Post-scarcity is something that will never happen. Something will always be scarce - see Neil Stephenson's "The Diamond Age". The universal constructors produced everything imaginable, except what was most valuable - i.e. hand crafted items such as furniture. Even if energy becomes as cheap as air, people will take it for granted and something else will be seen as scarce.
> you can't feed everyone steak in air conditioned restaurants
Luckily, economics provides for this situation. As demand rises, so do prices, until people can't afford to eat that way anymore. Seen the price of beef lately? Luckily, once those prices rise, so does the supply - i.e. more farmers start raising cattle - bringing prices back to equilibrium. The other thing economics says is that as prices rise, people switch to substitutes - in our example, pork, chicken, even lamb is making a comeback in the USA after 50 years as a niche menu item.
In other words, you're right - you can't feed everyone steak, which is why you charge more for it.
As far as limited resources, we are only limited by the amount of energy it takes to extract those resources, and those sources of energy can and will transition to renewable sources as consumables become expensive. Indeed, we are already seeing that transition come into play with wind and solar electricity, electric cars, and efficiency drives. At the same time, we're seeing new sources of consumables come online as prices increase - see shale oil - and as technology advances to the point that we are able to extract more cheaply, effectively, and efficiently - see natural gas.
Overpopulation and resource limitations will work themselves out naturally.
The two parties in this country are what are known as 'big tent' parties. The Republicans have the businesspeople/capitalists, the religious people, and the libertarians, whereas the Democrats have the environmentalists, the immigrants, labor, and socialists.
The goals of those microparties are not always aligned - see the labor vs. environmentalists in cases such as the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest logging community.
The Democrats have done a far better job of making their microparties play nice with each other. The Republicans, on the other hand, have had a revolt over the last few years where the Libertarians have been fighting with the Religious people, leaving the capitalists looking as the only sane ones in the tent
This is why you're seeing this laser today. This is your "use case."
Only an extremely powerful and fast laser can defend against a hypersonic missile. This laser is a defensive weapon, created to counter the Chinese hypersonic threat, although no one is saying it specifically.
The US is a nation of immigrants from countries all over the world who were so apathetic to their citizens that said citizens left their home countries to make a better life for themselves. Damn straight we couldn't care less about the rest of the world - the rest of the world didn't care about us. Think about us as Lao Tze - who shook the dust from his sandals as he left China, never to be seen there again.
Not all states require annual inspections. My state, for example, only requires emissions inspections (not mechanical inspections) every two years and only in something like five counties of the state.
No, the real problem is that the only thing that is keeping certain countries from annihilating each other is the threat of US intervention if they try. Believe it or not, the only thing that's kept off WWIII for the last seventy years has been a strong US military.
Because nobody else pays people to do serious investigative journalism on a municipal level.
Newspapers serve a vital public function - they employ journalists to expose malfeasance and corruption in city governments.
You should subscribe to your local paper - even if you don't read it. Think of it as a voluntary tax, your civic responsibility to pay someone to make sure your elected officials aren't screwing you as a taxpayer.
The bill is H.R. 2356, introduced by Michael Capuano (D-Mass) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
Find your congressman here. Send them some sort of correspondence that says you wish them to co-sponsor the bill. If you e-mail, make sure you request a response.
Anyone who merges their production industrial network with their common business network deserves everything they get.
There should be an air gap between industrial control networks and business networks, and the industrial networks should never be able to touch the internet.
Metro should have been put inside of Explorer, as an optional component, not the other way around. Alternatively, detect if there's a mouse or touchscreen present - and if there's a touchscreen, launch Metro, and if there's a mouse, launch Explorer.
That's why the lawyer quoted in the article was lamenting not being able to move forward with his appeals - he keeps winning at lower levels, and the other companies drop the lawsuits because they don't want a precedent set.
Yep. I was a contractor there during the dot-com bust. Watched their stock drop like a stone overnight. For the company that essentially invented cellular service, the company that managed to build a global telecommunications infrastructure, and invent Unix and C on the side - it was truly sad to see what the corporate raiders did to them.
Slashdot Mirror
Post-scarcity is something that will never happen. Something will always be scarce - see Neil Stephenson's "The Diamond Age". The universal constructors produced everything imaginable, except what was most valuable - i.e. hand crafted items such as furniture. Even if energy becomes as cheap as air, people will take it for granted and something else will be seen as scarce.
> you can't feed everyone steak in air conditioned restaurants
Luckily, economics provides for this situation. As demand rises, so do prices, until people can't afford to eat that way anymore. Seen the price of beef lately? Luckily, once those prices rise, so does the supply - i.e. more farmers start raising cattle - bringing prices back to equilibrium. The other thing economics says is that as prices rise, people switch to substitutes - in our example, pork, chicken, even lamb is making a comeback in the USA after 50 years as a niche menu item.
In other words, you're right - you can't feed everyone steak, which is why you charge more for it.
You had me until:
>They didn't have him put away they had a MK Ultra meat bot put him down.
I feel the need to invoke Hanlon's Razor and the old Usenet TINC principle.
Overpopulation is only a problem in India and China. The rest of the civilized world, especially Japan, is having severe problems due to negative population growth. Population is predicted to plateau and start shrinking after around 2060. I am not worried about overpopulation.
As far as limited resources, we are only limited by the amount of energy it takes to extract those resources, and those sources of energy can and will transition to renewable sources as consumables become expensive. Indeed, we are already seeing that transition come into play with wind and solar electricity, electric cars, and efficiency drives. At the same time, we're seeing new sources of consumables come online as prices increase - see shale oil - and as technology advances to the point that we are able to extract more cheaply, effectively, and efficiently - see natural gas.
Overpopulation and resource limitations will work themselves out naturally.
Nah. Oracle would rather kill Solaris than let that happen.
The two parties in this country are what are known as 'big tent' parties. The Republicans have the businesspeople/capitalists, the religious people, and the libertarians, whereas the Democrats have the environmentalists, the immigrants, labor, and socialists.
The goals of those microparties are not always aligned - see the labor vs. environmentalists in cases such as the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest logging community.
The Democrats have done a far better job of making their microparties play nice with each other. The Republicans, on the other hand, have had a revolt over the last few years where the Libertarians have been fighting with the Religious people, leaving the capitalists looking as the only sane ones in the tent
This is why you're seeing this laser today. This is your "use case."
Only an extremely powerful and fast laser can defend against a hypersonic missile. This laser is a defensive weapon, created to counter the Chinese hypersonic threat, although no one is saying it specifically.
Whoever modded you a troll should be chastised for misuse of mod points. OneNote is exactly what he needs, and will work with his office software.
Open Source is great, preferred in many situations, but nothing else will satisfy the poster's compatibility requirements. End of story.
They know the Chinese have managed to penetrate them precisely because they have penetrated them the same way.
The US is a nation of immigrants from countries all over the world who were so apathetic to their citizens that said citizens left their home countries to make a better life for themselves. Damn straight we couldn't care less about the rest of the world - the rest of the world didn't care about us. Think about us as Lao Tze - who shook the dust from his sandals as he left China, never to be seen there again.
That summary made no sense.
Really? I wouldn't be too sure.
It's about calorie density, and calories per dollar.
Crappy food is cheaper per calorie, is denser per calorie, is quick and easy, and you can eat more of it because it doesn't fill you up.
See this and this.
Not all states require annual inspections. My state, for example, only requires emissions inspections (not mechanical inspections) every two years and only in something like five counties of the state.
No, the real problem is that the only thing that is keeping certain countries from annihilating each other is the threat of US intervention if they try. Believe it or not, the only thing that's kept off WWIII for the last seventy years has been a strong US military.
Depends on whether or not you believe the NSA has proven P=nP
Because nobody else pays people to do serious investigative journalism on a municipal level.
Newspapers serve a vital public function - they employ journalists to expose malfeasance and corruption in city governments.
You should subscribe to your local paper - even if you don't read it. Think of it as a voluntary tax, your civic responsibility to pay someone to make sure your elected officials aren't screwing you as a taxpayer.
The bill is H.R. 2356, introduced by Michael Capuano (D-Mass) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
Find your congressman here. Send them some sort of correspondence that says you wish them to co-sponsor the bill. If you e-mail, make sure you request a response.
In Metro's defense, neither does Android - unless you install Astro or something 3rd party. I assume iOS is similar, but I've never used it.
Anyone who merges their production industrial network with their common business network deserves everything they get.
There should be an air gap between industrial control networks and business networks, and the industrial networks should never be able to touch the internet.
THIS.
Metro should have been put inside of Explorer, as an optional component, not the other way around. Alternatively, detect if there's a mouse or touchscreen present - and if there's a touchscreen, launch Metro, and if there's a mouse, launch Explorer.
That's why the lawyer quoted in the article was lamenting not being able to move forward with his appeals - he keeps winning at lower levels, and the other companies drop the lawsuits because they don't want a precedent set.
Yep. I was a contractor there during the dot-com bust. Watched their stock drop like a stone overnight. For the company that essentially invented cellular service, the company that managed to build a global telecommunications infrastructure, and invent Unix and C on the side - it was truly sad to see what the corporate raiders did to them.
Yeah, but the touch based interface makes it almost unplayable.
Wouldn't be the first time the feds hid something in the mountains of West Virginia...