That's a rare combination, for obvious reasons. And I'm sure Musk is not going to fund a manned Mars mission on his own. At some point in time, he'll need additional fools... I mean investors.
The temperature has not risen in the past decade or so
Which means absolutely nothing for the trend. When the yearly statistical noise is about equal to a decade's worth of trend, you'll find that the decade long "pauses" are nothing special. This graph should enlighten you:
http://www.woodfortrees.org/pl...
Note that it has the raw data in red, and two trend lines. One calculated over 1970-2000 and the other from 1970 to current. As you can see, the two trend lines are in complete agreement.
When a currency costs more to produce than its worth, there is already an economic crisis and the currency is no viable.
Sure, but that doesn't apply to bitcoin. When the mining profits no longer cover the electricity cost, people will stop mining. At the current price, total mining profits are 3600 * $315 per day, or slightly over $1 million. That means that worldwide electricity cost to operate the bitcoin mining must be less than that. Compared to the cost related to maintaining regular currencies, or investments done for high frequency trading on stock market, that's not very much.
Proof of work is actually required to avoid the double spend problem associated with all distributed currencies, not to prevent spam.
Those aren't transactions, but a pool of secret keys for additional addresses. You are right that they need to be backed up. But note that the creation of such a pool is an optional feature done by the client. Ideally, a client would warn you that such a pool is being created/extended and ask you to make a backup. You can even make a backup on a piece of paper.
Space exploration and colonization are hopeless fantasies. Nobody in their right mind is going to spend insane fortunes to explore and colonize the most inhospitable places there are, for no apparent benefit.
Transactions aren't stored in the wallet. A wallet is basically a set of secret keys that allow you to transfer bitcoins. The actual transactions are stored in the blockchain on the network.
The problem is the interest rate. In a deflationary currency, the theoretical interest rate on a loan could be negative. But nobody is going to loan out money for a negative interest rate when they can just put it in a safe and get more. If you make the interest positive, then nobody can afford to take out a loan, because they'd have to pay back the interest, plus the additional increased value of the principal. Without loans, investment slows down.
dumb users that install malicious software because some web popup told them to.
How about dumb users that suffer from 0-day exploits in their up-to-date OS ? I doubt they'll be happy if they are kicked off the internet for something they can do nothing about, and can only get back online after they've waited for a bugfix and reinstalled their entire machine.
It's not really about genes, it's about education and economics
It's about both. And as soon as the environment is stable, the genes will develop to take advantage of it. Some of my friends have zero children. They are helping to keep the average down, but all of that behavior will go extinct in a single generation. I also know some families with 4 or 5 kids. Their population will grow bigger. It's very basic application of exponential functions. I'm surprised so many people have a problem with this.
I've seen evidence to the contrary across three generations now.
Developed countries don't need to promote population control - it happens by itself
For now, yes. But that's only temporary. After a few generations, any genes that promote big families will get more successful, and experience a higher growth rate.
Keep in mind they are still at the beginning of the driverless car development, so I'm sure they'll be able to patent new stuff as the old patents expire.
Most heat is generated in the body as a waste product of doing other stuff. Burning fat as a primary purpose of staying warm is actually pretty rare for adult human cells.
It's not guaranteed that the consumer will benefit from a predictable pricing structure. Without any flexibility to set the rates, fewer airlines will be able to play to game, and you'd end up with less competition in the end. Now, at least the average flyer on popular routes can benefit from low prices, subsidized by business travellers on shorter hops. And smart travellers can now play the game too.
On average, a WHOLE HOUR of EXTRA exercise will be a roughly even trade for a slice of cheesecake.
Yes, but that doesn't mean that exercise doesn't work. It means that you can eat a free piece of cheesecake for every day you do an hour of exercise. Or you can skip the cheesecake, and loose 500 kcal per day, which adds up to a pound in a week. Or you can skip the exercise, eat the cheesecake, and gain that pound.
And you seem shocked at a WHOLE HOUR. It's not that much, especially if you can combine it with other things like commuting or shopping. And if you're really stressed for time you can do a shorter, but more intense, workout. Most people have enough time though, just the wrong priorities.
Slashdot Mirror
Moderated "-1 Disagree", I see.
That's a rare combination, for obvious reasons. And I'm sure Musk is not going to fund a manned Mars mission on his own. At some point in time, he'll need additional fools... I mean investors.
We can't we just go extinct ? What's so special about our particular DNA configuration that we would have to preserve it at huge costs ?
The temperature has not risen in the past decade or so
Which means absolutely nothing for the trend. When the yearly statistical noise is about equal to a decade's worth of trend, you'll find that the decade long "pauses" are nothing special. This graph should enlighten you: http://www.woodfortrees.org/pl...
Note that it has the raw data in red, and two trend lines. One calculated over 1970-2000 and the other from 1970 to current. As you can see, the two trend lines are in complete agreement.
When a currency costs more to produce than its worth, there is already an economic crisis and the currency is no viable.
Sure, but that doesn't apply to bitcoin. When the mining profits no longer cover the electricity cost, people will stop mining. At the current price, total mining profits are 3600 * $315 per day, or slightly over $1 million. That means that worldwide electricity cost to operate the bitcoin mining must be less than that. Compared to the cost related to maintaining regular currencies, or investments done for high frequency trading on stock market, that's not very much.
Proof of work is actually required to avoid the double spend problem associated with all distributed currencies, not to prevent spam.
Those aren't transactions, but a pool of secret keys for additional addresses. You are right that they need to be backed up. But note that the creation of such a pool is an optional feature done by the client. Ideally, a client would warn you that such a pool is being created/extended and ask you to make a backup. You can even make a backup on a piece of paper.
Space exploration and colonization are hopeless fantasies. Nobody in their right mind is going to spend insane fortunes to explore and colonize the most inhospitable places there are, for no apparent benefit.
Transactions aren't stored in the wallet. A wallet is basically a set of secret keys that allow you to transfer bitcoins. The actual transactions are stored in the blockchain on the network.
The problem is the interest rate. In a deflationary currency, the theoretical interest rate on a loan could be negative. But nobody is going to loan out money for a negative interest rate when they can just put it in a safe and get more. If you make the interest positive, then nobody can afford to take out a loan, because they'd have to pay back the interest, plus the additional increased value of the principal. Without loans, investment slows down.
dumb users that install malicious software because some web popup told them to.
How about dumb users that suffer from 0-day exploits in their up-to-date OS ? I doubt they'll be happy if they are kicked off the internet for something they can do nothing about, and can only get back online after they've waited for a bugfix and reinstalled their entire machine.
Point to the previous species that has genetic engineering.
So we'll force people to be genetically engineered ? If you can pull it off, that can work.
The gene that promotes small families (also known as Greed) is way stronger than any "large family" gene that might emerge
You can have both. Have a few children, and abandon them at a church. Somebody will take care of them, while you can pursue your greed.
It's not really about genes, it's about education and economics
It's about both. And as soon as the environment is stable, the genes will develop to take advantage of it. Some of my friends have zero children. They are helping to keep the average down, but all of that behavior will go extinct in a single generation. I also know some families with 4 or 5 kids. Their population will grow bigger. It's very basic application of exponential functions. I'm surprised so many people have a problem with this.
I've seen evidence to the contrary across three generations now.
That's because the environment kept changing.
You can dream, but that's how evolution has happened for the past few billions of years, and that's how its going to continue.
The next question becomes then: how do you kill the botnets, especially since the malware is only getting more and more sophisticated ?
Developed countries don't need to promote population control - it happens by itself
For now, yes. But that's only temporary. After a few generations, any genes that promote big families will get more successful, and experience a higher growth rate.
Radar is non ionizing. It could cook people, though, if it has enough power.
Keep in mind they are still at the beginning of the driverless car development, so I'm sure they'll be able to patent new stuff as the old patents expire.
The tablet market isn't really dead until Netcraft confirms it.
Suborbital doesn't mean they have the capability to reach another continent.
Most heat is generated in the body as a waste product of doing other stuff. Burning fat as a primary purpose of staying warm is actually pretty rare for adult human cells.
And try to find the original packaging...
Yeah, because nobody ever got extorted for US dollars, or other currencies.
It's not guaranteed that the consumer will benefit from a predictable pricing structure. Without any flexibility to set the rates, fewer airlines will be able to play to game, and you'd end up with less competition in the end. Now, at least the average flyer on popular routes can benefit from low prices, subsidized by business travellers on shorter hops. And smart travellers can now play the game too.
On average, a WHOLE HOUR of EXTRA exercise will be a roughly even trade for a slice of cheesecake.
Yes, but that doesn't mean that exercise doesn't work. It means that you can eat a free piece of cheesecake for every day you do an hour of exercise. Or you can skip the cheesecake, and loose 500 kcal per day, which adds up to a pound in a week. Or you can skip the exercise, eat the cheesecake, and gain that pound.
And you seem shocked at a WHOLE HOUR. It's not that much, especially if you can combine it with other things like commuting or shopping. And if you're really stressed for time you can do a shorter, but more intense, workout. Most people have enough time though, just the wrong priorities.