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Hmm, that's straying into territory that's a little too technical for me - but I get the overall gist, that there are plenty of opportunities for interaction between genes, multiplying the possibility of damage if an artificial insertion occurs. I agree, I think GM is still very much in its...

Well if it cheers you up at all, know that there are many people in the community who appreciate that good science is done, whether it's profitable or not. We need scientists who care about the truth. Interesting, thanks for your answers. So in your opinion, the claim is unsubstantiated...

thehabitatdoctor Are you a plant scientist? I would very much appreciate if you could give me your views on a particular subject. I have heard many GMO proponents, Kevin Folta among others, make a claim that GM can be no more harmful than traditional breeding, as selective breeding moves tens...

Episode Three - The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey YouTube - ‪All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Ep. 3) - Full‬‏ Adam Curtis Interview (May 20, 2011) YouTube - ‪Adam Curtis Interview (May 20, 2011)‬‏

glad you enjoyed them. does he actually say that political struggle and ideology are good? i think he leaves it more to you to decide. with advanced technology comes great power, and with that power comes the need for responsibility. you could claim that modern society is far better than...

Adam Curtis has just released an outstanding series of documentaries weaving a lucid and fascinating trail through the history of politics, science, philosophy, global economics and the internet - subjects which may interest more than a few of you. Episode One - Love and Power YouTube...

mitigating factors are common in legal defenses, and they are taken seriously. on the flip side, how may CEOs did you see being called to account in the midst of the GFC turmoil? yes many people will oversimplify the causes of things, but even so, people are still culpable for their actions...

on the contrary, i see zeitgeist's behaviorist polemics as a logical defense for authority figures, or anyone else who wishes to primarily blame external entities for their actions. free will, on the other hand, would necessitate personal responsibility and accountability, two things sorely...

i wouldn't suggest that humans are inherently evil or malicious, far from it. divisions will exist with respect to taste, ideology, perspective, conscience, philosophy, music, art, sex, politics, drugs.. what one person finds unsightly is vital to another. people have different wants and...

i agree, all of their scheme is very nebulous and half-baked, but it's their proposal of collectivist thought reform that most annoys me; the arrogant assumption that if only we were all properly educated we'd all want the same things, and live in peace and harmony forever. human beings don't...

as sad and broken as the world is right now, merola, fresco et al. are just selling a faulty plan, based on an impossible premise - that human beings can be educated out of wanting what is bad for them.

blackwater by kerstin ekman - this "bestseller" is extremely tough to finish. i don't usually read crime fiction, but do authors in this genre habitually burn time introducing faceless characters, attempting complexity but managing only to turn out pages of obvious waffle? "mary has a husband...

that borgore guy is such a bellend. i guess his appeal makes sense, as the genre seems to mainly attract males - 9/10 dubstep gigs i've been to are total sausage fests, unfortunately. hecq does some very emotive, atmospheric work. YouTube - Hecq - Sura current value, a techstep...

as you'd expect, the profile maintains the simplistic assertion that he must be crazy, which i imagine was welcomed by his defense team. use of violence notwithstanding, i happen to disagree. a more intriguing analysis can be found here: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase.htm

ever noticed how christian people tend to have christian kids? but no-one would claim that christianity is genetically predetermined. with regards to the OP, my opinion is an intellectual uses their cleverness in pursuit of something. a pseudo-intellectual is satisfied with appearing clever.

recently finished lewis' the monk, which is a bit of a slow-burn, but it has a bit of everything, murder, rape, incest; surprising considering it was written in the late 18th century. the final 50 pages or so are amazingly climactic. the ending affected me with sort of surreal dread, which i...

i'd regard john ralston saul as one individual who is carrying on the intellectual ideals of socrates. chomsky perhaps? as for the medium for a modern-day socrates, how about.. stand-up comedy?

joe rogan ricky gervais dylan moran ben elton ('99 and earlier) rick mayall stephen fry hugh laurie rowan atkinson chris morris

i remember another odd incident. i was going through the local crime book store, and there's this old gent, scruffy, mid 50s, bald on top with sort of bushy looking hair sprouting out the sides of his head, and thick, horn rimmed glasses. i'm walking along casually, looking at the shelves, and...

such is the curse of endless curiosity. before you can master something, you're interested in something else. why can't i just stick to one thing? remember that everything is grist for the mill. even when you think you're not applying yourself, procrastinating, or abandoning projects, you're...

i was hunting for an apartment for 12 months, and i found one exactly 1 day after i got notified that i had to vacate my house at the time. i met a friend of mine on a train on the way to a gig that he was also going to, and we randomly bumped into each other on 4 separate occasions in the...

the library of babel is exquisite, a sort of trancelike pragmatic meditation on infinity, and the human desire know everything.

I managed it.

sounds like E was describing something akin to Bohm's view of the universe. Bohm had some interesting things to say about the nature of thought and perception. He also proposed a solution, in the form of a Dialogue that studies the process of thought, as it relates to other's thoughts...

more precision is not a cure for bad methodology. the theory behind GE assumes that DNA is composed of discrete genes, working independently which, added together, produce a plant or an animal, but what if they're wrong? when engineers fire a gene into the DNA, how do they know which genes are...

cultigens resulting from breeding or grafting are created via normal genetic processes within the plant's cells. transgenic plants are created by splicing in foreign DNA, sometimes from different species, and coded for a specific purpose, which circumvents the plant's normal processes, and...

as i mentioned, selective breeding and genetic engineering are not the same thing. the former relies on the slow, natural reproductive cycle of the plant, the latter (and i am aware there are different applications of the technology) inserts foreign genetic material directly into the plant's...

well yes, but introduced species are at a disadvantage to natives, because they're not used to the environment in which they're placed. and they are not - like transgenics - engineered to resist pests, herbicides and extreme weather conditions. which gives transgenics considerable advantage over...

there has been evidence of reactions in animals and humans in peer reviewed studies. summary at the link below: http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/HealthRisksofGMFoodsSummaryDebate/index.cfm the production and manufacture of margarine does not result in the pollution of the...

you mean - just to pull an example at random - the possibility that every time we start our car engines, were burning the remains of ancient atlantians? number one misinterpretation - the "word of god." appalacian snake handlers follow their beliefs due to a literal interpretation of the bible...

rand reminds me of a upper class version of l. ron hubbard, complete with a freaky cult that sticks leaflets in all her books. her philosophy touts individualism as a virtue, but it has to be -her- kind of individualism, of course. if you don't think and act in the manner proscribed, you're not...

sounds pretty unconvincing to me. there is no way of representing intelligence as an abstract number, so any attempt to link iq score to political/sexual/etc preference is meaningless. you may as well correlate personal preferences with sudoku scores. my eyebrow also raised at the argument that...

the difference engine by gibson/sterling

stock, hausen & walkman - giving up ryoji ikeda - +/- xenakis - electronic music

AI, that was amazing. i've often thought the exact same thing before, but i could never articulate it. thanks. i might also add that the natural world has enfolded within it the form of the implicit order (the golden mean, and fibonacci sequence being two examples) and this shows us the...

no absolute truths? know you nothing of sod's law, "what can go wrong, will"..? or, how about "and this, too, shall pass..."?

alio die: inade: bad sector: terra sancta: raison d'etre:

^ wrong assumption is wrong. the earth has a much larger carrying capacity than the wasteful culture we perpetuate currently allows. the problem is not lack of resources, but who controls access to those resources. your little jab about people supporting a "breeders lifestyle" (subtext...

oops, i hit the word limit... eroticism is also a theme in much of akita's work. noise is analogous to pornography, as pornography is the manifestation of the unconscious libido of humanity, raw signals and feedback are the unconscious libido of machinery. uncovering the hidden voice of the...

it was quite a bizarre, hypnotic gig - you come away a bit dazed by what you just experienced. it has slightly sinister and dark undertones that i enjoy, and the philosophy behind it is fascinating to me. akita describes it as an attempt at pure surrealist music, exploring the workings of the...

wow. think that's the first time i've ever been asked that question. yeah, i do. i saw mr akita play live once back in 2004; for some reason i remember him sitting motionless for 2 hours, wrangling the most insane sounds from his laptop, while beads of sweat dripped from his nose.

um, okay... just take a few deep breaths, and let them out slowly. i like kafka too. it's just my opinion.

i was actually aiming my mock horror more at your co-worker. i remember similar comments from my parents, in university (or college whichever you prefer) when i'd tell them about some ridiculous work requirement or administrative rigmarole thay'd put us through, expecting a little bit of...

one thing that isn't on that list is hunger by Knut Hamsun - check it out, it's a good one. most of kafka's works are pretty disturbing, in the metamorphosis, he describes a young man's transformation into a huge ugly beetle. probably the most polarizing and provocative author i've ever...

that's horrible.. hamstring yourself for the benefit of a comfortable salary? i have nothing against people who haven't obtained a degree for other reasons, i know quite a few people who've excelled without a signed bit of paper from a university. but the idea of purposefully avoiding higher...

violence in entertainment is nothing new - roman spectacles went beyond what most of us watch and read these days. but romans were no more bloodthirsty or cruel than we are. to them, munera and the like taught them virtus, the values of courage, discipline, endurance etc. in a similar way, the...

if a thought occurs to you, is that the same as acting out that thought? who is to say when a thought becomes bad, and by what standard do we assess these thoughts? imo, guilt is justified only if a thought becomes action.

the things we repress may submerge into the unconscious for a time, but eventually they come out whether we want them to or not (in dreams for example). why feel guilty for something that you ultimately cannot control, even if you wanted to?

thank you snowqueen, you actually got to the heart of what i was blathering about! mm that's very true of ISFPs. i think they get a buzz from the inception, and aren't as obsessed with the invention. they find it much easier to live for the moment. to me, creativity has to have some concrete...

...reading through again, i'm aware this sounds like a colossal whinge, but i'm posting it, whinging and all, 'cause that's how i roll. something i've always found strange about being intp is the inner contradiction between the obsessive drive to create, and spurning other people's...