Giant Laser Has Produced Nuclear Fusion

[The_Doctor]

Proof once again that Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Does anyone know of any countries with a technocratic government?

I wish. That could go a long way to fixing this. Although meritocratic as well as technocratic. Hard to do though, with so many people fearing science. If people can't separate the science from the political application of it, then no top-down directive based on science will make them feel any better. So maybe it doesn't exist because it would have an inherent instability. Arguably science is a response to the world's irregularites and threats, so using science as a cause of change might be putting cart before horse.

[Laserman532]

@ the_doctor ---- what do you think will happen in america...we have over 300 million guns in 200 million homes - -the DHS has 600 million rounds of ammo...Im thinking sharks with lasers mounted to their heads..

[The_Doctor]

@ the_doctor ---- what do you think will happen in america...we have over 300 million guns in 200 million homes - -the DHS has 600 million rounds of ammo...Im thinking sharks with lasers mounted to their heads..

Don't know. Depends on whether about 2 million or so people decide to aim them at each other and pull the trigger. Compared to the numbers, the count of deaths is low, and usually caused by people who think they have no choice. I do know that a few other countries have a huge gun ownership, like Switzerland, and Iceland, and they have a much lower gun crime problem. I'm not at all sure the correlation between means and motive and opportunity is a strong one. Like fuel, heat and oxidiser, I think the combination is the thing, not the overwhelming presence of any one part of it.

I'll tell you one thing: If I were the world's richest man, I'd give you a shark equipped with the laser of your choice. I wonder if a great white is up to the task of hauling a large frame argon.. Perhaps not.

[TechJunkie]

I think it would have been best if they had remained stoned, but alas they weren't all stoned and the rest didn't all stay stoned. I think the hippies got it almost entirely wrong and today we pay the price with political correctness, limitations on free speech and a screwed up work ethic. We can't pick and choose the wolves that run things with hugs and kisses and medical marijuana. We can't hide and then complain that "it isn't going the way it should". If you want to run away (a reasonable alternative in my mind) then don't bitch about what you leave behind. If you stay then participate in the contest to determine the rules that run the society. I'd much rather hang with pilgrims and revolutionaries than angry old (or young ) men.

Believe me, I'm not pro hippie. They did have better idealism than the generation before them. They were Earth conscious, communal, freethinking, and anti war. The free love, drugs, and unkempt life style torpedoed any full on acceptance. They did make a positive difference though. In the early 70's Carter became aware we were moving in the wrong direction and implemented renewable energy in the White House as an example it can be done. He also saw the country was turning into consumers, and tried to swing it back into the productive country it was. Unfortunately when Reagan got into office he tossed the solar cells, kept us oil dependent, and reversed the initiatives to keep the work force in country. Politically you can argue some points. But what you cant argue is its taken 40 years to get back to renewable energy, and because of outsourcing the workload it has crippled the economy, and destroyed the work ethic this country was founded on. Great cities like Detroit, and Philadelphia are ghettos now, along with 1000's of small towns and cities across the country. At least the hippies saw we needed a change, and tried to implement it. Which I can say is more than the whole system has done in the past 40 years. Right now we are faced with a change, the a new healthcare system. All I hear heated arguments, and non-support, but all politics aside at least someone is trying to make a change. We all know how long the health care has been messed up, but no one has come forth to try to change it. Now we have someone and all people do is complain, and trying to kill it before it starts. One guy I talked to thought it was going to cause a national revolution. I literally laughed out loud. I guess he didnt realize the country is full of arm chair quarterbacks. How about trying to support this change??? Maybe it can work. If it fails so what, at least we are trying something new, and we will learn what did, and didnt work. To bad opposite political opinion, and speculation need to keep us in the stone age. You can still have conservative values, and support a liberal agenda. Nothing in life is just one sided. Its about time we work together. Thats the meaning of life, to move forward and prosper together without destroying everything in our path. Which is part of basic hippie idealism, and which I agree with.

I try not to blame the past for what goes on now. I blame the now for knowing better and not learning from the past. After all that is true ignorance. Life changes every second of the day. If you try to delay change you will lose every time, thats a fact. I see a lot of people with one sided views. What I've learned in life is nothing is one sided. What works is a combination of influences. This goes for politics, religion, spirituality, culture, ect, ect. People need to fly their own flag, and stop following singular entities. I understand the world is full of sheep, but there is nothing written in stone that says you have to follow the clown in front of you. Follow what your heart tells you. The brain can lie to you, your heart will always be honest. Dont be fooled its a rough road living by your heart, but the experiences, and value you bring to life makes it all worth it. (LMFAO you got me editorializing,)

About Jobs. My point was one hippie massively changed the whole world forever. And if you know anything about Jobs, business was not his forte. They even fired him at one point. So you really cant blame him entirely for how the company runs. What you can credit him is on the incredible high quality product he produced. As always its the commercial machine that takes the nobility out of it. And no, I'm not an Apple fan boy, and have never owned Apple products.

Medical marijuana is another debate. But I will say that there is a huge population around all of us that smoke on a regular basis. The money this county, and us taxpayers spend on jails, and law enforcement can better be spent on stopping the importation of higher class drugs. Marijuana is a joke in reality, less problematic than alcohol, and has actual medical benefits.

[Infinity6]

DAMN!!! that is some good weed (insert the Dawning of Aquarius video here)

You're welcome.

[planters]

Doc,

Your posts #138 and #139 were interesting and provided a detailed insight from a political system I do not know as well. I also agree with your conclusions.

I'm sorry but Carter was a putz. I nice fellow, but dangerously, ineffective and misdirected. The Bushes and I mean every last one of them are incompetent. They promoted a big government/big business love affair that verged on soft fascism. Obama is a narcissistic fool that is president only because he claims to be black. The crap that rises to the top positions of power in the US gets there because a substantial fraction of the citizens accept and even look to take advantage of the corruption. The nation continues to function (such as it does) because it depends on a shrinking portion of the country to continue to strive according to principals of self reliance and ethical interaction. I welcome the unrest. I think the internet and the potential for interaction between groups and across boarders is only now beginning to unleash some of these populations. The desire to benefit from ones own work and self restraint is strong. The pen and money are both mightier than the gun, but I want to have them all unfettered by a corrupt autocracy here as well as in the UK and the Ukraine and...

The reason I pick on medical marijuana is the corruption. First, lets stop the games. Its a dishonest way to gain legalization for this substance. I fully support legalization of all non-nuclear substances. An adult should be able to buy as much cocaine, heroin, alcohol and firecrackers as he want's, use it responsibly and if he fails to do so then pay the full price for the consequences to others when he screws up. I'm a libertarian and a constitutionalist and this fits with this philosophy. The other reason I pick on marijuana is I can't understand the desire to check out. I have so much to see and do and there is so little time, why reduce your performance or memory of your experiences?

As I have said before, I don't want to sit around and bitch. It's OK to think about a problem and identify the cause(s), but then DO SOMETHING. Run or fight. Find others that you can confide in or investigate what you can do to improve your situation or show others what they might do to improve theirs. I'm not saying a person should be selfish or selfless, but rather try to be effective.

[Laserman532]

Face it, governments make it illegal, sheep go along with it, it is a plant that has benefits in many ways. The only corruption with medicinal MJ comes from governments who are controlled by big pharma unwilling to lose their share of profits by pumping their poison into patients. It is a plant, the gods placed on this planet, if I want to live in a fog to avoid the reality of the world it should be my choice. You give the governments credibility where I don't. If they were all sitting around smoking a doobie, there were would be far less sharks with lasers on their heads. The medicinal benefits far outweigh the downside of checking out. More people should checkout, the world would be a safer and more peaceful place. IMHO

[planters]

You give the governments credibility where I don't.

What in the world are you talking about?

if I want to live in a fog to avoid the reality of the world it should be my choice

More people should checkout, the world would be a safer and more peaceful place. IMHO

This is depressing. It also sounds a little like the history that would lead to the Opium Wars over 100 years ago.

[Laserman532]

how do you do that quote thing where you can pick a sentence out of a paragraph....I still don't know how to do that.

[planters]

Activate your cursor in the reply box.
Select the quotation symbol from the top of the tool bar within the reply box.
Copy a selected phrase from another post by dragging the cursor across the desired text.
Activate the cursor in between the quote symbols in your new reply box and select paste.
The text will appear as simple text until you hit reply "key" at the bottom of the box then it will appear as the quotation you are familiar with.