The last thing Lenovo wanted to happen is to dilute the Thinkpad brand and screw up a good thing, when they purchased thinkpad from IBM. Knowing this, I bought a Thinkpad, and the thing totally blows, their customer service is bad and they install way too much crapware on the PC by default (even more than the average manufacturer). Way to go guys...
Shit man, you have some anger issues. Seriously. This is another incremental step in tech, backed by big marketing, but it is a step in tech design/distribution. It looks to be damn interesting too.
Vinge is a damn genius. If you haven't read it yet, check out Rainbow's End. For my book tastes, personally, it was a bit on the touchy-feely side (but I really don't like character development at all - I'm in the very small minority), but the science and concepts are really second to none.
How soon until we see these augmented reality games embedded in our contact lenses and we wear "smart" clothing on a regular basis? I'm just waiting for the self-driving cars!
Funny, but insightful as well. I see so many geeks bitch about how stuff is made wrong (yeah, I've done this too:P), but it's really because we have some ridiculous setup that is probably unique to us in all of the world.
I find the arrogance of the tech industry disturbing. Why on earth does someone outside of IT need to know about packets? I don't know much about deep oil wells, mitochondria, or 1099s, but I manage a pretty good life.
We create better products and services when we understand our customers are not like us.
I cannot entirely disagree with that. But I will say they will get their macro-economic payback when we inflate their debt away and they're left with holdings at a fraction of their cost.
Yeah, they'll moan and be angry, but when you artificially prop up a currency (dollar) and artificially keep a currency weak (yuan), you're going to lose when the economic balance restores itself. That is precisely what I think will happen - unfortunately, it will be painful for all.; but neither the USA nor China is innocent in this matter, we all knew the consequences of these actions, yet we chose to let it keep going for too long.
Lastly, in a plug for American business, I still think China has some major issues to overcome and has some very fundamental challenges in their economy. For example, the Chinese economy is unbalanced to the extent that demand does not really drive supply. Chinese make more than they really need, and continue to do so because of government intervention in the banking system. Because it was oversupplying goods to begin with, during this recession, the Chinese industrial capacity should be shrinking (or at least growing less slowly), but the government has given directives to finance companies which don't really have markets to sell to. Those problems can be glossed over in the short term due to centralized control and a strict self-monitoring of dissent, but the Chinese will eventually have to face the music on that policy as well.
Yes, I think deficits are a major issue, but to say choking trade off will make our economic prospects brighter, shows a lack of economic knowledge (I'm not trolling, I'm just suggesting you take a macroeconomics class - it's actually quite interesting)
Maxume makes some very good points. In terms of a date, I'd further add that the deficits that we have been able to run have actually been a sign of the confidence in our legal and economic system.
But, if your real beef is with the deficit, I agree with you 100% that it must be fixed. We have two deficits: trade and budget. The budget deficit is a manifestation of how much we spend vs. how much we take in. To fix that, we need to be more sensible with our money. To do that, we need to be smarter voters.
Our massive trade deficit is primarily because of two factors: oil and China.
China keeps its currency artificially low, causing all kinds of economic issues (but helping them bootstrap themselves into prosperity and giving us things like very cheap manufactured goods). We need to fix that, and we need to convince China to fix that, because an artificially weak yuan is not good for either of us.
Oil is another matter. I fully expect to be paying a minimum of $6/gallon of gas at some point, possibly more. But, that will be a good thing for the economy, because it will finally convince us to get off of oil and onto something cleaner, which doesn't finance people who want to kill us. If we do this correctly, it will also create lots of jobs in the USA.
I always considered libretarianism to be akin to socialism. They are logical, elegant, and perhaps even sensible theories, but neither works in the real world with real humans.
(PS, I've never used Opera, but I assume you put your BR tags in)
Uh, except for all the coding and tech support they're doing for us. Yeah, this kind of crap hurts when you hear it from this class of a guy that may very well control your future employment options, to at least some degree. But, I'd say their coding has done plenty for the USA... just ask the managers who have outsourced there. You don't like that comment? Does it enrage you? Well, then that's an emotional reaction and I'd say it's misleading you.
Economies are prosperous when they're efficient. They're efficient when the most work gets done with the least amount of cost. If going to India makes tech more efficient, the USA as a whole prospers. Does this hurt our feelings as geeks? Yes... hell yes. But you know what? I think I'm a better value than an Indian employee, and I think I can prove it (and I think I am proving it, along with many other IT folks here). Every single country that has shut itself to trade has suffered.. every.. single.. one. Why should we be any different - we obey the laws of macro-economics in this country!:)
I find it a little too convenient when the/. libertarian audience gets all antsy for government protection with regards to outsourcing. Should individuals take care of themselves and should society have as much freedom as possible or not? Ultimately, in 20 years, I think we're going to have a partner in India that we will be very happy to have, particularly with the rise of China. We'll also have such a depreciated dollar, and the Indian talent will be relatively scarce, we will reach a parity, and all boats will rise.
Well, then I guess our disagreement is almost semantical, because I agree with your statements above.
However, I'd say it's still appropriate to call the right to communicate a "right", because it distinguishes communications from other, less fundamentally important activities. No, obviously no one has a right to anything in terms of it not being taken away from you (incl. your life), but it is a right in the sense that any modern legal framework should support it and concerned citizens have an obligation to support those rights for other citizens when they are clearly being infringed.
Your argument is correct in a Machiavellian, lowest common denominator kind of way, but just because power is ultimate, does not mean we, as people need to let it go unchecked.
This is why we have built the institutions, laws, and governments we have built. Your argument says we should just accept oppression without trying to build something better.
I would argue that a country is not a monolithic entity as you seem to imply. A country is made up of citizens, and the rights of the citizens to voice their opinions, I would argue, is a fundamental human right.
When we invade countries for no reason, I agree with you. But when we facilitate communication among disenfranchised citizenry, I'd say we're not meddling at all. We open the door for the individual humans in Iran trying to get to a representative democracy. They either walk through it, or don't.
NO... I would emphatically NOT say that. If you are helping coordinate DDOS attacks, that's one thing, but allowing the people of Iran the right to communicate has no bearing on USA interests, or anyone else's interests outside Iran. Communication is a fundamental human right.
I could no easier turn a blind eye to that than I could ignore a person being assaulted on the street corner.
I will put in one caveat.. I believe it's wise to avoid government intervention at this point. This is human to human - in this instance, at this stage, institutions come with too much baggage and will only get in the way.
For all the hatred spewed at the direction of the USA, I've got to say there's quite an effort underway by normal citizens to help. There are people from all over the world trying to help, but I'd say a good number of them are from the USA.
I've been lurking around the IRC channels for a few days. Folks have been working on setting up proxies, and doing what they can to help. I question whether anything is actually being accomplished, but my hat is off to anyone who is at least trying to help facilitate communication. Personally, since I'm not a developer, I haven't found too much I can do. There are more than enough proxies out there at this point...
In purely academic terms, I suppose your equations balance, but in human terms your analysis does not adequately account for human emotion, IMHO.
Yes, we're jerks to each other by nature because we're used to fighting for scarce resources, but now our issues are rooted in higher level problems such as religion and revenge, etc, etc. All of the attitudes of the social systems used to justify the actions taken in zones of conflict have perhaps grown from scarcity, but even if $100 bills and naked, horny women fell from the sky, there are certain areas that will just always be in conflict.
Actually, in terms of observing how nature takes over formerly human habitat, the Korean DMZ is just about as close as you get, from what I read in SciAm years ago (too lazy to find a link). IIRC folks very quickly abandoned their homes, businesses, etc 50 years ago and nothing has been touched since. Apparently, it's a one of a kind place to study what a post-human landscape might look like.
I don't think you'd want to shoot a movie there though.
The biggest issue of the 21st century is post-scarcity technology wielded by people still preoccupied with fighting over perceived scarcity.
Some things may not be scarce with the advancement of technology, but I would say it would certainly take a pretty big leap in technology to make the land between Israel and Palistine "non-scarce" (for example).
Yes, I definitely agree. Our GOVERNMENT should stay out of it. But if US citizens want to offer bandwidth, technical expertise etc on a person to person basis halfway across the world to Iranians who want a say in their own government, I can think of no greater gift of goodwill or empowerment.
Sheesh, if this were a Google/Sun/Adobe/Gnu/whatever project, people would be ecstatic. I'm very skeptical this will completely live up to the hype, but this Natal is a pretty big deal even if it lives up to 50% of its hype... and even if it has the name Microsoft attached to it.
Slashdot Mirror
The last thing Lenovo wanted to happen is to dilute the Thinkpad brand and screw up a good thing, when they purchased thinkpad from IBM. Knowing this, I bought a Thinkpad, and the thing totally blows, their customer service is bad and they install way too much crapware on the PC by default (even more than the average manufacturer). Way to go guys...
Yeah, anyone else kind of reminded of the Xindi? I can't wait until we can turn this into a weapon!
Shit man, you have some anger issues. Seriously. This is another incremental step in tech, backed by big marketing, but it is a step in tech design/distribution. It looks to be damn interesting too.
Vinge is a damn genius. If you haven't read it yet, check out Rainbow's End. For my book tastes, personally, it was a bit on the touchy-feely side (but I really don't like character development at all - I'm in the very small minority), but the science and concepts are really second to none.
How soon until we see these augmented reality games embedded in our contact lenses and we wear "smart" clothing on a regular basis? I'm just waiting for the self-driving cars!
Funny, but insightful as well. I see so many geeks bitch about how stuff is made wrong (yeah, I've done this too :P), but it's really because we have some ridiculous setup that is probably unique to us in all of the world.
I find the arrogance of the tech industry disturbing. Why on earth does someone outside of IT need to know about packets? I don't know much about deep oil wells, mitochondria, or 1099s, but I manage a pretty good life.
We create better products and services when we understand our customers are not like us.
I cannot entirely disagree with that. But I will say they will get their macro-economic payback when we inflate their debt away and they're left with holdings at a fraction of their cost.
Yeah, they'll moan and be angry, but when you artificially prop up a currency (dollar) and artificially keep a currency weak (yuan), you're going to lose when the economic balance restores itself. That is precisely what I think will happen - unfortunately, it will be painful for all.; but neither the USA nor China is innocent in this matter, we all knew the consequences of these actions, yet we chose to let it keep going for too long.
Lastly, in a plug for American business, I still think China has some major issues to overcome and has some very fundamental challenges in their economy. For example, the Chinese economy is unbalanced to the extent that demand does not really drive supply. Chinese make more than they really need, and continue to do so because of government intervention in the banking system. Because it was oversupplying goods to begin with, during this recession, the Chinese industrial capacity should be shrinking (or at least growing less slowly), but the government has given directives to finance companies which don't really have markets to sell to. Those problems can be glossed over in the short term due to centralized control and a strict self-monitoring of dissent, but the Chinese will eventually have to face the music on that policy as well.
Yes, I think deficits are a major issue, but to say choking trade off will make our economic prospects brighter, shows a lack of economic knowledge (I'm not trolling, I'm just suggesting you take a macroeconomics class - it's actually quite interesting)
Maxume makes some very good points. In terms of a date, I'd further add that the deficits that we have been able to run have actually been a sign of the confidence in our legal and economic system.
But, if your real beef is with the deficit, I agree with you 100% that it must be fixed. We have two deficits: trade and budget. The budget deficit is a manifestation of how much we spend vs. how much we take in. To fix that, we need to be more sensible with our money. To do that, we need to be smarter voters.
Our massive trade deficit is primarily because of two factors: oil and China.
China keeps its currency artificially low, causing all kinds of economic issues (but helping them bootstrap themselves into prosperity and giving us things like very cheap manufactured goods). We need to fix that, and we need to convince China to fix that, because an artificially weak yuan is not good for either of us.
Oil is another matter. I fully expect to be paying a minimum of $6/gallon of gas at some point, possibly more. But, that will be a good thing for the economy, because it will finally convince us to get off of oil and onto something cleaner, which doesn't finance people who want to kill us. If we do this correctly, it will also create lots of jobs in the USA.
I always considered libretarianism to be akin to socialism. They are logical, elegant, and perhaps even sensible theories, but neither works in the real world with real humans.
(PS, I've never used Opera, but I assume you put your BR tags in)
India has not done a damned thing for the USA
Uh, except for all the coding and tech support they're doing for us. Yeah, this kind of crap hurts when you hear it from this class of a guy that may very well control your future employment options, to at least some degree. But, I'd say their coding has done plenty for the USA... just ask the managers who have outsourced there. You don't like that comment? Does it enrage you? Well, then that's an emotional reaction and I'd say it's misleading you.
:)
/. libertarian audience gets all antsy for government protection with regards to outsourcing. Should individuals take care of themselves and should society have as much freedom as possible or not? Ultimately, in 20 years, I think we're going to have a partner in India that we will be very happy to have, particularly with the rise of China. We'll also have such a depreciated dollar, and the Indian talent will be relatively scarce, we will reach a parity, and all boats will rise.
Economies are prosperous when they're efficient. They're efficient when the most work gets done with the least amount of cost. If going to India makes tech more efficient, the USA as a whole prospers. Does this hurt our feelings as geeks? Yes... hell yes. But you know what? I think I'm a better value than an Indian employee, and I think I can prove it (and I think I am proving it, along with many other IT folks here). Every single country that has shut itself to trade has suffered.. every.. single.. one. Why should we be any different - we obey the laws of macro-economics in this country!
I find it a little too convenient when the
Well, then I guess our disagreement is almost semantical, because I agree with your statements above.
However, I'd say it's still appropriate to call the right to communicate a "right", because it distinguishes communications from other, less fundamentally important activities. No, obviously no one has a right to anything in terms of it not being taken away from you (incl. your life), but it is a right in the sense that any modern legal framework should support it and concerned citizens have an obligation to support those rights for other citizens when they are clearly being infringed.
Your argument is correct in a Machiavellian, lowest common denominator kind of way, but just because power is ultimate, does not mean we, as people need to let it go unchecked.
This is why we have built the institutions, laws, and governments we have built. Your argument says we should just accept oppression without trying to build something better.
I blv they don't include encryption because encrypted messages are completely blocked in Iran at the moment (at least that's the rumor on IRC)
I would argue that a country is not a monolithic entity as you seem to imply. A country is made up of citizens, and the rights of the citizens to voice their opinions, I would argue, is a fundamental human right.
When we invade countries for no reason, I agree with you. But when we facilitate communication among disenfranchised citizenry, I'd say we're not meddling at all. We open the door for the individual humans in Iran trying to get to a representative democracy. They either walk through it, or don't.
In real life we use body armor and small arms.
Make sure you buy a short stock rifle then
NO... I would emphatically NOT say that. If you are helping coordinate DDOS attacks, that's one thing, but allowing the people of Iran the right to communicate has no bearing on USA interests, or anyone else's interests outside Iran. Communication is a fundamental human right.
I could no easier turn a blind eye to that than I could ignore a person being assaulted on the street corner.
I will put in one caveat.. I believe it's wise to avoid government intervention at this point. This is human to human - in this instance, at this stage, institutions come with too much baggage and will only get in the way.
For all the hatred spewed at the direction of the USA, I've got to say there's quite an effort underway by normal citizens to help. There are people from all over the world trying to help, but I'd say a good number of them are from the USA.
I've been lurking around the IRC channels for a few days. Folks have been working on setting up proxies, and doing what they can to help. I question whether anything is actually being accomplished, but my hat is off to anyone who is at least trying to help facilitate communication. Personally, since I'm not a developer, I haven't found too much I can do. There are more than enough proxies out there at this point...
I dunno, actually. I wonder if this will be interesting, too :)
Now telemarketers, religious freaks, and campaign-donation guys will be able to find me no matter where I am.
Hey!
In purely academic terms, I suppose your equations balance, but in human terms your analysis does not adequately account for human emotion, IMHO.
Yes, we're jerks to each other by nature because we're used to fighting for scarce resources, but now our issues are rooted in higher level problems such as religion and revenge, etc, etc. All of the attitudes of the social systems used to justify the actions taken in zones of conflict have perhaps grown from scarcity, but even if $100 bills and naked, horny women fell from the sky, there are certain areas that will just always be in conflict.
Actually, in terms of observing how nature takes over formerly human habitat, the Korean DMZ is just about as close as you get, from what I read in SciAm years ago (too lazy to find a link). IIRC folks very quickly abandoned their homes, businesses, etc 50 years ago and nothing has been touched since. Apparently, it's a one of a kind place to study what a post-human landscape might look like.
I don't think you'd want to shoot a movie there though.
The biggest issue of the 21st century is post-scarcity technology wielded by people still preoccupied with fighting over perceived scarcity.
Some things may not be scarce with the advancement of technology, but I would say it would certainly take a pretty big leap in technology to make the land between Israel and Palistine "non-scarce" (for example).
Seriously, stay out of it.
Yes, I definitely agree. Our GOVERNMENT should stay out of it. But if US citizens want to offer bandwidth, technical expertise etc on a person to person basis halfway across the world to Iranians who want a say in their own government, I can think of no greater gift of goodwill or empowerment.
It's the dawning of the true Internet age!
Sheesh, if this were a Google/Sun/Adobe/Gnu/whatever project, people would be ecstatic. I'm very skeptical this will completely live up to the hype, but this Natal is a pretty big deal even if it lives up to 50% of its hype... and even if it has the name Microsoft attached to it.
We know where the line is in the USA. Somehow I have a feeling Europe's line is a bit further out.