I'm not even optimistic about it the only thing I *am* sure of is that humanity as an entity will have the capability to do these things. Humanity is accelerating faster than ever before with each new development increasing the speed. Now what actually makes it into the hands of an individual is the only part thats open for debate.
Life is already way different than when I was a child - Toffler's Future Shock has come to pass at least. Mapping the human genome in circa 2000 and now working on the protein foldings that those base pairs encode will absolutely lead to the ability to build a human (or so) machine out of meat. That is going to happen. Period. The only thing that is unsure is how long it will be held back for primarily religious hallucinations, how available it will be to the populace in general, and whether or not we bomb ourselves back to where Fire is state of the art in the mean time.
The Internet alone used to be complete fantasy now it's taken for granted in only 15 short years. Computing or Information Technology is the enabler for our current Biological Science. Now that we can just let the computers crunch 4 billion or so base pairs on their own connected to each other through a global network we're gonna see some Unicorns well within 50 years. I shit you not, accept it.
I'd like to see him sue his educational institution for millions and millions to make an example out of them. Sue for a refund of tuition, lodging, lost time, and the rest for mental anguish then he can use that money at his next school which hopefully won't be as ignorant as this one. There is one thing that people seem to forget is absolutely needed: a healthy disrespect for authority. When someone is held above reproach they tend to turn into a dick. Accountability and it's prerequisite transparency allows the separation of people and jobs they don't deserve. It makes me fume and recall a quote from "Scent of a Woman" where Al Pacino's character states flatly: "If I was half the man I was five years ago I'd burn this school to the ground." when he is confronting the same type of idiots who don't care who's life they ruin as long as they're "right".
I think we need something new; something that has only become recently practical. Sitting here in front of this box of plastic, steel and various pieces of silica I think that it's the key to a powerful resource. We have statistics, we have a bi-directional communication system, we have the ability to make finer-grained decisions we just need to do it. What I would like to see is a geography based opinion gathering system. Referendums are the most accurate measure of an aggregate citizens pulse but are expensive so to work around this limitation we can use this shiny tech sitting in front of us and encourage people to express themselves on policy. This raw data can be statistically turned into useful Information for representatives to consider when they cast their vote in our name. I hesitate to endorse the extreme where a resource such as this would dictate policy as it should be filtered through some kind of rule-system that would prevent tyranny of the majority situations. Everyone's waiting for their government to do something like this but that is not necessary, for now any citizen has the freedom to tabulate what their fellow citizens think. And that would be very useful when it comes to measuring exactly who is divergent when it comes to the principal of representation. A history of divergence without corresponding "good of the many" justifications would also provide valuable feedback when it comes time to choose the next representative. The most difficult aspect initially would be just making citizens aware that such a resource existed.
I'm hoping they'll eventually just cover a segment of what's available: games written only for Windows before Linux took over completely (and when all (new) games are therefore written for Linux):)
Bucking the slant around here, I bought Vista the very same day that SP1 RC1 became available exactly because of that. In a short while SP1 will be final and Vista will get incrementally better. It's been a pleasant experience for me so far, all of my software works but about 1 in 15 needs to have XP compatibility checked. UAC doesn't annoy me very often as well - maybe that's because I don't go into OS configuration screens or run XP ticked programs all that often. Now, with all that said: the day Linux runs all my games and all games are released for Linux is the day I say: "Vista? Yeah I used to use that.". Linux has everything but entertainment and for me entertainment is the primary use of my computer.
I think it depends on personal preference. If it was opt-in and encrypted on your end before it was stored on Mozilla servers then they send you the (encrypted) data on local load of Firefox then you enter your secret password/phrase (or have it come out of the wallet or equivalent) to decrypt it, again, locally then there wouldn't be *any* privacy issues. And if you chose to use it it would definately come in handy for those instances where the OS unexpectedly borks itself on you and you have to reinstall. Then install firefox, enter your access code and at least that part it back to pre-bork settings.
Techdirt has more: details. To add to the conversation, it also asserts a "networked gaming system" but again that's pure bollocks as Quake and Doom before it obviously provide prior art even for that!
Sorry, got so wrapped up I forgot to mention the fundamental scarcity that has been pulled out from under the feet of media: scarcity of manufacturing - e.g. cd-pressing plants. It used to cost big bucks to get your music into the hands of people who wanted to hear it. Now it just requires a web server, some audio software and talent.
If you go to Nine Inch Nails website you'll find the results of an experiment they just ran through. They offered an album for free with the option to pay if you felt like it. To cut to the chase, 18% paid for it (at $5 a pop). That may sound like a poor result and it would have been if it was fifteen years ago. Today however, the game has changed, the music industry used to be based around the concept of scarcity. They had a physical product and the only method of distribution involved moving that product around. Today, information can be replicated for almost zero cost instantly world-wide. Scarcity as a assumption in the business model no longer applies. So if traditional media companies are to save themselves they need to radically change their mode of operation or go extinct. Without scarcity, the only other tangible benefit they have to offer is the experience itself. This means shifting where they expect to get the majority of their revenue away from what is no longer scarce - the music itself - to what is still in short supply: live concerts, t-shirts, mugs, unique (signed?) physical items and such. The music itself can almost be written completely off as a promotional expense to attract business to the items that for are still scarce. Information networks have completely changed the rules of the game in many areas and media companies are just the people to experience it first. If they lack the vision to capitalize on products and services that are still scarce then they will remain as relevant as the steam engine. And there's nothing they can do to stop it - no matter how much "protection" they place on their wares there is a whole new generation of artists growing up right now that don't really see a pressing need to sign with a big label in the first place so if the labels don't adapt and continue to offer something of value then, well, economics is a bitch.
Actually, he is a physicist in addition to being a damn fine SF writer (IMHO). Scientists usually are all logical and stuff but even the best of them can use a bit of imagination (SF) to prod them in their explorations.
The most useful thing that could be done with this is to allow emulation of discs from a USB harddrive. That way I could put my originals away for protection. Yeah, that's it.
It's way faster on my hardware than XP was. It probably stems from the fact that nothing I did (including getting the absolute latest drivers from the manufacturer) would get XP to recognize my SATA drive as that instead of an IDE device. Vista recognizes is as SATA out of the box and everything is *much* faster. Bioshock for some reason as well just "feels" a heck of a lot more responsive and smooth under Vista as well. I don't have any hard numbers to back that up - just subjective experience playing it (5 times completed) on XP and now Vista. Of course, this is all on the same hardware - only the OS changed.
That article specifies that the DRM only applies to the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray content pipelines. If either were to actually be implemented on Linux they would have to write it that way as well. Now, the hundreds of gigs of avi, audio, and written material I have on my PC (um, home videos I guess!) play just fine because they're not going through that pipeline. And if your country isn't crippled with the DMCA or alike then you can always get software that frees the content from those crippled formats while keeping the quality.
I've had the opposite experience: I have a Dual-Core Pentium D @ 3Ghz, 2GB RAM, Ati 1650, 1TB HD. And Vista runs great and I haven't had any major issues at all. And I don't even have any of the stability/compatibility hotfixes or even RC1 of the service pack installed. Like it or not Vista is what its going to be for the next 1/2 decade at least. It's not even mature yet! Once a service pack or two settles in along with the general Windows Update stuff trickles out it will - I'm sure - become an excellent operating system especially when paired with new hardware. Still I like all the branches of Linux and if it weren't for gaming that's what I'd probably be using.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd be happy to live 600 years before I'm archived into Mother Brain.
I'm not even optimistic about it the only thing I *am* sure of is that humanity as an entity will have the capability to do these things. Humanity is accelerating faster than ever before with each new development increasing the speed. Now what actually makes it into the hands of an individual is the only part thats open for debate.
Life is already way different than when I was a child - Toffler's Future Shock has come to pass at least. Mapping the human genome in circa 2000 and now working on the protein foldings that those base pairs encode will absolutely lead to the ability to build a human (or so) machine out of meat. That is going to happen. Period. The only thing that is unsure is how long it will be held back for primarily religious hallucinations, how available it will be to the populace in general, and whether or not we bomb ourselves back to where Fire is state of the art in the mean time.
The Internet alone used to be complete fantasy now it's taken for granted in only 15 short years. Computing or Information Technology is the enabler for our current Biological Science. Now that we can just let the computers crunch 4 billion or so base pairs on their own connected to each other through a global network we're gonna see some Unicorns well within 50 years. I shit you not, accept it.
I'm firmly in Kurzweil's camp with developments like this. I intend to live just long enough (naturally) that I can live forever (engineered).
I don't see why you deserved to be modded flamebait?? Or did the modder really mean -1: Disagree?
I'd like to see him sue his educational institution for millions and millions to make an example out of them. Sue for a refund of tuition, lodging, lost time, and the rest for mental anguish then he can use that money at his next school which hopefully won't be as ignorant as this one. There is one thing that people seem to forget is absolutely needed: a healthy disrespect for authority. When someone is held above reproach they tend to turn into a dick. Accountability and it's prerequisite transparency allows the separation of people and jobs they don't deserve. It makes me fume and recall a quote from "Scent of a Woman" where Al Pacino's character states flatly: "If I was half the man I was five years ago I'd burn this school to the ground." when he is confronting the same type of idiots who don't care who's life they ruin as long as they're "right".
You know that the CRAY-1 (released in 1976) ran at 80Mhz and had 8MB of RAM? Windows 95 wouldn't run on it.
I think we need something new; something that has only become recently practical. Sitting here in front of this box of plastic, steel and various pieces of silica I think that it's the key to a powerful resource. We have statistics, we have a bi-directional communication system, we have the ability to make finer-grained decisions we just need to do it. What I would like to see is a geography based opinion gathering system. Referendums are the most accurate measure of an aggregate citizens pulse but are expensive so to work around this limitation we can use this shiny tech sitting in front of us and encourage people to express themselves on policy. This raw data can be statistically turned into useful Information for representatives to consider when they cast their vote in our name. I hesitate to endorse the extreme where a resource such as this would dictate policy as it should be filtered through some kind of rule-system that would prevent tyranny of the majority situations. Everyone's waiting for their government to do something like this but that is not necessary, for now any citizen has the freedom to tabulate what their fellow citizens think. And that would be very useful when it comes to measuring exactly who is divergent when it comes to the principal of representation. A history of divergence without corresponding "good of the many" justifications would also provide valuable feedback when it comes time to choose the next representative. The most difficult aspect initially would be just making citizens aware that such a resource existed.
I'm hoping they'll eventually just cover a segment of what's available: games written only for Windows before Linux took over completely (and when all (new) games are therefore written for Linux) :)
In the great Slashdot tradition I didn't read the article - glad to see they agree with me on the obvious although!
#1 ... the day Linux runs all my games ...
... all games are released for Linux ...
Accomplishable through api-translation programs such as Wine or Cedega (isn't Cedega a branch of Wine??)
#2
Will happen when enough feedback (see first point for how to achieve feedback) makes Linux a profitable target.
Bucking the slant around here, I bought Vista the very same day that SP1 RC1 became available exactly because of that. In a short while SP1 will be final and Vista will get incrementally better. It's been a pleasant experience for me so far, all of my software works but about 1 in 15 needs to have XP compatibility checked. UAC doesn't annoy me very often as well - maybe that's because I don't go into OS configuration screens or run XP ticked programs all that often. Now, with all that said: the day Linux runs all my games and all games are released for Linux is the day I say: "Vista? Yeah I used to use that.". Linux has everything but entertainment and for me entertainment is the primary use of my computer.
I think it depends on personal preference. If it was opt-in and encrypted on your end before it was stored on Mozilla servers then they send you the (encrypted) data on local load of Firefox then you enter your secret password/phrase (or have it come out of the wallet or equivalent) to decrypt it, again, locally then there wouldn't be *any* privacy issues. And if you chose to use it it would definately come in handy for those instances where the OS unexpectedly borks itself on you and you have to reinstall. Then install firefox, enter your access code and at least that part it back to pre-bork settings.
Depends if the OS of the nuke-intercept-missile crashes along the way to said asteroid...
Techdirt has more: details. To add to the conversation, it also asserts a "networked gaming system" but again that's pure bollocks as Quake and Doom before it obviously provide prior art even for that!
Sorry, got so wrapped up I forgot to mention the fundamental scarcity that has been pulled out from under the feet of media: scarcity of manufacturing - e.g. cd-pressing plants. It used to cost big bucks to get your music into the hands of people who wanted to hear it. Now it just requires a web server, some audio software and talent.
If you go to Nine Inch Nails website you'll find the results of an experiment they just ran through. They offered an album for free with the option to pay if you felt like it. To cut to the chase, 18% paid for it (at $5 a pop). That may sound like a poor result and it would have been if it was fifteen years ago. Today however, the game has changed, the music industry used to be based around the concept of scarcity. They had a physical product and the only method of distribution involved moving that product around. Today, information can be replicated for almost zero cost instantly world-wide. Scarcity as a assumption in the business model no longer applies. So if traditional media companies are to save themselves they need to radically change their mode of operation or go extinct. Without scarcity, the only other tangible benefit they have to offer is the experience itself. This means shifting where they expect to get the majority of their revenue away from what is no longer scarce - the music itself - to what is still in short supply: live concerts, t-shirts, mugs, unique (signed?) physical items and such. The music itself can almost be written completely off as a promotional expense to attract business to the items that for are still scarce. Information networks have completely changed the rules of the game in many areas and media companies are just the people to experience it first. If they lack the vision to capitalize on products and services that are still scarce then they will remain as relevant as the steam engine. And there's nothing they can do to stop it - no matter how much "protection" they place on their wares there is a whole new generation of artists growing up right now that don't really see a pressing need to sign with a big label in the first place so if the labels don't adapt and continue to offer something of value then, well, economics is a bitch.
OMG!!!1!! They;ve located our Secrit HQ!!! Frank, Joe, let's get out of here!!! Frank?? Joe?? Oh yeah, they're just figments.
...location technology that uses the Kindle's CDMA networking to pinpoint its position...
Ok, that's it I'm never buying my "Catcher in the Rye" through Kindle... (Apologies to Mel Gibson).
Actually, he is a physicist in addition to being a damn fine SF writer (IMHO). Scientists usually are all logical and stuff but even the best of them can use a bit of imagination (SF) to prod them in their explorations.
The most useful thing that could be done with this is to allow emulation of discs from a USB harddrive. That way I could put my originals away for protection. Yeah, that's it.
I thought it was all about putting right what once went wrong... !
It's way faster on my hardware than XP was. It probably stems from the fact that nothing I did (including getting the absolute latest drivers from the manufacturer) would get XP to recognize my SATA drive as that instead of an IDE device. Vista recognizes is as SATA out of the box and everything is *much* faster. Bioshock for some reason as well just "feels" a heck of a lot more responsive and smooth under Vista as well. I don't have any hard numbers to back that up - just subjective experience playing it (5 times completed) on XP and now Vista. Of course, this is all on the same hardware - only the OS changed.
That article specifies that the DRM only applies to the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray content pipelines. If either were to actually be implemented on Linux they would have to write it that way as well. Now, the hundreds of gigs of avi, audio, and written material I have on my PC (um, home videos I guess!) play just fine because they're not going through that pipeline. And if your country isn't crippled with the DMCA or alike then you can always get software that frees the content from those crippled formats while keeping the quality.
I've had the opposite experience: I have a Dual-Core Pentium D @ 3Ghz, 2GB RAM, Ati 1650, 1TB HD. And Vista runs great and I haven't had any major issues at all. And I don't even have any of the stability/compatibility hotfixes or even RC1 of the service pack installed. Like it or not Vista is what its going to be for the next 1/2 decade at least. It's not even mature yet! Once a service pack or two settles in along with the general Windows Update stuff trickles out it will - I'm sure - become an excellent operating system especially when paired with new hardware. Still I like all the branches of Linux and if it weren't for gaming that's what I'd probably be using.