This is probably _slightly_ off-topic but...
I have read once, in my vast perusing of cryptography material, that back in WWI or WWII, a spy in Germany was sending messages out of there by encoding them in paintings. His method was by painting reeds in his pictures with different lengths - long for 1, short for 0. Fortunately for him, the Germans took a long time to figure this out. Unfortunately for him, they did figure it out.
Hope this is interesting.
I though some people might be interestesd that MIT isn't the only university thinking of doing this. All the way in Australia, Sydney University is thinking along the same lines.
Sydney University's Computer Science Department has been discussing putting a lot of its coursework on the net using WebCT, in line with the tend of the other departments. This comes as a plan by the NSW Labor government's policy of developing online degrees for half the price of normal ones. However this has met a lot of opposition, including from Sydney University's own Labor Club.
The reasons why a general online degree is a bad one are many, and have been discussed by other commenters on this subject. However, the Computer Science department's plan means students would still have to come into university to actually access a lot of the course, as it will be stored locally, which also means there will still be some FTF interaction. Whether this plan will be successful or beneficial, remains to be seen, but I think it will be an interesting debate nonetheless.
But think about this: Where would the great Australasian, Oscar winning actor, Russell "Tom Hanks tried to kidnap me" Crowe, without the great, Oscar winning movie, (drum roll please!), Gladiator!
Imagine this: Time - 4001 AD, Place - 2000+something Academy Awards. Sentient robots have been dominating the movie industry for centuries.
The great robot actor Ru5537 Cr0w3 is nominated for a movie about the evil Human society pitting poor innocent robots against each other in a battle to the death, for the viewers pleasure. He is up against T0m 4ank5 who starred in a pitiful movie about being stuck on a deserted asteroid with only a Imac called Wilson for company.
The announcement comes through. "And the winner of Best Actor is... Ru5537 Cr0w3!". His career flourishes, and the movie industry is all the better for his excellent acting skills.
This RoboWars will further art for robots for millenia, by providing material for the robo-movie industry. By sacrificing some primitive robots now, we will improve the lifestyle of robots in the future, by sparing them from having to watch the adventures of an Imac called Wilson.
The problem about solving these unsolved problems in society is the lack of computing resources. One Cray or such supercomputer can only do so much. There is so much computing power in the world that is being wasted on useless screensavers, or comparatively useless tasks like finding artificial intelligence on other planets. If we can combine this wasted computing power into a really worthwhile task, like finding the cure for cancer, we can actually get somewhere. It has been estimated, and unfortunately I can't remember where, that the combined computing power of all these wasted cycles, is equivalent to 1,000,000 personal computers! I repeat, if we can direct this enormous computing power into solving some of today's problems, then we can ACTUALLY change the world!
So I say, spare these unused cycles to save some lives! Even if you do nothing else to change the world, do this.
I have had my say.
Slashdot Mirror
How about something that can make sure they don't hit any other planes on the way?
This is probably _slightly_ off-topic but...
I have read once, in my vast perusing of cryptography material, that back in WWI or WWII, a spy in Germany was sending messages out of there by encoding them in paintings. His method was by painting reeds in his pictures with different lengths - long for 1, short for 0. Fortunately for him, the Germans took a long time to figure this out. Unfortunately for him, they did figure it out.
Hope this is interesting.
Sydney University's Computer Science Department has been discussing putting a lot of its coursework on the net using WebCT, in line with the tend of the other departments. This comes as a plan by the NSW Labor government's policy of developing online degrees for half the price of normal ones. However this has met a lot of opposition, including from Sydney University's own Labor Club.
The reasons why a general online degree is a bad one are many, and have been discussed by other commenters on this subject. However, the Computer Science department's plan means students would still have to come into university to actually access a lot of the course, as it will be stored locally, which also means there will still be some FTF interaction. Whether this plan will be successful or beneficial, remains to be seen, but I think it will be an interesting debate nonetheless.
I have had my say.
But think about this: Where would the great Australasian, Oscar winning actor, Russell "Tom Hanks tried to kidnap me" Crowe, without the great, Oscar winning movie, (drum roll please!), Gladiator!
Imagine this: Time - 4001 AD, Place - 2000+something Academy Awards. Sentient robots have been dominating the movie industry for centuries.
The great robot actor Ru5537 Cr0w3 is nominated for a movie about the evil Human society pitting poor innocent robots against each other in a battle to the death, for the viewers pleasure. He is up against T0m 4ank5 who starred in a pitiful movie about being stuck on a deserted asteroid with only a Imac called Wilson for company.
The announcement comes through. "And the winner of Best Actor is... Ru5537 Cr0w3!". His career flourishes, and the movie industry is all the better for his excellent acting skills.
This RoboWars will further art for robots for millenia, by providing material for the robo-movie industry. By sacrificing some primitive robots now, we will improve the lifestyle of robots in the future, by sparing them from having to watch the adventures of an Imac called Wilson.
Viva la RoboWars!
I have had my say.
The problem about solving these unsolved problems in society is the lack of computing resources. One Cray or such supercomputer can only do so much. There is so much computing power in the world that is being wasted on useless screensavers, or comparatively useless tasks like finding artificial intelligence on other planets. If we can combine this wasted computing power into a really worthwhile task, like finding the cure for cancer, we can actually get somewhere. It has been estimated, and unfortunately I can't remember where, that the combined computing power of all these wasted cycles, is equivalent to 1,000,000 personal computers! I repeat, if we can direct this enormous computing power into solving some of today's problems, then we can ACTUALLY change the world!
So I say, spare these unused cycles to save some lives! Even if you do nothing else to change the world, do this.
I have had my say.