... it's a bit premature (and probably somewhat chauvinistic) to say machines will never become conscious. Vast forests have died to present reflections on this conundrum, with inconclusive results.
It may end up that at some point machines will be able to emulate nerve mechanisms and behaviors so well that we end up having to redefine what consciousness is, if only to protect our position on the cognitive pyramid. Perhaps these 'machines' will be bio-based, if we find that biological processes are more efficient and capable matter assemblers at the cell level, in which case are they still machines?
If we go the bio route, will our achievements be any less interesting or relevant because we hacked^H^H^H^H^H^Hleveraged mother nature's toolkit instead of doing things the hard way?
You put a couple of GB ethernet interfaces, fibreSCSI cards, etc and there just isn't the bandwidth to service the data on PCs.
Interesting story on hypertransport and PCI Express here.. Something to keep in mind: hypertransport, when implemented at 32-bits, can do 12.8GB/s.. also, IIRC as each CPU is added it gets its own nonblocking connection to the HT switch fabric.. Hanging PCI Express, gig-e, fibre channel, etc off this interconnect should be pretty effective...
If you have a real need to address that much memory, you'd be a fool to cheap out and buy inferior hardware like Intel or AMD.
Nonsense. Intel/AMD smoke memory I/O and SPECInt, and in terms of price performance do so in a manner which is breathtaking. Putting a DB on a x86-64 using quality system parts (like, say, a rackmount Compaq (move fast before HP fucks the rackmount Proliants up!)) with large memory makes a lot of sense. If you wanna start doing quad-bank interleaving, 64bit lets you do so with large memory quite nicely. Business computing for the most part only cares about stability, I/O and int performance.
I look forward to 4/8-way smp opteron rigs with quad-channel DDR400 support, featuring 4-16 DIMM slots and multiple 64bit/66mhz PCI, multiple gig-e on hypertransport.
... and for IR stuff it works as advertised. ProntoEdit is also super cool, and very very flexible (though somewhat buggy and crashprone as of 4-5 years ago or so)..
I've since switched a bunch of my AV equipment around, and I'm too lazy to reprogram the Pronto, and I've migrated to OS X & Linux and I'm not too keen on caring about getting PE (windows-only) working.. Still, if you're looking to build a remote that can handle all your gear, with macros and 'easy-to-use' interfaces (and as many of them as you like, pretty much), Pronto is your pick.
I have a Lexmark X83 (flatbed scanner/color inkjet) that works pretty well in OSX, but I'd really prefer a version that has a color laser instead of inkjet. Any home (under $2k) units fit the bill? IIRC there's color laser below $1k now..
A Good one, IMHO, will hide when not being used, and re-appear when the user tries to interact with it.
Apple's DVD Player gui is pretty good with this, though it could have an even more compact display mode..
media players need guis for the simple reason that a 'power user' (like, as I would presume, all of us here) would be comfortable with a playing media file (news video stream, Monty Python episode, etc) alongside a separate task.
Full screen is mandatory, for a theatrical presentation, but for incorporating video in day-to-day computing a GUI is mandatory too.
I can rip 4:3 pulldown DVDs (23.976fps) at 700kbps at about 32fps on my Athlon 2400xp/nforce1-220 rig.. WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PLAYING THE OUTPUT FILE. AT 1920x1200.
Granted, I passthru the audio since I can only get halfway decent compressed audio sync using multipass encoding for which I have little time or patience, but 192kbps AC3 is small enough for me..
Needless to say, I'm impressed and grateful.
Plus, I use the xine skin on gmplayer, works OK enough for me.
* Speed: You can convert a two hour long DVD movie into a high quality DIVX movie within 5 hours.
Dude, you need to upgrade.. my 2400XP athlon mencoded 'Big Trouble in Little China' at about 26fps while mplayer played it back.. Less'n you get all fancy with the multipass stuff;)
BTW, anyone know if this thing can play mencoded avis, as opposed to some DRM-hobbled divx(tm) junk?
"Do you have that dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?"
See this movie.. It's a moral imperative...
Oh, and Hudson Hawk, Big Trouble in Little China, and Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy...
hehe, I hadn't even gotten to the USB issues, I was choking hard on the lack of IDE drivers in 2.4.19.. After all the NV stuff on top of the 2.4.21pre5ac3 stuff (with NV ide fixes), everything works well except dvd playback (which freezes the system and pegs the IDE indicator light, I think it's contention among the ide scsi cd drivers or something).
My new work baby.. And yes, thanks to xev and lineakd, all those multimedia keys are remapped to useful things like new browser, new mail msg, new terminal, new google browser, etc..
AFAICR they're supporting _their_ patched version of 2.4.21, and will probably just provide the final 2.4.21 binary kernel rpms later on.
Frankly, I don't mind at all, though only in the case of desktops. I run a 2.4.21pre5ac3 kernel on my 'production' workstation at work, in order to support adequately my NForce1 microatx asus board, and it's quite decent.
It'd make a great 'example' for coders to get familiar on, and Apple could take advantage of a large pool of folks who like browser innovations but also want to take advantage of OSXisms to make the most airwolf browser possible.
I mean, c'mon, what do they have in there that isn't a) trivial to do in Moz/Camino, or b) reliant on Aqua/Cocoa-proprietary APIs? They're not making money on it, they could even use the GPL MySQL-style, where they control the 'official' and 'officially-supported' product, giving credit but requiring unlimited license for inclusion in the official product.. Are they ashamed of the code quality, paranoid, or just short-sighted? (mercy, I HOPE they're not so dumb as to think they can _make money_ by _selling_ safari shrinkwrap?)
(not that _I've_ done much on OSX myself, but maybe it'd be easier to do more if there were better documentation and examples.. Or maybe I'm just fsckin lazy and unmotivated;)
ps: when will Apple update its HTML display frameworks to use the KHTML renderer across ALL HTML apps? The HTML widget that Sherlock uses chokes on obtuse and complicated CSS, which Safari even now can handle..
Yeah, but can you get a 24" 1920x1200 for $399?
on
LCD Overtaking CRT
·
· Score: 1
I got one at a computer show last weekend, a used Compaq 1610 (Sony W900 guts) for $399.. MPlayer plays DVDs scaled to 1920x1200, and they look AWESOME..
I spose when >22" 16x(9|10) OLEDs come out and price drop in a few years I might reconsider, but if you have the deskspace the 24" widescreen is quite a conversation piece;)
lemme know when I can get a version that works with the TiG4's lame antenna and has OS X drivers...
Yeah yeah, I could use my only pccard slot for a wifi board, but fragile protuberances are to be avoided, especially considering the abuse I inflict on laptops..
BTW is there source available? I keep finding nifty 3rd party Sherlock plugins but I'm always worried that I'll become dependent and one day it just won't be there anymore (happened to me with a 'weather' plugin once).
When I'm done with the combobox stuff (including a way to remove typos from the combobox query cache) and I can go thru the IB files to see that they don't betray my personal settings enough, I'd be happy to.. It's essentially a nib and 2-3 key XML files.. I'd say probably sometime between now and wednesday..
I think we're in agreeance on that, but I would also add that the single flat-rate pricing structure across ALL games is another extremely attractive and innovative aspect of xbl. While M$ has not revealed the real cost of annual membership (after the first free year kits expire) worst case you end up buying xbl kit after xbl kit and re-signing up or dumping the service if it's bound to your creditcard#.
ps: M$ makes great peripherals, cool game platforms and so far from what I hear the xbl service isn't too bad speed/robust-wise. They just make crappy OSes, desktop and server apps. The lines with the thinnest (or negative) margins are better. This proves: a) competition improves products and benefits consumers, and b) M$ _can_ compete on merit, but only if it has to.
How about hydrogen-generating microbes + garbage?
on
Cow Manure --> Electricity
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I still think that converting the Fresh Kills landfill to a facility that captures methane emissions, generates hydrogen from garbage compost, and burns the rest in a euro-style plasma furnace could really help SI, as well as NYC (and probably the country at large)..
SI would get cleaner air and jobs in a good local high-tech industry (we'd be HAPPY to import garbage;); NYC would get more tax revenue from the sale of power, hydrogen and methane to power generators and municipal vehicles/facilities and taxes from jobs and industry, as well as additional independence from out-of-city power generation and some relief from peak periods of use. NYC would also reduce its payments for handling trash, thus reducing its budget problems. Talk about a win-win-win-win-win!
Slashdot Mirror
... it's a bit premature (and probably somewhat chauvinistic) to say machines will never become conscious. Vast forests have died to present reflections on this conundrum, with inconclusive results.
It may end up that at some point machines will be able to emulate nerve mechanisms and behaviors so well that we end up having to redefine what consciousness is, if only to protect our position on the cognitive pyramid. Perhaps these 'machines' will be bio-based, if we find that biological processes are more efficient and capable matter assemblers at the cell level, in which case are they still machines?
If we go the bio route, will our achievements be any less interesting or relevant because we hacked^H^H^H^H^H^Hleveraged mother nature's toolkit instead of doing things the hard way?
You put a couple of GB ethernet interfaces, fibreSCSI cards, etc and there just isn't the bandwidth to service the data on PCs.
Interesting story on hypertransport and PCI Express here.. Something to keep in mind: hypertransport, when implemented at 32-bits, can do 12.8GB/s.. also, IIRC as each CPU is added it gets its own nonblocking connection to the HT switch fabric.. Hanging PCI Express, gig-e, fibre channel, etc off this interconnect should be pretty effective...
... we've been PAYING for movable phone numbers for how long now? WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?
:/
Otherwise, I WANT A REFUND, WITH INTEREST!!!!!!!!!!!
This shit threatens to disrupt my otherwise mellow demeanor
If you have a real need to address that much memory, you'd be a fool to cheap out and buy inferior hardware like Intel or AMD.
Nonsense. Intel/AMD smoke memory I/O and SPECInt, and in terms of price performance do so in a manner which is breathtaking. Putting a DB on a x86-64 using quality system parts (like, say, a rackmount Compaq (move fast before HP fucks the rackmount Proliants up!)) with large memory makes a lot of sense. If you wanna start doing quad-bank interleaving, 64bit lets you do so with large memory quite nicely. Business computing for the most part only cares about stability, I/O and int performance.
I look forward to 4/8-way smp opteron rigs with quad-channel DDR400 support, featuring 4-16 DIMM slots and multiple 64bit/66mhz PCI, multiple gig-e on hypertransport.
... and for IR stuff it works as advertised. ProntoEdit is also super cool, and very very flexible (though somewhat buggy and crashprone as of 4-5 years ago or so)..
I've since switched a bunch of my AV equipment around, and I'm too lazy to reprogram the Pronto, and I've migrated to OS X & Linux and I'm not too keen on caring about getting PE (windows-only) working.. Still, if you're looking to build a remote that can handle all your gear, with macros and 'easy-to-use' interfaces (and as many of them as you like, pretty much), Pronto is your pick.
I have a Lexmark X83 (flatbed scanner/color inkjet) that works pretty well in OSX, but I'd really prefer a version that has a color laser instead of inkjet. Any home (under $2k) units fit the bill? IIRC there's color laser below $1k now..
A Good one, IMHO, will hide when not being used, and re-appear when the user tries to interact with it.
Apple's DVD Player gui is pretty good with this, though it could have an even more compact display mode..
media players need guis for the simple reason that a 'power user' (like, as I would presume, all of us here) would be comfortable with a playing media file (news video stream, Monty Python episode, etc) alongside a separate task.
Full screen is mandatory, for a theatrical presentation, but for incorporating video in day-to-day computing a GUI is mandatory too.
Just to chime in:
I can rip 4:3 pulldown DVDs (23.976fps) at 700kbps at about 32fps on my Athlon 2400xp/nforce1-220 rig.. WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PLAYING THE OUTPUT FILE. AT 1920x1200.
Granted, I passthru the audio since I can only get halfway decent compressed audio sync using multipass encoding for which I have little time or patience, but 192kbps AC3 is small enough for me..
Needless to say, I'm impressed and grateful.
Plus, I use the xine skin on gmplayer, works OK enough for me.
People would start talking like munchkins?
What about carbon nanotubes then?
wait! I almost forgot! PRO TOOLS FREE! [digidesign.com]
:/)
I know beggars can't be choosers, but I think I'd still wait until a version of 6 comes around in this program.
If it ain't at least carbon, it ain't on any of my Macs.. (except for Print Shop
* Speed: You can convert a two hour long DVD movie into a high quality DIVX movie within 5 hours.
;)
Dude, you need to upgrade.. my 2400XP athlon mencoded 'Big Trouble in Little China' at about 26fps while mplayer played it back.. Less'n you get all fancy with the multipass stuff
BTW, anyone know if this thing can play mencoded avis, as opposed to some DRM-hobbled divx(tm) junk?
btw, Proyas directed the SciFi Channel's adaptation of 'Riverworld'..
"Do you have that dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?"
See this movie.. It's a moral imperative...
Oh, and Hudson Hawk, Big Trouble in Little China, and Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy...
Watching the end of that, I could only think...
"Somebody set up us the bomb"
and
"For great justice"
(not to spoil, of course, but if you've managed to watch this film all the way to the end, you'll know what I mean)
hehe, I hadn't even gotten to the USB issues, I was choking hard on the lack of IDE drivers in 2.4.19.. After all the NV stuff on top of the 2.4.21pre5ac3 stuff (with NV ide fixes), everything works well except dvd playback (which freezes the system and pegs the IDE indicator light, I think it's contention among the ide scsi cd drivers or something).
My new work baby.. And yes, thanks to xev and lineakd, all those multimedia keys are remapped to useful things like new browser, new mail msg, new terminal, new google browser, etc..
AFAICR they're supporting _their_ patched version of 2.4.21, and will probably just provide the final 2.4.21 binary kernel rpms later on.
Frankly, I don't mind at all, though only in the case of desktops. I run a 2.4.21pre5ac3 kernel on my 'production' workstation at work, in order to support adequately my NForce1 microatx asus board, and it's quite decent.
... and release it as a projectbuilder tarball.
;)
It'd make a great 'example' for coders to get familiar on, and Apple could take advantage of a large pool of folks who like browser innovations but also want to take advantage of OSXisms to make the most airwolf browser possible.
I mean, c'mon, what do they have in there that isn't a) trivial to do in Moz/Camino, or b) reliant on Aqua/Cocoa-proprietary APIs? They're not making money on it, they could even use the GPL MySQL-style, where they control the 'official' and 'officially-supported' product, giving credit but requiring unlimited license for inclusion in the official product.. Are they ashamed of the code quality, paranoid, or just short-sighted? (mercy, I HOPE they're not so dumb as to think they can _make money_ by _selling_ safari shrinkwrap?)
(not that _I've_ done much on OSX myself, but maybe it'd be easier to do more if there were better documentation and examples.. Or maybe I'm just fsckin lazy and unmotivated
ps: when will Apple update its HTML display frameworks to use the KHTML renderer across ALL HTML apps? The HTML widget that Sherlock uses chokes on obtuse and complicated CSS, which Safari even now can handle..
I got one at a computer show last weekend, a used Compaq 1610 (Sony W900 guts) for $399.. MPlayer plays DVDs scaled to 1920x1200, and they look AWESOME..
;)
I spose when >22" 16x(9|10) OLEDs come out and price drop in a few years I might reconsider, but if you have the deskspace the 24" widescreen is quite a conversation piece
lemme know when I can get a version that works with the TiG4's lame antenna and has OS X drivers...
Yeah yeah, I could use my only pccard slot for a wifi board, but fragile protuberances are to be avoided, especially considering the abuse I inflict on laptops..
Laszlo Hollyfeld.
BTW is there source available? I keep finding nifty 3rd party Sherlock plugins but I'm always worried that I'll become dependent and one day it just won't be there anymore (happened to me with a 'weather' plugin once).
When I'm done with the combobox stuff (including a way to remove typos from the combobox query cache) and I can go thru the IB files to see that they don't betray my personal settings enough, I'd be happy to.. It's essentially a nib and 2-3 key XML files.. I'd say probably sometime between now and wednesday..
If GE entered the Console market would they do well ?
COMPLETELY OFFTOPIC, If GE entered the server market, what would happen?
You'd get, among other things, the GECOS (nee GCOS) field..
Just a touch of history for a saturday..
I think we're in agreeance on that, but I would also add that the single flat-rate pricing structure across ALL games is another extremely attractive and innovative aspect of xbl. While M$ has not revealed the real cost of annual membership (after the first free year kits expire) worst case you end up buying xbl kit after xbl kit and re-signing up or dumping the service if it's bound to your creditcard#.
ps: M$ makes great peripherals, cool game platforms and so far from what I hear the xbl service isn't too bad speed/robust-wise. They just make crappy OSes, desktop and server apps. The lines with the thinnest (or negative) margins are better. This proves: a) competition improves products and benefits consumers, and b) M$ _can_ compete on merit, but only if it has to.
I still think that converting the Fresh Kills landfill to a facility that captures methane emissions, generates hydrogen from garbage compost, and burns the rest in a euro-style plasma furnace could really help SI, as well as NYC (and probably the country at large)..
;); NYC would get more tax revenue from the sale of power, hydrogen and methane to power generators and municipal vehicles/facilities and taxes from jobs and industry, as well as additional independence from out-of-city power generation and some relief from peak periods of use. NYC would also reduce its payments for handling trash, thus reducing its budget problems. Talk about a win-win-win-win-win!
;)
SI would get cleaner air and jobs in a good local high-tech industry (we'd be HAPPY to import garbage
Just keep Tony Soprano's hands off it