Strikes me as a darned good reason to kill him, since apparently his brain architecture will prevent rehabilitation. One would think that defense counsel would be a bit leery of this avenue, as it seems fraught with danger for defendants.
I don't think anyone should be subject to the death penalty ever, but I also think that people who suffer from psychosis or who are pscyho/sociopaths should not be lumped in with the general prison populace. Let's rehabilitate the healthy and treat the mentally unsound.
Now excuse me as I hop off of my liberal sociologist soapbox.
@Nathan Obbards: I believe the death sentence can be justified. I don't believe it's right for our tax dollars to be spent on keeping some sick son of a bitch pedophilic rapist in jail getting free food and a place to stay for the rest of his life. They're not doing anything for society, they're simply wasting money.
But I live in Canada, where we don't do the death penalty. I don't hate my government for it, but I sure wish it would change one day. Or at least exile people haha
@Nathan Obbards: John Allen Muhammad, infamous "Beltway Sniper" and would-be terrorist network mastermind, was put to death recently.
He demonstrated an ability to identify impressionable youths and develop them into serial killers. An innocent pen-pal relationship or a friendship with a soon-to-be-released convict is an opening to further extend his reach, even from behind bars.
I feel that his death was absolutely right, not as punishment for a series of horrifying and unforgivable acts, but as a necessary means to snuff out the influence of a dangerous man.
@SJRNWT: I just believe in a reform system, not a retributive system. Most prisons in the US just teach criminals how to become worse criminals, they don't give them the skill sets to go on to lead decent lives and to get a real job. As for the tax dollars bit, there is no consensus on whether the execution is actually cheaper. Some have analyzed it and found the death penalty to be more expensive than life imprisonment while others have found it to be cheaper. I just take a moral stand that killing someone is very rarely right. There is no added utility in killing someone who is sentenced to life in prison and sometimes they even produce something worthwhile. Not only that, but if new evidence comes to life that absolves them, we won't have killed an innocent person, something that has happened too often in Texas.
As for exiling people, I mean, isn't that how the great nation of Australia started? It literally is a nation of pirates, murderers, rapists, and thieves.
@tomsomething: You could just screen/block all of his letters. Also, people who are in prison for life without parole are generally kept separate from the rest of the prison population.
@Nathan Obbards: I have an Idea how about dispose of, kill, or use for medical testing, all the criminals and psycho/sociopaths. Then spend the money we would have wasted trying to rehabilitate or treat them on people that are already productive members of society by rewarding them for doing a great job with education and training to better themselves, their lives and everything around them. If you reward bad behavior you will get behavior.
@G.O.D.: I wanted to go Godwin on you, but refrained. Instead I shall leave you with this: [en.wikipedia.org] as well as the fact that rehabilitative/restorative justice tends to create better results than retributive justice.
@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: Haha, yeah, I had to say it, but knew I was opening a can when I said it. It boils down to personal ethics. My ethical stance is that it's immoral, but others have good arguments for the justice of it.
I thought Cat Brain was a mind-blowingly impressive follow-on to the Blue Brain simulator. Blue Brain simulates a single neocortical column. It's only 10,000 neurons, but its model "consists of 10,000 3D digitizations of real neurons that are populated with model ion channels constrained by the genetic makeup of over 200 different types of neurons." It simulate the actual chemistry of neurons and as such is the only biologically accurate simulation (of a tiny part of a juvenile rat brain).
Cat Brain sounds massively better with 1.6 billion neurons signalling each other through 9 trillion connections. But it only works if modelling neurons as simple "points" that signal each other with single values is a productive simplification of brain chemistry. As Blue Brain guy says "There is no qualified neuroscientist on the planet that would agree that this is even close to a cat's brain."
@Kaiser-Machead: yeah taking em back was not a good gesture. If memory serves correct they were of the red/cyan variety - paper glasses can be variagated- I have red/cyan ones, colorcode ones (gold/magneta) and also polarized (transparent-greyish) (the last one only works with my iz3d display)
You need a MYCROFT H.O.L.M.E.S. (High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L) connected to a lot of peripheral systems; like a magnetic cargo launcher, atmospheric controls for several Lunar domes, and probably connection to H.K.L. (Hong-Kong Luna) banking systems.
Then you have to listen to it tell bad jokes for a few years. #neurogrid
Yes everyone, the general consensus is that there is a typo in the article. So don't bother mentioning it in the comments. It's kind of irritating to read the same thing 6 or 7 times. #neurogrid
08:35 PM
This article had a happy ending.
08:38 PM
*does a tap dance*
08:16 PM
08:23 PM
Madness.
07:34 PM
07:26 PM
Now excuse me as I hop off of my liberal sociologist soapbox.
07:31 PM
But I live in Canada, where we don't do the death penalty. I don't hate my government for it, but I sure wish it would change one day. Or at least exile people haha
07:44 PM
He demonstrated an ability to identify impressionable youths and develop them into serial killers. An innocent pen-pal relationship or a friendship with a soon-to-be-released convict is an opening to further extend his reach, even from behind bars.
I feel that his death was absolutely right, not as punishment for a series of horrifying and unforgivable acts, but as a necessary means to snuff out the influence of a dangerous man.
07:45 PM
As for exiling people, I mean, isn't that how the great nation of Australia started? It literally is a nation of pirates, murderers, rapists, and thieves.
07:47 PM
07:55 PM
08:01 PM
08:47 PM
With that, I've been in trouble for politically debating on here, so I will take the rest of my opinions and run.
That flash of light? That was me, I be runnin.
08:50 PM
07:25 PM
05:22 AM
Cat Brain sounds massively better with 1.6 billion neurons signalling each other through 9 trillion connections. But it only works if modelling neurons as simple "points" that signal each other with single values is a productive simplification of brain chemistry. As Blue Brain guy says "There is no qualified neuroscientist on the planet that would agree that this is even close to a cat's brain."
11/23/09
10:59 AM
03:36 PM
11/23/09
Decide for yourself in Fable 3, due out Winter 2010.
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
African Grey Parrot Brain Simulator Tells Humanity It's Full Of Shit
11/23/09
11/23/09
12:41 PM
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/09/09
Then you have to listen to it tell bad jokes for a few years. #neurogrid
11/09/09