Posts by HORansome
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My favourite book? I suppose I can give a conditional seal of approval to Mark Fensters "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture;" it's easy to read and yet does some interesting (although I think a bit misguided) work all at the same time. the David Coady edited "Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate" is good if, like me. you are a philosopher.
But, if you want a fun book, "Foucault's Pendulum" or "The Illumnatus Trilogy" are the ones I'd go for. Both are surprisingly good on historical detail and the mishmash theory of conspiratorial history. The former treats conspiracy theories as largely false and derives a compelling narrative about those who believe them, whilst the latter suggests they are all true and makes the world out to be as crazy as we thought it was anyway.
I'm about to read DeLillo's "Libra," which I'm also told is very, very good, so I'll provisionally recommend that; Gio will likely a) say it is good and b) chastise me for not having read it yet.
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Well, if they can prove a conspiracy here. I imagine the groups who support the NZCSC will use the case to bolster their attacks "at home."
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Well, that too. My problem, seeing that I'm writing a PhD on conspiracy theories, is that I try a little too hard not to accuse people of conspiring in malicious fashion; when you start getting in the depths of conspiracy theory literature it becomes just a little frightening to think just how many of these conspiracy theorists might have an agenda other than being sincerely convinced of their righteousness.
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Science reporting is hard; suggesting there is a conspiracy is easy (that's my short version of how Anthropogenic Climate Change conspiracy theorists work). All you need do is suggest that the peer review process might have some slight bias (other than truth) and you can slander scientists day and night for eternity. Anyone in the Sciences who argues against you is obviously in on the conspiracy and members of the public who think you are wrong just don't know the "science." A legal action like this is the ultimate way to look scientific whilst not actually engaging with the science; the NZCSC and their satellite groups will make out that they are defending science when, really, they are attacking it in a mischievous way.
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It could be worse, Russell. You could have bought one of those locked-down Texas Instruments graphic calculators. Purchasing one of those really brings out the ire of most geeks, it seems.
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I think the problem of Peak Oil goes beyond Anthropogenic Climate Change; we currently need petroleum to produce the material goods that will eventually replace our reliance on petroleum (Electric cars have a lot of petroleum in them and in their manufacture, for example), and there is a very big question as to whether we have enough oil left to complete the transition. At the moment our entire manufacturing industry relies on petrol at some point and, for most it, almost every point in the chain. We need petroleum to make solar panels and turbines; we don't currently have the ability to make them without the consumption of oil, and we're not bringing bringing online non-petroleum manufacturing technologies at any particular speed.
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You should be worried about Peak Oil, Ben; at the moment we need petroleum to produce solar panels. Not only that, but we have a power generation system that designed more to move rather than store electricity, the storage of which requires, at this stage in our technological development, the use of petroleum products. Whilst we'll have the sun for a good long time, we might not have our current level of technology for much longer.
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Actually, Russell, get backing to the utility of the iPad.
I'm struck by those who claim that the iPad isn't a content generation system. Now, perhaps because my kind of content generation is mostly about sticking words together in these eclectic things I call "sentences," I'm not convinced the iPad isn't a content generation device out of the box. I also imagine we'll see a lot of content generation apps for it as we have seen for the iPod/iPhone. Sure, they'll be tied down to the Apple eco-system, but, then again, a lot of apps on the "big boy" machines are tied down to particular hardware (try using ProTools without an MBox (actually, trying using Protools on a Windows machine; it's a quite horrible experience compared to the Mac), for example).
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Well, except that Capitalism was meant to be about egalitarianism; the Free Market (TM) was meant to close the gap between the rich and poor by pulling the poor up towards wealth (rather than dragging the rich down). Now, depending on how you define that goal, some economist will say Capitalism succeeded (everyone has TVs now; well, to paraphrase Douglas Adams, everyone worth talking about) or failed (the Rich seem much richer now and the gap between the poor and the rich is widening).
Economic theories aren't just brute facts about the world; they are meant to be testable, falsifiable and the like.
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I haven't bought an iPad yet (as stated previously, I'll wait for the second generation model), but I'm already having to justify my future purchase in a way that I've never had to do for any other piece of kit.