Except for the second law of thermodynamics argument. Humans are not a useable power source; [...] the movie explicitly called us batteries.
It could make sense, if you make up an appropriate backstory:
The humans don't mention it, but the computers are following the Zeroth Law of Robotics -- "A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm." (The Matrix steals from everyone else -- why not Asimov?)
So, sometime around 2xxx (I don't remember the time frame of the movie), the computers decide to save humanity from itself and tuck them away in nice little pods. There's no malice intended to humanity as a whole; IIRC, the computers originally make the Matrix utopian. Of course, all the "free-as-in-will, not free-as-in-beer" losers like Morpheus take exception to the pod thing and try to screw everything up for the rest of us.
Now, since the computers have to keep all the humans on life support anyway, why not try to get a little energy back? Sure, it's a net energy loss and it's not the most efficient thing in the world, but hey -- every little bit helps! (Did they say that people were the sole power source of the future? If so, I'll resume lurking.) -- Ce qui est n'est pas clos, du point de vue le plus essentiel.
Actually, it's your website, so you can do what you want.:^) But... (emphasis mine)
"The South to the Future World Wide Wire Service is a weekly feed of technology and media news commentary and satire published by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Quotations attributed to public figures who are satirized are often true, but sometimes invented. Some fictional statements may, in fact, be true. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental." --
. . . but also not usable yet. Is it worth the download? Not unless you're curious, IMHO.
However, it is a big step up from M3 -- at least in the short time I've been here. I feel confident that something at least as good as IE4 will be out by 2000, which is more than I would've said after M3.
Indiana tried to make pi legally 3 simply because the bible says so.
I respectfully disagree. IIRC, some mathematical hack (or is that crack? ^_^) who honestly thought pi was wrong had a friend in the Indiana legislature. No Bible involved.
The bill cites the author's solutions of the trisection of the angle, duplication of the cube and quadrature of the circle. Major loony bin type, from a mathematical point of view.
If you prefer, you can reply to kaahaa@anull.net to continue this (remove the a's to reply).
There's a copy of it here. From section 2: "By taking the quadrant of the circle's circumference for the linear unit...." Sounds like pi = 4 to me, but he lost me a long time before then.
But, later on: "the ratio of the diameter and circumference is as five-fourths to four." Or, 1/pi = (5/4)/4; hence, pi = 16/5 = 3.2. I guess you can't expect consistency if you're making it up as you go.:^)
But, if you turn off link underlining (like I do) and you've already read the Apple Insider article, "pitched Apple as well" looks just like the rest of the text thanks to the VLINK="#000000" on the page.
Closed-circuit to CmdrTaco: Can we get a different color for VLINKs -- maybe #666666 or #999999? I know I don't have your sense of style, but I think that'd fit in with the rest of the site.
Slashdot Mirror
Except for the second law of thermodynamics argument. Humans are not a useable power source; [...] the movie explicitly called us batteries.
It could make sense, if you make up an appropriate backstory:
The humans don't mention it, but the computers are following the Zeroth Law of Robotics -- "A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm." (The Matrix steals from everyone else -- why not Asimov?)
So, sometime around 2xxx (I don't remember the time frame of the movie), the computers decide to save humanity from itself and tuck them away in nice little pods. There's no malice intended to humanity as a whole; IIRC, the computers originally make the Matrix utopian. Of course, all the "free-as-in-will, not free-as-in-beer" losers like Morpheus take exception to the pod thing and try to screw everything up for the rest of us.
Now, since the computers have to keep all the humans on life support anyway, why not try to get a little energy back? Sure, it's a net energy loss and it's not the most efficient thing in the world, but hey -- every little bit helps! (Did they say that people were the sole power source of the future? If so, I'll resume lurking.)
--
Ce qui est n'est pas clos, du point de vue le plus essentiel.
"The South to the Future World Wide Wire Service is a weekly feed of technology and media news commentary and satire published by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Quotations attributed to public figures who are satirized are often true, but sometimes invented. Some fictional statements may, in fact, be true. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental."
--
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Linux 39.24%42.28%
Windows95/98/NT 26.50%24.39%
BSDFamily 23.47%13.29%
Solaris/SunOS 19.60%13.12%
Mac/Apple 64.18%3.89%
IRIX 9.77%1.94%
NovellNetware 63.62%0.87%
HPUX 12.90%0.50%
AIX 6.13%0.40%
SCOUnix 6.18%0.09%
DigitalUnix 3.39%0.06%
ReliantUnix/Sinix -17.37%-0.84%
This uses the TT and BR tags, along with actual non-breaking spaces (option-space on IE/Mac -- YMMV otherwise).
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However, it is a big step up from M3 -- at least in the short time I've been here. I feel confident that something at least as good as IE4 will be out by 2000, which is more than I would've said after M3.
. . .
OK, that's enough -- back to IE for me. :^)
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I respectfully disagree. IIRC, some mathematical hack (or is that crack? ^_^) who honestly thought pi was wrong had a friend in the Indiana legislature. No Bible involved.
The bill cites the author's solutions of the trisection of the angle, duplication of the cube and quadrature of the circle. Major loony bin type, from a mathematical point of view.
If you prefer, you can reply to kaahaa@anull.net to continue this (remove the a's to reply).
--
But, later on: "the ratio of the diameter and circumference is as five-fourths to four." Or, 1/pi = (5/4)/4; hence, pi = 16/5 = 3.2. I guess you can't expect consistency if you're making it up as you go. :^)
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I didn't post the original comment.
But, if you turn off link underlining (like I do) and you've already read the Apple Insider article, "pitched Apple as well" looks just like the rest of the text thanks to the VLINK="#000000" on the page.
Closed-circuit to CmdrTaco: Can we get a different color for VLINKs -- maybe #666666 or #999999? I know I don't have your sense of style, but I think that'd fit in with the rest of the site.