From: Dagon Gmail (dagonweb@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Aug 16 2007 - 04:27:39 MDT
> It very much depends on the country. The Netherlands has about as
> many muslims as the US as a percentage of the population. For
> countries like France, it is quite a bit more than the US.
>
> On the other hand, in the US the Islamic community is not prone to
> acts religious murder (see: Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands) nor
> religious riots and violence (see: newspaper editorial cartoon in
> Denmark) nor prone to large-scale fermentation of Islamic malcontents
> (see: France). Hell, even the 9/11 disaster required importing
> Islamic malcontents from the far side of the Atlantic. All the US
> really has that is similar is fringe Christians, and those
> individuals are rarely prone to newsworthy violence in practice.
Ludicrous. One very vocal commentator gets killed in several years. In the
same years about twenty times as many people are killed my lightning
strikes. This is a complete non-issue, despite the detail I wrote with Theo
before his death. In the same five years the number of people shot in
maffia style executions in the netherlands alone is probably more than
100, including innocent bystanders. Yet where is the media concern
about that?
Might be the same old panic mongering or xenophobia.
http://www.alternet.org/story/57001
And regarding those fringe Christians, those types are known widely for
assassinations in and bombings of abortion clinics. Sometimes they even
make mistakes and bomb clinics with no abortion in sight, and afterwards
they say oops in court. However those are not regarded as terrorists,
despite in some cases loudly calling for another 911, to "make people
come to their senses", or "to bring closer armageddon".
> What does robotics have to do with the Singularity? Nothing that I
> can see. The Singularity will almost certainly start in the US, on
> the simple basis that it has an immense, established, and relatively
> efficient infrastructure for doing this kind of research and
> development that no other entity can currently compete with. This is
> a matter of simple odds.
The singularity is based on robotics. Robotics in Japan is based on providing
care for the elderly, or as replacement/assistive construction workers.
Last time I checked robotics required AI and AI was well, the prime
requirement for a singularity occurring. I see a lot of articles on productive
robotics/AI research.
*sighs heavily*
> > America is losing the edge and
> > chances are we will see a USSR-style collapse in the US a lot
> > sooner than
> > most people anticipate. Maybe within 10 years.
> While the US may be losing its advantage in certain relative terms,
> it still has an *enormous* advantage in practice. It is still the
> high-tech entrepreneurial capital of the human universe for the
> foreseeable future. By the time this changes in a significant way, I
> would expect that we are way past the Sell By date on the Singularity.
>
> The idea that the US will undergo a "USSR-style collapse" within 10
> years is so out of touch with reality that it almost does not even
> deserve comment. I think some trends in the US are bad, but even
> then it is more a case of the US doing its level best to match some
> of the existing poorer qualities of European governance.
So, who *is* The US comptroller general David Walker?
Probably a nobody. Or a democrat.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Senior_US_official_likens_challenges_facing_0814.html
Tell me, do you watch Fox?
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