The problem lies in the fact that they're developing complex software systems that can't be effectively tested. You can't take these systems out for a test drive - its gotta work the first time. Most terrestrial systems can be tested in the environment in which they're meant to work.
Now, the space shuttle, for example, falls under the "untestable" catagory, but it has performed extremely well considering the environment in which it works. Why? The space shuttle's development process was EXTREMELY thorough and long. With so many cutbacks in NASA budgets, they just can't afford the same thoroughness afforded the shuttle program.
The reason an individual should get a patent he doesn't intend to build is to sell it. The purchasing company is then paying for the time and effort he took to develop a sound idea. This would be in place of paying their own people to do it.
Trying to patent what a company will probably develop later is simply squatting. Just as cyber-squatting is being dealt with fairly well through an international organization (ICANN), a similar appeals process should be set up by the patent office.
The difficulty is in establishing regulations and standards that define what patent-squatting is and how to identify it. Once somebody figures that out, they could patent it and sell it to the US patent office.
In order for gaming companies to be willing to write their top of the line games in Java, they'd have to trust Sun to keep Java on the bleeding edge of performance. Since Sun gives away Java free, I don't know if they have the resources to do that.
Maybe Sun could sell certain libraries to those companies to offset the cost?
I also heard that because of washers and driers that people don't know how to hand wash clothes properly. Americans are losing a valuable artform, all because of technology!
I agree with you that desalinization of the ground is a great application. But, if that't the only point of the article, why go to the trouble of extracting the salt from the plant?
This technique of spreading out humanity via colonies in the hopes that some of the colonies will survive seems a lot like a farmer that throws a handful of seeds in a hole in the hopes that one or two grow. Are humans becoming so numerous that we're expendable and of no more consquence than a seed? I would hope not.
Similar work at BYU
on
Reflections
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· Score: 2, Informative
Brigham Young University is doing similar work on MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems. Here's a link to the lab working on it.
I'm a student at BYU and last semester I was one of five members of a senior project team that designed and implemented a software radio on an FPGA. It was a big task and we all underestimated the work but most of us were determined to get the thing done and working. However, there was one member of our team that just wouldn't do any work. We had weekly meetings to check our progress on our modules and he always said he was thinking about it but hadn't done anything. He's a great coder, just not very responsible. What we ended up doing to motivate him worked to a degree. First, we started mentioning in team meetings how important it was for everyone to finish their part because integration would be a big issue. Later, the four of us wrote that guy an email expressing our frustration because we were getting so close to the deadline. Also, we mentioned the problem to the professor supervising our team. He couldn't do much, but he talked to the guy and explained that if he didn't work like the rest of us he couldn't receive as high a grade either. We ended up having to do some of his modules for him at the last minute and he only did one. The result was we couldn't finish the modules he dumped on us and therefore couldn't integrate the module he actually did to see if it worked. So, it wasn't a total success but the four of us felt good about the work we had put in and tried not to be too bitter at the guy that sabotaged our senior project. So, our techniques worked to a degree but we should have talked to him sooner and taken over some of his responsibilities then so that we might have been able to get them working.
I recently built a pc and found good deals at www.compgeeks.com and www.computerra.com. Both had good prices and good shipping. Computerra had a better selection but you can get cheap used stuff from compgeeks.
This gives a great example of the safer of the two types of gene engineering, somatic. This type of gene therapy only modifies the genetic makeup of certain cells in the body. None of the effects of the changes could propogate onto his children. I wish we could see more of this type of gene therapy. The other type, germline, alters genes in gametes (eggs and sperm). Any changes here would probably (at least with our technology) be irrevsible and would be carried by any decendents. Thankfully, people are being more cautious with this kind since the effects would be much more permanent and far reaching.
For this idea to work its got to get past both the airline companies and their business partners that are setting up the old "Fly to outer space with 1,000,000 frequent flier miles (plus a hefty sum of money)". This assumes of course that there would be an option for tourism, but considering all the non-astronauts that are signed up for trips to the space station, I'm sure it would happen with this as well. I doubt those guys would appreciate losing business.
The music industry has decided to fight dirty, through legislation instead of competition, and I'm glad that someone is fighting fire with fire. I really think that if their business leaders would take another approach and just sell cd's for less (=$10) then the whole music piracy issue would go away. If cd's were that accessible then no one would even bother to "steal" the music.
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The problem lies in the fact that they're developing complex software systems that can't be effectively tested. You can't take these systems out for a test drive - its gotta work the first time. Most terrestrial systems can be tested in the environment in which they're meant to work.
Now, the space shuttle, for example, falls under the "untestable" catagory, but it has performed extremely well considering the environment in which it works. Why? The space shuttle's development process was EXTREMELY thorough and long. With so many cutbacks in NASA budgets, they just can't afford the same thoroughness afforded the shuttle program.
Reliability costs money.
The reason an individual should get a patent he doesn't intend to build is to sell it. The purchasing company is then paying for the time and effort he took to develop a sound idea. This would be in place of paying their own people to do it.
Trying to patent what a company will probably develop later is simply squatting. Just as cyber-squatting is being dealt with fairly well through an international organization (ICANN), a similar appeals process should be set up by the patent office.
The difficulty is in establishing regulations and standards that define what patent-squatting is and how to identify it. Once somebody figures that out, they could patent it and sell it to the US patent office.
In order for gaming companies to be willing to write their top of the line games in Java, they'd have to trust Sun to keep Java on the bleeding edge of performance. Since Sun gives away Java free, I don't know if they have the resources to do that.
Maybe Sun could sell certain libraries to those companies to offset the cost?
I also heard that because of washers and driers that people don't know how to hand wash clothes properly. Americans are losing a valuable artform, all because of technology!
I agree with you that desalinization of the ground is a great application. But, if that't the only point of the article, why go to the trouble of extracting the salt from the plant?
This technique of spreading out humanity via colonies in the hopes that some of the colonies will survive seems a lot like a farmer that throws a handful of seeds in a hole in the hopes that one or two grow. Are humans becoming so numerous that we're expendable and of no more consquence than a seed? I would hope not.
Brigham Young University is doing similar work on MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems. Here's a link to the lab working on it.
I'm a student at BYU and last semester I was one of five members of a senior project team that designed and implemented a software radio on an FPGA. It was a big task and we all underestimated the work but most of us were determined to get the thing done and working. However, there was one member of our team that just wouldn't do any work. We had weekly meetings to check our progress on our modules and he always said he was thinking about it but hadn't done anything. He's a great coder, just not very responsible.
What we ended up doing to motivate him worked to a degree. First, we started mentioning in team meetings how important it was for everyone to finish their part because integration would be a big issue. Later, the four of us wrote that guy an email expressing our frustration because we were getting so close to the deadline. Also, we mentioned the problem to the professor supervising our team. He couldn't do much, but he talked to the guy and explained that if he didn't work like the rest of us he couldn't receive as high a grade either.
We ended up having to do some of his modules for him at the last minute and he only did one. The result was we couldn't finish the modules he dumped on us and therefore couldn't integrate the module he actually did to see if it worked. So, it wasn't a total success but the four of us felt good about the work we had put in and tried not to be too bitter at the guy that sabotaged our senior project.
So, our techniques worked to a degree but we should have talked to him sooner and taken over some of his responsibilities then so that we might have been able to get them working.
I recently built a pc and found good deals at www.compgeeks.com and www.computerra.com. Both had good prices and good shipping. Computerra had a better selection but you can get cheap used stuff from compgeeks.
This gives a great example of the safer of the two types of gene engineering, somatic. This type of gene therapy only modifies the genetic makeup of certain cells in the body. None of the effects of the changes could propogate onto his children. I wish we could see more of this type of gene therapy.
The other type, germline, alters genes in gametes (eggs and sperm). Any changes here would probably (at least with our technology) be irrevsible and would be carried by any decendents. Thankfully, people are being more cautious with this kind since the effects would be much more permanent and far reaching.
For this idea to work its got to get past both the airline companies and their business partners that are setting up the old "Fly to outer space with 1,000,000 frequent flier miles (plus a hefty sum of money)". This assumes of course that there would be an option for tourism, but considering all the non-astronauts that are signed up for trips to the space station, I'm sure it would happen with this as well. I doubt those guys would appreciate losing business.
The music industry has decided to fight dirty, through legislation instead of competition, and I'm glad that someone is fighting fire with fire. I really think that if their business leaders would take another approach and just sell cd's for less (=$10) then the whole music piracy issue would go away. If cd's were that accessible then no one would even bother to "steal" the music.
Actually they do. Everytime I've been to the airport they ask me to turn on my PDA and show them a lit screen. Maybe not laptops, though.