I already have weeder robots on our farm. They eliminate the need to use herbicides and pesticides because not only do they pull the weeds but they also kill rodents and insects that are problems for our crops. I have the versions called D.U.C.K.S. and C.H.I.C.K.E.N.S, - They work great.
Seriously. Properly timed rotations of ducks and chickens through corn, brassicas, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, sunflowers and other crops do wonders to remove the weeds prior to planting and after the crops have grown to about 12" to 18" in height.
Prior to all of this we use the biorobotic tilling machines called P.I.G.S..
As an added benefit all of these robots excrete organic fertilizers that are specially formulated to make our crops thrive. It's called S.H.I.T.
Finally, at the end of the biorobot's service life rather than repairing them we disassemble them and pack up the drive components to sell as high quality organic meat. What a win-win situation for farmers, consumers and the environment! Of course, pesticide producers are rather P.I.S.S.E.D. but that can be used for fertilizer too as it is high in beneficial nitrogen need by crops.
This is going to be difficult on our farm... I realize some of you think you're farmers because you iFarm and play other farming games but real farming requires a physical presence for now. Same for our on-farm butcher shop - someone's got to do all those dexterous manual tasks. Possibility for when we have telepresence robots... but then who needs a human at that point.:)
You have discovered the Pig's, Chicken's and Cow's secret plans for world domination:
Be Tasty!!!
By being so delicious they made that wastefully big brained omnivore, humans, ensure the survival of the 'livestock' who are really the world overlords!
Any system like this needs an Opt-Out option. I'm way the heck out in the mountains. Virtually none of these warnings are relevant to me and I can't do anything about them. All they do is waste time. Weather events I'm well aware of and always prepared for. Missing kids aren't going to be anywhere near me. All this system does is waste resources, piss people off and lower their attention threshold such that real warnings will get ignored.
My objections to GMOs have less to do with the GMOs and more to do with the legal and social issues. Patents are largely the problem and it is enhanced by the abuse of the legal system. Monstersanto has created this negative climate by going after farmers and even people who aren't using their seeds.
There is another issue at stake here and that is that when organizations use public funds to develop products they should NOT get a patent. Instead it should be published and go into the public domain as a requirement of feeding at the public trough.
Then there is the whole world safety issue. Sure, she might develop a CO2 sucking super plant but what are the unintended consequences? Imagine it goes wild, as they do, and drops the CO2 level too low. You actually need CO2 in the air to survive. And if the super plant of hers sucks up all the CO2 then all the other plants we depend on die. With them the animals we depend on and the oceans, etc.
It would be better to reduce pollution rather than depend on some super plant Frankenstein.
Design your life to fit your goals for fitness (physical, emotional, mental, social). I designed my life so I have some periods of rest and some periods of intense physical activity and some periods of more gentle physical activity. Rinse and repeat each day, each week and around the seasons. It keeps me healthy and I suspect I'll be in the longer lived group.
But, there's another factor - ancestors. Pick them well.
I've had Apple Airports up and running, more than a dozen, since they first came out with newer ones over the years. Never had a problem. Excellent security. The fact that they are no longer being sold just means the price is cheaper - they're still excellent hardware and software.
"Without superintelligence, we're unlikely to find [extraterrestrials] or communicate in any useful way. Whether or not we have developed a superintelligence might even be a key to our acceptance in a broader community."
The above makes the assumption that the extraterrestrials lack superintelligence. If the extraterrestrials have superintelligence then they will make sure we can communicate, provided they want to.
There are elements you don't control in nearly everything. Even if you think you control them you don't actually because believe it or not you don't control your own behavior totally. But this is moot - I suspect we agree on the 99.99% point. Place your significant decimal where you like.
Your fear need not limit other people's opportunity. Die if you want to but I for one have a lot of projects to do. Another thousand years might let me make a dent in my current list. Longer life means accumulating more wisdom and knowledge.
Life is a gamble. Go into business for yourself and it's a gamble. Work for someone else and it's a gamble. Plant a tomato seed and it's a gamble. Sitting in a dark hole trying to avoid gambling is a gamble. Everything is gambling.
Gambling is good.
Electronic games, games in general in fact, are simulations that help teach people how to deal with risk management - also known as gambling.
For a meat processing facility (a.k.a. butcher shop) the cost of labor is the biggest chunk of the budget pie closely followed by energy for eating and cooling. I've long (50 years) been interested in how to make systems like houses work right in our cold northern, but also hot southern, climate with minimal active systems. Our cottage and butcher shop are practical implementations of this.
Elon makes wild comments -> Telsa stock dropps Elon buys up lots of Telsa stock. Telsa does well -> Telsa stock rises. Elon sells a little stock to fund his other projects. Rinse & Repeat.
Wrong. Another myth you've fallen victim to. There is nothing mysterious about "Roman concrete". Those of us who deal with chemistry and concrete are very familiar with it and use it today with the improvements that have come about in the last century added to that.
There is a mythconception touted by some that concrete is bad. That is totally wrong. Concrete is almost all rock and sand. There is very little cement (the material at issue) in it. And the long term net effect is that concrete is a benefit because concrete structures last for a very long time, measured in hundreds to thousands of years as opposed to wood built structures that last mere decades.
Additionally, if you properly design your structures you can make concrete even greener by eliminating the need to heat or cool the buildings. I have done this with both our home and our butcher shop. Concrete offers tremendous thermal mass which can store the heat from summer over to winter to keep the building warm and store the cold from winter over to summer to keep the building cool.
I have done this with our home which masses about 100,000 lbs inside an insulated envelope. Even in our extreme cold climate in the central mountains of northern Vermont we don't have to heat or cool our house. It will stay in the mid-40's through the winter and rise to the 60's in the summers. We can optionally raise that to the mid-70's in the winter with just 0.75 cord of wood (a very small amount for those of you who don't use wood heat), which is a renewable resource from dead wood on our land.
Our butcher shop is built along the same lines but far more massive at 1.6 million pounds of concrete built in six shells with insulation between each. We have no heating system and no refrigeration system to chill our cutting room, etc. We've been operating for three years under Vermont state inspection and on May 1st we received our USDA license. I've been told repeatedly by the USDA and other government officials that they are amazed by our facility because it is so good, requires so little maintenance, is so easily cleaned and how it naturally stays the right temperatures. All of that is about design. I love math. Math applied is even better - it solves real problems.
Concrete is not evil and is not the cause of global warming. Properly used concrete and cement are the solution to reducing pollution and cutting energy consumption.
Lightning is powerful. Even if you don't have electronics in your brain, or elsewhere in your body, you're still at risk of significant damage. I was struck by the stray side bolts of lightning. It shut me down and caused all my muscles to contract. My daughter and wife who saw it happened said that lightning bolts were shooting out of my hands. I have no memory of that. I remember my fists hitting my chest hard as my biceps contracted and my legs flexing so I tipped over. Other than that it was all whiteout for me. I was lucky. No lasting damage. I have a friend who has serious damage to his back, shoulder, arm and hand from when he got struck. He was outdoors. I was in the house. Being indoors doesn't protect you from lightning.
A beautiful example of "thermal pollution" is at some of the nuclear power plants. The one near us outputs warm water which has resulted in far greater growth of plants and animals in the area. The "thermal pollution" was beneficial. One man's pollutant is another man's gold.
The water is not lost. The water is either returned to the lake or the water goes into the air and then returns to the environment as rain, snow, etc. This is much hubaloo over nothing.
Slashdot Mirror
I already have weeder robots on our farm. They eliminate the need to use herbicides and pesticides because not only do they pull the weeds but they also kill rodents and insects that are problems for our crops. I have the versions called D.U.C.K.S. and C.H.I.C.K.E.N.S, - They work great.
Seriously. Properly timed rotations of ducks and chickens through corn, brassicas, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, sunflowers and other crops do wonders to remove the weeds prior to planting and after the crops have grown to about 12" to 18" in height.
Prior to all of this we use the biorobotic tilling machines called P.I.G.S..
As an added benefit all of these robots excrete organic fertilizers that are specially formulated to make our crops thrive. It's called S.H.I.T.
Finally, at the end of the biorobot's service life rather than repairing them we disassemble them and pack up the drive components to sell as high quality organic meat. What a win-win situation for farmers, consumers and the environment! Of course, pesticide producers are rather P.I.S.S.E.D. but that can be used for fertilizer too as it is high in beneficial nitrogen need by crops.
I like your little quote 'The opposite of "moron" is "lesson"' but there is a third option, 'the opposite of "Anon" is "moron"'.
This is going to be difficult on our farm... I realize some of you think you're farmers because you iFarm and play other farming games but real farming requires a physical presence for now. Same for our on-farm butcher shop - someone's got to do all those dexterous manual tasks. Possibility for when we have telepresence robots... but then who needs a human at that point. :)
I just checked my up-to-date iOS device and there is no setting for turning off Amber Alerts where you specified. More info?
You have discovered the Pig's, Chicken's and Cow's secret plans for world domination:
Be Tasty!!!
By being so delicious they made that wastefully big brained omnivore, humans, ensure the survival of the 'livestock' who are really the world overlords!
Any system like this needs an Opt-Out option. I'm way the heck out in the mountains. Virtually none of these warnings are relevant to me and I can't do anything about them. All they do is waste time. Weather events I'm well aware of and always prepared for. Missing kids aren't going to be anywhere near me. All this system does is waste resources, piss people off and lower their attention threshold such that real warnings will get ignored.
My objections to GMOs have less to do with the GMOs and more to do with the legal and social issues. Patents are largely the problem and it is enhanced by the abuse of the legal system. Monstersanto has created this negative climate by going after farmers and even people who aren't using their seeds.
There is another issue at stake here and that is that when organizations use public funds to develop products they should NOT get a patent. Instead it should be published and go into the public domain as a requirement of feeding at the public trough.
Then there is the whole world safety issue. Sure, she might develop a CO2 sucking super plant but what are the unintended consequences? Imagine it goes wild, as they do, and drops the CO2 level too low. You actually need CO2 in the air to survive. And if the super plant of hers sucks up all the CO2 then all the other plants we depend on die. With them the animals we depend on and the oceans, etc.
It would be better to reduce pollution rather than depend on some super plant Frankenstein.
"today's machine-learning programs can't tell whether a crowing rooster makes the sun rise, or the other way around."
But can the rooster tell?
And perhaps more importantly, can the Sun tell?
Design your life to fit your goals for fitness (physical, emotional, mental, social). I designed my life so I have some periods of rest and some periods of intense physical activity and some periods of more gentle physical activity. Rinse and repeat each day, each week and around the seasons. It keeps me healthy and I suspect I'll be in the longer lived group.
But, there's another factor - ancestors. Pick them well.
"will become 10 billion times colder than the average temperature of the vacuum of space"
That is a meaningless statement. Temperature doesn't work that way mathematically.
If a scientist or engineer says something like that then shame on them.
If a journalist says something like that then "oh, hum" because they make stupid statements on a pretty frequent basis... *sigh*
I've had Apple Airports up and running, more than a dozen, since they first came out with newer ones over the years. Never had a problem. Excellent security. The fact that they are no longer being sold just means the price is cheaper - they're still excellent hardware and software.
"One bot is programmed to tell the truth, while another is programmed to lie"
The good and the bad.
The good and the evil.
Gods programming both in for their own amusement.
Egads.
"Without superintelligence, we're unlikely to find [extraterrestrials] or communicate in any useful way. Whether or not we have developed a superintelligence might even be a key to our acceptance in a broader community."
The above makes the assumption that the extraterrestrials lack superintelligence.
If the extraterrestrials have superintelligence then they will make sure we can communicate, provided they want to.
But apparently it is worth it since it worked for Martha.
There are elements you don't control in nearly everything. Even if you think you control them you don't actually because believe it or not you don't control your own behavior totally. But this is moot - I suspect we agree on the 99.99% point. Place your significant decimal where you like.
Your fear need not limit other people's opportunity. Die if you want to but I for one have a lot of projects to do. Another thousand years might let me make a dent in my current list. Longer life means accumulating more wisdom and knowledge.
Life is a gamble.
Go into business for yourself and it's a gamble.
Work for someone else and it's a gamble.
Plant a tomato seed and it's a gamble.
Sitting in a dark hole trying to avoid gambling is a gamble.
Everything is gambling.
Gambling is good.
Electronic games, games in general in fact, are simulations that help teach people how to deal with risk management - also known as gambling.
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/cottag...
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/butche...
For a meat processing facility (a.k.a. butcher shop) the cost of labor is the biggest chunk of the budget pie closely followed by energy for eating and cooling. I've long (50 years) been interested in how to make systems like houses work right in our cold northern, but also hot southern, climate with minimal active systems. Our cottage and butcher shop are practical implementations of this.
Elon makes wild comments -> Telsa stock dropps
Elon buys up lots of Telsa stock.
Telsa does well -> Telsa stock rises.
Elon sells a little stock to fund his other projects.
Rinse & Repeat.
Wrong. Another myth you've fallen victim to. There is nothing mysterious about "Roman concrete". Those of us who deal with chemistry and concrete are very familiar with it and use it today with the improvements that have come about in the last century added to that.
This could have unintended consequences such as jacking up the cost of new homes. That will hurt the poor.
Or perhaps that was intended.
There is a mythconception touted by some that concrete is bad. That is totally wrong. Concrete is almost all rock and sand. There is very little cement (the material at issue) in it. And the long term net effect is that concrete is a benefit because concrete structures last for a very long time, measured in hundreds to thousands of years as opposed to wood built structures that last mere decades.
Additionally, if you properly design your structures you can make concrete even greener by eliminating the need to heat or cool the buildings. I have done this with both our home and our butcher shop. Concrete offers tremendous thermal mass which can store the heat from summer over to winter to keep the building warm and store the cold from winter over to summer to keep the building cool.
I have done this with our home which masses about 100,000 lbs inside an insulated envelope. Even in our extreme cold climate in the central mountains of northern Vermont we don't have to heat or cool our house. It will stay in the mid-40's through the winter and rise to the 60's in the summers. We can optionally raise that to the mid-70's in the winter with just 0.75 cord of wood (a very small amount for those of you who don't use wood heat), which is a renewable resource from dead wood on our land.
Our butcher shop is built along the same lines but far more massive at 1.6 million pounds of concrete built in six shells with insulation between each. We have no heating system and no refrigeration system to chill our cutting room, etc. We've been operating for three years under Vermont state inspection and on May 1st we received our USDA license. I've been told repeatedly by the USDA and other government officials that they are amazed by our facility because it is so good, requires so little maintenance, is so easily cleaned and how it naturally stays the right temperatures. All of that is about design. I love math. Math applied is even better - it solves real problems.
Concrete is not evil and is not the cause of global warming. Properly used concrete and cement are the solution to reducing pollution and cutting energy consumption.
Lightning is powerful. Even if you don't have electronics in your brain, or elsewhere in your body, you're still at risk of significant damage. I was struck by the stray side bolts of lightning. It shut me down and caused all my muscles to contract. My daughter and wife who saw it happened said that lightning bolts were shooting out of my hands. I have no memory of that. I remember my fists hitting my chest hard as my biceps contracted and my legs flexing so I tipped over. Other than that it was all whiteout for me. I was lucky. No lasting damage. I have a friend who has serious damage to his back, shoulder, arm and hand from when he got struck. He was outdoors. I was in the house. Being indoors doesn't protect you from lightning.
A beautiful example of "thermal pollution" is at some of the nuclear power plants. The one near us outputs warm water which has resulted in far greater growth of plants and animals in the area. The "thermal pollution" was beneficial. One man's pollutant is another man's gold.
The water is not lost.
The water is either returned to the lake
or the water goes into the air and then returns to the environment as rain, snow, etc.
This is much hubaloo over nothing.