Jason Shankel's discussions

It's exactly intelligent design. It's saying the universe was intentionally contrived to bring us about. That the anthropic principle doesn't assert a mind, deity or omnipotent creator doesn't change the fact that it's fundamentally based on the idea that the rules of the universe were selected in order to bring… Read more

Quantum entanglement cannot be used to transmit information. There isn't actually any information being transmitted between entangled particles. One particle doesn't "cause" the other to change state, so nothing that is done to particle A can be seen as causally linked to the state of particle B. They're just two… Read more

Would have paid $5 to see the Borg Cube blow up the Botany Bay and have Picard and the gang return to a future where the galaxy is filled with Genesis worlds...the Genesis project having been a stunning success that was not interrupted by a kill crazy mad man.

Shouldn't that happen in the new timeline? Khan isn't all… Read more

2) also 2010...though that film cheated more with the gravity Read more

At least epicycles were based on observable data. Read more

Stupid conformist metronomes. Hey, think for yourselves, metronomes! Read more

Gotta divide hate into "as a character" and "as a person."

Skyler was initially put in an unsympathetic position. It's not sad birthday handies and credit card nagging that made her less than sympathetic. It was that she was always put in the way of the action. Read more

Don't look now, but you're taking something someone said on the internet seriously. Read more

Please see the entire thread below where this was discussed to death. I get how this works.

The rule is nothing can ever beat a light beam in a race. So this system allows light to travel between here and Proxima Centauri in less than four years, and hence permits a spaceship to cover the same distance also in less… Read more

It's true that Mars has no significant magnetic field. It's also true that isotope tests of the lower atmosphere indicate that Mars loses a good deal of its atmosphere via solar winds. Read more

Homosexuality never mentioned. Read more

Cool guys don't look at explosions! Read more

From our point of view? Forever. From your point of view? The same amount of time it takes to fall into a star, more or less, give or take, depending. Read more

Yes, he's a member of the board of NOM who launch boycotts against companies that support marriage equality. He's pretty much got no business pleading not to be boycotted against. Read more

I'm:

a) pro-gay rights and...
b) saying that when someone pleads for tolerance while demonstrating intolerance, that shall henceforth be known as the "Orson Scott Card" because Card is asking for everyone to tolerate him and not boycott his movie just because of his stance on gay marriage while he sits on the board of… Read more

They don't tolerate my intolerance of their intolerance. Read more

From now on, pleading for tolerance while actively boycotting anyone who disagrees with you will be known as "playing the Orson Scott Card." Read more

I'm not generally a big fan of boycotts, but there is a difference between Card and the other cases you mentioned.

It's not just Card's belief. There are plenty of homophobes in Hollywood who don't get much flak. It's that he is on the board of NOM and is actively campaigning to prevent marriage equality.

Polanski is a… Read more

Okay, it's really not possible to focus this intensely on homosexuality if you're straight yourself. Read more

And so do the rejected become the rejectors.

If you're at all concerned with "fake geek girls," you're working out some sort of issue from your childhood.

Who cares if they're fake? Just go be not fake.

"There are too many attractive women feigning interest in my hobbies!"
- No Straight Dude, Ever Read more