My qualm with cloning is that it involves wiping the genetic from the egg (thus destroying that potential individual) and populating it with the desired genetic code.
Won't someone think of the sperm? Millions of those guys die even when there is a successful pregnancy!
Surely you must be upset about the million of potential individuals being destroyed there!
I'm in neither group, but I've seen my share of Star Trek and was at least curious enough to watch an episode of MLP to see what the fuss was about.
I think that many people find the Idealism of Star Trek appealing. It's not just about spacemen and phasers, and it's not just about exploring space. It carries a lot of idealism about what humans can overcome and become culturally (not just technologically). The idealism resonates with many of the fans.
Likewise, My Little Pony seems to convey a certain optimism and promotes compassion and empathy (and it was at least mildly amusing).
I wouldn't go to conventions or anything, but people who are fans of things that are pretty benign and encourage empathy, compassion, idealism, and the bettering of humanity aren't really a bad thing.
So, when people want to shit on them because the fans don't conform to societal norms of being aggressive, self-serving, materialistic, dominating people kind of come off seeming like assholes to me.
Maybe they are weird or eccentric, but it a lot more harmless than a lot of things we idolize in this culture.
Actually, digital music and software do create copies of themselves when used. That copy is specifically exempted in copyright law because it is a necessary part of the use of the product.
Absolutely true. I once downloaded some Techno MP3s onto a hard drive with plenty of space and left the PC running while I went on vacation for a month. I came back to discover that not only had my hardrive been filled with self-replicating copies of those techno tracks, they also mixed with my other tunes and so now I have a collection of Beatles electronica.
I felt the same way about Windows 7 and Vista searching, but I learned that all of the searching options available in XP are still there (and then some), it's just that they aren't all reflected in the UI. They weren't removed, they were just hidden. However, that is really annoying that they made it less user-friendly.
On the other hand, Windows 8 *mostly* had far better searching than Vista/Win7 had. Searching for documents and programs has become even faster and more keyboard friendly than ever. Though, there are a few dumb quirks, such as if you are searching your Documents folder, search won't pick up folder names (unless you have them pinned or set as a 'Library').
However, I think it's rather silly that you are too lazy to learn how to do the kinds of searching that you want to do in Windows by entering in extra search term options, but yet are willing to swap to Linux which probably is going to mean you are going to have to learn how to do those things there.
When I first started using Win8, I tried to use just keyboard alone as much as possible. If I couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted to do by keyboard, I Googled it. I found that there were more useful things I could do by keyboard and faster in Win8 than there were in Win7 when I spent the time to learn instead of just bitching about the changes.
Though... I'm still pissed that I have to do a sequence of "Alt, F" to open the file menu instead of "Alt+F"...
Netflix is doing great with well written, well produced original series.
Original? Like the House of Cards series that you referenced, which is a remake of a 90's BBC series? That's not a criticism, the Netflix version did a good job of Localizing it to America and modernizing, and it was well produced, but it isn't entirely original.
Bringing back Futurama would only appeal to the fans of Futurama.
Like the upcoming release of Arrested Development on Netflix?
I'm actually ok with letting the series die, and appreciating the show for what it was, but I think Netflix is probably an even better fit than Comedy Central. However, it does have a strong geek, and many of these geeks are more likely to consume most (or even all) of their TV show media through streaming.
Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?
Or... we can just let the show die and make room for new ideas and shows. I loved Futurama, but it's OK for shows to end, even good shows. It's better to die out than to see a show that drag on way too long.
I weigh all the benefits of Buckyballs against even one toddler dying, and it's just not worth it. Do I want to play with Buckyballs if my access to Buckyballs means killing a child (even a child with supposedly irresponsible parents)? No. Do you?
Zucker is saying, "I'm willing to kill a child if I can make $10 million out of it." That's a different calculation.
People who say that 1 person ever dying from something is too many is absurd thinking. If it happened once in a population of 300 million, it is a danger that is so rare that it just isn't significant, regardless of the benefit provided. It is just overreacting.
It is a tragedy, but you just can't reasonably remove every single danger out there.
You said that you will use paperclips instead of magnets, but a quick Google found safety concerns for paperclips too! At the risk of sounding callous to the death of innocents, there is a certain amount of reasonable risk that we simply need to learn to accept or we simply can't function as a society.
Bicycles kill kids. Slides kill kids. Other playground equipment kill kids. Tables and furniture can kill kids. The ground can kill kids.
Is that really a Chrome issue, or a Google eco system issue? Or maybe even cloud services in general? Should we not use Google services at all? Isn't any "cloud" services vulnerable to shutting down? At the very least, isn't Google good about giving you sufficient warning to migrate off their service? Have they not also grandfathered in many services so those on them could continue still using them, just unsupported? In other instances, haven't they passed on some of their projects to other groups to allow them to take over?
I do understand a little of what you mean though, because I feel similarly about digital content purchases. I dislike having media that I've purchased being subject to being lost because a company goes under.
Let me start by saying that I believe in reasonable limits and a exercising reasonable responsibility. Companies and industries that knowingly endanger people, don't provide reasonable warning (or hide the dangers), and don't take reasonable precautions in order to reasonably mitigate these dangers should be severely punished. I don't really object to some guy shining a laser at planes being charged with reckless endangerment, or even with manslaughter if it resulted in deaths.
However, that doesn't change the fact that we've turned into culture that is obsessed with laying blame on someone and making excessive limitations for questionable or extremely limited benefit.
I'm not heartless, but we have to face the fact that sometimes shit happens, and isn't always someone's fault. I don't have kids, but yet I'm still aware of their uncanny knack for getting into some weird stuff and do a lot of things that can get themselves hurt. It's their nature, and you try to do the best you can do but sometimes it's going to turn out bad. It's tragic, but inevitable. It isn't necessarily the fault of Bucky Balls, Clorox, the parents, or Planter's. Sometimes these things happen. It's no reason to go crazy with litigation and regulation.
There are dangers out there, I'm not denying it. However, I'm not sure we prioritize them properly, and we're certainly too unwilling to admit that just being alive carries a certain amount of risk.
Either that, or we should ban magnets, peanuts, transportation, bathtubs and lightning, and of course lasers...
that's not a real solution though, because if you've been using the chromebook for several years then all of your work and workflow are going to be in the google ecosystem. if they shut that off, then sure you can install linux or whatever, but that's the same thing as getting a new computer. you're stuck at starting from square 1. So the problem of losing your computer still exists, with the benefit of computer recycling / lower up-front costs for a new computer.
Exactly! You should never switch switch to a new OS and ecosystem, because it isn't possible to move and convert data from one system to another!
I've thought about transitioning to a Linux, Mac, or Windows PC, but it was bad enough getting fooled into making the transition from DECB to OS-9 ecosystems on my TRS-80 CoCo 3!
You can make the criticism that any digitally distributed content with DRM has the limitation of not being able to resell. It is a legitimate criticism. In addition, you are also at the mercy of the company who sold you this content, their authorization servers, etc. I personally hate it....
I don't praise Steam, but I give them credit for holding back on how far they go compared to the rest of the industry. I don't think they hold back enough, but they develop defenders just by the fact that they haven't gone apeshit mad like many companies have. They are merely annoying.
From comments I've heard from Steam, I think they are critics too. They realize that this market isn't perfect. Steam (without additional protections put on at the whim of the game publishers) offers a relatively less intrusive form of DRM than most. They also try to offer additional value in many forms. Most importantly, they make up for many of the inherent limitations of this market by offering many sales.
I completely refuse to buy DRM protected media in any form without significant benefit added, or significant price reductions. Steam offers that.
I have still never bought an e-book that is priced like a paper version, and I've still never bought an MP3 from itunes, but I have bought a few dozen games on Steam.
I think the bar was lowered to soak up all the cash the various levels of government have been dumping into the institutions' coffers. The governments appropriate more money, the schools have to dig up more students to get the bucks.
It's the natural result of letting free market principals guide education.
Slashdot readership (if it can really be called that, judging by how little is actually read by its posting users) is an older crowd; they are not college students. Chances are they will lament how times have changed, and then tell you to get off their lawn. Seriously, very few people here are going to be able to answer your question because they are not in college anymore. On top of that there are tons of trolls who will just say they have to start up arguments.
And does that also explain why educators with decades of experience also feel there is a decline? I have an acquaintance who is a professor at a local college, and he frequently laments at the declining performance of students today. He has shared that he has seen a remarkable decline in critical thinking, and an increase in textspeak in formal essays for his classes.
Perhaps it's because there is such moral opposition to it by many segments of the population that it tends to be an industry that only draws shady people with questionable values.
It's been my casual observation that the cultures and countries that have the most unhealthy attitudes and the most repression tend to produce the most misogynistic and deviant content.
Not all of the stuff is the same, and I think that there is content out there that I would say could be pretty healthy and enlightened... but unfortunately it is not the majority.
I am not going to argue that this doesn't provide some legitimate value, for legitimate trustworthy developers. The problem is we can't assume that every developer is honest and trustworthy.
It is painfully obvious that there are applications out there that are trying to trick users into downloading a crap app. Some apps will have the exact same name as an iOS only app, with screenshots from the original app, but with fine print that it is only a "fan app".
I don't know what their intention is, but now that I know what their intentions is, but now that I know that develops can collect this kind of information, I wouldn't be surprised if their existed shady developers were releasing apps as honeypots to collect personal information.
There is no reason why Google could not create some kind of API to hash users so that a developer could only e-mail users by going through Google, and that abuses of contact information could be traced to a developer for disciplinary action.
Hypothetically, can Obama just write an executive order saying that Congress is to be disbanded immediately (or be handpicked by him instead of being elected) and that next presidential election happens in 2020?
I don't know if the US President can, but the US Emperor tried it...
I am sure you meant this in jest... but I think people underestimate Brazil. It has an economy with a higher GDP than the UK, and land area that is only a little behind the U.S. Brazil isn't some desert country less than a tenth of our size.
But the point it is that there's too much medical knowledge for one person to keep it all in their head at one time. If something like this were to come to market it wouldn't be replacing doctors, it would be augmenting them.
The attitudes towards the use of expert systems is kind of interesting. For example as long ago as the early 1970s programs like Mycin would consistently outperform medical experts, and yet they've never been adopted. There seems to be considerable reluctance by people to accept diagnosis-by-computer even when told that it's more accurate than human diagnosis.
Slashdot Mirror
And science.
Ratios, dimensions, vectors, interaction with light, and affecting biochemical responses.
My qualm with cloning is that it involves wiping the genetic from the egg (thus destroying that potential individual) and populating it with the desired genetic code.
Won't someone think of the sperm? Millions of those guys die even when there is a successful pregnancy!
Surely you must be upset about the million of potential individuals being destroyed there!
They are both equally disturbing.
Neither is preferable.
I'm in neither group, but I've seen my share of Star Trek and was at least curious enough to watch an episode of MLP to see what the fuss was about.
I think that many people find the Idealism of Star Trek appealing. It's not just about spacemen and phasers, and it's not just about exploring space. It carries a lot of idealism about what humans can overcome and become culturally (not just technologically). The idealism resonates with many of the fans.
Likewise, My Little Pony seems to convey a certain optimism and promotes compassion and empathy (and it was at least mildly amusing).
I wouldn't go to conventions or anything, but people who are fans of things that are pretty benign and encourage empathy, compassion, idealism, and the bettering of humanity aren't really a bad thing.
So, when people want to shit on them because the fans don't conform to societal norms of being aggressive, self-serving, materialistic, dominating people kind of come off seeming like assholes to me.
Maybe they are weird or eccentric, but it a lot more harmless than a lot of things we idolize in this culture.
Actually, digital music and software do create copies of themselves when used. That copy is specifically exempted in copyright law because it is a necessary part of the use of the product.
Absolutely true. I once downloaded some Techno MP3s onto a hard drive with plenty of space and left the PC running while I went on vacation for a month. I came back to discover that not only had my hardrive been filled with self-replicating copies of those techno tracks, they also mixed with my other tunes and so now I have a collection of Beatles electronica.
Digital content is exactly the same as seeds.
I felt the same way about Windows 7 and Vista searching, but I learned that all of the searching options available in XP are still there (and then some), it's just that they aren't all reflected in the UI. They weren't removed, they were just hidden. However, that is really annoying that they made it less user-friendly.
On the other hand, Windows 8 *mostly* had far better searching than Vista/Win7 had. Searching for documents and programs has become even faster and more keyboard friendly than ever. Though, there are a few dumb quirks, such as if you are searching your Documents folder, search won't pick up folder names (unless you have them pinned or set as a 'Library').
However, I think it's rather silly that you are too lazy to learn how to do the kinds of searching that you want to do in Windows by entering in extra search term options, but yet are willing to swap to Linux which probably is going to mean you are going to have to learn how to do those things there.
When I first started using Win8, I tried to use just keyboard alone as much as possible. If I couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted to do by keyboard, I Googled it. I found that there were more useful things I could do by keyboard and faster in Win8 than there were in Win7 when I spent the time to learn instead of just bitching about the changes.
Though... I'm still pissed that I have to do a sequence of "Alt, F" to open the file menu instead of "Alt+F"...
There already is one. Obviously it needs more awareness... Perhaps we can make a day for that too.
Netflix is doing great with well written, well produced original series.
Original? Like the House of Cards series that you referenced, which is a remake of a 90's BBC series? That's not a criticism, the Netflix version did a good job of Localizing it to America and modernizing, and it was well produced, but it isn't entirely original.
Bringing back Futurama would only appeal to the fans of Futurama.
Like the upcoming release of Arrested Development on Netflix?
I'm actually ok with letting the series die, and appreciating the show for what it was, but I think Netflix is probably an even better fit than Comedy Central. However, it does have a strong geek, and many of these geeks are more likely to consume most (or even all) of their TV show media through streaming.
Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?
Or... we can just let the show die and make room for new ideas and shows. I loved Futurama, but it's OK for shows to end, even good shows. It's better to die out than to see a show that drag on way too long.
I weigh all the benefits of Buckyballs against even one toddler dying, and it's just not worth it. Do I want to play with Buckyballs if my access to Buckyballs means killing a child (even a child with supposedly irresponsible parents)? No. Do you?
Zucker is saying, "I'm willing to kill a child if I can make $10 million out of it." That's a different calculation.
People who say that 1 person ever dying from something is too many is absurd thinking. If it happened once in a population of 300 million, it is a danger that is so rare that it just isn't significant, regardless of the benefit provided. It is just overreacting.
It is a tragedy, but you just can't reasonably remove every single danger out there.
You said that you will use paperclips instead of magnets, but a quick Google found safety concerns for paperclips too! At the risk of sounding callous to the death of innocents, there is a certain amount of reasonable risk that we simply need to learn to accept or we simply can't function as a society.
Bicycles kill kids. Slides kill kids. Other playground equipment kill kids. Tables and furniture can kill kids. The ground can kill kids.
Living is fatal.
Is that really a Chrome issue, or a Google eco system issue? Or maybe even cloud services in general? Should we not use Google services at all? Isn't any "cloud" services vulnerable to shutting down? At the very least, isn't Google good about giving you sufficient warning to migrate off their service? Have they not also grandfathered in many services so those on them could continue still using them, just unsupported? In other instances, haven't they passed on some of their projects to other groups to allow them to take over?
I do understand a little of what you mean though, because I feel similarly about digital content purchases. I dislike having media that I've purchased being subject to being lost because a company goes under.
We must continue building more Malware Hosts!
We must not allow a Malware Host gap!
Let me start by saying that I believe in reasonable limits and a exercising reasonable responsibility. Companies and industries that knowingly endanger people, don't provide reasonable warning (or hide the dangers), and don't take reasonable precautions in order to reasonably mitigate these dangers should be severely punished. I don't really object to some guy shining a laser at planes being charged with reckless endangerment, or even with manslaughter if it resulted in deaths.
However, that doesn't change the fact that we've turned into culture that is obsessed with laying blame on someone and making excessive limitations for questionable or extremely limited benefit.
I'm not heartless, but we have to face the fact that sometimes shit happens, and isn't always someone's fault. I don't have kids, but yet I'm still aware of their uncanny knack for getting into some weird stuff and do a lot of things that can get themselves hurt. It's their nature, and you try to do the best you can do but sometimes it's going to turn out bad. It's tragic, but inevitable. It isn't necessarily the fault of Bucky Balls, Clorox, the parents, or Planter's. Sometimes these things happen. It's no reason to go crazy with litigation and regulation.
Also, for perspective...
1 death and 33 emergency room surgeries due to swallowing magnets for children
40 U.S. Deaths a year, and 360 injuries from being struck by lightning
An average of about 87 babies and toddlers a year drowned in bathtubs between 2006 and 20010
160 Americans die from Peanuts (I didn't find a stat on children specifically)
2,136 Children were killed in Automobile accidents in the year 2003
2,811 Children were killed by gun violence in 2009
There are dangers out there, I'm not denying it. However, I'm not sure we prioritize them properly, and we're certainly too unwilling to admit that just being alive carries a certain amount of risk.
Either that, or we should ban magnets, peanuts, transportation, bathtubs and lightning, and of course lasers...
Sounds like a company that is going to pick up a lot of customers very quickly.
By quickly, do you mean as soon as people's old 2 year contracts expire?
that's not a real solution though, because if you've been using the chromebook for several years then all of your work and workflow are going to be in the google ecosystem. if they shut that off, then sure you can install linux or whatever, but that's the same thing as getting a new computer. you're stuck at starting from square 1. So the problem of losing your computer still exists, with the benefit of computer recycling / lower up-front costs for a new computer.
Exactly! You should never switch switch to a new OS and ecosystem, because it isn't possible to move and convert data from one system to another!
I've thought about transitioning to a Linux, Mac, or Windows PC, but it was bad enough getting fooled into making the transition from DECB to OS-9 ecosystems on my TRS-80 CoCo 3!
It's just not worth the hassle.
You can make the criticism that any digitally distributed content with DRM has the limitation of not being able to resell. It is a legitimate criticism. In addition, you are also at the mercy of the company who sold you this content, their authorization servers, etc. I personally hate it....
I don't praise Steam, but I give them credit for holding back on how far they go compared to the rest of the industry. I don't think they hold back enough, but they develop defenders just by the fact that they haven't gone apeshit mad like many companies have. They are merely annoying.
From comments I've heard from Steam, I think they are critics too. They realize that this market isn't perfect. Steam (without additional protections put on at the whim of the game publishers) offers a relatively less intrusive form of DRM than most. They also try to offer additional value in many forms. Most importantly, they make up for many of the inherent limitations of this market by offering many sales.
I completely refuse to buy DRM protected media in any form without significant benefit added, or significant price reductions. Steam offers that.
I have still never bought an e-book that is priced like a paper version, and I've still never bought an MP3 from itunes, but I have bought a few dozen games on Steam.
Or maybe they could call it Cleese...
You lost me there. When has Ubuntu ever been targeted at the "more technically literate"?
They certainly are more technically literate than the 90% of people that don't know Ubuntu even exists.
I think the bar was lowered to soak up all the cash the various levels of government have been dumping into the institutions' coffers. The governments appropriate more money, the schools have to dig up more students to get the bucks.
It's the natural result of letting free market principals guide education.
Run Government like a business, right?
Slashdot readership (if it can really be called that, judging by how little is actually read by its posting users) is an older crowd; they are not college students. Chances are they will lament how times have changed, and then tell you to get off their lawn. Seriously, very few people here are going to be able to answer your question because they are not in college anymore. On top of that there are tons of trolls who will just say they have to start up arguments.
And does that also explain why educators with decades of experience also feel there is a decline? I have an acquaintance who is a professor at a local college, and he frequently laments at the declining performance of students today. He has shared that he has seen a remarkable decline in critical thinking, and an increase in textspeak in formal essays for his classes.
Perhaps it's because there is such moral opposition to it by many segments of the population that it tends to be an industry that only draws shady people with questionable values.
It's been my casual observation that the cultures and countries that have the most unhealthy attitudes and the most repression tend to produce the most misogynistic and deviant content.
Not all of the stuff is the same, and I think that there is content out there that I would say could be pretty healthy and enlightened... but unfortunately it is not the majority.
I am not going to argue that this doesn't provide some legitimate value, for legitimate trustworthy developers. The problem is we can't assume that every developer is honest and trustworthy.
It is painfully obvious that there are applications out there that are trying to trick users into downloading a crap app. Some apps will have the exact same name as an iOS only app, with screenshots from the original app, but with fine print that it is only a "fan app".
I don't know what their intention is, but now that I know what their intentions is, but now that I know that develops can collect this kind of information, I wouldn't be surprised if their existed shady developers were releasing apps as honeypots to collect personal information.
There is no reason why Google could not create some kind of API to hash users so that a developer could only e-mail users by going through Google, and that abuses of contact information could be traced to a developer for disciplinary action.
Hypothetically, can Obama just write an executive order saying that Congress is to be disbanded immediately (or be handpicked by him instead of being elected) and that next presidential election happens in 2020?
I don't know if the US President can, but the US Emperor tried it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton#Declares_himself_.22Emperor.22
When are the Americans going to invade Brazil?
I am sure you meant this in jest... but I think people underestimate Brazil. It has an economy with a higher GDP than the UK, and land area that is only a little behind the U.S. Brazil isn't some desert country less than a tenth of our size.
But the point it is that there's too much medical knowledge for one person to keep it all in their head at one time. If something like this were to come to market it wouldn't be replacing doctors, it would be augmenting them.
The attitudes towards the use of expert systems is kind of interesting. For example as long ago as the early 1970s programs like Mycin would consistently outperform medical experts, and yet they've never been adopted. There seems to be considerable reluctance by people to accept diagnosis-by-computer even when told that it's more accurate than human diagnosis.
Doctors and Lawyers?
Who would you sue if the computer got it wrong?
This in the U.S. The author and musician were in the U.S.
I tried to google to find the story, but I could not find a reference to it. The story was covered on a news program in-depth around 2002.