Assuming we don't destroy our civilization first, eventually it's likely that a large portion - if not all - of the species will be 'infected' by biological nanomachinery. Think about it. If a large enough portion of the species gets nanobot implants, eventually they'll "infect" everyone. May be a good thing, maybe not...
I don't know if you've read Varley's book Steel Beach, but if not, it's a must read when it comes to science fiction that deals with this sort of thing. Points out a lot of the downsides as well - and it's also a great read, easily the best Heinlein book I've ever read that wasn't written by Heinlein. Better, even.
He points out that in order to survive massive amounts of pollution and disease, nanomachinery 'infecting' our bodies may be an absolute necessity for us to survive at all. I won't spoil the really nasty surprise that may await us if that happens... read the book:)
Aren't yeast cells relatively large, as well? Since glucose molecules are pretty small, I'd imagine it'd be fairly easy to build a filter to keep the yeast out of the bloodstream.
One can always introduce more nutrients into the body to compensate, if it becomes a problem.
Your point about artificial symbiotic parasites is right on target. I think that's more likely to be the path we take in repairing body damage - destroying cancers and fixing cellular damage - than nanomachines are.
Having a large portion of the human species operating at a low level of alcoholic intoxication would hardly be more damaging than what we already have;)
I don't know about managing blood sugar - that's pretty complicated - but one could certainly build an implantable glucose monitor using this technology.
Yeast are thriving? Glucose levels are high. Dying? Low...
Can't the human body already metabolize most yeast byproducts?
The problem with nuclear power sources is that they have a minimum effective size. They wouldn't work for nanobots, assuming we ever figure out how to build cellular repair machinery that small. (Feynman pointed out once that there is no physical barrier to doing so - although the engineering is turning out to be hellishly difficult)
This is brilliant. There's been a lot of scifi stories that hypothesized implants that run off of neural impulses; this isn't limited by the extremely small amounts of electricity that the nervous system generates.
Waste is definitely going to be a problem, but one that's likely solvable by engineering yeast that produce waste that can be metabolized and flushed out by the liver or kidneys.
This may also be an answer to the problem of powering nanomachines that repair the human body. I'm hardly an expert in the field, anyone who is (and is still here today) care to comment?
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.[16] Harry, however, opposed it,[17] famously wondering, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
Maybe, like, people who went to plays? The demographic that at the time would likely have been the biggest attendees of moving pictures? Just goes to show that managerial idiocy is hardly a new invention...
More breaking news: Darl McBride announced that he's going to throw his weight behind linux; "If you can't beat'em, join'em." he declared in a surprise announcement from amidst the still smoking ruins of SCO's headquarters.
He was hospitalized shortly afterward in critical condition due to what appears to be injuries inflicted by an office chair.
Me too. I was an AC here for years before I bothered to register, and the AF jokes back then were much, much better.
I'm laid up with a sprained ankle right now, and I was looking forward to today, for the laughs - could use some. This is lame. A lot of comments have been funny, but the stories just haven't been.
Klez. Remember Klez? That was the tip of the iceberg when it came to automagic load-on-click viruses. Lots worse, now.
And I don't know what the ssh port has to do with what we are talking about. No desktop dist that I'm aware of has ssh servers even installed, much less enabled by default.
Although I'd agree with you if you are dealing with people who are trying to install distros and doing shit like what you describe. Beat them upside the head. But don't blame it on linux or the other unix variants - blame it on the idiot sysadmins. There's no such thing as an idiot proof OS - and neither did I imply there was.
There is such thing as operating systems that are MORE idiot proof, however.
Jesus, man. Are you really trying to tell me it's just as easy to insert a userland executable into a unix-based OS that can frak the operating system to the root level as it is to insert one into a windows OS?
Yes
I'm sorry, but you just plain don't know what the hell you are talking about. If you keep up at all on windows vulnerabilities, you should know better. So I have to assume that either you don't, or that you are an astroturfing troll.
After more than a decade of horrid drought, we're getting slammed bad.
Last spring, more than twice our twenty-year-annual precip packed in about three months. Worst floods since before anyone here can remember.
This winter, about the same snowfall as we experienced in the best years in the 70s, up until a few weeks ago. Over six feet of snow in the last two weeks, when the average annual since about '71 was about that, and another two feet+ coming down as I type this.
It's crazy. The real problem we're having is that the vegetation has died back so far in the hills, and the claypack soil has gotten so baked and hard, that the water is just running off... more floods coming again, this year. The soil isn't retaining water anymore, and where the forest floor hasn't died off, it's been burned off by some of the worst fires ever recorded:(
Famine to feast... as always, with reality, there's are clouds in the silver lining, and linings in the clouds...
Cheers, my friend. Haven't yakked with you in a while. Hang in there. It will get worse;\
I've had to teach some _smart_ people running Linux why downloading random.rpms/.debs/binaries is a bad thing.
Versus the "screensavers", browser exploits, and other malware that are SO MUCH MORE COMMONLY used as malware entry points for windows?
Point out to me just ONE of those types of social attacks that are used against linux and Mac OS systems, that have been successful in infecting more than a very tiny - if any - percentage of machines running those operating systems. Or that COULD BE. You can't just download a screensaver or some other executable on any unix-based system, and have it execute automagically without specifically making it capable of doing so.
Jesus, man. Are you really trying to tell me it's just as easy to insert a userland executable into a unix-based OS that can frak the operating system to the root level as it is to insert one into a windows OS?
You are doing yourself a disservice by not doing so.
*One* glacier not melting? When most of the rest are? Come on, I could come up with a better response than that - not *all* the glaciers are retreating, just most of them - the few that aren't are in regions where the climate is experiencing greater snowfall.
I feel bad for you. Not because you don't know what you're talking about - but because you just splashed it all over in a public venue with a lot of people who know much more than you do - and you do a google search here and there to try and prove your point.
You made an ass out of yourself. I hardly contributed to that.
(If you think that getting modded up for a comment on slashdot makes it different, than you really are a young fool.)
Slashdot Mirror
Then some biohackers will introduce an agent which kills the micro-Bender... ;)
SB
Never played it.
I used to be damned good at Heavy Gear II, tho...
SB
Or any other news source.
Some say it's because we have increased exposure to news, in general, and that it's always been that way.
If that's so, then the human race really IS a bunch of silly fools, with a few sensical people in the mix, like raisins in raisin bread.
Personally I think we're just becoming collectively sillier.
SB
There should be a "Headshot" achievement class ;)
SB
Only a matter of time until someone produces a biological symbiont that *absorbs* alcohol and renders it harmless before it can affect you...
SB
Eventually CADIE will be shortened to "CC" and we'll all forget that the Invaders destroyed our civilization...
Ooops, sorry, wrong timeline. ;)
SB
No. I'm not senile. Not yet, anyway ;)
Assuming we don't destroy our civilization first, eventually it's likely that a large portion - if not all - of the species will be 'infected' by biological nanomachinery. Think about it. If a large enough portion of the species gets nanobot implants, eventually they'll "infect" everyone. May be a good thing, maybe not...
I don't know if you've read Varley's book Steel Beach, but if not, it's a must read when it comes to science fiction that deals with this sort of thing. Points out a lot of the downsides as well - and it's also a great read, easily the best Heinlein book I've ever read that wasn't written by Heinlein. Better, even.
He points out that in order to survive massive amounts of pollution and disease, nanomachinery 'infecting' our bodies may be an absolute necessity for us to survive at all. I won't spoil the really nasty surprise that may await us if that happens... read the book :)
SB
No. I don't inflict that sort of mental trauma on myself. Fox News is bad enough ;)
SB
Two generations from now, donuts and frosting and brownies - and PIE! - are going to be regulated for "21 and older" ;D
SB
Aren't yeast cells relatively large, as well? Since glucose molecules are pretty small, I'd imagine it'd be fairly easy to build a filter to keep the yeast out of the bloodstream.
SB
One can always introduce more nutrients into the body to compensate, if it becomes a problem.
Your point about artificial symbiotic parasites is right on target. I think that's more likely to be the path we take in repairing body damage - destroying cancers and fixing cellular damage - than nanomachines are.
SB
Having a large portion of the human species operating at a low level of alcoholic intoxication would hardly be more damaging than what we already have ;)
SB
Mod parent up please.
More info:
http://intelegen.com/nutrients/candida_yeast_protection_program1.htm
SB
I don't know about managing blood sugar - that's pretty complicated - but one could certainly build an implantable glucose monitor using this technology.
Yeast are thriving? Glucose levels are high. Dying? Low...
SB
I did get the sarcasm. It was just a good place to insert my post and try to head off any potential idiots at the pass, so to speak ;)
SB
Can't the human body already metabolize most yeast byproducts?
The problem with nuclear power sources is that they have a minimum effective size. They wouldn't work for nanobots, assuming we ever figure out how to build cellular repair machinery that small. (Feynman pointed out once that there is no physical barrier to doing so - although the engineering is turning out to be hellishly difficult)
SB
Read the FA, especially linked journal summary, published back in December.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/wrapper.jsp?arnumber=4671110
This isn't an April Fools joke.
This is brilliant. There's been a lot of scifi stories that hypothesized implants that run off of neural impulses; this isn't limited by the extremely small amounts of electricity that the nervous system generates.
Waste is definitely going to be a problem, but one that's likely solvable by engineering yeast that produce waste that can be metabolized and flushed out by the liver or kidneys.
This may also be an answer to the problem of powering nanomachines that repair the human body. I'm hardly an expert in the field, anyone who is (and is still here today) care to comment?
SB
From the wiki entry about Warner Brothers:
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.[16] Harry, however, opposed it,[17] famously wondering, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
Maybe, like, people who went to plays? The demographic that at the time would likely have been the biggest attendees of moving pictures? Just goes to show that managerial idiocy is hardly a new invention...
SB
More breaking news: Darl McBride announced that he's going to throw his weight behind linux; "If you can't beat'em, join'em." he declared in a surprise announcement from amidst the still smoking ruins of SCO's headquarters.
He was hospitalized shortly afterward in critical condition due to what appears to be injuries inflicted by an office chair.
SB
Me too. I was an AC here for years before I bothered to register, and the AF jokes back then were much, much better.
I'm laid up with a sprained ankle right now, and I was looking forward to today, for the laughs - could use some. This is lame. A lot of comments have been funny, but the stories just haven't been.
Even OMG PONIES was better than this :(
SB
Klez. Remember Klez? That was the tip of the iceberg when it came to automagic load-on-click viruses. Lots worse, now.
And I don't know what the ssh port has to do with what we are talking about. No desktop dist that I'm aware of has ssh servers even installed, much less enabled by default.
Although I'd agree with you if you are dealing with people who are trying to install distros and doing shit like what you describe. Beat them upside the head. But don't blame it on linux or the other unix variants - blame it on the idiot sysadmins. There's no such thing as an idiot proof OS - and neither did I imply there was.
There is such thing as operating systems that are MORE idiot proof, however.
Jesus, man. Are you really trying to tell me it's just as easy to insert a userland executable into a unix-based OS that can frak the operating system to the root level as it is to insert one into a windows OS?
Yes
I'm sorry, but you just plain don't know what the hell you are talking about. If you keep up at all on windows vulnerabilities, you should know better. So I have to assume that either you don't, or that you are an astroturfing troll.
SB
You too, huh?
After more than a decade of horrid drought, we're getting slammed bad.
Last spring, more than twice our twenty-year-annual precip packed in about three months. Worst floods since before anyone here can remember.
This winter, about the same snowfall as we experienced in the best years in the 70s, up until a few weeks ago. Over six feet of snow in the last two weeks, when the average annual since about '71 was about that, and another two feet+ coming down as I type this.
It's crazy. The real problem we're having is that the vegetation has died back so far in the hills, and the claypack soil has gotten so baked and hard, that the water is just running off... more floods coming again, this year. The soil isn't retaining water anymore, and where the forest floor hasn't died off, it's been burned off by some of the worst fires ever recorded :(
Famine to feast... as always, with reality, there's are clouds in the silver lining, and linings in the clouds...
Cheers, my friend. Haven't yakked with you in a while. Hang in there. It will get worse ;\
SB
I've had to teach some _smart_ people running Linux why downloading random .rpms/.debs/binaries is a bad thing.
Versus the "screensavers", browser exploits, and other malware that are SO MUCH MORE COMMONLY used as malware entry points for windows?
Point out to me just ONE of those types of social attacks that are used against linux and Mac OS systems, that have been successful in infecting more than a very tiny - if any - percentage of machines running those operating systems. Or that COULD BE. You can't just download a screensaver or some other executable on any unix-based system, and have it execute automagically without specifically making it capable of doing so.
Jesus, man. Are you really trying to tell me it's just as easy to insert a userland executable into a unix-based OS that can frak the operating system to the root level as it is to insert one into a windows OS?
Are you out of your mind? Or just ignorant?
SB
Kiddo, you really should start paying attention.
You are doing yourself a disservice by not doing so.
*One* glacier not melting? When most of the rest are? Come on, I could come up with a better response than that - not *all* the glaciers are retreating, just most of them - the few that aren't are in regions where the climate is experiencing greater snowfall.
I feel bad for you. Not because you don't know what you're talking about - but because you just splashed it all over in a public venue with a lot of people who know much more than you do - and you do a google search here and there to try and prove your point.
You made an ass out of yourself. I hardly contributed to that.
(If you think that getting modded up for a comment on slashdot makes it different, than you really are a young fool.)
SB
Then you should know better than to believe what you hear.
SB