First, there is no test case for this, as it has never happened.
Yeah, actually, it has. Look at the difference in enlistment rates between trust-fund socialites compared to kids who grew up in poverty.
It remains obvious that eliminating or, at least, greatly reducing scarcity will improve the world much more than mysticism ever has. Curing all disease, providing everyone with all the food, shelter, and energy they need... these will be astoundingly positive factors in the distant human future.
You asked for that dig with the "your view does not reflect reality" bit. ANYway...
It is hard to motivate soldiers to fight when they otherwise have all their material needs met. The psychological needs are also being increasingly met via science and technology.
And while individuals do influence when nations go to war, economics is almost always a major factor. This is horribly obvious in this era of oil wars.
You think small. I'm talking about nations. I submit to you that you have an oversimplified view of reality, and that all social animals, including humans, have both selfish and altruistic motivations.
A world without scarcity would be far less violent.
PS: Anyone who has an imaginary invisible friend has no business lecturing other people about "reality."
Wars and selfishness arise from conflict over scarce resources. Technology has the ability to eliminate scarcity for practical purposes.
Might one of the thousands of Gods humans have worshiped some day descend from the thermosphere and use magic to do just that? Perhaps, but Gods and magic have a pretty crappy track record of doing those sorts of things, so I won't hold my breath.
In case that doesn't happen, science and technology keep roaring ahead...
The difference is that technology really could solve pretty much all of our problems. It has a long and verifiable history of solving problems in ways that earlier generations would have described as magical or divine.
Religion, on the other hand, does not do this. The most religion can claim is providing government-like structures and psychotherapy-like benefits. It's sure not moving along the path to curing all diseases and increasing mankind's power over the universe.
So, yeah, there is a rational, historically-supported reason to be excited about one but not the other.
Your American History class in HS should have taught you terms like "yellow journalism," "banana republic," as well as mentions of the Spanish-American War and other military actions.
I've been out of HS for 10 years, but I certainly recall thinking "why would they name a clothing retailer after that?" while in history class in HS.
That's a bit like putting a thermometer next to your PC and saying, 'Today we can only tell if it is hot or cold, but someday, we may be able to read every bit on the computer using only the thermometer!'
Take your wife to Puerto Rico and get them to teach her how to cook plantains. Oh, and swim in the bioluminescent bays when you're down there--they're badass.
This history of banana republics is taught in American high schools as part of the standard curriculum. Don't fool yourself in to thinking you enlightened us with some dark secret. The only people who found that informative are those who slept through history class.
As part of our new mandate to be better corporate citizens, this quarter's dividend payment will be canceled, so that the money can be donated to the White House's new "family values" public service campaign. This campaign seeks to save our children from the evils of homosexuality by demonizing the lifestyle of these non-family groups.
There will be no shareholder vote to cancel the dividend and donate to the family values campaign; this action is being mandated by the new Department of Corporate Citizenship.
Before, if I needed a new server, I had to request the hardware, then get it racked, then get the OS installed, then get the network cables hooked up. I had to create DR plans and make sure backup systems were working.
Now, an entire system is created almost instantly by duplicating an existing VM image. DR and backups are automatic. This requires much less time (= less IT staff).
It is true that virtualization technology allows businesses to do more IT functions with less IT staff. But it is also true that businesses are doing increasingly more IT functions all the time. So long as these factor balance each other out, IT will maintain its relatively low unemployment rate and its relatively high payscale.
However, if this balance tips, companies will benefit while IT staff loses. I consider this a possible future scenario, so I live well within my means and use a large percentage of my salary to buy ownership positions in those very companies that stand to profit from my obsolesce. That way, even if I lose in one way I win in another.
The stock market really is an amazing force for blurring the line between the working class and the ownership class, and I take full advantage of this power.
Employment for health care and IT is still very strong. If you were a HELOC pimp, you're in trouble; but you never really contributed anything to the economy in the first place, so count yourself lucky and go get a real job.
It's going to be in a future version, according to the sales goon. And CSCO could probably get the author to re-license assuming one person owns all copyrights.
Slashdot Mirror
It remains obvious that eliminating or, at least, greatly reducing scarcity will improve the world much more than mysticism ever has. Curing all disease, providing everyone with all the food, shelter, and energy they need... these will be astoundingly positive factors in the distant human future.
You asked for that dig with the "your view does not reflect reality" bit. ANYway...
It is hard to motivate soldiers to fight when they otherwise have all their material needs met. The psychological needs are also being increasingly met via science and technology.
And while individuals do influence when nations go to war, economics is almost always a major factor. This is horribly obvious in this era of oil wars.
You think small. I'm talking about nations. I submit to you that you have an oversimplified view of reality, and that all social animals, including humans, have both selfish and altruistic motivations.
A world without scarcity would be far less violent.
PS: Anyone who has an imaginary invisible friend has no business lecturing other people about "reality."
In the big picture, who you're going to bang is meaningless compared to how humanity survives pandemic, famine, meteor-impact, etc..
Wars and selfishness arise from conflict over scarce resources. Technology has the ability to eliminate scarcity for practical purposes.
Might one of the thousands of Gods humans have worshiped some day descend from the thermosphere and use magic to do just that? Perhaps, but Gods and magic have a pretty crappy track record of doing those sorts of things, so I won't hold my breath.
In case that doesn't happen, science and technology keep roaring ahead...
The difference is that technology really could solve pretty much all of our problems. It has a long and verifiable history of solving problems in ways that earlier generations would have described as magical or divine.
Religion, on the other hand, does not do this. The most religion can claim is providing government-like structures and psychotherapy-like benefits. It's sure not moving along the path to curing all diseases and increasing mankind's power over the universe.
So, yeah, there is a rational, historically-supported reason to be excited about one but not the other.
Your American History class in HS should have taught you terms like "yellow journalism," "banana republic," as well as mentions of the Spanish-American War and other military actions.
I've been out of HS for 10 years, but I certainly recall thinking "why would they name a clothing retailer after that?" while in history class in HS.
That's a bit like putting a thermometer next to your PC and saying, 'Today we can only tell if it is hot or cold, but someday, we may be able to read every bit on the computer using only the thermometer!'
Is that an auto-generated comment? Are you a bot?
The article is about a new processor for mobile devices. Asking if it supports ogg is like asking if your ethernet cable supports MP3.
Take your wife to Puerto Rico and get them to teach her how to cook plantains. Oh, and swim in the bioluminescent bays when you're down there--they're badass.
This history of banana republics is taught in American high schools as part of the standard curriculum. Don't fool yourself in to thinking you enlightened us with some dark secret. The only people who found that informative are those who slept through history class.
Letter to shareholders:
As part of our new mandate to be better corporate citizens, this quarter's dividend payment will be canceled, so that the money can be donated to the White House's new "family values" public service campaign. This campaign seeks to save our children from the evils of homosexuality by demonizing the lifestyle of these non-family groups.
There will be no shareholder vote to cancel the dividend and donate to the family values campaign; this action is being mandated by the new Department of Corporate Citizenship.
Before, if I needed a new server, I had to request the hardware, then get it racked, then get the OS installed, then get the network cables hooked up. I had to create DR plans and make sure backup systems were working.
Now, an entire system is created almost instantly by duplicating an existing VM image. DR and backups are automatic. This requires much less time (= less IT staff).
It is true that virtualization technology allows businesses to do more IT functions with less IT staff. But it is also true that businesses are doing increasingly more IT functions all the time. So long as these factor balance each other out, IT will maintain its relatively low unemployment rate and its relatively high payscale.
However, if this balance tips, companies will benefit while IT staff loses. I consider this a possible future scenario, so I live well within my means and use a large percentage of my salary to buy ownership positions in those very companies that stand to profit from my obsolesce. That way, even if I lose in one way I win in another.
The stock market really is an amazing force for blurring the line between the working class and the ownership class, and I take full advantage of this power.
"there is no starship mission more dangerous than that of first contact"
Employment for health care and IT is still very strong. If you were a HELOC pimp, you're in trouble; but you never really contributed anything to the economy in the first place, so count yourself lucky and go get a real job.
Third, there are a bunch of girls in their late teens and early twenties walking around in small tops and short skirts.
w00t!
So... uh.... cold fusion...
I love the word "sheeple." It's just one simple word that immediately lets me know the speaker is a douche bag, so I can ignore him.
Look up what "HIDS" means and get back to us, sparky.
It's going to be in a future version, according to the sales goon. And CSCO could probably get the author to re-license assuming one person owns all copyrights.
Cisco is integrating ClamAV in to their "Cisco Security Agent" HIDS product. They clearly think AV is useful, just not other peoples' AV.
I know this!
One more reason to fail.