dimreepr

No probs, just give me a headstart and someone to outrun...

But he was a mistnonagist and a crushing bore...

I'm obligated to say England, but an outside chance is Belgium...

We've all tried that, just read the thread. Who's the judge? And why should I believe him/her/it?

ah, the language of love...

The problem is, the greatest strength of science is seen as a weakness by a layman: S - It's not a fact, it's our best explanation. L - Well, if it's not a fact, I've got an explanation.

The timescale is unknowable, but there is always something coming. I wasn't calling anyone out, I was merely making an observation. Depends on the culture which is always fluid.

Not yet.

The Pot just called, seems the kettle wants a word; turns out hate/fear claims all the adjectives... Well, the only ones that seem to matter...

Indeed, but the extremes are both left and right. Or worthy of allowing. I think it could be argued that the most successful system of governance is a dictatorship, and the most successful dictatorship is when the pendulum approaches zero. No system of governance is immune to the vote of its populace.

But the generalisation of conservatism is fear, whatever adjective you chose.

We all should, bigots have many faces. Which is why I included the word 'approaches'.

It's no coincidence, that the most productive/humanitarian moments in most countries histories is when the pendulum approaches zero degrees. "shoulder to shoulder" IIRC was a clarion call for the unions, as well.

And that is why the pendulum returns, whatever the direction of travel.

It's almost like they did it for a bet, much like "Trading Places" and we all know how that ended. The only question is, how far does the pendulum swing before its return?

Not quite what I meant, but interesting for this "It’s not about protecting them. It’s about protecting us.". Indeed, but this will be the deciding factor, not because either is sentient, but due to the emotional responses of people to memory, so not a test of sentience unless a photo is sentient.

Yet no-one is rushing to the courthouse to demand it has rights, so the Turing test isn't a test of sentience, so even if a human brain can be fully digitized how do we distinguish it from an AI?

It wasn't a claim, it was an attempt.

Every simplification is wrong, but sometimes it educates children to understand the next rung on the ladder of understanding.

I was attempting to simplify, the explanations of the other members, to the point that you may understand (since everything else has gone over your head) using a simple visual aid.

At the size of a photon, there is space between the atoms and the majority of photons that get to the other side of the leaf is reflected light hence green.

It seems our definition of a shop is somewhat different.

And that's the reason for: http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/separation-of-powers.aspx

There's an explicit contract between a shop owner and his/her customers, 'this is what I sell, you are welcome to buy it'. That's a strawman argument; if a baker sells wedding cakes with a lovey-dovey message, the content of that message is not his/hers to decide, if it's lovey-dovey.

I wouldn't know how, but the major variable is the distance to the planet.