English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

5:09 PM

@Zairja Ah OK. One never knows these days, what with old-timers on the Interwebz.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 How very ~~Christian~~ Calvinist.

A pure soul and a clean mind.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus It's not meant to be anything. It's just a basic principle of trying to improve.

Cerberus

Is one not allowed to have imperfect thoughts?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus you're allowed to have imperfect thoughts. But I am more precisely concerned with beliefs. I want my beliefs to be correct, and my actions to correspond with my beliefs.

Cerberus

All right.

I was thinking of your comments on how men treat women.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

5:26 PM

which comments?

Cerberus

About this woman who was propositioned at a convention.

user19161

@Cerberus I dislike the use of "dirty mind" to describe sexual thoughts. It suggests that these are wrong in some way.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Did I have comments then that conflict with what I've said today?

Cerberus

@JasperLoy It's more of a grey area...

user19161

Speaking of "dirty mind", how did "dirty" come to be used in this way?

Cerberus

5:28 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 On the contrary.

user19161

I think the Church must have started the "dirty mind" movement.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy Well, when anything sexual is unwanted, it feels unclean, gross, dirty.

user19161

@Cerberus To those preachers I guess. Sex is just a neutral thing, neither good nor bad for man's soul. QED.

Cerberus

The condition is that it be unwanted.

Under that condition, it often becomes dirty.

user19161

The use of words like "dirty mind" then conditions people to think that sex is bad.

user19161

5:30 PM

So it is a cycle as you can see.

Cerberus

It is more like an evolved sense.

user19161

I try not to be conditioned by man. I condition myself, and also with my conditioner.

Cerberus

Gross > somewhat gross under certain conditions > sometims considered gross by certain people.

Gross > somewhat gross under certain conditions > sometimes considered gross by certain people.

user19161

But I know most people are so heavily conditioned to realise that they are so.

Robusto

Welcome to New York.

user19161

5:33 PM

@Robusto I hope the SE servers don't get damaged.

Robusto

Read the entire article (or just look at the pictures).

KitFox

@JasperLoy That's why they have the backups in Seattle. No worries about excessive precipitation there.

Robusto

@KitFox Tru dat. The Great Seattle Desert.

user19161

@Robusto This kind of flooding happened a couple of times where I am too.

Cerberus

Yeah, many bad pictures.

Damages estimated at at least 20 billion.

user19161

5:37 PM

Amazing how some places are flooded and others have droughts. How some are so cold and some are so hot. If only everything became moderate, it would be a wonderful world.

user19161

@Cerberus That looks like a pom pom!

Cerberus

Um...

It looks like the paths of tropical storms.

user19161

In fact, it looks like Mitch, so Mitch=pom pom.

Robusto

WTF? All my extensions for Chrome are displaying Asian characters and not working.

user19161

@Robusto Are you missing some font?

Robusto

5:42 PM

Do I have a virus, possibly? Anyone ever seen this kind of behavior?

user19161

It happens to me when I lack some font.

user19161

Also, check your OS and browser font settings.

Robusto

Nah, it was my fault. I had it set to UTF-16 instead of UTF-8.

user19161

Some updates could screw up some settings.

Robusto

Working fine now. I just wish Chrome made character encoding settings easier to find.

user19161

5:50 PM

I wish Chrome have a checkbox to check for opening incognito all the time.

Mitch

6:02 PM

@Cerberus I call shenanigans. 1851 to now? How did they get those tracks a century ago? How did the get them 3 decades ago?

Cerberus

@Mitch Just eye witnesses.

Of course they will not always be very precise.

Here is a combined map of tsunami risk and hurricane paths.

user19161

@mitch What avatar did you have before your current one?

Cerberus

I had to integrate two different projections, and dragging by hand seemed the easiest way.

So the safest areas in the Western world appear to be south-eastern Australia, the American Mid-West, and northern Europe.

Mitch

@Cerberus you mean the eyewitnesses in the middle of the Indian Ocean on sinking ships?

Cerberus

@Mitch Yes, those.

Look, it's not very hard to find out where a tropical storm was moving.

Approximately.

You could be a few hundred km off.

Mitch

6:15 PM

@Cerberus From that map I take that the Pervuians living on the Amazon side of the Andes are in for a big surpise.

Cerberus

Besides, who says those paths in the Indian Ocean aren't 99 % from after 1950?

@Mitch You mean the east?

The tsunami colours are of course very rough.

They coloured the entire country, except when the country was as large as China.

Mitch

@Cerberus Yes, easy to tell because in a hurricane all the winds go in exactly one direction especially at sea. They all go at you. In the Southern hemisphere it is the opposite.

Cerberus

Uhh...

@Mitch Let alone the Algerians in the Sahara!

Robusto

@JasperLoy Chrome has an extension called "Un-Incognito" that does this. It defaults you to incognito browsing except for sights you specify via regular expressions.

Mitch

@Cerberus Exactly. Maps are effing idiotic. You can't draw knowledge from anything in particular, weighting or or time or anything except there are no hurricanes that cross the equator.

@Cerberus hm...they could probably use a little water.

Cerberus

6:19 PM

@Mitch Uhh sure you can—it's just not very precise knowledge.

Mitch

@Cerberus yes, I get that. That's why I think it is a dumb map.

Cerberus

Why?

Mitch

color the coast like they've done with the Sandy hurricane maps.

Cerberus

That's not a very nice thing to say.

Mitch

It's a not nice thing to say that I think their face looks funny and not in a good way.

Robusto

6:20 PM

@Cerberus All those Atlantic Ocean tsunami projections stem from one mountain in the Canary Islands.

Cerberus

Moreover, in this case I am glad that they coloured larger areas for the tsunamis, because otherwise they would be very hard to see in the overlay.

Robusto

La Palma

La Palma () is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. The total population is about 86,000, of which 18,000 (2003 data) live in the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma and about 20,000 (2004 data) in Los Llanos de Aridane. Santa Cruz de La Palma (the island's main port) retains many elegant 17th and 18th century houses, and produces high-quality handmade cigars made from locally grown tobacco. In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Canary Islands. It was as a resul...

Cerberus

I have heard of the supposed volcano-sliding-into-the-sea scenario.

And that it is fairly unlikely.

Mitch

But about poor quality map, I'm going to by Mr. Shiny about it and say it is a rational opinion, pointing out the irrationality of their map coloring protocol.

Cerberus

@Robusto But why do you say it is only that?

Robusto

6:21 PM

@Cerberus Look where they all stem from, and where their effect is.

Can't you read a map, man?

Cerberus

Because there have been many devastating earthquakes in Portugal: have there been no sea quakes? Can there be none?

What's up with you people today?

1755 Lisbon earthquake

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, occurred in the Kingdom of Portugal on Saturday, 1 November 1755, the holiday of All Saints' Day, at around 9:40 am. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami, the earthquake almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Seismologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude in the range 8.5–9.0 on the moment magnitude scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent. Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone between 10,000...

cornbread ninja

Up with people.

user19161

What is the biggest disaster in recent times? That huge tsunami in 2004 right?

Mitch

@Cerberus OK.. more 'up with you people ' stuff. What is the point of having hurricanes -and- tsunami's on the same map? what is the juxtaposition supposed to mean? it adds absolutely nothing. gah! stupidity posing as sciency stuff?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy define "biggest"

KitFox

6:25 PM

@Mitch He made the map. You could be a little more sensitive.

user19161

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Maybe by death? I think that one killed the most people, 200k or sth.

KitFox

I thought the earthquake in Turkey killed more people than that.

user19161

@KitFox You are very sensitive today. =)

Cerberus

Although seismologists and geologists had always agreed that the epicenter was in the Atlantic to the West of the Iberian Peninsula, its exact location has been a subject of considerable debate. Early theories had proposed the Gorringe Ridge until simulations showed that a source closer to the shore of Portugal was required to comply with the observed effects of the tsunami.
A seismic reflection survey of the ocean floor along the Azores-Gibraltar fault has revealed a 50 km-long thrust structure southwest of Cape St. Vincent, with a dip-slip throw of more than 1 km, that might have been cre…

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

List of natural disasters by death toll

A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, lots of collateral damage or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricanes etc. In order to be classified as a disaster it will have profound environmental effect and/or human loss and frequently incurs financial loss. Ten deadliest natural disasters {| class="sortable wikitable" style="font-size:100%;" |- ! style="width:10%;"| Rank ! style="width:25%;"| Death toll (estimate) ! style="wid...

cornbread ninja

6:26 PM

tsunami's what?

Cerberus

@JasperLoy Yes, I think so: hundreds of thousands dead.

cornbread ninja

ducks

user19161

@cornbreadninja chickens

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy ha!

Cerberus

@Mitch I put the layers together for fun. So that one might get a vague and playful indication of where many natural disasters take place and where they don't. I was going to add earthquakes too.

@KitFox Thanks.

Mitch

6:29 PM

@cornbreadninja "I love humanity, it's people I can't stand."

@Cerberus Oh....

then you should add in forest fires.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Don't click the Smallpox article if you don't want to be grossed out.

Mitch

@Cerberus OK that makes more sense then.

user19161

@corn So you never ever changed your username to chat killah?

Cerberus

More than what?

user19161

@Cerberus More sense than what he originally thought of course.

user19161

6:32 PM

I love answering questions for others. =)

Mitch

@KitFox The accuWeather part is what I am annoyed at. munging them together is interesting. Adding all the natural disasters together is making central Africa and Siberia a bit more enticing now though.

Cerberus

Why?

Mitch

@Cerberus what Jasper said. I didn't get where the map was coming from. Now that I do it makes sense.

@Cerberus because I t looks like those will be the only two empty places after you add all the natural disasters.

user19161

Neither did I get the map. I just love to admire its colours...

Cerberus

> The Royal Ribeira Palace, which stood just beside the Tagus river in the modern square of Terreiro do Paço, was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami. Inside, the 70,000-volume royal library as well as hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens, and Correggio, were lost. The royal archives disappeared together with detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators.

Mitch

6:35 PM

@JasperLoy basic supplied one like tchrist/FF.

Cerberus

@Mitch What do you mean, where it was coming from?

It's just a map.

It doesn't claim any accuracy or completeness.

Mitch

@Cerberus how the maps were constructed. accuWeather created the hurricane tracks map, I don't know who created the tsunami map, you put them together.

@Cerberus sure, a map is a million claims to accuracy; one for each bit in the image.

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy I'd have to keep it for 30 days! 0_0

Cerberus

Exaggeration.

The point of the map is to show which areas suffer most from tropical storms, and I think it does the job.

user19161

@cornbreadninja Don't want to reveal your real name (which I happen to know)? =)

Mitch

6:42 PM

yes, it does. I'm just peeving about how google maps sometimes doesn't give the right directions because it got the address on the wrong side of the street.

KitFox

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to handle spatial information?

Robusto

@KitFox Does it include spaced-out information?

Cerberus

For you know who you are.

Robusto

@Cerberus You always post these tiny images that don't get bigger when you click on them. Shame on you.

KitFox

@Cerberus New York City?

Cerberus

6:45 PM

Ding!

KitFox

Or rather the tip of Manhattan.

user19161

@Cerberus What is the distortion about?

KitFox

And part of NJ, and that island I can never remember the name of.

Cerberus

@Robusto My upload speed is ca. 70 KB/s. Do you have any idea how long it takes to upload a larger screenshot?

Robusto

@Cerberus Then link to a web resource. That shouldn't take any upload speed at all.

Cerberus

6:47 PM

@Robusto Think. What could be wrong with that plan?

Robusto

@KitFox Staten Island?

@Cerberus What could be wrong with it is you keep too many images on your computer.

Cerberus

@Robusto Too far away.

user19161

@Cerberus I have never even figured out how to upload an image on SE!

KitFox

@Robusto No, it's Riker's or something.

Cerberus

@Robusto Before you criticise me, why don't you think about what you're saying some more.

user19161

6:48 PM

It is interesting that Kit and Cerb said "do you have any idea" within a few seconds of each other.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy There is an upload button here in chat.

Robusto

@Cerberus I'm not criticizing you, I'm trying to annoy you.

Cerberus

I'm very tired, and you should at least annoy me in a way that makes any sense at all.

KitFox

Governor's Island.

Robusto

@Cerberus Why don't you go to sleep? Nobody is making you stay up and post tiny pictures in ELU chat.

Cerberus

6:50 PM

Why don't you have a drink or two.

Robusto

I'm at work. It would be counterproductive.

Cerberus

Or a sleeping pill that knocks you out on the spot.

Robusto

Hey, you're the one who said he was tired, not me.

Mitch

@Cerberus with the statue of Liberty in the lower left corner. I didn't realize that Brooklyn was so close (lower right)

Cerberus

I am tired, but you ought to be.

user19161

6:51 PM

@Cerberus You should go to sleep, see you in your dreams!

Cerberus

@Mitch Manhattan snob! Brooklyn is not that far!

Robusto

@Cerberus You're not making sense. Time to turn in. Good night!

Cerberus

@JasperLoy It's 7:50 pm. I'm going out to buy food.

user19161

@Cerberus OK, I will be hiding in your food...

Cerberus

Are you a tarantula egg?

Then I won't buy any tropical fruit.

Mitch

6:54 PM

@Cerberus !! geographically. that particular cropping ... it makes things look really close but it's really hard to see the statue from battery park and there's little reason as a tourist to visit brooklyn which is the other direction so it seems like it would b much further away.

Cerberus

Yeah, yeah.

Bye!

Robusto

1

A: How do we describe "good and "bad" English?

The question "What do you mean by grammatical?" is not at all a real question. It's either disingenuous -- and given the source, someone who has no problem declaring whether some of the sentences in ELU questions are or aren't grammatical, I'd say that this question is disingenuous -- or rhetoric...

First paragraph: is this the longest sentence ever on ELU?

user19161

@Robusto I like that guy though.

Robusto

I didn't say I didn't like him. That has no bearing on the issue at hand.

Mitch

@Cerberus I apologize for disparaging your map. I was being oblivious. how did you put the pieces together?

user19161

7:00 PM

@Robusto Indeed. I don't claim otherwise on either count.

Mitch

@Robusto I bet there are longer. I bet knowing this we could contestually make many longer. Do we try for lucidity, or 'Ulysses'?

Robusto

I dunno. That one is pretty long.

> It's either disingenuous -- and given the source, someone who has no problem declaring whether some of the sentences in ELU questions are or aren't grammatical, I'd say that this question is disingenuous -- or rhetorical or an elided isoform of "When you say that a sentence or expression is grammatical or ungrammatical, whose grammar book are you using to make this judgment,

> what dialect of English are you referring to, and what age of English do you have in mind, Beowulfian, Chaucerian, Shakesperian, Victorian, or Rupert Murdochian"?

Also very convoluted.

Mitch

Karashianian?

Zairja

@Cerberus Oh, but I am (well past 92), regardless if the technology wants to acknowledge it. You might say I'm literally "young at heart", though. It does take me a while to communicate since I'm currently receiving my Internet through a tin can and sending packets via morse code, not due to decrepitude.

Cerberus

7:21 PM

@Mitch That's fine, I was puzzled rather than annoyed.

@Zairja Wow, you're really over 92? That is way cool!

I hereby name you the coolest person on English.SE, possibly on all of SE.

How old are you?

Ice Box

Happy Halloween to all...

Cerberus

Thanks!

Jusfeel

is today Halloween?

Cerberus

Even though we do not celebrate it, I am thankful.

Matt Эллен

Halloween is on Wednesday

Which is nearly today

in some countries it's already Wednesday

Ice Box

7:28 PM

@MattЭллен Yes I India its wednesday today.

Jusfeel

k. then my country yes. China. Though we don't celebrate that much

KitFox

Happy New Year then.

Ice Box

I am interested to know the historical importance of Halloween.Why is it celebrated?

KitFox

It's the start of the pagan year.

The death of the God, the end of the year, wild spirits walking the earth.

Robusto

@MattЭллен In some countries it is already yesterday.

cornbread ninja

7:32 PM

all hallows evening --> hallow'e'en

or something

KitFox

Yeah, that's right.

Jusfeel

last episode 'the big bang theory' is about halloween

KitFox

For the Christian parts of the tradition, it is a celebration of the dead followed by a celebration of the Saints.

Or maybe the other way around?

MετάEd

@Robusto I know what you mean. When I migrated to Texas I moved 675 miles southwest and 20 years into the past.

3

KitFox

You know, maybe @JSB can tell us something. He's Orthodox. I bet they have really interesting observances.

Matt Эллен

7:36 PM

@KitFox that's the right way around. All Hallows Eve -> All Saints Day

Robusto

@KitFox "Interesting" isn't the word I'd use.

KitFox

@MattЭллен I thought All Souls came after All Saints though.

Matt Эллен

> Many churches, particularly Catholic and Anglican churches, in the United Kingdom annually mark All Saints' Day on November 1

it's like Christmas eve and Christmas day

All Saints Day == All Hallows Day

All Saints Day in the UK

KitFox

OK, so All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, All Souls Day.

Robusto

I am impatient with religion in all its manifestations.

Matt Эллен

7:40 PM

I see. That makes sense.

user19161

@KitFox In some belief systems, gods can be demons.

Cerberus

We have Allerheiligen (All Holy (= saints)).

But I don't know when that is.

KitFox

@JasperLoy The pagan God is cyclic, like the year.

He dies and is reborn every year.

JSBձոգչ

@KitFox yes, but All Saints Day is a Latin thing. there is no Orthodox observance on either Oct 31 or Nov 1.

user19161

@Jusfeel Does your name mean Just Feel?

KitFox

7:46 PM

@JSBձոգչ Oh. Pooh.

kills chat

@cornbread! Naughty!

Naughty indeed.

user19161

None is as naughty as I.

cornbread ninja

@KitFox le petit morts!

Matt Эллен

7:53 PM

le oublier des mots

KitFox

@cornbreadninja gasps

cornbread ninja

@KitFox yeah, baby!

KitFox

Do it again!

Wait. Don't.

user19161

Pourquoi me reveiller o souffle du printemps

user19161

@carlo Welcome back!

Cerberus

8:01 PM

@JasperLoy O souffle d'hiver, rather!

user19161

@Cerberus It's just the name of an aria, I was trying to sound pretentious.

cornbread ninja

d'haute rive

user19161

O souveraign o juge o pere

Cerberus

Ahah.

user19161

toujour voile present toujour

Matt Эллен

8:03 PM

le cheval rouge de canard

Cerberus

Is it souveraing? Not souverain or something?

Matt Эллен

printemps de la bouche de le pont

user19161

@Cerberus You are probably right, like I said I am just being pretentious.

Cerberus

OK...

David Wallace

8:22 PM

@MattЭллен Je suis l'oubliteur des mots.

Matt Эллен

@DavidWallace Français et boulangerie dans les plages de voiture

user19161

Something weird is happening in another room.

user19161

Someone is asking in the TeX room to help him choose a username for a non SE site.

user19161

It's like asking some strangers how to name your baby.

David Wallace

How do you know they're strangers?

user19161

8:25 PM

From the conversation I know.

David Wallace

I, for example, know that (some of) the regular users of this room are interesting people with interesting ideas. So I might well come here to ask if anyone has any interesting ideas about how to name my baby. If I were expecting one, of course, which I'm not.

user19161

@DavidWallace But at least you have been here for a while. this guy is like totally new to SE, almost.

David Wallace

OK, but I might say to my pregnant friend - "hey, pregnant friend, I know of a chat room where there are interesting people with interesting ideas; you could go there to ask for ideas about how to name your baby".

Actually, second thoughts, no I wouldn't, that's a bit weird. You are completely right.

Mitch

8:59 PM

@cornbreadninja really...they just need to comb their hair. Then they wouldn't have to sing trippy lyrics to get chicks.

MετάEd

9:16 PM

@tchrist You could "most likely" clear this up: perldoc.perl.org/Time/Local.html

Robusto

9:44 PM

0

Q: Is the construct "[subject] allows for [object] to [verb]" correct?

...or should it be "[subject] allows [object] to [verb]"? Or does it depend on the situation?

What, is English just a set of Mad-Libs?

RegDwighт

9:59 PM

4

Q: Inappropriate phrase in the moderator message templates

Can we have the phrase: This is a troubling pattern and has become abusive to our community removed from the low quality contributions moderator message template or at least reworded? I try to remove this from the messages I send (but I don't always remember) as I find this part of the mes...

feature-request moderator-tools

tchrist

10:22 PM

@MετάEd Huh what?

Cerberus

@jlawler: Gotta love them LLs! (I think he means something like how anaphora works, so that would be pragmatics?) @ ARZ: I'm afraid the problem cannot be solved until we manage to build an artificial intelligence many levels higher in complexity than what current science allows us. Some simple cases in an extremely limiting context may be resolved automatically. You might want to browse around Wikipedia a bit, starting here. — Cerberus 54 secs ago

Another guy that thinks computer can understand normal human language.

What's wrong with those computer guys?

Joseph Weissman

10:38 PM

appears!

Artificial intelligence has taken on something like a theological dimension.

(@Cerberus I think we've even talked about this, maybe. How the Singularitarians are a bit messianic or millenarian -- machines will solve all the problems, etc.)

Cerberus

Wow!

That was a bright flash.

(Hmm we may have, I'm not sure I remember the exact conversation, though.)

Their basic premise is that it is likely that one day mankind will create an AI (or we will create something that will create an AI, etc.), one that will be so smart that it will be more powerful than we.

I cannot find a flaw in this premise.

Can you?

Joseph Weissman

That technology could exceed human intelligence isn't really an interesting question to me.

It seems easily plausible that it could.

Cerberus

Right.

Joseph Weissman

It's more about the spirit, the atmosphere in which these sorts of claims are said, their intended audience and cultural consequences and so on.

Cerberus

The thing is that I find their ETAs wildly optimistic (or pessimistic but premature).

Yes, I agree about the atmosphere.

Can be very annoying.

Joseph Weissman

10:46 PM

The Moravec and Kurzweil timelines are a bit too optimistic. Wishful, I might be even say.

Cerberus

But I was trying to look past their attitude.

Joseph Weissman

Sure.

Cerberus

I don't remember any specific timelines, but what I saw was measured in decades.

Joseph Weissman

Right. Kurzweil's projected date for a computer achieving general intelligence exceeding human intelligence is around 2025 or so.

Cerberus

Haha.

When did he project this?

Joseph Weissman

10:48 PM

I want to say this is in Spiritual Machines which would be around 1995 or so, but it may be elsewhere, too.

Cerberus

Then I would presume he had adjusted his timeline by now.

An argument against the fast development of such a super-AI would be as follows.

Joseph Weissman

You would think so, right?

Cerberus

It seems the best AIs we can come up with resemble biological structures more and more.

However, evolution has worked on biological intelligence for millions of years, and the best it has come up with are we.

Joseph Weissman

Well, who's making the list? :D

Cerberus

Some improvements can be made by specialising a (pseudo-)biological brain, and by allowing it to become much bigger and use much more energy; but will the improvements be so large in a reasonable time span?

Time will tell.

@JosephWeissman What list? You mean the list with the best intelligences?

Joseph Weissman

10:52 PM

@Cerberus presumably at least some of the more observant other species might make a different evaluation... :)

KitFox

A bigger brain? How is that going to help?

Joseph Weissman

Right, I guess you're asking the technical question of feasibility.

Kurzweil's basic engineering insight here is that reverse engineering is sufficient.

(Turing actually makes this point in 1950 -- that all the biological processes of the brain can be simulated.)

Cerberus

@JosephWeissman Haha sure. Then we would have to beat them. By the way, where the hell are they?

@KitFox Well, I was trying to find ways how our brains could be altered to become more intelligent. Presumably greater size and greater use of energy would allow for greater complexity.

KitFox

Meh.

Size is overrated.

Efficiency would be better.

I need a good name for a love interest.

Cerberus

@JosephWeissman I was not saying it wasn't possible: just that it was probably very difficult.

Joseph Weissman

10:59 PM

@KitFox like a personal name? Or a nickname or something?

Cerberus

@KitFox How do you mean efficiency? Our brains are built to be efficient, but an AI wouldn't have to be, because we have plenty of energy to support a million human brains. Or isn't that what you meant?

KitFox

@Cerberus What? No they aren't.

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