The next US Spacecraft Projects was supposed to have one set of diagrams created via 3D modelling, but it’s looking like that’s not going to be the case. This one was going to be done via old-school 2D CAD, but the complexity demanded 3D. By doing so it opens up a few opportunities for other things…
So while reading this article about the logical conundrum known as “Roko’s Basilisk,” I started thinking “you know, this kinda reminds me of the forbidden knowledge that Lovecraft wrote about.” And then the author of the article mentions that while he was working on the article, *he* thought it sounded Lovecraftian. So… huzzah, I guess.
So, the idea of Roko’s Basilisk is this: assume that the Simulation Hypothesis is correct. We don’t live in the *actual* really real world, but instead in a simulated universe. Everything you see and know is part of a vast computer program. Now, assume that you are presented with two choices… devote your (simulated) life to helping that future advanced computer system needed for the simulation come to pass… of don’t help it, and irritate the hell out of the computer, and it will send you to simulated hell for eternal torment. This option is only put before those people predisposed to believing that they are in the simulation. Additionally, if you are in fact in the simulation, just *thinking* about Roko’s Basilisk will increase the chances of it coming to pass.
The end result apparently was… when the feller Roko posted his thought about it in 2010 on the LessWrong forum, he was communicating it directly to *exactly* the sort of people predisposed to believing that it could be real. Just the *thought* of the Basilisk was enough to have apparently driven some of them buggo with the realization that they were facing perpetual punishment in computer Hell. The moderator of the forum deleted the post and the subsequent discussion because giving the hypothetical evil AI god that’s running the universe ideas like this is just Not A Good Idea.
To me this kinda reads like an computer-era updating of the Necronomicon. Just reading the damned thing could make Unimaginable Horrors From Beyond take an interest in you, which would generally be considered something of a Terribly Bad Idea.
So, you know… huzzah, I guess.
I have added the full-rez version of this to the 2015-07 sub-folder of the APR Patreon “Extras” folder on Dropbox. What is depicted is a 1985 Martin Marietta design for an Unmanned Launch Vehicle, a Shuttle derived vehicle that replaced the Orbiter hanging off the side with an inline payload shroud up top and a small propulsion/avionics module that would have three SSME and two OMS engines, in much the same positions as the Orbiter engines. This would allow the booster to lift off from existing Shuttle facilities with minimal modifications. The P/A module would be a biconic lifting body allowing recovery and re-use. Not only would the P/A module go into orbit, but so would the external tank. Each flight of this vehicle would have the potential to orbit the shell of a fantastic space station. This vehicle was described in greater detail in US Launch Vehicle Projects #2. 
If you are interested in the high-rez version of this, it and many more are available to all $4 and up patrons at the APR Patreon.
Over the years I’ve yammered on about pretty much every area of American politics at one time or another. Abortion, however, is something I don’t believe I’ve brought up much. Not because I’m afraid of the topic, but mostly because I haven’t really cared all that much. But there have been some news stories lately that have been somewhat… annoying.
First up… the Planned Parenthood videos that apparently show abortionists discussing getting monetary remuneration for intact bits of aborted fetuses. On the one hand… eww. On the other hand… talk to any medical professional who has been in their business for a number of years. They’ll talk shop about medical horrors with a nonchalance that’ll astound. Not because medical types are naturally uncaring, but because *anything* you deal with on a regular basis, you grow accustomed to.
And then there’s THIS STORY. Tell me this doesn’t give you an uncomfortableness…
In short… in Dallas in 2013 a 14-year-old girl was raped by a relative, got pregnant, and then, 8 months into the pregnancy, her family discovered that she was pregnant. So the family did what I guess families are supposed to do: they beat her for 6 hours until she had a miscarriage. The family then tried to disposed of the “evidence” by, among other things, trying to burn it up on the back yard grill.
Yeah.
OK, that’s bad. But here’s where it becomes relevant to the politics: The family members involved have been charged with a number of crimes including aggravated assault. But what they *haven’t* been charged with is murder.
Ummm.
Here’s the thing: I think I am like many, perhaps most, people: I’ve no problem with contraceptives of all kinds (I’ve previously, and probably repeatedly, mentioned that I believe implanted contraceptives should be a condition for receiving welfare). I’ve minimal problems with a “day after pill.” I’ve little enough trouble with abortion in the first little while. But I start getting twitchy about the notion of aborting fetuses that are developed enough to feel pain. And by the time the fetus is old enough to survive outside the womb, my patience for abortion – barring health of the mother – has just about wore out. So aborting an 8-month fetus? Nope. Just nope.
It’s understandable that people have wildly differing views on the subject. But what bugs the hell out of me is how the extremists on both ends just refuse to see any validity whatsoever to the other side. The pro-abortionists see the anti-abortionists as being opposed to womens rights, when as far as I can tell, the anti-abortionists simply see abortion as killing a baby. And the anti-abortionists… they are *right.* Who among us would see the intentional killing of a baby born six hours ago as murder, but *not* see the intentional killing of a fetus that is six hours from a scheduled C-section as murder? Does the change of venue from womb to atmosphere change the fetus from non-human to human? And if you see the just-about-born fetus as a human deserving of protection under the law, when *isn’t* it worth such protection? Six months? Four? Three? A few weeks?
The religious anti-abortionists are, in my view, often excessive in their absolute opposition. But you can’t deny that they at least have a good, clear and defensible position that human rights begin at conception.
This is pretty spiffy:
Some interesting choices…
Color me stunned:
Good riddance, scumbag. If you choose to live like a thug, you greatly increase your odds of dieing like a thug. That’s part of the reason why I’m not as tore up about the homicide rate as some folks… a lot of the people killed are themselves criminals, either killed by other criminals or by their intended victims. And anyone who kicks a cat to death… well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be exactly shocked to find out that that’s not the only criminality in his worthless life.
I have several questions here:
1) Didn’t she claim that she and Bill were broke just a few years ago? If you’ve ever been broke, you learn to try to be a little wise with your money. Or you’re a dumbass.
2) I recently had a haircut myself. Cost me $15, I think. Is a $600 haircut really 40 times better than a $15 haircut?
3) Given the other expenses involved, what was the total outlay for this haircut?
4) Who wants to hand over the key to federal spending to someone who spends $600 on something that can be had for $15 at Supercuts?