bascule

Well, give it a few days for the dust to settle. In the meantime speculation mounts: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1105127/Gaza-death-toll-soars-past-500-Israel-accused-using-banned-phosphorus-shells.html

Photos of the alleged use of white phosphorus and the victims are available on LiveLeak: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=99c_1231061813

It would stop Israel from using white phosphorus on civilians in Gaza

No. I think consciousness comes about through systems with a function similar to the cerebral cortex. That is: systems which are able to analyze and predict the behavior of their inputs with a time sensitive component, and are able to do so at various levels of abstraction. These systems are actually able to construct a cohesive inner world based on sensory input. Another important factor is the ability to interact with the outside world, and predict what effect a particular action might have on the future of the world. Your example isn't much different than using a text editor to edit the text editor's own source code. While that's a novel concept, there's nothing particularly interesting going on.

What makes some groups of atoms "alive" when others aren't? Is there anything special about "alive" groups of atoms vs. non-"alive" groups of atoms other than their particular configuration? How can atoms which were once "alive" suddenly become "dead"? Again, it depends on changes in the overall configuration of the group. This sort of reasoning applies to any collection of atoms though. What makes some collections of atoms a car? Or a computer? There is a vast inner world to a computer, albeit a different one from consciousness. However while it's ultimately a collection of atoms and electrical signals, nobody reasons about software systems at that level because it would be silly. But still, nobody doubts that underneath the rich inner world of a computer, underneath it's all just atoms and electrical signals. Why is it so surprising that certain configurations of atoms can bring about a vast inner world?

And the US is blocking UN calls for a ceasfire... WTF?!

How do you feel the effect compares to that of the cessation of many New Deal programs which created jobs that were lost in terms of the unemployment rate, which was after all the original point of discussion. It's easy to say "no wonder the money supply contracted" contracted due to a given factor. Do you have any citations? Preferably those that compare the effects to the cessation of New Deal programs? Just Googling around, all I'm finding is that the matter is debated but the only cause listed is an attempt to return to a balanced budget (which is what the article in the OP argues as well, BTW). I'm not seeing anyone blaming a doubling of reserve requirements as the primary cause (or even a secondary cause) anywhere.

I totally saw this crap in the newsletter of our local crazy psychic cult. It made me laugh. It's numerology someone just totally made up out of nowhere. No attempts to explain where it comes from at all, it just is, cause they said so. Beautiful.

Not that many of them. Only 5% of professional historians and 27% of professional economists believe it served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression. What about lowering the unemployment rate, which it did successfully except for during the recession of 1937, largely blamed on relaxing New Deal provisions in the light of conservatives barking for a balanced budget?

Yes, I entirely agree, and in response to: I have nothing against people poking fun at a president. I'm not saying a line was crossed in regard to "Barack the Magic Negro" but I'd say it's more offensive than comparing Bush to monkeys. I don't see either as being unproductive or detrimental to society per se. Yeah, what it really comes down to is I'm not black so I don't know how to react, but "negro" isn't a word which I've ever heard used with anything but negative connotations. Having read the strange backstory regarding "Barack the Magic Negro" originating from a column written by a black gay man, I'm even more confused as to what to think.

This is a conservative meme which has been going around for quite some time, but seems to actually gained some traction as of late: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/02/sirota_fdr_depression/ This is one of those "I ignore your reality and substitute my own"-type arguments. How exactly is it these people can spout blatant lies and then follow them up with "historians pretty much agree on that"? I'm reminded of the Fox Noise response to Peter Schiff. The effect on the New Deal on the Great Depression is certainly debatable. What do you think. Did the New Deal actually prolong the Great Depression? After all, most historians agree!

No, the latter would be substantially more offensive. "Negro" generally carries negative connotations, but otherwise it's just sort of archaic or used for ironic value.

Sure, it's marginally offensive. Whatever. I can't speak for others, and I'm not going to deny that race figured into my vote for Obama, but I don't think my decision centered around "white guilt." If a Republican wants to give out these CDs, great, that's their prerogative. I just wish Republicans would stop freaking about each and every thing some "liberal" does that's "offensive" and demanding an apology. Let them have their Barack the Magic Negro CDs and liberals can have their "General Petraeus? More like General Betrayus lol" ads and everyone can stop whining about things they find offensive.

You're not alone, and there are other philosophies of mind which would agree. Mokele is describing the foremost scientific school of thought, which can be described as emergent materialism or functionalism depending on what philosophical slant you wish to take. I would say what differentiates consciousness from other everyday processes is that consciousness operates via a feedback loop between perception and cognition. What we perceive is influenced by what we're thinking about, and what we're thinking about is influenced by what we perceive. In a biological sense this is likely manifested in the form of cortico-thalamo-cortical loops.

NuPIC can learn My guess would be it would have an "unconscious" just like us, except it would be able to "reflect" on its own software and observe what it's doing. Of course, humans are starting to look into their own brains too...

No, hence why Obama asked for an exemption from the GSA. It could've been denied... but they decided to approve it because they felt it was warranted. No, Congress decided to delegate these duties to the GSA, and the GSA decided to approve the request. What's the problem?

That's not true at all. Most computers are based around the Von Neumann architecture, which is universal (i.e. Turing complete) The signaling rate of the brain is substantially slower than most CPUs. Neurons take on the order of 10-20ms from the time they are excited to the time when they can excite another neuron. The components of modern CPUs are able to complete all tasks in 0.25 nanoseconds, some 7 orders of magnitude faster. CPUs do an incredible number of things at the same time as well. They execute instructions in parallel at many levels: each core (some CPUs have 64 or more) is simultaneously decoding instructions while executing others (i.e. the "pipeline"). The difference is the brain is massively more parallel than any CPU ever created, by several orders of magnitude. Your brain is doing many of these things. Your visual cortex is performing massively parallel Fourier transforms on the sensory input. You just can't think consciously about it.

Seems the only reference to illegality is on Judicial Watch's blog, and they don't say why. The Obama campaign requested a waiver and it was approved. What's so fishy?

Never mind. You think I would've learned my lesson, but it's clear you're full of nothing but insults and distortions.

And mine, please

What a cop out. How about you point out what you think I've misinterpreted? As far as I can tell I haven't misinterpreted anything: you are a climate change denialist who seeks to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about climate science. And you apparently don't understand the basics of climate change. You're doing everyone on these forums a great disservice by even posting here.

What did you think about the Esquire's argument that prohibition made little sense in the midst of the Great Depression?

The title of this thread is "Global Warming - our saviour." PERIOD That's not a question. That's a statement. But hey, I can't say I'm surprised to see you trying to play off something else as "just asking questions". It's your classical excuse. You claim to be a "skeptic" when really you're just a climate change denialist who seeks to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about climate science. You sure like talking about that, but what about SkepticLance misunderstood and misinterpreted? But that's not the case, and makes me think your understanding of climate change is extremely flawed. The only "warming" manifests in the long-term trend of the global mean surface temperature. The regional effects are varied. Very cold countries may very well get colder. You are singing the praises of global warming even though it's pretty clear at this point you don't know the first thing about it. Furthermore, you ignored me pointing this out the first time, and instead decided to continue with disparaging me from your previous red herring. Do you ever wonder why I get frustrated and stop responding in threads where you are active?

But that's not the case, and makes me think your understanding of climate change is extremely flawed. The only "warming" manifests in the long-term trend of the global mean surface temperature. The regional effects are varied. Very cold countries may very well get colder. Yes, and this is only one of only impacts and vulnerabilities being researched now. However, it's the foremost in my mind in terms of how climate change will harm humans.

Yeah sorry SkepticLance, I'm not going down that road because it's completely irrelevant to my argument. Knowing what you do now about the relationship between water vulnerability and climate change, do you still insist that climate change is a good thing?