Be careful what you read!
on
Does P = NP?
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· Score: 1
There are a LOT of comments here that sound
intelligent and correct which are very incorrect.
Be careful what you believe!
To give an example: one Slashdot reader posted
a solvable problem is in NP. This is not true.
There are other complexity classes than P and NP.
Such as PSPACE (problems which can be solved in
polynomial space). Problems such as PSPACE problems may not by in NP.
I do not think I have read a comment yet for which the writer sounded like he/she really knew and understood what he/she is talking about. Except of course this one!!:) Because I know I know what I'm talking about...
The submitter of the article questions about the polution of nitrogen into the atmosphere. This is not a concern because our atmosphere is something like 70% nitrogen and we would take the nitrogen from the atmosphere to use in our cars.
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May the source be with you!
Alow me to add to this and explain it a little
on
Frankenstein Time
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· Score: 2
We have a map of the human genome but we do not know what the various genes do. We do not know how to change the genes. We do not know what to change the genes to. We are still a LONG ways from creating "perfect babies". We are also a long ways from fixing simple genetic problems like an extra finger.
Not to mention we do not have details about the variations of the genes from person to person. My genes could be significantly different than my neighbors.
However, I believe we (humans) should be thinking about these problems now. There is plenty of time to discuss the issues and decide the best way to proceed with new technologies that come our way. I believe the best way to proceed is to simply talk about the best way to proceed before you proceed. What happens then is people in control of the technology have a better understanding of the moral implications and will likely make better decisions. This is the only real way to prevent disaster.
So let us talk about the new technologies and how they could affect the world.
I have found that there are many Windows users out there that have never used anything other than Windows. Many of these people are very closed minded about what OS they use (remember that they have only used one OS).
It is very hard to explain to some one who has never used a Unix system why grep, sed, perl, awk, make, find, *sh, etc. etc. etc. are so great.
I think the best approach is
Spend a little time explaining how these tools exist and make programming more efficient and less troublesome. Most people will not listen or understand.
Suggest they install a Unix and try to write some programs and learn these tools. Remind them that this will take time and will not be easy. Remind them also that most people who do this are rewarded greatly with a suite of powerful free tools at their finger tips (am I right fellow Slashdotters? Cry forth with your support!!!)
Let them decide for themselves.
For the Unix person that is trying to convince someone of the greatness of Unix remember this...
You can not convince a blind man to undergo surgery that will give him sight by telling him how great it is to see. But if enough people around him are talking about the greatness of vision he will want to see.
One of the philosophies behind Unix is not to create things that are useful... but to not hold back features because you think they are not useful. Or in this case... create a bunch of cool features and let others find uses for them.
Microsoft thinks, "Well the command line is not very useful to the average computer user, let us do away with it."
Unix programmers think, "Well I do not think rotating windows in 3d is useful, but let us keep this feature, someone else may have a use for it."
Keep this in mind... it is hard to find a use for something that does not exist!!!
Many students (if not most) are not mature enough to be given the power to "turn in" their peers if any of their peers are depressed or dangerous. What will happen is students will use this power to achieve revenge on people they dislike. I predict something like the Salem witch trials. Students will go around pointing fingers with no evidence. Although the goal of Pinkerton might be to help students. If a student's peers find out that Pinkerton is helping him/her then he/she will suffer. The student would be labeled a nut and forever be different in a way that Pinkerton could never help. Of course Pinkerton could do nothing about this because confidentiality between Pinkerton and anyone would not stop the "news" from spreading.
Well... okay the bugs may be fixed. But if the Mozilla developers do not put the bugs with the rest (on bugzilla) then they can expect to spend much more time fixing them. And perhaps some will never be fixed...
Aside from that, having the bugs available for everyone to view will allow users to make decisions about whether they want to use Mozilla. Users can make educated decisions about whether Mozilla is secure enough for him/her. Holding back the bugs is like saying: "Mozilla is secure enough for you (end users)," Mozilla developers. Which of course takes away some freedom. Although users have the option to just not use Mozilla until the bugs are fixed or disclosed.
To me this sounds like a marketing decision. I imagine some Netscape suits do not want to ship Mozilla with known security bugs. So they have two options:
1) Delay the shipment of the new Netscape until the important security bugs are fixed.
2) Hide the bugs.
What would you do? Microsoft will hide the bugs. Netscape seems to be no better than Microsoft and will likely share the same fate (watch the next couple years for Microsoft's fate;)
Slashdot Mirror
Be careful what you believe!
To give an example: one Slashdot reader posted a solvable problem is in NP. This is not true.
There are other complexity classes than P and NP. Such as PSPACE (problems which can be solved in polynomial space). Problems such as PSPACE problems may not by in NP.
I do not think I have read a comment yet for which the writer sounded like he/she really knew and understood what he/she is talking about. Except of course this one!! :) Because I know I know what I'm talking about...
hahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
--
May the source be with you!
The submitter of the article questions about the polution of nitrogen into the atmosphere. This is not a concern because our atmosphere is something like 70% nitrogen and we would take the nitrogen from the atmosphere to use in our cars.
--
May the source be with you!
Not to mention we do not have details about the variations of the genes from person to person. My genes could be significantly different than my neighbors.
However, I believe we (humans) should be thinking about these problems now. There is plenty of time to discuss the issues and decide the best way to proceed with new technologies that come our way. I believe the best way to proceed is to simply talk about the best way to proceed before you proceed. What happens then is people in control of the technology have a better understanding of the moral implications and will likely make better decisions. This is the only real way to prevent disaster.
So let us talk about the new technologies and how they could affect the world.
--
May the source be with you!
It is very hard to explain to some one who has never used a Unix system why grep, sed, perl, awk, make, find, *sh, etc. etc. etc. are so great.
I think the best approach is
For the Unix person that is trying to convince someone of the greatness of Unix remember this...
You can not convince a blind man to undergo surgery that will give him sight by telling him how great it is to see. But if enough people around him are talking about the greatness of vision he will want to see.
--
May the source be with you!
So now we get Windows NTNT instead of Windows NT. I think this is a ploy by Microsoft to ride the popularity of Little Ceasar's "pizza pizza".
Two for the price of one is always better!!!
--
May the source be with you!
Microsoft thinks, "Well the command line is not very useful to the average computer user, let us do away with it."
Unix programmers think, "Well I do not think rotating windows in 3d is useful, but let us keep this feature, someone else may have a use for it."
Keep this in mind... it is hard to find a use for something that does not exist!!!
--
May the source be with you!
Are you Jordon Pollack answering this question or are you one of his artificial intelligent creations?
Many students (if not most) are not mature enough to be given the power to "turn in" their peers if any of their peers are depressed or dangerous. What will happen is students will use this power to achieve revenge on people they dislike. I predict something like the Salem witch trials. Students will go around pointing fingers with no evidence. Although the goal of Pinkerton might be to help students. If a student's peers find out that Pinkerton is helping him/her then he/she will suffer. The student would be labeled a nut and forever be different in a way that Pinkerton could never help. Of course Pinkerton could do nothing about this because confidentiality between Pinkerton and anyone would not stop the "news" from spreading.
Well... okay the bugs may be fixed. But if the Mozilla developers do not put the bugs with the rest (on bugzilla) then they can expect to spend much more time fixing them. And perhaps some will never be fixed...
;)
Aside from that, having the bugs available for everyone to view will allow users to make decisions about whether they want to use Mozilla. Users can make educated decisions about whether Mozilla is secure enough for him/her. Holding back the bugs is like saying: "Mozilla is secure enough for you (end users)," Mozilla developers. Which of course takes away some freedom. Although users have the option to just not use Mozilla until the bugs are fixed or disclosed.
To me this sounds like a marketing decision. I imagine some Netscape suits do not want to ship Mozilla with known security bugs. So they have two options:
1) Delay the shipment of the new Netscape until the important security bugs are fixed.
2) Hide the bugs.
What would you do? Microsoft will hide the bugs. Netscape seems to be no better than Microsoft and will likely share the same fate (watch the next couple years for Microsoft's fate