You fool! In 10k years, humanity will have long transcended into an indestructible Godmind in hyperspace and could make that "deathstar" vanish with a (virtual) flick of its tentacles.
The brain is designed to control the body. Our hands are the most useful part of it, with reason.
The next step will have to be some sort of glove...we could call it a POWER GLOVE! Maybe nintendo can use it for the next console.
But seriously, it'll have to be that. The big problem is making sure it understands our intentions enough to be useful. Imagine a pianist that can airplay wearing a glove that understand which key he meant to hit (How? Good luck with that...). THAT is the next step and it's hard as hell.
Until then, all we can do is make more ergonomic pads, mice (wiimote is a 3D mouse, fun but doesn't provide more efficient control) and keyboards.
People are naturally tribal and our brains reflect that. That means that our impulses will invariably tend to be racist or adversarial to outside groups. Until the day our brains and culture are no longer contributing to the problem, we try to counter those impulses by instilling a sense of shame and guilt in the individual and publicly stigmatizing racism and other forms of discrimination. Hate crime laws are part of that.
Do you have a better idea that doesn't ignore the shortcomings of human nature?
So whose right would be more important, the right of the ex-CEO to leak confidential documents, of the right of the bank to have a fair court case in Sweden?
oh! oh! oh! The first one! The first one!
First, there is no reason why the bank can't get a fair trial because of what you mentionned. The judicial system is what needs to be fixed if this isn't the case.
Second, this isn't about the ex-CEO's right to leak. If he did something illegal, throw him in jail. Don't shoot the messenger.
Third, I don't care about some bank's court case. Wikileaks and what it stands for are a much more important resource and I don't think this tradeoff is beneficial to us at all.
Things are never cut and dry for the parties most affected. For the rest of us, it is. Wikileaks >> Some Bank's possible embarassment and/or losses. They shouldn't have anything to hide to begin with. They're a bank, not the CIA.
I agree that, if TCAP gets even one man who would otherwise never have been able to find a 14 yo eager to have sex with him . Or as attractive as the one the baiters use to override his ethical/moral/survival doubts. Or if there was not a direct invitation to go to an empty house and upon meeting in a public place, either party called it quits. Or if something happened before he did anything spooked him or changed his mind about going through with it. Or even, if he did have sex with a 14 yo, who maybe wasn't a virgin and who might have been fine with it (a significant portion of women lose their virginity on or before that age).
Basically, I'm not sure all the people they're catching would've acted and psychologically/physically harmed an underage teenager, breaking the law in the act.
However, all the people they do catch are doing something morally wrong, in my opinion and that of society, just by showing up. Many knew they were wrong and showed remorse, not just regret for having been busted. The show is based on taking a person who has done something wrong, who was likely to have done something very illegal and probably harmful to a young teen, had the scenario they created been real. Then, they film the reaction of the offenders as their lives and reputation turn to shit, then get locked up, though are not always convicted.
So, the show may or may not be effective as deterring sexual predation and saving children, but it's not doing so ethically. It's also a sensationalistic show that does not educate (most child molestors are family members) and plays on emotion to have broader appeal, which sucks. They could be doing infiltration, investigative reporting, helping convict child abusers.
Actual muslims are doing a lot of bad shit, just like actual christians, agnostics, buddhists, atheists, deists, jews, shintoists, etc. They also do a lot of good shit, just like actual christians, buddhists, atheists, jews, shintoists, etc.
Blame human nature, not religion, especially if you think all religions are bogus for then, they must have been man-made. Blame the guy who clubs the innocent to death, not the clothes he's wearing.
IS IT SO HARD TO BELIEVE THAT HUMAN NATURE IS THE SAME EVERYWHERE? WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY! SAUDI ARABIA is not ISLAMOLAND. Morocco doesn't do that shit nor does the vast majority of muslim countries. Flame individual countries and cite their laws and I'll be right there with you bashing them.
People don't download illegally because it's free, they do it because it's CHEAP. In this case, it's monthly ISP bill + time wasted because of shortcomings of illegal method (fake files, malware, bad quality, improper iD3 tags, etc.) as opposed to the easier and faster (for most people) iTunes, Amazon or Allofmp3 to name a few commercial services. Of course, sometimes, the illegal method is actually more convenient (vastly more choice, No DRM or anti-piracy Cripplecode, earlier date of release, etc.).
Because of this, virtually all people are willing and able to pay some price. Many people think that iTunes and Amazon prices are good and spend $1/song. Many others would be willing to pay 50 or 25 cents for a song (AllofMp3 subscribers, for instance). A lot of people would buy songs at 10 cents, and they would buy a lot of them. Virtually everybody would pay a cent for a single because we'd just round it down to free.
Imagine now, a world where musicians released music online for everyone to discover using different voting systems and Amazon-like recommendations based on people who have similar tastes, good old word of mouth, scouting and sponsorship of promising talents, etc, etc.
Say that 500 million people in the world want to listen to american music (this is a conservative estimate). 100 million elect to pay a recurring $5/month for 500 songs of their choice without DRM, valid for all platforms+ unlimited streaming of any song mankind has ever made. The remaining 400 million simply buy music a la carte. 1 cent a song, a dime for an album. let's say they spend only $2/month on average.
You now have $500M + $800M = $1.3 Billions...a MONTH! That's about 15.6 Bn / year. Enough to give $100K / year to 100,000 musicians after 34% overhead expenses. This is without counting paid live performances, merchandising, sponsorships, ADs, commercial licenses which should all bring in a substantial amount of extra money. Heck, people could tip their favorite artists whatever they can easily afford too. It would also be easy to create additional services and features could be sold at a premium to those who can afford them. Ticket drawings, autographs, fan events, auctions, etc.
The point is, tens (or hundreds) of billions of dollars would still flow through to the musicians every year despite the ridiculously low prices of music. I think that something close to the vision I'm painting is inevitable. It will happen simply because it's the most convenient thing for humans. Everybody could listen to the music they like to their heart's content, whenever, however. It's custom infinite High-Fi radio station time for all.
An ancient sumerian that experienced walking in the silence, wearing a wireless headphone, and listening to any piece of music ever recorded would think it really cool magic. This shit is what we live for and we can have this before we die. Hopefully, we'll overcome the fear of change and pull it off. It depends heavily on a viable microtransaction system.
Slashdot Mirror
You fool! In 10k years, humanity will have long transcended into an indestructible Godmind in hyperspace and could make that "deathstar" vanish with a (virtual) flick of its tentacles.
:(
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Of course, by then I'll be dead
Google John Titor for the funny.
and THAT is why his comment is modded funny :)
also, woosh.
Joking aside, workaholism leads to lack of sleep which may lead to chronic fatigue and depression.
Perhaps that is part of the reason why we americans do not rate very highly on the global happiness scale.
Think about it.
Unless you've coded something better than Tetris, you all need to STFU with the wise-cracking and start dismantling opensource and freeware now.
Sheesh!
The brain is designed to control the body. Our hands are the most useful part of it, with reason.
...we could call it a POWER GLOVE! Maybe nintendo can use it for the next console.
The next step will have to be some sort of glove
But seriously, it'll have to be that. The big problem is making sure it understands our intentions enough to be useful. Imagine a pianist that can airplay wearing a glove that understand which key he meant to hit (How? Good luck with that...). THAT is the next step and it's hard as hell.
Until then, all we can do is make more ergonomic pads, mice (wiimote is a 3D mouse, fun but doesn't provide more efficient control) and keyboards.
Well done sir.
Are you a minority?
People are naturally tribal and our brains reflect that. That means that our impulses will invariably tend to be racist or adversarial to outside groups. Until the day our brains and culture are no longer contributing to the problem, we try to counter those impulses by instilling a sense of shame and guilt in the individual and publicly stigmatizing racism and other forms of discrimination. Hate crime laws are part of that.
Do you have a better idea that doesn't ignore the shortcomings of human nature?
Thanks for clarifying.
So whose right would be more important, the right of the ex-CEO to leak confidential documents, of the right of the bank to have a fair court case in Sweden?
oh! oh! oh! The first one! The first one!
First, there is no reason why the bank can't get a fair trial because of what you mentionned. The judicial system is what needs to be fixed if this isn't the case.
Second, this isn't about the ex-CEO's right to leak. If he did something illegal, throw him in jail. Don't shoot the messenger.
Third, I don't care about some bank's court case. Wikileaks and what it stands for are a much more important resource and I don't think this tradeoff is beneficial to us at all.
Things are never cut and dry for the parties most affected. For the rest of us, it is. Wikileaks >> Some Bank's possible embarassment and/or losses. They shouldn't have anything to hide to begin with. They're a bank, not the CIA.
Why do companies act in such a shockingly retarded fashion?
I'm baffled...
Corruption of lol.
Great post. I wish I could mod it up.
I agree that, if TCAP gets even one man who would otherwise never have been able to find a 14 yo eager to have sex with him . Or as attractive as the one the baiters use to override his ethical/moral/survival doubts. Or if there was not a direct invitation to go to an empty house and upon meeting in a public place, either party called it quits. Or if something happened before he did anything spooked him or changed his mind about going through with it. Or even, if he did have sex with a 14 yo, who maybe wasn't a virgin and who might have been fine with it (a significant portion of women lose their virginity on or before that age).
Basically, I'm not sure all the people they're catching would've acted and psychologically/physically harmed an underage teenager, breaking the law in the act.
However, all the people they do catch are doing something morally wrong, in my opinion and that of society, just by showing up. Many knew they were wrong and showed remorse, not just regret for having been busted. The show is based on taking a person who has done something wrong, who was likely to have done something very illegal and probably harmful to a young teen, had the scenario they created been real. Then, they film the reaction of the offenders as their lives and reputation turn to shit, then get locked up, though are not always convicted.
So, the show may or may not be effective as deterring sexual predation and saving children, but it's not doing so ethically. It's also a sensationalistic show that does not educate (most child molestors are family members) and plays on emotion to have broader appeal, which sucks. They could be doing infiltration, investigative reporting, helping convict child abusers.
Yeah...I don't like that show.
I own the book and it's a great read. Nice of Tor and Scalzi to give it away.
Actual muslims are doing a lot of bad shit, just like actual christians, agnostics, buddhists, atheists, deists, jews, shintoists, etc. They also do a lot of good shit, just like actual christians, buddhists, atheists, jews, shintoists, etc.
Blame human nature, not religion, especially if you think all religions are bogus for then, they must have been man-made. Blame the guy who clubs the innocent to death, not the clothes he's wearing.
IS IT SO HARD TO BELIEVE THAT HUMAN NATURE IS THE SAME EVERYWHERE? WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY! SAUDI ARABIA is not ISLAMOLAND. Morocco doesn't do that shit nor does the vast majority of muslim countries. Flame individual countries and cite their laws and I'll be right there with you bashing them.
kthx
What idiocy is this? Do you know nothing of numbers and percentages? What madness in you makes you spout such ridiculous nonsense?
I was going to explain why you're naught but a drooling imbecile but I'm not even going to bother.
Stupidest post ever.
A very convincing and logically sound post. I think you're right on all or most counts.
Good for you man! Keep making up for all the assholes out there.
Aliens with a sharper sense of humor. That'd make a good sci-fi novel.
I don't know if anybody'll read this but:
People don't download illegally because it's free, they do it because it's CHEAP. In this case, it's monthly ISP bill + time wasted because of shortcomings of illegal method (fake files, malware, bad quality, improper iD3 tags, etc.) as opposed to the easier and faster (for most people) iTunes, Amazon or Allofmp3 to name a few commercial services. Of course, sometimes, the illegal method is actually more convenient (vastly more choice, No DRM or anti-piracy Cripplecode, earlier date of release, etc.).
Because of this, virtually all people are willing and able to pay some price. Many people think that iTunes and Amazon prices are good and spend $1/song. Many others would be willing to pay 50 or 25 cents for a song (AllofMp3 subscribers, for instance). A lot of people would buy songs at 10 cents, and they would buy a lot of them. Virtually everybody would pay a cent for a single because we'd just round it down to free.
Imagine now, a world where musicians released music online for everyone to discover using different voting systems and Amazon-like recommendations based on people who have similar tastes, good old word of mouth, scouting and sponsorship of promising talents, etc, etc.
Say that 500 million people in the world want to listen to american music (this is a conservative estimate). 100 million elect to pay a recurring $5/month for 500 songs of their choice without DRM, valid for all platforms+ unlimited streaming of any song mankind has ever made. The remaining 400 million simply buy music a la carte. 1 cent a song, a dime for an album. let's say they spend only $2/month on average.
You now have $500M + $800M = $1.3 Billions...a MONTH! That's about 15.6 Bn / year. Enough to give $100K / year to 100,000 musicians after 34% overhead expenses. This is without counting paid live performances, merchandising, sponsorships, ADs, commercial licenses which should all bring in a substantial amount of extra money. Heck, people could tip their favorite artists whatever they can easily afford too. It would also be easy to create additional services and features could be sold at a premium to those who can afford them. Ticket drawings, autographs, fan events, auctions, etc.
The point is, tens (or hundreds) of billions of dollars would still flow through to the musicians every year despite the ridiculously low prices of music. I think that something close to the vision I'm painting is inevitable. It will happen simply because it's the most convenient thing for humans. Everybody could listen to the music they like to their heart's content, whenever, however. It's custom infinite High-Fi radio station time for all.
An ancient sumerian that experienced walking in the silence, wearing a wireless headphone, and listening to any piece of music ever recorded would think it really cool magic. This shit is what we live for and we can have this before we die. Hopefully, we'll overcome the fear of change and pull it off. It depends heavily on a viable microtransaction system.
Yeah, testicles, intestines, brain and tongue are fine*, but who in his right mind would eat ground horse hooves?
The mind boggles
*All delicacies. Intestines used to make good sausages.
Interesting read. Thanks.
You sir, are way too familiar with internet cliches. I fear for your soul.
Hey, that sounds like an interesting idea. As long as the tax is high enough to deter companies from keeping the property indefinitely.