I think the "alien" example is a good one, and I expected it to come up eventually. I would stick to my guns in this case and say that were the situation reversed (i.e. humans as the perceived inferiors) the aliens would have every right to deny us equal legal status in their legal system if we truly operated on a…

Don't come back to the negotiation table until you act exactly like us. And that will happen because human culture is diverse enough as it is, the difference between humans and non-human animals would be even greater. We're also not the most open-minded of species.

I'm not saying that we're not speaking from a position of power - if we declared war on whales tomorrow, we'd win pretty hard (we're already "winning" and not even trying). There's no solution to unequal distribution of power, even amongst humans.

It's not a conundrum at all. You find a way to talk to whatever and then work out a set of mutually-agreed-upon rules. You can't even have a "new social order" without some means of socializing - and you can't be social without meaningful communication.

Is the recharge cable for the GamePad long enough that I could leave the pad plugged in as a "wired" controller while I'm playing?

I made a similar statement in another comment, although I think you arrived at the point quicker. Basically, don't make me responsible under law to someone who is not equally responsible to me.

It is flawed in practice, which is why checks and balances like punishments are added to the system. The social contract principle is basically what any system of laws is based on, and to be clearer, my point is that any legal protections extended to anyone carry with them the responsibility to obey those same laws.…

You're missing my point - rules are usually equal parts responsibility and recourse. E.g. "If I do/don't do X, I can expect Y in return." Sometimes this looks like "If I don't kill a person, I can expect to not be killed in return." Whatever the social rule is (which is, as you say, flexible), for that rule to be…

That's true, but humans are held accountable to them, regardless of their performance in the execution of them. And it's not about being held accountable to a specific set of rules (although ones like "don't kill each other" are probably universal); it's the notion of being capable of being held accountable to any set…

It's a strange area and I don't know that we'll ever get there, but through the looking glass: whenever beings (of whatever species) can be themselves held to the same social rules that humans are held to, they should be afforded the same social protections that humans are due. Responsibility is a two-way street,…

They put in "Valkyrie," but not Goose's death in "Top Gun?" I mean, if you're going to have Tom Cruise in your list, do a better movie.

*water drinks you.

There's the response I opened this article to see!

I think the assumption (right or wrong) is that there will be one purchaser (i.e. NNID) per console, but multiple local "Users" that may want to have split save data/play histories. The separate NNID seems to make it possible to share software/content across multiple users.

It bothers me too, especially since it would seem to be simple ignorance of data - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

I may very well be speaking out of turn, having never seen the movie, but this seemed pretty fishy:

I suppose that is simply the nature of popular election (and I don't think it's entirely fair to paint "the pro-life side" as the only ones who don't understand how reasonable discourse works). If enough people choose a certain thing, then that is simply what people are asking the government to govern them with (and…

I beg your pardon, I was unaware that I was speaking with the sole possessor of an objective understanding of "reality."

A clump of cells that could eventually become human is not a person.

First of all, my issue with the article is one of tone. It's disrespectful. I'm not asking it to support or even lend credence to what I believe, but there's a way to present information, even to dismiss other beliefs, without being condescending or disrespectful.