Problem is, slashdot's mod tools don't work. You'll see all sorts of retrograde anti-intellectual stuff being upvoted on slashdot. And the born yesterdays who think steam and drm are wonderful things.
If anything no moderation system can protect you against ignorance and anti intellectualism when it pervades a culture.
"This is such a ridiculous statement I can't tell if it's sarcasm"
No it isn't you market moron, every good capitalist wants a monopoly and to give the worst possible service at the highest possible price. That's where profit comes from.
Look at online DRM and videogames. Companies want to control the game to use it as a vehicle to extract money from the customer, online DRM'd games you get worse service for more money and a crappier drm ware infected game.
"Their greatest battles result in people being swayed to one view or another but never something being invested in and grown to produce value. And that's why they're just a waste."
Many "engineering" types do not produce any value at all, they more often than not hinder innovation. Nowhere can this be seen more in engineering types being attracted to voodoo economics like libertarianism and deep ideological commitments to capitalism.
Good engineers know the world runs on the laws of nature, not human beings political bullshit. You want to maximize your ability to solve problems. Stupid bullshit property and IP laws do the opposite.
The last thing any real engineer wants to do is hinder peoples access to information about solving complex problems, the more minds and eyeballs you have on a problem the faster you can find flaws in your own thinking and approach to the problem by finding things you would have never thought of on your own.
Our current world does the opposite. If you look at most beliefs of engineers they skew hard right, that's a sign of mental weakness since real science heavily skews left when you consider things like the environment and the life support systems on earth when you discover how interlocked they are to supporting your survival.
In the end good engineers know that mankind is seriously fucked up animal and know not to place too much faith in our species, because they know we've fucked up bad in how we've organized our world around money and territoriality instead of solving problems.
"There's nothing inherently wrong with a lobbyist. They're there to help inform representatives. "
You are naive.
"Intended as an internal document. Good reading to understand the nature of rich democracies and the fact that the common people are not allowed to play a role."
"Although a valid concern putting "job creation" as a goal for governments can (and in a lot of occurrences in recent history, did) backfire spectacularly."
Except you're wrong, the corporate world is always on the governments tit.
Protectionism for the rich and big business by state intervention, radical market interference.
"Whenever I pause to think about surveillance and other activity of the sort that is aimed at stifling peaceful, ideological movements and groups it gives me a chill."
They fear the political awakening of the masses of the world.
Our brains are much worse at reality and thinking than thought.
The (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.
Yes you are born with that potential yes. There are many animals that can't because their genetic potential disallows such things. You're ignoring the energy metabolism and resiliency to stress of an organism that defines things like work ethic which is not under conscious control.
"For a dose of reality, I recommend browsing r/piracy. The mental gymnastics people go through to justify their actions is mind boggling."
Nope, corporations stole the public domain with bullshit laws. Piracy is the only way most games will be saved. Many of us don't believe in the bullshit one sided laws being passed.
"But they don't; even moderately competitive players can beat the best bots."
That's because the programmers are bad at AI for that kind of game. It just means human beings don't understand how to make a good AI for a game like starcraft. AKA the human being being the idiot that doesn't understand how to make one.
"This is an interesting statement, because I assumed that it was the software that ran the robots that was hard to get right."
The problem is real objects have weights and properties that conflict with one another and you have to balance those forces and characteristics against gravity.
"Intended as an internal document. Good reading to understand the nature of rich democracies and the fact that the common people are not allowed to play a role."
Google top dying regrets. There are plenty of workaholic people who regret being succesful and spending too much time at work.
Don't measure your 'success' by what capitalist society says is success, measure your success in what YOU want for your life. When you stop paying attention to the worlds idea of what comprises a successful life you will then be an adult.
Your body's natural inclinations and functions, your health of body and mind is the only fucking thing that matters in the end.
I can see league of legends easily being AI'd. Starcraft is a lot more difficult because of the realtime nature of the game.
League of legends was made for people with poor reflexes. I'd love to see an AI go at quake CTF game personally, or something more complex like UT2004 game modes.
Not going to happen. Just look at what happened to Videogames all upcoming major AAA releases have some form of online DRM in them. They are even changing the marketing and dropping 'drm' and covering it up with marketing speak "oh we intended as multiplayer" (yeah right). Taking advantage of the publics stupidity and ignorance.
The problem with "proofs" is that software is often an iterative process because the environment and problems are constantly changing. If you have a fixed known problem you can do proofs to your hearts content, but in a changing environment you make the most of it with limited resources.
Ideas are schematics, if you build upon the wrong schematic you're headed for disaster. There is always complex interplay between ideas and execution and people who say differently are ignorant.
"It's so disappointing to me to hear a quote like that from the President."
Then you need to get informed how democracy works...
Our brains are much worse at reality and thinking than thought. AKA we can be manipulated to believe things against our interest. Science on reasoning:
"Intended as an internal document. Good reading to understand the nature of rich democracies and the fact that the common people are not allowed to play a role."
If anything no moderation system can protect you against ignorance and anti intellectualism when it pervades a culture.