I just want to say thanks for the great review. I normally don't read/. book reviews, but I've laughed so hard reading the other comments that I'm going to make it a habit.
You won't. You'll be one of the poor, unemployed, unempowered masses. The wealthy will have finally found a way to get their goods and services without keeping dirty people like you around. Their economy won't need you. It will consist of a small group of rich people buying and selling from each other.
I think we've already reached the point where the hardware is powerful enough, we just need to work on better algorithms/software. If the capabilities of my c64 were scaled up along with the MIPS, my P4 laptop would be doing my thinking for me.
No, don't look at history. We are quickly approaching a point in time where the old rules really will stop applying. This isn't the same as any of the other fancy tools we've come up with in the last few million years.
Remember the technology growth curves which point to a singularity sometime in the next 50 years. Its driven by positive feedback. We're going to see massive changes coming at a pace with which we can't keep up. The system is entering a non-linear region and its anybody's guess how it will play out, but it is definitely not the same as factory robots or the printing press.
Sure, there will probably be a need for human creativity and oversight for the next 50 years, but like other posters have said you will start to see the uneducated and unskilled increasingly out of opportunities for employment. How will we handle it?
An interesting counterpoint is China, where labor is so cheap that humans replace machines. Teams of people populate circuit boards where the same job might be automated in Malaysia. I think this is a temporary phenomenon, though, and once we see the next generation of machines the price point will shift and never come back.
Why not just make the passenger compartment a faraday cage? Completely isolate it from the rest of the aircraft(separate, filtered power and comm lines). Coat the windows with a conductive film, and then even if some idiot turns on his cell fone its not going to interfere with anything, much less get a signal.
Then, since the passengers will be properly separated from the crew we can drop all of the stupid pocket knife restrictions and fire half of the new airport security folks.
If the airlines weren't such a bloated, subsidized monstrosity, they might have solved this by now.
This seems to boil down to wether one believes natural or artificial control methods are the optimal approach to increasing overall human good. On the one hand there are those that believe that market forces should prevail, and if allowed to, will eventually converge on some sort of optimum where everyone is paid fairly, etc. They'll admit this may cause temporary discomfort, but the long term benefits are worth it. On the other hand there are those that believe that the system, if left to itself, will produce a ruling elite and hordes of exploited workers.
I'm not sure which side I'm on, but I believe in certain facts: - Positive feedback is a factor in economics which leads to the rich getting richer. - People can't be represented by simple logical or mathematical constructs. i.e. - They can't be infinitely retrained or relocated. - Government restrictions tend to inhibit businesses which drive technological and economic growth
Most geeks hold overly simplified world views and cling to them stronger than a religious zealot. I think this results in the intense polarization on subjects such as this.
I would think a modified approach would work the best. The government can assist by providing job training assistance, and limited oversight. But the global economy must be allowed to run its course. We can't allow state sponsored industries to exist because they're bad for society as a whole.
Soon we will also face massive global technological unemployment. Its been talked about for years, and maybe its still 50 years away, but it is coming. How will we handle the challenge of restructuring the economy when human labor isn't required? There are no 'invisible hand' solutions. There must be some human control because it is a human created problem.
Since these guys are working on "embedded linux", and therefore probably not very concerned with x86/enterprise code, why is SCO trying to scare them? I thought SCO's claims revolved around "Unix" on the x86 and certain enterprise features. Chances are that's exactly the code these guys are going to look at reimplementing to get it to work in an embedded environment.
I remeber going on a high school field trip to the University of Washington to check out their MRI equipment. It was part of my occupational electronics course, and our Prof. was an ex-GE medical guy with connections(excellent Professor, too). I had prepared a coil of 10ga copper wire(maybe 8" across, 3/4" thick bundle of wire, don't remember how many windings) with a flashlight bulb attached. I also brought an audio cassette tape and an aluminum vent filter(12"x24"x1/4" or so).
I tried moving the coil of wire in the opening of the MRI and didn't see anything on the bulb, so I removed it and shorted the wires together. When I placed the loop near the opening and attempted to twist it, it resisted with something like 10 ft/lbs of torqe. It was incredibly eerie having something floating in midair resist so strongly. The audio tape was almost ripped out of my hand and had the bias stripped off so it was no longer usable. When we stood the aluminum filter on its end on the patient bed and let it fall, it fell like it was submerged in a viscous liquid.
They told us that a monkey wrench takes 3 guys to pull it out and if you walk into the room with steel toed boots you can feel your legs getting pulled to the side. Very cool stuff.
On the contrary, I think that the propeller heads coming out of MIT would be even more effective if they had the means to effectively apply theory. As a DeVry Grad, I've come into numerous situations in my career where I've dealt with very smart college grads who lacked the hands on training and weren't as effective at getting the job done.
Now, I'll admit that this has a lot more to do with the geek gene, and one's passion for their profession. However I worked at an electronics store in college, and couldn't count the number of Cal Poly/Harvey Mudd guys doing senior projects who couldn't tell a resistor from a diode. I can't imagine what their first day on the job was like.
Fetchmail. He's grabbing his mail off of his ISP's POP3 server, and not accepting any with his smtp server. I had a similar setup and it worked quite well. It eliminated the 15 or so emails per day regarding how to lengthen my x-10 camera and refinance my viagra supply. Fetchmail seemed like overkill, though, so I used Getmail. Its written in Python, which should eliminate most/all buffer overflow exploits and its also very easy to configure.
I've never had any problems with blogs, but the archived mailing lists are what really bugs me. Searching for something, only to have the first 10 pages of hits be duplicates in various archives of a list makes finding relevant information a bit more difficult.
First off, if you start off charging a penny, in 10 years it will be a nickle. Then a dime. If politicians see a framework in place to extract money from something as irresistable as email they'll be all over it as a new an exciting way to relieve us of our money.
Secondly, the day email becomes taxed is the day a army of geeks materializes with the sole purpose of replacing the current email system with something else. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I run a home gateway box with SSH, IMAP, and Apache on open ports. I check for updates daily, and no one else has an account on my box.
Is there any compelling reason for someone like me(and most/. users) to use something like this? Can someone sum up the benefits?
I'm not downplaying the importance of this kind of project. I can see its usefulness in a corporate environment. I'm just wondering if there's anything I'm forgetting on my current machine, and if this is a good way to address those problems.
So why not use something more reliable, like a little windmill powered generator? Heck, you could even use photocell powered devices that used a laser....
No, the reason companies like Sony use PalmOS is because its more appropriate for a handheld device. Non-technical users, in my experience, get confused by the PocketPC user interface. It also, contrary to a previous poster, is much less stable than an equivalent Palm device.
I have a friend who owns a Sony NX-70v(along with a NR-70v and N710C), while his dad owns a IPaq with the latest PocketPC OS. The Sony('s) is solid as a rock. The PocketPC needs a hard reset almost daily. I've had similar experience with my lowly clie 320. Also, the PocketPC is confusing, and you tend to lose apps in the background, while Palm's 'single task' paradigm works well on a handheld.
We think you're a protectionist idiot who needs to go study economics.
No, don't just take the jobs oversees, take the companies that use foreign labor overseas as well. Look, there's no solution to the 'problem' of foreign labor. Adapt, overcome, and continue to innovate and you'll be fine.
If programming really is so easy that anyone can do it, why should you get a premium for being an American?
When I was a redhat user, I'd see a new version and sigh, knowing I'd wait weeks to find an rpm. But I'm ahead of the curve for a change! I did a 'emerge -u world' this morning and had it downloaded, built with optimizations, and running stable in an hour.
I wonder if the individual experiences were determined by the location in which the listener sat. It would seem that standing waves could form, with some people getting blasted, while others feel nothing.
Not a very technical article, but interesting nonetheless.
If there was a standard for this such that message types could be discriminated to allow for filtering, it would be a great way for local governments to broadcast anything from tourist info, to traffic alerts, to even safety warnings. Since it would simply be data, it can also be easily formatted in a way usable to disabled persons(blind, deaf, Outlook user, etc). If it had directional info as well, it could even be used to replace and enhance crosswalk signs.
Hey, I bet you could even use something like this to coordinate mass population movements in evacuation scenarios. A central computer or even a distributed algorithm could instruct people to avoid choke points.
Kudos to the developers for such an awesome little box!
My biggest question is how they're managing to sell it for only $200 bucks, and why I can't buy a similar board outfitted with a cheap-o Arm (or other 32-bit machine) to run linux on for about the same price.
Slashdot Mirror
Funny how the effects of lead are apparently less debilitating than the coke and alcohol our current administration inhaled.
Perhaps we should ban alcohol in favor of lead based cigarettes?
Too bad, I just got laid off from there back in February.
:)
At least this is a bit of vindication from the guy who used to wander the halls with the linux shirt.
I just want to say thanks for the great review. I normally don't read /. book reviews, but I've laughed so hard reading the other comments that I'm going to make it a habit.
You won't. You'll be one of the poor, unemployed, unempowered masses. The wealthy will have finally found a way to get their goods and services without keeping dirty people like you around. Their economy won't need you. It will consist of a small group of rich people buying and selling from each other.
I think we've already reached the point where the hardware is powerful enough, we just need to work on better algorithms/software. If the capabilities of my c64 were scaled up along with the MIPS, my P4 laptop would be doing my thinking for me.
No, don't look at history. We are quickly approaching a point in time where the old rules really will stop applying. This isn't the same as any of the other fancy tools we've come up with in the last few million years.
i d= 6445724
Remember the technology growth curves which point to a singularity sometime in the next 50 years. Its driven by positive feedback. We're going to see massive changes coming at a pace with which we can't keep up. The system is entering a non-linear region and its anybody's guess how it will play out, but it is definitely not the same as factory robots or the printing press.
Sure, there will probably be a need for human creativity and oversight for the next 50 years, but like other posters have said you will start to see the uneducated and unskilled increasingly out of opportunities for employment. How will we handle it?
An interesting counterpoint is China, where labor is so cheap that humans replace machines. Teams of people populate circuit boards where the same job might be automated in Malaysia. I think this is a temporary phenomenon, though, and once we see the next generation of machines the price point will shift and never come back.
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=71191&c
Why not just make the passenger compartment a faraday cage? Completely isolate it from the rest of the aircraft(separate, filtered power and comm lines). Coat the windows with a conductive film, and then even if some idiot turns on his cell fone its not going to interfere with anything, much less get a signal.
Then, since the passengers will be properly separated from the crew we can drop all of the stupid pocket knife restrictions and fire half of the new airport security folks.
If the airlines weren't such a bloated, subsidized monstrosity, they might have solved this by now.
This seems to boil down to wether one believes natural or artificial control methods are the optimal approach to increasing overall human good. On the one hand there are those that believe that market forces should prevail, and if allowed to, will eventually converge on some sort of optimum where everyone is paid fairly, etc. They'll admit this may cause temporary discomfort, but the long term benefits are worth it. On the other hand there are those that believe that the system, if left to itself, will produce a ruling elite and hordes of exploited workers.
I'm not sure which side I'm on, but I believe in certain facts:
- Positive feedback is a factor in economics which leads to the rich getting richer.
- People can't be represented by simple logical or mathematical constructs. i.e. - They can't be infinitely retrained or relocated.
- Government restrictions tend to inhibit businesses which drive technological and economic growth
Most geeks hold overly simplified world views and cling to them stronger than a religious zealot. I think this results in the intense polarization on subjects such as this.
I would think a modified approach would work the best. The government can assist by providing job training assistance, and limited oversight. But the global economy must be allowed to run its course. We can't allow state sponsored industries to exist because they're bad for society as a whole.
Soon we will also face massive global technological unemployment. Its been talked about for years, and maybe its still 50 years away, but it is coming. How will we handle the challenge of restructuring the economy when human labor isn't required? There are no 'invisible hand' solutions. There must be some human control because it is a human created problem.
Since these guys are working on "embedded linux", and therefore probably not very concerned with x86/enterprise code, why is SCO trying to scare them? I thought SCO's claims revolved around "Unix" on the x86 and certain enterprise features. Chances are that's exactly the code these guys are going to look at reimplementing to get it to work in an embedded environment.
You mean we're gonna slow the sun down, too!?!?!?
I hope they've already gone out and gotten themselves 802.11 access points.
"What? I didn't share any files? You mean my access point is wide open? Oh, I'm sorry, it will never happen again."
Case closed.
I remeber going on a high school field trip to the University of Washington to check out their MRI equipment. It was part of my occupational electronics course, and our Prof. was an ex-GE medical guy with connections(excellent Professor, too). I had prepared a coil of 10ga copper wire(maybe 8" across, 3/4" thick bundle of wire, don't remember how many windings) with a flashlight bulb attached. I also brought an audio cassette tape and an aluminum vent filter(12"x24"x1/4" or so).
I tried moving the coil of wire in the opening of the MRI and didn't see anything on the bulb, so I removed it and shorted the wires together. When I placed the loop near the opening and attempted to twist it, it resisted with something like 10 ft/lbs of torqe. It was incredibly eerie having something floating in midair resist so strongly. The audio tape was almost ripped out of my hand and had the bias stripped off so it was no longer usable. When we stood the aluminum filter on its end on the patient bed and let it fall, it fell like it was submerged in a viscous liquid.
They told us that a monkey wrench takes 3 guys to pull it out and if you walk into the room with steel toed boots you can feel your legs getting pulled to the side. Very cool stuff.
On the contrary, I think that the propeller heads coming out of MIT would be even more effective if they had the means to effectively apply theory. As a DeVry Grad, I've come into numerous situations in my career where I've dealt with very smart college grads who lacked the hands on training and weren't as effective at getting the job done.
Now, I'll admit that this has a lot more to do with the geek gene, and one's passion for their profession. However I worked at an electronics store in college, and couldn't count the number of Cal Poly/Harvey Mudd guys doing senior projects who couldn't tell a resistor from a diode. I can't imagine what their first day on the job was like.
Fetchmail. He's grabbing his mail off of his ISP's POP3 server, and not accepting any with his smtp server. I had a similar setup and it worked quite well. It eliminated the 15 or so emails per day regarding how to lengthen my x-10 camera and refinance my viagra supply. Fetchmail seemed like overkill, though, so I used Getmail. Its written in Python, which should eliminate most/all buffer overflow exploits and its also very easy to configure.
I've never had any problems with blogs, but the archived mailing lists are what really bugs me. Searching for something, only to have the first 10 pages of hits be duplicates in various archives of a list makes finding relevant information a bit more difficult.
First off, if you start off charging a penny, in 10 years it will be a nickle. Then a dime. If politicians see a framework in place to extract money from something as irresistable as email they'll be all over it as a new an exciting way to relieve us of our money.
Secondly, the day email becomes taxed is the day a army of geeks materializes with the sole purpose of replacing the current email system with something else. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I run a home gateway box with SSH, IMAP, and Apache on open ports. I check for updates daily, and no one else has an account on my box.
/. users) to use something like this? Can someone sum up the benefits?
Is there any compelling reason for someone like me(and most
I'm not downplaying the importance of this kind of project. I can see its usefulness in a corporate environment. I'm just wondering if there's anything I'm forgetting on my current machine, and if this is a good way to address those problems.
So why not use something more reliable, like a little windmill powered generator? Heck, you could even use photocell powered devices that used a laser....
No, the reason companies like Sony use PalmOS is because its more appropriate for a handheld device. Non-technical users, in my experience, get confused by the PocketPC user interface. It also, contrary to a previous poster, is much less stable than an equivalent Palm device.
I have a friend who owns a Sony NX-70v(along with a NR-70v and N710C), while his dad owns a IPaq with the latest PocketPC OS. The Sony('s) is solid as a rock. The PocketPC needs a hard reset almost daily. I've had similar experience with my lowly clie 320. Also, the PocketPC is confusing, and you tend to lose apps in the background, while Palm's 'single task' paradigm works well on a handheld.
We think you're a protectionist idiot who needs to go study economics.
No, don't just take the jobs oversees, take the companies that use foreign labor overseas as well. Look, there's no solution to the 'problem' of foreign labor. Adapt, overcome, and continue to innovate and you'll be fine.
If programming really is so easy that anyone can do it, why should you get a premium for being an American?
When I was a redhat user, I'd see a new version and sigh, knowing I'd wait weeks to find an rpm. But I'm ahead of the curve for a change! I did a 'emerge -u world' this morning and had it downloaded, built with optimizations, and running stable in an hour.
Thank you, Mr. Gentoo!
No way! How about "Conform, play sports, and go into Sales & Marketing." Then they'll grow up stupid, content, and rich. Life is much better that way.
Practice makes rejects
I wonder if the individual experiences were determined by the location in which the listener sat. It would seem that standing waves could form, with some people getting blasted, while others feel nothing.
Not a very technical article, but interesting nonetheless.
Practice makes rejects
but...
If there was a standard for this such that message types could be discriminated to allow for filtering, it would be a great way for local governments to broadcast anything from tourist info, to traffic alerts, to even safety warnings. Since it would simply be data, it can also be easily formatted in a way usable to disabled persons(blind, deaf, Outlook user, etc). If it had directional info as well, it could even be used to replace and enhance crosswalk signs.
Hey, I bet you could even use something like this to coordinate mass population movements in evacuation scenarios. A central computer or even a distributed algorithm could instruct people to avoid choke points.
Kudos to the developers for such an awesome little box!
My biggest question is how they're managing to sell it for only $200 bucks, and why I can't buy a similar board outfitted with a cheap-o Arm (or other 32-bit machine) to run linux on for about the same price.