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As a Dwarf Fortress player, I'd prefer using "&" to warn about AI hazards rather than "@".
In response to
Good transhumanist fiction?
Does the James Bond genre promote a transhumanist message? You could interpret this essay as arguing yes, in that Bond does many things which you can learn to do in real life which make you more capable than most people, starting with the fact that he went to real places instead of science-fictional places. Like Bond, you can condition yourself physically, learn martial arts, develop proficiency in the use of firearms, study foreign languages, dress well, drive cool cars, play baccarat and so forth. I don't know the part about hooking up with beautiful women you've just met in luxury hotels, however. Apparently you can't even try to pick up ordinary women at atheist conventions, despite all the christian propaganda about atheists' promiscuity, without causing unedifying scandals and the creation of new atheist factions like Atheism+.
Why James Bond Fans Are Better Than Sci-Fi Geeks
I'd say that the article is arguing, if it is at all about transhumanism, that James Bond is "transhumanizing", rather than transhumanist in itself.
Anyone looking for more information should search for the term "Blue Brain Project", as the project had (under that name) actually achieved something.
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[Link] Learning New Languages Helps The Brain Grow
Shooting skeet eight hours a month was excellent training for them. It trained them to shoot skeet.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
That I find interesting. Smoking is not very rational; it rides along with many social yearnings which I thought were somewhat rare here. (I also used to smoke cigarettes, but quit cold turkey, after about 75 failed attempts.)
Smoking isn't very rational. That's why some people here who've never smoked chew the gum instead.
In response to
Open Thread, October 1-15, 2012
Can anyone help explain this to me? Quantum measurements leave Schrodinger's Cat Alive
I don't have that great of a background in physics. If my understanding is correct, this just turned all of quantum mechanics on its head (if it's accurate). That doesn't seem particularly likely to me. Has anyone else seen this yet, and what do you make of it?
It's more of a quantum computing development. Perhaps a more appropriate title would be "Quantum measurements leave Schrodinger's Cat in an ambiguous state while telling us just how ambiguous the state is".
In response to
Walking and Chewing Gum
From what I've heard about the demographics here, you might want to ask whether the gum contains nicotine.
In response to
Open Thread, October 1-15, 2012
I found this interesting. I personally don't think it's a paradox, but I think it's interesting that the logic behind it works.
If it's not a paradox, that the logic behind it works should never be interesting. How it works is another story.
I would not have guessed that. I wonder if some of your personality dimensions fluctuate or are on the border. For me, the E/I fluctuates and so does the F/T. I'm always an N and P. Are you right on the line between T and F? If this test is the one that I remember (the page changed) then I think it gives you percentages:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
No idea about the accuracy, but it's free.
I've heard that test repeatedly labeled as the "only personality test on the internet that works", but I can't really find many other Myers-Briggs tests.
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That is a good alternative interpretation. But I don't think most of its readers treat it that way.
When I come across a pseudoscience I haven't seen before, I usually go to Google first to check its position with regard to reality.
Then I go to its RationalWiki article for entertainment. This is essential if I don't want to spend the rest of the day fuming at how many people "actually believe in that stuff".