I think the argument "we haven't seen it yet, so we'll bet the existence on the human race on it not happening ever" to be quite unscientific.
I'm sure the probabilities of creating something destructive are very small, for now. But I doubt there will be a proven lower energy limit for such an event. So, will we keep creating more and more powerful particle accelerators until we do destroy the earth?
Of all sciences I think particle physics is the most cool one, but also among the most useless ones. Why are we risking our existence to satisfy the curiosity of a couple of thousand, without the side effects of even prospects of actual real life progress.
Shouldn't we put off the high energy particle physics until we have devised a way to get rid of any black holes that we might create? Or perhaps until we are able to do them far away from our home planet.
It's a stupid debate altogether. I image all the astronomers involved feel really good about themselves for making an impact. Why couldn't they leave well enough alone? Pluto will always be the ninth planet to me, despite Eris. Definitions be damned!
Impressive how a lot of posters opposing this measure start off saying they abolish child porn. Heaven forfend people should think you're into it!
Let's face it people, child porn is a kink, just like any other. We deem putting it in practice illegal, fine. But the demand, which is probably constant, will create its own supply. And if they can't get it on the web, they'll search for it in real life. If anything, this measure will increase child abuse.
There are so many things wrong with this claim!
1.) The people who claim this, are probably also the ones who benefit if it is believed to be true, in terms of funding, general interest, cool-factor.
2.) Comparing the human brain and computers is not even comparing apples and oranges, it's apples and ellipses. Both are sort of round, but that's about as far as it goes.
3.) We have no idea exactly where we are on the road to matching the human brain in any way. So how can we know how long the road ahead is.
4.) Processing power of the brain is more or less irrelevant to its capabilities. Hundreds of millions of years ago the first insects walked around without falling over every step. We can't even build a decent pair of robotic legs to do that.
All in all, it's like saying the beach has more processing power than we will ever need, the molecules just need to be rearranged. Maybe so, but until that time, it's just sand incapable of adding 1 + 1.
That you for this enlightening comment... I guess you never experienced the boost in debugging an application when you can instantly view the contents of an array, the values of all variables and objects within scope; step through your program, line by line, to see in what order the code of your program is executed; automatically break upon segfaulting, and seeing the values of all relevant variables; setting breakpoints on all major functions to follow the flow of the program; using conditional breakpoints, depending on the value of some variable or array entry; verifying the call stack; etc, etc, etc, without ever having to write print statements. Of course, when you have to evaluate the change in variables, arrays and objects, print statements are king!
Try writing a complex algorithm, a SAT solver f.i., without a debugger such as Visual Studio's. I'm positive I'll be done in a fraction of the time it will take you using print statements only.
I made the switch from XP to Heron a couple of weeks ago. Now, I may be overlooking something since I am not as skilled a user when it comes to Linux yet, but the feature I miss the most: Visual Studio's Integrated Debugger. (KDevelop's) GDB is much slower, requires a lot more memory, needs to fix code completion (I almost always have to go through the header hierarchy looking for the function definition I need), needs mouse hints when hovering over variables, and a couple of other things.
Definitely! I'm against banning any fiction, don't get me wrong here. It is merely a result of the self satisfying demand for increasingly extreme porn and an open internet. The only way to contain the problem, is to allow it the world of fiction.
Do not make the mistake of thinking absence of proof is proof of absence, nor should you underestimate the malleability of the young mind, up to a certain extent of course.
I've pondered the point of blowing off steam for paedophiles and other, what society considers, sexual deviants using fictional material. This is a two-edged sword, however. On the one hand, it'll probably satisfy a lot of people, who consequently will not resort to violent behavior. On the other hand, its availability will turn young people on to these perversions.
I think many of us are turned on by all kinds of things that we are unlikely to do in real life, since we are well satisfied by the fictional material we find on the internet. In fact, I bet it was the internet that acquainted us with this material in the first place! So, as long as the internet keeps up its steady supply of drugs, many of us won't be looking for it in real life. If your kink is considered legal, you're covered either way. If it's not, you're screwed, and you'll have to go cold turkey. But even rats that were given cocaine once, remember its effect well after a year, and show addiction behavior towards getting it again.
Not surprisingly, I do not think violent games cause violence in the real world. However, if violent games were suddenly completely removed from society, we'd see a surge in real life crime by people that had felt the thrill of violence before. Not everyone that has played Quake (I don't game anymore) will resort to real world violence of course, but I'm sure it was enough to satisfy some.
Detail. Isn't it harder to implement a case-insensitive password layer, than a case-sensitive one? Just the use of a ToLowerCase function, but still... Weird!
...but what the hell is up with these users starting their replies with something like: "I'll probably get modded down for trolling, but..." Are you saying you know your answer will not be appreciated, but you're just the kind of crazy, out-there, don't-give-a-damn, cool guy that says it anyway? Just say what you have to say and stand by it. Stop showing off your insecurity, and/or lack of knowledge on the subject.
I think the choice between the two only applies to people that want a working system out-of-the-box. The rest of us just build from parts anyway. And surely, even with Ubuntu, there are still a couple of problem with hardware and multimedia playback on a clean install, hence a little extra effort. Besides, Dell had a large Windows help desk knowledge base. The probably don't want to have to support two OS'es
...to define a new system of units, since all these terms are becoming more or less arbitrary. We're familiar with them, of course, but in another 20 years, we'll have 20 prefixes, from kilo- to what have you, without a logical pattern.
Of course, the exponent will form the most logical basis for the new system. Actually, two new terms may be needed, one for base-2, and one for base-10 (other bases aren't used that much, so are not needed, but can be defined accoardingly).
For instance, let's introduce the 'betabyte'. Second Greek letter, and BeTa and BaseTwo are similar. So, 10 betabyte = 2^10 bytes. And if you want base-10 per se, you can use the 'kappabyte'.
Of course, both units are incompatible and counter-intuitive since addition and multiplication by integers don't work as expected. But hey, we need something here!
I hope you're not suggesting not to add the ballons etc. because Linux is already overwhelming the first-time user with irrelevant information. Seems to me that's where the problem is.
Imagine how many years Linux is behind in usability, compared to Windows. In security it may be years ahead, and in features quite a bit as well, I'm sure, but when considering Linux for the desktop that doesn't really matter, does it? Therefore, a couple of questions considering usability and Linux:
- How much effort is spent developing usability vs. non-usability related features?
- How many usability experts are part of the Linux developer community?
- Have serious efforts been made in producing detailed guidelines for user interfaces and general look-and-feel?
- Does the developer community realise that the Windows look-and-feel has become a de facto standard?
- Is Linux going to get its usability up to scratch before Windows fixes its security issues?
I think Windows achieved 12 out of 12 at least 5 or 6 years ago! Features and security are excellent under Linux, but usability is years behind Microsoft.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the argument "we haven't seen it yet, so we'll bet the existence on the human race on it not happening ever" to be quite unscientific.
I'm sure the probabilities of creating something destructive are very small, for now. But I doubt there will be a proven lower energy limit for such an event. So, will we keep creating more and more powerful particle accelerators until we do destroy the earth?
Of all sciences I think particle physics is the most cool one, but also among the most useless ones. Why are we risking our existence to satisfy the curiosity of a couple of thousand, without the side effects of even prospects of actual real life progress.
Shouldn't we put off the high energy particle physics until we have devised a way to get rid of any black holes that we might create? Or perhaps until we are able to do them far away from our home planet.
...and sluts get more bad boys.
I wouldn't put anything past the US of effing A. But let's not imagine conspiracy where idiocy suffices.
It's a stupid debate altogether. I image all the astronomers involved feel really good about themselves for making an impact. Why couldn't they leave well enough alone? Pluto will always be the ninth planet to me, despite Eris. Definitions be damned!
Impressive how a lot of posters opposing this measure start off saying they abolish child porn. Heaven forfend people should think you're into it! Let's face it people, child porn is a kink, just like any other. We deem putting it in practice illegal, fine. But the demand, which is probably constant, will create its own supply. And if they can't get it on the web, they'll search for it in real life. If anything, this measure will increase child abuse.
There are so many things wrong with this claim!
1.) The people who claim this, are probably also the ones who benefit if it is believed to be true, in terms of funding, general interest, cool-factor.
2.) Comparing the human brain and computers is not even comparing apples and oranges, it's apples and ellipses. Both are sort of round, but that's about as far as it goes.
3.) We have no idea exactly where we are on the road to matching the human brain in any way. So how can we know how long the road ahead is.
4.) Processing power of the brain is more or less irrelevant to its capabilities. Hundreds of millions of years ago the first insects walked around without falling over every step. We can't even build a decent pair of robotic legs to do that.
All in all, it's like saying the beach has more processing power than we will ever need, the molecules just need to be rearranged. Maybe so, but until that time, it's just sand incapable of adding 1 + 1.
That you for this enlightening comment... I guess you never experienced the boost in debugging an application when you can instantly view the contents of an array, the values of all variables and objects within scope; step through your program, line by line, to see in what order the code of your program is executed; automatically break upon segfaulting, and seeing the values of all relevant variables; setting breakpoints on all major functions to follow the flow of the program; using conditional breakpoints, depending on the value of some variable or array entry; verifying the call stack; etc, etc, etc, without ever having to write print statements. Of course, when you have to evaluate the change in variables, arrays and objects, print statements are king! Try writing a complex algorithm, a SAT solver f.i., without a debugger such as Visual Studio's. I'm positive I'll be done in a fraction of the time it will take you using print statements only.
I made the switch from XP to Heron a couple of weeks ago. Now, I may be overlooking something since I am not as skilled a user when it comes to Linux yet, but the feature I miss the most: Visual Studio's Integrated Debugger. (KDevelop's) GDB is much slower, requires a lot more memory, needs to fix code completion (I almost always have to go through the header hierarchy looking for the function definition I need), needs mouse hints when hovering over variables, and a couple of other things.
Definitely! I'm against banning any fiction, don't get me wrong here. It is merely a result of the self satisfying demand for increasingly extreme porn and an open internet. The only way to contain the problem, is to allow it the world of fiction.
Do not make the mistake of thinking absence of proof is proof of absence, nor should you underestimate the malleability of the young mind, up to a certain extent of course.
I've pondered the point of blowing off steam for paedophiles and other, what society considers, sexual deviants using fictional material. This is a two-edged sword, however. On the one hand, it'll probably satisfy a lot of people, who consequently will not resort to violent behavior. On the other hand, its availability will turn young people on to these perversions.
I think many of us are turned on by all kinds of things that we are unlikely to do in real life, since we are well satisfied by the fictional material we find on the internet. In fact, I bet it was the internet that acquainted us with this material in the first place! So, as long as the internet keeps up its steady supply of drugs, many of us won't be looking for it in real life. If your kink is considered legal, you're covered either way. If it's not, you're screwed, and you'll have to go cold turkey. But even rats that were given cocaine once, remember its effect well after a year, and show addiction behavior towards getting it again.
Not surprisingly, I do not think violent games cause violence in the real world. However, if violent games were suddenly completely removed from society, we'd see a surge in real life crime by people that had felt the thrill of violence before. Not everyone that has played Quake (I don't game anymore) will resort to real world violence of course, but I'm sure it was enough to satisfy some.
Detail. Isn't it harder to implement a case-insensitive password layer, than a case-sensitive one? Just the use of a ToLowerCase function, but still... Weird!
Check out the +1M UID! But the third poster's UID isn't that low either, so maybe, just maybe, I can make a difference.
...but what the hell is up with these users starting their replies with something like: "I'll probably get modded down for trolling, but..." Are you saying you know your answer will not be appreciated, but you're just the kind of crazy, out-there, don't-give-a-damn, cool guy that says it anyway? Just say what you have to say and stand by it. Stop showing off your insecurity, and/or lack of knowledge on the subject.
I think the choice between the two only applies to people that want a working system out-of-the-box. The rest of us just build from parts anyway. And surely, even with Ubuntu, there are still a couple of problem with hardware and multimedia playback on a clean install, hence a little extra effort. Besides, Dell had a large Windows help desk knowledge base. The probably don't want to have to support two OS'es
One word: precedent!
...to all athletes that have to drag their lower legs at each step, and not having the benefit of springlike limbs.
...to define a new system of units, since all these terms are becoming more or less arbitrary. We're familiar with them, of course, but in another 20 years, we'll have 20 prefixes, from kilo- to what have you, without a logical pattern. Of course, the exponent will form the most logical basis for the new system. Actually, two new terms may be needed, one for base-2, and one for base-10 (other bases aren't used that much, so are not needed, but can be defined accoardingly). For instance, let's introduce the 'betabyte'. Second Greek letter, and BeTa and BaseTwo are similar. So, 10 betabyte = 2^10 bytes. And if you want base-10 per se, you can use the 'kappabyte'. Of course, both units are incompatible and counter-intuitive since addition and multiplication by integers don't work as expected. But hey, we need something here!
Woohoo! The Good-Samaritan Law! Silly me, thinking Seinfeld was a comedian...
... cloning abilities were in the specs...
I hope you're not suggesting not to add the ballons etc. because Linux is already overwhelming the first-time user with irrelevant information. Seems to me that's where the problem is.
Imagine how many years Linux is behind in usability, compared to Windows. In security it may be years ahead, and in features quite a bit as well, I'm sure, but when considering Linux for the desktop that doesn't really matter, does it? Therefore, a couple of questions considering usability and Linux: - How much effort is spent developing usability vs. non-usability related features? - How many usability experts are part of the Linux developer community? - Have serious efforts been made in producing detailed guidelines for user interfaces and general look-and-feel? - Does the developer community realise that the Windows look-and-feel has become a de facto standard? - Is Linux going to get its usability up to scratch before Windows fixes its security issues?
Please ask him in a month or so whether he still uses it.
I think Windows achieved 12 out of 12 at least 5 or 6 years ago! Features and security are excellent under Linux, but usability is years behind Microsoft.
Damn, on further consideration, the quote should have been: I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from not surprise!