What will it mean when 3D fabricators become cheap and common?
When you think about it, modern society is moving more and more to the production of "intellectual property" (i.e. an idea as something you can own) rather than the production of physical goods. A modern individual has the capability of mastering their own music and movies, post-processing and distributing their own photographs in both digital and physical form, creating their own PCB-based electronics, designing their own Microprocessors, building their own vehicles (airplanes are a big one!), and many other tasks that used to require massive resources and tens-to-hundreds of emlpoyees.
Each time a task went digital, society was temporarily disrupted while the new technology was integrated. Then life went on, except that society was now capable of greater production than before. The implications of 3D printing technology are the same. The value of goods themselves will be reduced to the cost of initial development. Once that development has been achieved, unlimited copies will be possible. So the average consumer will see a reduction in costs, and the average producer will see an increase in profits.
"Piracy" will continue to be a problem, but it will be just like today. If producers offer a good value for the price, the majority of consumers won't bother with piracy. If producers are dumb enough to resist the change (*cough*I'm looking at you music industry*cough*), then they can expect that piracy will run rampant until they do offer such services.
Then life will go on, but just a bit better than before.;)
Pinning down the correct neurons is not the same as understanding how they work. This technology allows neurologists to capture the exact messages passed, analogous to having a tap on a computer bus. You may know where the CPU is, but just getting the bus working doesn't tell you how to replicate the CPU. However, it can allow you to capture information that may allow you to indirectly discern how it works.
I read that the DVDs are not as good as downloading the videos because sometimes the last few seconds of the episodes is chopped off.
Actually, it's the other way around. More video was put in to go with the dialog.
You know how the characters keep telling jokes after the fade to black? Well, when they edited the episodes together, that created a problem. So they modified the endings to have more video to go with the voices. In some cases they redid the scenes. I haven't seen the result, but my understanding is that it gives the series a different pacing.
Does the main bus of your computer run Java? Does it run x86 instructions? Does it run anything of the sort?
This technology appears to be mainly about routing signals, not generating or processing them. It assists with memory by properly storing and retrieving those signals, but it does not interpret them. (As evidenced by his comment, "I don't need to understand music to repair a CD Player.")
The article is correct, however, in that this technology will bring us one step closer to understanding how the brain functions. Since these neurons are artificial, the signals passing through can be sampled and stored on an external device. This would allow researchers to reverse engineer many signals in parallel rather than trying to trace one or two signals through the brain as they've been doing.
Unfortunately, I doubt this technology will outright unlock the secrets of conciousness. Remember how neural networks were intended to be an invaluable research tool into self-awareness? Well, the resulting networks ended up working in a similar but fundamentally different way from the organic brain. That fundamental difference prevented the networks from fully simulating the human brain.
So we'll take the next step forward, and learn where our previous mistakes were. Not to mention, uncover thousands of new questions.:)
Incorrect. If information is to be passed out, it should be in the form of a proper document with the same graphical information inlined into the text. The result is a far more effective document than a dual purpose Powerpoint slide. (Jack of all trades, master of none? Yep.)
The problem is that:
a) Most presenters don't have any substantial information to present. b) The presenters are too lazy to create a separate handout vs. a presentation.
Point A is something that has frustrated me for years now. When I pay money (or at least time) to go to a fancy presentation, I expect that presentation to have actual content. Not just a summary of what I already know. Of course, that same issue has been plaguing books for just about as long. No one bothers writing an information-dense book anymore when they can provide an oversized tutorial combined with either numerous descriptions of someone else's work or freely available documentation.
Whenever I do a presentation, the bullets on my slides are extremely brief, usually no more than 4-5 words.
Technically, it's best if your slides have NO BULLET POINTS. They are a visual aid, designed to allow you to display visual information. That means slides like charts, graphs, photographs, logos, etc. When you're discussing something that lacks a visual aid, the slide should show nothing more than the topic of discussion. That helps keep listener attention on yourself, and not on your slides.
Watch Steve Jobs give a presentation sometime. Notice how the attention is almost always focused on Jobs. The only time it's not is when he explicitly directs your attention to some sort of demonstration or visual aid on the background screen.
Actually, I have one of those. I was disappointed when I realized that the gameplay was a derivitive of the first game rather than the later beat'em ups. Yeah, I was pretty sad too.:(
(Thankfully, I bought mine used for peanuts, so I wasn't too sad.;))
One of the best N64 games EVER (Star Fox 64) comes out, and everyone is focused on the WORST Turtles game known to man. I don't understand this odd fascination. And that's counting that I just saw the movie yesterday!
Thus the reference. Though I just had a vision of the mysteeeeeerious future. In it, I saw a Slashdot article about NiGHTS 2 being officially confirmed. I wonder if I my post had anything to do with that?;-)
The actual article says "dangerous" precident, not "bad". In this particular case, there's a world of difference. This news may be "bad" for Sony et al, but it's actually quite "good" for the shareholders of these companies.
It's well known that the opening weeks of a game's release are the most important, as the period that follows causes the game to be overshadowed by competitors. If I were a shareholder in Eidos, I wouldn't want them releasing hot properties (e.g. Tomb Raider) to a system that can't sustain record or near-record sales in its opening week. Better to delay the games by a few months, then announce them to a much larger fan base.
i had no idea that sega was still willing to repair the saturn
Yep. And as the summary mentions, Sega was even providing GDRom (the DC optical format) manufactering services to independent studios and homebrewers up until recently. As a result, there have been a LOT of new releases for the DC in recent years.
At this point it looks like companies might have to switch over to CDRoms. The only reason why they haven't to date is some information suggests that certain DC models may have trouble reading CD-Rs. At this point that info looks like it may be overblown. And since pressed CDs are not affected, a clear path forward exists. Don't expect the Dreamcast to die too soon.
As for the Saturn, it should make it long enough for NiGHTS 2 to be released.:P
Until we find that new disease that only destroys type O blood.
I wouldn't worry about it. This is only for Type-O transfusions. Since a transfusion doesn't change your blood type (it just supplements your existing plasma until your body can manufacture sufficient replacement quantities), you won't have to worry about those "new diseases". Unless you're normally O-negative, that is...
Dur... Nevermind. I'm just confusing myself. I found the same patent that the article linked to. I can't find the previous filing in the system anywhere (did I mention I hate the USPTO's search engine?), but it does appear that this filing is just an update to the previous one.
Did I ever mention that I HATE the patent search system?
In any case, I managed to pull the patent. (Search in published applications for application #20070055964) It looks like this is the exact same patent, just in different forms. (One an application while the other is the issued? Could someone who knows more about the filing process chime in here?) In which case, Morfik may have a valid patent. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
And the plot thickens. I'm trying to pull that patent right now. But my question is, if that patent covers the same technology, why does Morfik need this patent?
Slashdot Mirror
When you think about it, modern society is moving more and more to the production of "intellectual property" (i.e. an idea as something you can own) rather than the production of physical goods. A modern individual has the capability of mastering their own music and movies, post-processing and distributing their own photographs in both digital and physical form, creating their own PCB-based electronics, designing their own Microprocessors, building their own vehicles (airplanes are a big one!), and many other tasks that used to require massive resources and tens-to-hundreds of emlpoyees.
Each time a task went digital, society was temporarily disrupted while the new technology was integrated. Then life went on, except that society was now capable of greater production than before. The implications of 3D printing technology are the same. The value of goods themselves will be reduced to the cost of initial development. Once that development has been achieved, unlimited copies will be possible. So the average consumer will see a reduction in costs, and the average producer will see an increase in profits.
"Piracy" will continue to be a problem, but it will be just like today. If producers offer a good value for the price, the majority of consumers won't bother with piracy. If producers are dumb enough to resist the change (*cough*I'm looking at you music industry*cough*), then they can expect that piracy will run rampant until they do offer such services.
Then life will go on, but just a bit better than before.
Pinning down the correct neurons is not the same as understanding how they work. This technology allows neurologists to capture the exact messages passed, analogous to having a tap on a computer bus. You may know where the CPU is, but just getting the bus working doesn't tell you how to replicate the CPU. However, it can allow you to capture information that may allow you to indirectly discern how it works.
You guys are missing some of the best episodes! Like the whole, "I could tell you what it wasn't doing" skit.
http://www.machinima.com/films.php?id=940
Actually, it's the other way around. More video was put in to go with the dialog.
You know how the characters keep telling jokes after the fade to black? Well, when they edited the episodes together, that created a problem. So they modified the endings to have more video to go with the voices. In some cases they redid the scenes. I haven't seen the result, but my understanding is that it gives the series a different pacing.
You're making that up.
And then... the thing - it was BRIIiiiiGGhht - showed up... AND Church was all like THIS and I was like THAT and...
Are you the audience eeeeeeenjooooooying this show? Ok? Good.
So then Church was hitting me... AND I was like "Church! Why are you hitting me?"
But! He. Just. Kept. Hitting. Me.
I know. Who would have thought that CHURCH would have... such a mean streak?
And then I was alone. I don't like being alone. Alone is not good.
Oh, hi Shelia! Shelia is my friend. Shelia, you're not going to blow me up again... are you? And don't blow up Church. I like Church. He's my friend.
No, I got the joke. But explaining why it wasn't funny was a nice segue (sorry, segway) into a more complete discussion on the topic. :)
Does the main bus of your computer run Java? Does it run x86 instructions? Does it run anything of the sort?
:)
This technology appears to be mainly about routing signals, not generating or processing them. It assists with memory by properly storing and retrieving those signals, but it does not interpret them. (As evidenced by his comment, "I don't need to understand music to repair a CD Player.")
The article is correct, however, in that this technology will bring us one step closer to understanding how the brain functions. Since these neurons are artificial, the signals passing through can be sampled and stored on an external device. This would allow researchers to reverse engineer many signals in parallel rather than trying to trace one or two signals through the brain as they've been doing.
Unfortunately, I doubt this technology will outright unlock the secrets of conciousness. Remember how neural networks were intended to be an invaluable research tool into self-awareness? Well, the resulting networks ended up working in a similar but fundamentally different way from the organic brain. That fundamental difference prevented the networks from fully simulating the human brain.
So we'll take the next step forward, and learn where our previous mistakes were. Not to mention, uncover thousands of new questions.
Incorrect. If information is to be passed out, it should be in the form of a proper document with the same graphical information inlined into the text. The result is a far more effective document than a dual purpose Powerpoint slide. (Jack of all trades, master of none? Yep.)
The problem is that:
a) Most presenters don't have any substantial information to present.
b) The presenters are too lazy to create a separate handout vs. a presentation.
Point A is something that has frustrated me for years now. When I pay money (or at least time) to go to a fancy presentation, I expect that presentation to have actual content. Not just a summary of what I already know. Of course, that same issue has been plaguing books for just about as long. No one bothers writing an information-dense book anymore when they can provide an oversized tutorial combined with either numerous descriptions of someone else's work or freely available documentation.
Technically, it's best if your slides have NO BULLET POINTS. They are a visual aid, designed to allow you to display visual information. That means slides like charts, graphs, photographs, logos, etc. When you're discussing something that lacks a visual aid, the slide should show nothing more than the topic of discussion. That helps keep listener attention on yourself, and not on your slides.
Watch Steve Jobs give a presentation sometime. Notice how the attention is almost always focused on Jobs. The only time it's not is when he explicitly directs your attention to some sort of demonstration or visual aid on the background screen.
Actually, I have one of those. I was disappointed when I realized that the gameplay was a derivitive of the first game rather than the later beat'em ups. Yeah, I was pretty sad too. :(
;))
(Thankfully, I bought mine used for peanuts, so I wasn't too sad.
One of the best N64 games EVER (Star Fox 64) comes out, and everyone is focused on the WORST Turtles game known to man. I don't understand this odd fascination. And that's counting that I just saw the movie yesterday!
Please?
Thus the reference. Though I just had a vision of the mysteeeeeerious future. In it, I saw a Slashdot article about NiGHTS 2 being officially confirmed. I wonder if I my post had anything to do with that?
The actual article says "dangerous" precident, not "bad". In this particular case, there's a world of difference. This news may be "bad" for Sony et al, but it's actually quite "good" for the shareholders of these companies.
It's well known that the opening weeks of a game's release are the most important, as the period that follows causes the game to be overshadowed by competitors. If I were a shareholder in Eidos, I wouldn't want them releasing hot properties (e.g. Tomb Raider) to a system that can't sustain record or near-record sales in its opening week. Better to delay the games by a few months, then announce them to a much larger fan base.
Yep. And as the summary mentions, Sega was even providing GDRom (the DC optical format) manufactering services to independent studios and homebrewers up until recently. As a result, there have been a LOT of new releases for the DC in recent years.
At this point it looks like companies might have to switch over to CDRoms. The only reason why they haven't to date is some information suggests that certain DC models may have trouble reading CD-Rs. At this point that info looks like it may be overblown. And since pressed CDs are not affected, a clear path forward exists. Don't expect the Dreamcast to die too soon.
As for the Saturn, it should make it long enough for NiGHTS 2 to be released.
I wouldn't worry about it. This is only for Type-O transfusions. Since a transfusion doesn't change your blood type (it just supplements your existing plasma until your body can manufacture sufficient replacement quantities), you won't have to worry about those "new diseases". Unless you're normally O-negative, that is...
You didn't say anything about Javascript. You asked if Time Travel was possible. Yes. Next question?
Yes. Next question?
Dur... Nevermind. I'm just confusing myself. I found the same patent that the article linked to. I can't find the previous filing in the system anywhere (did I mention I hate the USPTO's search engine?), but it does appear that this filing is just an update to the previous one.
Yes. Next question?
Did I ever mention that I HATE the patent search system?
In any case, I managed to pull the patent. (Search in published applications for application #20070055964) It looks like this is the exact same patent, just in different forms. (One an application while the other is the issued? Could someone who knows more about the filing process chime in here?) In which case, Morfik may have a valid patent. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
You might want to check that.
And the plot thickens. I'm trying to pull that patent right now. But my question is, if that patent covers the same technology, why does Morfik need this patent?
* From the redudant department of redundancy.