For those of us who are British subjects/citizens/slavemonkeys/whatever, surely the intellectual property actually belongs to us. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but when this patent was filed BT was still a national company rather than a private one. In a fair and just world that would mean that the patent belonged to the british state, the detr or whatever, as our taxes effectively paid for it. Well, not my taxes cos I wasn't very old then, but the same principles apply.
Of course its not a fair and just world. But it's a nice idea.
Along these lines I seem to recall a very interesting article I read a few years back about an anti-gravity system based on gyroscopes. I can't remember much about it except that the guy had got some very impressive results and was now working under the wing of some large corporation or other in Australia.
Anyone remember anything about this, or know whether it went anywhere?
Ah yes, but in this hypothetical situation I am a member of one of the most highly-trained armies around and the survivalist zealots, although armed, are still going to rate at something equivalent to fish in a barrel relative to that.
I could gun down survivalist apocalyptic zealots and not feel bad about it. In fact, I think I'd probably feel pretty good about it, a little service to the gene pool, if you will. I'd feel a lot worse about shooting innocent civillians trying to make a political point.
Of course, I'm not a member of the British Security Services, I'm pretty sure they don't care who they kill as long as their interests are served.
I am pretty much certain that handing over your pgp keys stands against the right not to incriminate yourself included in the Human Rights Act. I don't think that has really been tested yet, aside from a few people messing about with speed cameras, but it would be very interesting to see what came of it.
Given that as a piece of legislation the HRA is designed to guarantee that the most basic human rights are honoured, it seems a shame that new legislation has already emerged that may require it.
I'm pretty sure that the failiure to future-proof consoles is a good thing.
Programmers working on PCs tend to think 'oh, that runs a bit slow but it won't get released until processors are twice as fast, so it doesn't matter.' On a console you don't have that option - you have to write more economical code. You end up having products released that the console's creators would not have thought possible when they first put the system together. In the long run, these restricted platforms mean that there have got to be more really good games programmers around. And thats got to be good news for games players everywhere.
So how would you convincingly demonstrate that something is intelligent in a way that would distinguish a human from a machine that could communicate with you in such a way that it is indistinguishable from communication with a human?
Are there non communication-based ways of judging whether something is intelligent?
I cant help but notice that the majority of posts here are blaming someone or looking for someone to blame.
It surprises me that no-one has suggested that dangerous kids are a consequence of cultural attitudes (thinking==bad && sporting achievement==good) and bad parenting. When it comes right down to it, violence begins at home.
Why is it that any time you have any small group of humans with even the tiniest amount of power they start to make decisions that absolutely reek of corruption. I have no idea whether or not these people are corrupt, but they seem to be acting in a way that is not in the least bit accountable.
I don't think humans are suited to responsibility really. I reckon problems like this would be best handled by a big old expert system. They usually work better than people do anyway.
Although the amiga was definitely 16 bit Acorn were turning out 32 bit Arm based machines at the same time. They only really caught on in the uk education world, which is a shame cos I think they were probably pretty good.
If someone was to push me for my encryption keys I would claim the human rights act - I think there is a section of that which suggests that I have a right not to incriminate myself. Of course, claiming that right would be enough to suggest that there was something incriminating there...
I believe the Human Rights Act, being european law, will override the RIP bill.
Re:Banks is Wonderful but Awful
on
Look to Windward
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· Score: 1
Try reading 'A song of stone'. Very nasty things happen to characters you don't particularly like but do empathise with, caught in an inevitable downward spiral. That was hard going. Sort of worth it, but hard going.
Compared with that, the other books of his that I've read are fairly nice to their cast...
Actually, the most recent Zelda was the greatest game of all time. But it was another case where it was essentially an extension of the previous games into 3d- you could still recognize all the monsters and the style of the thing very easily. Superb stuff.
Interest-centric communities are exactly the kind that the web facilitates best. If you have moderately unusual interests where better to meet up with the few other people who take part in those than online. Many of the real life communities I belong to largely keep in touch online since we all stopped being at university together and spread out around the country.
Perhaps part of the point of web communities is that because you have a larger catchment area they are more interest-centric.
Slashdot Mirror
For those of us who are British subjects/citizens/slavemonkeys/whatever, surely the intellectual property actually belongs to us. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but when this patent was filed BT was still a national company rather than a private one. In a fair and just world that would mean that the patent belonged to the british state, the detr or whatever, as our taxes effectively paid for it. Well, not my taxes cos I wasn't very old then, but the same principles apply.
Of course its not a fair and just world. But it's a nice idea.
Along these lines I seem to recall a very interesting article I read a few years back about an anti-gravity system based on gyroscopes. I can't remember much about it except that the guy had got some very impressive results and was now working under the wing of some large corporation or other in Australia.
Anyone remember anything about this, or know whether it went anywhere?
The real problem is trees. In my experience of british civil servants they need to print out everything before they read it.
Ah yes, but in this hypothetical situation I am a member of one of the most highly-trained armies around and the survivalist zealots, although armed, are still going to rate at something equivalent to fish in a barrel relative to that.
But I can't avoid the silly person accusation.
I could gun down survivalist apocalyptic zealots and not feel bad about it. In fact, I think I'd probably feel pretty good about it, a little service to the gene pool, if you will. I'd feel a lot worse about shooting innocent civillians trying to make a political point.
Of course, I'm not a member of the British Security Services, I'm pretty sure they don't care who they kill as long as their interests are served.
Yes, storming, lets arrest anyone who might commit a crime BEFORE they do. That way, all crime could be averted!
I mean, seriously, what is your point here?
I am pretty much certain that handing over your pgp keys stands against the right not to incriminate yourself included in the Human Rights Act. I don't think that has really been tested yet, aside from a few people messing about with speed cameras, but it would be very interesting to see what came of it.
Given that as a piece of legislation the HRA is designed to guarantee that the most basic human rights are honoured, it seems a shame that new legislation has already emerged that may require it.
I'm pretty sure that the failiure to future-proof consoles is a good thing.
Programmers working on PCs tend to think 'oh, that runs a bit slow but it won't get released until processors are twice as fast, so it doesn't matter.' On a console you don't have that option - you have to write more economical code. You end up having products released that the console's creators would not have thought possible when they first put the system together. In the long run, these restricted platforms mean that there have got to be more really good games programmers around. And thats got to be good news for games players everywhere.
So how would you convincingly demonstrate that something is intelligent in a way that would distinguish a human from a machine that could communicate with you in such a way that it is indistinguishable from communication with a human? Are there non communication-based ways of judging whether something is intelligent?
I cant help but notice that the majority of posts here are blaming someone or looking for someone to blame. It surprises me that no-one has suggested that dangerous kids are a consequence of cultural attitudes (thinking==bad && sporting achievement==good) and bad parenting. When it comes right down to it, violence begins at home.
Why is it that any time you have any small group of humans with even the tiniest amount of power they start to make decisions that absolutely reek of corruption. I have no idea whether or not these people are corrupt, but they seem to be acting in a way that is not in the least bit accountable. I don't think humans are suited to responsibility really. I reckon problems like this would be best handled by a big old expert system. They usually work better than people do anyway.
Although the amiga was definitely 16 bit Acorn were turning out 32 bit Arm based machines at the same time. They only really caught on in the uk education world, which is a shame cos I think they were probably pretty good.
If someone was to push me for my encryption keys I would claim the human rights act - I think there is a section of that which suggests that I have a right not to incriminate myself. Of course, claiming that right would be enough to suggest that there was something incriminating there... I believe the Human Rights Act, being european law, will override the RIP bill.
Try reading 'A song of stone'. Very nasty things happen to characters you don't particularly like but do empathise with, caught in an inevitable downward spiral. That was hard going. Sort of worth it, but hard going. Compared with that, the other books of his that I've read are fairly nice to their cast...
Actually, the most recent Zelda was the greatest game of all time. But it was another case where it was essentially an extension of the previous games into 3d- you could still recognize all the monsters and the style of the thing very easily. Superb stuff.
Interest-centric communities are exactly the kind that the web facilitates best. If you have moderately unusual interests where better to meet up with the few other people who take part in those than online. Many of the real life communities I belong to largely keep in touch online since we all stopped being at university together and spread out around the country.
Perhaps part of the point of web communities is that because you have a larger catchment area they are more interest-centric.