Hrm, think about what you're saying. Almost everything is in science fiction before it exists: space ships, satilites, robots, computers, video phones, etc. Simply becuase someone concieves a particular devices doesnt mean that they've invented it. This individual hasn't patented the idea of a "constuct" instead he has patented a specific way to achieve one. This is a valid patent even if the whole thing is a little hoaky.
I pay with my valuable attention. If you don't think your attention is valuable then ask yourself why yahoo, hotmail, etc. are worth more than any retail chain of stores that actually sale you somtheing. People that sale "real stuff" need people to buy your time with "free" services.
I just thought that some of you might be interested in this story I saw on the BBC web site. Basicaly the guy who grew the ear on the back of the mouse some time ago has developed an artificial spinal cord using a "polymer mixture implanted with immature nerve cells." Using this method he was able to regrow spinal cords in mice that have had about an inch of the spinal cords totaly removed. If this technology proves to be effective in humans, there might just be another Superman sequal in the works...
"... the messages will include coding that an ET theoretically could decipher to send a reply"
OK, I'm going to need some clarification on this statement. Are they saying that the messages are sent with a key? If so, how does the key work and what does that key decipher the messages to, Phoenician letters that form English words? If so, what the hell are aliens going to do with that? Imagine how anticlimactic it would have been in the move Contact if once they had finally decoded the complex radio signals they turned out to be a couple pages of alien letters that formed alien words from a complex language that highly intelligent aliens from the same planet have a hard time learning. Unless this system turns all of the e-mails into pictograms or basic mathematical equations this whole thing is a total waste of time.
I guess one other possibility is that the aliens have intercepted our TV and radio transmissions for years and have somehow managed to separate the various languages and learn English or what ever language some sap plans to send into outer space (by the way, unless they get a lot of Sesame Street they still wouldn't recognize letters). This of course would mean that they already: A. Know we are here, and B. Have chosen not to contact us (at least not directly). So do you think that sending some week signal into space that represents text that is encoded using some non-standard method is gonna make a difference?
You would have a better chance of contacting intelligent life if you went out side every night and flashed prime number patterns with a flashlight into the night sky.
Next time I'll read the article:) It looks like NASA is concidering a significant increase in its commercial efforts. In this case congress had no method by wich it could have aproximated the amount of revenue NASA was to bringing in. Thus, they couldnt possibly have allowed for it in their budget planning. So I stand corrected, by myself. Geez.
What if the Senate all ready factored in the projected revenue from the launches into their budgets and they have made their various cuts based on that bottom line. NASA taking all the money from the comerical projects means Uncle Sam may not see some of the funds it was counting on. It looks like a zero-sum game. Just a thought.
I realize that a lot of people will probably think that the model industry will abuse this new found power of total control over the dimensions and proportions of the human form to raise societies standards of beauty to whole new level of unapproachable perfection. Which will probably spawn a whole generation of self-loathing teens that refuse to eat and hold little value for things not superficial. While that may be true, we're gonna need new designers first. I'm not talking about the technology either. I'm referring to the aesthetics used to craft these digital hags. Am I the only one who doesn't find these "girls" very attractive? They're a little hefty and awkward. By the way, the fashion industry obviously doesn't need digital vixens to warp people's minds, the fact that I don't find these digital models hot-to-trot is probably proof enough of that.
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Hrm, think about what you're saying. Almost everything is in science fiction before it exists: space ships, satilites, robots, computers, video phones, etc. Simply becuase someone concieves a particular devices doesnt mean that they've invented it. This individual hasn't patented the idea of a "constuct" instead he has patented a specific way to achieve one. This is a valid patent even if the whole thing is a little hoaky.
Hey look! I found all the commas missing from that article in my couch. ----> ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I pay with my valuable attention. If you don't think your attention is valuable then ask yourself why yahoo, hotmail, etc. are worth more than any retail chain of stores that actually sale you somtheing. People that sale "real stuff" need people to buy your time with "free" services.
see the above post...
I just thought that some of you might be interested in this story I saw on the BBC web site. Basicaly the guy who grew the ear on the back of the mouse some time ago has developed an artificial spinal cord using a "polymer mixture implanted with immature nerve cells." Using this method he was able to regrow spinal cords in mice that have had about an inch of the spinal cords totaly removed. If this technology proves to be effective in humans, there might just be another Superman sequal in the works...
"... the messages will include coding that an ET theoretically could decipher to send a reply"
OK, I'm going to need some clarification on this statement. Are they saying that the messages are sent with a key? If so, how does the key work and what does that key decipher the messages to, Phoenician letters that form English words? If so, what the hell are aliens going to do with that? Imagine how anticlimactic it would have been in the move Contact if once they had finally decoded the complex radio signals they turned out to be a couple pages of alien letters that formed alien words from a complex language that highly intelligent aliens from the same planet have a hard time learning. Unless this system turns all of the e-mails into pictograms or basic mathematical equations this whole thing is a total waste of time.
I guess one other possibility is that the aliens have intercepted our TV and radio transmissions for years and have somehow managed to separate the various languages and learn English or what ever language some sap plans to send into outer space (by the way, unless they get a lot of Sesame Street they still wouldn't recognize letters). This of course would mean that they already: A. Know we are here, and B. Have chosen not to contact us (at least not directly). So do you think that sending some week signal into space that represents text that is encoded using some non-standard method is gonna make a difference?
You would have a better chance of contacting intelligent life if you went out side every night and flashed prime number patterns with a flashlight into the night sky.
Next time I'll read the article :) It looks like NASA is concidering a significant increase in its commercial efforts. In this case congress had no method by wich it could have aproximated the amount of revenue NASA was to bringing in. Thus, they couldnt possibly have allowed for it in their budget planning. So I stand corrected, by myself. Geez.
What if the Senate all ready factored in the projected revenue from the launches into their budgets and they have made their various cuts based on that bottom line. NASA taking all the money from the comerical projects means Uncle Sam may not see some of the funds it was counting on. It looks like a zero-sum game. Just a thought.
I realize that a lot of people will probably think that the model industry will abuse this new found power of total control over the dimensions and proportions of the human form to raise societies standards of beauty to whole new level of unapproachable perfection. Which will probably spawn a whole generation of self-loathing teens that refuse to eat and hold little value for things not superficial. While that may be true, we're gonna need new designers first. I'm not talking about the technology either. I'm referring to the aesthetics used to craft these digital hags. Am I the only one who doesn't find these "girls" very attractive? They're a little hefty and awkward. By the way, the fashion industry obviously doesn't need digital vixens to warp people's minds, the fact that I don't find these digital models hot-to-trot is probably proof enough of that.
I was just wondering, which part of the experience do you consider a waste of time?
"I drank what?" -- Socrates (Real Genius)