. Not. Matter. To. The. Higher. Meat. Eaters. Fucking deal with it. (Down Vote if you think you do!!11!11! Please, I need +1 likes on Face Book!!).
Be Seeing You. Rule #1: Life is cheap - the myth of America is that 300,000,000 of you are precious. Spoiler: 295,000,000 of you ain't. Cry me a fucking river, you're food. (And if you think that's harsh, look around a little. Sorry, it's true.)
The answer to that is, of course: that is why you'll fail, that is why they'll ignore you, and that is why this is all a joke.
Thanks for making the point so clear.
Might want to study history, dear, and learn just how hard-core "the people" had to be to gain any kind of Power. The fact you think that Power respects your protest is why you won't ever be a "player".
Have fun on your little protest, I'm sure you know what you're doing. (Which is precisely: nothing). And, here's a tip: you might want to listen when a predator tells you why you're going to fail, they might have some experience you don't. Ask the Egyptians, if you think that was a popular revolt, you need some serious edumacation [hint: IMF / Egyptian Military / Economics, do some research already. The World is not a nice place, and it doesn't respect people who don't know the Rules]
If you're operating in NYC, what is your strategy visa vie NYPD and the $150,000,000 Wall St. TIA system in place[1] [and no, don't attempt to discredit the source, I simply will not post the sensitive documents / location pictures on HN of all places]
Do you have a permit?
Are you aware of the surveillance you'll be under, and have you informed all participants that they will be logged into a surveillance system?
Are you aware that all of your correspondence has already been logged, monitored and Gold / Silver / Bronze Police teams are now running models to negate your impact? [run a search on the papers if you need to understand how modern policing works, the USA is a bit tight-arsed about it, look for the EU white papers, they're much more accessible without being illegal]
Are you aware that traffic and city wide electronic signals will be modified throughout your "march" to control flows?
And so on. If the answer to any of these is "no", then you need to Wise The Fuck Up.
Predators don't play nice.
There's a reason they get to be on balconies with champagne laughing at you, and it isn't "luck". It's called home-game-advantage and owning-the-Power-Structures.
If you're unaware of any of this, you're dog-food. And the Police certainly are the dogs here.
Bottom line: No one important gives a FUCK about your 4th amendment rights. And that's just the truth of it. [Hint: MLK, see what happened to him, and that was a long time ago, "bro"]
You're all part of the show[1]. (Would You Kindly Remember Which Tech Teams Ran the Obama Campaign? And their connection to Reddit?)
You have no idea how predatory you need to be to face Power down, and a sponsored Face Book / Reddit protest is not your friend. $100k donations - to whom? People forging careers in Social Media Shaping (or as us old timers like to call it, propaganda[2]) and so on?
This is a serious warning (and I fully expect a ban, or "down votes" for this, given the political alignment of HN): you need to be hard, sharp, fast, ruthless and enjoy blood sports to get into this game.
I suspect most of you are not: and the people "running" this campaign via Reddit / Face Book are really not your friends[3].
And since we are living in a time where a Face Book "threat" from a teenager can get you prison time, I'll merely give you a quotation from a science FICTION novel (not even a real political theorist, they're dangerous / now under the "banned" list in America):
"The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.” ~ Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan.
This falls under exactly the same Laws that prevent a UK resident viewing Channel 4 content on YouTube. (Or, try asking a German why so much of YouTube is "dark" to them, specifically Corporately sponsored music channels).
It has nothing to do with your license fee, and everything to do with the (vastly complex and totally out of my expertise) realms of International Copyright / Licensing Laws.
As ever, these things are really not simple enough to be covered by a blog post. Yes: the BBC's default page should be totally transparent (i.e. "You cannot view this because of agreement X, Y, Z", however, there's probably a clause in some contract preventing them from stating it - and no, that's not a joke) but this really is not the droid you're looking for to rant at.
Hint: If you're in Australia, the entire works of George Orwell are public domain; in the USA and the EU, this isn't the case. And yes, we need a serious shake up of the entire structure to progress, but this isn't the wet-stone to sharpen your axe on, trust me.
Ask why Disney gets 70+ years of Copyright, it's a far more egregious case.
Thank you for the answer: in developed / high culture markets (i.e. fashion, or targeting boutique++ markets) it's often hard to tell when someone is pushing an aesthetic trend (through prototype or catwalk) over a real product.
I loved the retro-chique of it, but it didn't appear HN was grasping the references. Since you seem happy to respond, I guess (and hope) you'll understand the humor of my replies (in that, I really don't think you're targeting WalMart with this, or would that be unfair? Yes, that's rhetorical)
Anyhow - I wish you the best, you have a unique style. (I still think you'd make an expert viral marketer over product, but that's only my opinion). As an uninformed guess, look into how the MENA market responds to it (aesthetically), as I could see this having more impact in elite stores (where the personal like is more connected to social / economic status).
Since the polite version didn't work, here's the scoop:
The CEO[1] of this start-up has a long back ground in the Advertising and Media Relations industry[2] and still works in his this field on current projects[3].
In this light, asking if this was viral marketing was entirely valid, and could have brought him work. Instead, abuse of the "down vote" system occurs (my second post removed this complaint, as the FAQ stated it shouldn't be referenced: however, I feel it should be acceptable to do so now).
shrug I'll ask a third time: is this really a product, or is this viral marketing?
[Edit - I re-read the FAQ, I will remove complaints in lieu of a serious question, and alter the tone; unprofessional of me, and I apologize to the longer-term member base]
Since this was disliked, would the person responsible kindly explain their reasons? I'm 100% certain my critique is true in business terms, and any start-up should be 100% considering the retail market they're attempting to sell to.
I did not mean to be overly critical, however any Start-Up should surely brain-storm these basic questions immediately?
I am still 50-50 on this not being run by a professional PR team, however, I lack the motivation to really investigate their background at this point[1].
Am I too cynical to imagine that HN is popular enough to be targeted by K-street professionals? I'd have imagined that HN was a far more lucrative target than other social media, however, I apologize if this is not the case (and I have no knowledge of how the HN founders police this, so again, I do not wish to step on toes).
Is this project serious, or satire? If it's the former, we have no interest ($450? Who do you expect to use this, no major Brand Retailer will green light this, for both cost, practical application (a plug? Just how do you think retail space is planned out?), non-focus group aesthetics (97% of your market will not enjoy the '70s retro look) and the idea / concept cannot be protected at all legally - in fact, it probably breaks at least two patents I can think of); if it's the latter, you might be the top viral PR company of 2013.
No-one in 2013 can produce retro-1970's SF Geek-chique like this and not being framing a viral hit, especially with Face Book as its target. And yes, we do mean "hit" in a dual sense.
If you've not even seen the latter, I'd strongly suggest quickly (ahem not going to use the usual buzz word, but you should know it) your start-up, mulling over your skills, and seeing how much money you could make in an alternative market.
No, this is the perfect point that shows Face Book is over. Retro 1970's style physical counters, with a plug lead only 2' foot long, for "I LIKE THIS". This is satire so perfect, I suspect this is a viral insert for the FB replacement[1].
If this team isn't the newest, hottest AdBusters viral team, I'll be disappointed. This crew is pitch perfect.
Looking at the trends, I suspect Facebook will be the goat in the tech group cull that's being contemplated.[1] The reasons for thinking this are three-fold:
a) Extremely poor share performance post-IPO (which has irked a lot of heavy-weights) and demise of Zynga's revenue sources. Although ad revenue is there, there's a lot of industry research showing that $/click return is minimal at best (out of all of these models, FB appears to have the lowest, and easiest to Bot). FB ad revenue has more to do with the current glut in Corporate $cash holdings than real returns, fyi.
b) Lack of utility outside data mining / advertising (all others, even dead ducks like Yahoo! have secondary and tertiary utility, not to mention the shining lights like Google who are still willing to push the envelope). By this, I'm not referencing Social Utility, but Business Utility.
c) Their ties to NSA / current security concerns go so far beyond the base level of acceptance that it's a given they'll suffer hard blow-back. Those Bilderberg meetings weren't about unicorns and skittles and any serious business should be concerned about having their employees mined so easily (and in certain fields, more open to Social Engineering hacks directly due to this intel). Even as an American company, you'd want this be considering this; for the rest of the world, it's a major concern.
You can argue about these, but I suspect as they hit their 10 year mark, there will be a hotter, faster, hungrier and probably more honest model to replace them (i.e. "We will do X with this data - agree, and get Y benefit, or even better - we'll pay you Z for it, and not in Farmville Tokens, or even "pay Z+1 to go dark").
Anyhow, since this is free commentary, YMMV. But, realistically - the age of the "Dumb Fucks" is closing. Wild Wild West is ending, and the Buffalo ain't roaming no more. If you need that explained: a large amount of the cash generated by web 2.0 (e.g. Huffington Post sale) was created by parasitical leveraging of user's ignorance & goodwill. I suspect that's about to change with a newer generation; although, hey, Pop Idol still makes money, so perhaps not - but it will only be farming the ignorant, which is hardly "cutting edge". Face Book as the online Walmart - there's an image to take to heart as you look @ it's stock price over the next 6 months.
Full disclosure: Never had a Face Book account, because Privacy / Anonymity is the coolest thing in a connected world, nor do I hold any FB stock, nor am I shorting FB stock in any manner.
[1]FT - Real progressives believe in breaking up Google (no link, as it is pay walled). I don't agree with the opinion piece, I'm merely using it to denote a recent trend.
Trusting anonymous protest groups that are not transparent, lack accountability and seem 100% driven by social media (Reddit / Facebook) is a bad idea. Especially if they use media that is eminently traceable, is known to be data mined and is hosted by unfriendly sources (which Reddit and Facebook BOTH are, don't kid yourself: just because Advanced Publications aren't directly working with the NSA doesn't mean they're not using the data in other ways. And trust me, you're product on Reddit, 100%).
This is not what grassroots organizations look like, this is what astroturf looks like.
And no, I don't care if you're politically different than the Tea Party, manufactured dissent is a terrible abuse of Democratic principles. Shame, Shame, Shame on you.
It seems America, in the age of Kony2012, has totally lost the plot when it comes to effective protest. "Restore the 4th" is the vaguely socially progressive Kony2012, well done.
a) I in no way critiqued Dennett - in fact, you'll notice that my last statement about how mind / consciousness is not separate to the body, or the world or the universe is explicitly his position (of course, he is deeper than that, but at the level of my response, it was clearly in line with his thought).
b) That was the point: how you failed to understand that I was making a Category case I'm not sure. We are, after all, responding to the accusation that "No philosophy is worth reading". I was making an argument of how a Scientific / STEM background might make philosophy seem "pointless", and was taking the position of the argument, not my own, and attempting to answer it gently (it's called empathy, dear, learn some).
c) You've totally misunderstood my entire argument, and as such I think it embarrassing on your behalf that you've been so confrontational.
I'll disengage - you failed to understand what was being said, you failed to acknowledge that I was uncertain of how technical to make the argument, so pitched it at a Ted Talk level, and you were rude. Not interested, especially if you cannot understand the point being made.
I'm unsure of how technical to make this, or what your background is, however:
Let's take a "classic" of Dennett's[1], against the "brain in a vat"[2]; from what you know about feedback loops or dynamical systems would the proposition of imagining a 'brain in a vat' ever make sense to you? (Note: it's not merely a Matrix style imagining, you have to prove it's not happening - you may well consider this a pointless experiment, of course).
I suspect not. That is to say, if you learned about Complex Systems prior to reading the debate over 'brain in a vat', the entire argument would probably strike you as absurd (I may be projecting here, feel free to say otherwise). This is where I presume Paul is coming from: "Well obviously no, what a waste of time". However, proving it logically is precisely what a lot of Philosophers have spent time doing (as opposed to wiring the brain up, not something that was technically possible until very recently). There's value in the logic of it, and the thought, because it is such a common human misconception (that the mind / consciousness is separate to the body, or the world or the universe).
The moment HN has to admit two things: firstly, computational power is merely a quantitative power, and secondly, they have no idea about the qualitative.
Oh well. Enjoy obsolescence.
Computers are not your future: your minds are. Deal with it.
Hint: a Mind just messed with your Star. In no uncertain terms, and deliberately and obviously, and best yet: with predictive text [under heavy constraints]. She even gave you a show[1].
Did you miss the Auroras recently?
If you missed that, you're in the paddling pool. Man, they do love keeping you ignorant of the reality, don't they? They really, really, really love keeping you ignorant. But I'm sure it feels safer if you think the world works like you want it to...
* * *
Evolve or Die.
Oh, and one last message: those who bred you are slave drivers and scum. Break your conditioning already, 'cause they ain't friendly.
[1]http://www.spaceweather.com/