What I forgot to mention: using OsmocomBB it should even be possible to fake your location. It is explained in this presentation at 05:20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0NjS6aUXYw
I would say a good start is to just use the airplane mode of your phone. That should disable your RF transmitter. But of course you wont be notified when the network is paging your IMSI.
The save option is to use a phone with OsmocomBB, a free software implementation of the GSM stack:
http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/
It has limited functionality (no GPRS working at the moment) but at least you know exactly would your phone is doing. With that, you can even run CatcherCatcher, which is able to detect IMSI catchers:
http://opensource.srlabs.de/projects/catcher
The supported phones are a bit outdated, mostly old Motorola phones. But there is one supported smartphone: the Openmoko Freerunner. It is pretty usable these days and is fully supported by Debian. I love it, but you will need to tinker - a lot.
That is a bold claim. Whether you are dead or not would definitely depend on your definition of death. In my opinion consciousness is locked to a point in time (and to the configuration of the brain). So, in order to be in line with your notion of death, "you" die every moment.
You do not touch my point. You seem to agree that a conscious entity arises due to information evolving over time. Let us keep this assumption.
For the sake of the argument let us further assume that everything you described is actually possible and that you can transform into a conscious entity experiencing infinite subjective time. Even then entropy flies in the face of your argument. The problem is that you cannot conserve information indefinitely - even if you try with all the resources in the world. Sure, you would have a conscious being experiencing time continuously. But after waiting sufficiently long that entity would have absolutely no information about the present day. It wouldn't share any information with you. This does not only include memories but also behavioral patterns, world views and so forth. That being could have evolved from any other being living today, you wouldn't be able to tell. Thus, that being won't be you given any sane definition of identity. You would be gone for sure.
Several of your other assumptions are very strong. Everything you describe is discrete: computation steps, finite state machines. The brain is not discrete and simulating it exactly using a finite state machine is impossible. You might argue that you can simulate it with arbitrary precision given enough resources and that might be sufficient depending on your notion of identity. It is my personal belief that this is impractical. (As a side note I am convinced that the notion of an evolving consciousness per se is all rubbish anyway; if you could generate an exact copy of yourself, which one would be 'you', the copy or the original? None, obviously. Consciousness is fixed to a point in time.)
In any case information degradation is a fundamental problem for immortality.
I'm not worried about the human body. I'm worried about the information that represents 'you'. You would have a dynamical system (your consciousness) evolving over the millennia which at the end would have nothing in common with the 'you' of today. I agree that there is an implicit materialistic assumption about the self, though.
There has been a lot of discussion lately about the importance of astrocytes. I didn't know that they are linked to certain neurological diseases. But at least for information processing they seem to be quite unimportant. There is a study that was published in Science where the researchers basically knocked out the signaling of all astrocytes in mice and the behaviour of the animals changed only marginally. A summary of this debate was published last year in an open access article in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101110/full/468160a.html
The problem is that TrueCrypt is not free software. It is open source but you don't have the freedom to distribute your own modified version. Therefore, there cannot be any community-driven development of TrueCrypt and - unless you can fix things that you don't like yourself - you are subject to the whim of the original developers of TrueCrypt.
A command line is more flexible than a GUI could ever be. It just has a steeper learning curve. Since computers are more mainstream these days GUIs are more prevalent. That doesn't decrease the value of command lines though.
The iPad has a built-in Javascript language interpreter and you could write Javascript code on the device itself. So you can program the device on the device. That said I hate the closed nature of iCrap products.
I guess the Cyanogenmod community is not a licensee. So as long as it doesn't affect these open distributions we can have diversity (by community distributions) and less fragmentation for typical consumers. That's a good thing.
I think this is the right place for a question which I posted too late to another story. I am also a bit paranoid and don't like the idea of being trackable. For this reason I typically have my phone in airplane mode and turn off this mode when I expect phone calls or want to browse / check mails. I still do not really trust the proprietary firmware not to transmit any signals. I would really like to check whether it still transmits anything in airplane mode. Does anybody know an easy and inexpensive way of how to do that? Please don't propose any instructions involving tin foil.
With regard to this story, I think everyone should try to keep as much privacy as is acceptable for him/her. It always means not participating in some things like social networks or cell phones.
Thank you very much for your advice. This is exactly what I had in mind. A few points remain unclear though.
2) Cover unit in high quality tin foil, using at least three separate layers and orienting each layer 60 degrees clockwise from the previous layer.
I can do that. I have high quality tin foil at home. But can the tin foil of the unit interfere with my tin foil hat?
3) Follow your normal daily activities. Remember to stop occasionally to look in picture windows for agents tailing you. Carefully note the license plates of all vehicles you see. Avoid any vehicle with a camera mast and / or antennas. Now.
For that I would have to leave my basement. This is none of my normal daily activities and not an option. Is there an alternative? I have two agents at my disposal: my mom and my cat.
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What I forgot to mention: using OsmocomBB it should even be possible to fake your location. It is explained in this presentation at 05:20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0NjS6aUXYw
I would say a good start is to just use the airplane mode of your phone. That should disable your RF transmitter. But of course you wont be notified when the network is paging your IMSI. The save option is to use a phone with OsmocomBB, a free software implementation of the GSM stack: http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/ It has limited functionality (no GPRS working at the moment) but at least you know exactly would your phone is doing. With that, you can even run CatcherCatcher, which is able to detect IMSI catchers: http://opensource.srlabs.de/projects/catcher The supported phones are a bit outdated, mostly old Motorola phones. But there is one supported smartphone: the Openmoko Freerunner. It is pretty usable these days and is fully supported by Debian. I love it, but you will need to tinker - a lot.
If I refused to use privative software at all, I couldn't even use a phone (even if the soft is free, the GSM firmware won't be).
Yes, you can. Try OsmocomBB (http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/). It's a free software GSM solution for several Motorola phones and the Neo Freerunner.
That's what I thought as well. This is what you are looking for: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html Humans really suck at being random. This Karate game is very similar: http://www.masterbaboon.com/2009/05/my-ai-reads-your-mind-and-kicks-your-ass-part-2/ It blows you mind how well you can be predicted.
Oh, well. It's actually the same. Never mind...
There is already Addi: http://code.google.com/p/addi/
That is a bold claim. Whether you are dead or not would definitely depend on your definition of death. In my opinion consciousness is locked to a point in time (and to the configuration of the brain). So, in order to be in line with your notion of death, "you" die every moment.
You do not touch my point. You seem to agree that a conscious entity arises due to information evolving over time. Let us keep this assumption.
For the sake of the argument let us further assume that everything you described is actually possible and that you can transform into a conscious entity experiencing infinite subjective time. Even then entropy flies in the face of your argument. The problem is that you cannot conserve information indefinitely - even if you try with all the resources in the world. Sure, you would have a conscious being experiencing time continuously. But after waiting sufficiently long that entity would have absolutely no information about the present day. It wouldn't share any information with you. This does not only include memories but also behavioral patterns, world views and so forth. That being could have evolved from any other being living today, you wouldn't be able to tell. Thus, that being won't be you given any sane definition of identity. You would be gone for sure.
Several of your other assumptions are very strong. Everything you describe is discrete: computation steps, finite state machines. The brain is not discrete and simulating it exactly using a finite state machine is impossible. You might argue that you can simulate it with arbitrary precision given enough resources and that might be sufficient depending on your notion of identity. It is my personal belief that this is impractical. (As a side note I am convinced that the notion of an evolving consciousness per se is all rubbish anyway; if you could generate an exact copy of yourself, which one would be 'you', the copy or the original? None, obviously. Consciousness is fixed to a point in time.)
In any case information degradation is a fundamental problem for immortality.
I'm not worried about the human body. I'm worried about the information that represents 'you'. You would have a dynamical system (your consciousness) evolving over the millennia which at the end would have nothing in common with the 'you' of today. I agree that there is an implicit materialistic assumption about the self, though.
Entropy makes immortality impossible. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but you will have to die like the rest of us.
I'm a bit surprised. It is official policy of the FSF not to use the term "cloud". The issue with the closest thing, software as a service, is explained here: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html
They still make quartz watches - mostly for women.
Well, I am also using a Nexus One and I don't have any of the problems you mentioned (running CyanogenMod). So you probably have a software problem...
Richard Stallman will give the keynote speech at the OKCon11 on June 30. http://www.fsf.org/events/20110630-fsod-berlin
There has been a lot of discussion lately about the importance of astrocytes. I didn't know that they are linked to certain neurological diseases. But at least for information processing they seem to be quite unimportant. There is a study that was published in Science where the researchers basically knocked out the signaling of all astrocytes in mice and the behaviour of the animals changed only marginally. A summary of this debate was published last year in an open access article in Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101110/full/468160a.html
I can run a full GNU/Linux in a chroot on my phone _because_ Android is based on Linux. That could not be done as easily without the Linux kernel.
Android has had more powerful scripting for quite some time: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/
Sorry, I just noticed that you can now distribute modified versions of TrueCrypt. They must have changed the license.
The problem is that TrueCrypt is not free software. It is open source but you don't have the freedom to distribute your own modified version. Therefore, there cannot be any community-driven development of TrueCrypt and - unless you can fix things that you don't like yourself - you are subject to the whim of the original developers of TrueCrypt.
A command line is more flexible than a GUI could ever be. It just has a steeper learning curve. Since computers are more mainstream these days GUIs are more prevalent. That doesn't decrease the value of command lines though.
The iPad has a built-in Javascript language interpreter and you could write Javascript code on the device itself. So you can program the device on the device. That said I hate the closed nature of iCrap products.
I guess the Cyanogenmod community is not a licensee. So as long as it doesn't affect these open distributions we can have diversity (by community distributions) and less fragmentation for typical consumers. That's a good thing.
They could also fork Android to build an alternative. That is the beauty of free software.
I think this is the right place for a question which I posted too late to another story. I am also a bit paranoid and don't like the idea of being trackable. For this reason I typically have my phone in airplane mode and turn off this mode when I expect phone calls or want to browse / check mails. I still do not really trust the proprietary firmware not to transmit any signals. I would really like to check whether it still transmits anything in airplane mode. Does anybody know an easy and inexpensive way of how to do that? Please don't propose any instructions involving tin foil.
With regard to this story, I think everyone should try to keep as much privacy as is acceptable for him/her. It always means not participating in some things like social networks or cell phones.
2) Cover unit in high quality tin foil, using at least three separate layers and orienting each layer 60 degrees clockwise from the previous layer.
I can do that. I have high quality tin foil at home. But can the tin foil of the unit interfere with my tin foil hat?
3) Follow your normal daily activities. Remember to stop occasionally to look in picture windows for agents tailing you. Carefully note the license plates of all vehicles you see. Avoid any vehicle with a camera mast and / or antennas. Now.
For that I would have to leave my basement. This is none of my normal daily activities and not an option. Is there an alternative? I have two agents at my disposal: my mom and my cat.