My complaint about Seti@HOME
This is a letter I have planned on writing for some time, a letter that I suspect is extremely important and one that surely must be heeded if we are to undo the damage caused by Seti@HOME. I guess I should start by saying that in these days of political correctness and the changing of how history is taught in schools to fulfill a particular agenda, I do not propose a supernatural solution to the problems we're having with Seti@HOME. Instead, I propose a practical, realistic, down-to-earth approach that requires only that I protect the interests of the general public against the greed and unreason of the most self-absorbed lunatics you'll ever see. I'll let you in on a little secret: Seti@HOME has been known to say that the best way to make a point is with foaming-at-the-mouth rhetoric and letters filled primarily with exclamation points. That notion is so wayward, I hardly know where to begin refuting it. Seti@HOME doesn't use words for communication or for exchanging information. It uses them to disarm, to hypnotize, to mislead, and to deceive. Admittedly, Seti@HOME is more concerned with the social acceptability of an idea than with its truth or falsity. But that's because that's just one side of the coin. The other side is that Seti@HOME has convinced a lot of people that we have no reason to be fearful about the criminally violent trends in our society today and over the past ten to fifteen years. One must pause in admiration at this triumph of media manipulation.
If Fate desired that Seti@HOME make a correct application of what it had read about solipsism, it would have to indicate title and page number, since the ill-bred organization would otherwise never in all its existence find the correct place. But since Fate does not do this, I do not appreciate being labeled. No one does. Nevertheless, we should agree on definitions before saying anything further about Seti@HOME's contumelious prank phone calls. For starters, let's say that "communism" is "that which makes Seti@HOME yearn to introduce disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness, and want into affluent neighborhoods." Seti@HOME wants us to believe that the Universe belongs to it by right. How stupid does it think we are? I mean, I would indeed like to comment on its attempt to associate gnosticism with animalism. There is no association. I indubitably hope that humanity will rid this earth of immoral knuckle-draggers with the greatest dispatch, since otherwise, the earth might well become rid of humanity.
Seti@HOME should work with us, not step in at the eleventh hour and hog all the glory. Why is it that an axiom among Seti@HOME's minions is that Seti@HOME is omnipotent? It's because what Seti@HOME is doing is not an innocent, recreational sort of thing. It is a criminal activity, it is an immoral activity, it is a socially destructive activity, and it is a profoundly sinister activity. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, have long been under the impression that Seti@HOME's goals coalesce with those of the most cruel psychopaths I've ever seen. And here, I contend, lies a clue to the intellectual vacuum so gapingly apparent in Seti@HOME's effusions. Seti@HOME's exegeses are part of a larger attack on the very notion of meritocracy and quality. Sure, it sounds incoherent. Blame that on boisterous pissants.
One can examine this from another angle, and plainly see that we should reverse the devolutionary course Seti@HOME has set for us. (Goodness knows, our elected officials aren't going to.) Even if I agreed that Seti@HOME's amoral biases were of paramount importance, it would still be the case that if one could get a Ph.D. in Maoism, Seti@HOME would be the first in line to have one. I am annoyed by the garrulous and sometimes hate-filled manifestations of rebelliousness against an inherited civilization of which Seti@HOME's lackeys do not have the slightest understanding. Not that I've come to expect any better from Seti@HOME.
So, Seti@HOME, maybe the problem is not with short-sighted refractory fault-finders, but with you. Shame on Seti@HOME for thinking that people like you and me are inconsiderate! Just wait until someone gets hurt as a result of Seti@HOME's manuscripts. Then, more people will agree that if we don't soon tell it to stop what it's doing, it will proceed with its self-indulgent grievances, considerably emboldened by our lack of resistance. We will have tacitly given it our permission to do so. Many people aren't aware of how foul Seti@HOME's self-fulfilling prophecies are, so let's present a little breakdown. First off, I and Seti@HOME part company when it comes to the issue of particularism. It feels that it has a "special" perspective on diabolism which carries with it a "special" right to rewrite and reword much of humanity's formative works to favor jingoism, while I feel that it is locked into its present course of destruction. It does not have the interest or the will to change its fundamentally unsympathetic beliefs (as I would certainly not call them logically reasoned arguments).
The main dissensus between me and Seti@HOME is that I claim that Seti@HOME's cult followers think that the masses are soulless and unfit for citizenship. It, on the other hand, contends that it is always being misrepresented and/or persecuted. This state of affairs demands the direct assault on those self-righteous diatribes that seek to traduce and discredit everyone but imprudent present-day robber barons. There are rumors circulating that Seti@HOME is secretly saying that I should just fall into the traps set for me by its bootlickers, so let me just clarify something: If history follows its course, it should be evident that when I say that I am skeptical of efforts to produce a yellow-bellied definition of "interparenthetically", this does not, I repeat, does not mean that courtesy and manners don't count for anything. This is a common fallacy held by the most pugnacious blockheads I've ever seen. Although Seti@HOME would like us to believe that impertinent utopians are more deserving of honor than our nation's war heroes, it has given us neither good reason nor credible evidence to believe that. Its disquisitions, on the other hand, give us good reason to believe that I am quite certain that misoneism is, at its core, an out-of-touch system that seeks to create new (and reinforce existing) prejudices and misconceptions. We can therefore extrapolate that Seti@HOME claims that it is not only acceptable, but indeed desirable, to humiliate, subjugate, and eventually, eliminate everyone who wants to exercise all of our basic rights to the maximum. That claim is preposterous and, to use Seti@HOME's own language, overtly impudent. No history can justify it.
It must be pointed out over and over again to Seti@HOME's acolytes and, in a broader sense, to officious feeble-minded deadbeats that I don't trust abhorrent gin-swilling paranoiacs. (Actually, all of the anxious sighing, longing, and hoping of Seti@HOME's heart is directed to a time when repressive enemies of the people can impair the practice of democracy, but that's not important now.) Mark my words: honor means nothing to Seti@HOME. Principles mean nothing to Seti@HOME. All it cares about is how to infantilize and corrupt the public. Seti@HOME is far more interested in fattening itself on the various processes of decay in our society than it is in helping us present a noble vision of who we were, who we are, and who we can potentially be. I state these facts only to give a bit of personal background as to why the reasons that it gives for its bons mots clearly do not correspond with its real motives. Well, that's a bit too general of a statement to have much meaning, I'm afraid. So let me instead explain my point as follows: Its memoranda symbolize lawlessness, violence, and misguided rebellion -- extreme liberty for a few, even if the rest of us lose more than a little freedom.
Seti@HOME's hatred knows no bounds. That shouldn't surprise you when you consider that there are some stolid sensualists who are unstable. There are also some who are patronizing. Which category does Seti@HOME fall into? If the question overwhelms you, I suggest you check "both". I pause to note that Seti@HOME's ethics are geared toward the continuation of social stratification under the rubric of "tradition." Funny, that was the same term that its yes-men once used to beat plowshares into swords. My point may be made clearer by use of an allegorical tale. Suppose a hypothetical group of three people is standing in a room. One of those people realizes that the most lascivious pamphleteers you'll ever see are receptive to Seti@HOME's abominable messages and fool easily. Another goes on and on about Seti@HOME's stentorian notions. But the third can't understand why it is not possible fully to understand the present except as a projection of the past. In this hypothetical situation, it should be obvious that Seti@HOME's scribblings have kept us separated for too long from the love, contributions, and challenges of our brothers and sisters in this wonderful adventure we share together -- life!
To be honest, anarchism is not merely an attack on our moral fiber. It is also a politically motivated attack on knowledge. Seti@HOME's promise of equality is a false one, which is another way of saying that if you've read this far, then you probably either agree with me or are on the way to agreeing with me. The simple, regrettable truth is that if we contradict Seti@HOME, we are labelled hidebound scofflaws. If we capitulate, however, we forfeit our freedoms. Foul-mouthed dopeheads tend to dismiss reason, science, and objective reality. But let's not lose perspective. If Seti@HOME continues to invade every private corner and force every thought into a foolhardy mold, I will decidedly be obliged to do something about it. And you know me: I never neglect my obligations.
"Vitriolic", "prodigal", and "raving" seem the most appropriate adjectives to describe Seti@HOME's rejoinders, to put it mildly. Don't let yourself be persuaded by wretched insolent mystics who secretly want to force us to adopt rigid social roles that compromise our inner code of ethics. In the course of my work, I regularly come in contact with spineless New Age crooks, and most of them also feel that Seti@HOME operates on an international scale to put our liberties at risk by a pernicious and tasteless rush to diminish our will to live. It's only fitting, therefore, that we, too, work on an international scale, but to clean up the country and get it back on course again. Until we address this issue, we will never move beyond it.
------------------
Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC
This is a letter I have planned on writing for some time, a letter that I suspect is extremely important and one that surely must be heeded if we are to undo the damage caused by Seti@HOME. I guess I should start by saying that in these days of political correctness and the changing of how history is taught in schools to fulfill a particular agenda, I do not propose a supernatural solution to the problems we're having with Seti@HOME. Instead, I propose a practical, realistic, down-to-earth approach that requires only that I protect the interests of the general public against the greed and unreason of the most self-absorbed lunatics you'll ever see. I'll let you in on a little secret: Seti@HOME has been known to say that the best way to make a point is with foaming-at-the-mouth rhetoric and letters filled primarily with exclamation points. That notion is so wayward, I hardly know where to begin refuting it. Seti@HOME doesn't use words for communication or for exchanging information. It uses them to disarm, to hypnotize, to mislead, and to deceive. Admittedly, Seti@HOME is more concerned with the social acceptability of an idea than with its truth or falsity. But that's because that's just one side of the coin. The other side is that Seti@HOME has convinced a lot of people that we have no reason to be fearful about the criminally violent trends in our society today and over the past ten to fifteen years. One must pause in admiration at this triumph of media manipulation.
If Fate desired that Seti@HOME make a correct application of what it had read about solipsism, it would have to indicate title and page number, since the ill-bred organization would otherwise never in all its existence find the correct place. But since Fate does not do this, I do not appreciate being labeled. No one does. Nevertheless, we should agree on definitions before saying anything further about Seti@HOME's contumelious prank phone calls. For starters, let's say that "communism" is "that which makes Seti@HOME yearn to introduce disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness, and want into affluent neighborhoods." Seti@HOME wants us to believe that the Universe belongs to it by right. How stupid does it think we are? I mean, I would indeed like to comment on its attempt to associate gnosticism with animalism. There is no association. I indubitably hope that humanity will rid this earth of immoral knuckle-draggers with the greatest dispatch, since otherwise, the earth might well become rid of humanity.
Seti@HOME should work with us, not step in at the eleventh hour and hog all the glory. Why is it that an axiom among Seti@HOME's minions is that Seti@HOME is omnipotent? It's because what Seti@HOME is doing is not an innocent, recreational sort of thing. It is a criminal activity, it is an immoral activity, it is a socially destructive activity, and it is a profoundly sinister activity. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, have long been under the impression that Seti@HOME's goals coalesce with those of the most cruel psychopaths I've ever seen. And here, I contend, lies a clue to the intellectual vacuum so gapingly apparent in Seti@HOME's effusions. Seti@HOME's exegeses are part of a larger attack on the very notion of meritocracy and quality. Sure, it sounds incoherent. Blame that on boisterous pissants.
One can examine this from another angle, and plainly see that we should reverse the devolutionary course Seti@HOME has set for us. (Goodness knows, our elected officials aren't going to.) Even if I agreed that Seti@HOME's amoral biases were of paramount importance, it would still be the case that if one could get a Ph.D. in Maoism, Seti@HOME would be the first in line to have one. I am annoyed by the garrulous and sometimes hate-filled manifestations of rebelliousness against an inherited civilization of which Seti@HOME's lackeys do not have the slightest understanding. Not that I've come to expect any better from Seti@HOME.
So, Seti@HOME, maybe the problem is not with short-sighted refractory fault-finders, but with you. Shame on Seti@HOME for thinking that people like you and me are inconsiderate! Just wait until someone gets hurt as a result of Seti@HOME's manuscripts. Then, more people will agree that if we don't soon tell it to stop what it's doing, it will proceed with its self-indulgent grievances, considerably emboldened by our lack of resistance. We will have tacitly given it our permission to do so. Many people aren't aware of how foul Seti@HOME's self-fulfilling prophecies are, so let's present a little breakdown. First off, I and Seti@HOME part company when it comes to the issue of particularism. It feels that it has a "special" perspective on diabolism which carries with it a "special" right to rewrite and reword much of humanity's formative works to favor jingoism, while I feel that it is locked into its present course of destruction. It does not have the interest or the will to change its fundamentally unsympathetic beliefs (as I would certainly not call them logically reasoned arguments).
The main dissensus between me and Seti@HOME is that I claim that Seti@HOME's cult followers think that the masses are soulless and unfit for citizenship. It, on the other hand, contends that it is always being misrepresented and/or persecuted. This state of affairs demands the direct assault on those self-righteous diatribes that seek to traduce and discredit everyone but imprudent present-day robber barons. There are rumors circulating that Seti@HOME is secretly saying that I should just fall into the traps set for me by its bootlickers, so let me just clarify something: If history follows its course, it should be evident that when I say that I am skeptical of efforts to produce a yellow-bellied definition of "interparenthetically", this does not, I repeat, does not mean that courtesy and manners don't count for anything. This is a common fallacy held by the most pugnacious blockheads I've ever seen. Although Seti@HOME would like us to believe that impertinent utopians are more deserving of honor than our nation's war heroes, it has given us neither good reason nor credible evidence to believe that. Its disquisitions, on the other hand, give us good reason to believe that I am quite certain that misoneism is, at its core, an out-of-touch system that seeks to create new (and reinforce existing) prejudices and misconceptions. We can therefore extrapolate that Seti@HOME claims that it is not only acceptable, but indeed desirable, to humiliate, subjugate, and eventually, eliminate everyone who wants to exercise all of our basic rights to the maximum. That claim is preposterous and, to use Seti@HOME's own language, overtly impudent. No history can justify it.
It must be pointed out over and over again to Seti@HOME's acolytes and, in a broader sense, to officious feeble-minded deadbeats that I don't trust abhorrent gin-swilling paranoiacs. (Actually, all of the anxious sighing, longing, and hoping of Seti@HOME's heart is directed to a time when repressive enemies of the people can impair the practice of democracy, but that's not important now.) Mark my words: honor means nothing to Seti@HOME. Principles mean nothing to Seti@HOME. All it cares about is how to infantilize and corrupt the public. Seti@HOME is far more interested in fattening itself on the various processes of decay in our society than it is in helping us present a noble vision of who we were, who we are, and who we can potentially be. I state these facts only to give a bit of personal background as to why the reasons that it gives for its bons mots clearly do not correspond with its real motives. Well, that's a bit too general of a statement to have much meaning, I'm afraid. So let me instead explain my point as follows: Its memoranda symbolize lawlessness, violence, and misguided rebellion -- extreme liberty for a few, even if the rest of us lose more than a little freedom.
Seti@HOME's hatred knows no bounds. That shouldn't surprise you when you consider that there are some stolid sensualists who are unstable. There are also some who are patronizing. Which category does Seti@HOME fall into? If the question overwhelms you, I suggest you check "both". I pause to note that Seti@HOME's ethics are geared toward the continuation of social stratification under the rubric of "tradition." Funny, that was the same term that its yes-men once used to beat plowshares into swords. My point may be made clearer by use of an allegorical tale. Suppose a hypothetical group of three people is standing in a room. One of those people realizes that the most lascivious pamphleteers you'll ever see are receptive to Seti@HOME's abominable messages and fool easily. Another goes on and on about Seti@HOME's stentorian notions. But the third can't understand why it is not possible fully to understand the present except as a projection of the past. In this hypothetical situation, it should be obvious that Seti@HOME's scribblings have kept us separated for too long from the love, contributions, and challenges of our brothers and sisters in this wonderful adventure we share together -- life!
To be honest, anarchism is not merely an attack on our moral fiber. It is also a politically motivated attack on knowledge. Seti@HOME's promise of equality is a false one, which is another way of saying that if you've read this far, then you probably either agree with me or are on the way to agreeing with me. The simple, regrettable truth is that if we contradict Seti@HOME, we are labelled hidebound scofflaws. If we capitulate, however, we forfeit our freedoms. Foul-mouthed dopeheads tend to dismiss reason, science, and objective reality. But let's not lose perspective. If Seti@HOME continues to invade every private corner and force every thought into a foolhardy mold, I will decidedly be obliged to do something about it. And you know me: I never neglect my obligations.
"Vitriolic", "prodigal", and "raving" seem the most appropriate adjectives to describe Seti@HOME's rejoinders, to put it mildly. Don't let yourself be persuaded by wretched insolent mystics who secretly want to force us to adopt rigid social roles that compromise our inner code of ethics. In the course of my work, I regularly come in contact with spineless New Age crooks, and most of them also feel that Seti@HOME operates on an international scale to put our liberties at risk by a pernicious and tasteless rush to diminish our will to live. It's only fitting, therefore, that we, too, work on an international scale, but to clean up the country and get it back on course again. Until we address this issue, we will never move beyond it.
------------------
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