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Neither Palpatine, Sidious, Maul, or Vader (not Anakin) were Jedi when they acted to destroy the Republic... Sith are an entirely different disipline of force-users...
If you look at it from a bibical sence. Are devils fallen angels or really monsters that have nothing to do with God's creation?
Because a human does something bad it doesn't make him unhuman (yes it should be punished). But humans doing bad things is normal or else there would be no need for a police, fcc, sec and other agencies. Same goes for Jedi, in history there have always jedi gone bad but they are called Sith. For me they are just nasty jedi's
Neither Palpatine, Sidious, Maul, or Vader (not Anakin) were Jedi when they acted to destroy the Republic... Sith are an entirely different disipline of force-users... But somthing of a technicality. The Jedi Order is an agency, a branch, of the Republic. To large extent under the control of the Senate and the Chancellor obviously, and they themselves have a loosely structured heirarchy. Their mission, to preserve ("defend") the Republic and maintain order, pretty much through any means nessesarry ("aggressive negotiation tactics"). Mind reading/altering, covert assasination, and most of all the power of foresight made them so powerful that they managed to keep the Republic going for centuries with no military at all.
Personally I think that the Sith and Jedi have the same goals (order) but use different means to get there.
the Jedi were the only thing keeping the contraption glued together.
But then its also the Jedi (Palpatine, Darth Sidious, Vader) who destroyed it.
However as you argued that it would have been an enormous corrupt institution without the take over and the following (freedom) war which possibly bring with it changes (to the old republic and empire way of doing things). Like WWII eh?
And what if only one German general (Tarkin) went and tried to invade Russia and the other countries? The whole of Germany would not be blamed... that sort of thing.
Do know of Rommel?
The history of Nazi Germany and the Galactic Empire aren't quite convergant. The Empire really does concern itself more with terrorism too, kind of like America today, in the form of the violent Rebel Alliance.
Well the resistance were considered terrorists by the Nazis. Like they say one mans freedom fighter is another mans ....
The European Union is nothing compared to the whole galaxy though... not a dozen states which are only somewhat unified, but a thousand worlds with far more diverse peoples... a government with a few Frances with hundreds and hundreds of "less influential" worlds would simply not work.
Not that the EU is a central, federal, soverign nation anyway.
How about the UN then? This organization looks more like the Star Wars Republic.
Actually this proves your point as the UN will never be able to rule the world, well only if the whole of the G7 plus Russia fully supported the idea and then only by use military power.
Reading the discussion it made me think of the Empire as WWII Nazis and the rebels as the allies.
The arguments in this thread do support that idea. Like the Empire, the Nazis rule was a dictatorship which came from a collapsed Republic, not hated by European people in general in the beginning, the inner core had some occult religion going for them but the commoners and army generals where more "earthy", conquered members did have anatomy (as long as they supported the Emporer/Hitler), stabilty and security ruled the first years (until the rebels (allies) changed that by declaring war).
However after the Nazis entered western soviet union (georgia, belarus) and actually were welcomed by the local people but then the nazis went basically on a killing sprea (destroying planet in SW trilogy) and from that the rebels (allies) got more support.
Reading some weeks ago on the internet (gossip) that its possible that there will be episodes 7,8 and 9 of star wars. Its would interesting to know if the former (rebels) like in post WWII war entered a cold war. Maybe some of the rebel worlds don't want mindreading jedi secret police anymore (its the jedi's that caused all of this mess at the end, Darth Vader and the Emporer were former jedi's). Which is logical from a point of view because as long as their are jedi's their will be Sith.
Now, lets magnify the problem again by another several orders of magnetude, to where there are not millions, not billions, but many Trillions of sentients...
You saw the Senate chaimber in the preqs, yes? By the same reasoning at Athens, Republic cannnot work on the scale of tens of Trillions either, member worlds don't carry any political power at all hardly, what good is one vote against thousands? How can you have a voice in the debate of such a body? And what defense is there against corruption if your vote is all but worthless?
Basically isn't the EU facing the same problems? I mean you have three countries (Italy, France and Germany) which have huge economies compared to the other member states.
If France and Germany want to something to happen it will happen. If Denmark or Belgium want something to happen, well, I think you can guess.
Also each european state has its own culture and most of them also their own language. So that another problem.
However at the end of the day they seem to manage. But then there are no racial differences, and certainly not species differences. And also the culture differences are not that big.
However it's still an example that it can work.
I question for the people who said yes.
Who would you want to give up your comfortable lives on this very beautifull planet and go to a planet many times more hostile then Antartica? I mean there are hardly people living on Antartica now, so what makes Mars more special?
A compromise to a flying car might be a levitated car that follows guide rail or wire underneath the road way or path you want them to follow. That way it would only be a foot or two off the ground and the boundaries would be set as to where they could go. Also we could get away from rubber tire and gas driven engines which cause pollution.
We can pick and choose which technology that we choose to use or even put restriction on that technology by engineering limitation on that technology when we engineer it. But, I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and even if they were not a safety issue, pollution or noise problem, I’m not sure that I would want to see thousand or tens of thousand of them in the sky though.
Larry,
Assuming you are not talking about anti gravity devices, I assume you're talking about electromagnetical levitation.
Which is possible for perhaps public transport. But do you really think this (extremly expensive) investation will replace engines in the vehicles (gas burning) with communal (magnets)?
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Personally I think "flying cars" could work.
Yes will have cars that will crash down on someones home. But like now that chance will be as big as now a cesna crashing on your house.
Why? Because all of the flying cars will be autopiloted as soon as they leave 2D space (roads) and enter 3D space (air). As someone else said on a different forum: "They will be as reliable as an horse taking a drunken rider to it's (home) barn."
Like now in keeping your lane with flying cars it will be about keeing your 3D lane.
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However at this point and time I don't see technologies that make flying cars possible.
One of the main reasons for the massive increase in the cost of Oil is that China has become hungrier for oil than ever before frankly it needs more than is being produced.
Actually its China, India and other south east asian countries.
But I read some place (could be these forums) that Americans have some inborn obsession with China.
I think that China like Europe has a bigger chance for a good and functional public transportation system then the USA.
Its simply that most Chinese live in eastern China (their coast), so it's possible to invest billions of dollars in a public transportation system thats profitable*..
The Chinese government should for to get people in public transporation only maintain the roads in the cities and urban areas but not expand them. However at the same time invest in the public transport systems. These public transport systems can be powered by nuclear power and other forms of energy not based on fossile fuels.
However in rural areas roads should be more sensible.
*Profitable not being purly money based just that it's an important factor of the infrastructure.
Black Shirts in Red China?
Beijing today is more fascist than communist.
Read more http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial … 01682]here.
Astrology is pseudo-science, but it *was* the basis of later-time serious stuff.
Reminds me of a discussion I had once on IRC with atheists.
My argument was that: "Yes, religions are no good but believing in something is different from religions and actually from astrology came astronomy and from alchemy came chemistry and from religions came the spread of writing."
But its off topic.
Just a comment but isn't the logo of the picture you included the sign of the male?
If so why? What does Mars have to do with males?
Slate Magazine had a 2 piece article about a similar venture in the Utah dessert also by the Mars Society.
Here is the first http://slate.msn.com/id/2100944/entry/2100945/]article and this http://slate.msn.com/id/2100944/entry/0/]is the second part.
I read a similar article some time ago about http://www.eetimes.com/at/hpm/news/OEG2 … 0005]using diamons in semiconductors.
Anyway, there is a major difference in the these two studies. Diamonds are extreme good heat conductors, high voltage electrical insulators and also very good for high frequency devices. I think the two studies could complement eachother.
While googling last week to find out why mirrors actually reflect light*. I found out that white surfaces reflect more light (em waves) then the best mirrors.
So is there any reason why when people talk about space mirrors they mostly show silvery (coloured) mirrors?
*BTW, if I understood correctly mirrors don't reflect the light but imitate them. When a photon hits an atom of a (silvery) mirror the electron of the atom transmits another photon that has the same properties as the one that hit the atom but only with a phase shift (thats why mirrors have different left and rights). So you actually seeing a copy of information (light) that hit the mirror.
I just stumpled upon this site http://free.financialmail.co.za/innovat … y/dinn.htm
Anyway its about extracting gas from a lake in a central african country that is produced by a microbe called: "archaea"
That microbe takes CO2 out of the water (plenty of that on Mars) for oxygen and produces methane as a byproduct. Well nuclear energy is still cheaper and easier to implement on Mars but this microbe could help with the terraforming of Mars and at the same time deliver energy.
A lot can happen between now and 2025.
For example the whole middle east problem can end (by Arab countries reconizing Israel?) and the arab countries can concentrate on internal problems and perhaps forming their own economic union.
South East Asian countries could also from a union. Basically if China a North Korea would officially accept some form of capatilisme and the Taiwan problem is settled then I see nothing stopping from south east asia starting an union of their own.
Aliens can invade
Huge solar flare destroys all electronics on Earth.
I mean who would have known 25 years ago the world would turn out like its now. Reagan calling Sjovets evil empire, computers as big as houses, internet, mobile phones, space shuttle didn't acclomplish much and etc..
]Some would argue that it was because Europe was made of many small states that it promoted the quick rise of science during the renaissance. Compare this to India which during the same time was fairly wealth had a large base of land and people. One big united nation doesn’t always help push things forward. Usually it is the contrary that does. That is the diversity of ideas and thought
I don't want to be a nitpick but as I understand India used be hundreds of sultanates (excuse spelling) and kindoms. And GB when they colonized it made one central government. As still today India has dozens of languages and cultures.
I think China should be compared to India as I read once that both want regional control. (I read this is why China sold nukes to Pakistan, to keep India busy)
Look at this (snippet) data that I got from the country data briefings of China and India (from 1999 - 2003:
China
GDP per head ($ at PPP) 3,651 3,980 4,330 4,690
GDP (% real change pa) 7.14 7.95 7.30 8.01
Public debt (% of GDP) 6.14 8.58 10.43 13.16
Labour costs per hour (USD) .53 .59 .69 .80
Recorded unemployment (%) 7.40 8.20 9.30 9.00
India
GDP per head ($ at PPP) 2,360 2,500 2,620 2,830
GDP (% real change pa) 3.95 5.14 4.59 8.10
Public debt (% of GDP) 56.52 57.66 60.60 62.20
Labour costs per hour (USD) 0.59 0.62 0.66 0.74
Recorded unemployment (%) 9.17 9.20 9.90 9.50
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Overall China is doing better then India, especially if you look at the whole data (on the http://www.economist.com]www.economist.com/ country briefings).
However if you look at the GDP you will see that India is growing much faster (almost twice the growth of GDP) then China but then China's economy is bigger so a few percent of growth is quantativly much more. As perhaps as some economist say growth going to fast is bad for the general economy.
However a Chinese person has almost the double of purchasing power of an Indian and their wealth increased much more in the last years then a Indians whos wealth increase was a lackluster.
But then the public debt levels of India are almost at the same level of developed countries and I'm sure you will not see as much of it as you would see in a developed country. India public debt 62% and China 13%. So China has some playing room for debts but India must be carefull.
Labor costs in China have risen with 27 cents/hour and in India it was more modest with 15 cents/hour. But the difference is negligible for a western country thinking of investing in either country. India 74 cents and China 80 cents
Chinese unemployment has risen with 1.6% while India's rose with 0.33% but is still lower then India's. This can be due to the fact that a lot of rural Chinese people leave towards to city in the hope to find better wages then on their farms. And it may take a while to find a job.
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Oh ok Smurf, I'm sorry. Bigotry has nothing to do with low intelligence.
Seriously, descrimination/sexism has everything to do with intelligence. Hating women or thinking them inferior isn't a value but a lack of it. If you think you are better than a woman or someone with different skin color just because you are male or white then you aren't expressing a different system of beliefs, but a lack of comprehension and yes intelligence.
I think that in most cases it has to with (family, the way you were raised) culture, personal experiences and ignorance.
BTW: I never said I thought those particular values are wrong or right. I'm just trying to say if you take an identical twin and seperate them and put in two different families, one which considers women lower and the other a more modern family. You will see that the children tend to pick up the values tought by their parents even though that this identical twin in theory should be as intelligent.
But yes people who can't cope with new ideas and ways can be considered idiots. Even on a evolutionary scale as the animal that is best at adapting wins the race.
Put another way, who is more liekly to win a woman's heart: a man that is sexist or a man that believes women are his equal?
This says nothing about a man's intelligence, just his values. Also it depends on a womans values which of the two she will choose if the two men are equally wealthy. And nothing is stopping these two men to be equally wealthy.
If the ratio of males in China is getting to high I think the Chinese government can really correct it easily. Just continue the one child policy but if you are pregnant and it’s a girl, then you can keep it.
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However feeding this enormous population can be a problem. I wonder how India, who has almost the same size of population manages this.
BTW: Why is no one talking about India as a possible super power? They also have a booming economy (however not as great as China) and a stable and democratic government.
Anyway if China can't manage to feed their own people they could look into using Bangladesh as its food supplier (like the Romans used Egypt). China sends some of its engineers and money and builds dams for the Bangladesh people and now they can go happily farming and export to China using loans provided by the Chinese to buy modern farming equipment. The same counts for other developing nations between China and India.
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Questions that I ask my self to see if a country has a chance to compete with the G7 countries:
1. Food, can the country feed it self? Or does it rely on imports?
2. Energy, is the energy grid in general as reliable as a pacemaker?
3. Politics, is the country stable? Not related to human rights, sometimes a strong dictatorship is better then a weak democracy. Are there internal conflicts or border conflicts if so how does it affect the countries economy and the security of the citizens?
4. Environmental, how does the country handle environmental problems caused by humans, such as deforestation and pollution?
5. Water, is there cheap and clean water for everyone?
6. Disasters caused by nature such as flooding, dryness, insect swarms and hurricanes. Are they prevented when possible and can the economy handle it if it can't be prevented such as a hurricane?
7. Education is it open to everyone and is the quality at least equal with general western standards?
8. Healthcare and disease prevention. Can the country handle (isolate) an outbreak and are the hospitals supplied with enough medicine and other stocks and is there a certain ratio of hospitals per 10.000 citizens?
9. Corruption, how high is it; can you do a successful business without dealing with corrupt officials?
10. Wealth, can citizens buy luxury goods that make life much more comfortable?
If only American had a President like Kennedy or FDR
I disagree, I think that FDR and Kennedy were just coming in a situation were America had to do something or die.
Later presidents and governments realized that the Sjovet Union was going nowhere, so they could ease up. So for instance let private enterprice engage in space activities more or creating jobs.
However, yes perhaps they were the right person at the right place at the right time. Someone else may have scewed up, who knows. But they were higly motivated due to economic problems and social/political problems, which don't excist anymore in the same way.