I have always had a high preference for nerdy girls. The fact that she's attending Princeton for physics is enough to raise my pulse.
Incidentally, my girlfriend falls squarely in the category of "hot nerd." They're really hard to find, owing to their tendency to be fairly reclusive. I got lucky with her:). Hope she doesn't read this comment (at least the first part)...
Agreed on all points, especially the irony of how back Cryix 6x86 processors sucked at floating point... they got their start designing math coprocessors, after all:).
I routinely run three or four guest VMs (Debian/Ubuntu/Win2K) concurrently on my laptop. Dual core AMD64, 3 GB RAM, 200GB drive (Toshiba). You must be doing something wrong.
only a tard would pay hundreds for the functionality of an item that can be cheaper than a meal.
These devices won't stay at their current prices. Also, there's the old saying that some things are cheap only if your time is worth nothing. A moderate up-front investment in learning how to use a device may save you a bunch of time and aggravation in future. My time is worth money, so this matters to me.
My VM server rig is decidedly low-end compared to many I've seen, but it certainly gets the job done. I custom built the box, mostly from components bought on NewEgg; it has a dual-core AMD64 chip (soon to be upgraded to a quad-core), 3 GB RAM, and about 500 GB total drive space between two IDE (yeah, I know, will upgrade to SATA at some point) drives.
The machine runs Ubuntu Server with VMWare Server 2. I can easily run several Debian and Ubuntu VPS nodes on it under light load, and I use it for experimentation with virutal LANs and dedicated purpose VMs. I periodically power up a Windows Server 2003 VM, which uses a lot more resources, but it's still fine for testing purposes.
Without intending any disrespect, your grandma has a much shorter life expectancy than the bulk of the population. This translates to a relatively small economic impact when it comes to device sales. True, she may be more the "Jitterbug" type (shudder), but that's okay.
I think this isn't as much about the universal remote's days being numbered as it is about how pervasive smart(er) phone are becoming. Hell, I can hardly buy *any* phone now that doesn't come with a camera (many with video capabilities, crappy as the result may be in some cases), bluetooth, and built-in mobile browsing of some kind. The phone itself is simply becoming the new universal remote, except it's interactive now.
By the way, would you have any ideas for improving my article on good development practices (see sig)? I'd appreciate any feedback you might be able to offer on it. Thanks!
So yes, applications need parallelization. The tools for it are rudimentary at best. We know this. Nothing to see here.
You're right hat we've known this for quite some time now. The issue is the simple fact that this problem remains a hard one to solve, with very little real progress in the last few years, while CPU technology is continuing to pull ahead of effective tools to utilize that power. The problem is getting worse, and getting worse at an increasing rate. That's the story here, and I do consider that something worth drawing more attention to.
Hey, at least we aren't dealing with the lovely world of Cyrix anymore... those were truly fun times with respect to compiler optimizations (or lack thereof, as it turned out). That and the, um, heat "issues."
My level of experience seems to closely mirror yours, and I have to respectfully disagree again. I do need to clarify a point: I'm not making any claim that traditional AI approaches have made any great strides in replicating a humanistic artificial intelligence. My point is that as we continue to see systems that are made up of increasingly dense and interconnected computing units (whether in a single lab or on a global scale), we're coming close to the point where computing systems need virtually no human input to continue to advance in power. It's been years since any one engineer has really been able to hold all the details of CPU design in his/her head, and that trend is only increasing as we rely more and more on existing computing platforms to develop the next generation of systems. Sooner or later (and my wager is relatively soon), the need for human involvement will diminish to a nearly unappreciable level, which will probably cause a fair amount of upheaval in other economic areas.
I recognize that you're taking a more conservative approach than I am with respect to this matter, and I respect your point of view. I'm guess I'm taking the long view of the acceleration of information exchange on this planet over the two last thousand years or so, and trying to make somewhat educated guesses where it's all going. Thanks for your feedback!
In a way I'm glad I wasn't at TTF watching the news with you; I probably would have got a lot more worked up about the typical talking head responses than I did from the online media coverage. In fact, I try to avoid network news on TV these days, preferring to receive it in the more passive online format.
It pisses me off when journalists act as if a military mishap has never occurred before in the history of our nation, while pretending to know something about the subject matter. I'd love to see statistics on how many of these "military correspondents" have ever actually served in any branch of the military.
Why anyone would think that an advanced machine intelligence would need to compete with human beings for resources is beyond me. After all, if you're essentially dealing with the mind of God on Earth, I'm fairly certain that such an entity would tend toward an exponentially increasing rate of efficiency per computing unit. This implies exponentially diminishing reliance upon external energy inputs. It also puts the human race in an interesting position: one has to wonder if this will be the tipping point where human beings are faced with a choice between merging with what's developing in order to preserve their own sentience, or face a standard-issue biological death. Kinda sounds like Revelation in a way, which doesn't bother me a bit. It actually amuses me that Biblical literalists could finally be proven wrong via the wonders of natural selection.
I'll add to my previous (admittedly malformed) post that I don't believe any reasonably advanced extra-terrestrial intelligence would exist in a biologically-based form; it's really a terribly inefficient means of maintaining an intelligent population. Carbon may have been the basis for life on this planet, but I assure you it won't be the last word in intelligence. What choices humanity makes with respect to convergence with something larger (i.e. more pervasive) remain to be seen, probably in the next decade or two. Don't get hit by a bus; things might just get kind of interesting.
Not at all sure why you find machine intelligences less scaring than biological ones. Both can chew up resources very quickly.
To put it simply, the more advanced a system becomes, the less resources it tends to require per cycle of computation (not the best way of putting it, but hey, I've had a few beers). Now, there comes a point in the acceleration of intelligence where virtually everything in sight has some sort of information processing capacity associated with it, and everything's linked in a pretty mesh-like way. That's where things get interesting: the convergence of increasing efficiency in computation, with a simultaneously increasing level of efficiency of computation, combined with an exponentially increasing density and commonality of computing "devices." It's already started to happen at a noticeable rate, and has really been occurring since human beings first scratched meaningful symbols in clay tablets that would outlive their creators. Fun times to be living in.
You probably meant your reply in jest (understandably so, considering the stigma of underdeveloped social skills that Slashdotters are famously afflicted with), but I'll reply anyhow:).
I love people. I'm what you might call a highly social nerd, someone who really enjoys the company of others in a variety of social contexts. Yeah, I also enjoy sequestering myself in my home office and writing code for a couple of days at a time, but there comes a point where human contact is critical for me. I have friends from a diverse range of backgrounds (Naval service is good for exposing you to a wide range of personality types from different parts of the country); I guess I kind of enjoy being a part of different cultures and mindsets.
I feel like I'm walking a strange bridge sometimes, though... I do have friends who aren't exactly, ummm.... social in nature. I also have friends who wouldn't know a terminal window if they got hit by a picture of one plastered to the front grill of a dump truck. Still, I like who I am, and I enjoy the life I live. I wish the same for anyone who can pull it off:).
First, if they have anything like "a pervasive machine intelligence", then their technical development would be VASTLY beyond ours. We are not even remotely close to anything like that.
In my view, I have good reason to believe we're much closer to that than most people would like to accept. Many reasons, actually. It's probably a normal side effect of human vanity that we take comfort in our present position at the top of the intelligence curve, but I think it's an inescapable fact that future historians (in whatever form they might take) will describe humanity as a species that was destined to outdo itself. To me, what occurs after that will be the most interesting chapter in the history of the human race.
If they're at a similar point in the evolution of intelligence, that's kinda scary in a way. Maybe they've already made the jump to a pervasive machine intelligence; that would probably be less distressing.
Slashdot Mirror
I have always had a high preference for nerdy girls. The fact that she's attending Princeton for physics is enough to raise my pulse.
:). Hope she doesn't read this comment (at least the first part)...
Incidentally, my girlfriend falls squarely in the category of "hot nerd." They're really hard to find, owing to their tendency to be fairly reclusive. I got lucky with her
She just made her career, and rightfully so.
Agreed on all points, especially the irony of how back Cryix 6x86 processors sucked at floating point... they got their start designing math coprocessors, after all :).
Decent paying jobs can be like that sometimes.
I routinely run three or four guest VMs (Debian/Ubuntu/Win2K) concurrently on my laptop. Dual core AMD64, 3 GB RAM, 200GB drive (Toshiba). You must be doing something wrong.
"I see you're trying to compose a child with your wife. Would you like some help?"
only a tard would pay hundreds for the functionality of an item that can be cheaper than a meal.
These devices won't stay at their current prices. Also, there's the old saying that some things are cheap only if your time is worth nothing. A moderate up-front investment in learning how to use a device may save you a bunch of time and aggravation in future. My time is worth money, so this matters to me.
My VM server rig is decidedly low-end compared to many I've seen, but it certainly gets the job done. I custom built the box, mostly from components bought on NewEgg; it has a dual-core AMD64 chip (soon to be upgraded to a quad-core), 3 GB RAM, and about 500 GB total drive space between two IDE (yeah, I know, will upgrade to SATA at some point) drives.
The machine runs Ubuntu Server with VMWare Server 2. I can easily run several Debian and Ubuntu VPS nodes on it under light load, and I use it for experimentation with virutal LANs and dedicated purpose VMs. I periodically power up a Windows Server 2003 VM, which uses a lot more resources, but it's still fine for testing purposes.
Without intending any disrespect, your grandma has a much shorter life expectancy than the bulk of the population. This translates to a relatively small economic impact when it comes to device sales. True, she may be more the "Jitterbug" type (shudder), but that's okay.
I think this isn't as much about the universal remote's days being numbered as it is about how pervasive smart(er) phone are becoming. Hell, I can hardly buy *any* phone now that doesn't come with a camera (many with video capabilities, crappy as the result may be in some cases), bluetooth, and built-in mobile browsing of some kind. The phone itself is simply becoming the new universal remote, except it's interactive now.
By the way, would you have any ideas for improving my article on good development practices (see sig)? I'd appreciate any feedback you might be able to offer on it. Thanks!
So yes, applications need parallelization. The tools for it are rudimentary at best. We know this. Nothing to see here.
You're right hat we've known this for quite some time now. The issue is the simple fact that this problem remains a hard one to solve, with very little real progress in the last few years, while CPU technology is continuing to pull ahead of effective tools to utilize that power. The problem is getting worse, and getting worse at an increasing rate. That's the story here, and I do consider that something worth drawing more attention to.
Hey, at least we aren't dealing with the lovely world of Cyrix anymore... those were truly fun times with respect to compiler optimizations (or lack thereof, as it turned out). That and the, um, heat "issues."
My level of experience seems to closely mirror yours, and I have to respectfully disagree again. I do need to clarify a point: I'm not making any claim that traditional AI approaches have made any great strides in replicating a humanistic artificial intelligence. My point is that as we continue to see systems that are made up of increasingly dense and interconnected computing units (whether in a single lab or on a global scale), we're coming close to the point where computing systems need virtually no human input to continue to advance in power. It's been years since any one engineer has really been able to hold all the details of CPU design in his/her head, and that trend is only increasing as we rely more and more on existing computing platforms to develop the next generation of systems. Sooner or later (and my wager is relatively soon), the need for human involvement will diminish to a nearly unappreciable level, which will probably cause a fair amount of upheaval in other economic areas.
I recognize that you're taking a more conservative approach than I am with respect to this matter, and I respect your point of view. I'm guess I'm taking the long view of the acceleration of information exchange on this planet over the two last thousand years or so, and trying to make somewhat educated guesses where it's all going. Thanks for your feedback!
In a way I'm glad I wasn't at TTF watching the news with you; I probably would have got a lot more worked up about the typical talking head responses than I did from the online media coverage. In fact, I try to avoid network news on TV these days, preferring to receive it in the more passive online format.
It pisses me off when journalists act as if a military mishap has never occurred before in the history of our nation, while pretending to know something about the subject matter. I'd love to see statistics on how many of these "military correspondents" have ever actually served in any branch of the military.
Well said :). Thanks for your other response, too; it was a good read.
Computational efficiency approaching infinity is pie in the sky only as long as humans have a hand in controlling the process.
As for your notes on the work "exponential," wow, you don't say. You must some kind of college degree or something.
Why anyone would think that an advanced machine intelligence would need to compete with human beings for resources is beyond me. After all, if you're essentially dealing with the mind of God on Earth, I'm fairly certain that such an entity would tend toward an exponentially increasing rate of efficiency per computing unit. This implies exponentially diminishing reliance upon external energy inputs. It also puts the human race in an interesting position: one has to wonder if this will be the tipping point where human beings are faced with a choice between merging with what's developing in order to preserve their own sentience, or face a standard-issue biological death. Kinda sounds like Revelation in a way, which doesn't bother me a bit. It actually amuses me that Biblical literalists could finally be proven wrong via the wonders of natural selection.
I'll add to my previous (admittedly malformed) post that I don't believe any reasonably advanced extra-terrestrial intelligence would exist in a biologically-based form; it's really a terribly inefficient means of maintaining an intelligent population. Carbon may have been the basis for life on this planet, but I assure you it won't be the last word in intelligence. What choices humanity makes with respect to convergence with something larger (i.e. more pervasive) remain to be seen, probably in the next decade or two. Don't get hit by a bus; things might just get kind of interesting.
Not at all sure why you find machine intelligences less scaring than biological ones. Both can chew up resources very quickly.
To put it simply, the more advanced a system becomes, the less resources it tends to require per cycle of computation (not the best way of putting it, but hey, I've had a few beers). Now, there comes a point in the acceleration of intelligence where virtually everything in sight has some sort of information processing capacity associated with it, and everything's linked in a pretty mesh-like way. That's where things get interesting: the convergence of increasing efficiency in computation, with a simultaneously increasing level of efficiency of computation, combined with an exponentially increasing density and commonality of computing "devices." It's already started to happen at a noticeable rate, and has really been occurring since human beings first scratched meaningful symbols in clay tablets that would outlive their creators. Fun times to be living in.
You probably meant your reply in jest (understandably so, considering the stigma of underdeveloped social skills that Slashdotters are famously afflicted with), but I'll reply anyhow :).
:).
I love people. I'm what you might call a highly social nerd, someone who really enjoys the company of others in a variety of social contexts. Yeah, I also enjoy sequestering myself in my home office and writing code for a couple of days at a time, but there comes a point where human contact is critical for me. I have friends from a diverse range of backgrounds (Naval service is good for exposing you to a wide range of personality types from different parts of the country); I guess I kind of enjoy being a part of different cultures and mindsets.
I feel like I'm walking a strange bridge sometimes, though... I do have friends who aren't exactly, ummm.... social in nature. I also have friends who wouldn't know a terminal window if they got hit by a picture of one plastered to the front grill of a dump truck. Still, I like who I am, and I enjoy the life I live. I wish the same for anyone who can pull it off
First, if they have anything like "a pervasive machine intelligence", then their technical development would be VASTLY beyond ours. We are not even remotely close to anything like that.
In my view, I have good reason to believe we're much closer to that than most people would like to accept. Many reasons, actually. It's probably a normal side effect of human vanity that we take comfort in our present position at the top of the intelligence curve, but I think it's an inescapable fact that future historians (in whatever form they might take) will describe humanity as a species that was destined to outdo itself. To me, what occurs after that will be the most interesting chapter in the history of the human race.
If they're at a similar point in the evolution of intelligence, that's kinda scary in a way. Maybe they've already made the jump to a pervasive machine intelligence; that would probably be less distressing.
Hey, it's not gay when you're underway, it's only queer at the peer... right? Oh, wait... submarines! That makes it all better...
On second thought, maybe they were counting each officer twice...
There's no way they could pack that many CTs onto the boat... where would they stow all their gear?