Jason Shankel's discussions

I concede the point. Read more

Einstein's general theory of relativity says that no object with mass (or any information-bearing signal) can ever travel faster than light. Any object that tries to race a beam of light will lose, regardless of what reference frame the race is viewed from.

This is known as the "light barrier." Much information is… Read more

I've been through this discussion below. If you don't accept that creating waves in space that will carry light beams in such away that they can arrive at an object 4 light years away in less than 4 yeas as speeding up light, then I concede the point. I'd rather not argue semantics. Read more

Homosexuality is a choice? Okay, choose to be gay for a minute. Read more

Fine. I concede the point. Read more

We're going Screamers before A Scanner Darkly? That is a bold statement, my friend :) Read more

I'm not arguing with you. This story popped up next to a more recent story on sexism and so I read it without noting the date. I'm backing up your point. I realize that it's worded to sound like the comment is directed at you, but it's not. I'm saying that anyone who says that people shouldn't complain about first… Read more

The argument undermines itself: if these problems are so trivial, go save the world instead of wasting time here talking about them. Read more

Look, it's really simple: no matter what someone is wearing...even if they're walking around stark naked...you are expected to treat them with respect. If you don't, then it's 100% on you and 0% on the subject of your disrespect. Read more

"Main characters survive. That's how storytelling works."

And who told you the Starks were the main characters? ;) Read more

Yeah, that works as well. But the apparent distance between Earth and Proxima Centauri stays the same from the perspective of the Earth, so from here the local shortening of distance appears as a speeding up of light. Read more

Well, pseudo-intelligence or no, if you send a beam of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri and it arrives in less than four years, the light moved faster than it would have under normal circumstances. That would be a beam of light traveling 4 light years in fewer than 4 years. That would be light traveling faster… Read more

Well that's a refreshing sentiment to hear in this thread :) Read more

Yes, I admit it's a semantic quibble: the light itself never moves any faster locally. It's just that "local" gets a lot smaller.

My sense is that from inside the bubble, photons outside the bubble would appear to be heading toward proxima centauri along a wide curve. They'd be moving at the speed of light, but along… Read more

I fully understand the concept, I assure you. The distinction is semantic. Read more

They're waiting downstairs in the Miata. Read more

Cuz how dare a filmmaker have a message. Read more

I'd say that IB took the notion that all history is revisionist seriously. Hitler dies in a movie theater. And the Basterds mark Nazis for life. My take was that Tarantino was saying that we didn't just win WW II on the battlefield, we won it in the culture as well. In the movies, novels, radio plays and TV shows.… Read more

If you haven't seen Inglourious Basterds, check it out. I liked Django very much, but IB is a better film with a similar theme. Read more

Nailed it about the pernicious effects of pseduoscience. Racism fundamentally cannot stand in the light of any equalizing truth and while we owe a great deal to the development of the scientific method, the 19th century approach to science which sought to fit everything into nice, tidy, fixed and eternal little boxes… Read more