I suspect that the USSR was never so different from the way we were then as the propagandists would have us believe. Rigged elections? Media that didn't inform the public what was going on? Warfare and bullying as a way of achieving the top dog's "national" goals?
After all, here is a guy (who insists on using a juvenile nickname) who had the wool pulled over his eyes by perhaps one of the most successful psychopaths of this and the last century: Steve Jobs. Do you really think this guy is qualified?
It's not obvious that Jobs snowed him; I suspect that they always had motivations and goals that were nigh orthogonal.
...and not one question about how long it would take the NSA to get a court order allowing them to copy your memories from whatever system you have them coppied to?
Apparently they don't need to get a court order anymore. (Some people are saying that *that* is the real scandal.)
ISTM that Star Trek transporters are a type of 3D scanner/printer. But somehow they have to get your hundred-trillion synapses to connect the right cells, and at the right connection strength. Possibly even the current neural firing patterns, since when you get 'printed' you immediately have all your facilities and remember what you were up to when you got into the transporter.
I don't think that's ever going to be possible. But if it was, would the end result still be you, or just an artificial twin?
If transporter technology was feasible, they should be able to keep the original and print the copy using the contents of the refrigerator. I suppose that, like forking a process, it wouldn't be easy for the participants to tell who is the original and who is the copy, but I wouldn't expect them to share a common consciousness.
Perhaps your consciousness could be transferred into an electronic brain the same way it was transferred from your brain several years ago to your current brain: cell by cell.
FYI, brains don't progressively replace themselves like some organs do. You have almost all the neurons you'll ever have when you're born. There was a story here a few days ago about the discovery of a small region of the hippocampus that does generate new cells, unlike most of the rest of the brain.
Your post also brings up another interesting thought, a question raised by ancient philosophers. Suppose Jason comes home on the Argo and props it up on blocks to keep for a souvenir. As the years go by, whenever a plank rots he replaces it with a new one. Does it stop being the Argo at some point?
Huge loophole. Babbage developed a design for a mechanical computer... We'll hear arguments that everything under the sun is a replacement for some mechanical device.
This is the kind of crap that was held up as examples of why communist countries were so much worse than the US.
People, the government is supposed to work for you, not the other way around.
How many times in the last 12 years have you heard "the President's job is to keep us safe"?
How many times in the last 12 years have you heard "the President's job is to keep us free"?
Most people vote for low taxes, baseball stadiums, security theater, and enforcing their values on everyone else. Freedom and privacy get trumped by too many of those things.
Live in a cabin in the mountains that is over 100 miles from the nearest cell phone tower. Also ensure that you have top cover so satellite surveillance cannot see your house. Add enough insulating material (dirt would be easiest) above your cabin so that there is little/no thermal footprint. And never leave your new found cabin, since cars and feet all leave tracks.
I cover my footprints with aluminum foil, so the satellites and drones can't spot them.
There's nothing preventing a video game player from playing in sports and having adequate physical activity. After all, even extreme athletes know there is a rest period.
Slightly faster reactions to a visual input is a poor tradeoff for reduced person to person social interaction and physical activity.
I dunno... this kind of skill could pay off big when the aliens take over and put us all to work at "spot the letter", to generate energy for their [technobabble].
And any attempt to go against the wishes of the actual rich (as opposed to the merely wanna be rich) will result in them being shutdown by whichever police force got the bribe quickest. Freedom doesn't just come, you have to fight for it.
If you're a bank executive you can make unethical gambles with other people's money, try to hide your losses, and bring down the world economy putting millions of people out of work. Go to jail? No, you don't even lose your annual bonus that's worth more than most people earn in 50 lifetimes.
But if you paint a sign and get out in the streets to protest, you run a serious risk of being billy-clubbed and pepper-sprayed by the police.
Exactly, phrased differently: When they have to face the enemy and they have to choose between a rifle and the book of the deity of their choice, what would they put faith in?
Bert
I think in the majority of cases the enemy is praying to the same deity, so maybe choosing the rifle is the smart choice.
I'm not arguing that the "lots of people believe it" rationale is a good, rational reason for adhering to a belief; only that it is a common part of human (ir)rationality, compared to general rejection of "lone crackpot" propositions.
Though it kind of implies that the first followers of any religion are the followers of a lone crackpot...
But you're right: religion is a very social phenomenon. I've wondered whether autistic types are less likely to buy in to it.
Slashdot Mirror
I suspect that the USSR was never so different from the way we were then as the propagandists would have us believe. Rigged elections? Media that didn't inform the public what was going on? Warfare and bullying as a way of achieving the top dog's "national" goals?
After all, here is a guy (who insists on using a juvenile nickname) who had the wool pulled over his eyes by perhaps one of the most successful psychopaths of this and the last century: Steve Jobs. Do you really think this guy is qualified?
It's not obvious that Jobs snowed him; I suspect that they always had motivations and goals that were nigh orthogonal.
Apparently SCOTUS just ruled that you can't patent 'natural' DNA.
The molecules that make up the cells and neurons still swap out regularly.
Apparently they don't substantially replace themselves, or else the C-14 thing in the prior article would not work.
Consciousness is already immortal. We are the universe itself, believing otherwise is believing in the illusion of separateness.
That's pretty deep for Slashdot.
and if not and he then later reassembles all of the old rotten beams which is the real argo?
I think the witch test would actually work here: drop them in water, and if sinks it's the real thing.
Who'd want to live forever on a someone's smart phone?
...and not one question about how long it would take the NSA to get a court order allowing them to copy your memories from whatever system you have them coppied to?
Apparently they don't need to get a court order anymore. (Some people are saying that *that* is the real scandal.)
ISTM that Star Trek transporters are a type of 3D scanner/printer. But somehow they have to get your hundred-trillion synapses to connect the right cells, and at the right connection strength. Possibly even the current neural firing patterns, since when you get 'printed' you immediately have all your facilities and remember what you were up to when you got into the transporter.
I don't think that's ever going to be possible. But if it was, would the end result still be you, or just an artificial twin?
If transporter technology was feasible, they should be able to keep the original and print the copy using the contents of the refrigerator. I suppose that, like forking a process, it wouldn't be easy for the participants to tell who is the original and who is the copy, but I wouldn't expect them to share a common consciousness.
Perhaps your consciousness could be transferred into an electronic brain the same way it was transferred from your brain several years ago to your current brain: cell by cell.
FYI, brains don't progressively replace themselves like some organs do. You have almost all the neurons you'll ever have when you're born. There was a story here a few days ago about the discovery of a small region of the hippocampus that does generate new cells, unlike most of the rest of the brain.
Your post also brings up another interesting thought, a question raised by ancient philosophers. Suppose Jason comes home on the Argo and props it up on blocks to keep for a souvenir. As the years go by, whenever a plank rots he replaces it with a new one. Does it stop being the Argo at some point?
Huge loophole. Babbage developed a design for a mechanical computer... We'll hear arguments that everything under the sun is a replacement for some mechanical device.
This is the kind of crap that was held up as examples of why communist countries were so much worse than the US.
People, the government is supposed to work for you, not the other way around.
How many times in the last 12 years have you heard "the President's job is to keep us safe"?
How many times in the last 12 years have you heard "the President's job is to keep us free"?
Most people vote for low taxes, baseball stadiums, security theater, and enforcing their values on everyone else. Freedom and privacy get trumped by too many of those things.
Live in a cabin in the mountains that is over 100 miles from the nearest cell phone tower. Also ensure that you have top cover so satellite surveillance cannot see your house. Add enough insulating material (dirt would be easiest) above your cabin so that there is little/no thermal footprint. And never leave your new found cabin, since cars and feet all leave tracks.
I cover my footprints with aluminum foil, so the satellites and drones can't spot them.
while also protecting societies from the ravages of climate disruption.
This is based on a flawed assumption- that the only way to protect society is to prevent disruption of climate.
Does it actually say that?
There's nothing preventing a video game player from playing in sports and having adequate physical activity. After all, even extreme athletes know there is a rest period.
Yes, but do extreme gamers know that?
Slightly faster reactions to a visual input is a poor tradeoff for reduced person to person social interaction and physical activity.
I dunno... this kind of skill could pay off big when the aliens take over and put us all to work at "spot the letter", to generate energy for their [technobabble].
Note that the researcher is confident that "climate change" is involved, but far less confident that biology is involved.
Funny enough, climate and biology do not operate independently.
And so long as there is enough beer, people have a remedy for worrying about other shortages.
"Not trying to be trollish but"
Slashdot should automatically prefix that to every post.
And any attempt to go against the wishes of the actual rich (as opposed to the merely wanna be rich) will result in them being shutdown by whichever police force got the bribe quickest. Freedom doesn't just come, you have to fight for it.
If you're a bank executive you can make unethical gambles with other people's money, try to hide your losses, and bring down the world economy putting millions of people out of work. Go to jail? No, you don't even lose your annual bonus that's worth more than most people earn in 50 lifetimes.
But if you paint a sign and get out in the streets to protest, you run a serious risk of being billy-clubbed and pepper-sprayed by the police.
Slashdot has been filled with the THEYLL TAKE 'ER GUNS! libertarian crowd for years and years.
Interestingly, they don't dominate the discussion around here anymore, like they did at the time of the original article.
Socialism: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
That's interesting. Which of the current socialist countries fit that definition?
(Not a rhetorical question.)
Exactly, phrased differently: When they have to face the enemy and they have to choose between a rifle and the book of the deity of their choice, what would they put faith in?
Bert
I think in the majority of cases the enemy is praying to the same deity, so maybe choosing the rifle is the smart choice.
How does the saying go... "They hide the information you're looking for in books."
I'm not arguing that the "lots of people believe it" rationale is a good, rational reason for adhering to a belief; only that it is a common part of human (ir)rationality, compared to general rejection of "lone crackpot" propositions.
Though it kind of implies that the first followers of any religion are the followers of a lone crackpot...
But you're right: religion is a very social phenomenon. I've wondered whether autistic types are less likely to buy in to it.