That's ridiculous. If those guys were terrorists then there would have to have been some kind of international conspiracy. Only fools and crazy people believe in conspiracy theories.
I fly regularly in Australia and we don't need to show ID for domestic flights.
Whereas you guys have a two party system that is all about which religion you bat for, we have a two party system which is all about what colour collar you wear (blue or white). When one party is in power we get over-taxed and they hoard all the money for the good of the economy. When the other party is in power we get over-taxed and they blow money on massive public works projects.
But what's the time frame for this? If cheap fusion power is available then going to the Moon or elsewhere in space gets a whole lot easier. Problem is, that same technology makes motivations like solar power stations obsolete.
I've never seen a study of SPS that includes an estimate of how long it will take to build them (that isn't just fantasia bullshit that is). If it will take 30 years before you break even then its not hard to justify just waiting around for something better to come up.
Don't get me wrong, I think if sufficient funding was put into an Apollo style crash program you could get SPS producing net power in under 10 years, and the same simply cannot be said for fusion. We have the physics for SPS, it's just a question of engineering now.. the same cannot be said for plasma physics.
But unless the next administration is looking for a massive public works project, that kind of funding isn't going to happen.
Call me critical but I think if you don't actually have anything new to say on a topic then you shouldn't write about it. And people shouldn't post the link to Slashdot.. did you even read it first?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but there was a time where the majority of workers were involved in actually using these tools, and so it was normal to have an old set of them around the house. Nowadays, with globalization pushing most manual labor out of first world countries, high school kids who take metal shop are more likely to be familiar with manufacturing than their parents.
We live in the kind of world that Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick used to write about, where kids think meat comes "from the supermarket" cause they've never been on a farm and think cars are made by robots with no human hands involved.
Many young inventors are shocked to discover that you can't just design a part using CAD-CAM and email the design off to a factory in China to be mass produced.. that often even the most sophisticated computer controlled milling machine produces parts that you have to get out a file to finish.
Astronomers are using up their mainstream exoplanet currency very quickly. Already "we found another planet" is delegated to the "how about that" section of the news. Soon it won't even make that. So what happens when they find a really *interesting* planet?
That transcript for the talk doesn't including the question and answer session, so I'll transcribe it here:
The question is, can I talk about the inspiration for the user interface on the combat robot?
Yes, on the combat robot, we started out with engineers designing it, very expensive, joysticks with force reflecting, we put it out in the field, the kids out in the field, the 19 year old started doing *bang* *bang* *bang* pulse width modulation with their hands, umm, we changed it then to a game controller and now the 19 year olds in Iraq pick it up, zero training, know what to do.
Great.
[question about flat worms, etc] [different question about humans merging with ai, losing emotions, etc] [question about research funding]
The question is, I used to talk about insect level intelligence, what's my attitude to that.. well, I've got 3 million robots out in people's homes with insect level intelligence. It's a real commercial success. But it doesn't mean we should stick with just that. Some of the principles from that we've been using in these humanoid robots and I was trying to explore a different set of space, but really, I tend to think that, humans are just bit insects. [laughter] Ha ha, we're not as smart as we like to think we are. I still believe that, at its core.
The question, is about [soldiers] becoming emotionally attached to the robots and has that caused us to rethink at all. No, we haven't done that in the military space, but in the home space we've seen people getting attached.. there's a whole set of third party industry making clothes for roombas, there are skins for roombas that you can get, there's some web sites, so I think those, ya know, we'll have Facebook for robots [laughter] I mean, there really is part of this attachment that's an interesting phenomena going on there. Sherry Turpils looked at it with Furbies a lot. There's a lot of projection onto these devices which they don't really deserve from a rational point of view. But we're not rational beings.
The question is, there have been reports of packbots being equipped with machine guns and what do you do worrying about friendly fire. Actually, that's not true, none of the packbots have had a machinegun, the Talon from Foster Miller has had a weapon on it, all with safety circuit and a human in the loop. I think it is an interesting question, when (if ever) do we want to allow robots to have independent targeting authority. I think now is the time to act. There's a bunch of ethics conferences coming up in the next year. I think its time to put this into the Geneva Conventions - some governments do go along with the Geneva Conventions - and [laughter] I think its time to think about that. Absolutely.
[Audience member asks a follow-up:] You said "some governments" follow the Geneva Conventions, but apparently not that you've done some work for. Is it a good idea for you to be developing AI and robotics for the US government? and, umm, in my mind, that could lead to some of the worst nightmare scenarios and I'm wondering how, ya know, what your thoughts are on mitigating against...
Yeah, I think that, in a sense is nothing to do with AI, that's been a question which has faced scientists in the past since the time of Da vinci, who was completely funded by military, doing military work for his patrons. So that's an issue that scientists have had to deal with for hundreds of years. Independently, of AI. And I think it is a big responsibility of scientists to worry about controls of how things are used and I think, actually, the Geneva Conventions have been a good way of
Oh, haven't you heard? The burden of proof is on the photographer these days. You're assumed guilty, and even if you can prove yourself innocent, it doesn't matter, you have to prove yourself innocent *first* and register your proof with a document retention company. I'm not shitting you.
Couple of years ago a survey was made of AI researchers. The questions were:
1. Do you think there will be a major advance in general intelligence in the next 20 to 30 years? 2. Is your research likely to be a contributing factor to this advance in general intelligence?
The majority of respondents answered: Yes. No.
So basically, everyone thinks something big is going to happen soon but few to no researchers are actually working on it.
A subsidized market is hardly a market at all. The *fact* is that there are few manufacturers of solar cells.. and most of them are differentiated anyway, so they don't compete.
Yes, to the ever increasing market of solar cells. They put em in calculators and on caravans and ummm.. uhh.. those remote weather sensors and, uhhh, emergency phones on the side of the highway.... oh yeah, and satellites and NASA robots. As you can see, clearly the market is massive and the competition is cut-throat.
Slashdot Mirror
That's ridiculous. If those guys were terrorists then there would have to have been some kind of international conspiracy. Only fools and crazy people believe in conspiracy theories.
I fly regularly in Australia and we don't need to show ID for domestic flights.
Whereas you guys have a two party system that is all about which religion you bat for, we have a two party system which is all about what colour collar you wear (blue or white). When one party is in power we get over-taxed and they hoard all the money for the good of the economy. When the other party is in power we get over-taxed and they blow money on massive public works projects.
What I find amusing is that you refer to the people creating these policies as "we". Like you've got any say in it.
There are no terrorists. You might as well be talking about the intentions and capabilities of magical elves.
"Trouble maker" and "terrorist" are synonymous now.
Stand in line.
Speak when spoken to.
Have your papers ready.
But what's the time frame for this? If cheap fusion power is available then going to the Moon or elsewhere in space gets a whole lot easier. Problem is, that same technology makes motivations like solar power stations obsolete.
I've never seen a study of SPS that includes an estimate of how long it will take to build them (that isn't just fantasia bullshit that is). If it will take 30 years before you break even then its not hard to justify just waiting around for something better to come up.
Don't get me wrong, I think if sufficient funding was put into an Apollo style crash program you could get SPS producing net power in under 10 years, and the same simply cannot be said for fusion. We have the physics for SPS, it's just a question of engineering now.. the same cannot be said for plasma physics.
But unless the next administration is looking for a massive public works project, that kind of funding isn't going to happen.
Call me critical but I think if you don't actually have anything new to say on a topic then you shouldn't write about it. And people shouldn't post the link to Slashdot.. did you even read it first?
YAWN
Man, what's so hard about that?
You dipshits don't actually think a copy of a passport is worth anything do you?
Just don't let them take your passport. No matter how much they say they are required to.
Hehehe.
http://www.mono-project.com/WinForms
http://www.mono-project.com/WinForms_CodeOwners
See all that green?
As for SQL Server.. an SQL Server is an SQL Server.
Not everyone is as smart as you obviously are.
links is superior.
hehe, fine, try to build me a turbopump.
When your parts come back different to your spec, try to get a refund.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but there was a time where the majority of workers were involved in actually using these tools, and so it was normal to have an old set of them around the house. Nowadays, with globalization pushing most manual labor out of first world countries, high school kids who take metal shop are more likely to be familiar with manufacturing than their parents.
We live in the kind of world that Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick used to write about, where kids think meat comes "from the supermarket" cause they've never been on a farm and think cars are made by robots with no human hands involved.
Many young inventors are shocked to discover that you can't just design a part using CAD-CAM and email the design off to a factory in China to be mass produced.. that often even the most sophisticated computer controlled milling machine produces parts that you have to get out a file to finish.
http://www.quantumg.net/exoplanets.php
Astronomers are using up their mainstream exoplanet currency very quickly. Already "we found another planet" is delegated to the "how about that" section of the news. Soon it won't even make that. So what happens when they find a really *interesting* planet?
Nothing.
http://www.singinst.org/media/singularitysummit2007
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/people-blog/?p=207
That transcript for the talk doesn't including the question and answer session, so I'll transcribe it here:
The question is, can I talk about the inspiration for the user interface on the combat robot?
Yes, on the combat robot, we started out with engineers designing it, very expensive, joysticks with force reflecting, we put it out in the field, the kids out in the field, the 19 year old started doing *bang* *bang* *bang* pulse width modulation with their hands, umm, we changed it then to a game controller and now the 19 year olds in Iraq pick it up, zero training, know what to do.
Great.
[question about flat worms, etc]
[different question about humans merging with ai, losing emotions, etc]
[question about research funding]
The question is, I used to talk about insect level intelligence, what's my attitude to that.. well, I've got 3 million robots out in people's homes with insect level intelligence. It's a real commercial success. But it doesn't mean we should stick with just that. Some of the principles from that we've been using in these humanoid robots and I was trying to explore a different set of space, but really, I tend to think that, humans are just bit insects. [laughter] Ha ha, we're not as smart as we like to think we are. I still believe that, at its core.
The question, is about [soldiers] becoming emotionally attached to the robots and has that caused us to rethink at all. No, we haven't done that in the military space, but in the home space we've seen people getting attached.. there's a whole set of third party industry making clothes for roombas, there are skins for roombas that you can get, there's some web sites, so I think those, ya know, we'll have Facebook for robots [laughter] I mean, there really is part of this attachment that's an interesting phenomena going on there. Sherry Turpils looked at it with Furbies a lot. There's a lot of projection onto these devices which they don't really deserve from a rational point of view. But we're not rational beings.
The question is, there have been reports of packbots being equipped with machine guns and what do you do worrying about friendly fire. Actually, that's not true, none of the packbots have had a machinegun, the Talon from Foster Miller has had a weapon on it,
all with safety circuit and a human in the loop. I think it is an interesting question, when (if ever) do we want to allow robots to have independent targeting authority. I think now is the time to act. There's a bunch of ethics conferences coming up in the next year. I think its time to put this into the Geneva Conventions - some governments do go along with the Geneva Conventions - and [laughter] I think its time to think about that. Absolutely.
[Audience member asks a follow-up:] You said "some governments" follow the Geneva Conventions, but apparently not that you've done some work for. Is it a good idea for you to be developing AI and robotics for the US government? and, umm, in my mind, that could lead to some of the worst nightmare scenarios and I'm wondering how, ya know, what your thoughts are on mitigating against...
Yeah, I think that, in a sense is nothing to do with AI, that's been a question which has faced scientists in the past since the time of Da vinci, who was completely funded by military, doing military work for his patrons. So that's an issue that scientists have had to deal with for hundreds of years. Independently, of AI. And I think it is a big responsibility of scientists to worry about controls of how things are used and I think, actually, the Geneva Conventions have been a good way of
Oh, haven't you heard? The burden of proof is on the photographer these days. You're assumed guilty, and even if you can prove yourself innocent, it doesn't matter, you have to prove yourself innocent *first* and register your proof with a document retention company. I'm not shitting you.
18 U.S.C. Section 2257 Compliance
I'm sure the UK has similar laws.
Or you could get it implanted into your chest :)
Couple of years ago a survey was made of AI researchers. The questions were:
1. Do you think there will be a major advance in general intelligence in the next 20 to 30 years?
2. Is your research likely to be a contributing factor to this advance in general intelligence?
The majority of respondents answered: Yes. No.
So basically, everyone thinks something big is going to happen soon but few to no researchers are actually working on it.
Well you need a big fuck off capacitor bank.. but maybe when super-capacitor technology takes off.
Personally, I'm more interested in seeing a high ISP rocket using this stuff.
You say Al Qaeda. I say Emmanuel Goldstein.
A subsidized market is hardly a market at all. The *fact* is that there are few manufacturers of solar cells.. and most of them are differentiated anyway, so they don't compete.
Yes, to the ever increasing market of solar cells. They put em in calculators and on caravans and ummm.. uhh.. those remote weather sensors and, uhhh, emergency phones on the side of the highway.... oh yeah, and satellites and NASA robots. As you can see, clearly the market is massive and the competition is cut-throat.