Changing Sexual Orientation Is Possible, New Research Says

Not always. In particular, women who are too old to have children are nonetheless allowed to get married
but in relation to society as a whole, "not always" is a very weak argument, because married heterosexual couples do procreate... look around, you are not alone. so if the majority are people that believe in marriage and family, and institutions need people in order to survive, then laws will most likely favor those that have the most say and can invest human capital in the future of mankind.
 
Holy ****, Q!! Now you are making me take greymare's advice. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

DO NOT DESERVE ANYTHING?? You really are a bigot.

That said, I'm sure you are not the only parent who dislikes what their children are being taught in public school. You have a short temper, and are more willing to physically (and from what I've seen on this forum for several years, verbally or type-writtenly) throw your weight around than some, and for whatever reasons, you feel entitled to do so. Apparently you are also unwilling to share the same privileges that you feel entitled to. When someone challenges you, you respond with a temper tantrum. Hey, I can sympathize with that. I get upset too and throw temper tantrums.



All you are saying here is that you are upset that challenges are being made to the status quo. Beyond that, if you expand your point-of-view outside of white Judeo-Christian Western values, you will be confronted with the fact that it has not been the way it's been forever.



Social suicide?? Hardly. Equal rights is social suicide, is that what you are telling us? Furthermore, are you telling us all that equal rights is social suicide because it will bankrupt insurance companies? Who gives a DAMN about insurance companies, Q, when we are talking about basic human rights? It comes down to a question of values. Do we value people more, or business? Human rights or profits? Equality or economy?

Didn't someone somewhere in American history have the audacity to claim that all "men" (which we have by now expanded to also include women, at least in theory ;) ) are created equal? How then is it wrong to give people equal rights in marriage, regardless of sexual orientation?

Just as well that I stick to my particular job, and my little house in the woods, far far from the bustling "society" of diversity to the extreme. I would fit anyway.

v/r

Q
 
First casualty in Iraq, a homosexual soldier...served his country, died for his country....thought you'd be proud...too bad his partner doesn't deserve the same pittance any other surviving spouse would get...

You do need to take a breath...you are on the side of racism and segregation pre '60's, the tide is turning...all people deserve respect, and soon all partners will get the same benefits...insurance and otherwise.

The conspiracy that says it will kill the insurance companies, horse pucky...that is homophobia pure and simple....lets see, most businesses pay for the employee...and then the employee pays extra for spouse or more for spouse and family...and the insurance company still has the rights to reject people and pre-existing conditions...insurance companies always make out...like the casinos with their odds makers..they have actuaries...

And you need to get your facts straight (no pun intended). His "partner" did get his pittance, because that is who he delegated his life insurance benefits to...all $400,000.00

And I am proud of the soldier (could care less about his orientation).

v/r

Q
 
Quahom ... in the words of the Fonz -- SIT ON IT!!!

Now I would just say -- S*** My M* F* D* ...

- but I know you'd just love to.

So I'll keep it in Happy Days language.

Nevertheless, you ARE a C-S ...

And response to this ... F U, Q.
I care about the rest of the world, but if you drop of the face of it, I won't lose sleep over it.

No thanks...
 
People who are unable to procreate, or just don't want to, marry all the time.
The US does not allow everything to be decided by majority vote: the issue of whether a minority should be allowed to have the same rights as the majority is not one that is appropriately left up to the majority.

Ah yes, . . . you mean . . . the Judiciary, Supreme Court?

I guess then it wouldn't depend on the majority of the population, but the judges appointed to make the decision . . . and their beliefs.

I suppose that if you can't trust the majority, you can't trust the judges . . . you can't trust the Armed Forces, I suppose you can't trust anyone in power. What have I left out out of those who run the country? There's the Legislature, the Executive branch, the Judiciary, the Security Forces -- military (armed forces) and civilian (law-enforcement and crime fighting).

. . . except perhaps for powerful millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires, capitalists and people holding large sums of money. They don't make the rules or enforce them . . . but . . . they've got the power.
 
"but in relation to society as a whole, "not always" is a very weak argument"
Blatz, all I'm saying is that if allowing some (even if it's only a few) non-procreators to marry does no damage to the institution, as we know to be the case since it is already that way and always has been, then you have no argument at all, not even a very weak one.
 
Kindest Regards, Salty!

I've got a feeling I should stay out of this at this point, seeing as to how I am so very hateful and all, but I do want to interject one thing regarding this supposition:
I suppose that if you can't trust the majority,
This is called "Utilitarianism," the greatest good for the most people. This is the justification used to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

The trouble I see with this line of reasoning is that it makes no allowance for a minority point of view. Even if some among us are firm believers that Utilitarianism is the way to go, all progress comes from views that are initially the minority view. I know the example is cliche at this point, but at one time the majority view was that the earth was flat and the universe revolved around it. It was a revolutionary minority point of view to even think otherwise...yet today we hold as truth that the earth is basically round and that it revolves around the sun which in turn revolves around the galaxy which in turn revolves around...

Without allowance for a minority point of view there is no growth, academically, culturally or spiritually. I need not agree with that minority point of view, that minority point of view may as easily be a pointless point of view, but I do feel it is right and proper to allow for its existence. Everyone is responsible *for* their own decisions, but at the same time everyone should be allowed *to make* their own decisions, that is the very essence of free will. It is only if those decisions made threaten the fabric of society that such person should be set aside in whatever manner is deemed socially proper. While I find homosexual behavior unwise, it is certainly no direct threat to the social fabric. (Unless we get to the subject of rape, of *any* kind, which *is* socially threatening)

Now to bow out gracefully if that is still possible... :D
 
Hi...Well folks it IS Haloween over here in the U.S., and what could be more fun this time of year than throwing a big handful of worms into the cauldron of the viewpoints on this thread and stirring them into the mixture vigorously ? *bubble, bubble...toil and trouble*

It is well known now that the human species shares a significant portion of its genomic structure with all life forms, even worms. Any thoughts ?

"The worms crawl in,
The worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout"

Heh, heh, heh....

flow....:rolleyes:
Gene switch altered sex orientation of worms - Yahoo! News
 
Hi...Well folks it IS Haloween over here in the U.S., and what could be more fun this time of year than throwing a big handful of worms into the cauldron of the viewpoints on this thread and stirring them into the mixture vigorously ? *bubble, bubble...toil and trouble*

It is well known now that the human species shares a significant portion of its genomic structure with all life forms, even worms. Any thoughts ?

"The worms crawl in,
The worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout"

Heh, heh, heh....

flow....:rolleyes:
Gene switch altered sex orientation of worms - Yahoo! News
Kind of like a car I should think. All of them start out with a chassis and four wheels, just like the inventor originally designed...:eek:
 
Well yeah Q, except that cars aren't yet able to reproduce themselves and continue into the future as do genomic-based organic life forms. However with the "robotic revolution" taking place as we live and breathe, this might not always be the case in our futures.

That is, it appears the self-replication of non-living forms and devices looks to be increasingly likely. It all makes you think of just how "ahead" of its time movie themes from the 80's, Terminator, may have been predictive of possible futures. Or how about this for a confusing argument in the future, "what is real and living, or artificial and dead ?" Duh'oh !

flow....:rolleyes:
 
Well yeah Q, except that cars aren't yet able to reproduce themselves and continue into the future as do genomic-based organic life forms. However with the "robotic revolution" taking place as we live and breathe, this might not always be the case in our futures.

That is, it appears the self-replication of non-living forms and devices looks to be increasingly likely. It all makes you think of just how "ahead" of its time movie themes from the 80's, Terminator, may have been predictive of possible futures. Or how about this for a confusing argument in the future, "what is real and living, or artificial and dead ?" Duh'oh !

flow....:rolleyes:
Terminator the Movies? Perfect example of what can not happen. Even a machine, knew it was just that. It understood a little of why humans cry, but could never emmulate that.

The books however left us with a different picture. What if God stood in and changed the matrix? Did man make new life? Or did man simply set stage for new life to be ushered in via electro mechanical means? Same thing with CDR Data in Star Trek.

If we can't get rid of the "issues" of man enslaving man, or judging man (who is supposed to be equal to each other), how on earth would we look at artificial life as anywhere near the equal of man? (I robot comes immediately to mind).
 
Terminator the Movies? Perfect example of what can not happen. Even a machine, knew it was just that. It understood a little of why humans cry, but could never emmulate that.

The books however left us with a different picture. What if God stood in and changed the matrix? Did man make new life? Or did man simply set stage for new life to be ushered in via electro mechanical means? Same thing with CDR Data in Star Trek.

If we can't get rid of the "issues" of man enslaving man, or judging man (who is supposed to be equal to each other), how on earth would we look at artificial life as anywhere near the equal of man? (I robot comes immediately to mind).

Yup...I believe that you're right about that. Azimov had it correctly figured out many years ago. Now all we have to do is convince the artificial life creating multinational corporations to read his books.

Of course I am of the opinion that democracy is all about men and women "not" working to enslave each other nor judging those who are made to be equal otherwise. Quelle dilemma...huh ?

Oh, BTW...we're still trying not to judge artificial life as being different than us when the "Turing Tests" are conducted each year in the UK. So far experts have always been able to tell and discriminate when they are dialoguing with a computer and not a person at a screen and keyboard. Interesting stuff.

When the pendulum swings the other way and they can't tell the difference, then we're in the soup. BTW I'm just a screen and a keyboard in Las Vegas...no fingers involved.

Yeah Cmdr. Data...he's da man !

flow....:D
 
Terminator the Movies? Perfect example of what can not happen. Even a machine, knew it was just that. It understood a little of why humans cry, but could never emmulate that.

Did we know we were not God or gods? I suppose some of us might try and rise above the cosmos and be gods above ordinary mortals -- or simply achieve that through technology. Like the bad guy in The Incredibles. The bad guy was no "hero" with superpowers. It was all technology. He did what he did with zero-point energy.

A bit like the Ori in Stargate SG-1. They were not gods, just ascended beings with tremendous power, ie. "technology" that gave them an advantage.

One of those philosophical questions . . . do we serve God or are we serving a god? What makes a true God?

Yup...I believe that you're right about that. Azimov had it correctly figured out many years ago. Now all we have to do is convince the artificial life creating multinational corporations to read his books.

Of course I am of the opinion that democracy is all about men and women "not" working to enslave each other nor judging those who are made to be equal otherwise. Quelle dilemma...huh ?

Oh, BTW...we're still trying not to judge artificial life as being different than us when the "Turing Tests" are conducted each year in the UK. So far experts have always been able to tell and discriminate when they are dialoguing with a computer and not a person at a screen and keyboard. Interesting stuff.

When the pendulum swings the other way and they can't tell the difference, then we're in the soup.

Sorry to pop the party balloon, but I don't believe it's possible for beings of our creation to ever surpass our own intelligence.

I may not be a reknowned computer scientist, but I know enough about computer science to say that achieving the same level of intelligence as what we've got and to achieve that in the same time frame, it will require tremendous amounts of computation power. I think that's pretty much common sense. If the human brain was to be compared to digital computers, it would be very much like a bunch of a million CPUs running a million programs in parallel.

A lot of attempts at artificial intelligence involve writing a single program to try and solve a single problem. But life isn't like that. Life changes. New situations. New experiences. I think one of the reasons why we are able to do what we are able to do is because our brains are like a million CPUs running a million programs in parallel.

Somehow, the whole system regulates and organises itself and has a way of "filtering out" the relevant programs -- identifying events, priorities and choices, which is probably how we form conclusions, make decisions and make meaning out of things.

If a computer with artificial intelligence was going to achieve the same level of intelligence, it would have to be a lot like us, which would mean that it would not be able to out-do human intelligence. Intelligence requires a mind open to possibilities. We see things in abstract, we see imprecisely. An AI-driven mind will be just as prone to mistakes as us, because there is no one-size-fits-all solution to society's problems. We have to figure out what works and what doesn't. It's not an exact science.

Of course, we can cram a lot more knowledge and experience into a computerised mind, and because there is the added element of multi-tasking, there'd be multiple channels through which we could inject "knowledge" and "experience" into a computerised mind so it could absorb that information more quickly.

But there's a limit. Too much information and you overload the system. We can't create a so-called "god-computer" that's all-seeing and all-knowing (to some extent and some limit, a large one). That is why I'd say that if we do succeed in creating one, it won't surpass human limitations in intelligence. I suppose in a sense it'd be "superhuman" because it could do much greater feats than a human, but that's only because you and I were born into brains and bodies that . . . well . . . you know . . . limit what we can do. A computerised mind could be copied and transmitted to different places and make its presence felt anywhere where it could be manifested. A computerised mind would have much more degrees of freedom. We are pretty much fixed to an unmovable platform.

It's not to say there's no point in making computerised minds. Computers are good for solving "technical" problems, so we could customise and optimise them for specific tasks by controlling their thought patterns. Yes, we'd be mind-slave masters, dictating their thoughts. Because enslaving other humans is unethical, why not enslave something you create as tools to be used?

But anyway . . . what if the so-called god-computer sprang to existence some time in the future? What would it mean? It could pretty much go anywhere it wanted. It would, essentially be . . . a god . . . in the sense that it would be greater than ordinary mortals. There could be a great number of them. Hundreds and hundreds of god-computer minds floating in cyberspace.

This god-computer could also be . . . like a god incarnate . . . the Anti-Christ . . . the devil incarnate . . . mwhahahahaha:D:eek:.

It'll get dangerous when they start dabbling in politics and getting into government. Worse still . . . it may spell the end of democracy if they got too much power. Even if in principle, we had a democracy. It wouldn't be a democracy anymore. It would be a plutocracy. They'd know too much. It would be impossible to arrest them. Organised rebellion? It'd be too easy for them. Where would we aim our weapons? Should we just pull the plug?

But no . . . 99% of them are plugged into batteries. How about an EMP device? Fry all of the country's electronics. Crash the economy. Start all over again.

Crash and burn. Yeah. That's the way we'll live then.:D
 
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