I ran into this same logical problem when contimplating some stuff I read on the Singularity Theory (over at www.singinst.org, which I arrived at by reading the FAQ on the meaning of life, which I arrived at by typing "What is the meaning of life?" into Ask Jeeves, but anyways...)
The argument goes like this: A person's mind/memories/personality lies in state "A" (normal)
Experiments have already been performed where brain cells can be replaced by a couple dollars' worth of equipment at Radio Shack (I remember seeing the picture, it was a small circuit board mounted to the back of a lobster, that had a brain cell removed and replaced with it, he went on without noticing). With very advanced refinements of this, we create nanomachines the size of a brain cell, that are capable of emulating it exactly, and replacing it (and throwing the old one away via some physical means). Person in state "A" has these nanomachines injected into his head, a few minutes/hours later, his entire brain has been replaced, from organic to mechanical, though without feeling anything different in his head. He is now in state "B".
There are lots of advantages to being in state "B", most notably that an emulated brain cell would be capable of thinking at rates up to 1,000x that of an organic one. Now there definitely needs to be a speed throttler here, because once the speed is set too high, a person loses control of their body, or suffers from sensory deprivation, because information is still entering the body at the same rate, but we'll leave technicalities like this for later.
Anyway, a third state, "C" is available. Every nanomachine, via radio transmitter or the like, tells a computer it's exact location in the brain, and what other nanomachines it is connected to. Computer makes exact 3D replica of the human brain as it is now via these signals. With the help of some emulation software (which emulates electrical signals in the brain, and emulates how these nanomachines work), the virtual brain is powered up, given a virtual body, and a virtual world to live in (to prevent sensory deprivation and possible insanity). Body and mind of state "B" are destroyed. Presto! Eternal life!
However, the problem with this is that in moving from "A" to "B", his/her thought processes are not disrupted in any way, and essentially, "B" is still the same person as "A". But, in moving to "C", thought processes must be stopped. Even if you shut of the brain of "B", then created "C", "C" is still not "B". Therefore, a person could not fall asleep on the operating table as person "B", and expect to wake up in a virtual world in a computer, because the computer program would be a clone. Need proof? Then think about what happens if you turn "B"'s bran back on. "B" is still there, not in the computer.
Essentially, this is the exact same thing that happens in a transporter (Star Trek style). The person that steps on the transporter at the origin is not the same person that steps off it at the destination, and the proof is that if the body of the person at the origin is not destroyed (a la the Star Trek episode where this happens to Riker), then it becomes glaringly obvious that the person at the destination is a copy.
For that reason, I would never use a transporter, or be converted into software as the Singularity Institute thinks that I will. It's my natural survival instinct that prevents me from doing so. Because, survival instinct tells me that my thought processes should never be stopped or interrupted.
Which also makes you wonder, if you were capable of completely stopping all electrical movement in one's brain, then restart them, is it still the same person? Because, why is it any different from stopping a brain, making a copy, and starting up the copy?
If anyone can give me some more info on this type of thing (philosophical, physical, or phisiological), please respond. Oh, and I don't want to hear things like "we don't have the technology to do it anyways, so who cares?" I do!
I understand your concerns about software bloat. It was the same concern I had when I realized that you can view google.com in l33t speak, klingon, and elmer fudd.
But, you know what? It's the best search engine out there, so it can't be causing that many problems. Likewise, I've never seen a better browser than Opera.
... I think that work has to begin on either porting massively popular games,...
More specifically, I think the market we're really forgetting is MMORPG's. Subscription-based games have a continuous cashflow, even if nobody else buys the games. Not to mention, for many MMORPG's, the server does the important calculating and keeps cheaters in check, so why does it matter what OS the client is running?
That's why it was great back when I played Dragonrealms because it was basically a MUD, with a frontend client for any graphical OS.
I'm sure there are plenty of Dark Age of Camelot and Asheron's Call addicts that would be more than happy to switch to Linux if they didn't have to give up gameplay (IIRC you can get EverQuest and Ultima Online to run in Linux, even though they're not specifically (sup)ported on it).
The fact is, I'm really quite good at first person games, but the more THINKING that's involved, the better. For instance, I prefer capture the flag to deathmatch, and prefer Return to Castle Wolfenstein to Quake 3 (much more strategy, in my opinion). Even better are the games that combine the best of FPS and add RPG elements, such as System Shock 2 or Deus Ex.
What's great about Disciples II is that it's turn-based, which makes it great for the thinkers who aren't into twitch gaming, but makes network play rather tedious. If you haven't played it before, the gameplay is almost exactly like Heroes of Might and Magic, but with a dark and dreary gothic look to it. Brings out the Necromancer in you!
We will have such chips implanted into our brains in order to reason even quicker, then we will develop newer chip that will help design newer computers that will miniaturize themselves as new implants that will help us...
Actually, you just described the singularity, at least in some form. You should read up on it, judging by your comment, you'd probably be interested.
The funny thing is, every state that DOESN'T approve of this will see increased business from people trying to avoid the taxes. The beauty of internet businesses is that they can be run from absolutely anywhere. So, if Arizona has no internet taxes, you can expect to see a lot more businesses popping up there, or moving there from another location.
I love the recommendations in the parent comments, but it may be a really good idea to list some "starter" anime. Some anime series are just really, really good at getting people interested in the genre and opens peoples minds (specifically, my girlfriend). Here are a few of my favorites, which my family or friends really enjoyed for their "first anime":
Original plot: Perfect Blue Serial Experiements Lain
Funny: Golden Boy (the dubbed version of this is unbelievably funny) Ranma 1/2
Romantic (watch with your significant other): New Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning Sakura Diaries
For the younger folk: Sailor Moon Pokemon Yu-Gi-Oh Dragonball Princess Mononoke (more PG than G) Kiki's Delivery Service
So the question now is whether you can run the X-Box emulator on the result.
And if you can, will it be faster than the original, because of the OS upgrade?::grins::
Re:Oh boy:: me not worried, it won't work
on
CD Copy Stopper
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
1. As has happened so many times, the media screws up on Average Joe consumer.
2. Those who want to copy/crack/hack it, will. They can't stop it.
The sad thing is, when Average Joe Consumer starts having problems with the latest DMCA-compliant device, he is unable to fix it without spending a fortune to get a new player/decoder/etc, and often he is unwilling to pay. So, in reality, the only people who get to reliably use it are the hackers.
"Easy to use" and "hacker proof" devices are a lot like child-proof safety caps on medicine bottles. It's trying to make it easy to use for those with lesser abilities, and harder to use for those with greater abilities, which is impossible. That's like trying to come up with a math problem that an elementary student can answer, but a college math professor cannot.
It ends with alienating the target audience (my grandmother absolutely hates the childproof caps, and takes all the pills out first thing and puts them in a plastic bag...), and are unable to prevent its circumvention (...while every one of her grandchildren can open the bottles without a problem).
A little hint from someone who's been installing W2K a lot: get Partition Magic 7.0 and use the boot floppies it creates to make your partitions BEFORE installing W2K. The newest version of PM can create partitions and format them in just a few seconds, while the default formatter that comes with the W2K installer can take nearly a half hour on a big drive.
1) Determining if a number is prime [is 909 prime?]
Here, quick math trick that will save people a bit of time. It's always easy to tell if a number is divisible by three, just add all the digits together, and if the result is divisible by three, then so is the original number. 909 = 9 + 0 + 9 = 18 (divisible by three). Oh, and you can take it a step further (18 = 1 + 8 = 9) if the result is still too long.
Therefore, this number showed up right away to me as being divisible by three, and quick division will show that 303 * 3 = 909.
If you're using Linux, it would be incredibly easy to write a couple bash shells that could do this, then just add two icons on your KDE/Gnome desktop, one saying "Enable Flash" the other "Disable Flash." This would be a very convenient way to do what you're asking. Here's an example of what "Disable Flash" would look like:
#!/bin/bash (or insert your favorite shell here) # Script to remove flash capability of Mozilla # !MozPath = path to Mozilla Plugins directory mv/!MozPath/filename/usr/src/
It would also work to just rename the file to something new... like adding a period "." to the front of the filename, to make it a hidden file.
Batch files would have the equivalent function in Windows:
Disable.bat move x:\Path\filename x:\NewPath
Then, just create a shortcut to the batch file on your desktop, and you have the same functionality. The "Enable Flash" batch/shell script would be nearly identical, except with the parameters reversed on the move function.
Actually, I have a torn apart NES case right next to me at the moment. Their whole airflow plan in the original NES case was just to use vents and let convection do the rest. There is a "T" shaped groove in the underside, to pull air in from the sides, and there is a large vent in the top.
If someone knew what they were doing, it would be incredibly easy to take advantage of the existing vents and airflow that is there, and improve it by adding some little old CPU fans at each vent. Or, with some real ambition and tinkering, you may be able to fit a water cooling system inside one, but you'd have a tough time finding a small pump and a place to put it.
What I'm more concerned about is power. Did they get an internal power supply small enough to fit in it? Or did they just use an external power supply like the NESv1?
It's a safe and sane way of expressing nostalgia (as opposed to killing yourself while attempting to use a time travel device made from thirty yards of string and two protracters held together with a rubber band).
Oh, and if you aren't familiar with the concept, here's a link.
Slashdot Mirror
I ran into this same logical problem when contimplating some stuff I read on the Singularity Theory (over at www.singinst.org, which I arrived at by reading the FAQ on the meaning of life, which I arrived at by typing "What is the meaning of life?" into Ask Jeeves, but anyways...)
The argument goes like this: A person's mind/memories/personality lies in state "A" (normal)
Experiments have already been performed where brain cells can be replaced by a couple dollars' worth of equipment at Radio Shack (I remember seeing the picture, it was a small circuit board mounted to the back of a lobster, that had a brain cell removed and replaced with it, he went on without noticing). With very advanced refinements of this, we create nanomachines the size of a brain cell, that are capable of emulating it exactly, and replacing it (and throwing the old one away via some physical means). Person in state "A" has these nanomachines injected into his head, a few minutes/hours later, his entire brain has been replaced, from organic to mechanical, though without feeling anything different in his head. He is now in state "B".
There are lots of advantages to being in state "B", most notably that an emulated brain cell would be capable of thinking at rates up to 1,000x that of an organic one. Now there definitely needs to be a speed throttler here, because once the speed is set too high, a person loses control of their body, or suffers from sensory deprivation, because information is still entering the body at the same rate, but we'll leave technicalities like this for later.
Anyway, a third state, "C" is available. Every nanomachine, via radio transmitter or the like, tells a computer it's exact location in the brain, and what other nanomachines it is connected to. Computer makes exact 3D replica of the human brain as it is now via these signals. With the help of some emulation software (which emulates electrical signals in the brain, and emulates how these nanomachines work), the virtual brain is powered up, given a virtual body, and a virtual world to live in (to prevent sensory deprivation and possible insanity). Body and mind of state "B" are destroyed. Presto! Eternal life!
However, the problem with this is that in moving from "A" to "B", his/her thought processes are not disrupted in any way, and essentially, "B" is still the same person as "A". But, in moving to "C", thought processes must be stopped. Even if you shut of the brain of "B", then created "C", "C" is still not "B". Therefore, a person could not fall asleep on the operating table as person "B", and expect to wake up in a virtual world in a computer, because the computer program would be a clone. Need proof? Then think about what happens if you turn "B"'s bran back on. "B" is still there, not in the computer.
Essentially, this is the exact same thing that happens in a transporter (Star Trek style). The person that steps on the transporter at the origin is not the same person that steps off it at the destination, and the proof is that if the body of the person at the origin is not destroyed (a la the Star Trek episode where this happens to Riker), then it becomes glaringly obvious that the person at the destination is a copy.
For that reason, I would never use a transporter, or be converted into software as the Singularity Institute thinks that I will. It's my natural survival instinct that prevents me from doing so. Because, survival instinct tells me that my thought processes should never be stopped or interrupted.
Which also makes you wonder, if you were capable of completely stopping all electrical movement in one's brain, then restart them, is it still the same person? Because, why is it any different from stopping a brain, making a copy, and starting up the copy?
If anyone can give me some more info on this type of thing (philosophical, physical, or phisiological), please respond. Oh, and I don't want to hear things like "we don't have the technology to do it anyways, so who cares?" I do!
I understand your concerns about software bloat. It was the same concern I had when I realized that you can view google.com in l33t speak, klingon, and elmer fudd.
But, you know what? It's the best search engine out there, so it can't be causing that many problems. Likewise, I've never seen a better browser than Opera.
... I think that work has to begin on either porting massively popular games, ...
More specifically, I think the market we're really forgetting is MMORPG's. Subscription-based games have a continuous cashflow, even if nobody else buys the games. Not to mention, for many MMORPG's, the server does the important calculating and keeps cheaters in check, so why does it matter what OS the client is running?
That's why it was great back when I played Dragonrealms because it was basically a MUD, with a frontend client for any graphical OS.
I'm sure there are plenty of Dark Age of Camelot and Asheron's Call addicts that would be more than happy to switch to Linux if they didn't have to give up gameplay (IIRC you can get EverQuest and Ultima Online to run in Linux, even though they're not specifically (sup)ported on it).
Couldn't agree more.
The fact is, I'm really quite good at first person games, but the more THINKING that's involved, the better. For instance, I prefer capture the flag to deathmatch, and prefer Return to Castle Wolfenstein to Quake 3 (much more strategy, in my opinion). Even better are the games that combine the best of FPS and add RPG elements, such as System Shock 2 or Deus Ex.
What's great about Disciples II is that it's turn-based, which makes it great for the thinkers who aren't into twitch gaming, but makes network play rather tedious. If you haven't played it before, the gameplay is almost exactly like Heroes of Might and Magic, but with a dark and dreary gothic look to it. Brings out the Necromancer in you!
Someone is obviously still making vacuum tubes. And they obviously still have a purpose.
::considers the irony of AOpen's choice to decide to "upgrade" the sound hardware from IC's to vacuum tubes::
Heh, maybe they should see if they can round up old AOL floppies from days of old. I highly doubt AOL is going to send those out to people :o).
I think you're missing a part of your quote, the one that says: (with mod-chip disabled)
So, they can't exactly be cheating and screwing people over, if the only way they can get on xbox live is with the modchip DISABLED.
"The world of James Bond is fiction. Bond wouldn't last 4 minutes as a real spy."
Spoken like a true jealous wannabe.
We will have such chips implanted into our brains in order to reason even quicker, then we will develop newer chip that will help design newer computers that will miniaturize themselves as new implants that will help us...
Actually, you just described the singularity, at least in some form. You should read up on it, judging by your comment, you'd probably be interested.
The funny thing is, every state that DOESN'T approve of this will see increased business from people trying to avoid the taxes. The beauty of internet businesses is that they can be run from absolutely anywhere. So, if Arizona has no internet taxes, you can expect to see a lot more businesses popping up there, or moving there from another location.
I love the recommendations in the parent comments, but it may be a really good idea to list some "starter" anime. Some anime series are just really, really good at getting people interested in the genre and opens peoples minds (specifically, my girlfriend). Here are a few of my favorites, which my family or friends really enjoyed for their "first anime":
Original plot:
Perfect Blue
Serial Experiements Lain
Funny:
Golden Boy (the dubbed version of this is unbelievably funny)
Ranma 1/2
Romantic (watch with your significant other):
New Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning
Sakura Diaries
For the younger folk:
Sailor Moon
Pokemon
Yu-Gi-Oh
Dragonball
Princess Mononoke (more PG than G)
Kiki's Delivery Service
So the question now is whether you can run the X-Box emulator on the result.
::grins::
And if you can, will it be faster than the original, because of the OS upgrade?
1. As has happened so many times, the media screws up on Average Joe consumer.
2. Those who want to copy/crack/hack it, will. They can't stop it.
The sad thing is, when Average Joe Consumer starts having problems with the latest DMCA-compliant device, he is unable to fix it without spending a fortune to get a new player/decoder/etc, and often he is unwilling to pay. So, in reality, the only people who get to reliably use it are the hackers.
"Easy to use" and "hacker proof" devices are a lot like child-proof safety caps on medicine bottles. It's trying to make it easy to use for those with lesser abilities, and harder to use for those with greater abilities, which is impossible. That's like trying to come up with a math problem that an elementary student can answer, but a college math professor cannot.
It ends with alienating the target audience (my grandmother absolutely hates the childproof caps, and takes all the pills out first thing and puts them in a plastic bag...), and are unable to prevent its circumvention (...while every one of her grandchildren can open the bottles without a problem).
Is a government agency open-source or GPL?
I guess technically, the government could be considered open-source. Here's a website with the source code: http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html,
And don't forget the Sci-Fi thriller, Cube.
Getting down is easy! Well, as long as you don't mind a potentially fatal case of rope-burn.
A little hint from someone who's been installing W2K a lot: get Partition Magic 7.0 and use the boot floppies it creates to make your partitions BEFORE installing W2K. The newest version of PM can create partitions and format them in just a few seconds, while the default formatter that comes with the W2K installer can take nearly a half hour on a big drive.
1) Determining if a number is prime [is 909 prime?]
Here, quick math trick that will save people a bit of time. It's always easy to tell if a number is divisible by three, just add all the digits together, and if the result is divisible by three, then so is the original number. 909 = 9 + 0 + 9 = 18 (divisible by three). Oh, and you can take it a step further (18 = 1 + 8 = 9) if the result is still too long.
Therefore, this number showed up right away to me as being divisible by three, and quick division will show that 303 * 3 = 909.
If you're using Linux, it would be incredibly easy to write a couple bash shells that could do this, then just add two icons on your KDE/Gnome desktop, one saying "Enable Flash" the other "Disable Flash." This would be a very convenient way to do what you're asking. Here's an example of what "Disable Flash" would look like:
/!MozPath/filename /usr/src/
#!/bin/bash (or insert your favorite shell here)
# Script to remove flash capability of Mozilla
# !MozPath = path to Mozilla Plugins directory
mv
It would also work to just rename the file to something new... like adding a period "." to the front of the filename, to make it a hidden file.
Batch files would have the equivalent function in Windows:
Disable.bat
move x:\Path\filename x:\NewPath
Then, just create a shortcut to the batch file on your desktop, and you have the same functionality. The "Enable Flash" batch/shell script would be nearly identical, except with the parameters reversed on the move function.
"or a demanding girlfriend."
This is redundant, you could've just cut out the "demanding" and said the same thing.
Or, here's more useful information:
"What will legally allow ?" So then you can get a nice list of which pieces of, say, music playing software, will allow a certain right.
Actually, I have a torn apart NES case right next to me at the moment. Their whole airflow plan in the original NES case was just to use vents and let convection do the rest. There is a "T" shaped groove in the underside, to pull air in from the sides, and there is a large vent in the top.
If someone knew what they were doing, it would be incredibly easy to take advantage of the existing vents and airflow that is there, and improve it by adding some little old CPU fans at each vent. Or, with some real ambition and tinkering, you may be able to fit a water cooling system inside one, but you'd have a tough time finding a small pump and a place to put it.
What I'm more concerned about is power. Did they get an internal power supply small enough to fit in it? Or did they just use an external power supply like the NESv1?
It's a safe and sane way of expressing nostalgia (as opposed to killing yourself while attempting to use a time travel device made from thirty yards of string and two protracters held together with a rubber band).
Oh, and if you aren't familiar with the concept, here's a link.
If you don't recognize the dead clown in the picture, he's from a couple comics over at redmeat.com: the doleful mewling of freshly-weened wussies and tedium's oaken tent pole.
Heh, my old Commodore gets about five nines. If I turn it on for just 52 minutes a year, it is getting .0099999% uptime!