This is why nobody remembers the name of Johann Gambolputty-de-von-Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crass-cren-bon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelter-wasser-kurstlich-himble-eisenbahnwagen-guten-abend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwürstel-gespurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumeraber-schönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittleraucher-von-Hautkopft of Ulm.
Well, that's nice, but running at 1.4 kilowatts, you'll want another one to cool your array of five PSUs. Of course, that would mean five more PSUs, needing another one of these, and so on....
This could be a brilliant new marketing technique--a product whose use requires the purchase of more of itself....
...is that the $7 million will just be used to spam the rest of us with about 700 million more free AOL CDs....
Hasn't this been done..?
on
Working Nerve Chip
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I saw a documentary on TLC a while ago about AI and such, and they mentioned a group of scientists who had done something similar to this. They were pretty vague about the whole thing but these people had basically taken a small clump of nerve cells (I want to say they were human brain cells, but I'm not sure...) and put them on this chip that would monitor their outputs and provide inputs. They had connected the whole thing to this computer which simulated a very simple 2D (pseudo-3d, kinda like Wolfenstein) environment, and trained the cells to move around in the virtual "world", avoiding walls and obstacles.
It's sounded pretty far out...has anyone else heard of anything like this?
Looks like all they need now is an injection that can prevent water from freezing...
For example, salt water freezes at a lower temperature than pure water, but not really low enough to be significant here. It seems to me that what they need to develop is something that would would get into all of the water in the cells, and lower its freezing point. I'm sure this is easier said than done, but it seems like that could break down one of the main barriers in cryonics.
Of course, they would probably also have to develop another injection to be given during the revival process to remove this from the body, but I suppose that can wait until they're actually ready to start thawing people out.:-)
This is an excellent philosophical question about which I also feel very strongly.
As a sentient being, I feel that I have some basic claim to my own mind, body, and "being". I was born with everything which makes up who I am (except, of course, memories and experiences) so how can any other person or entity have any ownership of this? I don't think that any human being can be owned by anyone other than themselves. What about a person's property? Land, for example? A person can own a piece of land, but it is still contained within (but not really owned by) their state/country.
This brings up an interesting question: Since the individual owns that land, can that person decide that they don't want their land to be part of the state/country in which it is contained? By the same logic, can a person decide that they do not wish to be governed by the government under which they were born? The government doesn't own me, I own myself. I was born in the US, but I never agreed to be under the rule of the United States Government. If I own my own land, can I secede, and declare that my land is my own country, under my own rule?
I don't see that the government can "own" its people, or even its territories. It only has areas of influence.
As for the second question, I have strong feelings on this, as well. The Constitution does not *give* people any rights. People are naturally entitled to certain rights, and the Constitution (namely, the Bill of Rights) was intended to ensure that these are not taken away from the people. Basically, we have the right to do anything that is not against the law. The Constitution was intended to makes sure the laws don't prevent us from doing things that we should be allowed to do (practicing, or not practicing, a certain religion, for example). I believe that if the answer to this question is yes, then that means we have rights that are not protected in the Constitution. I am a strong advocate of personal freedom, so I feel that people should be free to do just about anything they want, as long as they're not hurting anyone, or infringing on the rights of anyone else.
That's exactly right. Over in Holland, where marijuana is legal, you don't see a nation overrun with potheads. More often you see Americans who have gone over there to escape some of America's drug laws.
People don't realize that legalizing a "bad" thing can have positive results. For example, drugs bought on the black market are usually more potent, as it is easier to smuggle a more potent substance, as was stated earlier. Legalizing drugs would allow for quality control. When you buy prescription drugs, you have some assurance that they are exactly what they claim to be, since you bought them from a licenced pharmacist.
Another way I like to look at it is the comparison between alcohol and marijuana. Alcohol is legal, and yet thousands of people die every year from alcohol and its effects (such as drunk driving). Marijuana is illegal, but how often (if *ever*) do we hear of anybody getting killed by it? Not to mention alcoholism, alcohol-related domestic violence, and so on, which do not occur with marijuana, since it is not addictive and, IMHO, puts people in a much more peaceful state of mind than with alcohol, making them much less likely to go do something violent.
Just something to think about...
I had a similar dream once.
About playing Doom, but although it kinda seemed like I was actually in the game, there was still that status bar at the bottom. (bottom of what, I don't know...there wasn't a "screen"...)
And it was even pixelated...;-)
I thought of a very similar idea once. It began with issuing each student a "minor" weapon, like a metal bar or something, in the early grades of school, and training them to use it.
Martial arts and fighting skills would be integrated into the curriculum, but students would also be taught the strict discipline to only use these skills when absolutely necessary. Difficulty and skill level would increase with each grade, and students would be allowed better weapons in higher grades (such as a knife in the middle grades, and possibly a gun in high school).
Fighting would be allowed, but would be strictly moderated. For example, there would be a strict "code of honor" that forbade fighting someone of a lower grade/skill level. Of course, I'm not saying that any of this is a good idea...just something I had thought of.
It would be interesting to see a movie about this. (just don't steal my intellectual property!);-) What kind of world would we live in if our children grew up like this? Any thoughts on that?
"The fungi that did the damage, Novikova said, included members of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Cladesporium - all very common on Earth."
Sounds to me like the stuff was on the station before it ever got into space. Like FreeMars said, there's nothing in the article that mentions any fungus growing outside the station.
(still, wouldn't it be a little disappointing if the first "attack" by an extraterrestrial organism was a fungus?);-)
Slashdot Mirror
Who cares what the adults think? The ban only applies to minors...
This is why nobody remembers the name of Johann Gambolputty-de-von-Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crass-cren-bon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelter-wasser-kurstlich-himble-eisenbahnwagen-guten-abend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwürstel-gespurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumeraber-schönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittleraucher-von-Hautkopft of Ulm.
This species has amused itself to death.
Well, that's nice, but running at 1.4 kilowatts, you'll want another one to cool your array of five PSUs. Of course, that would mean five more PSUs, needing another one of these, and so on....
This could be a brilliant new marketing technique--a product whose use requires the purchase of more of itself....
--Ariston
...is that the $7 million will just be used to spam the rest of us with about 700 million more free AOL CDs....
I saw a documentary on TLC a while ago about AI and such, and they mentioned a group of scientists who had done something similar to this. They were pretty vague about the whole thing but these people had basically taken a small clump of nerve cells (I want to say they were human brain cells, but I'm not sure...) and put them on this chip that would monitor their outputs and provide inputs. They had connected the whole thing to this computer which simulated a very simple 2D (pseudo-3d, kinda like Wolfenstein) environment, and trained the cells to move around in the virtual "world", avoiding walls and obstacles.
It's sounded pretty far out...has anyone else heard of anything like this?
Looks like all they need now is an injection that can prevent water from freezing...
:-)
For example, salt water freezes at a lower temperature than pure water, but not really low enough to be significant here. It seems to me that what they need to develop is something that would would get into all of the water in the cells, and lower its freezing point. I'm sure this is easier said than done, but it seems like that could break down one of the main barriers in cryonics.
Of course, they would probably also have to develop another injection to be given during the revival process to remove this from the body, but I suppose that can wait until they're actually ready to start thawing people out.
This is an excellent philosophical question about which I also feel very strongly.
As a sentient being, I feel that I have some basic claim to my own mind, body, and "being". I was born with everything which makes up who I am (except, of course, memories and experiences) so how can any other person or entity have any ownership of this? I don't think that any human being can be owned by anyone other than themselves. What about a person's property? Land, for example? A person can own a piece of land, but it is still contained within (but not really owned by) their state/country.
This brings up an interesting question: Since the individual owns that land, can that person decide that they don't want their land to be part of the state/country in which it is contained? By the same logic, can a person decide that they do not wish to be governed by the government under which they were born? The government doesn't own me, I own myself. I was born in the US, but I never agreed to be under the rule of the United States Government. If I own my own land, can I secede, and declare that my land is my own country, under my own rule?
I don't see that the government can "own" its people, or even its territories. It only has areas of influence.
As for the second question, I have strong feelings on this, as well. The Constitution does not *give* people any rights. People are naturally entitled to certain rights, and the Constitution (namely, the Bill of Rights) was intended to ensure that these are not taken away from the people. Basically, we have the right to do anything that is not against the law. The Constitution was intended to makes sure the laws don't prevent us from doing things that we should be allowed to do (practicing, or not practicing, a certain religion, for example). I believe that if the answer to this question is yes, then that means we have rights that are not protected in the Constitution. I am a strong advocate of personal freedom, so I feel that people should be free to do just about anything they want, as long as they're not hurting anyone, or infringing on the rights of anyone else.
Does anyone have any other views on this?
That's exactly right. Over in Holland, where marijuana is legal, you don't see a nation overrun with potheads. More often you see Americans who have gone over there to escape some of America's drug laws.
People don't realize that legalizing a "bad" thing can have positive results. For example, drugs bought on the black market are usually more potent, as it is easier to smuggle a more potent substance, as was stated earlier. Legalizing drugs would allow for quality control. When you buy prescription drugs, you have some assurance that they are exactly what they claim to be, since you bought them from a licenced pharmacist.
Another way I like to look at it is the comparison between alcohol and marijuana. Alcohol is legal, and yet thousands of people die every year from alcohol and its effects (such as drunk driving). Marijuana is illegal, but how often (if *ever*) do we hear of anybody getting killed by it? Not to mention alcoholism, alcohol-related domestic violence, and so on, which do not occur with marijuana, since it is not addictive and, IMHO, puts people in a much more peaceful state of mind than with alcohol, making them much less likely to go do something violent.
Just something to think about...
I had a similar dream once. ;-)
About playing Doom, but although it kinda seemed like I was actually in the game, there was still that status bar at the bottom. (bottom of what, I don't know...there wasn't a "screen"...)
And it was even pixelated...
I thought of a very similar idea once. It began with issuing each student a "minor" weapon, like a metal bar or something, in the early grades of school, and training them to use it. ;-) What kind of world would we live in if our children grew up like this? Any thoughts on that?
Martial arts and fighting skills would be integrated into the curriculum, but students would also be taught the strict discipline to only use these skills when absolutely necessary. Difficulty and skill level would increase with each grade, and students would be allowed better weapons in higher grades (such as a knife in the middle grades, and possibly a gun in high school).
Fighting would be allowed, but would be strictly moderated. For example, there would be a strict "code of honor" that forbade fighting someone of a lower grade/skill level. Of course, I'm not saying that any of this is a good idea...just something I had thought of.
It would be interesting to see a movie about this. (just don't steal my intellectual property!)
"The fungi that did the damage, Novikova said, included members of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Cladesporium - all very common on Earth."
;-)
Sounds to me like the stuff was on the station before it ever got into space. Like FreeMars said, there's nothing in the article that mentions any fungus growing outside the station.
(still, wouldn't it be a little disappointing if the first "attack" by an extraterrestrial organism was a fungus?)