Dmoz has a bewildering array of links on the topic of Pi. If ever there was an argument for people having *way* too much free time on their hands, this is it. --
> The half consumated Internet revolution is on
> front in a much larger and more significant
> struggle. Right now, the biggest issue is the
> development of the corporate state.
Great post. Hope it is moderated way up.
I've been thinking along similar lines for a while but I come across two problems with the rise of international corporations as a significant replacement for governments.
The first objection is that super-powerful corporations are nothing new. Look at the Hudson's Bay company; it effectively owned Canada. Or the East India Tea Company which effectively owned India. Or some railroads in the late 1800s which controlled vast tracts of the US. Not one of these mega-corps is still a major player today. Does anybody know why? Can anybody tell us why modern mega-corps are immune to whatever killed off their forebearers?
The second problem I have with the corporate state revolution is that I think it will be overshadowed by a far greater revolution: the rise of the robots. Forget about HAL, the Terminators, and Mr Data; I'm talking about robots with the brain power of a large dog. We should see such a thing within twenty years. What effect will wiping out most blue-collar jobs have on society? At least 75% unemployment, huge decrease in cost of living, soaring demand for entertainment (due to free time). How do these events mesh with a corporate state? --
[Disclaimer: I'm actually Canadian, but I've been living in the UK for a couple of years.]
I have absolutely no problems with having a police camera on me while I'm walking to work or back home. I usually work late and end up arriving home at 2am or so. The streets of Inverness are utterly deserted at this time, except for the chain of police cameras along my route. As I pass the last police camera (actually bolted to the side of my house) I normally wave at it. After about a week of doing this it started to nod up and down in response. I have no idea who is on the other end of the circuit, but it is really nice to see just before going to bed. --
We've all heard of the Turing test (and if you haven't, you're reading the wrong website). I wonder how feasible it would be to pass a "Slashdot test". Write a robot that posts replies to articles on Slashdot. The winner would be the first unaided bot to hit the karma cap.
Anyone know if this has been attempted before? (I'm aware of the First Post scripts; they obviously aren't going to get karma.) If I had some free time (oh I wish) this would definitely be a cool project to undertake.
I wonder if a simple script that ripped unusual words from the article, Google searched for sites with those words, then posted an 'informative' link would work... --
> Just as a side note, you're probably going to get sued. And they're going to win. Sorry.
First of all, there is the matter of juristiction. This is set in Scotland, where the laws are a wee bit different from USA.
Second, if a lawsuit were to happen, it would be us sueing him (our salary checks all bounced, which is why we left).
> Still amazed at the sleazy shit people try to get away with,
Yes, based solely on what I wrote above, my actions do look sleazy, but this was in the context of a company that wasn't paying taxes, wasn't paying suppliers, a director that was embezelling money, and clients literally in tears. In view of all this I thought I'd better make sure than when I left, I could salvage some code. --
IP agreements can go both ways. When I was working for a rather evil and unprofessional company, I wrote my own IP agreement. It stated that all code belonged to the company except code that was [insert heaps of technical jargon]. Neither the company director nor his lawyer knew what I was talking about, but the exception sounded pretty obscure.
When I (and all the other employees) resigned from the company simultaneously, I took absolutely everything. Seems I'd burried something about files that were o+r deep in my technobabble. This code came in handy when we immediately setup a company in direct competition to his.
> It works with Netscape 4.0 and later, and Mozilla.
I just tried it on Netscape 1.1 and it worked too.
Yes, I still actively use Netscape 1.1, although not interactively. I use it for monitoring the health of a remote server by pointing it to an auto-refreshing status page. --
Forged information from the client can also used to turn most web->email feedback forms into spamming gateways. We were recently stung when some jerk used a peice of software that lied about it's referer and hijaaked one of our feedback forms. He used it to send a porn spam to 33,000 AOL addresses.
The really scarry bit is that out of all these messages, we only got complaints from *2* AOL users. If you are using formail.pl, tighten your security now. --
> Come on. No substantial copyright exists in any
> work of less than 200 words, because that's the
> limit for an excerpt under fair use.
So are you saying that most poems cannot be copyrighted? Jabberwocky is a decent sized poem (seven verses), yet it is only 164 words long. Are you saying that Lewis Carroll can't maintain copyright on it? --
Everything is radioactive. You, me, a lead safe, the stuff they make chip casings out of, and even CowboyNeal. If the material came from Earth, and wasn't specifically treated at Los Alamos or some other weapon's factory, it will have the same proportions of radioactive isotopes. --
> That's why I said non-radioactive lead:) Just
> purify it and get rid of all the isotopes that
> do decay and you're left with something pretty
> hard to get anything through.
[Ignoring the fact that lead is electrically conductive, and would therefore make a really bad chip casing...]
This would mean that the material that your computer was built from would have to have its isotopes separated using a centrifuge or a calutron. This would make your computer pound for pound the same price as weapons-grade uranium since the same process would have to be used (though for the opposite effect). Anybody know what the going rate for U238 is? I'm afraid my Sears catalog doesn't list it.;-) --
>Well sticking a case on the processor would help.
Nope, read the link in my parent post. It shows that the main source of alpha radiation is from the chip casings. Not a whole lot you can do about that. --
We normally think of cosmic rays as something that causes bit rot (though in practice it's alpha particles). In a chip that has transistors only 3 atoms thick, would this radiation cause physical damage instead?
If so, we'd need to think about employing a lossy grid of gates, so that a few failures don't kill the processor. --
> A mission to Pluto would be good...
> but I would prefer to see Uranus.
Been there, done that. Voyager 2 visited Uranus in 1986. Indeed all the major bodies in your Solar System have been visited, with the exception of Pluto and its moon Charon. --
> I think that space exploration should be privatized...
Ok, instead of griping, please submit a business plan that shows why my fortune 500 company would make a financial gain out of sending a $500 million mission to Pluto. I eagerly await your response. --
Most people seem to agree that Mozilla's biggest technical problem is its speed (or lack thereof). Given that Mozilla's 1.0 release keeps slipping year by year, I wonder if the speed issue will be substantially resolved simply by the fact that once released most people will be running faster computers.
I can just see the programmers saying "Yes, we can make this product twice as fast, it will just take us 18 months of work", then sitting back and playing Quake while Moore's law grinds on. --
> Not only did the chimps communicate with them
> over food and life in general, they also taught
> the sign language to their children.
Sort of.
Spent years training a chimp several hundred signs, and that chimp will teach their child a dozen, and that child will teach their child nothing. So far we have yet to discover something that can be taught to an amimal that will be self-sustaining in their society. --
Arthur C Clarke wrote a novel about exactly this topic over thirty years ago. His book Dolphin Island is based around a waterproof keyboard worn on the arm which emmits Dolphin whistles.
Yet another device Clarke should have patented. First the geosynchronous comminucations satelite, now this. What's next, monoliths? --
I was half starting to like the idea of ditching support for old browsers as they recommend. Then I went to their home page and was promptly told that I needed to upgrade my browser before I could read their site.
Slashdot Mirror
Dmoz has a bewildering array of links on the topic of Pi. If ever there was an argument for people having *way* too much free time on their hands, this is it.
--
> front in a much larger and more significant
> struggle. Right now, the biggest issue is the
> development of the corporate state.
Great post. Hope it is moderated way up.
I've been thinking along similar lines for a while but I come across two problems with the rise of international corporations as a significant replacement for governments.
The first objection is that super-powerful corporations are nothing new. Look at the Hudson's Bay company; it effectively owned Canada. Or the East India Tea Company which effectively owned India. Or some railroads in the late 1800s which controlled vast tracts of the US. Not one of these mega-corps is still a major player today. Does anybody know why? Can anybody tell us why modern mega-corps are immune to whatever killed off their forebearers?
The second problem I have with the corporate state revolution is that I think it will be overshadowed by a far greater revolution: the rise of the robots. Forget about HAL, the Terminators, and Mr Data; I'm talking about robots with the brain power of a large dog. We should see such a thing within twenty years. What effect will wiping out most blue-collar jobs have on society? At least 75% unemployment, huge decrease in cost of living, soaring demand for entertainment (due to free time). How do these events mesh with a corporate state?
--
[Disclaimer: I'm actually Canadian, but I've been living in the UK for a couple of years.]
I have absolutely no problems with having a police camera on me while I'm walking to work or back home. I usually work late and end up arriving home at 2am or so. The streets of Inverness are utterly deserted at this time, except for the chain of police cameras along my route. As I pass the last police camera (actually bolted to the side of my house) I normally wave at it. After about a week of doing this it started to nod up and down in response. I have no idea who is on the other end of the circuit, but it is really nice to see just before going to bed.
--
Disposable credit card numbers? That's nothing new; just go to a 'cardz' site and grab a few. Am I missing something? ;-)
--
Anyone know if this has been attempted before? (I'm aware of the First Post scripts; they obviously aren't going to get karma.) If I had some free time (oh I wish) this would definitely be a cool project to undertake.
I wonder if a simple script that ripped unusual words from the article, Google searched for sites with those words, then posted an 'informative' link would work...
--
If I were a judge, and someone filed a claim against God, I'd just say "Case dismissed", and record the reason as "Act of God".
--
First of all, there is the matter of juristiction. This is set in Scotland, where the laws are a wee bit different from USA.
Second, if a lawsuit were to happen, it would be us sueing him (our salary checks all bounced, which is why we left).
> Still amazed at the sleazy shit people try to get away with,
Yes, based solely on what I wrote above, my actions do look sleazy, but this was in the context of a company that wasn't paying taxes, wasn't paying suppliers, a director that was embezelling money, and clients literally in tears. In view of all this I thought I'd better make sure than when I left, I could salvage some code.
--
When I (and all the other employees) resigned from the company simultaneously, I took absolutely everything. Seems I'd burried something about files that were o+r deep in my technobabble. This code came in handy when we immediately setup a company in direct competition to his.
Still laughing...
--
I just tried it on Netscape 1.1 and it worked too.
Yes, I still actively use Netscape 1.1, although not interactively. I use it for monitoring the health of a remote server by pointing it to an auto-refreshing status page.
--
The really scarry bit is that out of all these messages, we only got complaints from *2* AOL users. If you are using formail.pl, tighten your security now.
--
Can you say "Beowolf Cluster"?
--
I want to see two of these beasts mating. Now that would be a robotic scene you wouldn't forget in a hurry...
--
> work of less than 200 words, because that's the
> limit for an excerpt under fair use.
So are you saying that most poems cannot be copyrighted? Jabberwocky is a decent sized poem (seven verses), yet it is only 164 words long. Are you saying that Lewis Carroll can't maintain copyright on it?
--
Everything is radioactive. You, me, a lead safe, the stuff they make chip casings out of, and even CowboyNeal. If the material came from Earth, and wasn't specifically treated at Los Alamos or some other weapon's factory, it will have the same proportions of radioactive isotopes.
--
> purify it and get rid of all the isotopes that
> do decay and you're left with something pretty
> hard to get anything through.
[Ignoring the fact that lead is electrically conductive, and would therefore make a really bad chip casing...]
This would mean that the material that your computer was built from would have to have its isotopes separated using a centrifuge or a calutron. This would make your computer pound for pound the same price as weapons-grade uranium since the same process would have to be used (though for the opposite effect). Anybody know what the going rate for U238 is? I'm afraid my Sears catalog doesn't list it. ;-)
--
Nope, read the link in my parent post. It shows that the main source of alpha radiation is from the chip casings. Not a whole lot you can do about that.
--
If so, we'd need to think about employing a lossy grid of gates, so that a few failures don't kill the processor.
--
> but I would prefer to see Uranus.
Been there, done that. Voyager 2 visited Uranus in 1986. Indeed all the major bodies in your Solar System have been visited, with the exception of Pluto and its moon Charon.
--
Ok, instead of griping, please submit a business plan that shows why my fortune 500 company would make a financial gain out of sending a $500 million mission to Pluto. I eagerly await your response.
--
As usual, spaceflightnow's article is more informative, has fewer banner ads, and is less sarcastic.
--
I can just see the programmers saying "Yes, we can make this product twice as fast, it will just take us 18 months of work", then sitting back and playing Quake while Moore's law grinds on.
--
> Not only did the chimps communicate with them
> over food and life in general, they also taught
> the sign language to their children.
Sort of.
Spent years training a chimp several hundred signs, and that chimp will teach their child a dozen, and that child will teach their child nothing. So far we have yet to discover something that can be taught to an amimal that will be self-sustaining in their society.
--
Yet another device Clarke should have patented. First the geosynchronous comminucations satelite, now this. What's next, monoliths?
--
And on the seventh day, it executed NOOP maxint number of times.
--
Gee that really ticked me off.
--