How is disabling electronics completely safe for civillians?
Well, safer than beeing blown to smithereens the old fashioned way at least...
I admit that it might not be much of an improvement, but somehow the fact that it is called a weapon goes a long way in terms of telling you that it may not be completly harmless or benifitial to society at large.
Weapons are per definition used to hurt people in some way shape or form.
The cost of 'smart' weapons (mainly GPS-guided bombs) has come down (thanks to Moore's law) significantly.
Why doesn't that make me all warm and fuzzy inside? Somehow I don't find affordable smart bombs due to economics of scale is a positive development... Well, I guess it's inevitable. Can't wait till every two bit madman and wanna-be warmonger can have their own guided munition without going bankrupt. At least, until now you have had to be a one of the major players to play with those toys.
In our shiny new world anyone with a few bucks to spare will be able to knock over a few buildings on a whim. The famed "9/11" was a one trick pony, but within a decade people won't have to pull off elaborate suicidal plans to make a big bang. Just press the button! And, guess what? There are always plenty of angry people with a score to settle and nothing to lose.
Well, guess there is nothing to be done about it, so I'll just quit whining now...
It's all in the eye of the beholder, dude...
The beauty is that he constantly threads the thin line between Gibson style "kool cyb3rphunk" and outrageous slapstick.
I don't presume to know what Stephenson thought when he wrote it, but considering how different it is from his other work, I don't think he was dead serious all the time.
I just couldn't read it and keep a straight face, so I decided to read it like a parody, and it turned out to be a brilliant one at that! I think parody, like sarcasm (or trolls) are at its best when you thread that fine line where people just can't be sure if you are being serious or just pulling their leg.
Besides, I always wanted my business card to say: Last of the Freelance Hackers
Greatest swordfighter in the world" I mean, come on! How could anyone write that and not be giggling hysterically over the keyboard. The main character is called "Hiro Protagonist" for Pete's sake!
It's a parody, get it? Kind of like spaceballs.
Stephenson is mocking the "cyberpunk"-genre by taking the already over-the-top jargon really over the top. Introducing things like the full-body personal airbag (good for jumping into a busy freeway from a low flying helicopter), the fusion-powered gauss-gattling gun (requiering a mid-sized lake to dip the heatsink in) mentioned in the parent post. And, last, but not least, the pacemaker wired to your own personal nuclear warhead (for those of you that really, really crave the same respect for your person that people otherwise only give major soverign states).
Reread it as a parody and I can almost promise you you'll enjoy it.
Well, at least you Europeans don't need to worry about your artistic heritage vanishing into the past because something ceased to exist (think nitrate film) because it became unprofitable before its copyright expired.
Wishful thinking, I'm afraid...
Copyright law is more or less equally fucked up over here. Besides, as long as the US economy doesn't experience a major setback directly related to the extermination of the commons The Powers That Be over here has a strong tendency to emulate american policies, both the good stuff, and the utterly awful and ill concieved (think DMCA --> EUCD).
The US has a good track record economically, and the European right wing mostly wants to copy everything the US does verbatim hoping it will work here.
I wish they would be more selective, and maybe think for them selves, but... ...a lot of people would eat shit if it came from New York and cost 3000$ a pound.
Common sense is as rare here as in the land formerly known as the land of the free.
I mean, I sometimes engage in a little friendly america-bashing, but I am under no illusion that Europe is somehow superior in all ways.
Some things are worse, some are better, and some, like this, is equally fucked up on both sides of the pond.
Maybe the chinese will have the last laugh in this , china beeing known among content publishers a "a one disc country".;-) Who knows, they might be better of in the long run. Maybe to little copyright is less harmful than waaaay too much.
So, once again, the point is, when we're attacked, we must do nothing, since we "had it coming."
You know, we could do something a little more constructive than more of the same thing that obviously contributed to these problems in the first place.
But of course you wouldn't like that. You wouldn't get to see all that action on cnn. Bombs are fun just as long as they don't fall on us, huh?
How, pray tell, is bombing random countries solving the problem that a lot of people feel they have reason to hate the west? The survivors are not going to like us one fucking bit more once the dust settle, i can absolutely positivly guarantee you that.
Well, since she is already filthy rich, maybe she dont feel like taking part in a sucky movie just to get even richer.
I hear the concept is called artistic integrity.
Richard Stallman, has he ever admitted to being wrong about anything?
So, has he ever been wrong about something?;-) You know, beneath all the foaming, the guy seems to be right most of the time. Of course he has supported some seriously doomed projects, but most OSS projects start out as "doomed" (no employees, no budget etc.) and a lot of them has grown very sucessfull.
Actually, I bet you the HURD will reach 1.0 and actual usefullnes any decade now.
I guess they think that because their code runs in Ring 0 they must be somehow superior to the rest of us.
Well, I guess that, as coders, they are superior to most people. At least when it comes to kernel stuff... And, if they do their coding on time you aren't paying them for, they are well in their rights to ignore any user requests.
As of them being arrogant, well, I'm sure some of them are. It's unfortunately pretty common among people who are good at what they do. Can make them a pain in the ass to deal with...
This should definitely put the pressure on governments to open the doors to stem cell research.
Interesting. Now, tell me, what governments (except the US) has closed those doors, to begin with?
You know, there are several lines of stem cells being researched upon within a 10km radius of me even as I write this.
The only effect of US religious rights conniption over stem cells is that the US get harder to keep up in this area of science (and, to be fair, this might slow the progression of the science somewhat). But still, in the long run, it doesn't change a thing.
If it responds to touch is it a baby or a lump of flesh?
Do you extend those rights to all "lumps of flesh that respond to touch"? Do you eat meat? I'm pretty sure your last Big Mac had a much more complex response to touch than a 5.5 week featus before someone killed it.
Well, if you ask me, "pro-choise" is right on the money. "Pro-life" on the other hand could more accurately be called "no-choise". Talk about avoiding the issue at hand...
In one word: Yes!
Why the hell would you classify a human body (a corpse really) as a human if it is brain dead? It's just a piece of meat.
If your brain is shut down, and there is no hope of rebooting it, you are dead. period. What good is it to you, or anyone else if your body is still breathing?
Who the hell is Snowy?
Do they really call Milou that in the US/UK?
Will mr Spielberg ruin this excellent comic totally, or will he have a good hair day and make something wortwhile, like he has been known to do every now and then?
Hmm... I'm afraid I can't answer my own question without being synical in the extreme.
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Besides, I bet that not all iraqi people overflow with joy at the thought of dying for Saddam Hussein.
How is disabling electronics completely safe for civillians?
Well, safer than beeing blown to smithereens the old fashioned way at least...
I admit that it might not be much of an improvement, but somehow the fact that it is called a weapon goes a long way in terms of telling you that it may not be completly harmless or benifitial to society at large.
Weapons are per definition used to hurt people in some way shape or form.
The cost of 'smart' weapons (mainly GPS-guided bombs) has come down (thanks to Moore's law) significantly.
Why doesn't that make me all warm and fuzzy inside?
Somehow I don't find affordable smart bombs due to economics of scale is a positive development...
Well, I guess it's inevitable.
Can't wait till every two bit madman and wanna-be warmonger can have their own guided munition without going bankrupt.
At least, until now you have had to be a one of the major players to play with those toys.
In our shiny new world anyone with a few bucks to spare will be able to knock over a few buildings on a whim.
The famed "9/11" was a one trick pony, but within a decade people won't have to pull off elaborate suicidal plans to make a big bang.
Just press the button!
And, guess what?
There are always plenty of angry people with a score to settle and nothing to lose.
Well, guess there is nothing to be done about it, so I'll just quit whining now...
I didn't know I was supposed to be a parody!
It's all in the eye of the beholder, dude...
The beauty is that he constantly threads the thin line between Gibson style "kool cyb3rphunk" and outrageous slapstick.
I don't presume to know what Stephenson thought when he wrote it, but considering how different it is from his other work, I don't think he was dead serious all the time.
I just couldn't read it and keep a straight face, so I decided to read it like a parody, and it turned out to be a brilliant one at that!
I think parody, like sarcasm (or trolls) are at its best when you thread that fine line where people just can't be sure if you are being serious or just pulling their leg.
Besides, I always wanted my business card to say:
Last of the Freelance Hackers
Greatest swordfighter in the world"
I mean, come on! How could anyone write that and not be giggling hysterically over the keyboard.
The main character is called "Hiro Protagonist" for Pete's sake!
It's a parody, get it?
;-)
Kind of like spaceballs.
Stephenson is mocking the "cyberpunk"-genre by taking the already over-the-top jargon really over the top. Introducing things like the full-body personal airbag (good for jumping into a busy freeway from a low flying helicopter), the fusion-powered gauss-gattling gun (requiering a mid-sized lake to dip the heatsink in) mentioned in the parent post.
And, last, but not least, the pacemaker wired to your own personal nuclear warhead (for those of you that really, really crave the same respect for your person that people otherwise only give major soverign states).
Reread it as a parody and I can almost promise you you'll enjoy it.
I'm sure you'll listen to reason...
Sigh. I was going to study tonight, but now I know I'll just be renting Spaceballs... again.
...how I love that movie.
Well, at least you Europeans don't need to worry about your artistic heritage vanishing into the past because something ceased to exist (think nitrate film) because it became unprofitable before its copyright expired.
;-)
Wishful thinking, I'm afraid...
Copyright law is more or less equally fucked up over here.
Besides, as long as the US economy doesn't experience a major setback directly related to the extermination of the commons The Powers That Be over here has a strong tendency to emulate american policies, both the good stuff, and the utterly awful and ill concieved
(think DMCA --> EUCD).
The US has a good track record economically, and the European right wing mostly wants to copy everything the US does verbatim hoping it will work here.
I wish they would be more selective, and maybe think for them selves, but...
...a lot of people would eat shit if it came from New York and cost 3000$ a pound.
Common sense is as rare here as in the land formerly known as the land of the free.
I mean, I sometimes engage in a little friendly america-bashing, but I am under no illusion that Europe is somehow superior in all ways.
Some things are worse, some are better, and some, like this, is equally fucked up on both sides of the pond.
Maybe the chinese will have the last laugh in this , china beeing known among content publishers a "a one disc country".
Who knows, they might be better of in the long run. Maybe to little copyright is less harmful than waaaay too much.
So, you propose that we should all be conformist then?
Think for your self, for a change.
Or, maybe "not agreeing with the majority" and "being wrong" are not always the same thing?
Either that, or Mariah Carey is the best musician ever...
So, once again, the point is, when we're attacked, we must do nothing, since we "had it coming."
You know, we could do something a little more constructive than more of the same thing that obviously contributed to these problems in the first place.
But of course you wouldn't like that.
You wouldn't get to see all that action on cnn.
Bombs are fun just as long as they don't fall on us, huh?
How, pray tell, is bombing random countries solving the problem that a lot of people feel they have reason to hate the west?
The survivors are not going to like us one fucking bit more once the dust settle, i can absolutely positivly guarantee you that.
Warms my heart to see others play this game too...
I liked it as lot, but my brother suffered from serious Elastomania addiction, for a long time.
Division by zero is not a well defined mathematic operation.
If you try to do it your code will be well within it's rights to throw exceptions right left and center and then comitting harakiri...
Same way I play Civ 3 for that matter.
;-)
Please never run for office in real life!
Well, since she is already filthy rich, maybe she dont feel like taking part in a sucky movie just to get even richer.
I hear the concept is called artistic integrity.
Richard Stallman, has he ever admitted to being wrong about anything?
;-)
So, has he ever been wrong about something?
You know, beneath all the foaming, the guy seems to be right most of the time. Of course he has supported some seriously doomed projects, but most OSS projects start out as "doomed" (no employees, no budget etc.) and a lot of them has grown very sucessfull.
Actually, I bet you the HURD will reach 1.0 and actual usefullnes any decade now.
Hey, in this case it's more like twisting orcs into, ...ehm orcs.
I mean, it's not like MS Bob wasn't evil and rude in the first place.
I guess they think that because their code runs in Ring 0 they must be somehow superior to the rest of us.
Well, I guess that, as coders, they are superior to most people. At least when it comes to kernel stuff...
And, if they do their coding on time you aren't paying them for, they are well in their rights to ignore any user requests.
As of them being arrogant, well, I'm sure some of them are. It's unfortunately pretty common among people who are good at what they do.
Can make them a pain in the ass to deal with...
Thanks for the links.
Kind of depressing to read though. I didn't think that many europeean countries were siding with the US on this.
This should definitely put the pressure on governments to open the doors to stem cell research.
Interesting. Now, tell me, what governments (except the US) has closed those doors, to begin with?
You know, there are several lines of stem cells being researched upon within a 10km radius of me even as I write this.
The only effect of US religious rights conniption over stem cells is that the US get harder to keep up in this area of science (and, to be fair, this might slow the progression of the science somewhat).
But still, in the long run, it doesn't change a thing.
If it responds to touch is it a baby or a lump of flesh?
Do you extend those rights to all "lumps of flesh that respond to touch"?
Do you eat meat?
I'm pretty sure your last Big Mac had a much more complex response to touch than a 5.5 week featus before someone killed it.
Hell, even some plants respond visibly to touch!
Well, if you ask me, "pro-choise" is right on the money.
"Pro-life" on the other hand could more accurately be called "no-choise".
Talk about avoiding the issue at hand...
In one word: Yes!
Why the hell would you classify a human body (a corpse really) as a human if it is brain dead?
It's just a piece of meat.
If your brain is shut down, and there is no hope of rebooting it, you are dead. period.
What good is it to you, or anyone else if your body is still breathing?
Snowy will be CGI, voiced by Ahmed Best.
Who the hell is Snowy?
Do they really call Milou that in the US/UK?
Will mr Spielberg ruin this excellent comic totally, or will he have a good hair day and make something wortwhile, like he has been known to do every now and then?
Hmm... I'm afraid I can't answer my own question without being synical in the extreme.
Where the value of X-Mailer: is the true measure of a man...
;-)
Good to know I'm not the only one who actually judge people by their mail client...