Can't wait for that kind of thing to be done in realtime - I want the patchfile to replace all the annoying product placements with ACME references. Fedex in Castaway? Virgin in Dracula2000? PocketPC in Sum of All Fears? NYTimes in the Sopranos? All I see is ACME.:)
(The Sopranos is REALLY starting to piss me off, but it's one of the only shows I can be bothered to watch with my GF).
Marking someone Friend/Foe doesn't filter their post completely out, it just lets me know ahead of time what to expect. I don't self-censor dissenting opinions, I just flag them, and still read them.
Yeah, hey, bookmarked your blog - I'll drop by from time to time.
Noticed a problem though: all your archive links point to a munged 'floatingplanet' link.
Also, one quote of yours struck me: "I hope to publish a book about it. Hey maybe I can get lucky like those Wachowski brothers and outdo their Matrix Movie!" I'd had similar thoughts about writing a script, but remembered what Verner Vinge said along the lines that it's impossible to write the "important story" about something so far beyond our understanding. You have to dance around the subject.
Get a/. account, coward - I'd have marked you 'friend' since I agree with the core of your message (but not the whacko exagerations). In fact, I've voted Libertarian/Green/Independant (in that order) ever since I've been able to vote because the Republicrats are simply too big, wasteful, imperialistic, and definately too corrupt.
You forget one thing: People are used to paying more for computers than 'simple' appliances, so if they promote the thing as a "TV Computer!", rather than a "yet another boring set-top blackbox", you'll get more suckers paying the higher price because they expect it.
Don't be so quick to dismiss futurists - even when their predictions turn out to be incredibly offbase, they still serve to inspire the actual work of making the future happen.
Forget to ask whether anyone wants the projected product or situation.
Ignore the costs.
Try to predict which company or technology will win.
Flying cars could never have been LESS expensive than cars (fighting gravity costs more energy), and safely flying the things in 3D virtually requires guidance computers that are only now just capable.
I'm here to inform you that you've been diagnosed with borderline Road Rage. "Fucking Idiots! Ahh! I'm the smart one here! Smarter than any computer AI too! Ahh!!!":)
The reason it hasn't been done yet is because virtual porn actors aren't even 1/100th as sexy as the real thing. Human motion (especially the facial expressions) is subtle... and HARD to get right... though motion-capping sex scene templates and then mapping celebrities might be hot in a few more years.
Man, I'd almost forgotten why I put you on my foe list. Thanks for the reminder.
It's hard to believe that an arrogant, authoritarian prick like you can ALSO be sane enough to see that the U.S. is being too internationally arrogant for its own good.:)
A lot of the stuff the slashbots like to get excited about is stuff that will sort itself out over the next few years.
You're right - but it won't include globally mandated DRM - no way in hell will that stand. Rather, we'll see new ways of funding things that have no cost after the first copy (the open source volunteer model; variations of the street performer protocol; micropayments; etc). Also, don't forget, in a few years a 'starving artist' will be able to "steal" the molecular blueprint for his cheap lunch (but I bet you'll be right up their arguing that people are "stealing" from farmers, and every other obsolete manufacturer of conventional goods).
If they did have something they couldn't replicate they will likely have devices that stimulate/simulate every sensation they possess with sufficient resolution as to be indistinguishable from reality.
That's the best reason not to even bother leaving home. Why trek through a boring desert of a universe when you can instead build a virtual [matrioshka] brain around your star(s) and live like a god(s)? You only need to worry about wasting energy on a move every couple billion years or so when your (astrolifted) star is nearly out of fuel.
I really wonder where peoples' balls have gone - it's like everyone's a hypersensitive chick in these "post-9/11" days.
I mean, people actually bitched about the title of LOTR's "The Two Towers"?! I bet "Independence Day" wouldn't have had the Empire State building being blown up if that movie were to have been made todays hysteria.
Bunch of pussies! The pussies are both the scared shitless people with ultra-thinskins, and the ultra-conservative media execs who don't make movies that might irritate those thinskins in order to keep ticketsales as high as possible... blah)
E.g. to fight crime, it does not pay to incarcerate minor felons. One has to take out the most important 'hubs', being the bosses.
Sure, it makes sense to go after the higher-ups in a hierarchy, but there isn't much point in doing that when those hubs get replaced in notime flat.
Take a drug kingpin down and there'll be more to take his place very soon after... just as there's millions of potential gnutella supernodes (superhubs) to replace the ones that dropoff (no, I'm not comparing drug dealers to p2p).
I just checked pricewatch for the best bulk pricing...
DVD-R (4700MB): $0.63 per DVD = $7.46/GB
CD-R (700MB): $0.12 per CD = $5.83/GB
RAID5 (w/ standard ATA disks) is only a little more than $1/GB.
I think I'd go for a combo setup. RAID5 for the larger primary storage, and DVD-R for regular backups of only the most critical data. If a harddisk dies, just swap in another. Lose the whole array (in a fire or whatever), and at least there's some (offsite) backups on DVD.
You still can't rely on CD-R/DVD-R as permanent backup though - the media starts to deteriorate after a few years. Most of my old 1X CDRs are corrupt today.
Patience? P2P (with filehashes) is download and forget vs the hassle of laboring for missing multipart binaries on usenet. I let the mule do all the work in the background.
Quite a few albums are available for 'previewing' if you look in the right place.
Slashdot Mirror
(The Sopranos is REALLY starting to piss me off, but it's one of the only shows I can be bothered to watch with my GF).
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Noticed a problem though: all your archive links point to a munged 'floatingplanet' link.
Also, one quote of yours struck me: "I hope to publish a book about it. Hey maybe I can get lucky like those Wachowski brothers and outdo their Matrix Movie!" I'd had similar thoughts about writing a script, but remembered what Verner Vinge said along the lines that it's impossible to write the "important story" about something so far beyond our understanding. You have to dance around the subject.
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tough being a cynical optimist.
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Until the government legally takes it away from you by abusing eminent domain & the 4th amendment.
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You forget one thing: People are used to paying more for computers than 'simple' appliances, so if they promote the thing as a "TV Computer!", rather than a "yet another boring set-top blackbox", you'll get more suckers paying the higher price because they expect it.
Here's how you make BAD PREDICTIONS:
Flying cars could never have been LESS expensive than cars (fighting gravity costs more energy), and safely flying the things in 3D virtually requires guidance computers that are only now just capable.
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The reason it hasn't been done yet is because virtual porn actors aren't even 1/100th as sexy as the real thing. Human motion (especially the facial expressions) is subtle... and HARD to get right... though motion-capping sex scene templates and then mapping celebrities might be hot in a few more years.
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Makes a world of difference.
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It's hard to believe that an arrogant, authoritarian prick like you can ALSO be sane enough to see that the U.S. is being too internationally arrogant for its own good. :)
A lot of the stuff the slashbots like to get excited about is stuff that will sort itself out over the next few years.
You're right - but it won't include globally mandated DRM - no way in hell will that stand. Rather, we'll see new ways of funding things that have no cost after the first copy (the open source volunteer model; variations of the street performer protocol; micropayments; etc). Also, don't forget, in a few years a 'starving artist' will be able to "steal" the molecular blueprint for his cheap lunch (but I bet you'll be right up their arguing that people are "stealing" from farmers, and every other obsolete manufacturer of conventional goods).
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That's the best reason not to even bother leaving home. Why trek through a boring desert of a universe when you can instead build a virtual [matrioshka] brain around your star(s) and live like a god(s)? You only need to worry about wasting energy on a move every couple billion years or so when your (astrolifted) star is nearly out of fuel.
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I prefer the more ambient beats, but I bet nobody listens to that either. (especially after the RIAA killed off somaFM :)
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I really wonder where peoples' balls have gone - it's like everyone's a hypersensitive chick in these "post-9/11" days.
I mean, people actually bitched about the title of LOTR's "The Two Towers"?! I bet "Independence Day" wouldn't have had the Empire State building being blown up if that movie were to have been made todays hysteria.
Bunch of pussies! The pussies are both the scared shitless people with ultra-thinskins, and the ultra-conservative media execs who don't make movies that might irritate those thinskins in order to keep ticketsales as high as possible... blah)
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The list of states & countries that ban these "revenue circumvention devices" is pretty small.
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Almost drove me insane reading your post. :)
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Sure, it makes sense to go after the higher-ups in a hierarchy, but there isn't much point in doing that when those hubs get replaced in notime flat.
Take a drug kingpin down and there'll be more to take his place very soon after... just as there's millions of potential gnutella supernodes (superhubs) to replace the ones that dropoff (no, I'm not comparing drug dealers to p2p).
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Dumbass Clippy.
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Ultradense molecular-level storage in three dimensions-- not just two-- isn't that far off.
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DVD-R (4700MB): $0.63 per DVD = $7.46/GB
CD-R (700MB): $0.12 per CD = $5.83/GB
RAID5 (w/ standard ATA disks) is only a little more than $1/GB.
I think I'd go for a combo setup. RAID5 for the larger primary storage, and DVD-R for regular backups of only the most critical data. If a harddisk dies, just swap in another. Lose the whole array (in a fire or whatever), and at least there's some (offsite) backups on DVD.
You still can't rely on CD-R/DVD-R as permanent backup though - the media starts to deteriorate after a few years. Most of my old 1X CDRs are corrupt today.
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Quite a few albums are available for 'previewing' if you look in the right place.
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