But has the interest in things mystical and occult among computer geeks watered down after the masses found computers and the Net?
Watered down... I don't know. Been watered down... yes. Spend any time in alt.magick.chaos and just try to imagine a curious person being impressed by the miscellaneous posturing and repetitive quotations from their favourite Golden Dawn member.
Do hackers still believe in magic or practice a mystical religion?
Ummm.... What do you mean by 'magic'. I would suspect that most hackers believe in some form of magic, even if only by acknowledging the validity of terminology like 'rain dance' (which I'm sure every hacker has experienced first hand).
As to practicing, most of the religions with strong connections to 'magic' don't require much in the way of practice. (I know, kabbalah...) A better word than 'practice' would probably be 'ascribe to'.
I'm not too sure the results would've been any more favourable for the "But it encourages us to buy your CD's" argument
The point I was making is that it's not a monetary loss if the people involved wouldn't have made the purchase anyway. The very few mp3s that I have (that aren't from my own cd collection) are from cds that I would never actually pay money for.
Considering the quantity of beer consumed by college students, pleading poverty doesn't hold a whole lot of water though.
Possibly, but I'm from Australia, and most of my friends attending college won't come out to a club on the basis that they can't afford the $5 door charge. That's about the price of two glasses of beer.. not that I'd drink the stuff.
music isn't a necessity and the radio is free as are most local bands
Music is a necessity and where I'm from, radio stations means recycled top 40 tunes. I'll stick to music with taste, thanks.
But selecting out college students, I don't think was inappropriate and, therefore, does not negate the entire study.
Sure... pick the market segment most technologically able and with the lowest income, and then whinge about the fact that they don't buy your music.
'OK... I just won't bother eating for a week, then I can buy myself a CD.'
yay.
Just from looking at the design of the shoes and the descriptions given, it looks as though the shoes are designed solely (ouch) for running. I can't see how it would be possible to adapt this design to use in more vertical jumps, such as would be suggested by real accessibility as the article mentioned.
The other thing that noone discusses is how you are supposed to stop. Every time your foot applies a certain amount of pressure to the shoe, it fires the boosters. I can just see people trying the slalom to a halt.
Genetic algorithms and human 'perfection'
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Frankenstein Time
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· Score: 1
As anyone who has worked at all with genetic algorithms would know, one of the major issues that arises when dealing with them is the exploitation vs. exploration problem. In other words, you need to be able to balance how your population combines the use of its current strengths with the search for new strengths. Although the point has been (and is still being) argued, while evolution cannot literally act in leaps and bounds, it does effectively do so.
This comes down to the "What good is half an eye?" argument that is frequently proposed in these situations. Evolutionary advances of this nature require time for evolution to build up the necessary components for the completion of the architecture. In other words, evolution needs be lenient enough for a series of detrimental mutations to produce an advantageous one.
Back to the major point... as in a genetic algorithm, life must be sufficiently tolerant of genetic imperfections so as to allow those 'imperfections' a chance of becoming something more. A fitness increase is often preceeded by a large downturn in fitness over preceeding generations. In algorithmic terms, how do we know that humans are not now on a 'local minima' in the global fitness space, and what damage could we do if we do not proceed with sufficient caution?
I'm sure that a qualified geneticist could rip this argument to shreds, but oh well...
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Watered down... I don't know. Been watered down... yes. Spend any time in alt.magick.chaos and just try to imagine a curious person being impressed by the miscellaneous posturing and repetitive quotations from their favourite Golden Dawn member.
Do hackers still believe in magic or practice a mystical religion?
Ummm.... What do you mean by 'magic'. I would suspect that most hackers believe in some form of magic, even if only by acknowledging the validity of terminology like 'rain dance' (which I'm sure every hacker has experienced first hand).
As to practicing, most of the religions with strong connections to 'magic' don't require much in the way of practice. (I know, kabbalah...) A better word than 'practice' would probably be 'ascribe to'.
So what are we stressing about? Another day, another crap encryption scheme...
The point I was making is that it's not a monetary loss if the people involved wouldn't have made the purchase anyway. The very few mp3s that I have (that aren't from my own cd collection) are from cds that I would never actually pay money for.
Considering the quantity of beer consumed by college students, pleading poverty doesn't hold a whole lot of water though.
Possibly, but I'm from Australia, and most of my friends attending college won't come out to a club on the basis that they can't afford the $5 door charge. That's about the price of two glasses of beer.. not that I'd drink the stuff.
music isn't a necessity and the radio is free as are most local bands
Music is a necessity and where I'm from, radio stations means recycled top 40 tunes. I'll stick to music with taste, thanks.
Sure... pick the market segment most technologically able and with the lowest income, and then whinge about the fact that they don't buy your music.
'OK... I just won't bother eating for a week, then I can buy myself a CD.'
yay.
The other thing that noone discusses is how you are supposed to stop. Every time your foot applies a certain amount of pressure to the shoe, it fires the boosters. I can just see people trying the slalom to a halt.
This comes down to the "What good is half an eye?" argument that is frequently proposed in these situations. Evolutionary advances of this nature require time for evolution to build up the necessary components for the completion of the architecture. In other words, evolution needs be lenient enough for a series of detrimental mutations to produce an advantageous one.
Back to the major point... as in a genetic algorithm, life must be sufficiently tolerant of genetic imperfections so as to allow those 'imperfections' a chance of becoming something more. A fitness increase is often preceeded by a large downturn in fitness over preceeding generations. In algorithmic terms, how do we know that humans are not now on a 'local minima' in the global fitness space, and what damage could we do if we do not proceed with sufficient caution?
I'm sure that a qualified geneticist could rip this argument to shreds, but oh well...