As this Guardian article says, (and I think it describes the primary aim of the BBP quite well):
[reverse engineering the brain] will help us in
'determining how the brain works could help with treatment of diseases while providing clues for designing artificial intelligence'.
IMHO, clues don't make an AI, but they take us one step closer to it. We don't even know whether a cellular resolution is good enough to get any meaningful results from the simulations (which are on a cellular level and simulate electronic signals without considering anything on a molecular level), but its better than doing nothing. The BBP itself is expected to last around a decade, so after a decade (2017) we will have gathered some clues about how a mammalian brain functions.
I share my name with one other guy, and sometimes his emails/new IM contacts end up with me. He's from my hometown does not make this simpler. I keep sending him messages to commit suicide, maybe someday he will listen. Google gives more results for my nickname than my real name, even with my namesake's results added to mine.
Last time I checked, people from _all over the world_ were playing MMORPGs. I live in Pakistan and play on a German server, who gets my tax money/gold/L$? If my company has offices in a dozen countries, and I let my China office buy an island in SL, is IRS going to come after me? IMHO, the author is just trying to create more business for herself (and traffic too):)
"As an example, other civilizations within about fifty light-years or so would be able to pick up TV signals from us, and radio could be detected for almost twice the distance."
The ETI must have received our early TV transmissions by now, so we just have to wait for half a century till they ACK?
Reminds me of that Asimov story where a scientist's mom suggested a solution to that problem.
Slashdot Mirror
[reverse engineering the brain] will help us in IMHO, clues don't make an AI, but they take us one step closer to it. We don't even know whether a cellular resolution is good enough to get any meaningful results from the simulations (which are on a cellular level and simulate electronic signals without considering anything on a molecular level), but its better than doing nothing. The BBP itself is expected to last around a decade, so after a decade (2017) we will have gathered some clues about how a mammalian brain functions.
I share my name with one other guy, and sometimes his emails/new IM contacts end up with me. He's from my hometown does not make this simpler. I keep sending him messages to commit suicide, maybe someday he will listen.
Google gives more results for my nickname than my real name, even with my namesake's results added to mine.
Yarrr! u gif poez?
Funny(?) to see this article appear in my RSS reader, as I started reading 'His Dark Materials' ( http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?p=parall el ) yesterday, which had many parallels with Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series. I'm on the second book today and spent a couple of hours searching on the topic a few hours ago ( http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Parallel_univ erse_(fiction) ). Spooky.
Last time I checked, people from _all over the world_ were playing MMORPGs. I live in Pakistan and play on a German server, who gets my tax money/gold/L$? If my company has offices in a dozen countries, and I let my China office buy an island in SL, is IRS going to come after me? IMHO, the author is just trying to create more business for herself (and traffic too) :)
It was operating atleast until May '06, which was the last time I used the service.
China Airlines, among others, already provides Wifi on their flights (Connexion by Boeing), its great to stay in touch with your emails on an 8 hour flight. Here's a link to other such airlines/flights:v e-guide-to-airline-wifi-and-internet-access.html
http://www.otbeach.com/travel-guides/the-definiti
"As an example, other civilizations within about fifty light-years or so would be able to pick up TV signals from us, and radio could be detected for almost twice the distance."
The ETI must have received our early TV transmissions by now, so we just have to wait for half a century till they ACK? Reminds me of that Asimov story where a scientist's mom suggested a solution to that problem.