The limit he is talking about assumes perfectly operating quantum computers that use the minimum amount of energy possible per operation in the shortest time that a single quantum of information takes to change. It is NOT physically possible to compute faster than this, according to current quantum mechanics theory. To reach this theoretical limit will take a lot of amazing engineering.
When he said he was talking about the same sort of limit as the speed of light he wasn't exaggerating. Unless there is some break through in our understanding of the physical universe this theory actually does spell out the fastest possible computer operation of flipping a single bit.
This like the Shannon–Hartley theorem - something you can reach in theory, but likely are not going to in practise.
Now, I just wish TFA actually gave a bit more information on the limit instead of just saying 10 quintillion times faster than todays computers. Lots of room left for improvement there!
Charles Stross is selling tons of books so I don't think the problem is envy. How many time have I seen articles on Slashdot deploring the use of time warps and "reversing the polarity" as deus ex machina to get out of a tight spots on Star Trek? A lot, and I agree it diminishes the show.
The most interesting part of Star Trek, and one that is rarely directly explored, but simply hinted at, is how would a society be if almost all physical needs can be supplied almost for free? The society of Trek can't churn out star ships for free, but it is hinted that there is no money, and it is personal fulfilment and a quest for the admiration of your peers that is driving human achievement. Not amassing personal wealth or power. Instead of exploring this rich vein of inquiry we mainly get standard space opera.
If you steal my car,I can't drive it. If you copy my song, I still have the song, I can still play it, I can still perform it, but I did not get any money for the copy you made. See the difference?
If copyright was actually helping artists more than huge corps, and it had reasonable limits, say 20 years, then I might view copyright infringers in a harsher light.
Bad news. You are exposed to hundreds of viruses every day. If being exposed to viruses and antigens is going to cause a bad reaction in you it is going to happen without the flu shot.
But most disease requires immunization rates of about 85% to confer herd immunity.
There are well documented cases of small religious communities not vaccinating there kids then having perfectly predictable numbers of kids dying of measles and other preventable disease.
Measles in Wales Outbreak of measles in Religious communties
Not vaccinating your kids is a terrible decision that puts them at risk of permanent crippling injury and death.
Fanatics belonging to widely dispersed non-state organizations are not worried about retaliation. Iran is not crazy enough to nuke anyone, but the same sort of crazies that did 9/11 are that crazy.
The issue is that some people fear that Iran might help these crazies get a bomb, hoping it never gets tracked back to Iran. Personally, I don't fear that and think they just want what Israel has.
The usa has had socialism for schools, medical care, fire fighting, justice, police, military, and roads for quite some time. The word "socialist" is simply being used as a scare tactic by the far right. You have lots of practise with socialism, it is just that a lot of you don't want to admit it.
For most of the western world, not small leftist dictatorships, the USA Democrats are pretty far to the right, and the Republican's would considered extremists. I'm talking about France, Germany, Canada, the UK, not Venezuela. There is LOTS of room to the left of the Dems.
I already pay a tax on tax. Our gasoline taxes include multiple taxes, at least one of which is applied to the price of gas plus one of the other taxes.
Sorry no. While he did start writing his own music at a very early age, he did indeed get his first music lesson playing others music. And Mozart lived before all copyright laws so he often found that after one of his new pieces was played in concert, the town down the road was performing his music the next week and he didn't see a cent.
A want copyright laws that allow artists to earn a fair living. I want fair use spelled out. I want a limited copyright term, say 20 years. I want NO DMR.
It is entirely possible the poster lives in a rare neighbourhood with no drug users. Coffee and chocolate are drugs? Not when you are talking about THC and heroin. Maybe he has lots of old neighbours. I've noticed that the younger my neighbours are the more likely I am to notice their drug use, whether it is alcohol or marijuana as young people tend to use too much. Sadly, most "hard" drug users tend to lose their jobs and end up moving to neighbourhoods with lower rents.
Possession was already defacto legal. But you could get hauled in to pay a bribe. No more bribes with the new law. I think he is trying to reduce police corruption.
How many people has the war on drugs prevented from getting drugs? None.
What is easier for a high school student to get, legal alcohol or illegal marijuana? Marijuana.
What causes more harm, illegal drugs or the violence and crime associated with them due to them being illegal? Being illegal is the only reason third parties are harmed.
Not all "soft" drug users are addicts, but pretty much anyone doing anything but marijuana are addicts as most recreational drugs are almost as addictive as nicotine. Legalizing drugs does not cause more people to be addicts. There are only so many people attracted to the risks and rewards of drugs.
When Prohibition in the USA was repealed how long did it take for the violence around the alcohol trade to end? Only months. As soon as legal alcohol was available organized crime left the business.
The only thing the war on drugs accomplishes is making criminals extremely wealthy.
I don't know any atheists who believe theology is a subset of physics. Theology is a branch of sociology, anthropology or philosophy. Studying theology might tell you something about people, but certainly not about physics.
Slashdot Mirror
The limit he is talking about assumes perfectly operating quantum computers that use the minimum amount of energy possible per operation in the shortest time that a single quantum of information takes to change. It is NOT physically possible to compute faster than this, according to current quantum mechanics theory. To reach this theoretical limit will take a lot of amazing engineering.
When he said he was talking about the same sort of limit as the speed of light he wasn't exaggerating. Unless there is some break through in our understanding of the physical universe this theory actually does spell out the fastest possible computer operation of flipping a single bit.
This like the Shannon–Hartley theorem - something you can reach in theory, but likely are not going to in practise.
Now, I just wish TFA actually gave a bit more information on the limit instead of just saying 10 quintillion times faster than todays computers. Lots of room left for improvement there!
Charles Stross is selling tons of books so I don't think the problem is envy. How many time have I seen articles on Slashdot deploring the use of time warps and "reversing the polarity" as deus ex machina to get out of a tight spots on Star Trek? A lot, and I agree it diminishes the show.
The most interesting part of Star Trek, and one that is rarely directly explored, but simply hinted at, is how would a society be if almost all physical needs can be supplied almost for free? The society of Trek can't churn out star ships for free, but it is hinted that there is no money, and it is personal fulfilment and a quest for the admiration of your peers that is driving human achievement. Not amassing personal wealth or power. Instead of exploring this rich vein of inquiry we mainly get standard space opera.
When a woman does it, it is bitching. When a man does it, it is being assertive.
Copyright infringement is not theft.
If you steal my car,I can't drive it. If you copy my song, I still have the song, I can still play it, I can still perform it, but I did not get any money for the copy you made. See the difference?
If copyright was actually helping artists more than huge corps, and it had reasonable limits, say 20 years, then I might view copyright infringers in a harsher light.
Bad news. You are exposed to hundreds of viruses every day. If being exposed to viruses and antigens is going to cause a bad reaction in you it is going to happen without the flu shot.
But most disease requires immunization rates of about 85% to confer herd immunity.
There are well documented cases of small religious communities not vaccinating there kids then having perfectly predictable numbers of kids dying of measles and other preventable disease.
Measles in Wales
Outbreak of measles in Religious communties
Not vaccinating your kids is a terrible decision that puts them at risk of permanent crippling injury and death.
Fanatics belonging to widely dispersed non-state organizations are not worried about retaliation. Iran is not crazy enough to nuke anyone, but the same sort of crazies that did 9/11 are that crazy.
The issue is that some people fear that Iran might help these crazies get a bomb, hoping it never gets tracked back to Iran. Personally, I don't fear that and think they just want what Israel has.
The usa has had socialism for schools, medical care, fire fighting, justice, police, military, and roads for quite some time. The word "socialist" is simply being used as a scare tactic by the far right. You have lots of practise with socialism, it is just that a lot of you don't want to admit it.
For most of the western world, not small leftist dictatorships, the USA Democrats are pretty far to the right, and the Republican's would considered extremists. I'm talking about France, Germany, Canada, the UK, not Venezuela. There is LOTS of room to the left of the Dems.
I already pay a tax on tax. Our gasoline taxes include multiple taxes, at least one of which is applied to the price of gas plus one of the other taxes.
And the locals put up with because....
Anyone and everyone associated with such tactics, corrupt in my opinion, would all be voted out of office up here.
Why?
It is an unnecessary complication. One automatic 20 year term, and one optional 10 year extension should satisfy any artist.
The parent has a valid point.
Internet voting is way to easy to hack, but states with minimal rule of law can have vote rigging and violence at polls.
Nothing.
Obviously you don't communicate directly with subs during hostilities using methods that can be easily overheard.
Why do so many slashdotters think that experts have not thought of their brilliant insight many years ago?
Was that a liability policy? I don't think your landlord can force you to insure your own stuff.
And many large corporations "self-insure"; that is they don't buy insurance for theft and pay for it themselves.
But most "ideas" in software don't deserve a patent as they are methods and algorithms. We don't patent math.
The colourful pamphlet is the work of uni students. The NDP member was handing out a reprint of an interview.
That was funny, not flame bait. I'm Canadian and found it very funny.
It might be fair use, but as fair use is not clearly codified we don't really know.
Sorry no. While he did start writing his own music at a very early age, he did indeed get his first music lesson playing others music. And Mozart lived before all copyright laws so he often found that after one of his new pieces was played in concert, the town down the road was performing his music the next week and he didn't see a cent.
A want copyright laws that allow artists to earn a fair living. I want fair use spelled out. I want a limited copyright term, say 20 years. I want NO DMR.
It is entirely possible the poster lives in a rare neighbourhood with no drug users. Coffee and chocolate are drugs? Not when you are talking about THC and heroin. Maybe he has lots of old neighbours. I've noticed that the younger my neighbours are the more likely I am to notice their drug use, whether it is alcohol or marijuana as young people tend to use too much. Sadly, most "hard" drug users tend to lose their jobs and end up moving to neighbourhoods with lower rents.
Possession was already defacto legal. But you could get hauled in to pay a bribe. No more bribes with the new law. I think he is trying to reduce police corruption.
Not all "soft" drug users are addicts, but pretty much anyone doing anything but marijuana are addicts as most recreational drugs are almost as addictive as nicotine. Legalizing drugs does not cause more people to be addicts. There are only so many people attracted to the risks and rewards of drugs.
When Prohibition in the USA was repealed how long did it take for the violence around the alcohol trade to end? Only months. As soon as legal alcohol was available organized crime left the business.
The only thing the war on drugs accomplishes is making criminals extremely wealthy.
I don't know any atheists who believe theology is a subset of physics. Theology is a branch of sociology, anthropology or philosophy. Studying theology might tell you something about people, but certainly not about physics.
Well said.
Mod up!