I don't think flat screens are a huge deal, they're just thinner screens...if they were revealed at once as a nicely finished and affordable product, would it be so different?
The only big breakthroughs there are GPS and the Internet. Everything else was a slow build-up or slight variation of an existing technology that didn't make a big, sudden difference...and I don't think social media belongs on that list.
Those little, academic inventions are what the author is calling "not real invension." He wants the good ol' days back when an inventor pulled back the tarp over the first powered airplane or horseless carriage and wowed everyone with something completely new. But he's not getting them back, because:
1. Diminishing returns, part of the "standing on the shoulders of giants" effect: As time goes on, invention requires more advanced equipment, more investment, more education. The Wright Brothers could put together everything they needed to build their powered aircraft* in a bicycle shop from materials that could mostly be bought at a hardware store and the equivalent of maybe BSc-level education at most, with the equivalent of what today would be considered an upper-middle class hobby budget. These days you need supercomputers, research hospitals, giant particle colliders, a very solid PhD-level education and many millions of dollars as a bare minimum to push the boundaries.
2. IP laws: They've turned the world of invention from a Wild West frontier to an Orwellian police state within the last century. Act surprised everyone.
My boss had the very same thing happen at a department store he used to work at, it's probably not that uncommon for places without a proper, secured server room.
I tried to play through the original Ghost Recon again recently...I don't know how I ever got through that game before, I just don't have the patience for it now.
Exactly what I was thinking, the game Live for Speed does something similar with cars, and even makes them look a bit different, but the car guys know what they're really supposed to be.
"Is that weed you're smoking and selling to people in little baggies?" "Uh, no, it's...thyme." "Huh, sure smells like weed...carry on then"
"My radar gun said you were doing 310kph, is that true!?" "No officer, your instruments must be wrong...I was doing like...100, tops" "Oh sorry about that, ride safely now!"
"Sir are you urinating in public?" "Pfft of course not." "Really? It seems to be landing on my shoes." "It's raining." "Guess you're right. Have a nice day!"
Amazing how the author of that book actually changed something...too bad other books like 1984, Brave New World and the short story Right to Read get used like a manual for oppression instead.
I use Flashblock, NoScript, BetterPrivacy, Ghostery (with GhostRank aka Plugin-Based Analytics disabled) and CookieMonster but not Adblock. I allow the unobtrusive ads to appear on purpose.
I've been using Flashblock for years and I don't think I've ever had this problem (closest is Veoh, where you have to click on the plain black video area to make it work). Hidden elements appear as a flash object in the upper-left corner of the page.
I'm not an American and I'd call myself a post-capitalist so I certainly hope that capitalism isn't the only way society can organize itself.
But now you're assuming a Terminator-like AI uprising, but with the AI somehow taking on the aims of Robin Hood rather than Hitler. Equally unlikely as it requires the intentional giving of sentience and full self-control to a system that doesn't require it.
Related question; How much of your predictions relies on not just technological, but political progress? IMO technological progress alone will lead us into a dystopia, or at best, the status quo but with "fancier gadgets" - access to new technology but stagnant or falling spending power (allocation of resources) and leisure time as has been observed over the last 2-3 decades. It seems that under capitalism, even when we save money through the use of technology the market adjusts to leave us with the same spending power (i.e. iron law of wages).
Capitalism disagrees. Your purpose in life is to produce value or you will not receive the resources needed to exist. Your existence alone is unimportant to the economy. The closest thing to mercy you will receive is some assistance when not producing with the at least implicit intent of getting you back to producing as quickly as possible.
Yes it's horrible and savage, but it's the reality and the GP was right about it.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think flat screens are a huge deal, they're just thinner screens...if they were revealed at once as a nicely finished and affordable product, would it be so different?
The only big breakthroughs there are GPS and the Internet. Everything else was a slow build-up or slight variation of an existing technology that didn't make a big, sudden difference...and I don't think social media belongs on that list.
Those little, academic inventions are what the author is calling "not real invension." He wants the good ol' days back when an inventor pulled back the tarp over the first powered airplane or horseless carriage and wowed everyone with something completely new. But he's not getting them back, because:
1. Diminishing returns, part of the "standing on the shoulders of giants" effect: As time goes on, invention requires more advanced equipment, more investment, more education. The Wright Brothers could put together everything they needed to build their powered aircraft* in a bicycle shop from materials that could mostly be bought at a hardware store and the equivalent of maybe BSc-level education at most, with the equivalent of what today would be considered an upper-middle class hobby budget. These days you need supercomputers, research hospitals, giant particle colliders, a very solid PhD-level education and many millions of dollars as a bare minimum to push the boundaries.
2. IP laws: They've turned the world of invention from a Wild West frontier to an Orwellian police state within the last century. Act surprised everyone.
*I know, they were not really the first.
My first thought exactly, I really hope they're retiring DirectX and using OpenGL from now on.
Would only work if he's AC-powered and has a cord trailing behind him...
It's possible, say the device controls an electric water heater in a 3rd-world country where energy is ruinously expensive.
My boss had the very same thing happen at a department store he used to work at, it's probably not that uncommon for places without a proper, secured server room.
I tried to play through the original Ghost Recon again recently...I don't know how I ever got through that game before, I just don't have the patience for it now.
Exactly what I was thinking, the game Live for Speed does something similar with cars, and even makes them look a bit different, but the car guys know what they're really supposed to be.
Imagine if cops were like Alan Greenspan.
"Is that weed you're smoking and selling to people in little baggies?"
"Uh, no, it's...thyme."
"Huh, sure smells like weed...carry on then"
"My radar gun said you were doing 310kph, is that true!?"
"No officer, your instruments must be wrong...I was doing like...100, tops"
"Oh sorry about that, ride safely now!"
"Sir are you urinating in public?"
"Pfft of course not."
"Really? It seems to be landing on my shoes."
"It's raining."
"Guess you're right. Have a nice day!"
University of Bologna, who did he expect to fall for that? :-P
Yep watch any trashy-as-hell talk show and you'll see that the psychics are still doing well for themselves...
Amazing how the author of that book actually changed something...too bad other books like 1984, Brave New World and the short story Right to Read get used like a manual for oppression instead.
Furthermore see Moxie Marlinspike's criticisms of DNSSEC:
http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/ssl-and-the-future-of-authenticity/
About 2/3 way down the page.
A lot of those are just for the Flash tracking cookies.
I use Flashblock, NoScript, BetterPrivacy, Ghostery (with GhostRank aka Plugin-Based Analytics disabled) and CookieMonster but not Adblock. I allow the unobtrusive ads to appear on purpose.
Adblock is good for dial-up users though.
I've been using Flashblock for years and I don't think I've ever had this problem (closest is Veoh, where you have to click on the plain black video area to make it work). Hidden elements appear as a flash object in the upper-left corner of the page.
Real military backronyms are always backwards and awkward, never cool and sensible like that.
True, apart from Slashdot and various political blogs and forums I can't find anything. Nothing in mainstream news.
I have Onion News mixed in with my other RSS feeds, it's a fun game to skim the headlines and guess which ones are real.
A combat-oriented helicopter won't go down anywhere near as easily as that civilian chopper.
Dammit where are my mod points...
I'm not an American and I'd call myself a post-capitalist so I certainly hope that capitalism isn't the only way society can organize itself.
But now you're assuming a Terminator-like AI uprising, but with the AI somehow taking on the aims of Robin Hood rather than Hitler. Equally unlikely as it requires the intentional giving of sentience and full self-control to a system that doesn't require it.
Related question; How much of your predictions relies on not just technological, but political progress? IMO technological progress alone will lead us into a dystopia, or at best, the status quo but with "fancier gadgets" - access to new technology but stagnant or falling spending power (allocation of resources) and leisure time as has been observed over the last 2-3 decades. It seems that under capitalism, even when we save money through the use of technology the market adjusts to leave us with the same spending power (i.e. iron law of wages).
Capitalism disagrees. Your purpose in life is to produce value or you will not receive the resources needed to exist. Your existence alone is unimportant to the economy. The closest thing to mercy you will receive is some assistance when not producing with the at least implicit intent of getting you back to producing as quickly as possible.
Yes it's horrible and savage, but it's the reality and the GP was right about it.