I keep hearing 15 years until we hit the quantum barrier in CPUs, if we keep up with Moore's Law.
I wonder if any of those predictions ever take the 3rd dimension into account? Or did they just assume circuits would be flat forever, instead of "growing" them from the bottom up. Parallelism never seems to get much credit for pushing the barrier either...
Even then, a super-dense cube/sphere cluster faces the light limit... but then we have "spooky" electron-wave-computing to look forward to, right.
And I'm looking forward to that kind of quality being beamed into each of my eyes, for a full FOV, stereoscopic experience... vs. the boring 2D screen.
I'd easily pay over 10 grand to be an early adopter of this tech. Too bad Microvision's current stuff pretty much sucks - so it'll be a while yet.
I subscribe to the relatively little-known Matrioshka Brain theory, which basically says that a sufficiently advanced civilization will "build a 'Matrix' around their star(s)". This theory also happens to conveniently explain where all the "dark matter" in the universe went.
So why's there no tragedy of the commons with these brains? They're advanced remember; we're just ants in comparison.:-) Just like how the richer/smarter nations on Earth tend to have lower population growth, so too might the MBs have achieved a virtual zero population growth zen.
Anyway, give Bradbury's paper a read, but fair warning: it might be a bit harder to suspend your disbelief when it comes to far-future hard sci-fi with conventional humans at the helm (Star Trek doesn't count). It's only human to anthropomorphize the future I guess...
Conversely, if the media companies made the shows more entertaining you probably would be more hesitant to change the channel in case you missed something.
You're right, but quality is still mostly subjective.
I only watch a very few shows that I don't want to miss coming out of commercial so I'd know to stay put:
Enterprise (on UPN) - they're between seasons at the moment, but if the ads get bad I can always download the episodes without any branding (apparently they're fresh off a satellite or something).
Politically Incorrect (on Disney's ABC) - It's been canceled, but it used to be easy to figure out when it'd be back from commercial since the adblock was almost always the same length, AND the last commercial before PI came back was almost ALWAYS a stupid car commercial.
Eye Drops (on TechTV) - I actually sit through the commercials for this show because they don't last long, are "techy", and because I can't bear to miss the start of any of those awesome short CG stories (and to know the production tools they used, etc).
The Science Channel - they rerun everything on this channel so many times a day/week it doesn't matter what I miss due to commercial-avoidance.
Everything else on TV is crap. Wish I could pay only for those 4... er... 3... channels, instead of the 600 compressed-to-shit channels TW bundles with their digital cable.
This argument will remind some readers of an old claim--that nuclear energy would lead to "power too cheap to meter." This assertion, attributed to the early nuclear era, has passed into folklore as a warning to be skeptical of technologists promising free goodies. ... If technologists could be so wrong back then, why believe a similar argument today? We are happy to report that the arguments aren't similar: any argument for "nuclear power too cheap to meter" had to be absurd even given the knowledge at the time, and our argument isn't.
A few seconds of googling and I found a nifty license plate cover called the Overhead Protector
If redlight-city-revenue-generators proliferate, it won't be too long before the late-night infomercials start pushing these things... to be followed by a law banning them in a few states that depend on those shorter yellow lights.
No doubt a couple of generations from now when (hopefully) the majority of doctors are relying on evidence not voodoo
What doctors? In only one or two more generations they'll (hopefully) be mostly out of work thanks to the "miracle" of the Artificial Immune System and self-repair nanotechnology.
Any virus, bacteria, pollen, spores, molds, drugs, unwanted sperm, smoke, etc., would be neutralized the instant it bumped into a SuperWhitey(TM) if it wasn't on the trusted whitelist (Palladium for your body--parents could even prevent their kids from getting high).
And if you break your (non-reinforced) leg? Why wait for your normal body functions to repair the damage when it can be fixed by an "intelligent swarm" on the molecular level in no time.
Another few generations and humans should have finally ditched their frail wetware anyway.
Thanks for providing the trigger for my mental masturbation.:)
Because they don't really believe most people are honest - they're just saying that. They think most people are basically bad, just like them.
If it's their goal to squeeze maximum profit out of the masses via the threat of government backed coercion, then it's obviously our dishonest goal to not want to be squeezed so hard for the privelage of accessing the copyright cartel's content.
One has to wonder what the point of this action is... given the Time debacle
The point is to snub anyone you can afford to who steals or smears your thunder.
How would you like it if you were going to throw an extravagant birthday party, but the surprise was spoiled by gossip-frenzied old ladies? Maybe you wouldn't put out any prunes and bran muffins for them?
Time's audience size outweighs any rumor monger's site, and Time didn't spread rumors, they just fucked up a little and leaked Apple's infomercial early.
How does your software enable CD burns and rips that are "faster than ever"?
RIAA Exec: "Apparently this 'Alex Mizell' character is immune to our marketing gimmicks." RIAA IT minion: "I'll flag him as UNPROFITABLY_INTELLIGENT in the database right away Sir!"
But what if the artists could "pirate" their food for free? What if they could warez their easle and paintbrushes? What if they could go off-grid with SPS solar power? What if they never needed medical care because their newfangled artificial immune system and fountain-of-youth magic? What if they could build themselves a nice palace from freely available molecules with no effort (in the ocean, away from rent-hungry landlords)? What if their AI-helper did most of their thinking and creating for them? What if they could download Lucy Lu from Nappster into a robot? Ahhhhhh! Free Beer is the root of all evil! (I was going somewhere with this... but got lost)
I'm in 98% agreement friend. I think that just about ANY manned-mission is a waste of resources at this point, but that's what it takes to get human-centric people interested. Who cares about robots afterall (until we become them)?
We should wait at least 10 years for the first (and easiest) fruits of nanotechnology to emerge: fantastic materials. If we waited another few years we wouldn't even have to waste the space necessary to hydroponically grow food aboard ship, we could just "assemble it", and anything else, as needed, from base molecules.
"But... But... the TV is off, so how does the VCR record the picture from the TV?"
Most people think that the VCR records "from the TV screen", and if the TV's off, the VCR shouldn't be able to record anything but blackness. Makes sense in a simple-minded sort of way.
Knowing this, maybe a better way to explain it would be to say that "there's a mini-TV inside the VCR that's always on; the VCR records off that."
... so its really more of a piece of jewelery to me.
Well then, you took the wind right out my reply.:)
At least you can admit you're more concerned with the fashion than the functionality. I can understand where you're coming from... but the watch could just as well be a manly-looking bracelet (unless you're also habitually 'addicted' to the act of looking at your wrist to tell time.)
What's your (official/unofficial) policy when it comes to the 'smart' employees who securely tunnel through their home computers for reasons other than just bypassing your filters? You don't actually require that all employees communicate in the clear at all times do you?
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if any of those predictions ever take the 3rd dimension into account? Or did they just assume circuits would be flat forever, instead of "growing" them from the bottom up. Parallelism never seems to get much credit for pushing the barrier either...
Even then, a super-dense cube/sphere cluster faces the light limit... but then we have "spooky" electron-wave-computing to look forward to, right.
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Yeah, Monkey's Audio is slightly less Free than FLAC, but not by much, and it does a better squeeze job.
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Well, crap, I replied to the wrong person. How'd that happen? :)
And I'm looking forward to that kind of quality being beamed into each of my eyes, for a full FOV, stereoscopic experience... vs. the boring 2D screen.
I'd easily pay over 10 grand to be an early adopter of this tech. Too bad Microvision's current stuff pretty much sucks - so it'll be a while yet.
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So why's there no tragedy of the commons with these brains? They're advanced remember; we're just ants in comparison. :-) Just like how the richer/smarter nations on Earth tend to have lower population growth, so too might the MBs have achieved a virtual zero population growth zen.
Anyway, give Bradbury's paper a read, but fair warning: it might be a bit harder to suspend your disbelief when it comes to far-future hard sci-fi with conventional humans at the helm (Star Trek doesn't count). It's only human to anthropomorphize the future I guess...
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You're right, but quality is still mostly subjective.
I only watch a very few shows that I don't want to miss coming out of commercial so I'd know to stay put:
Everything else on TV is crap. Wish I could pay only for those 4... er... 3... channels, instead of the 600 compressed-to-shit channels TW bundles with their digital cable.
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(I was in [online] advertising until my conscience got the better of me.)
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Allow me to quote Drexler:
Thanks for playing! :)
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A few seconds of googling and I found a nifty license plate cover called the Overhead Protector
If redlight-city-revenue-generators proliferate, it won't be too long before the late-night infomercials start pushing these things... to be followed by a law banning them in a few states that depend on those shorter yellow lights.
--
What doctors? In only one or two more generations they'll (hopefully) be mostly out of work thanks to the "miracle" of the Artificial Immune System and self-repair nanotechnology.
Any virus, bacteria, pollen, spores, molds, drugs, unwanted sperm, smoke, etc., would be neutralized the instant it bumped into a SuperWhitey(TM) if it wasn't on the trusted whitelist (Palladium for your body--parents could even prevent their kids from getting high).
And if you break your (non-reinforced) leg? Why wait for your normal body functions to repair the damage when it can be fixed by an "intelligent swarm" on the molecular level in no time.
Another few generations and humans should have finally ditched their frail wetware anyway.
Thanks for providing the trigger for my mental masturbation. :)
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If it's their goal to squeeze maximum profit out of the masses via the threat of government backed coercion, then it's obviously our dishonest goal to not want to be squeezed so hard for the privelage of accessing the copyright cartel's content.
--
The point is to snub anyone you can afford to who steals or smears your thunder.
How would you like it if you were going to throw an extravagant birthday party, but the surprise was spoiled by gossip-frenzied old ladies? Maybe you wouldn't put out any prunes and bran muffins for them?
Time's audience size outweighs any rumor monger's site, and Time didn't spread rumors, they just fucked up a little and leaked Apple's infomercial early.
--
RIAA Exec: "Apparently this 'Alex Mizell' character is immune to our marketing gimmicks."
RIAA IT minion: "I'll flag him as UNPROFITABLY_INTELLIGENT in the database right away Sir!"
--
Right. Artists need to eat too. :)
But what if the artists could "pirate" their food for free? What if they could warez their easle and paintbrushes? What if they could go off-grid with SPS solar power? What if they never needed medical care because their newfangled artificial immune system and fountain-of-youth magic? What if they could build themselves a nice palace from freely available molecules with no effort (in the ocean, away from rent-hungry landlords)? What if their AI-helper did most of their thinking and creating for them? What if they could download Lucy Lu from Nappster into a robot? Ahhhhhh! Free Beer is the root of all evil! (I was going somewhere with this... but got lost)
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You take contract law and property rights way to far. I think maybe you find comfort in the simplicity of absolutes?
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We should wait at least 10 years for the first (and easiest) fruits of nanotechnology to emerge: fantastic materials. If we waited another few years we wouldn't even have to waste the space necessary to hydroponically grow food aboard ship, we could just "assemble it", and anything else, as needed, from base molecules.
--
Most people think that the VCR records "from the TV screen", and if the TV's off, the VCR shouldn't be able to record anything but blackness. Makes sense in a simple-minded sort of way.
Knowing this, maybe a better way to explain it would be to say that "there's a mini-TV inside the VCR that's always on; the VCR records off that."
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People'd think you're crazy. :)
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Most guys aren't looking for shallow gold diggers.
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Well then, you took the wind right out my reply. :)
At least you can admit you're more concerned with the fashion than the functionality. I can understand where you're coming from... but the watch could just as well be a manly-looking bracelet (unless you're also habitually 'addicted' to the act of looking at your wrist to tell time.)
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And I wonder who's watching you, the watcher.
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What's your (official/unofficial) policy when it comes to the 'smart' employees who securely tunnel through their home computers for reasons other than just bypassing your filters? You don't actually require that all employees communicate in the clear at all times do you?
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