So if I had a hierarchical structure of video files, I'd have to drag the codec file into every single subdirectory!? What a stupid design.
Yes, that would be a spectacularly stupid design, which is why BeOS didn't use it. There was a single codecs directory which contained the codec files.
Protip: If you read something and it doesn't make sense, chances are you read it wrong.
This wouldn't be a problem in practice, since the computer would know where the tunnels are and could therefore be programmed to do the right thing when the train enters one and the GPS signal is lost.
and very often higher speed lines are adjacent to lower speed lines
This would be a problem. I can't think of a good solution there (other than "note the issue in the database, and do something reasonable")
No, that's no problem. The problem was not installing/using a suitable signalling system, which is present on high-speed lines in most other countries.
It seems to me that it would have been (and still is) possible to include a GPS receiver, a maximum-train-speeds database, and a speed-limiter on each train as a fallback. With that, as long as the GPS was working, even the dumbest/craziest engineer would not be able to make the train go faster than its maximum specified speed at any given location.
It's *definitely* better than nothing, but as the founder, CEO, and largest shareholder couldn't he just *pay* his factory employees better wages instead of turning it into a personal PR statement?
He could, but then if business started to get tight, he'd probably have to lay people off and/or cut wages; neither of which is particularly pleasant for people who were counting on money that it turns out they won't get.
By giving employees an unexpected bonus instead, he looks like a good guy while at the same time avoiding potential ill will in the future.
[Obama] just wants it all wrapped up nicely with Congressional approval to deflect responsibility.
Well, that's where O and W differ. W wouldn't have thought that far ahead -- or if he had, he would have assumed that "responsibility" would be a non-issue, because the only thing he'd need to worry about after the glorious victory would be where to put all the flowers sent to him by the thankful Syrians.
That would generate too much CO2. Think about how much it will cost in carbon credits to run a human power station... You need to feed them too.
It would depend a lot on what you are feeding them. It's possible to grow crops in a carbon-neutral manner, we just don't currently do it because it's cheaper and easier not to.
(Note also that Soylent Green is carbon-negative;))
As a robotics engineer myself, I can confidently say we are nowhere near the point where robots will be servicing themselves, so don't even go there.
I won't go there, but I will note that we are nearing a point where robots in a factory could build new robots with little or no human assistance. (See car factories for an example). Once that is a reality, there might not be any need to service robots. If your robot breaks in a non-user-servicable way, you just send it to be recycled and order a new one from the factory. The new one is cheap because it was made entirely by robots:)
My point is that we are not going to have a country with nothing but doctors, high-end engineers, programers, and tech people. Not everyone has the brainpower to do that.
That's true, but I also think there are a lot of people out there working well below their potential because they're stuck: they have to constantly work full-time at one or more low-paying jobs to avoid homelessness (etc), and that prevents them from putting much time into improving their skills/education.
Imagine a society where the robot legions make the necessities of life so inexpensive that most people can afford to take a couple of years off work to go to school or develop their favorite hobby. How much more skilled could people become if they had the economic freedom to really work on developing their favorite skill set?
so those humans (the real scarce resource) can be freed up to do more of things that they do better than machines
Well, that's the issue... what happens when humans are no longer the real scarce resource, because everything they know how to do can be done more economically by a robot?
I imagine either we get really good at educating the humans to do useful things that robots still can't do; or we use the robots' superior productivity to provide cheap/free welfare and entertainment for the humans, or we have big social problems.
Re:If by "looking good", you mean "looking like iO
on
Inside OS X Mavericks
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· Score: 0
now they name their own OS "Mavericks" which as every QI watcher knows was originally a term describing unbranded cattle.
Really? Every time I hear the name, Sarah Palin comes to mind. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.:P
Much like pedestrians in Quebec, pedestrians everywhere will learn to not step in front of moving cars.
More likely pedestrians will learn that they can step in front of moving cars, since a computer-controlled car is more likely to respond in time (and correctly) to avoid hitting the pedestrian.
Of course sooner or later someone will find out the hard way the limits of the software (and/or physics)... but then they've got grounds to start a lawsuit against the car manufacturer for $$$$, so that's a win too:)
All the evidence that is not propaganda by marijuana advocates show that should remain illegal.
Similar evidence shows that alcohol and tobacco are much more harmful than marijuana -- both to their users and to society as a whole. How to explain the double standard?
..and where does applying the law to people of a specific state but not to another specific state sit?
As a matter of prudent use of resources, it's probably better to give priority to the laws the people of the state want enforced, over the laws that they have clearly indicated they do not want enforced.
Once a road is at capacity, no amount of 'perfect' driving is going to prevent the addition of more cars from causing traffic slowdowns and eventually traffic jams.
True, but networked computers would also be able to coordinate their entrances onto congested roadways. Quality of Service scheduling could be applied to cars on the road just like it currently gets applied to packets on a telephone network. (assuming nobody reprograms their software to 'cheat', anyway;))
No more tailgating, left lane hogging, pulling out without indicating, running red lights, drunk driving or any of that other stuff the meat-based drivers keep on doing.
At least, not until the firmware-modding community gets their hands on it...:)
The saddest part is that he doesn't feel the need to mention the moon colonies except to discuss improved communication with them. Humanities future in space was so obvious that it didn't even need to be stated.
It's not all that sad. People living in space will be about as happy and healthy as dolphins living on mountaintops. There might be a 3-day window of enjoyment of the novelty; after the spacesickness subsides and before the ennui sets in; after that, just an ever-growing sense of "I wish I was back on Earth so I could go outside and see a tree now and then".
Here in Los Angeles there are "we want to rent your roof" ads in the LA Times every week. Granted they aren't being placed by the power company, but by solar companies, but I think that reflects the hidebound nature of DWP more than anything else.
I'm not sure that people outside of government are any more competent than people inside of government. It may seem that way because capitalism allows a sort of 'survival of the fittest' where more-competent companies survive and less-competent companies fail, which is great -- but only in cases where an incompetent company's failure can be tolerated. It's not clear that e.g. a company's failure to safely run a nuclear reactor is something society can tolerate.
Slashdot Mirror
This of course is why you use a fingerprint from your non-dominant hand, and use an unusual finger, like your pinky or ring finger.
I'll be signing in to my iPhone with my big toe. Y'know, for optimum security.
So if I had a hierarchical structure of video files, I'd have to drag the codec file into every single subdirectory!? What a stupid design.
Yes, that would be a spectacularly stupid design, which is why BeOS didn't use it. There was a single codecs directory which contained the codec files.
Protip: If you read something and it doesn't make sense, chances are you read it wrong.
GPS wouldn't work in tunnels
This wouldn't be a problem in practice, since the computer would know where the tunnels are and could therefore be programmed to do the right thing when the train enters one and the GPS signal is lost.
and very often higher speed lines are adjacent to lower speed lines
This would be a problem. I can't think of a good solution there (other than "note the issue in the database, and do something reasonable")
No, that's no problem. The problem was not installing/using a suitable signalling system, which is present on high-speed lines in most other countries.
It seems to me that it would have been (and still is) possible to include a GPS receiver, a maximum-train-speeds database, and a speed-limiter on each train as a fallback. With that, as long as the GPS was working, even the dumbest/craziest engineer would not be able to make the train go faster than its maximum specified speed at any given location.
But sarcasm aside, isn't it about time we had some tangible breakthroughs in battery tech?
It sure is... or better yet, how about some breakthroughs in supercapacitors that would allow us to get away from battery technology entirely.
Are they all that dumb? Are you saying they should all be sacked?
Works for me!
It's *definitely* better than nothing, but as the founder, CEO, and largest shareholder couldn't he just *pay* his factory employees better wages instead of turning it into a personal PR statement?
He could, but then if business started to get tight, he'd probably have to lay people off and/or cut wages; neither of which is particularly pleasant for people who were counting on money that it turns out they won't get.
By giving employees an unexpected bonus instead, he looks like a good guy while at the same time avoiding potential ill will in the future.
[Obama] just wants it all wrapped up nicely with Congressional approval to deflect responsibility.
Well, that's where O and W differ. W wouldn't have thought that far ahead -- or if he had, he would have assumed that "responsibility" would be a non-issue, because the only thing he'd need to worry about after the glorious victory would be where to put all the flowers sent to him by the thankful Syrians.
That would generate too much CO2. Think about how much it will cost in carbon credits to run a human power station... You need to feed them too.
It would depend a lot on what you are feeding them. It's possible to grow crops in a carbon-neutral manner, we just don't currently do it because it's cheaper and easier not to.
(Note also that Soylent Green is carbon-negative ;))
Which is great news for the for-profit prison industry.
Yes! Half the population will be in prison, and the other half can get a job as a prison guard! We'll have full employment!
As a robotics engineer myself, I can confidently say we are nowhere near the point where robots will be servicing themselves, so don't even go there.
I won't go there, but I will note that we are nearing a point where robots in a factory could build new robots with little or no human assistance. (See car factories for an example). Once that is a reality, there might not be any need to service robots. If your robot breaks in a non-user-servicable way, you just send it to be recycled and order a new one from the factory. The new one is cheap because it was made entirely by robots :)
My point is that we are not going to have a country with nothing but doctors, high-end engineers, programers, and tech people. Not everyone has the brainpower to do that.
That's true, but I also think there are a lot of people out there working well below their potential because they're stuck: they have to constantly work full-time at one or more low-paying jobs to avoid homelessness (etc), and that prevents them from putting much time into improving their skills/education.
Imagine a society where the robot legions make the necessities of life so inexpensive that most people can afford to take a couple of years off work to go to school or develop their favorite hobby. How much more skilled could people become if they had the economic freedom to really work on developing their favorite skill set?
so those humans (the real scarce resource) can be freed up to do more of things that they do better than machines
Well, that's the issue ... what happens when humans are no longer the real scarce resource, because everything they know how to do can be done more economically by a robot?
I imagine either we get really good at educating the humans to do useful things that robots still can't do; or we use the robots' superior productivity to provide cheap/free welfare and entertainment for the humans, or we have big social problems.
now they name their own OS "Mavericks" which as every QI watcher knows was originally a term describing unbranded cattle.
Really? Every time I hear the name, Sarah Palin comes to mind. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. :P
Much like pedestrians in Quebec, pedestrians everywhere will learn to not step in front of moving cars.
More likely pedestrians will learn that they can step in front of moving cars, since a computer-controlled car is more likely to respond in time (and correctly) to avoid hitting the pedestrian.
Of course sooner or later someone will find out the hard way the limits of the software (and/or physics)... but then they've got grounds to start a lawsuit against the car manufacturer for $$$$, so that's a win too :)
If he really wanted a war, then the casus belli has happened. Where's the shock and awe?
Hopefully buried somewhere under the Pottery Barn. Perhaps (unlike our previous president) Obama is aware of the Powell Doctrine.
All the evidence that is not propaganda by marijuana advocates show that should remain illegal.
Similar evidence shows that alcohol and tobacco are much more harmful than marijuana -- both to their users and to society as a whole. How to explain the double standard?
hind sight for me suggests ... should have voted for H. Clinton
Good news... it looks like you'll get another chance to do that in 2016 ;)
..and where does applying the law to people of a specific state but not to another specific state sit?
As a matter of prudent use of resources, it's probably better to give priority to the laws the people of the state want enforced, over the laws that they have clearly indicated they do not want enforced.
Once a road is at capacity, no amount of 'perfect' driving is going to prevent the addition of more cars from causing traffic slowdowns and eventually traffic jams.
True, but networked computers would also be able to coordinate their entrances onto congested roadways. Quality of Service scheduling could be applied to cars on the road just like it currently gets applied to packets on a telephone network. (assuming nobody reprograms their software to 'cheat', anyway ;))
No more tailgating, left lane hogging, pulling out without indicating, running red lights, drunk driving or any of that other stuff the meat-based drivers keep on doing.
At least, not until the firmware-modding community gets their hands on it... :)
The saddest part is that he doesn't feel the need to mention the moon colonies except to discuss improved communication with them. Humanities future in space was so obvious that it didn't even need to be stated.
It's not all that sad. People living in space will be about as happy and healthy as dolphins living on mountaintops. There might be a 3-day window of enjoyment of the novelty; after the spacesickness subsides and before the ennui sets in; after that, just an ever-growing sense of "I wish I was back on Earth so I could go outside and see a tree now and then".
Where the fuck is my flying car?
Wisconsin?
Here in Los Angeles there are "we want to rent your roof" ads in the LA Times every week. Granted they aren't being placed by the power company, but by solar companies, but I think that reflects the hidebound nature of DWP more than anything else.
Isn't it just easier to apply this fix instead?
s/government/people
I'm not sure that people outside of government are any more competent than people inside of government. It may seem that way because capitalism allows a sort of 'survival of the fittest' where more-competent companies survive and less-competent companies fail, which is great -- but only in cases where an incompetent company's failure can be tolerated. It's not clear that e.g. a company's failure to safely run a nuclear reactor is something society can tolerate.