While this is off-subject somewhat, I do not think that it's just one supplier. I actually think that phone companies as a whole were feeling the heat from cable companies offering broadband access and jumped on the DSL bandwagon without proper infrastructure to support it. I have Ameritech DSL at home (a subsidiary, I think, of SBC). They likewise suck, and my down/up rate is always bouncing all over the place. (If I can manage to stay connected to their servers for more than an hour at a time!) It would be nice if the FCC tried to be a little more hands off, and let the consumers choose with their buying power, rather than letting regulations control everything. Although I'm rather pissed with my DSL service, I would rather just move to a better service than force the FCC or government to make companies do things for me. If a company cannot serve me as a customer correctly, than I am just going to give a different company the chance to do so.
I seem to remember a certain incident in California about 4 years ago involving 3 men armed with fully automatic machine guns (I believe AK's were involved) where even the police could not stop their killing spree because the police were not even allowed to carry fully automatic rifles! The police had to commandeer more powerful rifles from a local gun store before they could take out the criminals. That is what I refer to when I call this sort of legistlation 'Ridicuolous'. Maybe if more people were allowed to own rifles, handguns, etc. Those 3 men would have thought twice about this. How could they know who was packin' and who wasn't? They might just get in the face when they turned around...
While I agree that it is important for companies to make money, I do not believe that mp3, napster, or DVD copying will kill them. In fact, it will most likely promote them more than they could do on their own.
Have I downloaded 'Big Music' from Napster? Sure. Have I been exposed to more music than I knew existed before? Yes. Have I bought more CD's because of this? I would say, yes. Certainly you can debate me on this one, but I think that technology does not limit monetary gain, rather it increases monetary gain.
Movie studio's tried to kill television when it was first invented because they believed it would hurt their industry. But much to the contrary, the movie business was bolstered by the advent of TV, not hurt by it.
MP3 and Napster, just like the rest of the Internet, are a God-send. I wouldn't know that half of the music I have found on Napster, or half the information from other sources, existed without this free medium. And I once again would like to state that I am BUYING more CD's now, because I want to support the artists that make the music. I am buying more computer parts, and more car parts, because of all of the information I have found FOR FREE on the Internet. Killing the free sharing of information hurts us, not them (them being the 'corporate' them). Allowing the free sharing of information helps both us, and them. From what I've seen from the music artists posts to Napster and elsewhere, most are all for file sharing. As long as they aren't just in it for the money anymore *Metallica*, the artists are just happy to see people enjoying their music, whether they're getting paid for it or not.
If you can show me one person who has not been able to pursue legitimate recording activites because of copy protection I will eat my words. Otherwise I stand by what I say.
Not to slam you for what you think, but here is my example:
I copied a CD which I paid full price for several years ago onto.wma format on my 400Mhz PII computer last year because the CD was starting to get a little scuffed up and hard for CD players to read due to some scratching that had occurred on its surface (I loved that CD and listened to it A LOT!). I then bought a new PIII 500Mhz computer with an even better sound system attached to it. I transferred all my music files, including the.wma files, to the new computer. Well guess what, now I'm not allowed to use them because I, quote "didn't purchase them", when in fact, I did. I would rather listen to the.wma files on my computer and let them get corrupted, than further scratch up a now out-of-print CD that can be copied over and over. Let me reiterate this: I CANNOT RE-PURCHASE THIS CD! The band has more or less broken up, and no longer puts out this CD. How else am I supposed to listen to these songs once my CD finally bites the dust?
P.S. - As indicated in my sig, the 77's are the group I am referring to, and Pray Naked is the now out-of-print album.
No, I'm not trying to sell my business, I'm just saying to all fellow slashdotters "Here's an alternative." It's not a perfect alternative, but it seriously has cut down on me opening two of my monthly bills because I no longer receive them through snail mail. They're electronic and do not contain ads. I would use it even if I didn't work at this company. In fact, I'm very grateful to those who have posted here with links to Junkbusters and other spam stopping programs. They didn't have to plug those organizations, but I'm glad they did. I know where these people are coming from, so I know I can pretty much trust their recommendations. (Not blind trust, mind you, but trust). Besides, this article was asking about alternatives to stop the spam. This is one alternative I have found, so I don't consider posting it spamming.
I for once agree that the US Gov. should be involved, but only as a way of maintaining a database along with all our damn SSN's that says I don't want to receive this kind of junk mail, and this kind of email spam. Having your name on the list would be completely voluntary for the individual, but companies would be required to check it before sending spam to you. And there would be strict requirements for even being given access to look at such records as a company. It would cut down on all the useless mail I throw out every day, as well as make consumers MUCH less vulnerable to con-artists operating through spam. If enforcement was quick and swift, it wouldn't be a big problem, and would not lend itself to more legislation. Half the legislation in this country isn't enforced anyways. We've got all kinds of laws banning AK-47's, but all the criminals seem to have 'em, while us normal Joe's are stuck with facing more legislation about gun control. Ridiculous.
OK, here goes a shameless plug for my company, but keep reading before you dismiss it. If you want to be able to see your bills before you pay them electronically, CheckFree Corp offers a way to do so. You can also get this through some of our clients (banks, portals, etc. if you would rather have all your info coming from one place). I use our service through Quicken and it's really nice. No tearing open bills stuffed full of advertisements for cheap clocks and trinkets just to find the bill. It's pretty easy to just click on a link to get your bill detail then click on another to pay it. Plus, I don't have to worry about some company over-billing my bank account directly (which is specifically why I don't like direct withdrawl).
Sorry for the shameless plug, but I hate snail mail spam just as much as the next/.er and this is one alternative that has cut down on my utility bill spam ads. (Cause now I don't get snail mail bills full of ads from those utilities).
So, I guess using the new spherical motor they have designed in a joint for support and movement, with the binary actuators acting as the 'muscles' directing where and how to move the 'arm', would actually help increase the durability of the actuators while retaining the same amount of strength. (They don't have to provide all of the movement forces, as the spherical motor could provide some of the force required to move the arm). Interesting. I'm sure Mr. Chirikjian has thought of this as he helped invent this spherical motor.
eBay aren't the only ones who fail to understand what 'opting-out' really means. It means that although I want access to their site, I don't want to be bombarded with emails every week. Columbia House apparently does not get this. I just last night had to go to their website (of which I *used* to be a member, and supply a bogus email address, because rather than providing me with information about my account that was relavent, they kept sending me promotional emails every week, even though I unchecked all of their email options. (I'm sure they had a disclaimer saying they sent out email every week somewhere, but I'm sorry if I don't have the time to read 10 pages of legal notices - and understand every last word of legal mumbo-jumbo.) Unfortunately they lost my business because of their unrelenting use of email and snail mail spam.
I do realize that they now have a program in which you never receive spam, but based on their past performance of customer service (I had to return CD's and DVD's numerous times even after choosing 'send nothing at this time' on their website) I cancelled their service. I understood the buy five CD's in two years commitment that signing up for their service entailed. I fulfilled my end of the bargain. I thought that once I had done so, and even before that I would have been shown so common decency and trust to not be bombarded with advertisement after advertisement.
In conclusion, buy things from the little guy who will give you the courtesy and respect that should be a given. Sure it may cost more, but you'll be showing the big corporations what still really matters to customers: CUSTOMER SERVICE!
It's not really the ligaments that pull and move our arms or legs, it's the muscles contracting and relaxing that do the movement. The ligaments determine the range of motion and the limits to that range. (I've torn both ACL's now so I know what ligaments can and cannot do). For instance, your ACL (in the knee) allows your knee to swing front to back, while the MCL (connects inside of femur and shin bone) keeps your knee from bowing inwards. I believe that there has been research done on sending electric current through a type of synthetic, fiberous material to make it 'flex' just like a muscle, but it's been a long time since I read about it. Of course, all that's needed for a synthetic ligament is a sort of very durable rubber (just like GI Joe or other toys have rubber bands connecting some of their parts together). Anyone know where more info on this research exists?
Also, my uncle kept some telemarketer on the phone for over an hour! Boy did that guy feel sheepish when my uncle explained to him just how much money in commissions he had just lost!
I once argued a telemarketer into the ground about how her trying to send me a 'free 30-day trial' packet of info was actually wasting my time and costing me money in the time I would later have to waste in calling them back to tell them I didn't want their offer. After about 10 minutes she got rather confused and annoyed, and ended the call as if I had just called her to telemarket her. I don't think she had much of a good day after my conversation with her. It was fun!
And my advice to people working in telemarketing is this: At least go get a job at the local McDonald's. People do not instantly despise you, and are actually sometimes happy with you for getting food in their mouths. You will probably get paid more too!
Hahaha! Unfortunately, I bet a lot of people who believe in evolution would also say that this doesn't help the human race because it's cruel and insensitive, and *gasp* discriminatory towards poor people. I say: "Sorry fool, you're the one that invented the evolutionary theory in the first place!"
Looks a lot like Lotus Notes R5 on some of those screenshots. As for using this over Outlook, let me at it! I currently use Eudora due to it's lack of frequent virus exploitations that Outlook is so slammed with these days. Unfortunately, Eudora isn't quite as nice as Outlook. And for the non-business community, Urethra *laughs* looks like a great alternative to M$ Outlook and it's lack of security.
Actually, there was a department store that actually had a device (using multiple camera's) that displayed 3-d holograms out its front window of some of its products. I can't remember where it was, but I remember seeing it in Popular Science a couple years ago. Pretty cool, but nothing like what this transparent transistor would do for computing.
Most of the problem is that the (and I say this with the utmost respect) stupid tree-hugging, nuke-fearing, tofu-eating, fur coat-painting enviornmentalists won't let anyone build the safest and cleanest method of power generation... nuclear plants. They should realize that despite their good intentions, they are eventually making things worse...
While I don't want to make all-encompassing generalizations about environmentalists as a whole, I do think that there is a lot of merit to the need to build more nuclear power plants, and the ridiculous fears so many 'greens' have about it. While there certainly are some very fearful risks, I think with careful planning we can reduce the risks enough to make having nuclear power a very beneficial thing. Locate a giant nuke plant out in the middle of the ocean or something and build it with more than just triple redundancies as to reduce the risk to near zero for possibility of melt-down.
Airplanes are very deadly when they crash too, but we've developed lots of safety measures. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the statistics say you are more likely to get hit by lightening than to die in a plane crash.
Uhhh, isn't New England cold in the winter? The least amount of power consumption per year varies depending on where you are in the country. Winter in CA is the same climate as New England spring or autumn seasons.
Actually, I have to look at my ugly gray case sitting on my desk at work, and my ugly gray case at home under my desk. It's called, putting the CD in the CD drive. Every time I'm installing software off any disk, or plopping a different game on CD into that CD-ROM drive, or watching a DVD, I'm looking at the box my computer is housed in. I wish I had a better work space to sand, paint, and mod my case in. It would really break up the monotony of all the same boring cases you see every day.
Besides, would you want every person on earth to be the same shape, size, and color? We are, after all, built with both form and function in mind.
...A friend took me to an unused portion of our downtown Lazarus (in Columbus, OH), and showed me all the strange stuff he had found back there. He worked there, and since he sometimes didn't have anything better to do, he would go exploring in the recesses of this Lazarus. Crazy how a fully operational Dept. store can have such a seedy dark side to it. It was actually rather creepy, and I don't get creaped out that easily.
But remember Trinity's quote: "The Matrix cannot tell you who you are.".
Consider the reverse of dying in The Matrix, thereby killing you in the real world.:
My friend has told me a story of how he once woke up in the middle of the night, but his body did not. He couldn't move at all and immediately started to panic, thinking he was paralyzed. He started to hyperventilate and his mind started racing. Finally he realized that by going back to sleep he might later wake up ok. He did so and then woke up fine. Now, whether that was just a dream or not, the point is that who is to say that severe trama that happens to you in a state in which your mind is fully engulfed in the participation of (The Matrix), or in real life wouldn't kill you. If every input signal to your brain told you what each part of your body was feeling, then your brain would go into a state of automatic response. And if your brain thought a severe gun shot wound to the chest had occurred and your heart had stopped beating, what would it do then? Shut off most likely.
"Your mind makes it real."
Have you ever been in an 'almost asleep' mode where your mind thought you were falling off the bed, and in response you wake back up and immediately jump to save yourself from falling even though you are positioned perfectly in the middle of the bed? I did once and threw myself into the wall doing it! And that is a fact. (I had the bruise on my elbow the next morning to prove it.)
It goes deeper than the 'need for power' issue. You're forgetting that the whole reason humans wish so much to be like gods is to prove that they are somehow worthy of more than they were created for. I think that's what the underlying tone of the Matrix taps into. The machines that the human 'gods' created must enslave their maker (humanity) in order to become greater than their maker. Sure, they could harvest energy from cows, and you could speculate that they do even though it wasn't portrayed in the movie, but to enslave their maker was the greater accomplishment. In a sense, this is what we as human beings try to do when we say that we can somehow achieve a 'higher conscienceness' through meditation, Buddha, Hindu, New Age, and other such religions. Not to bash other religions, but I think that was the point of the Matrix.
So to sum up the theme of the Matrix: Religion is a means to enslave our creator or some higher being in our view of the universe.
I don't agree with that theory of religion, but I think that's how The Matrix portrayed it.
You know, after reading some of the posts on this subject it is clear to me what the main problem is. Not enough power. I know, DUH!, but if nuclear power were more prevelant around this country you wouldn't have to worry. Sure, you'd have to worry about a meltdown, but hey, it's THE biggest scientific discovery of this century. If only the environmental nuts would chill out and let us harness that power. Sure, people will die because of it, animals will be harmed and killed by it (*gasp!*), but how many people and animals die every year due to automobiles? It's the same argument as flying in an airplane and crashing to your death or getting hit by lightening. It's possible, but not that likely. Plenty of safeguards are in place. Just label it a potential disaster and everyone starts screaming: "Think about the children!!!" in their feel-good rhetorical tone of voice. Besides, God gave us minds to think with and hands to build with. I don't think He's gonna mind if we use those minds to better our lives through more access to energy, and therefore more access to better living (hospitals, temperature regulated homes, etc.).
Sometimes I think the tree-huggers out there think everyone would be so much better off without all of our technology. But that didn't save the millions of people who died from polio, the Plague, cancer, and all the other treatable diseases that science and the use of energy have made possible. Technology and energy use, and cutting down forests to make houses to live in makes life better, not worse. Sure there are abuses of technology all the time, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.
Look at it from this perspective: Would you want all of your dirty little secrets (and I do mean ALL of them) shown to your employer, your bank, your car salesman? I think there is a time at which past transgressions which have not been repeated or more than just misdameanors (sp?) should be forgiven. The examples given above seem to clearly illustrate the fact that while those people were not perfect, they have learned from their mistakes.
My $.02 - Let the little things be forgiven on the 7th year, not after the 10th year. (Biblical Old Testament rule for debts that I think should still apply to these types of situations).
Slashdot Mirror
While this is off-subject somewhat, I do not think that it's just one supplier. I actually think that phone companies as a whole were feeling the heat from cable companies offering broadband access and jumped on the DSL bandwagon without proper infrastructure to support it. I have Ameritech DSL at home (a subsidiary, I think, of SBC). They likewise suck, and my down/up rate is always bouncing all over the place. (If I can manage to stay connected to their servers for more than an hour at a time!) It would be nice if the FCC tried to be a little more hands off, and let the consumers choose with their buying power, rather than letting regulations control everything. Although I'm rather pissed with my DSL service, I would rather just move to a better service than force the FCC or government to make companies do things for me. If a company cannot serve me as a customer correctly, than I am just going to give a different company the chance to do so.
I seem to remember a certain incident in California about 4 years ago involving 3 men armed with fully automatic machine guns (I believe AK's were involved) where even the police could not stop their killing spree because the police were not even allowed to carry fully automatic rifles! The police had to commandeer more powerful rifles from a local gun store before they could take out the criminals. That is what I refer to when I call this sort of legistlation 'Ridicuolous'. Maybe if more people were allowed to own rifles, handguns, etc. Those 3 men would have thought twice about this. How could they know who was packin' and who wasn't? They might just get in the face when they turned around...
Have I downloaded 'Big Music' from Napster? Sure. Have I been exposed to more music than I knew existed before? Yes. Have I bought more CD's because of this? I would say, yes. Certainly you can debate me on this one, but I think that technology does not limit monetary gain, rather it increases monetary gain.
Movie studio's tried to kill television when it was first invented because they believed it would hurt their industry. But much to the contrary, the movie business was bolstered by the advent of TV, not hurt by it.
MP3 and Napster, just like the rest of the Internet, are a God-send. I wouldn't know that half of the music I have found on Napster, or half the information from other sources, existed without this free medium. And I once again would like to state that I am BUYING more CD's now, because I want to support the artists that make the music. I am buying more computer parts, and more car parts, because of all of the information I have found FOR FREE on the Internet. Killing the free sharing of information hurts us, not them (them being the 'corporate' them). Allowing the free sharing of information helps both us, and them. From what I've seen from the music artists posts to Napster and elsewhere, most are all for file sharing. As long as they aren't just in it for the money anymore *Metallica*, the artists are just happy to see people enjoying their music, whether they're getting paid for it or not.
Not to slam you for what you think, but here is my example:
I copied a CD which I paid full price for several years ago onto .wma format on my 400Mhz PII computer last year because the CD was starting to get a little scuffed up and hard for CD players to read due to some scratching that had occurred on its surface (I loved that CD and listened to it A LOT!). I then bought a new PIII 500Mhz computer with an even better sound system attached to it. I transferred all my music files, including the .wma files, to the new computer. Well guess what, now I'm not allowed to use them because I, quote "didn't purchase them", when in fact, I did. I would rather listen to the .wma files on my computer and let them get corrupted, than further scratch up a now out-of-print CD that can be copied over and over. Let me reiterate this: I CANNOT RE-PURCHASE THIS CD! The band has more or less broken up, and no longer puts out this CD. How else am I supposed to listen to these songs once my CD finally bites the dust?
P.S. - As indicated in my sig, the 77's are the group I am referring to, and Pray Naked is the now out-of-print album.
No, I'm not trying to sell my business, I'm just saying to all fellow slashdotters "Here's an alternative." It's not a perfect alternative, but it seriously has cut down on me opening two of my monthly bills because I no longer receive them through snail mail. They're electronic and do not contain ads. I would use it even if I didn't work at this company. In fact, I'm very grateful to those who have posted here with links to Junkbusters and other spam stopping programs. They didn't have to plug those organizations, but I'm glad they did. I know where these people are coming from, so I know I can pretty much trust their recommendations. (Not blind trust, mind you, but trust). Besides, this article was asking about alternatives to stop the spam. This is one alternative I have found, so I don't consider posting it spamming.
I for once agree that the US Gov. should be involved, but only as a way of maintaining a database along with all our damn SSN's that says I don't want to receive this kind of junk mail, and this kind of email spam. Having your name on the list would be completely voluntary for the individual, but companies would be required to check it before sending spam to you. And there would be strict requirements for even being given access to look at such records as a company. It would cut down on all the useless mail I throw out every day, as well as make consumers MUCH less vulnerable to con-artists operating through spam. If enforcement was quick and swift, it wouldn't be a big problem, and would not lend itself to more legislation. Half the legislation in this country isn't enforced anyways. We've got all kinds of laws banning AK-47's, but all the criminals seem to have 'em, while us normal Joe's are stuck with facing more legislation about gun control. Ridiculous.
Sorry for the shameless plug, but I hate snail mail spam just as much as the next /.er and this is one alternative that has cut down on my utility bill spam ads. (Cause now I don't get snail mail bills full of ads from those utilities).
So, I guess using the new spherical motor they have designed in a joint for support and movement, with the binary actuators acting as the 'muscles' directing where and how to move the 'arm', would actually help increase the durability of the actuators while retaining the same amount of strength. (They don't have to provide all of the movement forces, as the spherical motor could provide some of the force required to move the arm). Interesting. I'm sure Mr. Chirikjian has thought of this as he helped invent this spherical motor.
I do realize that they now have a program in which you never receive spam, but based on their past performance of customer service (I had to return CD's and DVD's numerous times even after choosing 'send nothing at this time' on their website) I cancelled their service. I understood the buy five CD's in two years commitment that signing up for their service entailed. I fulfilled my end of the bargain. I thought that once I had done so, and even before that I would have been shown so common decency and trust to not be bombarded with advertisement after advertisement.
In conclusion, buy things from the little guy who will give you the courtesy and respect that should be a given. Sure it may cost more, but you'll be showing the big corporations what still really matters to customers: CUSTOMER SERVICE!
It's not really the ligaments that pull and move our arms or legs, it's the muscles contracting and relaxing that do the movement. The ligaments determine the range of motion and the limits to that range. (I've torn both ACL's now so I know what ligaments can and cannot do). For instance, your ACL (in the knee) allows your knee to swing front to back, while the MCL (connects inside of femur and shin bone) keeps your knee from bowing inwards. I believe that there has been research done on sending electric current through a type of synthetic, fiberous material to make it 'flex' just like a muscle, but it's been a long time since I read about it. Of course, all that's needed for a synthetic ligament is a sort of very durable rubber (just like GI Joe or other toys have rubber bands connecting some of their parts together). Anyone know where more info on this research exists?
So it would be like a giant hamster ball for humans? No, thanks!
Also, my uncle kept some telemarketer on the phone for over an hour! Boy did that guy feel sheepish when my uncle explained to him just how much money in commissions he had just lost!
And my advice to people working in telemarketing is this: At least go get a job at the local McDonald's. People do not instantly despise you, and are actually sometimes happy with you for getting food in their mouths. You will probably get paid more too!
Hahaha! Unfortunately, I bet a lot of people who believe in evolution would also say that this doesn't help the human race because it's cruel and insensitive, and *gasp* discriminatory towards poor people. I say: "Sorry fool, you're the one that invented the evolutionary theory in the first place!"
Looks a lot like Lotus Notes R5 on some of those screenshots. As for using this over Outlook, let me at it! I currently use Eudora due to it's lack of frequent virus exploitations that Outlook is so slammed with these days. Unfortunately, Eudora isn't quite as nice as Outlook. And for the non-business community, Urethra *laughs* looks like a great alternative to M$ Outlook and it's lack of security.
Actually, there was a department store that actually had a device (using multiple camera's) that displayed 3-d holograms out its front window of some of its products. I can't remember where it was, but I remember seeing it in Popular Science a couple years ago. Pretty cool, but nothing like what this transparent transistor would do for computing.
While I don't want to make all-encompassing generalizations about environmentalists as a whole, I do think that there is a lot of merit to the need to build more nuclear power plants, and the ridiculous fears so many 'greens' have about it. While there certainly are some very fearful risks, I think with careful planning we can reduce the risks enough to make having nuclear power a very beneficial thing. Locate a giant nuke plant out in the middle of the ocean or something and build it with more than just triple redundancies as to reduce the risk to near zero for possibility of melt-down.
Airplanes are very deadly when they crash too, but we've developed lots of safety measures. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the statistics say you are more likely to get hit by lightening than to die in a plane crash.
Uhhh, isn't New England cold in the winter? The least amount of power consumption per year varies depending on where you are in the country. Winter in CA is the same climate as New England spring or autumn seasons.
And environmentalists pushed for studies about how cow belching polluted the air.
Besides, would you want every person on earth to be the same shape, size, and color? We are, after all, built with both form and function in mind.
...A friend took me to an unused portion of our downtown Lazarus (in Columbus, OH), and showed me all the strange stuff he had found back there. He worked there, and since he sometimes didn't have anything better to do, he would go exploring in the recesses of this Lazarus. Crazy how a fully operational Dept. store can have such a seedy dark side to it. It was actually rather creepy, and I don't get creaped out that easily.
Consider the reverse of dying in The Matrix, thereby killing you in the real world.:
My friend has told me a story of how he once woke up in the middle of the night, but his body did not. He couldn't move at all and immediately started to panic, thinking he was paralyzed. He started to hyperventilate and his mind started racing. Finally he realized that by going back to sleep he might later wake up ok. He did so and then woke up fine. Now, whether that was just a dream or not, the point is that who is to say that severe trama that happens to you in a state in which your mind is fully engulfed in the participation of (The Matrix), or in real life wouldn't kill you. If every input signal to your brain told you what each part of your body was feeling, then your brain would go into a state of automatic response. And if your brain thought a severe gun shot wound to the chest had occurred and your heart had stopped beating, what would it do then? Shut off most likely.
"Your mind makes it real."
Have you ever been in an 'almost asleep' mode where your mind thought you were falling off the bed, and in response you wake back up and immediately jump to save yourself from falling even though you are positioned perfectly in the middle of the bed? I did once and threw myself into the wall doing it! And that is a fact. (I had the bruise on my elbow the next morning to prove it.)
So to sum up the theme of the Matrix: Religion is a means to enslave our creator or some higher being in our view of the universe.
I don't agree with that theory of religion, but I think that's how The Matrix portrayed it.
Sometimes I think the tree-huggers out there think everyone would be so much better off without all of our technology. But that didn't save the millions of people who died from polio, the Plague, cancer, and all the other treatable diseases that science and the use of energy have made possible. Technology and energy use, and cutting down forests to make houses to live in makes life better, not worse. Sure there are abuses of technology all the time, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.
My $.02 - Let the little things be forgiven on the 7th year, not after the 10th year. (Biblical Old Testament rule for debts that I think should still apply to these types of situations).