I don't see that happening for a long, long time... if ever. The devices seen in the movie "Strange Days" are probably more within the realm of feasablity. Unlike the holodeck, which has to accurately simulate all aspects of the real (or unreal) world as realistically as possible by manipulating matter and enery directly, it would be much simpler to "hack" into someone's brain and recreate the appearences and sensations of a reality within the confines of one's mind. Besides, it's less likely they could tell it wasn't real than if they used their own physical sensations to make the determination for themselves.
It's actually damned creepy when you think about it, but several of the events that took place in Macross Plus could be very possible within the next few years. We already have plenty of ingredients for it:
- Computer-generated characters that could almost pass for human by just looking at them. Before long, they should be able to render these characters in real-time, enabling almost limitless possibilities of interactivity.
- Copious amounts of effort being poured into developing the perfect artificial intellegence. We seem to be getting close, but none of them are currently self-aware, as we know it. That could change.
- A vast, global network that puts almost every point on earth within reach of a computer. Humans are merely "cells" to build and maintain the parts of the larger organism, the "Net."
- Computer controlled weapons have been among us for a while. Are we foolishly setting ourselves up to be destroyed?
- Planes controlled by the mind are being experimented with by NASA. At the moment though, it has mostly been used on non-military aircraft for landings.
Interesting. Just think, the next-generation in video-games could be trying to survive within the real-world itself!
If space-time exists on an infinite repeating cycle, and is identical every time it happens, you can't really explain it in terms of a past or future. It would be binary in nature. Either it exists or not...period.
Well, until someone comes up with the theory of "fuzzy existence".;-)
Perhaps they canned it in fear that the company could be sued big time over certain potential "uses" for the game.
The biggest one, IMHO would be the possibility that you'd get some freaks who would use their avatar to intice minors into performing, um... questionable activity.
I can't see how they'd be able to release it without this being an issue.
I'm really surprised at all the slashdotter's who are getting their panties in a bunch over this! Seriously guys, I highly doubt he intended this to be a "hate" statement of any kind. He's simply making a point of conformity vs. individualism.
If anything, the only real crime here is posting a statement like this after the 1960's.;-)
Being that I *own* both an AirPort base station and Xircom's springport module, I can conclusively say that this guy has no clue what he's talking about!
The truth is, the module interfaces fine into an AirPort-based network, once you've figure out that the SSID code the Xircom module uses is merely the network name assigned in the AirPort Admin Utility.
As for price, $299 is ridiculous. But, luckily for you, I have the solution...
Go check out 2buystore's website. They carry the xircom modules for $217.56!
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Or better yet, copyright all the possible combinations. (Not unlike the guys that copyrighted every single 7-digit phone number tone.)
Hmm... it's been done. Anyone remember Johnny Mnemonic? They cracked the code using a fish for god's sake! :-P
I don't see that happening for a long, long time... if ever. The devices seen in the movie "Strange Days" are probably more within the realm of feasablity. Unlike the holodeck, which has to accurately simulate all aspects of the real (or unreal) world as realistically as possible by manipulating matter and enery directly, it would be much simpler to "hack" into someone's brain and recreate the appearences and sensations of a reality within the confines of one's mind. Besides, it's less likely they could tell it wasn't real than if they used their own physical sensations to make the determination for themselves.
It's actually damned creepy when you think about it, but several of the events that took place in Macross Plus could be very possible within the next few years. We already have plenty of ingredients for it:
- Computer-generated characters that could almost pass for human by just looking at them. Before long, they should be able to render these characters in real-time, enabling almost limitless possibilities of interactivity.
- Copious amounts of effort being poured into developing the perfect artificial intellegence. We seem to be getting close, but none of them are currently self-aware, as we know it. That could change.
- A vast, global network that puts almost every point on earth within reach of a computer. Humans are merely "cells" to build and maintain the parts of the larger organism, the "Net."
- Computer controlled weapons have been among us for a while. Are we foolishly setting ourselves up to be destroyed?
- Planes controlled by the mind are being experimented with by NASA. At the moment though, it has mostly been used on non-military aircraft for landings.
Interesting. Just think, the next-generation in video-games could be trying to survive within the real-world itself!
An interesting thought here... could this be used to bug someone's hardware and monitor their activity? (Perhaps as a keylogger)
;-)
Maybe I should consider putting my system inside a faraday cage.
Just a thought on this:
;-)
If space-time exists on an infinite repeating cycle, and is identical every time it happens, you can't really explain it in terms of a past or future. It would be binary in nature. Either it exists or not...period.
Well, until someone comes up with the theory of "fuzzy existence".
Here's one for ya...
Perhaps they canned it in fear that the company could be sued big time over certain potential "uses" for the game.
The biggest one, IMHO would be the possibility that you'd get some freaks who would use their avatar to intice minors into performing, um... questionable activity.
I can't see how they'd be able to release it without this being an issue.
I'm really surprised at all the slashdotter's who are getting their panties in a bunch over this! Seriously guys, I highly doubt he intended this to be a "hate" statement of any kind. He's simply making a point of conformity vs. individualism.
;-)
If anything, the only real crime here is posting a statement like this after the 1960's.
Perhaps its not so much a question of the number of children dropped, but instead the overall force at which they hit the ground itself.
;-)
The solution - Why not try dropping a million kids from a few thousand feet up in a vacuum chamber and see if it has any effect.
Being that I *own* both an AirPort base station and Xircom's springport module, I can conclusively say that this guy has no clue what he's talking about!
= 072513
The truth is, the module interfaces fine into an AirPort-based network, once you've figure out that the SSID code the Xircom module uses is merely the network name assigned in the AirPort Admin Utility.
As for price, $299 is ridiculous. But, luckily for you, I have the solution...
Go check out 2buystore's website. They carry the xircom modules for $217.56!
Here's the URL:
http://www.2buystore.com/shopdisplaydetail.asp?id
8==8 Bones 8==8