I'm curious. How is paying a dividend financially responsible? I mean, sure, you're rewarding people who have invested in you... but you're essentially giving money away. That doesn't seem responsible. Investing in R&D seems responsible. Purchasing startups with useful tech seems responsible. Genetically engineering…

Yeah, to be honest, I'm leaning toward it not being exploitation. The only reason I'm not sure if because there's a lot of data we don't have. The video showed Mark outside. Someone named Emma commented saying she was with the group who organized the human hotspots. She said they only worked 4-5 hours, and mentioned…

I love living in the Pacific Northwest. I've gotten to the point where I don't even check my data usage anymore. I use less than 300Mb a month, because free wifi is everywhere. Coffee shops, sure, they've had free wifi for a decade. At work, and at home, naturally. But I get free wifi in grocery stores. Seattle's…

You're adorable! :-D

I just have a feeling the issue is more complicated than whether or not being a walking hotspot is equivalent to fast food. I mean, the question of who gets hired is a relevant one, isn't it? It's why we don't allow 12-year-olds to work in factories, after all. If the homeless are chosen because they can be…

No. You've completely missed my point.

*woosh*

I didn't take a position on this one way or the other. I haven't thought about it deeply, and I'd rather not take an unexamined or poorly thought out position. OP seemed to be implying that giving someone a job couldn't be exploitative (e.g., "this is called a job, not exploitation"), which is inherently false and…

Regardless of any other point, a job can be exploitative. The fact they're being paid doesn't mean it isn't exploitation. A situation is exploitation if one person benefits unfairly from the work of another. Sweat shop laborers usually get paid, after all, but they're still being exploited.

Hmm... yes. The crux of the video clip did seem to focus on giving people money. Why is giving homeless people free money the only thing Jon Stewart ever talks about? Doesn't he know there are horrible, dehumanizing things happening to people in this country? The poor and powerless being taken advantage of by others…

That seems okay to me. I mean, ebooks are all the rage these days, but the fact that they're a shiny, digital version of the books we've had on shelves for hundreds of years doesn't make them a bad idea, right? It's simply the evolution of a good idea to adapt to the changing opportunities and limitations of the world.

It doesn't need to replace government funding though, does it? I like the idea of this type of funding being a bridge to bigger grants via the startup model. We give them a little money, enough to do the preliminary legwork and get data to show larger investors that they're on to something.

Sadly, my main problem with this film: dude is dirty, dressed like an extra from Prince of Persia, has stubbly facial hair... and yet a perfectly layered and feathered hairstyle. It's like they were trying too hard to appeal to everyone with just his head - he'll be dirty and stubbly for the dudes, but have silky hair…

Dave Grossman, a military psychologist, talked about the use of firearms in his book "On Killing." It's worth a read if only to ponder the connection to the above article. In it, he talks about how the purpose of military training - among other things - is to override the aversion of killing one's fellow man, even an…

This is also, perhaps interestingly, the point of Steven Pinker's talk (which you can find on TED from 2007), pointing out the steady decline in violence for as far back as data is available.

I've never seen a community that made upvoting work to actually increase the exposure of diverse opinions. Reddit is huge, but 90% of everything on their front page is the same - rage/troll comics, pictures of funny/irritating things, liberal politics, etc. Now, I happen to like all of those things (which is why I…

Yeah, Xerox handles all of our printers... although over the years I've gotten pretty good at field stripping and cleaning them. I think I should be made an honorary Xerox technician.

I like how "airport security" as come to mean (for some screeners) not, "is it dangerous?" but, "does it remind me of something dangerous?" I don't even know what to say. It's like something out of Catch 22.

That's the (not un)healthy bit! If you take off the lettuce you're just eating mystery meat, cheese-like food product, petroleum-based sour cream substitute, and a giant Dorito. And that can't be good for you.

I don't really know what they do on a day-to-day basis, but it's got to be a more fun project than walking around fixing terminals that users have borked by installing shit from the internet, right?