SplitPeaSoup

Reply to Combat in Outer Space! in Gaming Stardock Forums

Wow, thanks for the links.

Reply to Political Drift in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

[quote]it would take one heck of a 'Eureka!' moment[/quote] People were pretty shocked when Yamanaka made so much progress. But, yes, not enough is known to make embryonic stem cells from scratch. [quote]However, bumbling Bush made a law so they could not use new lines and still get federal funding. Obama just had the good sense to repeal that pointless law.[/quote] True. I should have written new lines. Anyway, my point remains the same. And the legislation w

Reply to Political Drift in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

[quote]btw does this mean we add all the +1s with +1s and all the -1s with -1s and first to reach 20+or- ends it?[/quote] Yes

Reply to Political Drift in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

[quote]Especially considering that now viable techniques have been discovered which do not require tissue from fetuses.[/quote] Ah, this is a good point. I should have refered to this. Scientists have been rapidly working around the necessity of using embyronic stem cells. I think some wicked smart Japanese scientist almost hit the nail on the head last time I checked, generations ahead of his time. But these methods are not as good, and even more recently, Obama signed a bill allowin

Political Drift in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

In evolutionary studies, genetic drift refers to the inevitability, without selection, for an allele to become fixed in a population just by chance. In 1931, a scientist named Sewell Wright demonstrated that the probabilty one allele will be fixed over another is determined by that allele's initial frequency in the population. So, let's play a game. Do you agree with allowing of stem-cell research? If so, add 1. If not, subtract 1. The first number reached -20 or +20, ends the game. T

Reply to This Bad Economy has a Face in Politics JoeUser Forums

Maybe the problem isn't the government at all. Maybe the fault lies with all of us, with our credit culture and apathy. Does anyone know exactly what caused the recession? If so, what is a better solution for a recession than to increase the money supply?

Reply to It's Ok Not To Be Smart in Ethics JoeUser Forums

[quote]You can't save people. Or at least you shouldn't - once saved, people tend to stay saved, with all the negative hanger-on-ism that that tends to attract.[/quote] Hanger-on-ism is part of a vocabulary I do not recognize. Who talks about this? [quote]The advantage of combatting illiteracy through education and lack of capital through microcredit is that it encourages the poor and dispossessed to take responsibility for their own fates. They will then take political action

Reply to It's Ok Not To Be Smart in Ethics JoeUser Forums

[quote who="cactoblasta" reply="4" id="2105649"] Why is the situation not important? There are many people who suffer serious injustice in this world, largely through accident of birth. Why should I obsess about the terrible plight of the first-world mediocre when I can actually do something about, say, illiteracy, or the lack of credit in third-world countries? [/quote] Political change relies on people as a whole cooperating. Scientific breakthroughs, on the

Reply to The AIG Drama in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote who="kingbee" reply="13" id="2105586"] mostly those named Daiwa then we're all doomed. daiwa and i don't often agree (which is kinda funny considering it's highly likely each of us considers himself both adherent and guardian of the au h20 legacy). i do sincerely appreciate his intelligence, tenacity, excellent sense of humor, rationality, innate skepticism and, not last nor least, his admirably gracious demeanor. he also had--may still

Reply to The AIG Drama in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Looked pretty damn straightforward to me. I just have a science degree, but the grammar seems correct.[/quote] People with science degrees, mostly those named Daiwa, don't get what "twisting words" means.

Job opening: Fannie Mae CEO in The Media JoeUser Forums

The news, as of late, has been inundating the impressionable American public with inflammatory posts. That's right. The news is trolling. Recently, a shady insurance company called AIG announced that they would be giving several dozen CEOs, some of whom no longer even work for the company, million dollar bonuses. Ok. I am not entirely apprised of the situation, but I can see how a purportedly shady company might abuse bailout money. However,

Reply to It's Ok Not To Be Smart in Ethics JoeUser Forums

[quote]I just don't think the situation is important. I could demand radical surgery so that I'm no 'smarter' than anyone else, but what would that achieve? It wouldn't help those less academically blessed.[/quote] Why is the situation not important? Having you hit your head against a wall until you are dumb is pretty much the opposite of what I would want. The problem is not that some people are too smart. It is that some people don't have a chance who might "deserve" it.

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote]What you seem to describe is a motivation for power. That's not my motivation. I don't care about being in charge of a company. It's much more basic than that: I want to do what I want to do. [/quote] Interesting. I can see what you mean. You worked hard so that if you wanted to change your company and start creating great computer games, then you could do it. You had the freedom to do that. And if tommorow you had another idea, you could run with that. That sort of freedom ta

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote who="taltamir" reply="19" id="2097422"]IQ means intelligence quotient. It is (Developmental age / chronological age) * 100... so a 10 year old with the development of a 15 year old has an IQ of 150... This is also tooled ENTIRELY for finding deficiencies in learning in school systems. From the very first format through its five major reivisions it has always looked only for problem areas. Its creators always insisted it is not a measurement of intelligence, but a measurement

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote]Way to go completely missing the mark.. He BECAME a CEO to be free to "dos something great, or to be someone with a life worth living". that is the very definition of freedom. Not to work hard towards achivement. Yours is one of the most insulting posts I have seen in a while.[/quote] I intended no insult. The desire for freedom can be a powerful driving force. It is not an unscrupulous or superficial reason to achieve. Thousands of Americans gave their lives in the

Reply to Eve ONline: What is That? in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

If you are looking for a good MMORPG, look into city of heros. Get a few friends to sign up with you. Coh is cool because it is really team oriented.

What Makes A Game Fun in Gaming JoeUser Forums

There are a lot of games out there, and lets be honest, most of them really suck. So what exactly is it, to you, that makes a game a great experience? To me, teamwork makes a game fun. I love the feeling afterwards that I shared the experience with other people successfully.

Reply to Distant Star in Writing JoeUser Forums

This is a pretty cool idea. I saw it when reading Mark Twain's autobiography. He said that comedians who make unsubstantial jokes never last, whereas he, talking about universal experiences, would live on beyond his death. Twain goes on to cite great comedians of his time who do not even sound remotely familiar today. Their brilliance had already faded during Twain's life.

Reply to Eve ONline: What is That? in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

Eve Online is stupid. You have to have been playing for at least a year to be able to do anything. Otherwise people just kill you, and you lose all the stuff you worked for. Too much like real life for me.

What About Circadian Rhythms? in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

Spring Break 2009! Time for explosive fun in the Florida sun, alchoholic daydreams, stupid promiscuity, and pointless debauchery. Or if you are a nerd like me, time for staying on campus with your girlfriend and doing pretty much nothing. For the past half-week, I have been staying up inexcusably late, just wasting time. Last night specifically, I watched the seven final episodes of Firefly , the failed space Western that later returned in the form of a kick butt movie called Sere

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote]To use a computer analogy, IQ is like how fast your CPU is. [/quote] I'm not really an expert on IQ. I only have a basic understanding of psychology. But from what I have come across, I believe that IQ is a measure of functioning in the pre-frontal cortex (executive functions like working memory, realizing when you are about to do something stupid, paying attention) as well as a measure of your accumlated knowledge in specific (and undoubtably biased) areas. Inte

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote]The problem is that even if you raise everhone's intelligence, the threshold simply moves up with them.[/quote] This would be true if the entire spectrum shifted (if absolutely everyone took the drugs). Instead, the spectrum might be narrowed.The threshold might increase, but other factors aside from those modified would bridge the gap. [quote]High intelligence isn't particularly helpful. It's being an idiot that hurts.[/quote] Although, that does bring up an in

Reply to New Link in Evolution: Grape sized single cell organism! in Pure Technology JoeUser Forums

An osterich egg is not a cell at all. It could contain a zygote, which is composed of a single cell, but that would be small.

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote]Success tends to require a certain minimum threshold. [/quote] [quote]Modafinil won't make you successful.[/quote] Yes, of course. I wouldn't dream of making everyone extremely intelligent. I would just want to ensure that everyone had the neccesary, even if not sufficient* , potential to succeed. I will tell you that I am biased in terms of what I believe chemicals can do. I received an ADHD diagnosis, and atomoxetine has been help

Reply to Ambition for Ambition’s sake in Blogging JoeUser Forums

And there is always the lurking question. Should I succeed, did I actually make the world a better place? Who am I to judge? By the way, there are already a few examples of drugs that can enhance cognitive performance. Stimulants, for example, increase focus. Provigil will keep you alert. And a new class of compounds called "ampakines" shows promise in increasing memory. It's only a matter of time before someone, me or otherwise, succeeds in doing this. Actually