However, musn't there be a first post-human civilization?
Certainly the chance that we are that first civilization is very small (making lottery chances seem likely by comparison), however it is not chance by law that there must be a first.
I have not issue with this possibility. After all, it has been shown by statistical genomics that due to a very low population in the past, human evolution did sit on a knife's edge already. We have already passed a probability gauntlet - so it is reality that very unlikely events do happen, and in fact must.
A statistical calculation can explain why it is unlikely to win the lotto, and how unlikely, but does nothing to explain why those who do, do - except to say that those who did, had to.
It's sometimes eerie to think of an idea and then see that someone has done it over the weekend and posted it on slashdot.
Last friday at work I was researching different chemicals on wikipedia (a favorite past time of mine) and thought it would be pretty neat if there was a way to find how related two articles were - or to have some way to query the links between two articles to find similarities.
What I really wanted was a very simple query. My SQL is very rusty, so a plain english version might be perhaps, 'show links where link exists in article_a and article_b'
Is there a way to execute SQL queries on wikipedia without having to actually download the entire database? I asked google, but was presented with the SQL page on wikipedia....
Maybe he's not interested in "solving real problems" but making a fun toy. If you want to "advance society" knock yourself out but don't try to force everyone else to do things your way. Agreed.
Sometimes you just want to make a fun, electronic device which can help with the bills and on which you can play games and send funny pictures to your friends.
We all know that toy did nothing to 'advance society'
btw - I vow to never reply to a troll like grandparent again (even as grandchild, and even in support of good responses as here), although sometimes the moronically obvious statement must be made, just to get it out there, and it's nice to know slashdot has so many individuals qualified to make such statements.
while I didn't read the original article, the slashdot concerns made for an interesting and relevant interview... I say good job slashdot A good point you make, actually. Strong adversity to an idea exerts a selective pressure. Much as the harsh and competitive environment of Africa did spawn the most successful mammals, so too might slashdot spawn successful technologies.
I wonder (or wander offtopic slightly), has Africa any invasive species?
Even a restricted version of google could, in theory, offer backdoor searches to the crafty and brave Chinese user.
Although google may filter content from searches for 'free tibet' or 'tianaman square', I would imagine that the actual search engine still operates in the same fashion as it does in the 'free' world.
Thus, google would only be blocking requests in a semantic fashion, yes? From an information perspective, google should still be able to index and serve results for content which is against Chinese policy, but which has been obscured through linguistic tricks or something likewise.
Could there be an analogy drawn between the theorized creation of the Nunchaku from a farm tool?
Could not a 'censored' google still be wielded as effectively as the fully open google in the west?
They'd almost be better off making a console... Apple systems already share some properties with gaming consoles, namely the harware homogeny of Apple systems.
While to me an annoyance, this standardization might actually work in Apple's favor when trying to woo game makers, as it could act to simplify development.
At least I thought this is supposed to be 'my' government. If it were, then why can't I see everything they are doing? Why when documents are 'declassified' is 90% of the text blanked-out?
It's for my own good? Well, how can I refute that when I have no evidence, and no evidence can be obtained.
Considering how visually stimulating and action-packed transformer's was, I can only imagine how superb this could be, if done right.
I would hope that dreamworks would at least try to shy away from dumbing-down the story and the technological saturation and philosophical foundations of the universe and the character's motivations.
The Matrix did show that at least a little bit of intelligence and philosophy can be woven into a hollywood blockbuster.
What with the voiceless phone call alread a reality, how trivial would it be to take the nerve-sensing capabilities of the neckband and make two nerve sensing wristbands and/or perhaps gloves?
the wristbands would sense your nerve impulses and tell what you were intending to type, even without tactile feedback. Just imagine typing in your head and the signals go to your wrist and finger muscles.
This is of course skirting the whole concept that one could simply use the neckband to simply issue vocal commands to the computer for a large variety of tasks, and naturally for dictation.
I've noticed that people never lock their car doors anymore when they are passengers. This is because most modern cars can be remote locked by the driver when they arm their alarms. I have el-cheapo corolla and I have to constantly say, "dude, lock your door" - even to females I say 'dude'.
In 20 years typing will be a lost art form, like remembering phone numbers.
So now there's Europa and now Titan that have probable underground oceans, and oceans seem like good candidates for life.
It would be interesting, if in the future, we find that most life actually forms on moons with oceans protected from the vaccum of space.
Maybe out planet, with it's skin lain bare to the cosmos, is an exception for a life-harboring world. Maybe this is why we haven't heard from any other intelligent lifeforms; perhaps they all have severe agoraphobia and just freak-out when they send their first probes up through the surface.
Let's hope the wouldn't suffer from the Krikkit xenophobic mindset, or we might be finding out exactly how good we humans are at international...er, interplanetary negotiations...oh my, I certainly hope we don't have to find out!
We just went over this exact occurrence just a month ago. Go ahead with the flatulence jokes all the same though, it would be a break of tradition if you didn't.
Meh, no jokes from me. Your comment has left my humor deflated.
...I shed a tear - and then I felt...ashamed...why?
Why is it that when one cries at a movie involving war heroes or romance it is socially acceptable, but when I become choked-up not just about the passing of one of our greats - as I have today - but at the whole of scientific discovery I feel somehow, I'm not sure...I guess just ashamed.
This happens to me now and then. Like when I saw a documentary on mitochondrial eve, and I became full of such emotion about the interconnectedness of us all that I had to leave the room lest my wife see me weep (not that she would ridicule me, just because).
Why should I not be proud of my tears? Why, even in this day, surrounded by so much intellect and accepting cultures should I still not disclose this little secret to anyone except the pseudo-anonymous like-minds on this website?...
I was ruminating on that just last evening, in fact. How those things that motivate me, my manner of interaction and even the way my mind goes about executing tasks is so amazingly formed by my society - I wonder what percentage is truly 'me' or what part is really my 'natural' self.
Humans have such a long period of nurture, it should be no surprise, I suppose, that we are practical clones of our society - even open, creative, and colorful societies (by being different one is just like everyone else: that old chestnut).
Slashdot Mirror
What even defines a monopoly anymore?
Shouldn't there be some cap on the ratio of providence of a service or product to demand or something?
Obviously 80 million wireless subscribers is approaching a significant portion of the US population. And let's do the numbers on AT&T.
double-u tea eff question mark exclamation point.
This argument is interesting.
However, musn't there be a first post-human civilization?
Certainly the chance that we are that first civilization is very small (making lottery chances seem likely by comparison), however it is not chance by law that there must be a first.
I have not issue with this possibility. After all, it has been shown by statistical genomics that due to a very low population in the past, human evolution did sit on a knife's edge already. We have already passed a probability gauntlet - so it is reality that very unlikely events do happen, and in fact must.
A statistical calculation can explain why it is unlikely to win the lotto, and how unlikely, but does nothing to explain why those who do, do - except to say that those who did, had to.
These are my issues with the simulation argument.
I have some of the viking in my mish-mash genetic make up - they were very good, after all, at getting their genes spread widely.
perhaps this research will confirm my suspicion that the Viking lineage is where I acquired my most powerful gene
...my job yet, that's what :P
When machines first began taking over jobs during the inception of the industrial revolution, I recall there being much resistance.
I wonder, as robots do begin to take the remaining jobs, will the same resistance be encountered?
I, for one, so welcome our robotic, network-administering, garbage-collecting, smooth-jazz-composing, polar-region-exploring robot overlords.
Marvelous!
Wish I hadn't posted so I could mod you up moustaki, but then the question wouldn't have been asked in the first place...is that irony?
At any rate, many thanks for pointing me to this project.
Deep Thoughts do abound around here, eh? ;)
It's sometimes eerie to think of an idea and then see that someone has done it over the weekend and posted it on slashdot.
Last friday at work I was researching different chemicals on wikipedia (a favorite past time of mine) and thought it would be pretty neat if there was a way to find how related two articles were - or to have some way to query the links between two articles to find similarities.
What I really wanted was a very simple query. My SQL is very rusty, so a plain english version might be perhaps, 'show links where link exists in article_a and article_b'
Is there a way to execute SQL queries on wikipedia without having to actually download the entire database? I asked google, but was presented with the SQL page on wikipedia....
Sometimes you just want to make a fun, electronic device which can help with the bills and on which you can play games and send funny pictures to your friends.
We all know that toy did nothing to 'advance society'
btw - I vow to never reply to a troll like grandparent again (even as grandchild, and even in support of good responses as here), although sometimes the moronically obvious statement must be made, just to get it out there, and it's nice to know slashdot has so many individuals qualified to make such statements.
I wonder (or wander offtopic slightly), has Africa any invasive species?
Even a restricted version of google could, in theory, offer backdoor searches to the crafty and brave Chinese user.
Although google may filter content from searches for 'free tibet' or 'tianaman square', I would imagine that the actual search engine still operates in the same fashion as it does in the 'free' world.
Thus, google would only be blocking requests in a semantic fashion, yes? From an information perspective, google should still be able to index and serve results for content which is against Chinese policy, but which has been obscured through linguistic tricks or something likewise.
Could there be an analogy drawn between the theorized creation of the Nunchaku from a farm tool?
Could not a 'censored' google still be wielded as effectively as the fully open google in the west?
While to me an annoyance, this standardization might actually work in Apple's favor when trying to woo game makers, as it could act to simplify development.
Frankly, I think that whole incident was blown out of proportion. I mean BLOWN AWAY out of proportion.
Because he's afraid of the egg-istential risks!
... a good game of 'hide the capsule'?
...they are MY government.
At least I thought this is supposed to be 'my' government. If it were, then why can't I see everything they are doing? Why when documents are 'declassified' is 90% of the text blanked-out?
It's for my own good? Well, how can I refute that when I have no evidence, and no evidence can be obtained.
One of those double-binds, eh?
Considering how visually stimulating and action-packed transformer's was, I can only imagine how superb this could be, if done right.
I would hope that dreamworks would at least try to shy away from dumbing-down the story and the technological saturation and philosophical foundations of the universe and the character's motivations.
The Matrix did show that at least a little bit of intelligence and philosophy can be woven into a hollywood blockbuster.
Shouldn't you actually win the Nobel if you discover science-enhancing drugs?
Unimaginative, indeed.
What with the voiceless phone call alread a reality, how trivial would it be to take the nerve-sensing capabilities of the neckband and make two nerve sensing wristbands and/or perhaps gloves?
the wristbands would sense your nerve impulses and tell what you were intending to type, even without tactile feedback. Just imagine typing in your head and the signals go to your wrist and finger muscles.
This is of course skirting the whole concept that one could simply use the neckband to simply issue vocal commands to the computer for a large variety of tasks, and naturally for dictation.
I've noticed that people never lock their car doors anymore when they are passengers. This is because most modern cars can be remote locked by the driver when they arm their alarms. I have el-cheapo corolla and I have to constantly say, "dude, lock your door" - even to females I say 'dude'.
In 20 years typing will be a lost art form, like remembering phone numbers.
No emails, but it's not the ORDB system. I just don't have any friends.
So now there's Europa and now Titan that have probable underground oceans, and oceans seem like good candidates for life.
It would be interesting, if in the future, we find that most life actually forms on moons with oceans protected from the vaccum of space.
Maybe out planet, with it's skin lain bare to the cosmos, is an exception for a life-harboring world. Maybe this is why we haven't heard from any other intelligent lifeforms; perhaps they all have severe agoraphobia and just freak-out when they send their first probes up through the surface.
Let's hope the wouldn't suffer from the Krikkit xenophobic mindset, or we might be finding out exactly how good we humans are at international...er, interplanetary negotiations...oh my, I certainly hope we don't have to find out!
Meh, no jokes from me. Your comment has left my humor deflated.
...I shed a tear - and then I felt...ashamed...why?
Why is it that when one cries at a movie involving war heroes or romance it is socially acceptable, but when I become choked-up not just about the passing of one of our greats - as I have today - but at the whole of scientific discovery I feel somehow, I'm not sure...I guess just ashamed.
This happens to me now and then. Like when I saw a documentary on mitochondrial eve, and I became full of such emotion about the interconnectedness of us all that I had to leave the room lest my wife see me weep (not that she would ridicule me, just because).
Why should I not be proud of my tears? Why, even in this day, surrounded by so much intellect and accepting cultures should I still not disclose this little secret to anyone except the pseudo-anonymous like-minds on this website?...
Why should we not all weep at the stars?
Both!
I was ruminating on that just last evening, in fact. How those things that motivate me, my manner of interaction and even the way my mind goes about executing tasks is so amazingly formed by my society - I wonder what percentage is truly 'me' or what part is really my 'natural' self.
Humans have such a long period of nurture, it should be no surprise, I suppose, that we are practical clones of our society - even open, creative, and colorful societies (by being different one is just like everyone else: that old chestnut).
You might be closer to the truth than you intended to be.
Of course, this smacks of urban legendry - but snopes nor wikipedia seem to offer definite refutations, just lack of support.