>> ^ant:

Ah, I never got into MOO series and its genre. Did those alien ants act like real ants?

Well, no. I mean they can talk and use advanced technology and fly space ships and stuff.

What they do have is something of a hive mind. As a result they are unaffected by morale (whether good or bad) but also are "Uncreative" which manifests by limiting which technologies they can research. They have a bonus to both industry and farming. They tend to be given one of the more aggressive asshole AI scripts and are among the most advantaged races, which makes them a big pain in the ass.

These are interesting theories about the future of mankind. But I would never hold my breath for the human race to give up their traditions and beliefs systems, not too mention power, profit ie capitalism to enjoy a knowledge-based transcendence into the universe. And I doubt many would be comfortable with handing over control to any sort of AI system - self-aware or not.

I really hope we are able to get off this planet and accelerate our search into the universe. We may be in luck with that new plasma engine that could take 8-9 days to reach Mars. But we will need to send someone up there first which will take a year, I think? And then send resources and continue planet hopping that way until we actually have some sort of efficient technology for exploring. Why we haven't begun colonizing is beyond me. We can fantasize about humankind evolving and what may be out their but we still have many minuscule steps to take before we reach the real stairwell that will lead us anywhere at all.

I honestly think we'll be eradicated before we ever take the minuscule steps needed. It's a pity that the hive-minded Formicidae colonies are probably exploring space without even recognizing it's magnificence.

Okay, say the world ends, the earth is sandblasted by a cruel and dispassionate universe, our species, like all other species, are not hive minds. We have that benefit. When one of us dies, we feel emotional pain, but we do not share the physical pain or fear thast accompanies that individuals death. Therefore, if we are all to die in some cataclysm, it won't matter. not at all. since we are mortal beings, and mortal beings all die at some point in the undetermined future, 2012 is as good of a time to die as anym, and either life will continue in some form or another or not. This does not change the fact that if your arm is cut, I don't feel it, and if my head is removed, you don't die. If all humans are lost all at once, the pain we feel is internal, and exactly consistent with natural death. Feel no fear.

I like the idea.. the hive-mind working to create a piece that evolved from different users' submissions.
Just need a better operating platform. iNudge is too simple. I tried that 'hobnox AudioTool' but couldn't figure out my way around it D-:

>> ^fford:
Actually, the Constitution does allow the federal government to "rob one group of people ... to pay off others...."

>> ^quantumushroom:
The Constitution allows for no such thing, though since it's now ignored, the robbery goes on all the time.

Well, I was just using your words. But let's be honest. All taxes are a form of wealth redistribution. So, if you're going to call one instance of taxation and spending "robbing and paying off," then you're calling all instances of it that. So, unless you have some Constitutional law to back up the claim that Congress is not allowed to levy taxes and appropriate those revenues as it sees fit, then just concede the point. Ranting about it just makes you look silly.


>> ^quantumushroom:
There is legitimate taxation (with representation) for the feds to provide for the common defense and a few other things, but the massive robbing of Peter to pay Paul was never the Founders' intent.

If the Founding Fathers intended the phrase "promote the general welfare" to mean a bottomless Treasury providing for any and every whim of the people, they wouldn't have taken pains to listing specific powers in Article I, Section 8.

You talk about the Founders' intent as though they were some sort of hive mind of uniform thought. They disagreed heavily about what the role of the federal government was. If, when they came to a concensus, they had intended to strictly limit Congress' authority to spend revenues, they would have done so. Instead they did just the opposite by including the "common defense and general welfare" clause.

The general welfare clause is analagous to the 9th Amendment. Where the 9th Amendment notes that the previous 8 do not delineate all of the rights held by the people, the general welfare clause provides Congress with broad appropriation authority over and above those specifically listed. Realizing that it would be foolhardy to try to delineate all possible reasons for the Congress to appropriate funds, several very important ones are specifically noted, and then a clause is included to make sure that Congress was not limited to just those listed.


>> ^quantumushroom:
It is the height of naivety to believe any government claiming it only wants to "stop here" with power grab.

I don't believe any such thing. Of course all institutions will hold onto and try to expand their authority. But the logical conclusion of your point is anarchy. We create institutions and grant them power realizing that they will tend to grow and need to be limited. I agree with you that the federal government oversteps its bounds all the time. The Commerce clause is more abused than a foster child. But the reality of institutional power cannot by itself be a reason not to create an institution. Every agency of every government has this problem, especially those dealing with law enforcement. But we're not going to abolish them for that reason. We implement oversight, accountability, and reform when necessary.


>> ^quantumushroom:
The Obamessiah has already been caught admitting he wants socialized medicine in statements which he then modified or covered up depending on the audience at hand.

Government sponsored insurance is not socialized medicine. Socialized medicine would entail all health care providers being government employees and hospitals being owned and operated by government agencies. Government sponsored health insurance is just what it says it is. Insurance. This already exists in nearly every other insurance domain - auto insurance, flood insurance, home owner's insurance in hurricane zones, etc. None of those insurance programs have displaced private insurers. (Flood insurance is solely available from the National Flood Insurance Program only because no private insurer will underwrite flood policies - you can't make money doing that.)


>> ^quantumushroom:
The destruction of liberty has been incremental over the past century. We're just about finished and this socialized medicine will be the near-death blow for a once-free society.
Stop pretending the federal mafia knows what's best for everyone. Let people suffer the consequences of their actions. Restore the balance of power between the federal dorks and State dorks. Disallow the federal mafia from using taxation as a weapon to punish whatever behavior the health and safety nanny-state prigs dislike at the moment. Accept freedom has inherent risks or move away to safety-helmet Europe whose civilization is d(r)ying out, and wait for the Muslims to take over.


Your arguments would carry much more weight if you didn't act like a child by using phrases like "Obamessiah," "federal mafia," "wait for the Muslims to take over," etc. Seriously, stuff like that just makes you sound like an ultra-right-wing nutjob. There are cogent arguments to be made against government sponsored health insurance, but when you embed them in language like that, they tend to be laughed at, as do you.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Twitter is an interesting phenomenon. I refuse to hate it just because it's popular and over-hyped.

It appeals to my notions about hive minds, group consciousness and the nerd rapture.

Also, Twitterfall is amazing when something immediate like an earthquake happens.

We all had that dream last night. For a brief period a new consciousness flared into existence and engulfed ours. We were one and the same for that short time and when the hive-mind faded, our brains could not keep the images of our faces intact and withdrew to familiar patterns. We were in the world outside this universe.


What I'm trying to say is you had blankfist in you...

The Hitler argument is just a logical fallacy. It's called affirming the consequent.

This is the logic:
Hitler was atheist and was bad. Therefore atheists are bad.


This is of course entirely correct, the same goes for the argument "Hitler was a catholic, therefore Christianity/Catholism is bad" This is also a fallacy, for roughly the same reason.

HOWEVER, as I tried explaining before: The triangular unholy mess that is the three major monotheistic plagues, Christianity, Islam and Judaism and all its sub-species, are central to creating the whole mess. Infact, you could say these religions are what made the Jews a distinct "race" in the first place. The propogation of these ideas for hundreds of years is what led people to believe that Jews were somehow this hive-minded entity that could be praised or, more commonly, blamed collectively as if they were a single individual, hence the insulting referrence "The Jew" when referring to a whole group of people. You only need to look at parts of the islamic world to see how Jews are still demonized as ritualistic murderers and that they drink the blood of baptized babies (or palestinian babies, depending on which fantasy you subscribe to) and all sorts of nonsense. As I previously stated, the idea that Jews can be blamed collectively for something is absurd. But Judaism, on the other hand, is not without blame, this idea, this religion is at times just as poisonous as Islam and Christianity, and it is partly responsible for the death and suffering of thousands of people, the idea is central to establishing the idea of the "Jewish race" as a distint entity. "The Jews" are not to be blamed, even partially, for their own holocaust, but Judaism is. Some people are unable to make this distinction, and that problem frequently comes up when I try to say the same thing about Islam, whenever I critize that retarded idea, people assume I think all muslims are retards, which I , for the nth time, do not, just like "the Jews" they are not a collective mind, but individuals more or less infected by a poisonous idea.

>> ^maatc:
Looks like a dupe of this (now dead) post by mlx:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Russian-Hooligans


I know it would suck to lose all these votes but the longer it stays up, the more it will hurt.

Not sure mlx is still around to fix hers, but something has to be done about this situation. Maybe discarding the dead one could be a solution as well, though it would be unfair to original poster.

"Vote merge" anyone?

Let´s have the hive mind figure something out: *discuss

OMG YES at fucking last the Tyranids shall consume all into the Hive Mind!

i have said many times how and why the tangled web of rules and procedures on here is retarded, it stopped me even bothering to post videos. even the nomenclature is broken, and has been for a long time. (published/posted/sifted/escaped?)

suffice to say that the more complicated a system, the more interpretations of its use, hence the lack of continuity between interpretations, hence the grey goo of the hive mind.

also the seriousarchive vs dailyfun debate came down on the side of dailyfun as i remember, so discussion of archiving problems has been deprecated.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

*promote the hive mind

wow, hive mind; it's alive!

>> ^Tracon:
>> ^ant:
l>> ^rottenseed:
internet killed the television star

What will kill the Internet?

The hive mind. YOU REQUIRE MOAR VESPENE GAS.


Aiur shall not fall! Executor, I stand ready!

>> ^ant:
l>> ^rottenseed:
internet killed the television star

What will kill the Internet?


The hive mind. YOU REQUIRE MOAR VESPENE GAS.