Look, if I stopped reading tweaked out manifestos by certified cranks, I might regain my sanity, and the reverse fnordic restablization would explode my cranium.
No, I think this experiment is a good demonstration of the SNAFU Principle as it stands. Judging the quality of an instance of communication cannot be practically measured by software (this would require the software to distinguish levels of truth in a file or message), but the hypothetical disinformation matrix ought to affect the frequency of communication as well as its content. We tend to do more often what comes easily, right?
To those who're not familiar with the SNAFU Principle, it predicts that communication between 'unequal' individuals will be distorted (the disinformation matrix) as a consequence of the different levels of authority. For instance, your communication, as a driver, with the policeman outside your car tends to be affected by your awareness of the policeman's power over you.
What would be interesting is software like this could be applied to the mailing lists and CVS of a free software project. Does the SNAFU Principle apply to individuals whose authority is acquired voluntarily, by reputation as a wizard hacker, or only to managers that programmers work for?
Related to the SNAFU Principle is the Vlad Paradox, also described by RAW in his novel Schrodinger's Cat. Two monks, escaping from the rain, take refuge in the castle of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad asks them what the people thought of him, and one of the monks died. One monk had said that people detested him as a psychotic mass murderer; maybe he died for telling Vlad the awful truth. The other monk had said that people loved him as a fine leader of the community; maybe Vlad killed him out of righteous irony. As the story goes, we don't know which monk Vlad killed.
That article is a great introduction to the issues of space industrialization, but the writer glosses over the history. (Perhaps she wasn't aware just how long scientists & engineers have been working on this.)
"Is the surface of the Earth really the right place for an expanding technological civilization?"
-- Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill
Sci-fi began speculating about human habitation & industry in space back in the 1900's. It was Gerry O'Neill in the late '60s/early '70s who began rigorous analysis of the potential, and founded the Space Studies Institute, collecting private money to finance experiments toward space industry & permanent human habitation of space.
The "killer app" I'm waiting for are the solar power satellites: high capital cost, but the lowest kilowatt/hour to manhour ratio of any power source. Let's live off the Sun, oh yeah!
Where else can you get two countries that absolutely hate each other to fight without bloodshed?
It's a darn good thing that those countries that absolutely hate each other have a non-destructive outlet for their aggressions.
As an American, I certainly remember my own shaking vehemence toward the Red scoundrels of Moscow, back in the COLD WAR, and yet whenever those Olympic games came around I realized that both Commie Reds and upright American citizens like myself were still humans who appreciated the drama of an athlete struggling towards physical excellence and the accolades of his peers. Why, for a short time I didn't even want to incinerate them with nuclear weapons...
The notion of the Olympics as a place where athleticism is pursued above the banalities of international conflict, where legends are made & peace is formed - that's a load of balderdash. The Olympics have always been about media control, for the benefit of states & commerce in general and the status of the organizers in particular.
The 'Olympic ideal' simplifies the issues of politics, commerce & sports giving merchants another spectacle like Christmas to exploit and states a frame to place their images of nationalist struggle. We can't fix the Olympics to eliminate these 'benefits' without removing the features that make it THE global, elitist sporting event.
If law were software, it occurs to me that our trademark law is rapidly becoming obsolete.
Right here, right now, Linus is saving himself future headaches, and that's fine. But his frustration just highlights the greater problem, which is that our namespaces are becoming too cluttered.
IMHO, the optimal solution would involve the domain (Internet websites, industrial waste handlers) and the observer. This 'one name fits all' approach is breeding lunacy.
Slashdot Mirror
Look, if I stopped reading tweaked out manifestos by certified cranks, I might regain my sanity, and the reverse fnordic restablization would explode my cranium.
So you see, I have no choice.
To those who're not familiar with the SNAFU Principle, it predicts that communication between 'unequal' individuals will be distorted (the disinformation matrix) as a consequence of the different levels of authority. For instance, your communication, as a driver, with the policeman outside your car tends to be affected by your awareness of the policeman's power over you.
What would be interesting is software like this could be applied to the mailing lists and CVS of a free software project. Does the SNAFU Principle apply to individuals whose authority is acquired voluntarily, by reputation as a wizard hacker, or only to managers that programmers work for?
Related to the SNAFU Principle is the Vlad Paradox, also described by RAW in his novel Schrodinger's Cat. Two monks, escaping from the rain, take refuge in the castle of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad asks them what the people thought of him, and one of the monks died. One monk had said that people detested him as a psychotic mass murderer; maybe he died for telling Vlad the awful truth. The other monk had said that people loved him as a fine leader of the community; maybe Vlad killed him out of righteous irony. As the story goes, we don't know which monk Vlad killed.
So, what would you tell Vlad?
"Is the surface of the Earth really the right place for an expanding technological civilization?" -- Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill
Sci-fi began speculating about human habitation & industry in space back in the 1900's. It was Gerry O'Neill in the late '60s/early '70s who began rigorous analysis of the potential, and founded the Space Studies Institute, collecting private money to finance experiments toward space industry & permanent human habitation of space.
The "killer app" I'm waiting for are the solar power satellites: high capital cost, but the lowest kilowatt/hour to manhour ratio of any power source. Let's live off the Sun, oh yeah!
It's a darn good thing that those countries that absolutely hate each other have a non-destructive outlet for their aggressions.
As an American, I certainly remember my own shaking vehemence toward the Red scoundrels of Moscow, back in the COLD WAR, and yet whenever those Olympic games came around I realized that both Commie Reds and upright American citizens like myself were still humans who appreciated the drama of an athlete struggling towards physical excellence and the accolades of his peers. Why, for a short time I didn't even want to incinerate them with nuclear weapons...
The notion of the Olympics as a place where athleticism is pursued above the banalities of international conflict, where legends are made & peace is formed - that's a load of balderdash. The Olympics have always been about media control, for the benefit of states & commerce in general and the status of the organizers in particular.
The 'Olympic ideal' simplifies the issues of politics, commerce & sports giving merchants another spectacle like Christmas to exploit and states a frame to place their images of nationalist struggle. We can't fix the Olympics to eliminate these 'benefits' without removing the features that make it THE global, elitist sporting event.
There're some interesting sites that describe people's objections to the Olympics in the Disinformation's dossier on Olympic protests.
Right here, right now, Linus is saving himself future headaches, and that's fine. But his frustration just highlights the greater problem, which is that our namespaces are becoming too cluttered.
IMHO, the optimal solution would involve the domain (Internet websites, industrial waste handlers) and the observer. This 'one name fits all' approach is breeding lunacy.