Interesting Links for 9-6-2011

[andrewducker]

• Interesting piece on how to include webcomic creators in the National Cartoonist Society.
  (tags: webcomic comics web internet)
• Embracing WTF
  (tags: wtf life)
• Autism study validates importance of spontaneous causal mutations and sheds new light on gender skew
  (tags: gender autism genetics)
• Digital democracy? Study finds elite viewpoints dominate online content
  (tags: democracy web2.0 society)
• You do know that part of the increase in electricity cost is to keep CO2 down, right?
  (tags: electricity globalwarming uk)
• Chinese scientists genetically modify dairy cows to produce human breast milk
  (tags: genetics china science food milk)

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

That's a terrifying article on electricity, and stealth taxes.

[andrewducker]

It's odd. People say they want the government to enforce a move to cleaner ways of producing electricity, but they don't seem to realise that this will (at least in the short term) push prices up.

If it was cheaper to make power using renewables then the power companies would already have moved to them!

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I'd be happier about it if those damned windmills actually worked and were the solution. But I don't think they are, and I think a number of companies and individuals are making vast profits out of what is essentially snake oil.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

People don't want any form of power generation. From wind turbines to nuclear fission: no matter what type of power station someone plans to build seems to face almost universal opposition.

[andrewducker]

Well, yes. People don't like externalities. They'd like other people to have to deal with them, thankyouverymuch.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

There was a NIMBY group down in Cambridgeshire when I was living down there a few years ago. They were called Fenland Against Rural Turbines.

An anti-wind group called FART!

Genius :)

[naath.livejournal.com]

Yes, people want endless free power from nowhere.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

It's not really news though. Carbon credits and carbon offset came out of the Kyoto agreement back in 1997 and have been part of EU law since 2005.

[usmu.livejournal.com]

Is it just me having a wtf moment after reading the first three paragraphs on digital democracy? As in: isn't this shit blinding obvious? The people who are best equipped to deal with the digital age will get their point of view out the best. And that always are smart people with time to spare because they have money. Or is that just me adding another elite viewpoint to an already saturated web?

[andrewducker]

Yes :->

Sometimes you have to go out and prove the blindingly obvious. Because sometimes it's not true, and sometimes people claim that something else is blindingly obvious, and in both cases it's handy to have a piece of paper to wave at people with the facts on it.

[usmu.livejournal.com]

Not that the piece of paper will convince those who think other stuff is blindingly obvious. When presented with evidence to the contrary people often tend to believe their own ideas even harder. We're funny like that. Unfortunately it's not funny ha ha. I read there's a piece of paper saying that somewhere. Can't remember where though. But you're right anyway. ;)

[andrewducker]

Cognitive Dissonance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

It's just you, there being many dumb people with money and time on their hands - which they spend on watching sports and stuff on TV, not creating content on the web.

Also, the 'working class' (to quote the article) are much more likely to do real stuff in their spare time, (such as make things in their garages), as apposed to blogging on the net. Writing something may, just possibly, alter a few points of view here and there, but the chances of it directly effecting the writer are slim. (Unlike making something in your garage.)

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

It'll still lack the antibody advantage of real breast milk.

Also:

> "It's our duty to develop science and technology, not to hold it back. We need to feed people first, before we consider ideals and convictions."

Roll on Soylent Green!

[naath.livejournal.com]

It'll still lack the antibody advantage of real breast milk.

Will it? Perhaps this batch will. I don't see any reason why the production of the correct antibodies could not be genetically engineered in with enough time/money spent on genetic engineering.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

AFAIK it's more that one's mother is at that moment exposed to the same bacteria or whatever you are, and therefore right now producing the antibodies you need.

Of course you could take the cow home...

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Regarding embracing WTF, I can't remember which essay but I do remember Asimov saying that the most exciting phrase in science isn't "Eureka!" but rather, "hmm... that's odd..."

-- Steve will eventually get back to reading The Black Swan someday, another book on embracing the understanding that we're ignorant and planning on that basis.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

"Study Finds Elite Viewpoints Dominate Online Content"

Surprise, surprise. I wonder why they didn't include "White" in that headline.

[ipslore.livejournal.com]

It's because the correlation found between economic status and Internet influence was stronger than the correlation between race and Internet influence.