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If that was too long, here's the same thing in comic form.

And make sure the system doesn't have any rounding errors, too!.

So did Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

Nope, there are lots of subatomic places where we could store information. The spin on electrons, for example. Another simple alternative would be to use the photovoltaic effect to move electrons up and down energy levels. Fire a photon at the atom to move the electron up one energy level, measure its charge to find the current one.

Of course, when I say simple, I mean in terms of theoretical physics. In terms of engineering, it's quite the opposite.

There was quite an appropriate SMBC a couple of days ago.

This seems very appropriate.

That would have helped, but what really killed it was not making it a hyperlink. What do you expect me to do? Select the text, click Ctrl+C, followed by Ctrl+T, follwed by Ctrl+V, and then press enter? Some of us have shit to do!

Reminds me of this.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1731#comic

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1943

Science doesn't happen overnight!

You didn't do a proper link to that comic, (it's changed now), so here it is: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1949#comic

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1949

http://www.smbc-comics.com/

I know XKCD is traditional, but today's SMBC is obligatory.

The problem with all of those approaches is that they assume a "meta-time" (even if not stated as such) that will alter the PRESENT based upon changes in the FUTURE.

That's how a photograph that you have right (taken in the future) now will change based upon events that have not happened yet.

Once you get past that, you understand that there is no "grandfather paradox". If it exists in the current time then it exists in the current time. The future will not reach back and "clean up" the present to make it more acceptable to the future.

Obligatory cartoon linkage:
http://www.smbc-comics.com/

We hear about "teleportation" and something-or-other traveling faster than light, only to hear later that it's BS and we won't be seeing Star Trek technology anytime soon.

I believe this and this may be relevant.

That seems somewhat reasonable. Or what, scientists are just supposed to be revered as priests of hidden knowledge?

No, you're supposed to Read The Fucking Paper.

Obviously, a child's sense of wonder is different from a that of a scientist. We have not lost our sense of wonder. We have merely ... upgraded it. Interestingly, Nature (while being a sneaky bitch) is also quite bountiful in that for every puzzle solved by science, we are given many more that are much more fascinating than the last.

Besides, the person in your example is just an idiot who cannot recognize a rhetorical question or an idle musing when he sees one. You are equating semantically challenged douchenozzles (or at the worst, science fanboys) with scientists - a common strawman in such debates. Also (thankfully), in this day and age, it is relatively easy to find men or women (as mates) who are not so flaky that they need to live in willful ignorance (which is different, mind you, from indulging oneself in whimsy every now and then) just to feel a false sense of wonder.

Also amusing are the idiots who try to reverse this loss of pseudo-wonder with the common refrain, "Well, surely it can't be as mundane as all that. Surely, there's something more to life than just the physical world?" To them I can only say - the day you've exhausted the wonders of the physical world (aka "reality" - that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away*)

Disclaimer: Not all of this was in direct reply to you. Some of it was a response to related misconceptions.

_____________
*Philip Dick

I'm guessing he's going to use the same method Superman uses to stay awake and vigilant all that time.

Wow...the contrast between the NASA article and the Telegraph article is amazing. Is anyone else reminded of SMBC's cartoon on science reporting?

Tried number 1 but it's unfortunately proven that time travel is impossible.

I quote SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=584

And in this case likewise. :)

SMBC said it best: Why fight creationism? Evolution fights for itself!

apparently it was the 2nd time he did it...

...on the "Pop-up Guide to Sex"

Games already can prevent overpopulation.

Experts in a given field can and often feel that their expertise on a narrow topic carries over to the entirety of human knowledge. People listening to those experts fall into the common trap that their confidence always stems from experience.

I think this says it best - http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1777

Wait, you mean there's something that isn't covered by an xkcd comic!?

math 'fans' who obsess about the digits of pi are ... misguided. I think this says it best - http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1777

Hey, I'm a physicist, and I know 60 digits. The first 30 or so are actually useful too, in case you want to hard-code PI to quad-precision in your code (...and it wasn't already in your math library ...and you didn't have internet access ...and it wasn't stored on your computer somewhere ...)

Pre-7th grade math is boring as hell anyway. Give me a calculator and let me start with the interesting math.

You seem to be under the impression that numbers are the most important part of math. It is this unhealthy obsession with numbers that makes math boring for kids. It would be like art class being all about blending pigments to get the right colors. Hell, even math 'fans' who obsess about the digits of pi are ... misguided. I think this says it best - http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1777

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1786#comic

This comic seems appropriate.

I like this one. Be sure to hover your cursor over the red button below the comic for the punchline.

... is because computers do exactly what they are told to do.

For business users, whitelisting can make sense.
For home users, this will lead to just another popup for them to click through to get the thing they want. How should they know if it is just too new and not covered by the whitelist or actually bad? Remember, a few percent of people still click the links in spam, and enough of them buy the product to make the spammers tons of money.

The problem is perhaps most accurately depicted in this comic:
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1801#comic

Apparently you have not paid any attention on how actual farming is implemented recently.

It's not quite the land of sunshine that is painted on the tele.

No, I'm afraid farming today is fairly beyond the concept of humane.

That's what pisses me off about groups like PETA: sometimes, they're right. There is abuse in farms. A lot. I'm not saying every farm does it, but it happens. When PETA goes out talking about farm cruelty, they might turn some heads, but then they follow that up by stripping naked and saying that eating meat makes you worse than Hitler (but naturally, stuff like this is fine and dandy). And that's where they lose people. People dismiss all their claims.

At the end of the day, their stupid antics only hurt the animals. Do they talk about sustainable fishing? No, they talk about 'sea-kittens.' Do they talk about humane animal testing? No, they want to end all testing (except for PETA VP Mary Beth Sweetland's insulin) in favor of non-existent models and cripple medical science. Do they advocate decent living conditions for farm animals? No, say farm animals completely equivalent to Jews during the Holocaust.

They're not about what's best for the animals, they're on a feel good quest for attention. Well, screw them.

Since the user is installing the software, isn't that consent? I don't know about *informed* consent, but that seems impossible to measure unless software distributors have to test the users to make sure they know what they are doing.

This seems to be an appropriate illustration of that point.

The element's discoverer was, quite understandably, crushed by his lack of recognition.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1621

Dino Comics
Saturday morning breakfast cereal
Akimbo Comics
Subnormality
In that order.

Oh video games, is there any crisis you can't solve ?

To reference a 4-letter-title webcomic that DOESN'T get banded around here on an hourly basis;

Obligatory SMBC

Orgasms are not exactly perfect demonstrations of our intelligent capabilities. If that's all AI can do, then we has a hell of a way to go...

When someone says "in this universe/reality," I'm always reminded of http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1595

My daughter ain't marryin' no Zorblaxian!

So you object to the blantant misrepresentation of scientific facts by mass-media journalists lacking the necessary education to understand the issue they're writing about?

Welcome to the club, active since... well, one hell of a long time. Read this and this for a rough idea on how modern journalism really works.

Obligatory SMBC

Think about it. Think about it like a cat.

SMBC explained why cat translation products fail. Although there are financial endeavors to decode dog.

I for one welcome the increasing numbers of our feminine overlords.
Also, obligatory smbc comic

Japan's just preparing for the near future.

its "no big deal" until you need to know something off the internet right now, high stakes

I need to know what a fourteen year old thinks about copyright law and I need to know it NOW !

Quantum sex you say? There's a app^Wcomic for that! http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1666

(I'm not affiliated with them in any way--I just think the comics are funny, and that you might too)