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Just Chat! / Re: If Religion Wants To Survive...

« on: Yesterday at 22:38:08 »

Pleasure? Religion causes wars, poverty, anxiety (it's based on anxiety), overpopulation, starvation, repression of women, and pretty much every evil that stems from insisting that superstition trumps observation.   

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General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] Why would LED ligths in cargo ship is a good idea?

« on: Yesterday at 19:35:02 »

Good advice! Pity the commercial "let us write your thesis" spammers haven't read it.

I'm less in favor of the passive voice. Say why you did it, say what you did, say what you saw, say what you think about it. It's the standard debrief for things that really matter, and science really matters.

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Just Chat! / Re: Real Church Bulletins...

« on: Yesterday at 14:36:30 »

The usual suspects were in the departure lounge when it was announced that there would be no food service on the flight.

They went to the bar. The priest bought a ham sandwich. The vicar bought a cheese sandwich. The rabbi bought nothing.

At 35,000 feet the priest said “the ham was delicious”. The vicar said “the cheese was excellent”. The rabbi said “Leviticus 17. Thou shalt not eat carry-on.”

Copyright Alan Calverd 2022 - but you are welcome to use it.

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New Theories / Re: How close are we from building a virtual universe?

« on: Yesterday at 12:07:59 »

Just reverting to the original question in a moment of lucidity:

Isn't it the case that physics is all about simulating specific bits of the universe as required, so as far as we understand physics, we do have a virtual universe?

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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: Yesterday at 08:27:39 »

What was once majority can turn into minority in some other time.

So there can be no universal standard, according to classical physics,since simultaneous observation reveals variations across time and space. Relativistic physics allows for evolution limited by the rate of propagation of morality, but the notion of an ultimate moral code remains undefined.

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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: Yesterday at 08:22:33 »

I'm not sure about Laplace/Sagan. The claims that the earth orbits the sun, or that all objects fall at the same rate under gravity, would be considered extraordinary at the time they were made, but they were supported by exactly the same, very ordinary, evidence as the current consensus.

This has very little to do with morality and criminality in a civilised country, where certain behaviors are proscribed regardless of who does them.  Time was that the British public hangman was always tried in absentia and found guilty of murder, and his fee was "lost" rather than paid through the treasury accounts. It is symptomatic of a regression to barbarism that anyone can be exempt on the grounds that he is a president or Tory member of parliament.

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Just Chat! / Re: In every country on the planet, majority of rapes are not reported.

« on: 26/03/2023 23:50:05 »

CCTV, presumption of guilt, or the elimination of surplus males. None of which is likely to find favor with the electorate.

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Just Chat! / Re: Ignoring Emails, etc.

« on: 26/03/2023 23:46:52 »

Classic old boss-secretary dictation cartoon caption: "....next....Smith Brown & Co.....re yours of the 4th inst to hand....go to hell at your earliest convenience....yours etc....."

Now if AI could spot a scam or an insult, it could save a lot of time!

 

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Just Chat! / Re: If Religion Wants To Survive...

« on: 26/03/2023 23:38:59 »

I think not. The religion said geocentric, but the disgusting company that purveys it decided to change the product when the customers realised it was flawed. Careers and profits matter, the product doesn't. If the old religion isn't selling, invent a new one.

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General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] Why would LED ligths in cargo ship is a good idea?

« on: 26/03/2023 23:32:11 »

And AFAIK practically all navigation lights are LEDs nowadays anyway. Not that power consumption is a major concern on a cargo ship, but reliability certainly is.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Can taking a pint of blood off the body reduce your blood pressure?

« on: 26/03/2023 16:47:25 »

Sadly, no. Blood pressure is the pressure required to maintain the required volume flow through a system of elastic vessels which can expand and contract in response to chemical and physical triggers. When substantial quantities of blood are lost, some (mostly peripheral) vessels constrict in order to maintain sufficient oxygen to the "more vital" areas.  Chemical intervention is required to reduce blood pressure to prevent further damage in the case of stroke.

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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 26/03/2023 15:21:33 »

In all walks of life, a good standard is one that can be widely adopted and makes people safe and happy. Some people are perverse, so the best we can hope for is to satisfy a majority.

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Just Chat! / Re: If Religion Wants To Survive...

« on: 26/03/2023 15:17:46 »

Religions always evolve to remain relevant. 

as do all parasites.

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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 26/03/2023 14:00:54 »

Consistent standards can only be achieved through long term goals.

No. Just state your standards, make sure they aren't mutually contradictory,  and stick to them.

Worth considering Chichester's Deliberate Error Navigation system. If you aim a small boat directly from Plymouth to New York you will probably miss your target and have no idea which way to turn to reach it. But if you deliberately aim a bit south of NY you will certainly reach land, at which point you turn north until you get there.

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Just Chat! / Re: Ignoring Emails, etc.

« on: 26/03/2023 13:44:05 »

Depends on who is writing to you. Public servants are just as likely to be spammed or scammed as anyone else.

Ignoring spam is OK, but I prefer to enact medieval curses on the sender. I get great joy from thinking about the parasite breaking out in incurable boils or spending the rest of his life entirely dependent on the rather limited goodwill of his intended victims.

Telephone scammers are the best. I'm happy to give them Mr Putin's London bank details, but only if they swear to come to Jesus whence all good things flow, for that is the promised route to good fortune and everlasting happiness rather than the searing pit of hell that awaits the unsaved and those that do evil. A few minutes well spent.

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Just Chat! / Re: If Religion Wants To Survive...

« on: 26/03/2023 13:38:49 »

Actually, the concept of homosexuality didn't even exist in ancient times.

Really? The Greeks were all in favor of it.

If Christians accept gays and gay marriage, they may still be around in a couple hundred years.

Really? Homosexual reproduction? 

And you know, Jesus never really said anything about homosexuality.

He didn't need to. As a practicing Jew he (and all his friends) would have been familiar with Leviticus 20:13, which among other things set the Jews apart from their Roman rulers.

I don't know if religion will even be necessary in a couple hundred years.

It never was. But human parasites will always be among us, and religion is one of their more pernicious inventions.

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General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] Why would LED ligths in cargo ship is a good idea?

« on: 26/03/2023 13:30:49 »

Well there's a fair bit of BS if ever I heard it.
Which part of a cargo ship is continuously lighted? Why make life easier for the rats?
Does anyone actually want kelp (or anything else) to grow on the hull of a ship?
Fail.

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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 25/03/2023 14:15:13 »

There must be some considerations why Japanese Emperor wasn't executed after WWII, or Gen. Lee after American civil war.

It's always good to appear magnanimous in victory, however many people you killed to get there. Some backward people think that having the president pardon one turkey justifies killing all the others.

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General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] How could mobile device banking app make SQRL popular & secure?

« on: 25/03/2023 07:19:42 »

"For the nonce" has been around for centuries (Shakespeare?) meaning "for the time being", so the implication of someting random or temporary is fitting.

No problem in principle letting a human nonce near other prisoners, but they do tend to suffer unexplained injuries, rather like bent coppers, cop killers and child murderers, whilst in custody. Some criminal behaviors are just not cricket, old boy.

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General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] How could be a draft of a book to learn Physics using LabVIEW ?

« on: 24/03/2023 18:37:58 »

The problem is that Labview doesn't teach physics. It's just a bunch of cartoons that look like what would happen if the laws of physics are true. That's fine if you are an engineer - you assume the laws of physics, because they work most of the time, and Labview gives you a good idea of how your system will work when you build it. But learning physics is about discovering and testing the laws, so you can investigate and explain why the system doesn't quite work as you hoped.   

ES's thread on the capacitor is a fine example!