• Volconvo: Ideas Worth Debating RSS Feed

    Immortality Could Soon Be Reality 

    Published on 21st May 2013 07:31 AM



    Minorwork writes, "Saying death is programmed is ad libbing for Nature, giving it more credit than it deserves. Reproduction is its own end and that alone is our heritage. If Death is to be extended further into the future it surely will not be from but a self directed evolutionary path. Self-directed evolution is IMO the proper understanding of eugenics. Forced evolution is an abomination. The self-directed part MUST be in the hands of the female alone. Forcing her to abort or birth, either is anathema to self-direction."

    Being debated at Science & Technology in Why are human beings not immortal? started by barts.

    von Neumann machine 

    Published on 20th May 2013 07:06 AM



    Yarn writes, "Regarding us not being smart enough to create machines as smart as us; I can't agree. People can be highly specialized. It isn't about 1 person paralyzed by the complexity of the whole; it is about lots of people chipping away at their own little esoteric fractions of the frontier with the path to the frontier already smoothly paved and cleared by their predecessors. You don't need an IQ of 300 to work on some highly specific specialized problem and make progress on it. Bit by bit, standing on one another's shoulders, we'll figure it out. Humans are dumb, but in many ways humanity isn't. Generation by generation, we erode the shore."

    Being debated at Science & Technology in Science and engineering challenge started by barts.

    The Secrets Behind Our Cotton: Modern Slavery 

    Published on 19th May 2013 06:57 AM



    SoylentGreen writes, "Modern times , modern practices. Slavery is no longer economically practical. It costs far to much to keep slaves running a farm when one man with a tractor can do the job of a hundred slaves.

    "In the past slavery benefited everyone because it was a necessity of a large population. Today you are correct, slavery benefits no one because machines are far more practical.

    "John Locke was being practical. Without tractors on a farm the only other way is intensive labour. Slavery was practical and necessary in his times.

    Today he would be in the wrong to try and use slaves."

    Being debated at History & Culture in Locke and Slavery started by Athena.

    The Dead Zone: Detroit Becomes Urban Wasteland 

    Published on 18th May 2013 07:38 AM



    Hensatri writes, "The US is littered with the impoverished and mostly abandoned remains of railroad and mining towns that dried up when their main means of production faded. Fortunately most of them were small towns as their business required much smaller bodies of employment, a rail station of coalmine doesn't employ thousands or tens of thousands in one town, however manufacturing does, so your left with dried up mining town syndrome, in a metropolis sized community."

    Being discussed at Politics & Government in What should be done about Detroit? started by barts.

    Steve Keen Explains Why Austerity Is Pseudo-Economics 

    Published on 17th May 2013 07:52 AM



    Zeebadee writes, "For all of your fancy theories, there's never any mention of actually paying down any debt. When do your theories predict that our national debt will actually go down? You say austerity is bad, doesn't that imply that spending is good? Where are we getting the money to spend? We're borrowing it. Austerity means we borrow less, and that's bad. So the logical conclusion is to borrow and spend more. Then why not simply borrow ALL of it, and cut out taxes altogether?"

    Being discussed at Economics, Business & Labor in DEBUNKED: Economic study condemning high national debt levels started by barts.

    New Hampshire: Live Free or Die! 

    Published on 16th May 2013 07:43 AM



    Controllah writes, "The answer to your question as to how much government is too much is relative to what period of time you are talking about. It is clear from situations like the Civil War and WWII that a reduction in civil liberties may be necessary to preserve the integrity of the Union. But during more peaceful times, we expect to increase our liberties as far as peace will allow. The trick is in the timing of the change of this ratio of govt powers to civil liberties. It is a given that this ratio must fluctuate according to world events. When, and to what extent do we shift this ratio, so as to increase our liberty to the max when we can, while reducing this liberty as necessary in order to preserve our state?"

    Being discussed at Society & Rights in Live Free or Die. Really? started by barts.

  • Our sponsors, with thanks

  • Most Active Topics

    Ugatech

    Let's play three words.

    Thread Starter: Ugatech

    I'll start the the game, you keep it going,here goes! " went after dinner "

    Last Post By: Ugatech 21st May 2013, 10:50 PM Go to last post
    barts

    Should the TrackingPoint rifle be a banned weapon?

    Thread Starter: barts

    Notwithstanding the 2nd Amendment in the US, some types of firearms are banned in some jurisdictions. Should the TrackingPoint rifle be on the list of banned weapons?

    Last Post By: Dieval 21st May 2013, 10:42 PM Go to last post
    The Architect

    Global Warming

    Thread Starter: The Architect

    What do you guys think about this and what could be done, short and long term?

    Last Post By: steve_d 21st May 2013, 10:27 PM Go to last post
    barts

    STUDY: Weak men tend to be Left Wing, strong men Right Wing

    Thread Starter: barts

    According to a story in the British paper Mail Online, Men who are physically strong are more likely to have right wing political views, a scientific study found that, What should be made,...

    Last Post By: steve_d 21st May 2013, 10:05 PM Go to last post
    Dissenter

    Dissenter's introduction.

    Thread Starter: Dissenter

    Where do I come from? Irrelevant, I guess, as long as I show a decent mastery of English. :P I do not feel the need to flash my credentials, which would be pedantic, annoying, and detrimental to...

    Last Post By: minorwork 21st May 2013, 09:43 PM Go to last post

  • Members' Latest Blogs

    Charlatan

    Epilesy and seizures.

    This is where the brain has too much activity and you go into a fit. To make sure the brain does not have too much activity - well actually, these can go off randomly - is to eat a lot of glucose, as...

    Charlatan 14th May 2013 02:56 AM
    Jack

    Richard Feynman - The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out

    In this candid interview Feynman touches on a wide array of topics from the beauty of nature to particle physics. He explains things that are hard to grasp in layman's terms much like Carl Sagan did...

    Jack 12th May 2013 08:44 PM
    theophilus

    A Canaanite woman’s faith

    Matthew 15:21-28 describes an encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman.


    Why did this woman have such faith even though she wasn’t an Israelite? The Bible doesn’t tell us. However I have...

    theophilus 10th May 2013 11:57 AM
    Jack

    "Omelette"

    Jack 3rd May 2013 06:07 PM
    Yarn

    Nonsheepness is a word.

    Nonsheepness is a word.

    Nonsheepness: (Adjective) not like sheepness or like a sheep. e.g. His nonsheepness in advocating that nonsheepness is a word is awe inspiring. [I]Harold's...

    Yarn 2nd May 2013 04:54 PM