There will be billions who refuse to subject themselves or their children to such bioengineering. Then the totalitarian governments would PURPOSELY POLLUTE MUCH, MUCH MORE so that only the engineered humans could easily survive.
Also, are you going to bioengineer all the OTHER plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals, too?
Didn't they ever read Brave New World where they talk about all the unintended consequences? When they engineered people to patch and mend their clothes so they would consume less, the fashion industry cratered. Actually, that's not such a bad idea. The averted textile pollution might be enough to not need engineered humans in the first place...
It doesn't matter if even if 99% of the farmers were consciously cheating Monsanto. There is no reasonable way to separate them from those whose crops were planted by creatures or wind -- unless you actually catch the cheater in the act. It is unconscionable to let the law stand by evidence of possession alone.
Furthermore, if Monsanto modifies a gene sequence and patent it, it doesn't matter if the EXACT SAME DNA SEQUENCE has existed in nature for hundreds of thousands of years. The patent is still valid. Monsanto has been persecuting farmers in India who have been growing crops for generations under the false premise they stole a DNA sequence.
The "seed police" are little more than thugs and illegal vigilantes. I would place them under citizen's arrest for trespassing on my farmland if they dared to "audit" me.
I used to own stock in Nexia Biotechnologies, a Canadian company. The goats weren't the problem. Extracting the silk proteins from the milk weren't the problem. Spinning the proteins into silk strands were the problem!
Many of the same proposed applications of the spider silk biosteel could also be fulfilled by nanotubes, but nanotubes would be even stronger. During the same time period that Nexia was improving its spinning process, several companies were making breakthroughs with nanotube manufacturing so that the price per inch would dramatically fall. Nexia saw the writing on the wall. Someone, somewhere, would make cheap nanotubes of appreciable lengths well before Nexia could make a competing offering.
There's also the debacle of Nexia vs. the FDA. Nexia argued that since their silks were natural substances, they didn't need stringent safety testing for applications such as medical sutures. The FDA agreed so Nexia pushed ahead with their next stages of research. Down the road, the FDA changed their mind. Nexia didn't have the capital to afford all the testing trials the FDA was now demanding.
Well before the Chinese company acquired Nexia, Nexia sold most of its intellectual property to an American company (in Virginia? Wyoming?). The bulk of that IP is proven counter-agents to certain chemical warfare attacks.
Interestingly, Nexia was trying to splice spider silk DNA into plants. Grow them as a crop. Grind up their leaves. Sift out the proteins. But then you're still stuck with the underwhelming spinning process.
Unfortunately, when the NDAA puts Americans into military detention indefinitely, they will not have internet access to twitter the impact of the negative consequences it has on their lives.
If the only app I could ever install on my smartphone is Google Maps, that alone is worth the price of admission and why your dumb phone will always be vastly inferior. But then again, if you're so dang cheap, you probably don't get out much, anyway, and don't need Google Maps.
I recently bought a SECOND XBox 360. They are that good as a multimedia device. And since World of Warcraft is even older than 5 years, my 5 year old computer runs it just fine, thank you very much.
You obviously never read the Venom storyline from the early days of Legends of the Dark Knight. In that story, he enhances with designer drugs, but it also gives him rage where he doesn't know his own strength and impairs his judgement. He eventually tells Alfred to hole him up in the Batcave for a month while he detoxes cold turkey. In a cruel twist of fate, the villain Bane comes years later to break Batman's back, juiced up by the next generation of the chemicals Batman once took, and at much, much higher doses pumped directly into his bloodstream.
I actually bought a lot of stock in Nexia Biotechnologies when it used to be publicly traded. However, most of their IP got sold to I believe was a Virginia based company. It was the spider goat program that made me invest.
They had a grand plan to make genetically modified crops that grew the silk protein in their leaves. You would harvest them, grind them, and extract the proteins.
However, the problem with both the goats and crops was how to spin the proteins into fibers. That is very costly. Much bigger strides were being made with nanotubes when looking at $/inch. Nanotubes were being also being considered for just about every application the spider silk was. With Nexia being the only company doing R&D with spider silk and dozens others with huge warchests going down the nanotube path, it was easy to see that nanotubes would either get to market first or soon thereafter overshadow the silk.
What does the distinction between disclosing the passphrase and entering the passphrase have to do with the Fifth Amendment? I can understand Fourth Amendment.
According to this view, bias, lack of logic and other supposed flaws that pollute the stream of reason are instead social adaptations that enable one group to persuade (and defeat) another.
Soooo, things that are NOT reason, pollute something they are NOT, namely reason. Therefore, reason itself evolved not as a path to truth, but merely a way to win arguments. Huh?
If anything, this article shows that bias and lack of logic evolved as weapons. Reason is innocent.
I'm suprised these same authors don't argue that since bombs and bullets are often transported by railroad, then railroad was originally designed to kill people.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong to divvy up the FBI's priorities the way they do. I'm saying the reason why it IS so skewed is because it's far easier to get emotionally involved in what you are crusading against. Identity thieves -- maybe you prevented a few DVD players from being charged to a single family. Maybe it's mutliple families entire savings. Who knows? With the smut peddlers, maybe you are arresting the actual content producers. But more likely you are busting someone in a long chain of distribution, which does little to rescue the victims. But these officers are able to more proudly believe (whether in a particular case it's true or not) that "I'm actively doing something to keep the street safe."
I wonder how many "successful" identify theft investigations are merely legal confirmations that, yes, your identity really was stolen, so you can repair your name. Versus detaining the actual criminals.
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't Nestle a major seller of ice cream products?
There will be billions who refuse to subject themselves or their children to such bioengineering. Then the totalitarian governments would PURPOSELY POLLUTE MUCH, MUCH MORE so that only the engineered humans could easily survive.
Also, are you going to bioengineer all the OTHER plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals, too?
Didn't they ever read Brave New World where they talk about all the unintended consequences? When they engineered people to patch and mend their clothes so they would consume less, the fashion industry cratered. Actually, that's not such a bad idea. The averted textile pollution might be enough to not need engineered humans in the first place ...
It doesn't matter if even if 99% of the farmers were consciously cheating Monsanto. There is no reasonable way to separate them from those whose crops were planted by creatures or wind -- unless you actually catch the cheater in the act. It is unconscionable to let the law stand by evidence of possession alone.
Furthermore, if Monsanto modifies a gene sequence and patent it, it doesn't matter if the EXACT SAME DNA SEQUENCE has existed in nature for hundreds of thousands of years. The patent is still valid. Monsanto has been persecuting farmers in India who have been growing crops for generations under the false premise they stole a DNA sequence.
The "seed police" are little more than thugs and illegal vigilantes. I would place them under citizen's arrest for trespassing on my farmland if they dared to "audit" me.
I used to own stock in Nexia Biotechnologies, a Canadian company. The goats weren't the problem. Extracting the silk proteins from the milk weren't the problem. Spinning the proteins into silk strands were the problem!
Many of the same proposed applications of the spider silk biosteel could also be fulfilled by nanotubes, but nanotubes would be even stronger. During the same time period that Nexia was improving its spinning process, several companies were making breakthroughs with nanotube manufacturing so that the price per inch would dramatically fall. Nexia saw the writing on the wall. Someone, somewhere, would make cheap nanotubes of appreciable lengths well before Nexia could make a competing offering.
There's also the debacle of Nexia vs. the FDA. Nexia argued that since their silks were natural substances, they didn't need stringent safety testing for applications such as medical sutures. The FDA agreed so Nexia pushed ahead with their next stages of research. Down the road, the FDA changed their mind. Nexia didn't have the capital to afford all the testing trials the FDA was now demanding.
Well before the Chinese company acquired Nexia, Nexia sold most of its intellectual property to an American company (in Virginia? Wyoming?). The bulk of that IP is proven counter-agents to certain chemical warfare attacks.
Interestingly, Nexia was trying to splice spider silk DNA into plants. Grow them as a crop. Grind up their leaves. Sift out the proteins. But then you're still stuck with the underwhelming spinning process.
Voting with your dollars works!
Unfortunately, when the NDAA puts Americans into military detention indefinitely, they will not have internet access to twitter the impact of the negative consequences it has on their lives.
If the only app I could ever install on my smartphone is Google Maps, that alone is worth the price of admission and why your dumb phone will always be vastly inferior. But then again, if you're so dang cheap, you probably don't get out much, anyway, and don't need Google Maps.
I recently bought a SECOND XBox 360. They are that good as a multimedia device. And since World of Warcraft is even older than 5 years, my 5 year old computer runs it just fine, thank you very much.
I remember seeing that model on Insomniac with Dave Attell. Exciting to behold!
Declaring "X is Dead" is Dead.
And sharks..and rats. Really, what would go wrong if we got rid of rats and sharks?
Remoras would lose cool points because they can no longer brag about riding sharks.
Explanation denied. I've sat at many a nerd table at IHOP. They were never armed with a spatula and they never sorted any damn pancakes.
Who sorts pancakes? Why is there any need to flip pancakes already in a stack? Who jams their spatula into the middle of the stack? WHAT?!
"I also suspect Batman juices."
You obviously never read the Venom storyline from the early days of Legends of the Dark Knight. In that story, he enhances with designer drugs, but it also gives him rage where he doesn't know his own strength and impairs his judgement. He eventually tells Alfred to hole him up in the Batcave for a month while he detoxes cold turkey. In a cruel twist of fate, the villain Bane comes years later to break Batman's back, juiced up by the next generation of the chemicals Batman once took, and at much, much higher doses pumped directly into his bloodstream.
So, no, Batman doesn't juice (anymore).
"Last" thing? Seriously? LAST? I can think of tons of things off the top of my head I would want way, WAAAAY less!
More like $10 for a 5 hour game. Try Bastion or Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
I actually bought a lot of stock in Nexia Biotechnologies when it used to be publicly traded. However, most of their IP got sold to I believe was a Virginia based company. It was the spider goat program that made me invest.
They had a grand plan to make genetically modified crops that grew the silk protein in their leaves. You would harvest them, grind them, and extract the proteins.
However, the problem with both the goats and crops was how to spin the proteins into fibers. That is very costly. Much bigger strides were being made with nanotubes when looking at $/inch. Nanotubes were being also being considered for just about every application the spider silk was. With Nexia being the only company doing R&D with spider silk and dozens others with huge warchests going down the nanotube path, it was easy to see that nanotubes would either get to market first or soon thereafter overshadow the silk.
Outfoxed!
What does the distinction between disclosing the passphrase and entering the passphrase have to do with the Fifth Amendment? I can understand Fourth Amendment.
Soooo, things that are NOT reason, pollute something they are NOT, namely reason. Therefore, reason itself evolved not as a path to truth, but merely a way to win arguments. Huh?
If anything, this article shows that bias and lack of logic evolved as weapons. Reason is innocent.
I'm suprised these same authors don't argue that since bombs and bullets are often transported by railroad, then railroad was originally designed to kill people.
If pure speed is the sole criterion with tuning effort having zero consideration, wouldn't masterful Assembly or opcode be the fastest?
I have a much cheaper device in my backyard that's good at finding nothing.
Can we just stop calling them books? They don't burn as easily.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong to divvy up the FBI's priorities the way they do. I'm saying the reason why it IS so skewed is because it's far easier to get emotionally involved in what you are crusading against. Identity thieves -- maybe you prevented a few DVD players from being charged to a single family. Maybe it's mutliple families entire savings. Who knows? With the smut peddlers, maybe you are arresting the actual content producers. But more likely you are busting someone in a long chain of distribution, which does little to rescue the victims. But these officers are able to more proudly believe (whether in a particular case it's true or not) that "I'm actively doing something to keep the street safe." I wonder how many "successful" identify theft investigations are merely legal confirmations that, yes, your identity really was stolen, so you can repair your name. Versus detaining the actual criminals.