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andrew

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Posts posted by andrew

  1. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I would be glad to hear any comments you guys have.

    I'm currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan pursing a degree in Mathematics and Economics, so I don't claim to be any wiser about this than you.

    I think pursuing Computer Science and Physics is great, because as long as you have a minimal liberal arts education to compliment your concentration, you are left with a lot of options for graduate work. Your concentration will provide you with excellent quantitative reasoning and critical analysis skills, which are needed for any graduate program (Engineering, Business, Law, etc.).

    Basically, from what I've learned by talking to advisors and professors, your undergraduate education is the best chance you'll get to study a broad group of subjects that really interest you. Just make sure you study a passion of yours, learn it well, and you'll be open to numerous graduate options.

    I'm not sure if that helps at all, but it's my 2 cents.

    ...after applying higher level math to computer science, I've found that math isn't so bad when I'm using it for my own purpose.

    P.S. Ever considered getting an applied math degree, say in discrete math and algorithmic methods? If you are certain computer science is a desired career path, a strong understanding of the mathematical core of computer science might be helpful.

    Good luck.

  2. The question of "at all" compatibility is not meaningful, since it's impossible to find a philosophy which entirely denies all tenets of Objectivism in toto. His intrinsicist morality is enough to undermine his entire ethics and politics, even if he has the correct particular view of the state.

    I agree that the question of "at all" is not meaningful, it was a poor choice of words. What I was asking for, which you have provided, was what are the similarities between him and Objectivism.

    Thanks to you and hunterrose I have a better grasp of Nozick and am going to study some of his works.

  3. Has anyone read anything by Robert Nozick or have any knowledge of his works? If so, would you suggest any of it? Are his ideas at all consistent with Objectivism?

    The reason I ask is that he was suggested to me by my Law and Philosophy professor, though sometimes I question her suggestions' credibility.

    All I've managed to gather so far, in my rather ignorant research attempt, is that his main work was Anarchy, State, and Utopia in respone to Rawl's A Theory Of Justice (another suggestion made by my professor), and according to Amazon.com wrote on the "flawed arguments of Ayn Rand" in his second to last book Socratic Puzzles. I've yet to find out what these two books are actually about.

    Any information would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

  4. So cloning technology is bad because this will allow the rich to create identical copies of themselves - ultimately to be harvested for spare parts.  Let's see…clones have existed for as long as humans have been around - except we call them identical twins.  Do we see a situation in the real world where siblings are kept locked up in the basement for spare parts?  Of course not.  There have been cases where people voluntarily donated a kidney to a dying brother or sister.  Should that be outlawed?  After all, they're playing GOD!....

    ...The only good thing I can say about this movie is the cinematography and set design. It looks beautiful, as are the two leads, but it's ultimately empty.

    I thought “The Island” was a good movie that integrated a Objectivist principles.

    *************WARNING: SPOILERS************

    The central theme of this movie focused on moochers enforcing the enslavement of innocent individuals, and the perseverance of these individuals to overcome their evil slaves masters and live freely. The island in the movie represents living a prosperous and happy life; an ideal that is used by the slave masters to coerce the innocents into sacrificing themselves for the lives of an unkown moocher. It is no wonder (and pretty obvious) that during the sex scene between Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, Scarlett Johansson’s character whispers, “this is the island” to Ewan McGregor’s character now that they are out of captivity and able to love and live however they choose.

    This movie wasn’t an attack against the rich, or even a direct attack against the dangers of cloning. Plain and simple, it was an attempt to display the perseverance of the human spirit.

  5. OpenOffice.org runs fine on Windows XP. It's easy to use, but it takes a little time to adjust to its user interface. The world of office productivity is so heavily dominated by the Microsoft Office suite, that at times you feel OpenOffice.org's menubars and toolbars are counterintuitive simply because they're not identical to Microsoft's.

    It's compatible with Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, so if you're willing to adjust to a new program I say use it. I think it's a great piece of software, and for the price it can't be beat.

  6. Your voice is much better when you don't hold back and move some air.  Give yourself a little distance from the mic and push some air out.  It'll sound much better.

    Yes, and a compressor is your friend. I believe Multitrack Studio has a compression utility built in.

    Edit: Fixed typo

  7. So what? Any animal does that. It is not a sign of a conceptual consciousness at work.

    To live as man qua man, one needs a conceptual faculty, the ability to choose values, and the ability to gain/keep them. Terry has NONE of those, and never will.

    I never said that reacting to stimuli is a sign of a coneptual consciousness at work. My point was she is conscious, but at a level where she becomes someone else's property.

    Since there is no written statement that she would not want to be kept in this state and her family is willing to take on the responsibility of her, why did the feeding tube have to be removed? Why can't the family keep her alive in this low level state in hope of some sort of medical breakthrough? It really doesn't matter to me, I'm just wondering why the husband is so reluctant to let the family care for her.

  8. Terri Schiavo appears to have none of the qualities that allow her to pursue a life of any semblance of quality.  Congress has no moral right to make that determination for her.

    You seem to have made that determination for her, just in the other direction.

    People seem to have this image of Terri Schiavo in their head where she's hooked up to all this life support equipment with no perception of the world around her. The fact of the matter is she's only hooked up to a feeding tube, and supposedly reacts to stimuli (obviously in a very basic form). She isn't a burden on anyone else (her family has repeatedly said they will care for her allowing her husband to just run off), so why is there such eagerness to pull the feeding tube?

  9. I second softwareNerd's suggestion of posting your questions. There are several people on this forum, like softwareNerd, who can help you. I also suggest you check out some other forums like tek-tips.com. I'd like to warn you though, as a computer science and engineering undergrad I've been active in my fair share of programming forums and a lot of the guys aren't as friendly or helpful as the people on this forum. You'll get a lot of answers in the form of "RTFM," but don't let that discourage you.

  10. Thanks for all of the input! I definitly have a better grasp on the subject, although I still have a lot of thinking to do.

    Burgess, I will definitly be purchasing that book. It sounds great.

    Anyways, I simply walked away from the discussion. He was extremely sarcastic and obviously had no desire to actually engage in a conversation. Being a full time student and having a full time job (while attempting to learn more and more about Objectivism) I don't have the time or effort to deal with people like him.

  11. This is a pretty basic question.

    So I got in way over my head and while talking with someone I said values and morality are objective. He of course claimed that they are subjective, but I told him values are both dependent on reality and as a relationship between the value judge and that which is judged. Now he claims this in fact means values are subjective since subjective means particular to a certain person (personal. which doesn't imply dropping the context). I'm kind of confused on where to go from here to clearly make my point.

    Can anyone help me?

  12. I don’t think her feeding tube should be removed, and I know if I was in her position I wouldn’t want to be dismissed into non-existence. Terri is not brain dead; three out of five doctors testified in 2002 that Terri was in a vegetative state with no hope of recovery. I don’t like the notion of “no hope of recovery” and think they should hold out for medical advancements (especially when there’s a party willing to take responsibility for her).

    The cause of her condition has come into question in recent years, many pointing to a strong possibility of abuse from her husband. In 1992 Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, won a malpractice suit accusing doctors of misdiagnosing his wife. The jury awarded $700,000 for Terri’s care and an additional $300,000 for Michael. If Terri dies, Michael will receive what is left of the malpractice suit (I believe somewhere around half of the $700,000) and her estate (I don’t know the status of her estate). It seems like he has much to gain from her death.

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