Comments on: Somewhat emotive but not instinctive (all spell-checked !)

by: ragin' lion

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Yo! What’s up with this calling in sick business? I hope you’re taking care of your body! You should probably (at least twice a week) force yourself to go to sleep by 12am. Forget the sleeping pills business. Grab a book or something that will make you so bored, you’ll fall asleep. Regularly taking what basically amounts to chemicals to induce sleep’s not a good idea. Perhaps that’s what you’re having trouble sleeping in the first place? Then again, I’m not a doctor! 8P

I think that there needs to be a balance between one’s emotions and one’s instincts. Otherwise, one runs the risk of being extreme in either case. But this is more of a complex subject and topic. I think there’s something fundamentally “broken” about human nature and thus it gives rise to how people tend to be have in particular situations. It’s like trying to steer a ship with a half-functioning rudder. Sometimes you’ll go where you want, sometimes time you won’t.

Anyway, enough typing … I need to go eat!

by: Anonymous

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

what happened to my comment?

by: Davide Pasca

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Humans compared to animals, seem to be broken, if anything because of how they deal with environment. However, animals themselves aren’t quite as straight as we imagine them. They too can dream, kill each other (within the same species) or play with sex, from not being monogamous to not being straight or even being able to be both male and female.
So, in general, I think that we are mostly particularly intelligent, but not necessarely more twisted to start with.
Also, one has to think that as much as humans can mess the planet up.. it still would be a heaven if compared to a billion years ago 8)

by: rince

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Humans invented c++ …….

by: ragin' lion

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Well, this could all surely plunge into a deep philosophical debate! Let's go!!

They too can dream, kill each other (within the same species) or play with sex, from not being monogamous to not being straight or even being able to be both male and female.

You're quite right, but human beings have that special quality to go beyond what the animals can (in the above mentioned points) in terms of the level of harm or evil that can be done (to others/other things or to themselves).

Animals are animals; nothing more nothing less. One can't necessarily apply standards that animals live by to humans and vice versa.

Man is able to focus his energies enough to put men on the moon and probes on Mars, but at the same time turn those same energies against himself (war, racial hatred, etc).

I never said that human beings are more twisted because of our intelligence. What I mean is that because of that fundamentally "broken" thing, human beings are more likely to wield such "power" (intelligence) carelessly and possibly dangerously. If the core or foundation of something is flawed, the system that is based on that foundation will be flawed ... despite efforts to fix things above the foundation.

Also, one has to think that as much as humans can mess the planet up.. it still would be a heaven if compared to a billion years ago

He he he ... Well, at the present rate things are going globally, it's hard to imagine that the planet will be around a billion years from now.

I'm not being pessimistic, but unless something about our attitudes towards one another and how we manage the resources on the planet changes I highly doubt there's going to be any life left.

rince: Be careful ... for those words could very well start WWIII!!! 8P

by: Anonymous

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Well if any of the millitary systems code is written in c++ then we have nothing to fear from wwiii =)

The only ‘destruction’ will be when a destructor for some object gets called incorrectly and crashes the memory manager.

by: rince

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

eeehhh, i am sure i clicked on “Other” and put ‘rince’ under Name this time.

by: Davide Pasca

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Rince: I think that C++ creators actually had a message to bring. Whether they did it consciously or not, the message is that the World is full of bullshit, you are in the middle of it, deal with it and see what you can come out with. Maybe it’s a natural evolution of things, maybe some very sub-plotting genius planted all this for us (I’m more for the first theory 8).

Ragin: my take on the topic is summarized by a closing comment of George Carlin. I don’t remember exactly the words he said, but, paraphrasing, he said that we must be very arrogant to think that we can do much to the planet. We regard to plastic as an ill, but what do we know ? Maybe the planet wanted plastic for itself and it created humans because it couldn’t make it itself !
When we say that we are destroying the planet, we mean that we worsen it relatively to our physical constitution. However, all living creatures that we know are evolving by design. Adaptation is the main skill. If we claim that the planet should stay as it is, then we claim that we are perfect as we are. On the evolutionary point of view, nobody is never really perfect, as the best fit is constantly changing by an incalculable amount of factors. We play catch-up in a game in witch we are actors to some degree, but mostly spectators. If we think that one day one large celestial body is going to collide with Earth or in a billion years the Sun is going to cool down and everything freezes.. ..then we can see how little power we really do have. To keep the planet clean for a few generations.. I can understand, but in the long term, we are still just peeons ..we theorize about celestial bodies, but our practical sphere of influence is really insignificant.

by: Davide Pasca

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I could swear that I spelled “which” wrong.. yet the spell checker kept telling me I was right 8P

Spell checkers are witches !!!

by: ragin' lion

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You C++ haterz! I'll have your operators overloaded for such words!!

I haven't read Imperfect C++ yet, but from the overview it seems like it is a good book.

Kaz:
I suppose one could look at things from the viewpoint you mentioned. If that is truly case, then perhaps then there's no need to be concerned about balancing between one's instincts and emotions; whichever works best for the individual.

By that logic someone unleashing great good vs. someone unleashing great evil or destruction really are just two sides of the same "evolutionary" coin.

I definately agree with you in that compared to what's going on in the universe as a whole, human beings are pretty insignificant. But I think that what each individual does matters and makes a difference in both the short and long term ... perhaps not on Jupiter or the other planets, but definately here on the earth.

Whether the sun's going to chill out evenutally or some giant rock falls out of the sky and extinguishes life on the earth actually isn't of great importance in comparison to how people choose to treat one another hear and now.

I'm at least greatful some folks were focused enough to create series of different inventions and technologies which allow me to do the kind of work I do today.

Speaking of technologies, what's up with the incorrect usage of the blog features? 8P Always trouble with setting the proper identity and now spellcheck!

Which brower are you using? I'm using FireFox