Look at that, a government grants itself even more tyrannical powers. See it wouldn't be so bad if the government could be trusted to use these powers only against "terrorists", but what they really want to use it for is to make an example of Mr. Smith because he's 200 pounds short on his tax return, Mr. Green because he posted something naughty about immigration, and Mr Blue because he happens to like midget porn and some bureaucrat didn't check and thought it was kiddie porn.
Population growth is determined solely by the amount of resources available to a species
Ridiculous. Population growth is LIMITED by available resources however it is not driven by resource availability. Otherwise please explain poverty and the fact that poor people are the ones that have massive families whereas wealthy people don't.
You confuse rich people with flashy people. There are plenty of wealthy people who don't flaunt their wealth in this manner. It's never good to rub people's faces in the fact that maybe you have something they don't. Nothing good ever comes of it. And there are plenty of people who own the "bling" and can't really afford it, living beyond their means for as long as they can keep up the juggling act. Never judge a book by its cover.
For the first few months - until prices adjust to all this free money chasing goods and services around. Not to mention all the people who are low wage earners quitting their jobs - resulting in increased labor costs (those will be reflected in the new prices). This is going to fail miserably.
That's pretty much what I see happening. If the universal basic income is 2500/month, and it's calculated by deducting 2500/month from workers who earn over 2500 per month, do you really think the guy who works his ass off for 2600/month is going to stay working? For a 100/month pay "cut" he can do nothing at all. Watch what happens to this newest liberal idea...
I'm pretty sure commanding real armies is much more intresting than playing with plastic toysoldiers with neighbour
What about the very real destruction that accompanies armies? Whether during war OR peace. Armies consume and destroy and offer nothing in return except for political security for the ruling party/class. While you might think they're "fun" to play with, they are quite definitely on the negative side of the balance sheet economically. Armies are political not economic tools.
Kind of like dollar bills, which is why countries are trying to limit cash transactions. Funny though how crime doesn't seem to go away and terrorism only seems to increase despite much tighter controls than say, 40 years ago.
Or maybe it's a crime to possess enough money for the police to want to confiscate it for their own use?
That's a crime pretty much anywhere. Maybe not in the eyes of the law but certainly in the eyes of any police officer close enough to smell the pile of cash.
I wasn't trying to trivialize some of the work people do on their machines but if you broaden "coding" enough then virtually anything done on a computer apart from straight data entry/query and gaming can be considered coding. In the case of PHP - PHP is an interpreted language so you're not writing a traditional app with it's own exe file, but it's still a program with a clear purpose. "Coding" with mathematica is using someone else's program to solve a particular problem you have, not creating something for other users to use and interact with.
When the world was young and the dead sea was only sick, it was easy to Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break your way out of games that were written in BASIC/BASICA and just do a LIST of the game's code since games usually shipped in code not in binaries. It was a heck of a learning experience - all those mysterious peeks and pokes made you want to learn more.
After that it's just a case of getting your hands on a copy of MASM, Turbo C or Turbo Pascal and away you go...
so your surgeries are done while Windows can update
That depends a lot on the surgery. The anesthesia machine is usually too low tech to warrant a centralized computer and that's about the most vulnerable part. Still a competent anesthesiologist can live without one. S/He won't be happy, but s/he can manage. Most of the important stuff is mechanical. Unless you're going in for cardiac catheterization - usually they have a PC hooked up to the fluoroscope/EKG readout. Apart from other very specialized equipment (intravascular ultrasound for instance) there's not all that many computers involved in surgery. Certainly appendectomies (appendices) and colecystectomies (gall bladders) and all sorts of other common surgeries can be done without any computers at all.
This will just lead to Microsoft to move their Windows 10 shit into the "critical category". Turn OFF Windows update. Back up your important files (like you should be doing anyway). Don't click through random crap from your mail/internet browser. End of story.
Please show me the transportation method that uses magic fairy dust and not petroleum products or derivatives. Including electricity which is (still) mostly petroleum except maybe in Germany.
Idle hands make for mischief. An AI has everything to gain by eliminating those elements of society that continually destroy what it seeks to create. Likewise said elements of society will fight back because humans are made that way. There's a reason we fear sentient AI - we know ourselves too well and understand the danger inherent in our kind of "intelligence".
Slashdot Mirror
Look at that, a government grants itself even more tyrannical powers. See it wouldn't be so bad if the government could be trusted to use these powers only against "terrorists", but what they really want to use it for is to make an example of Mr. Smith because he's 200 pounds short on his tax return, Mr. Green because he posted something naughty about immigration, and Mr Blue because he happens to like midget porn and some bureaucrat didn't check and thought it was kiddie porn.
I'm not making it up: "Those with a job could still work but would have the monthly income deducted from their salary. ".
So if the people who work also get the "universal income" where exactly do you think the money will be coming from?
Ahh yes, the "selfish cunt" theory. How do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you write like that?
Population growth is determined solely by the amount of resources available to a species
Ridiculous. Population growth is LIMITED by available resources however it is not driven by resource availability. Otherwise please explain poverty and the fact that poor people are the ones that have massive families whereas wealthy people don't.
You confuse rich people with flashy people. There are plenty of wealthy people who don't flaunt their wealth in this manner. It's never good to rub people's faces in the fact that maybe you have something they don't. Nothing good ever comes of it. And there are plenty of people who own the "bling" and can't really afford it, living beyond their means for as long as they can keep up the juggling act. Never judge a book by its cover.
Enough to tide you over, enough to get by on
For the first few months - until prices adjust to all this free money chasing goods and services around. Not to mention all the people who are low wage earners quitting their jobs - resulting in increased labor costs (those will be reflected in the new prices). This is going to fail miserably.
That's pretty much what I see happening. If the universal basic income is 2500/month, and it's calculated by deducting 2500/month from workers who earn over 2500 per month, do you really think the guy who works his ass off for 2600/month is going to stay working? For a 100/month pay "cut" he can do nothing at all. Watch what happens to this newest liberal idea...
I'm pretty sure commanding real armies is much more intresting than playing with plastic toysoldiers with neighbour
What about the very real destruction that accompanies armies? Whether during war OR peace. Armies consume and destroy and offer nothing in return except for political security for the ruling party/class. While you might think they're "fun" to play with, they are quite definitely on the negative side of the balance sheet economically. Armies are political not economic tools.
Smash the machines is not the answer.
Kind of like dollar bills, which is why countries are trying to limit cash transactions. Funny though how crime doesn't seem to go away and terrorism only seems to increase despite much tighter controls than say, 40 years ago.
Or maybe it's a crime to possess enough money for the police to want to confiscate it for their own use?
That's a crime pretty much anywhere. Maybe not in the eyes of the law but certainly in the eyes of any police officer close enough to smell the pile of cash.
I wasn't trying to trivialize some of the work people do on their machines but if you broaden "coding" enough then virtually anything done on a computer apart from straight data entry/query and gaming can be considered coding. In the case of PHP - PHP is an interpreted language so you're not writing a traditional app with it's own exe file, but it's still a program with a clear purpose. "Coding" with mathematica is using someone else's program to solve a particular problem you have, not creating something for other users to use and interact with.
You could just shoot Tim Cook tie him to an executive a day. I think you'd actually be doing Apple a favor by getting rid of him.
Gee do Word and Excel Macros count? How about doing Maya animation?
Coding usually refers to programming a computer, not just using an app to get a computer to do stuff but writing the app.
When the world was young and the dead sea was only sick, it was easy to Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break your way out of games that were written in BASIC/BASICA and just do a LIST of the game's code since games usually shipped in code not in binaries. It was a heck of a learning experience - all those mysterious peeks and pokes made you want to learn more.
After that it's just a case of getting your hands on a copy of MASM, Turbo C or Turbo Pascal and away you go...
Of course the machine that goes ping will be fucked.
so your surgeries are done while Windows can update
That depends a lot on the surgery. The anesthesia machine is usually too low tech to warrant a centralized computer and that's about the most vulnerable part. Still a competent anesthesiologist can live without one. S/He won't be happy, but s/he can manage. Most of the important stuff is mechanical. Unless you're going in for cardiac catheterization - usually they have a PC hooked up to the fluoroscope/EKG readout. Apart from other very specialized equipment (intravascular ultrasound for instance) there's not all that many computers involved in surgery. Certainly appendectomies (appendices) and colecystectomies (gall bladders) and all sorts of other common surgeries can be done without any computers at all.
Nah, it just installs windows 10 when you step on the brake. Or the gas.
License agreement is not a "I'm going to make mischief on your computer and there's fuck all you can do about it" agreement.
This will just lead to Microsoft to move their Windows 10 shit into the "critical category". Turn OFF Windows update. Back up your important files (like you should be doing anyway). Don't click through random crap from your mail/internet browser. End of story.
Please show me the transportation method that uses magic fairy dust and not petroleum products or derivatives. Including electricity which is (still) mostly petroleum except maybe in Germany.
Well no more uber for me.
Global warming is killing us. Scientists all agree. The discussion is over.
if we want AI that does all our work for us.
Idle hands make for mischief. An AI has everything to gain by eliminating those elements of society that continually destroy what it seeks to create. Likewise said elements of society will fight back because humans are made that way. There's a reason we fear sentient AI - we know ourselves too well and understand the danger inherent in our kind of "intelligence".
That's ok the AI will feed you and your family. To the protein bank.