> The recent movie The Day After Tommorrow makes global warning seem like a more imminent threat than it probably is. Could it be that those more concerned about the risks have taken its release as a good opportunity for sounding their views (since people will be more receptive?)
Some people are concerned that the comic-book misportrayal of GW in the movie will make people less likely to take it seriously.
> For example, evolution works on the raw material of mutation, but there appear to be 'mutation shortages' if you want to go all the way from microbes to whales, especially since you have to get there via fish and land mammals.
So how many mutations were required, and how many have we had?
> The real existence of the 'time crunch' anomoly is evident in the recent interest in cosmic seed theories
Hardly solves the purported problem, unless you think whales have been falling out of the interstellar void.
> I'm not trying to hype any of these theories, or claim there are crippling problems with evolutionary theory. I'm just saying that reasonable people can have serious, unanswered questions about evolutionary theory and should not be discouraged from mentioning them.
Sure... feel free to mention some.
Re: How long for an evolutionary cycle?
on
When Robots Play Games
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
> What I wonder most is how long did every evolutionary cycle take?
When you're using real robots, it takes a fair amount of time since the robots actually have to do enough stuff to be measured for fitness.
OTOH, I've seen video games that could be evolved with video turned off, allowing entire games to be played in a fraction of a second. So some people are trying to get a rough solution by evolving in an accurate simulator, and then fine-tune the solution by additional runs on the robot after the simulator training.
> It would be quite nice that a robot could adopt himself to a new environment in let's say, 2 minutes.
I've seen a demo of this in a computer game, though not in a robot.
Look for more of this kind of stuff in computer games within just a few years.
> I haven't seen the thing and I am sure it is politically biased, but certainly I would like to make that determination myself rather then seeing Buena Vista kiss presidential ass and decide that it is not gonna distribute it for fear of losing tax breaks in Florida...
Disney's veto of the Miramax distribution has probably made it 10x the political bombshell it would have been otherwise.
> IMHO the new Star Trek, as of late, has fallen into an old formula that is fast making me lose interest. Bringing back James Kirk could breathe new life back into the series
Couldn't they just jump over sharks on waterskis instead?
> I vaguely remember that much of Anakin's damage (and the subsequent need of the Darth-suit for life support) was due to him and Ben fighting near lava or plasma.
Actually, a bunch of Ewok schoolgirls tie him down and drip candle wax on him, not realizing that he has sensitive skin.
We've known for millennia how to make an organic potion called 'beer', which, when consumed in sufficient quantity, reconfigures your metabolism so your big head can take a rest and let your little head do the thinking for a few hours. Then, after the potion has washed out of your system, control is returned to your big head until the next dose.
> They are not trying to do a substitution cypher or anything. The idea is that the letters are a sequence of initials for words in some quotation or something.
FWIW, someone already solved an old puzzle in a British church, where a long cryptic string of consonants engraved above the ten commandments can be read by inserting a lot of E's -
PERSEVERE YE PERFECT MEN AND EVER KEEP THESE PRECEPTS TEN"
(Sorry, I don't remember what the deal was with the "A" in "AND".)
> did you know that in the Metric paper system, the height-to-width ratio of all pages is the square root of 2? This means that you can place two sheets of A4 side-by-side and they will equal an A3 sheet exactly, and two sheets of A3 will equal an A2.
The metric square root of two has some amazing properties!
Slashdot Mirror
> You do distinctly get the feeling that 90% of the
Unfortunately, I've had the "privilege" of going back to Windows at work this year.
> it's a bit better than it was
Yeah, XP is "a bit" better than Windows 95 was. But not a heck of a lot.
> it's easy enough to build an incredibly unstable *nix box...
But with Windows you get instability without all the extra work.
> The recent movie The Day After Tommorrow makes global warning seem like a more imminent threat than it probably is. Could it be that those more concerned about the risks have taken its release as a good opportunity for sounding their views (since people will be more receptive?)
Some people are concerned that the comic-book misportrayal of GW in the movie will make people less likely to take it seriously.
> Now I'll be able to find out if the boss is actually reading my email! heh - and he says he doesn't get it
Maybe he's telling the truth, i.e. he read it and didn't get it.
> For example, evolution works on the raw material of mutation, but there appear to be 'mutation shortages' if you want to go all the way from microbes to whales, especially since you have to get there via fish and land mammals.
So how many mutations were required, and how many have we had?
> The real existence of the 'time crunch' anomoly is evident in the recent interest in cosmic seed theories
Hardly solves the purported problem, unless you think whales have been falling out of the interstellar void.
> I'm not trying to hype any of these theories, or claim there are crippling problems with evolutionary theory. I'm just saying that reasonable people can have serious, unanswered questions about evolutionary theory and should not be discouraged from mentioning them.
Sure... feel free to mention some.
> What I wonder most is how long did every evolutionary cycle take?
When you're using real robots, it takes a fair amount of time since the robots actually have to do enough stuff to be measured for fitness.
OTOH, I've seen video games that could be evolved with video turned off, allowing entire games to be played in a fraction of a second. So some people are trying to get a rough solution by evolving in an accurate simulator, and then fine-tune the solution by additional runs on the robot after the simulator training.
> It would be quite nice that a robot could adopt himself to a new environment in let's say, 2 minutes.
I've seen a demo of this in a computer game, though not in a robot.
Look for more of this kind of stuff in computer games within just a few years.
> You're so stupid you think beeing forced to walk around in female underware is the problem here?
He probably doesn't realize how many Slashdotters do that of their own free will!
> I haven't seen the thing and I am sure it is politically biased, but certainly I would like to make that determination myself rather then seeing Buena Vista kiss presidential ass and decide that it is not gonna distribute it for fear of losing tax breaks in Florida...
Disney's veto of the Miramax distribution has probably made it 10x the political bombshell it would have been otherwise.
> As Shatner is to Startrek as Bill Gates is to home computers.
A monocle and a persian cat away from being a James Bond villian?
> IMHO the new Star Trek, as of late, has fallen into an old formula that is fast making me lose interest. Bringing back James Kirk could breathe new life back into the series
Couldn't they just jump over sharks on waterskis instead?
> Will these forced acronyms never end?
How 'bout -
"Law Against Media Exploitation - A Constitutional Regulation Of New York Media.
> I vaguely remember that much of Anakin's damage (and the subsequent need of the Darth-suit for life support) was due to him and Ben fighting near lava or plasma.
Actually, a bunch of Ewok schoolgirls tie him down and drip candle wax on him, not realizing that he has sensitive skin.
Sounds like a threat to our precious bodily fluids!
We've known for millennia how to make an organic potion called 'beer', which, when consumed in sufficient quantity, reconfigures your metabolism so your big head can take a rest and let your little head do the thinking for a few hours. Then, after the potion has washed out of your system, control is returned to your big head until the next dose.
> More buzzwords!
Since there are more buzzwords than there are letters in the alphabet, strings of buzzwords would probably make good passphrases.
Now, if only we had buzzword keyboards...
when you only wanted to invade two.> Perhaps the US government should start using text message lingo in their memos.
No, 'cause then you get problems with messages like -
> Damn! I was hoping for downloads.
You can download the blackspace from the usual goatse site.
> Can gov stop her research on National Security grounds.
If not, they can always invoke the DMCA.
(Sorry, I don't remember what the deal was with the "A" in "AND".)> They are not trying to do a substitution cypher or anything. The idea is that the letters are a sequence of initials for words in some quotation or something.
FWIW, someone already solved an old puzzle in a British church, where a long cryptic string of consonants engraved above the ten commandments can be read by inserting a lot of E's -
E-term, several years ago.
> If they don't want to listen then fine, it's their loss
How's that? Do you let the newbies pass the collection plate or something?
> I hope it isn't too presumptious but I added you to my "friends" list.
Please, get a room.
> Actually there is more scientific fact in the bible than you might guess.
There's also stories about talking snakes, donkeys, and ghosts, and some delightful nonsense about how to breed striped and spotted sheep.
> did you know that in the Metric paper system, the height-to-width ratio of all pages is the square root of 2? This means that you can place two sheets of A4 side-by-side and they will equal an A3 sheet exactly, and two sheets of A3 will equal an A2.
The metric square root of two has some amazing properties!
> I believe in the film ( the last Mad Max ) pig shit, not cow shit was used.
In the immortal words of the guy who looked like Ben Franklin,
"Methane cometh from pig shit."