I think the issue is that the author doesn't establish a clear thesis from the very beginning. Additionally, the bizarre nature of the thesis and long run-on sentences only serve to confuse the reader as to what it is exactly that he is trying prove or disprove.
Meh, this is just the latest fad with 'scholars' ...the whole thing about how The Dark Ages weren't really dark, has been going on for about 20 years now... there are good reasons that this period is called the dark ages.
I suspect it will die a slow death, just like the 'The Civil War wasn't about slavery' schtick.
San Francisco disproves this thesis. It's impossible to build anything new, because of inane historical significance given to even the most decrepit cow palace or laundromat. I can only pray that San Francisco experiences a "Dark Age" where ugly old crap is replaced with shiny new towers.
What a bizarre perspective on the issue of whether or not the "Dark Ages" are incorrectly named.
The author seems to think that the term stems from the extent to which historical buildings were lost or re purposed. With that kind of logic, you could similarly say that abandoned towns are the height of civilization.
In other words, a very muddled thesis, followed by muddled, ill fitting justifications.
Weren't the smarter miners already relocating to places like Iceland which have more cheap surplus geothermal power than they ever use themselves anyway?
Even worse, depending on how well the IBM sales team pawns this hokum off as a legitimate diagnostic tool, the next logical step will be for malpractice insurance companies forcing physicians to consult with Watson before making any decisions.
As for your analogy, you got still tragically flawed predictive text technology for free. Nobody bought iPhones for their crappy predictive text capabilities. Imagine the horror if you actually had to pay for predictive text. As it is, it's a nice to have freebie that came along with your phone, which works.... sometimes.
Color me surprised. IT folks rolling their eyes, as now even doctors, the computer illiterati of the modern world, have come to the same conclusions... IBM's Watson is vapor-ware.
Lawd Jesus! Thank you for posting on this topic... all I have to add is ditto brother. I'm just here to support and defend you from what will no doubt be a wave of "you are stupid not krita" knee jerk reactions.
You ARE NOT the stupid one. The Krita UI/UX is stupid.
Even the simplest of tasks becomes a complete hassle. I want to love Krita too, BELIEVE ME I WANT TO GET RID OF ADOBE, but not at the cost of adding hours to my workflow.
Example: Today I wanted to delete some text on an image and add new text. This stupidity cost me an hour before I caught myself....
"NO! Just STOP, you do not have time for this shit!"
...I held my nose, opened adobe and got it done in 5 minutes.
M'kay?! Enough Said, I have no time for the fools who will no doubt defend this madness.
I think you misunderstand me. I'm definitely not implying America, or any country is perfect, far from it. I think that we do have something special here, which not many other countries have...
> Cross-pollination of ideas is what makes progress happen...Personally, I think a full-on "leave behind your old self" approach doesn't yield the most benefits for either the individual or society as a whole, unless your origin country is indeed an unequivocal shithole.
I mostly agree with you, up to a point. I don't see it as an all or nothing question. While, I strongly believe that there are some things, beliefs, superstitions, and bigotries which would be better serve everyone (humanity), if they were left leave in their respective 'shitholes'
To me it's a gray area, I don't want or expect people to completely assimilate, but unless you're a foreign national, here for an extended period of time without the intent of becoming a citizen, it's just plain weird to display another countries flag in the country you've chosen to move to aside from fun hollow displays in celebration or whatnot.
(I understand the larger discussion of whether nationalism itself is an outdated concept...but i digress)
Reminds me of the contrast between SF and LA. After living in SF for a year, all of a sudden, driving down Market Street, I had this overwhelming sense that I was home now.
Lived in LA for a lot longer, loved the weather, but never got that feeling that I was home. My thoughts were that this is temporary, and I'm just here to make make money and leave.
...let's pretend you are just a simple totem believing tribalist. Things become so bad in your own tribe that you leave, despite worries as to whether another tribe would ever accept you as one of their own, much less even accept you in.
Thankfully, you find a tribe that is willing to take you in.
After some time you decorate your hut with your last tribes totems and tattoo your children with the old tribes symbols.
There are lots of reasons people might 'turn' assuming these aren't long term espionage assets. From what I've read, the real reasons are mostly banal and extremely petty at their core, but of course they always use some higher principle to justify their actions.
Then again, I am always amazed at certain types of immigrants who come over with an attitude of entitlement and national pride for the countries they just left because, frankly those countries sucked, or they wouldn't be here.
I'm actually a naturalized citizen myself, came over as an infant. I can't even begin to imagine the nerve or some immigrants who display their national flags in their windows or outside their homes.
It was my parents view, and one which I share, that we came over to become Americans, not to become XYZ-Americans.
It has always given me a certain perspective to life in that no matter how bad things from time to time seem, all I have to do, is think about the alternate universe where my parents chose to stay, and how incredibly bad my life would have been. For that I'm forever grateful to this country.
I always suspected that the Obama Administration DOJ 'discrimination' lawsuit against Palintir had ulterior motives.
A company which employees close to 40% Asians. I suspect someone's infiltration project went awry. "How could they possibly reject these candidates whose resume's we carefully tailored to be hired... Must be discrimination."
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Shadowy Data-Mining Firm Palantir Hit With Discrimination Suit
Palantir is accused by the Department of Labor of discriminating against Asian job applicant
The whole thing sounded absurd from the beginning. Do Asians even suffer discrimination in the United States? Honestly, the only organizations I know of actively discriminating against Asians, are Ivy League Universities.