What, should Roddenberry's face be beet red if it turns out that the transporter moves the ship from point A to point B rather than the ship moving the transporter and that there really does have to be a receiving station? Quibbles.
It's a topic I've kind of been following because the implications are rather overwhelming if it pans out. On the one hand, it could lead to a revolution in chip design simply because the signal paths would no longer have to be mapped onto a 2D surface without intersecting as they are pretty much today but on the other hand, AI could be all but abandoned by NASA as direct remote control of the Mars rovers and such becomes practical as a result of the elimination of the signal propagation delay in today's radios.
Clearly, there is still plenty of scope - and a need - for people like Asimov et al. to do a little creative speculation.
MORAL: Don't be boorish to B. M. at a soiree or he'll yank your panties down over the internet.
It is a shocking and sad truth that most Americans have a moral blind-spot when it comes to Communist propaganda.
This is probably due to the fact that you can't get tenure in an Ivy League school (like MIT) unless you kiss the ass of a small statue of Karl Marx in a bizarre fraternity hazing ritual.
(This point is trite but true.)
Credit has to be given though, to the guy who says "The Emperor has no cloths!" no matter how easy it seems in retrospect or what the guy's motives might be.
The only flaw in his otherwise cogent and well reasoned essay is the gratuitous swipe at the 2nd Amendment. Indeed, it seems ironic that a few lines beyond where he excoriates those who "would have us return, for software, to a pre-eighteenth-century world" he anathematizes Eric Raymond for not subscribing to the Feudal policy of a disarmed peasantry.
One could say that as a typical European Mr. Meyer just doesn't get it and move on. But that leaves us with the disturbing question of whether or not Europeans are aware of their own history. Or are simply unable to learn from it.
Less than ten years passed between this:
"1935 will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future."
and this:
"Arbeit Macht Frei"
Of course, that is German history. The French prospective could well be that since the French revolution was a dramatic failure there is no point in making the option available to the people ever again. Truth be told, that is the whole point of "common sense gun laws".
When the founders of this nation sought to establish equality they had two options. They could choose to have everyone in the peasant class (and hence unarmed) or they could have everyone in the noble class. Since universal disarmament would have lead in short order to foreign invasion, the latter option was chosen. If you will pardon a blatantly chauvinistic statement, that was the right choice.
If Richard Stallman embarrassed himself by mentioning "liberty, equality, fraternity" it was not because he was pandering but rather because such ideas are now considered passé - at least by one audience member.
So, to revisit the false choice of mercenary software and Feudalism vs. Free Software and an intact bill of rights this ethically-conscious person would choose the latter. And may I add that no one but an imbecile would disagree.
Slashdot Mirror
What, should Roddenberry's face be beet red if it turns out that the transporter moves the ship from point A to point B rather than the ship moving the transporter and that there really does have to be a receiving station? Quibbles.
Well, forgive me for still having an open mind about this. I blame articles like this one:
n
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_teleportatio
It's a topic I've kind of been following because the implications are rather overwhelming if it pans out. On the one hand, it could lead to a revolution in chip design simply because the signal paths would no longer have to be mapped onto a 2D surface without intersecting as they are pretty much today but on the other hand, AI could be all but abandoned by NASA as direct remote control of the Mars rovers and such becomes practical as a result of the elimination of the signal propagation delay in today's radios.
Clearly, there is still plenty of scope - and a need - for people like Asimov et al. to do a little creative speculation.
Zzzzz.....
Good for you!
But the sad thing is, I'm getting the kind of government you deserve.
MORAL: Don't be boorish to B. M. at a soiree or he'll yank your panties down over the internet.
It is a shocking and sad truth that most Americans have a moral blind-spot when it comes to Communist propaganda.
This is probably due to the fact that you can't get tenure in an Ivy League school (like MIT) unless you kiss the ass of a small statue of Karl Marx in a bizarre fraternity hazing ritual.
(This point is trite but true.)
Credit has to be given though, to the guy who says "The Emperor has no cloths!" no matter how easy it seems in retrospect or what the guy's motives might be.
The only flaw in his otherwise cogent and well reasoned essay is the gratuitous swipe at the 2nd Amendment. Indeed, it seems ironic that a few lines beyond where he excoriates those who "would have us return, for software, to a pre-eighteenth-century world" he anathematizes Eric Raymond for not subscribing to the Feudal policy of a disarmed peasantry.
One could say that as a typical European Mr. Meyer just doesn't get it and move on. But that leaves us with the disturbing question of whether or not Europeans are aware of their own history. Or are simply unable to learn from it.
Less than ten years passed between this:
"1935 will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future."
and this:
"Arbeit Macht Frei"Of course, that is German history. The French prospective could well be that since the French revolution was a dramatic failure there is no point in making the option available to the people ever again. Truth be told, that is the whole point of "common sense gun laws".
When the founders of this nation sought to establish equality they had two options. They could choose to have everyone in the peasant class (and hence unarmed) or they could have everyone in the noble class. Since universal disarmament would have lead in short order to foreign invasion, the latter option was chosen. If you will pardon a blatantly chauvinistic statement, that was the right choice.
If Richard Stallman embarrassed himself by mentioning "liberty, equality, fraternity" it was not because he was pandering but rather because such ideas are now considered passé - at least by one audience member.
So, to revisit the false choice of mercenary software and Feudalism vs. Free Software and an intact bill of rights this ethically-conscious person would choose the latter. And may I add that no one but an imbecile would disagree.
How long has he been out now?