All this talk of "people don't need to upgrade to Office XP" is pure nonsense.
As far as I'm concerned, WordPerfect 5.1 did all I needed done in terms of word processing, and I'm sure OpenOffice would do fine. But when your boss is sending you phone lists as Excel XP 2004 attachments, you have no choice but to upgrade. (After all, she probably got that "free" with her new laptop...)
The MS upgrade bandwagon will go on, perhaps even faster...
>rather than some super multifunction vehicle >capable of doing more than we need
Great mentality. You will never get anywhere (especially in a large-scale endevaour like space exploration) by looking only a couple of years ahead. Had you lived in the 1800s, we'd still be riding horses on Main street...
I've always been into cool watches. Haven't seen one that did all I need it to do (beside tell time), and this is as close as it seems to get. Seamless integration with my computer, ability to receive msgs, etc. Unfortunately, it seems to require a "subscription fee":
[quote] The watch will initially be made by Fossil, Citizen and Suunto. The simplest versions will cost less than $150, but the watchmakers will also make much more expensive designs. The watch will require a subscription to a data service, which Microsoft executives said might have a fee of $5 to $12 a month or might be included in the price of some watches. [/quote]
I'm as suspicious of Microsoft as the next guy, but don't be surprised if this actually takes off.
Could someone who managed to get the downloads _please_ post these files over a P2P network or something like Freenet and post the locations/filenames?
For all the P2P talk on/. you'd think someone would have jumped on it by now... </whine>
Sometimes I get a feeling that MS Windows is already doing this behind our back. Is there ANY sane reason why a 1Ghz machine should take 2 seconds to switch between two programs???
This technology brings a new danger with it. What is to stop a person (or a robot-operator?) with malicious intent from splicing the (easily accessible) fiber and installing his/her own repeater station? All the traffic would be theirs....
The other obvious danger, of course, are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Moderator: we are discussing the ethics of this technology, and much of Western ethics is based on Biblical morality. Posting discussion-provoking quotes is not the same as "Trolling" Metamoderator: do your thang...
BTW, IAMB=I Am a Molecular Biologist (so says my diploma, anyway--and no, it is NOT from a "Prestigious non-accredited university")
To answer your question: there is no Bible verse (to the best of my recollection) that says "thou shalt not attempt to create life." However, someone who actually believes in the God of the Old and New testaments and actually _fears_ him (as the verses I posted above recommend) might want to think twice about going ahead with this experiment.
Throughout the Bible, there is the repeated theme of being punished for Pride/wanting equality with God/trying to do what only God is allowed to do.
Examples: Satan (cast out of Heaven because of pride) Adam & Eve (cast out of the garden because "The man has now become like one of us"(Gen 3:21))
Tower of Babel (literal example of technology used with pride, and its consequences)
Herod: struck down for not praising God when others claim that he _is_ a 'god.'
I am sure we will be punished for not even thinking twice about such things.
Although it might have decent applications, we're probably better of for not allowing such technology to exist (yes, I'm comitting blasphemy in/. terms)
Life, by definition, has the capability to reproduce. Having this capability will a) let us mess up in some pretty grandiose ways b) open the doors the engineering of really nasty biological warfare agents c) probably enable the creation of fully patentable lifeforms
I am far from being a luddite, but we would be a lot better off if certain technologies had never been developed/invented (biological/chemical warfare, A-bomb, PCP, mind control, landmines, e-meters, spamware, particle-board, C#, etc.)
Unlike other popular kernel software, the Hurd has an object-oriented structure that allows it to evolve without compromising its design. This structure will help the Hurd undergo major redesign and modifications without having to be entirely rewritten.
And you guys are wondering why it's taken 19 years???
So this brings us one step closer to an invisibility cloak. Simply plaster these displays on the sides of a box, find a "victim" (i.e., person to whom you want to be invisible), track his movements and pipe the stereo image that would be behind you...
If we get thisworking with multiple people, I'm sure people might pay for this. Otherwise it might be a nice parlor trick...
(perhaps I should patent this idea...but here it is on slashdot as 'prior art')
Obviously, the movie industry can stop worrying about movie piracy, since the piracy crowd (i.e., us) doesn't pay for movie tickets.
I, for one, ENJOY having an excuse to turn my cellphone off and eat some butter-soaked popcorn. I do not WANT the ability to pause the movie. Also, I have not yet purchased a 10' screen.
Come on now, you have to get out of your parents' basement once in a while... (Star Trek conventions and D&D parties don't count:) )
I saw the most beautiful "shooting star" in Virginia Beach, VA Saturday night. It was a very cloudy night, so we were JOKING about the possibility of seeing a shooting star...and this one was probably the brightest I've seen in my life.
If this is any more than vapor, this is excellent news for alternative transportation.
Here's why: People have been working hybrid electric vehicles and decent batteries for decades. It was ONLY AFTER the cell phone and laptop boom that there was any significant advancement in rechargeable battery technology. So now we can make HEVs (and hopefully real electric vehicles).
If the idea of using fuel cells in laptops, cell phones, etc. takes off, we might end up with a generation of very useable fuel cells that we can apply to vehicle technology.
Of course, Detroit, Evil Oil Companies, and Starbucks will probably conspire and prevent this from happening:)
So assuming something that can read a CD exists in 100 years, digital photos stored in this medium will be available then.
That's a HUGE assumption. Do you have access to something that can read 10 year old 5.25" disks now?
Your color negatives will probably be reconstructable with the technology then. Better yet would be color-separating the images and archiving them on B&W film. It worked for these (almost 100 year old) color photos:)
Certainly in 1958 (when the first theoretical paper appeared) or 1960 (when the ruby laser was first demonstrated), nobody was contemplating using lasers to read plastic discs of major motion pictures in home equipment.
They will probably direct their DoS attacks against the internals of the P2P protocols, rather than the users machines. They will use disposable (and anonymous) nodes to do so--they may be unscrupulous, but they are not stupid.
Nonetheless, the proposed law is extremely prone to being abused.
What we need to do is start designing the next generation P2P systems that will be immune to things like legitimate-looking users posting bogus files, etc.
---------------- Here's what I can think of on the spot
1) Community-based systems (akin to slashdot) where some nodes have more "credibility" points. Node "karma" would be based on
-Total Kbytes streamed out
-Moderation by other "trusted" nodes
The community aspect must not get in the way of reaching a "critical mass" of users, without which any P2P system is bound to fall.
2) Ability to randomly sample small segments of files on remote nodes in order to determine whether they are legit. This would stop them from uploading complete garbage, or legitimate-looking beginnings followed by garbage.
3) Distributed method of establishing trust. This is the tricky part. We could use public-key crypto in some fashion. Perhaps nodeID blacklists or whitelists could be distributed among the users, or uploaded to FreeNet. Before downloading a song from an unknown node, my machine would query 10-20 random nodes for blacklist info. This would make it a lot more difficult to set up random nodes hosting garbage.
5) Other heuristics to determine the trustworthiness of nodes and/or files.
7) Doing all of the above in a relatively speedy (i.e., not impractically slow such as gnuTella) and relatively anonymous/pseudonymous way. -----------
Please reply (i.e., follow-up to the post) with any further ideas. Perhaps we can seed the minds of the developers who'll be coding the next generation of P2P software. Are there any ideas we can glean from eBay's trust management system?
Slashdot Mirror
All this talk of "people don't need to upgrade to Office XP" is pure nonsense.
:)
As far as I'm concerned, WordPerfect 5.1 did all I needed done in terms of word processing, and I'm sure OpenOffice would do fine. But when your boss is sending you phone lists as Excel XP 2004 attachments, you have no choice but to upgrade.
(After all, she probably got that "free" with her new laptop...)
The MS upgrade bandwagon will go on, perhaps even faster...
</pessimism>
On the other hand, the competition _is_ good
Are there any new technologies that have sprung up that you wish you could uninvent? What do you feel most nostalgic for?
>rather than some super multifunction vehicle >capable of doing more than we need
Great mentality. You will never get anywhere (especially in a large-scale endevaour like space exploration) by looking only a couple of years ahead. Had you lived in the 1800s, we'd still be riding horses on Main street...
I might be jumping the gun here, but it seems to me that mp4 will have some sort of DRM scheme. Something tells me mp3 won't be going away soon...
(Despite what the Ogg people seem to think...)
I've always been into cool watches. Haven't seen one that did all I need it to do (beside tell time), and this is as close as it seems to get. Seamless integration with my computer, ability to receive msgs, etc. Unfortunately, it seems to require a "subscription fee":
[quote]
The watch will initially be made by Fossil, Citizen and Suunto. The simplest versions will cost less than $150, but the watchmakers will also make much more expensive designs. The watch will require a subscription to a data service, which Microsoft executives said might have a fee of $5 to $12 a month or might be included in the price of some watches.
[/quote]
I'm as suspicious of Microsoft as the next guy, but don't be surprised if this actually takes off.
Whether the printer will eventually be able to print out another printer.
= 12 4&node_id=639266
s al %20Constructor
Then we'll be in business!!
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?lastnode_id
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Univer
kind of scary, actually...
Could someone who managed to get the downloads _please_ post these files over a P2P network or something like Freenet and post the locations/filenames?
For all the P2P talk on
</whine>
No, he's just using slashdot as a part of the viral marketing paradigm...
We could start a meta-discussion about whether its right to use a forum discussing viral marketing for viral marketing....
Finally, someone understands!
Years ago, I also became a vegetarian in order to help destroy the Evil Plant Empire.
Think about it:
Tobacco, coca leaves, cacti, : plants
Kittens, bunny rabbits, puppies: animals
whose side would _you_ choose???
Think about it:
Our landfills contain metals, plastics, glass, and a whole bunch of organic material. There's no practical way of sifting through most of it.
With this device, Garbage Mining could be as simple as separating the organics from the inorganics smelting the metal out...
The poultry aspect of this thing, however, is enough to make anyone vegetarian.
Sometimes I get a feeling that MS Windows is already doing this behind our back. Is there ANY sane reason why a 1Ghz machine should take 2 seconds to switch between two programs???
This technology brings a new danger with it. What is to stop a person (or a robot-operator?) with malicious intent from splicing the (easily accessible) fiber and installing his/her own repeater station? All the traffic would be theirs....
The other obvious danger, of course, are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Moderator: we are discussing the ethics of this technology, and much of Western ethics is based on Biblical morality. Posting discussion-provoking quotes is not the same as "Trolling"
/. terms)
Metamoderator: do your thang...
BTW, IAMB=I Am a Molecular Biologist
(so says my diploma, anyway--and no, it is NOT from a "Prestigious non-accredited university")
To answer your question: there is no Bible verse (to the best of my recollection) that says "thou shalt not attempt to create life." However, someone who actually believes in the God of the Old and New testaments and actually _fears_ him (as the verses I posted above recommend) might want to think twice about going ahead with this experiment.
Throughout the Bible, there is the repeated theme of being punished for Pride/wanting equality with God/trying to do what only God is allowed to do.
Examples: Satan (cast out of Heaven because of pride)
Adam & Eve (cast out of the garden because "The man has now become like one of us"(Gen 3:21))
Tower of Babel (literal example of technology used with pride, and its consequences)
Herod: struck down for not praising God when others claim that he _is_ a 'god.'
I am sure we will be punished for not even thinking twice about such things.
Although it might have decent applications, we're probably better of for not allowing such technology to exist (yes, I'm comitting blasphemy in
Life, by definition, has the capability to reproduce. Having this capability will a) let us mess up in some pretty grandiose ways b) open the doors the engineering of really nasty biological warfare agents c) probably enable the creation of fully patentable lifeforms
I am far from being a luddite, but we would be a lot better off if certain technologies had never been developed/invented (biological/chemical warfare, A-bomb, PCP, mind control, landmines, e-meters, spamware, particle-board, C#, etc.)
Moderator: how about hitting 'reply' ???
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
Psalm 111:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools [1] despise wisdom and discipline."
Proverbs 1:7
Nobody has asked for or posted real technical details. I'm somewhat disappointed in /. tonight--there's more to being a nerd than running LINUX!
Here is a page describing the research.
Here is a PDF file with real details, including construction, etc.
Unlike other popular kernel software, the Hurd has an object-oriented structure that allows it to evolve without compromising its design. This structure will help the Hurd undergo major redesign and modifications without having to be entirely rewritten.
And you guys are wondering why it's taken 19 years???
So this brings us one step closer to an invisibility cloak. Simply plaster these displays on the sides of a box, find a "victim" (i.e., person to whom you want to be invisible), track his movements and pipe the stereo image that would be behind you...
If we get thisworking with multiple people, I'm sure people might pay for this. Otherwise it might be a nice parlor trick...
(perhaps I should patent this idea...but here it is on slashdot as 'prior art')
Obviously, the movie industry can stop worrying about movie piracy, since the piracy crowd (i.e., us) doesn't pay for movie tickets.
:) )
I, for one, ENJOY having an excuse to turn my cellphone off and eat some butter-soaked popcorn. I do not WANT the ability to pause the movie.
Also, I have not yet purchased a 10' screen.
Come on now, you have to get out of your parents' basement once in a while... (Star Trek conventions and D&D parties don't count
I hate to point out the obvious, but how will you remove the digested food from the battery?
(Of course, this is not a problem for backyard generator type of systems, but might be for your laptop)
I saw the most beautiful "shooting star" in Virginia Beach, VA Saturday night. It was a very cloudy night, so we were JOKING about the possibility of seeing a shooting star...and this one was probably the brightest I've seen in my life.
I wonder what's going on...
If this is any more than vapor, this is excellent news for alternative transportation.
:)
Here's why: People have been working hybrid electric vehicles and decent batteries for decades. It was ONLY AFTER the cell phone and laptop boom that there was any significant advancement in rechargeable battery technology. So now we can make HEVs (and hopefully real electric vehicles).
If the idea of using fuel cells in laptops, cell phones, etc. takes off, we might end up with a generation of very useable fuel cells that we can apply to vehicle technology.
Of course, Detroit, Evil Oil Companies, and Starbucks will probably conspire and prevent this from happening
That's a HUGE assumption. Do you have access to something that can read 10 year old 5.25" disks now?
Your color negatives will probably be reconstructable with the technology then. Better yet would be color-separating the images and archiving them on B&W film. It worked for these (almost 100 year old) color photos
ummm...actually, they were (kind of)
Write a science fiction story, start an urban legend, or create an e-mail hoax that foreshadows the discovery.
This way, when it is revealed, they will have at least thought about it, and some crackpot organizations will be prepared.
The trip to the moon, Larry Niven's "organlegging," and the "Good Times Virus Hoax" come to mind (foreshadowed Melissa in 1994)
Talking about "getting them back" is pointless.
They will probably direct their DoS attacks against the internals of the P2P protocols, rather than the users machines. They will use disposable (and anonymous) nodes to do so--they may be unscrupulous, but they are not stupid.
Nonetheless, the proposed law is extremely prone to being abused.
What we need to do is start designing the next generation P2P systems that will be immune to things like legitimate-looking users posting bogus files, etc.
----------------
Here's what I can think of on the spot
1) Community-based systems (akin to slashdot) where some nodes have more "credibility" points.
Node "karma" would be based on
-Total Kbytes streamed out
-Moderation by other "trusted" nodes
The community aspect must not get in the way of reaching a "critical mass" of users, without which any P2P system is bound to fall.
2) Ability to randomly sample small segments of files on remote nodes in order to determine whether they are legit. This would stop them from uploading complete garbage, or legitimate-looking beginnings followed by garbage.
3) Distributed method of establishing trust. This is the tricky part. We could use public-key crypto in some fashion. Perhaps nodeID blacklists or whitelists could be distributed among the users, or uploaded to FreeNet. Before downloading a song from an unknown node, my machine would query 10-20 random nodes for blacklist info. This would make it a lot more difficult to set up random nodes hosting garbage.
5) Other heuristics to determine the trustworthiness of nodes and/or files.
7) Doing all of the above in a relatively speedy (i.e., not impractically slow such as gnuTella) and relatively anonymous/pseudonymous way.
-----------
Please reply (i.e., follow-up to the post) with any further ideas. Perhaps we can seed the minds of the developers who'll be coding the next generation of P2P software. Are there any ideas we can glean from eBay's trust management system?