Depending on how you define "free will", i think it would be possible for a program to have free will. however, arguing such is sort of pointless until we have a solid definition as to what it means for ourselves and how to prove it before we start applying it to a creation of our own.
the randomness/chaos at the quantum level could very well be a source of free will, or at least add a measure of unpredictability into the system. if that is the case then i just need to take some input from/dev/random or make my own sensor to allow my program to tap into the quantum foam.
but i don't really want my creation to have free will, i want it to be an extension of my own. if we don't have free will then my own is an extension of someone (such as god (then where did god get his/her free will?)) or something (such as just universe in general) else and thus my program would also be an extension of their/it's will. then i don't have a choice in writing it anyway so the argument is pointless and meaningless.
if we do have free will and i don't program my program to have it's own free will, then as i view it, it is still an extension of my will, and i can still have it accomplish tasks after i am gone. if i do have free will then it is my choice to write the program, and thus i am indeed giving myself a measure of immortality.
how is that any different than now? how can i tell if a video i see now isn't either edited or staged? the only thing this changes is it makes it possible to do it live.
if i don't have free will, then i don't have control over anything, so then what difference does it make because i am compelled to act the way i do regardless.
if i do have free will, then my programs continue to act out my will, didn't say they had a free will of their own...though if i don't know if i have free will myself, how would i be able to prove a program i wrote had free will?
First definition i found for "sniper" - "a marksman who shoots at people from a concealed place"
I see nothing in that definition that indicates what style of gun they need to use. granted revolvers aren't accurate at long range but that doesn't preclude them from the definition above.
the guy with guns needs other guys with guns to back him up or he will never make it. so his buddies cast their votes with their guns. everyone else cast their votes when they decided it wasn't worth fighting over because they weren't willing to risk their own lives to overthrow their govt. maybe they are just waiting for someone with more guns to come along, however in the mean time they made their decision and so are living with it. if freedom isn't worth dieing over how can you expect someone else to come along and risk their life to free you?
superior firepower/military doesn't mean you will win the war (look at vietnam for example)
one way or another (through war or election) those people chose their own government. if that government is not acting in their own best interest it is just a matter of time before its people will choose another.
so let the government make the rules, until their people go to war, or hold a new election, we have to assume this is what they want.
the lore i heard was that they were used by ranchers to mark cattle...
ok guess you are partially correct, i found this from the wikipedia article on paintball the guys that "invented" the sport originally used the "Nel-spot 007" pistol "normally used by farmers and ranchers for marking trees and livestock"
so it is very much like computers isn't it? nothing you see in the desktop (the powerhouse equivalent of a racecar) makes it to a laptop (the consumer model)
that processor you see in the desktop? no, that takes too much power the battery in the laptop could never handle it. that awesome video card in the desktop? no, that runs too hot, the laptop would overheat. well how about that harddrive? too big, there isn't space to put it in the laptop.
Just because the parts aren't able to move directly from the desktop to the laptop doesn't mean that desktop technology doesn't contribute anything to a laptop, or in your example race car to commercial car. yes they do need to put extra work into it to convert some of the technologies, they need to extend the lifetime of the part, reduce the heat, or miniaturize it, but that doesn't mean that they didn't learn anything when they developed it for the high performance system first.
I'd expect the owner of Segway to use them much more than most people, vastly raising his odds of driving one off a cliff.
Indeed, i would expect him to use them much more than most people and thus be among the top segway drivers in the world, thus being capable enough driver not to drive it off a cliff...thus possibly making it an irony again.
also, Why does the Space shuttle or international space station even need that much processing power? even a 386 should be able to sample the air system a hundred times a second, while simultaneously playing solitaire. if they need processing power Nasa owns the #6, 84, 171, 172, and 221 supercomputers according to the top 500 list from june.
Nasa has no shortage of computational power. so send a reliable processor into space, then use a terminal connection down to the ground to do anything that requires any true processing power...of which nasa has more at their disposal than most of the rest of the world.
luckily i purchased it from them just a couple weeks ago because i wanted to play it.
i still have the original box and manuals for Master of Magic.
Stardock were trying to make a sequel but were unable to make a deal with Atari, who is sitting on the Master of Magic rights with seemingly no plans to do anything about it.
you are correct it is idiotic. many cellphones disable the gps receiver if it isn't in cell range, because they are greedy bastards and can't verify you paid for the privilege of using the gps when you are outside of cell range so they disable it.
Most cdma phones do this, not sure about GSM.
i would make sure you test your phones gps outside of cell coverage before you start relying on it for navigation. and if you don't have a Cell plan, well then you are completely out of luck.
I suggest getting a dedicated GPS receiver. you can get ones designed for hikers/hunters that have battery life in the 20hour range off of a pair of AA's. I currently use a garmin eTrex vista hcx and have been happy with it. i use it on unsupported bicycle touring, my primary requirement for it was that it had good battery life. as well as i desired the ability to add a memory card for additional maps and data logging so i could upload my tracks to google earth. garmin has other models in their eTrex line with varying features that are cheaper than the one i have. however i believe none of them have anything other than a very basic world map, so you are going to likely be paying another $100 for maps, if you want a map that has points of interest and is capable of routing (turn by turn directions). that is where they get you, the damn maps are so expensive.
i have had some success with free maps from here http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ and will probably work fine for hiking/hunting, but you are probably sacrificing turn by turn directions if you want to use them for navigating in your car.
i am not normally a conspiracy nut...but to be fair would a conspiracy nut realize they are one?...but i find it hard to believe that this station, which was on the air for nearly 30 years, and was undergoing regular maintenance (as detectable by the drop in transmitting power at regular intervals) wasn't serving some purpose. now do i think it was serving some evil purpose? probably not, but it appears someone was spending a significant time/effort/resources to keep this station on the air for about 30 years. so was this station useless? i doubt it, it very much must have been serving some sort of purpose to justify the expense of running it. so what was it doing? i don't know...its possible it could simply be doing some monitoring of remote equipment and they now have a data line connecting the equipment, or setup some microwave transmitters so no longer need the station.
i agree i hope they find eula's as non-enforceable. software should be similar to a book. you should be able to read it, burn it, loan it to a friend. the one thing you can't do is make copies of it. that is covered by copyright. i don't have any issues with limited term copyrights, i however despise the retroactive copyright extensions they keep doing.
The problem is that it's how the law has worked historically for just about everything else. What we're seeing in the past decade or so is an attempt to change the precedent for everything else in the case of software or digital media, as if software and digital media is something special that needs treating differently to pretty much everything else on the planet that someone might purchase to own.
This isn't an attempt to change the precedent, this is an attempt to set one. The validity of these licenses have never been tested by the law. So there just plain is no precedent right now. This case is what will set the precedent depending on how the judge rules. It could still go either way at this point.
So einstein is the last person that will ever make a scientific discovery?
to be a constructive debate you could at least have the courtesy of saying what part of what i said doesn't really make sense, and provide examples why. or provide examples of why none of this is testable and thus doesn't meet the criteria of a proper scientific theory.
much of what i said is already indeed supported in by relativity, i am merely taking a step further.
yes there is an idiot in this thread, however it isn't me.
yes, indeed that is a problem, however the velocity of time is observable. it is simply the arrow of time. being that we are stuck in it and are being pushed along by it there really is no easy terms to use to define it. but it does exist and we are traveling with it, you can see it by the ticking of the clock.
The absolute velocity of time probably has minimal meaning to us being that we define all of our existence and experiences from how time affects us. It would have more meaning to an observer outside of the universe. we can't measure the absolute velocity of time due to us being stuck in it, however we can measure differences in the velocity of time between a fast moving and a non-moving object. for the fast moving object time moves slower as compared to the non-moving object. We can measure that difference in how fast time acts on the different objects and that difference is predictable according to Relativity, and even has formulas from which you can calculate the difference based on the 3-dimensional spacial velocity.
if you really must have terms for the absolute velocity of time, it is likely related to the length of the planck time. but that would be a circular reference in time defining itself which you aren't going to like and are going to use to dismiss me as simply being a lunatic.
Slashdot Mirror
no, because everyone will be snickering about how everyone else looks so stupid in the glasses
Depending on how you define "free will", i think it would be possible for a program to have free will. however, arguing such is sort of pointless until we have a solid definition as to what it means for ourselves and how to prove it before we start applying it to a creation of our own.
the randomness/chaos at the quantum level could very well be a source of free will, or at least add a measure of unpredictability into the system. if that is the case then i just need to take some input from /dev/random or make my own sensor to allow my program to tap into the quantum foam.
but i don't really want my creation to have free will, i want it to be an extension of my own. if we don't have free will then my own is an extension of someone (such as god (then where did god get his/her free will?)) or something (such as just universe in general) else and thus my program would also be an extension of their/it's will. then i don't have a choice in writing it anyway so the argument is pointless and meaningless.
if we do have free will and i don't program my program to have it's own free will, then as i view it, it is still an extension of my will, and i can still have it accomplish tasks after i am gone. if i do have free will then it is my choice to write the program, and thus i am indeed giving myself a measure of immortality.
how is that any different than now? how can i tell if a video i see now isn't either edited or staged? the only thing this changes is it makes it possible to do it live.
if i don't have free will, then i don't have control over anything, so then what difference does it make because i am compelled to act the way i do regardless.
if i do have free will, then my programs continue to act out my will, didn't say they had a free will of their own...though if i don't know if i have free will myself, how would i be able to prove a program i wrote had free will?
God is a programmer, he just has a faster computer than i do. He has a whole universe to do his processing.
As long as my programs run they are acting my will in this world. So every line of code i write helps to ensure a life after death.
Does God exist? if i wait to find out on my own then it is too late, so i need to take matters in my own hand and continue writing my own immortality.
...because no matter how much I decide to, I still won't be able to walk through a concrete wall.
that doesn't mean you can't try, especially if you have access to a highspeed rocket sled...no guarantees on what comes out the other side...
First definition i found for "sniper" - "a marksman who shoots at people from a concealed place"
I see nothing in that definition that indicates what style of gun they need to use. granted revolvers aren't accurate at long range but that doesn't preclude them from the definition above.
sorry that was patented by someone else, and you failed to pay the proper royalties.
ls is boring, they should add a feature "ls --im-feeling-lucky" to list a random directory to add some spice back into it.
except they have chosen their government.
the guy with guns needs other guys with guns to back him up or he will never make it. so his buddies cast their votes with their guns. everyone else cast their votes when they decided it wasn't worth fighting over because they weren't willing to risk their own lives to overthrow their govt. maybe they are just waiting for someone with more guns to come along, however in the mean time they made their decision and so are living with it. if freedom isn't worth dieing over how can you expect someone else to come along and risk their life to free you?
superior firepower/military doesn't mean you will win the war (look at vietnam for example)
and how has meddling with them been doing? seems it only makes them hate us and turn their anger in our direction.
I really don't care if they are liberated or not. how has democracy been working for our own freedom lately?
...and this is why everyone hates the U.S.
one way or another (through war or election) those people chose their own government. if that government is not acting in their own best interest it is just a matter of time before its people will choose another.
so let the government make the rules, until their people go to war, or hold a new election, we have to assume this is what they want.
the lore i heard was that they were used by ranchers to mark cattle...
ok guess you are partially correct, i found this from the wikipedia article on paintball the guys that "invented" the sport originally used the "Nel-spot 007" pistol "normally used by farmers and ranchers for marking trees and livestock"
so it is very much like computers isn't it? nothing you see in the desktop (the powerhouse equivalent of a racecar) makes it to a laptop (the consumer model)
that processor you see in the desktop? no, that takes too much power the battery in the laptop could never handle it. that awesome video card in the desktop? no, that runs too hot, the laptop would overheat. well how about that harddrive? too big, there isn't space to put it in the laptop.
Just because the parts aren't able to move directly from the desktop to the laptop doesn't mean that desktop technology doesn't contribute anything to a laptop, or in your example race car to commercial car. yes they do need to put extra work into it to convert some of the technologies, they need to extend the lifetime of the part, reduce the heat, or miniaturize it, but that doesn't mean that they didn't learn anything when they developed it for the high performance system first.
I'd expect the owner of Segway to use them much more than most people, vastly raising his odds of driving one off a cliff.
Indeed, i would expect him to use them much more than most people and thus be among the top segway drivers in the world, thus being capable enough driver not to drive it off a cliff...thus possibly making it an irony again.
seems it all depends on your perspective
also, Why does the Space shuttle or international space station even need that much processing power? even a 386 should be able to sample the air system a hundred times a second, while simultaneously playing solitaire. if they need processing power Nasa owns the #6, 84, 171, 172, and 221 supercomputers according to the top 500 list from june.
Nasa has no shortage of computational power. so send a reliable processor into space, then use a terminal connection down to the ground to do anything that requires any true processing power...of which nasa has more at their disposal than most of the rest of the world.
Plus theres no way in hell countries like the US are gonna sign onto it.
until they add a trailer to the treaty involving copyright
luckily i purchased it from them just a couple weeks ago because i wanted to play it.
i still have the original box and manuals for Master of Magic.
Stardock were trying to make a sequel but were unable to make a deal with Atari, who is sitting on the Master of Magic rights with seemingly no plans to do anything about it.
you are correct it is idiotic. many cellphones disable the gps receiver if it isn't in cell range, because they are greedy bastards and can't verify you paid for the privilege of using the gps when you are outside of cell range so they disable it.
Most cdma phones do this, not sure about GSM.
i would make sure you test your phones gps outside of cell coverage before you start relying on it for navigation. and if you don't have a Cell plan, well then you are completely out of luck.
I suggest getting a dedicated GPS receiver. you can get ones designed for hikers/hunters that have battery life in the 20hour range off of a pair of AA's. I currently use a garmin eTrex vista hcx and have been happy with it. i use it on unsupported bicycle touring, my primary requirement for it was that it had good battery life. as well as i desired the ability to add a memory card for additional maps and data logging so i could upload my tracks to google earth. garmin has other models in their eTrex line with varying features that are cheaper than the one i have. however i believe none of them have anything other than a very basic world map, so you are going to likely be paying another $100 for maps, if you want a map that has points of interest and is capable of routing (turn by turn directions). that is where they get you, the damn maps are so expensive.
i have had some success with free maps from here http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ and will probably work fine for hiking/hunting, but you are probably sacrificing turn by turn directions if you want to use them for navigating in your car.
Other schools may be different, but at mine, on any test that we took in math class, our teacher would reset our calculators to its factory defaults.
And i knew a person that had written their own application for their calculator that made it look like it was being reset to factory defaults.
i am not normally a conspiracy nut...but to be fair would a conspiracy nut realize they are one?...but i find it hard to believe that this station, which was on the air for nearly 30 years, and was undergoing regular maintenance (as detectable by the drop in transmitting power at regular intervals) wasn't serving some purpose. now do i think it was serving some evil purpose? probably not, but it appears someone was spending a significant time/effort/resources to keep this station on the air for about 30 years. so was this station useless? i doubt it, it very much must have been serving some sort of purpose to justify the expense of running it. so what was it doing? i don't know...its possible it could simply be doing some monitoring of remote equipment and they now have a data line connecting the equipment, or setup some microwave transmitters so no longer need the station.
sorry i guess i hadn't had my caffeine yet.
i agree i hope they find eula's as non-enforceable. software should be similar to a book. you should be able to read it, burn it, loan it to a friend. the one thing you can't do is make copies of it. that is covered by copyright. i don't have any issues with limited term copyrights, i however despise the retroactive copyright extensions they keep doing.
The problem is that it's how the law has worked historically for just about everything else. What we're seeing in the past decade or so is an attempt to change the precedent for everything else in the case of software or digital media, as if software and digital media is something special that needs treating differently to pretty much everything else on the planet that someone might purchase to own.
This isn't an attempt to change the precedent, this is an attempt to set one. The validity of these licenses have never been tested by the law. So there just plain is no precedent right now. This case is what will set the precedent depending on how the judge rules. It could still go either way at this point.
So einstein is the last person that will ever make a scientific discovery?
to be a constructive debate you could at least have the courtesy of saying what part of what i said doesn't really make sense, and provide examples why. or provide examples of why none of this is testable and thus doesn't meet the criteria of a proper scientific theory.
much of what i said is already indeed supported in by relativity, i am merely taking a step further.
yes there is an idiot in this thread, however it isn't me.
yes, indeed that is a problem, however the velocity of time is observable. it is simply the arrow of time. being that we are stuck in it and are being pushed along by it there really is no easy terms to use to define it. but it does exist and we are traveling with it, you can see it by the ticking of the clock.
The absolute velocity of time probably has minimal meaning to us being that we define all of our existence and experiences from how time affects us. It would have more meaning to an observer outside of the universe. we can't measure the absolute velocity of time due to us being stuck in it, however we can measure differences in the velocity of time between a fast moving and a non-moving object. for the fast moving object time moves slower as compared to the non-moving object. We can measure that difference in how fast time acts on the different objects and that difference is predictable according to Relativity, and even has formulas from which you can calculate the difference based on the 3-dimensional spacial velocity.
if you really must have terms for the absolute velocity of time, it is likely related to the length of the planck time. but that would be a circular reference in time defining itself which you aren't going to like and are going to use to dismiss me as simply being a lunatic.