Hang around for another 50 years or so. That's where it looks like we're headed.
What's more important? Quality of life or quantity?
Quantity of sufficiently good life. I reject both a short but full life and a long but dull life. I want, and will claim for myself, a long (infinite if possible) life full of doing what I want to do. Merely extending life is not the answer; the answer is extending active life, making it so you don't have to "retire" into boredom (even working 'til I drop dead would be better than the purgatory of a mindless retirement home, though I would of course prefer more freedom to work on what I want without needing to worry about money).
It's been said that the DRM battles will continue until wetware gets good enough that the music companies can force installation of DRM modules into everyone's brains. It think those who say that underestimate the amount of brain hacking that will go on even then? ("Windows on the Brain? No, I use OpenThought. I've got it set to claim Windows compatibilitiy, so I can get through all the security checkpoints, but it doesn't actually limit my thoughts.")
Just to clarify: "post retinal bionics" is something like taking out the entire eye - retina, eyeball, and all - and replacing it with a prosthetic, right? (Which should be easier to control for: compare to surgeries which took out the eyeball, did something to it - say, sewing up tears in the retina - and put it back, for patients with the same condition as said surgery was intended to correct.)
Ironically, targetting is the problem. Specifically, mis-targetting. If you could see no ads except for stuff you are interested in, there would not be as much of a problem, no? But most people aren't interested in, say, the latest Linux kernel patches or the like. So, the advertisers try to target you with ads that you're interested in.
Unfortunately, in practice, targetting often goes awry, or is not even attempted in the first place (even when the advertisers say it is). This results in the deluge of irrelevant (and consequently annoying) ads better known as spam.
In other news, Satan went before the Board of Hell to request an emergency expansion of their salt budget, for the (still new in many demons' opinions) snow-fighting budget for the year has been entirely spent.
AOL is the good guys on/.?
Even the greatest evil is capable of taking a good role, when the role is in its direct self interest.
I remember someone saying that the first time someone dies because a pacemaker was removed, or turned off and on, security policy will be rewritten. Possible as in, "not until then will security policy be rewritten".
"You, my child, are special. Most of us have no higher purpose in life, but you were born with one. Know that all your suffering has not been in vain; you were made to give your life for the betterment of all mankind."
If you raise someone that way, they tend to go along with it. Sticking one of us, who have been raised as our own individuals, into such a role would be problematic, but history has shown that the human spirit is more than capable of accepting martyrdom.
Right. So they could arrest anyone, anytime, for the crime of being human, and possibly even destroy their reproduction equipment. Not just human reproduction, but cellular reproduction: every cell in the body, except the dead ones, is a violation of the law.
"Murder? No, sir, just shutting down these unlicensed copying devices. Why, yes, he was my political opponent, always going on about 'free speech' and stuff; that's what tipped me off that he was one of those anti-copyright hippies. If you keep investigating, sir, I'm going to have to assume you're in favor of unlimited copying and shut your body down too."
What if 5 of the next 20 cloned humans are badly deformed?
Then it would be a 25% chance. 4% is 1 out of 25.
If we don't "slide down the slippery slope", then those deformed children will be kept alive.
Or repaired. There are prosthetics for naturally deformed children, you know; the same could be applied here. And that's assuming the existence of deformed children does not greatly spur research into more natural cures (like finding out why they're born deformed, and fixing those factors).
4% is a poor success rate too
Quite. But he's claiming 96% (100% - 4%) chance of no deformation. Unless you meant to say that the kids should be deformed.
Actually...in light of the current airport security, implanted may be almost the only way you can be sure you can carry electronics around. (Don't get me started about the "cyborg" who had his stuff ripped out - that was removable gear, as evidenced by the security staff removing it forcibly. I'm talking about stuff completely embedded inside one's skin.)
The problem is detection range. These chips don't broadcast; you have to get a reader up close. OTOH, I could certainly see some other design rigged up with a low power transmitter (low enough to run on batteries for months, and way lower than levels that might possibly cause cancer problems) forced by some government into its citizens, to make it easier for those who wish to find and (kill/rape/rob) them...possibly even with government permission.
This chip is just an ID number. But, since the FDA has ruled that it doesn't regulate non-medical implanted devices, this clears the way for more functional implants - so long as they steer clear of medical functions.
It had to happen eventually. And, who knows, maybe they'll make a playable game, instead of just, say, Sonic zoomed in so far he moves one screen length per frame. Their demos don't look too bad.
...which would seem to prove my point. (Even if the attorneys should be sanctioned for stuff like this, IMO, if that's just going to get in the way of having SLAPP suits dismissed, then toss that part.)
Same thing happens at the state level, and yet such laws get passed. Besides, this would protect corps too, if someone gets ticked off at a corp trying to make a buck in a legitimate way and files a SLAPP to make the activity unprofitable.
Rule 11? I haven't heard of it before, but it must not work too well for anti-SLAPP if stuff like this keeps getting through.
As to the prior poster, I don't see why people wouldn't want the "typical SLAPP" to be banned as well. Aren't most SLAPPs filed by corporations in the first place?
I wonder why no federal anti-SLAPP laws have yet been passed? I mean, they'd certainly get support from the senators and representatives from those states that have passed such.
I also wonder if such a law could make "threat of frivolous lawsuit" as a class of duress, as in "no agreement made under duress is legally binding". The suit would have to be frivolous in the eyes of the duressed, so that threats to sue over legitimately illegal stuff (one of the government's main powers) maintain their value.
You know, it would be so ironic if being threatened with a frivolous lawsuit that would take hundreds of thousands of dollars and lots of time to defend against, were legally ruled as "duress" such that agreements made under said threats were legally null and void. Of course, to make sure the law remained a valid deterrent when used as intended, there would have to be some clause like "defendant knew, or had reason to believe, that said lawsuit would be frivolous, or otherwise had little chance of prevailing".
Since when is having children a way out of death? Children aren't just younger versions of their parents, you know, and parents who have kids only to try to brainwash them into being MiniThems, never letting the kids be themselves, are among the worst parents.
Sorry, but if I'm going to live forever, I am going to live forever.
How is it not obvious to people that products such as these do not get dime one of VC funding without first addressing concerns like these?
Because many of us have seen quite a few products and services that have done so, and fell flat (taking the unfortunate VCs' money) when the concerns continued to not be addressed.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd bet a sufficiently large Beowulf cluster of slashdot effects could take even Yahoo! down. ^_^
Hang around for another 50 years or so. That's where it looks like we're headed.
What's more important? Quality of life or quantity?
Quantity of sufficiently good life. I reject both a short but full life and a long but dull life. I want, and will claim for myself, a long (infinite if possible) life full of doing what I want to do. Merely extending life is not the answer; the answer is extending active life, making it so you don't have to "retire" into boredom (even working 'til I drop dead would be better than the purgatory of a mindless retirement home, though I would of course prefer more freedom to work on what I want without needing to worry about money).
It's been said that the DRM battles will continue until wetware gets good enough that the music companies can force installation of DRM modules into everyone's brains. It think those who say that underestimate the amount of brain hacking that will go on even then? ("Windows on the Brain? No, I use OpenThought. I've got it set to claim Windows compatibilitiy, so I can get through all the security checkpoints, but it doesn't actually limit my thoughts.")
So, how do you turn the sun and the moon off? Heck, I've even been able to see by starlight under a new moon...
Just to clarify: "post retinal bionics" is something like taking out the entire eye - retina, eyeball, and all - and replacing it with a prosthetic, right? (Which should be easier to control for: compare to surgeries which took out the eyeball, did something to it - say, sewing up tears in the retina - and put it back, for patients with the same condition as said surgery was intended to correct.)
targeted by ads
Ironically, targetting is the problem. Specifically, mis-targetting. If you could see no ads except for stuff you are interested in, there would not be as much of a problem, no? But most people aren't interested in, say, the latest Linux kernel patches or the like. So, the advertisers try to target you with ads that you're interested in.
Unfortunately, in practice, targetting often goes awry, or is not even attempted in the first place (even when the advertisers say it is). This results in the deluge of irrelevant (and consequently annoying) ads better known as spam.
In other news, Satan went before the Board of Hell to request an emergency expansion of their salt budget, for the (still new in many demons' opinions) snow-fighting budget for the year has been entirely spent.
/.?
AOL is the good guys on
Even the greatest evil is capable of taking a good role, when the role is in its direct self interest.
I remember someone saying that the first time someone dies because a pacemaker was removed, or turned off and on, security policy will be rewritten. Possible as in, "not until then will security policy be rewritten".
"You, my child, are special. Most of us have no higher purpose in life, but you were born with one. Know that all your suffering has not been in vain; you were made to give your life for the betterment of all mankind."
If you raise someone that way, they tend to go along with it. Sticking one of us, who have been raised as our own individuals, into such a role would be problematic, but history has shown that the human spirit is more than capable of accepting martyrdom.
Right. So they could arrest anyone, anytime, for the crime of being human, and possibly even destroy their reproduction equipment. Not just human reproduction, but cellular reproduction: every cell in the body, except the dead ones, is a violation of the law.
"Murder? No, sir, just shutting down these unlicensed copying devices. Why, yes, he was my political opponent, always going on about 'free speech' and stuff; that's what tipped me off that he was one of those anti-copyright hippies. If you keep investigating, sir, I'm going to have to assume you're in favor of unlimited copying and shut your body down too."
What if 5 of the next 20 cloned humans are badly deformed?
Then it would be a 25% chance. 4% is 1 out of 25.
If we don't "slide down the slippery slope", then those deformed children will be kept alive.
Or repaired. There are prosthetics for naturally deformed children, you know; the same could be applied here. And that's assuming the existence of deformed children does not greatly spur research into more natural cures (like finding out why they're born deformed, and fixing those factors).
4% is a poor success rate too
Quite. But he's claiming 96% (100% - 4%) chance of no deformation. Unless you meant to say that the kids should be deformed.
Actually...in light of the current airport security, implanted may be almost the only way you can be sure you can carry electronics around. (Don't get me started about the "cyborg" who had his stuff ripped out - that was removable gear, as evidenced by the security staff removing it forcibly. I'm talking about stuff completely embedded inside one's skin.)
The problem is detection range. These chips don't broadcast; you have to get a reader up close. OTOH, I could certainly see some other design rigged up with a low power transmitter (low enough to run on batteries for months, and way lower than levels that might possibly cause cancer problems) forced by some government into its citizens, to make it easier for those who wish to find and (kill/rape/rob) them...possibly even with government permission.
This chip is just an ID number. But, since the FDA has ruled that it doesn't regulate non-medical implanted devices, this clears the way for more functional implants - so long as they steer clear of medical functions.
It had to happen eventually. And, who knows, maybe they'll make a playable game, instead of just, say, Sonic zoomed in so far he moves one screen length per frame. Their demos don't look too bad.
...which would seem to prove my point. (Even if the attorneys should be sanctioned for stuff like this, IMO, if that's just going to get in the way of having SLAPP suits dismissed, then toss that part.)
Same thing happens at the state level, and yet such laws get passed. Besides, this would protect corps too, if someone gets ticked off at a corp trying to make a buck in a legitimate way and files a SLAPP to make the activity unprofitable.
Rule 11? I haven't heard of it before, but it must not work too well for anti-SLAPP if stuff like this keeps getting through.
As to the prior poster, I don't see why people wouldn't want the "typical SLAPP" to be banned as well. Aren't most SLAPPs filed by corporations in the first place?
Right. I was thinking about anti-SLAPP, only a bit better. Besides, companies can just file in federal court to get around state anti-SLAPP laws.
I wonder why no federal anti-SLAPP laws have yet been passed? I mean, they'd certainly get support from the senators and representatives from those states that have passed such.
I also wonder if such a law could make "threat of frivolous lawsuit" as a class of duress, as in "no agreement made under duress is legally binding". The suit would have to be frivolous in the eyes of the duressed, so that threats to sue over legitimately illegal stuff (one of the government's main powers) maintain their value.
Didn't they actually pronounce it in the voice-overs of Star Control 3? I think it was, "mmurn-mmurn",
or something like that.
You know, it would be so ironic if being threatened with a frivolous lawsuit that would take hundreds of thousands of dollars and lots of time to defend against, were legally ruled as "duress" such that agreements made under said threats were legally null and void. Of course, to make sure the law remained a valid deterrent when used as intended, there would have to be some clause like "defendant knew, or had reason to believe, that said lawsuit would be frivolous, or otherwise had little chance of prevailing".
Since when is having children a way out of death? Children aren't just younger versions of their parents, you know, and parents who have kids only to try to brainwash them into being MiniThems, never letting the kids be themselves, are among the worst parents.
Sorry, but if I'm going to live forever, I am going to live forever.
Gruesome, but practical - especially for a lot of the sickos this device is supposed to guard against. Nice one. :)
How is it not obvious to people that products such as these do not get dime one of VC funding without first addressing concerns like these?
Because many of us have seen quite a few products and services that have done so, and fell flat (taking the unfortunate VCs' money) when the concerns continued to not be addressed.