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timinman commented on Ask HN: Why did Python win?    · Posted by u/MatthiasPortzel
timinman · 3 years ago
My impression was that node took some of the momentum that Ruby had as a server-side language for web development.
timinman commented on Yoda conditions   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yod... · Posted by u/tosh
timinman · 7 years ago
Thanks for that!
timinman commented on A paper about eye damage in astronauts got pulled for “security concerns.” Huh?   retractionwatch.com/2017/... · Posted by u/Ice_cream_suit
timinman · 8 years ago
The page is not responding. I smell Bigfoot.
timinman commented on Be Kind When People Are Mean to You   jackkaufman.net/kindness/... · Posted by u/jjets718
timinman · 9 years ago
"A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare."

Proverbs 15:1

"If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you."

Proverbs 25:21,22

timinman commented on Moral Machine   moralmachine.mit.edu/... · Posted by u/kevlar1818
timinman · 9 years ago
I'm glad I finished the series of questions because it was fun to see how my values compared to others on the results page.

They were exploring moral relativism scenarios in schools back in the 1960's. The open machine intelligence part seems to be just good window dressing (I clicked after all). It isn't about machines as much as human psychology. I doubt autonomous cars are going to be programmed to take potential fatalities fitness, gender, or profession into account.

timinman commented on Wisdom is more of a state than a trait   digest.bps.org.uk/2016/08... · Posted by u/bootload
timinman · 10 years ago
"The researchers found that there was considerable variation in how much wisdom people showed from one situation to the next."

It sounds to me that the study's questions likely rely on a very specific understanding of what wisdom is. Whoever wrote those questions must be very wise indeed! (sarcasm)

timinman commented on The LHC “nightmare scenario” has come true   backreaction.blogspot.com... · Posted by u/another
oliwaw · 10 years ago
>Science looks for a system which can exist without supernatural intervention, but the creation of time/space/matter doesn't fit within those constraints.

So our universe must fundamentally be a supernatural creation?

That's an extraordinary claim, what is your evidence? We currently have insufficient data and incomplete theories to fully describe the origins of the universe, sure. But how is this different from someone 500 years ago saying:

"Science looks for a system which can exist without supernatural intervention, but the creation of the Earth and humanity doesn't fit within those constraints."

timinman · 10 years ago
>So our universe must fundamentally be a supernatural creation?

In my comment I wasn't making the argument that our universe must fundamentally be a supernatural creation. I was trying to show that presupposing it is a natural creation is not philosophically neutral, especially when what we have observed naturally seems to oppose the idea of energy or matter coming out of nowhere.

>What is your evidence? From my perspective, accepting the probability of a transcendent creator is a reasonable conclusion to draw based on the existence of the universe. I realize that will be judged to be a 'faith position', but from my perspective so is supposing it could exist on it's own.

timinman commented on The LHC “nightmare scenario” has come true   backreaction.blogspot.com... · Posted by u/another
rch · 10 years ago
I think you're misreading the article. Science is about theory and observation, with no presumption that the latter must fit the former.

As much as a physicist might hope to uncover a universal law that is simple enough for children to memorize yet subtle enough to warrant a lifetime of learning to fully understand, nature is perfectly content with fundamental parameters that settle into working values completely at random.

timinman · 10 years ago
Fair enough. He was specifically speaking to 'naturalness' as technical designation in physics. I am getting a little more general.

The scientific method seeks to be entirely empirical - which makes sense for understanding what we can observe.

But what happens when what you are trying to understand is not observable? You fool yourself if you think you are being empirical when you are not. (His comment about moving the yardsticks applies here).

Any endeavor to understand the universe, especially origins, ends up involving philosophical presuppositions. Science aspires to avoid that, but can it?

timinman commented on The LHC “nightmare scenario” has come true   backreaction.blogspot.com... · Posted by u/another
timinman · 10 years ago
The OP made a side-comment about 'idea of naturalness' being a philosophical tenet. That's a problem because science claims to be philosophically neutral, which is impossible.

Science looks for a system which can exist without supernatural intervention, but the creation of time/space/matter doesn't fit within those constraints.

Admittedly that is a philosophical or even theological take, but at least it's honest.

u/timinman

KarmaCake day296June 25, 2009
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Husband and father to five. Minister. Web & Media. http://www.Inmans.org
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