What is especially stupid, is that it is very easy to create software that would automate tax returns, accounts, and other paperwork. I nearly persuaded one bank to do a project to do a business acco… (View Post)

I actually spoke with Banks about the Culture at a book signing. He really thought that you could get round the uncertainty principle with enough compute power. My point was that his Minds were just … (View Post)

I believe that the means illuminate the ends. If getting to your Utopia requires killing whole digit percentages of the population, then your Utopia is evil. While a number of people confuse table ma… (View Post)

It is an interesting question - I’ve encountered people who believe that you can’t be a democracy if have he death penalty. Which seems to me to be a muddling up of democracy and being liberal. The t… (View Post)

It has been said that the IRGC is missing payroll, though. Not surprising since Iranian banking has been cut off by their neighbours, and they are not receiving oil revenue. (View Post)