Gobitron

I'd be interested in a longer blog post on your observations, particularly the one about rhythm.

No, I'm not one of those people. And I agree with basically everything you've said here (except for the part about the possibilities of AI and the limitations of mystery - but we've covered that!). I find the closed-mindedness of many people so disappointing. I think asking these questions is so important. I also find others' experiences with religion fascinating. Thank you for sharing. My experience was extremely different - and the community I was (and am) part of doesn't strike me as closed-minded. As you note, there are many religious people who don't see a conflict between science and religion. I count myself as one of them.

Can you provide an example of an alternative that would be more efficient? And are you talking about communication over something other than HTTP?

I don't know tluyben, we've been having this conversation now for....24 hours or so. I think 2s is a bit of a low estimate ;)

Seriously though, I don't think the Conversation needs to end there (conversation with a capital C - ours can end whenever we want). I do indeed believe in 'mystery above all'. I actually think that's a lovely way of putting it. Because mysteries are just unknowns, and without unknowns, what happens to scientific exploration? Do we just assume we know everything? And then the exploration stops. I'll be more explicit than that as well - I believe in God, and I am somewhat religious. I don't think that cancels me out of any interesting conversations.

I think you're making an assumption when you say that if you hold scientific definitions true then there is no reason why it won't be reached. Science says nothing about the future certainty. It is composed of models whose intent is to reflect reality, testable hypotheses to build and refine those models, and the results of the tests of those hypotheses to validate or disprove the hypotheses. We have no model (other than some vague calculations of processing power of the brain), no testable hypotheses and no results for these projections. It's not science.

But I would say I've proven you wrong that this isn't a good conversation!

I guess that if you're religious, then yeah, almost by definition, you would be skeptical of assertions like these. Although to the parent comments point, I'm not defensive at all about looking into AI. I find it fascinating and exciting and though I'm not trained in it, I read as much as I can about it and don't want to stop any research or questions into it at all.

But hubris - yes it is hubris. Because there is no scientific basis for the assertion that we will cross that chasm into 'true' AI, and thus it's based just as much on faith as any religious belief. And it's hubris because they claim a scientific basis where there is none.

When there is a scientific basis or proof that we've reached (or will reach) this 'singularity', you won't see me complaining. I'm not anti-science. I just don't think it's ever going to happen.

On a semi-related note, doesn't anyone find it kind of odd that Ray Kurzweil's calculations for when the singularity will occur happen to be just about the time his natural life will end (statistically speaking)? These projections are all driven by ego and faith, very little by science...

I'm extremely skeptical of this, even though I spend a good deal of my time trying to automate machine 2 machine communication (which gets me thinking about this a lot). I also think that there's a good amount of hubris in these scientists believing that the brain is something that can be emulated by computing power of any kind...are we sure it's an apt analogy (brain as computer)?

Slightly off-topic - any recommendations on the best javascript/node JSON Schema library?

Yeah, agreed on the car thing. Last year I bought a used '09 Accord V6 fully loaded for $17.5k with great maintenance records and low miles. My other car is an '08 Outback, which I bought in '09 for $18k and it had extremely low miles.

You DO NOT need to spend over $20k to get a great, reliable used car. I am guessing your standards for fun to drive might be different than mine, but an Accord V6 has plenty of power and you just never have to worry about maintenance.

I agree. It seems to me that we're dealing something whose potential we don't yet fully understand. It might very well fail, but a declaration by the IRS changes nothing except the behavior of speculators.

If all Bitcoin is good for is a way to replace Visa/MC then there is nothing all that fundamentally different about it. Dwolla and/or others will take care of that.

It is clear that it will take time for the really interesting uses of Bitcoin to emerge (if it survives). Until then, it doesn't matter what anyone declares about it.

It won't. We have many decades of evidence that 'back-to-basics' will never be more than a niche movement. The world is very large, and Google, Apple and co, are much more vested in the folks coming 'up' (3rd world developing) than in the tiny minority of people who can even afford to think about back to basics.

Not bad, but you gave me the wrong Facebook profile (I have a common name) and the Twitter one, while one that I manage, was not my main Twitter account.

Look, this isn't the right forum and I'm not the right person to engage in this. Though I appreciate that your are engaging in a civil manner, I don't think you're being honest with yourself here either, and I recommend you take a deep look at the precise words of your post to understand why.

You are very clearly being anti-semitic. I don't have the power to downvote, but comments like this should always be repudiated. Putting the word "community" in quotes, talking about "rich Jews" as the only victims of the Holocaust, and strongly implying that Jews control the media narrative because of some unified global economic power make you an anti-semite of the worst kind. You can't just say "not trying to be anti-semitic" and think that gives you a pass. You are anti-semitic based on what you are saying. Everything you are saying is unfounded and based on bigoted tropes that have been around for centuries. Own what you say and what you explicitly imply, and defend it if you think it's true.

You are the worst kind of coward.