If we found free will, how would we identify it? How would we tell it apart from action according to a vast number of variables, following very complex rules?
You are not allowed to complain about your laptop "only" having 960GB! If you were talking about a server, than yes, you would be allowed to complain. Maybe - maybe - if you were talking about a desktop. But not when talking about a laptop.
But if Apple chooses to cut you off (which it can whenever it wants, by removing your app from its store or by pushing an update which deletes it from all iPhones), you've just lost all access to the market. On the other hand, if you have an application which is being sold for many platforms, you are not as dependent upon the whims of one company which controls both the platform and the store.
Pinhole cameras in hats, jackets, or whatever. Unless they are specifically searched for cameras, it should be easy to keep them hidden. And if they are in a situation where they know that they will be searched for cameras, than they can use microphones in their shoes.
Tr-twon. Tr should be pronounced as if it ending in an e, and the o in twon should be more of an oo. Thus, one would pronounce it tre-twoon. I don't have a major in L337-sp34k, though, so I'm probably wrong about some of that.
On the other hand, robbing a bank with a big sign bearing someone else's name, address, and phone number is a fairly smart thing to do (assuming that you don't have a choice about robbing a bank), especially if your face is obscured. Even better, use a nametag, and pretend you just left a party, thus explaining why your name and contact information is written on a tag affixed to your shirt.
Burn toxic waste and spread it around easily. Toxic waste, with a half-life of thousands of years, which would render land uninhabitable. And which often takes dust form, blowing around, and rendering more land uninhabitable. Which gives people cancer, causes birth defects, and is almost impossible to get rid of. Which gets into the water supplies and contaminates more land, which gets into the ocean and kills fish. I have no words with which to describe your stupidity. None. No words suffice. Please go die to avoid further contamination of the human race.
But you can't take it on airplanes. In fact, if you even bring it to the airport, you're going to be taken aside for additional questioning, and then put on a flight to... well, that destination is classified.
"Rare 'Star-Making Machine' Found in Distant Universe" is the title of it, on NASA's website. The first paragraph makes it clear that it's intended to be "in the distant reaches of the universe," but it's still strange phrasing. Really got my hopes up there for a bit.
Also, to be more specific, this Galaxy was creating 4,000 stars per year 12.3 Billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.3 Billion years old. Also, they don't know the number to be 4,000 stars: it's in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 stars per year, based on how bright it is.
The only real response I can find to this is to quote Foucault's Pendulum at you:
"Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, and therefor cats bark. Or that all Athenians are mortal, and all the citizens of Piraeus are mortal, so all the citizens of Piraeus are Athenians."
"Which they are."
"Yes, but only accidentally. Morons will occasionally say something that's right, but they say it for the wrong reason." ...
"In such statements you suspect that something is wrong, but it takes work to show what and why. Morons are tricky. You can spot the fool right away (not to mention the cretin), but the moron reasons almost the way you do; the gap is infinitesimal. A moron is a master of paralogism."
Well, if there was no law against it, yes. It might be morally repugnant, but it would be legal. Until it became high enough profile to have a law against it passed.
Right, and what's the speed of the internet in Japan? According to speedtest.net, the lowest download (by city) is 3.4 MB/s, and the lowest upload (by ISP) is 1 MB/s (the highest is under 2 MB/s). Uploading 1MB each second, you'll reach the limit in about 10 days, maybe 11. Would an average family reach that limit? Well, I don't know. However, there are lots of people in japan downloading or uploading stuff (after all, that's where fansubbing groups get high-quality RAWs).
Downloading Linux ISOs is not stealing. Downloading music released, by the artist, under the creative commons license or something similar is not stealing. Downloading fansubs of Anime which are not licensed outside of Japan is not stealing (well, downloading the subtitles themselves is not stealing. The episodes are in a sort of gray area, since one could conceivably order the japanese DVDs, and then apply the subtitles to them). Downloading things which are legal via P2P is not stealing.
There are many legal things which you can download. Oh, and Free Content is not always Stolen Content, or Copyright Infringement, or whatever you want to call it.
They want to be able to select for genes associated with blind belief in the government/ruling body. Decreasing skepticism, ability to think for oneself, that sort of thing. Okay, so it's going to take a long time to actually be able to do that, but they're trying to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. And even if they're not thinking like this now, they will eventually.
So, currently, we know about the following things that are/were regulating overpopulation (an incomplete list):
1. Health, leading to death of illnesses, injuries, etc. Now mostly removed by medicine.
2. Famine, Plague, etc. Used to randomly sweep through communities. Now mostly removed by 1) Globalization (preventing really large famines) and Medicine.
3. Predators. Would kill off the weak and unlucky. Mostly removed by weapons, habitat destruction.
4. Natural Disasters. Becoming more of a problem.
5. Cancer. Only an issue when you live past your biological usefulness (the point where you begin consuming more resources and/or stop producing children), and require additional support from others. Thus, becoming a rather major issue.
6. Death of Old Age. The ultimate regulating factor. The point when the body just gives up and stops working. Pushed back by medicine, but not removed.
7. Ecosystem Collapse. Has not yet happened on a large scale; however, will happen if overpopulation increases without central planning for dealing with the additional resource needs.
8. Death by Old Age, where the vast majority of a population is above child-bearing age. If this is enough of the population, their death may lead to an end of the species. To my knowledge, this has never happened.
The point: the more humans mess around with aging and such, the more unpredictable things will happen, and the more things that were predicted but ignored will happen. For example, people have been talking about climate change and world overpopulation for a long time, but still nothing really major is happening to find a solution.
Maybe in a controlled environment, where there is no bumping around, or movement at all, but, in the field, you're going to have trouble getting that sort of precision. It is significantly easier to destroy something with this technology than it is to put it off-line without significant damage. Something used to do that would probably be a missile-mounted EMP generator (not a bomb, of course. I've heard of a device, smaller than a car, which would generate an EMP, disrupting electronics within a range of around 100 feet, so something like that). There would still be issues with what happens to the target afterwards, though.
This is in use, primarily to destroy missiles (in Israel, I think), although larger models (which could be mounted in large aircraft to protect them, such as Air Force One) are being worked on. They function by heating up the target to the point where it's contents ignite (either the fuel or the payload), or it becomes unable to function. They are, however, a very much lethal solution: use one on an airplane, and it will explode - the fuel will ignite. The same goes for boats, except that small boats will probably have a lot less fuel on-board, and thus the explosion, while sinking the craft (damaging the hull, at least), would be less likely to completely destroy it, and thus less likely to kill any passengers.
So, basically, when someone goes through the install without paying much attention, Firefox ends up being the default browser. Which will increase the market share by tricking people into setting it as default, and then using it. Which is probably a bit immoral. Thus, at this point, Slashdot's bias towards Mozilla may be measured by how many people find something wrong with this.
Right. And, if you happen to be writing the software, I'm sure that it would be very hard to stick in some extra tools which let you get around it, or put in an invisible account, or whatever. In any closed source platform, you must be able to completely trust the seller. Would Apple stand up to the NSA? Or would they quietly do it, and play the innocent victim of the government if anyone ever found out (and then sue whoever found out into the ground, as companies do to white hats now)?
Hmmm... So, if the same thing happened to you, you would like to be kept in jail until evidence of your innocence appeared, even if you believed yourself to be innocent? If this happened to your best friend, would you still say that they should be in jail? If you say no, you're a hypocrite. If you say yes, you're a government's ideal citizen. Which would you choose?
Even better, have it, in the absence of the RFID tag, be set off by something common in airport security. XRay machines, say. After all, if someone steals my stuff, they deserve anything I can arrange to go their way. Collateral damage? Who cares?
Slashdot Mirror
If we found free will, how would we identify it? How would we tell it apart from action according to a vast number of variables, following very complex rules?
You are not allowed to complain about your laptop "only" having 960GB! If you were talking about a server, than yes, you would be allowed to complain. Maybe - maybe - if you were talking about a desktop. But not when talking about a laptop.
But if Apple chooses to cut you off (which it can whenever it wants, by removing your app from its store or by pushing an update which deletes it from all iPhones), you've just lost all access to the market. On the other hand, if you have an application which is being sold for many platforms, you are not as dependent upon the whims of one company which controls both the platform and the store.
In your experience ... a dog will love you until you are dead (and in the grave) ... Slashdot has zombies now? Why did no one tell me this?
Pinhole cameras in hats, jackets, or whatever. Unless they are specifically searched for cameras, it should be easy to keep them hidden. And if they are in a situation where they know that they will be searched for cameras, than they can use microphones in their shoes.
Google looks back into you. The vast eye of the database watches, waiting only for its chance to strike ...
Tr-twon. Tr should be pronounced as if it ending in an e, and the o in twon should be more of an oo. Thus, one would pronounce it tre-twoon. I don't have a major in L337-sp34k, though, so I'm probably wrong about some of that.
On the other hand, robbing a bank with a big sign bearing someone else's name, address, and phone number is a fairly smart thing to do (assuming that you don't have a choice about robbing a bank), especially if your face is obscured. Even better, use a nametag, and pretend you just left a party, thus explaining why your name and contact information is written on a tag affixed to your shirt.
Burn toxic waste and spread it around easily. Toxic waste, with a half-life of thousands of years, which would render land uninhabitable. And which often takes dust form, blowing around, and rendering more land uninhabitable. Which gives people cancer, causes birth defects, and is almost impossible to get rid of. Which gets into the water supplies and contaminates more land, which gets into the ocean and kills fish. I have no words with which to describe your stupidity. None. No words suffice. Please go die to avoid further contamination of the human race.
But you can't take it on airplanes. In fact, if you even bring it to the airport, you're going to be taken aside for additional questioning, and then put on a flight to ... well, that destination is classified.
And your comment is the first result. Does that strike you as unusual?
"Rare 'Star-Making Machine' Found in Distant Universe" is the title of it, on NASA's website. The first paragraph makes it clear that it's intended to be "in the distant reaches of the universe," but it's still strange phrasing. Really got my hopes up there for a bit.
Also, to be more specific, this Galaxy was creating 4,000 stars per year 12.3 Billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.3 Billion years old. Also, they don't know the number to be 4,000 stars: it's in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 stars per year, based on how bright it is.
The only real response I can find to this is to quote Foucault's Pendulum at you:
...
"Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, and therefor cats bark. Or that all Athenians are mortal, and all the citizens of Piraeus are mortal, so all the citizens of Piraeus are Athenians."
"Which they are."
"Yes, but only accidentally. Morons will occasionally say something that's right, but they say it for the wrong reason."
"In such statements you suspect that something is wrong, but it takes work to show what and why. Morons are tricky. You can spot the fool right away (not to mention the cretin), but the moron reasons almost the way you do; the gap is infinitesimal. A moron is a master of paralogism."
Well, if there was no law against it, yes. It might be morally repugnant, but it would be legal. Until it became high enough profile to have a law against it passed.
Right, and what's the speed of the internet in Japan? According to speedtest.net, the lowest download (by city) is 3.4 MB/s, and the lowest upload (by ISP) is 1 MB/s (the highest is under 2 MB/s). Uploading 1MB each second, you'll reach the limit in about 10 days, maybe 11. Would an average family reach that limit? Well, I don't know. However, there are lots of people in japan downloading or uploading stuff (after all, that's where fansubbing groups get high-quality RAWs).
Downloading Linux ISOs is not stealing. Downloading music released, by the artist, under the creative commons license or something similar is not stealing. Downloading fansubs of Anime which are not licensed outside of Japan is not stealing (well, downloading the subtitles themselves is not stealing. The episodes are in a sort of gray area, since one could conceivably order the japanese DVDs, and then apply the subtitles to them). Downloading things which are legal via P2P is not stealing.
There are many legal things which you can download. Oh, and Free Content is not always Stolen Content, or Copyright Infringement, or whatever you want to call it.
They want to be able to select for genes associated with blind belief in the government/ruling body. Decreasing skepticism, ability to think for oneself, that sort of thing. Okay, so it's going to take a long time to actually be able to do that, but they're trying to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. And even if they're not thinking like this now, they will eventually.
So, currently, we know about the following things that are/were regulating overpopulation (an incomplete list):
1. Health, leading to death of illnesses, injuries, etc. Now mostly removed by medicine.
2. Famine, Plague, etc. Used to randomly sweep through communities. Now mostly removed by 1) Globalization (preventing really large famines) and Medicine.
3. Predators. Would kill off the weak and unlucky. Mostly removed by weapons, habitat destruction.
4. Natural Disasters. Becoming more of a problem.
5. Cancer. Only an issue when you live past your biological usefulness (the point where you begin consuming more resources and/or stop producing children), and require additional support from others. Thus, becoming a rather major issue.
6. Death of Old Age. The ultimate regulating factor. The point when the body just gives up and stops working. Pushed back by medicine, but not removed.
7. Ecosystem Collapse. Has not yet happened on a large scale; however, will happen if overpopulation increases without central planning for dealing with the additional resource needs.
8. Death by Old Age, where the vast majority of a population is above child-bearing age. If this is enough of the population, their death may lead to an end of the species. To my knowledge, this has never happened.
The point: the more humans mess around with aging and such, the more unpredictable things will happen, and the more things that were predicted but ignored will happen. For example, people have been talking about climate change and world overpopulation for a long time, but still nothing really major is happening to find a solution.
Maybe in a controlled environment, where there is no bumping around, or movement at all, but, in the field, you're going to have trouble getting that sort of precision. It is significantly easier to destroy something with this technology than it is to put it off-line without significant damage. Something used to do that would probably be a missile-mounted EMP generator (not a bomb, of course. I've heard of a device, smaller than a car, which would generate an EMP, disrupting electronics within a range of around 100 feet, so something like that). There would still be issues with what happens to the target afterwards, though.
This is in use, primarily to destroy missiles (in Israel, I think), although larger models (which could be mounted in large aircraft to protect them, such as Air Force One) are being worked on. They function by heating up the target to the point where it's contents ignite (either the fuel or the payload), or it becomes unable to function. They are, however, a very much lethal solution: use one on an airplane, and it will explode - the fuel will ignite. The same goes for boats, except that small boats will probably have a lot less fuel on-board, and thus the explosion, while sinking the craft (damaging the hull, at least), would be less likely to completely destroy it, and thus less likely to kill any passengers.
So, basically, when someone goes through the install without paying much attention, Firefox ends up being the default browser. Which will increase the market share by tricking people into setting it as default, and then using it. Which is probably a bit immoral. Thus, at this point, Slashdot's bias towards Mozilla may be measured by how many people find something wrong with this.
This post in encrypted with rot-26. If you are able to read this text, you have violated the law by circumventing the encryption.
Sorry, it had to be said.
Right. And, if you happen to be writing the software, I'm sure that it would be very hard to stick in some extra tools which let you get around it, or put in an invisible account, or whatever. In any closed source platform, you must be able to completely trust the seller. Would Apple stand up to the NSA? Or would they quietly do it, and play the innocent victim of the government if anyone ever found out (and then sue whoever found out into the ground, as companies do to white hats now)?
Hmmm ... So, if the same thing happened to you, you would like to be kept in jail until evidence of your innocence appeared, even if you believed yourself to be innocent? If this happened to your best friend, would you still say that they should be in jail? If you say no, you're a hypocrite. If you say yes, you're a government's ideal citizen. Which would you choose?
Even better, have it, in the absence of the RFID tag, be set off by something common in airport security. XRay machines, say. After all, if someone steals my stuff, they deserve anything I can arrange to go their way. Collateral damage? Who cares?