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Diamond Age Approaching?
CosmicDreams writes "The CRN (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology) reports that nanofactories (like the ones that were installed in every home in Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age) will arrive "almost certainly within 20 years". In short they claim that molecular nanotechnology manufacturing will solve many of the world's problems, catalyze a technologic revolution, and start the greatest arms race we've ever seen. They conclude the risks are so great that we should discuss how to deal with this technology so that we don't kill each other when it arrives."
and start the greatest arms race we've ever seen.
Awesome! There is nothing better than a watching limbs battle it for supremecy on a mile oval!
Although I may be more excited about the detached ankle crawl obsticle course.
"Well, we were pretty sure that Saddam Hussein III had at least 18 microscopic nuclear warheads hidden in the Arabian desert. We've not found them yet, but we will! We will!"
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Yeah, that's likely far in the future but 50 years ago a desktop computer was impossible.
No... you just needed a really big (and strong) desk.
Casual Games/Downloads
Oh that's no problem. In today's society we'll just download a patch after releasing a market-rushed, extremely flawed, half ass version 1.0.
I welcome the diamond age - it is nice to finally put the bronze age behind us. I look forward to my diamond ax head.
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
$7.95/mo, 200 GB disk, 2TBxfer, MySQL, PHP, RoR.
In short they claim that molecular nanotechnology manufacturing will solve many of the world's problems, catalyze a technologic revolution, and start the greatest arms race we've ever seen. They conclude the risks are so great that we should discuss how to deal with this technology so that we don't kill each other when it arrives.
Politicians: Yay. More legislative work means we'll forever be yammering about stuff.
Missionaries: Yay. End world hunger. I can go home and stop building bridges.
Eco-groupies: Boo. This will destroy the environment.
Engineers: Screw the consequences, I want ot play with one! Less talk, more tech!
Your Rights Online Whiners: We have to pass laws NOW about this technology. Because there's nothing like an archiac law for a technology we can't understand the ramifications of until it's been used for many years.
Console Junkies: Wha...? Can this wait? I'm almost through to the boss...
Babies: YES! With this power I alone will rul - WAAAAAAAAIMHUNGRYAAAAAAAA!
-Adam
If we outlaw nanotech, only mad scientists will have nanotech.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Dinosaur one: It's great ruling the world isn't it?
Dinosaur two: Yes, it's great!
Dinosaur one: It's like, we're the best! You can't beat us!
Dinosaur two: Yes! Like, we're the tops! Go dinos!
Dinosaur one: Go dinos!!
Dinosaur two: Yes! Go dinos!! Go go go!!!
Dinosaur one: Look at that pretty light in the sky!
Dinosaur two: Oh yes. Pretty! And growing.
And at every step it gets a little more boring.
Oooooh! Nanotech bio-killer grey goo replicator buuuuugs! Yeah, yeah, whatever, you just release 'em into the wild and you don't have to do anything other than sit on your fat ass and watch CNN for the rest of the day. Nukes? Sure, they look real pretty, but they don't scale well - you run out of people pretty quick, and then what do you do? A machine gun's pretty neat, but would get boring after the first couple of hours, plus it'd give your some horrible repetitive strain injuries to deal with. A cannon sounds like fun, but I'd be deaf and hating it within a week.
But a catapult... Oh, man, have you seen those things? Flingin' a cow or a VW beetle 500 feet away? Man, I don't think I'd ever get tired of that!
As a society, we've lost our soul. All the emphasis on shiny graphics and not enough emphasis on gameplay.
In other words, in the future, the movie "Saving Ryan's Privates" won't be a porn movie.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
...My favorite sentence, found halfway down this page:
:-D
A large spacecraft design must account for fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, vibration and resonance on many time scales, avionics and other control, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, combustion dynamics, hydraulics, cryogenics, and biomedical issues. (Thanks to an anonymous poster on Slashdot for pointing this out.) (Emphasis mine.)
If they're using Slashdot as a source for information, how can we possibly take them seriously?
"The plural of anecdote is not data" -- Bruce Schneier
How true. Just look at goatse.