Who the fuck cares about space tourism. It's the wrong model. Re-useable launch vehicles are the first step to space colonization. Thinking in terms individuals having to pay the hefty $200k price tag is the wrong way to conceive of the possiblities here. Think more in terms of groups of people forming small companies and finding seed capital (or mortgaging their houses, etc.) in order to get into space to form burgeoning economies.
NO. The SOftware Industry is NOT DEAD. Over time, what we have come to realise is that sofwtare systems are only as interested as the SUBSTRATE they run on.
Consider nanotechnology. In a few years, nanotech will be ready to move into the mass-market realm. Such systems will require all kinds of new software in order to be able to program those little critters.
Or, consider quantum computing. There isa goign to be a huge resurgence in the importance of soft ware once those quantum computers leave the labs!!!
And, lastly, let's not discount biotech. It seems likely to me that at some point, the ability to program genes, biochemical production systems, etc will all be done programmatically.
Sofwtare, to date, has been limited by lame computers. For these reasons, programmers should be on the front lines of rooting for these burgeoning new technologies!!!
In Kubrick's film (and Clarke's novel), the Monolith has the affect of enabling new forms of thought in the hominids it encounters. Clearly, there must have been some kind genetic manipulation in the hominids on the part of the Monolith in order to enable them to be able to conceive of the idea of "weapon".
Maybe the notion of random mutations is too narrow. After all, if people with these genes in some damaged state are unable to function in certain ways, does this not suggest that the genetic changes may in fact have been engineered?
Were big black bizarro gizmos in our past? Intersting idea....and these new findings are certainly fodder for all sorts of flights of fancy.
Agreed. Computing is the REAL story here. Media sources just don't this stuff yet. Probably because the "teleportation" tag-line sounds like an immediate reference to Start Trek. This emphasis on transportation obscures the significance of this as another step towards quantum computing.
I think that putting all the emphasis on creating Start-Trek-like transporters misses the point. Imagine the kind of computers one could create using information-teleportation! This would give the whole notion of distributed comuting a whole new and fascinating twist.
Using info-teleportation, computers could span the solar-system and be capable of gods-only knows kinds of computations. And think consider the algorithms that could run on such a computer.
Slashdot Mirror
Who the fuck cares about space tourism. It's the wrong model. Re-useable launch vehicles are the first step to space colonization. Thinking in terms individuals having to pay the hefty $200k price tag is the wrong way to conceive of the possiblities here. Think more in terms of groups of people forming small companies and finding seed capital (or mortgaging their houses, etc.) in order to get into space to form burgeoning economies.
NO. The SOftware Industry is NOT DEAD. Over time, what we have come to realise is that sofwtare systems are only as interested as the SUBSTRATE they run on. Consider nanotechnology. In a few years, nanotech will be ready to move into the mass-market realm. Such systems will require all kinds of new software in order to be able to program those little critters. Or, consider quantum computing. There isa goign to be a huge resurgence in the importance of soft ware once those quantum computers leave the labs!!! And, lastly, let's not discount biotech. It seems likely to me that at some point, the ability to program genes, biochemical production systems, etc will all be done programmatically. Sofwtare, to date, has been limited by lame computers. For these reasons, programmers should be on the front lines of rooting for these burgeoning new technologies!!!
I LOVE that movie! Now, in terms of a sequal, it could stll have Peter Weller as BB.
In Kubrick's film (and Clarke's novel), the Monolith has the affect of enabling new forms of thought in the hominids it encounters. Clearly, there must have been some kind genetic manipulation in the hominids on the part of the Monolith in order to enable them to be able to conceive of the idea of "weapon". Maybe the notion of random mutations is too narrow. After all, if people with these genes in some damaged state are unable to function in certain ways, does this not suggest that the genetic changes may in fact have been engineered? Were big black bizarro gizmos in our past? Intersting idea....and these new findings are certainly fodder for all sorts of flights of fancy.
Agreed. Computing is the REAL story here. Media sources just don't this stuff yet. Probably because the "teleportation" tag-line sounds like an immediate reference to Start Trek. This emphasis on transportation obscures the significance of this as another step towards quantum computing.
I think that putting all the emphasis on creating Start-Trek-like transporters misses the point. Imagine the kind of computers one could create using information-teleportation! This would give the whole notion of distributed comuting a whole new and fascinating twist. Using info-teleportation, computers could span the solar-system and be capable of gods-only knows kinds of computations. And think consider the algorithms that could run on such a computer.