Yeah, when I went to a remote wooded area of central Maine with my family as a teen and a kid I was absolutely ASTOUNDED by how the night sky looked, and the ability to see the Milky Way, it is absolutely mind-blowing and wondrous.
And yet, somehow, all of us earn money, and all of us spend our money, and all of the money is coming from somewhere and going somewhere, and the economy continues.
I have thought of this issue myself. The existence of piracy offers us two choices. One is to have a more repressive, un-libertarian and un-democratic society in order to preserve the old ways, and the other is to change our behavior fundamentally and move on to new ways to do things. It was the big corporations that wanted us all to have computers in the first place.
Has anyone ever even noticed that the problem with, say, advertising on the Internet, is that the ads are unfairly shoved at us, and always abotu things we don't need or want?
Similarly, what ways can we think of that the music and film industry have made finding media we actually like (and paying a fair price for it) more difficult and inconvenient?
I have mixed feelings about piracy, but I do believe that it says a lot about the idea that something fundamentally has to change, and that people like Richard Stallman were right all along.
Holy cow! All we need to do is have this working with the virtual keyboard ( http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/ ), and we have a computer that has input/output devices that are mostly light!
The irony here is that Intel/IBM/Microsoft are a success because someone got away with cloning the PC's BIOS or original operations ROM and/pr programming "toolbox" (I think?)... while the Apple company may have have a superior computer, OS, and a nice friendly PR but made computers few of us could afford because nobody was able to get away with reverse-engineering them.
Based on what you just wrote, the high rate of male suicide in Lithuania and other former USSR satellite countries, member countries and still existent Russian autonomous republics should also be disregarded as having anything to do with the recent past history or political structures, policies or behaviors.
The reality is, market rule (the real name for the "free market") when unregulated and left alone (especially in corporate form) produces expensive, complicated, high-maintenance, fragile and self-destructing technology that may get the job done quickly and efficiently but soon turns to crap because we're supposed to spend more money *on a new one* within a few months or years, and constantly hire these "contractors" to do this work. Stockholders with their projected future quarter profit expectations and the nature of the corporation itself create this situation from which the human individual is nearly powerless to escape from if they just sit around waiting and hoping things will get better but never take any kind of active opposition against it.
While the USSR was hardly a "socialist" country - more of a state-capitalist one - there were opportunities to escape market rule's effect on technology that produced inexpensive and robust technology, which became more rugged and effective over time as bugs and kinks were worked out.
I do wish Russia and it's surrounding countries could have something of a grass-roots democratic and libertarian socialist (also known as progressive libertarian or left libertarian) society and technological approach, but sadly the high amount of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism has pretty much ruined the prospects for such things for now.
What you just said sounds like bland Objectivist/Marxist ideology to me. Give us a break. Open Source is practical because there's more money to be made once people get inside your shop door, and not because you charge them just for entering your shop from the get-go.
It's a stupid idea to ban it. The idea of genetic mixing isn't to make "animal humans", but to use tried-and-true genetic traits and mix and match them. Mostly stuff you wouldn't even notice visually.
But also, adding noticeable animal traits to humans is about the same as piercings and tattoos. People really should think of it that way.
As for "furries", a much better idea for people who want to be a furry/antho being is to have a virtual reality system that interfaces on a neurological level, with a very high level of detail/realism, or, if one desires, a "cartoon" look/environment. There is no need for genetic modification in that respect.
I found Amtrak, the San Francisco Subway system (BART), and the Boston Commuter Rail system (The T) to be amazingly comfortable, and fun. If only we could have rails along every single Interstate highway (on the sides or in the middle) - the same Interstate system that President "Ike" had built for us. And if it could only be more affordable than Amtrak... it would be bliss. (Amtrak is damn expensive and impractical except for trips of about 50-100 miles or less.)
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, when I went to a remote wooded area of central Maine with my family as a teen and a kid I was absolutely ASTOUNDED by how the night sky looked, and the ability to see the Milky Way, it is absolutely mind-blowing and wondrous.
And yet, somehow, all of us earn money, and all of us spend our money, and all of the money is coming from somewhere and going somewhere, and the economy continues. I have thought of this issue myself. The existence of piracy offers us two choices. One is to have a more repressive, un-libertarian and un-democratic society in order to preserve the old ways, and the other is to change our behavior fundamentally and move on to new ways to do things. It was the big corporations that wanted us all to have computers in the first place. Has anyone ever even noticed that the problem with, say, advertising on the Internet, is that the ads are unfairly shoved at us, and always abotu things we don't need or want? Similarly, what ways can we think of that the music and film industry have made finding media we actually like (and paying a fair price for it) more difficult and inconvenient? I have mixed feelings about piracy, but I do believe that it says a lot about the idea that something fundamentally has to change, and that people like Richard Stallman were right all along.
So are you actually willing to store nuclear fission waste in your apartment or your back yard?
Holy cow! All we need to do is have this working with the virtual keyboard ( http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/ ), and we have a computer that has input/output devices that are mostly light!
The irony here is that Intel/IBM/Microsoft are a success because someone got away with cloning the PC's BIOS or original operations ROM and/pr programming "toolbox" (I think?)... while the Apple company may have have a superior computer, OS, and a nice friendly PR but made computers few of us could afford because nobody was able to get away with reverse-engineering them.
Sony has great name-brand popularity and PR, like McDonald's, but lots of lousy products preprogrammed to fail.
Based on what you just wrote, the high rate of male suicide in Lithuania and other former USSR satellite countries, member countries and still existent Russian autonomous republics should also be disregarded as having anything to do with the recent past history or political structures, policies or behaviors. The reality is, market rule (the real name for the "free market") when unregulated and left alone (especially in corporate form) produces expensive, complicated, high-maintenance, fragile and self-destructing technology that may get the job done quickly and efficiently but soon turns to crap because we're supposed to spend more money *on a new one* within a few months or years, and constantly hire these "contractors" to do this work. Stockholders with their projected future quarter profit expectations and the nature of the corporation itself create this situation from which the human individual is nearly powerless to escape from if they just sit around waiting and hoping things will get better but never take any kind of active opposition against it. While the USSR was hardly a "socialist" country - more of a state-capitalist one - there were opportunities to escape market rule's effect on technology that produced inexpensive and robust technology, which became more rugged and effective over time as bugs and kinks were worked out. I do wish Russia and it's surrounding countries could have something of a grass-roots democratic and libertarian socialist (also known as progressive libertarian or left libertarian) society and technological approach, but sadly the high amount of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism has pretty much ruined the prospects for such things for now.
What you just said sounds like bland Objectivist/Marxist ideology to me. Give us a break. Open Source is practical because there's more money to be made once people get inside your shop door, and not because you charge them just for entering your shop from the get-go.
It's a stupid idea to ban it. The idea of genetic mixing isn't to make "animal humans", but to use tried-and-true genetic traits and mix and match them. Mostly stuff you wouldn't even notice visually. But also, adding noticeable animal traits to humans is about the same as piercings and tattoos. People really should think of it that way. As for "furries", a much better idea for people who want to be a furry/antho being is to have a virtual reality system that interfaces on a neurological level, with a very high level of detail/realism, or, if one desires, a "cartoon" look/environment. There is no need for genetic modification in that respect.
I found Amtrak, the San Francisco Subway system (BART), and the Boston Commuter Rail system (The T) to be amazingly comfortable, and fun. If only we could have rails along every single Interstate highway (on the sides or in the middle) - the same Interstate system that President "Ike" had built for us. And if it could only be more affordable than Amtrak... it would be bliss. (Amtrak is damn expensive and impractical except for trips of about 50-100 miles or less.)