He even hates you. Do indie films like that threaten in any way, the MPAA’s existence? Better yet, is this shoe-string budget business model more viable due to the lower costs of post-production and release?
4/15/2006
The Easter Bunny Doesn’t Like You
The Hip Bone is Connected to the Missing Link
Earlier this week I mentioned that some new species of plants, animals and insects were found in the Himalayas. On that note, ArsTechnica has a good wrap-up of various areas of research that deal with biological evolution and complex systems. To follow that up, Ted Rall has a prescient comic strip on this matter, the mutation of gods throughout the years.
The truth is out there and it requires red-neckism
Is there a direct correlation between being abducted by aliens and level of intellect?
Back in the day, in less sophisticated times, people attributed unknown phenomenon to various deities, animals and even extraterrestrials. In fact, in ancient Rome, many moons ago vultures and birds flying in the V-formation were seen as an omen from the gods — to attack, to sleep, to procreate, etc. (the technical term is ‘auspice‘). Prior to engaging in war, generals would throw seed before chickens and if the flightless-birds ate, then it was a sign from the gods — that the Romans had the blessing to fight. As you can imagine, a hawkish general could game the system by merely starving the chickens and feeding them at politically correct times, but this is neither here nor there…
Unfortunately, as Carl Sagan wrote in ‘The Demon-Haunted World‘ superstition abounds in an era of otherwise scientific thought. One man’s plane is another man’s UFO. And, I have previously noted, there is a large group of professionals that spend all day and night meticulously studying the skies and none of them ever promote that stuff. They’re called astronomers and meteorologists.
Last month, the Times Online pulished an article explaining how the Internet, which UFOlogists originally used as a mechanism for transporting their theories, has actually led to their undoing. Or to paraphrase, the author, the UFO’s have been identified and have gone home.
Personally, I suspect that once a civilization becomes advanced enough for interstellar travel (on a higher Kardashevic level), upon weighing the engineering costs involved in exploration, decide to simply stay home and become one with a Singularity. That is not to say that Von Neumann probes aren’t flying around…