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 Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Virtual reality shocker. Torturing even a lifeless computer character makes volunteers upset. [news@nature.com]
The ethical problem with this is that a large number of people acted as though they were torturing a real person. The researcher said that some parts of their brain did not know about virtual reality. So these people have to deal with the emotional responses of torturing someone, even though they only did it virtually. If part of their brain reacted exactly the same way as if it was real, then wont they suffer the same sort of trauma? Saying "It is not real" is not true for them, on some level. The possible mental anguish could be a problem. 3:06:07 AM 
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Voltaire. "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
[Quotes of the Day]
Dwight D. Eisenhower. "I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."
[Quotes of the Day]
Robert Frost. "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."
[Quotes of the Day]
Sometimes QOTD has a them. Sometimes not. I do like the Eisenhower one, though. 2:58:39 AM
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Man Jumps Onto NYC Subway Tracks To Save Stranger.... And who has not thought: "What if someone else fell? Would I jump to the rescue?"
Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker, faced both those questions in a flashing instant yesterday, and got his answers almost as quickly. [The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]
Read the whole story and be amazed at the courage of some people, These days it is not just on a battlefield. It is this ability to sacrifice for total strangers that makes humans so seemingly unique in the world. While most people would (did) stand around and watch, something any other animal would also do, it seems that some humans would risk death (and cause their children to lose a parent) to help someone that they did not know. Amazing but so very common. 2:38:15 AM
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Study finds surfing safer than soccer. While public perception may frame surfing as a dangerous sport, new research begs to differ. In the first study of its kind, researchers have computed the rate of injury among competitive surfers and found they are less prone to harm than collegiate soccer or basketball players.
read more [Science Blog - Think. It's not illegal yet.]
Of course, it is hard to surf in Kansas. And surfing does not usually involve kids running at each other at high speed, kicking at each other. Anyone who somehow thinks that soccer or basketball is a non-contact sport has not seen much soccer or basketball. Plus, jumping in the air while surrounded by others is a fine way to sprain an ankle. Harder to do surfing. 2:25:31 AM
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Gene-engineered cattle resist mad cow disease: study. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Japanese scientists reported on Sunday that they had used genetic engineering to produce cattle that resist mad cow disease. [Reuters: Science]
It will be a very long time before any of these enter the human food chain. They will probably be used to provide materials, such as serum albumin, for research purposes. But it is an interesting way around the problem. 2:17:10 AM
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