I think the point that is being raised is very timely, right now we are in the midst of an ever accelerating high tech age, and many are refusing to even contemplate the ramifications, sticking to a its a GOOD THING(tm) or its a BAD THING(tm) position, without any real in depth discussion. In the past life changed only slowly, so that each new generation would accept things that the previous did not, now we are into massive intra-generational change, and we must all be prepared to constantly re-examine our views as technology and society match forward. That is a freedom that we must allow ourselves and others if we are to avoid becoming split and end with idiocies like Holy Wars which benefits noone.
It depends what you need to be cross platform, if its the user end, use Java running in a browser, quick and easy, and use either sockets or RMI to call the backend. If you need backend distribution then I suggest you use JavaSpaces, and then link the Java via JNI to call your C/C++ or PERL, see
I've just mailed off a load of questions and pointed the BBC to the coverage of MS on The Register:-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/981020-000020.html
now I cant wait for Sunday, if they use the info Bill and MS is going to look guilty of massive monopoly power and trying to usurp the courts, and yes Paxman is the man for the job, he makes politicians squirm all the time, now all we need are some suggestions for Bills resignation speach / suicide note ?
Ok, lets take your construction industry example, houses are very expensive to build, not just the labour, but also the materials as well, and the land on which they sit, which is why many people spend their whole lives paying for one. Now look at software, it might take a few million to put together, but it costs close to nothing to reproduce either on media or posted on the Net, and amortized over the number being shipped, means that many can enjoy the same product for a small cost, and so can enjoy hundreds, even thousands in their lifetime. As hardware increases in power and drops in price more possible products are created, and new classes of product emerge, so the number of tech people required increases. To say that the shortage is over would mean that the future would have to consist of companies going back to standalone machines, the userbase of the Net would be going down, and no one would be bothering to buy the latest version of Quake. This of course is complete and utter nonsense, we cant go back, only forward, and forward requires MORE people. As for genetic algorithms, who is going to program them? You cant just say heres a genetic algorithm and it solves all the worlds ills, you have to program what it is that is evolving, and they are still at a very early stage, and need a lot of computing resource to do anything above the simplist task, and the same goes for neural nets at the moment. The only way to ease the shortage is to encourage more people to take up tech carreers, and with things as they are in society, it doesnt look good. Also there is a huge difference between someone who can program and a real programmer who can solve problems and adapt in an increasingly changing environment, the later is much more useful than the former, and much rarer too.
Re:Use your university years wisely
on
Managing Geeks
·
· Score: 1
I would say use your university years to explore many subjects in as many different ways, see the connections, marvel in the things you see others are good at, learn to think like an individual, question, prod, poke and generally have fun with it, then you'll walk out into the world with not only a peice of paper, a few ex-s and a good appreciation of beer, but the ability to absorb knowledge and to solve problems in any area you wish to pursue.
Just a couple of points, first there is a huge difference between being able to operate any technology and the ability to use it creatively. Its the people who can use it creatively, those that can open up new areas the "renaissance geeks" as one of the other posters put it are the ones that are always more in demand than the technicians ( see the previous/. article on The Programmers Stone for a look at the differences ). Second there are currently something like 1 million unfilled tech vacancies around the world which is projected to increase to 2 million in the next few years, so there will be more demand and supply will not keep up in the short term, and with the rapid acceleration and proliferation of new technologies the situation is likely to keep on getting worse for the rest of my lifetime, so dont worry, be just happy, you're one of the new priesthood.
Well maybe/. could have a pseudo-random reposting strategy based on the number / quality of comments on a previous article, it could come under the heading "Redux" so we all know its been up before, help keep debate alive on "important" topics.
In order to compete with an authoritarian organization speed of delivery will be a matter of survival.
Why I dont think this statement is true is that speed means nothing if you are going in the wrong / non optimal direction. Much of what has been done in OSS has been replication of existing functionality, yet we have seen the rise of the Web, the poo pooing by MS at the start, and when the Web took off, MS had to turn itself round like the preverbial oil tanker. OSS allows people to tinker at will, and create whole new areas to explore, OSS allows people to see something new and exciting taking shape and to be able to participate in shaping new frontiers. That is where we are going, and large authoritarian companies like MS dont have the ability to be as granular as the individual developer with an itch to scratch and so will be open to being caught out by new innovations created in an OSS environment, especially at the OS level.
Spinal cord injuries, like serious brain damage caused by Parkinsons, Altzheimers etc right now are more open to treatment with stem cells ( cells that morph into the whatever tissue you like from a non specific stem state), they have already done some experents including on humans, where implanted cells have brought back at least some functionality to the damaged areas.
Re:A cure for blindness?
on
The Cat Cam
·
· Score: 1
Well silicon versions of the retina have already been developed, check out the work of Carver Mead
Can you say "The Matrix for cats"?
on
The Cat Cam
·
· Score: 1
Well if you can get the images out, we can put them in, I can see some mad scientist right now cooking up the stimulus for a cat to continually view a ball of virtual string or a VR mouse scurring around. That said, if they would just wire me up for a hands free video of my life I would be very greatful, plus of course some image enhancement technology so I can zoom in if I see something interesting, then I could post it all on the Web for a record of my life, and of course the naughty bits could go into alt.binaries.sex.multimedia.wiredgeek
The goals of the writer and the programmer are exactly the same, to express an idea, they just address different hardware. Because people are "fuzzy", you can write and rewrite things in many different ways, with different enphasis, but with a computer you have to be precise with what you tell it, they cant yet deal with the fuzzyness we humans take for granted. Also both are creative processes, and engage much of the same drive to put something across. Think of a writer as a prose hacker, a coder in human concept, the same things apply as with computer hackers, the best are way ahead of most, like in the previous/. article on the Programmers Stone, the trick is to be able to take the thinking that allows you to be good at creating sentences and transfer it to a new media, whether it be programming computers, or creating a masterpiece on canvas, those that can master that have the wonderous ability to express themselves in any medium they chose, this is what we all need to develop if we as a species are to move on in the coming millenium.
Ok, yes the technology can be used to snoop, but just imagine combining it with some of those new glasses that project an image into your eye, you could instantly search the Net for supporting information for the conversation. If you think thats nuts, I now have telephone conversations and use search engines when I cannot recall something, which really freaked out someone the other week when we were talking about old TV programs and I couldnt remember the name of the actor in Max Headroom so I searched and found it was Matt Frewer while still chatting.
Thats ok if they say that politicians and law enforcement are exempt, just send it to their spouse / other relative, and they cant say that all relatives are exempt, because people will be able to follow their family trees back to prove a connection to someone related to a politician (the old six degrees of seperation argument). In truth the government can do nothing to fight encryption, its already lost, and that scares them, they want control, and its slipping inexcerably through their fingers.
As for "Freedom of Information Act" the UK WAS supposed to get one, but they decided to vote on fox hunting or something. Just shows what control freaks politicians really are, even our own supposedly sensible UK ones. Although we do try to protect whistleblowers over here, but that doesnt always work.
We all know that there is a huge amount on the Net and its increasing exponentially, only ~20% is currently even indexed, and not even up todate indexing either, the idea of having something to help us through it all is a good idea, and yet somehow we need to be able to keep the wonderful serendipity that the Net can provide. I dont think Katz and his clotho really has much thought in it, what we need are people who can actually specify how a person is going to get what they want, not just saying AI will do it, we need real strategies, ones that can be implemented, ones that are scalable with the increasing size of the Net. What about audio and video? No one has any ways of accurately catagorising them yet so they can be searched, these are all real solid issues that need to be addressed, not thinking up some obscure name for the THINGY. I'm disappointed, we could be brainstorming how to do current things better before moving on to the next thing, but Katz is acting like MS, the next idea is THE RIGHT THING, until the marketing push for the next RIGHT THING.
I agree there is a problem with society in general, a lack of tolerance and understanding, you just have to take a look at the Hellmouth stuff here on/. What we need is to give everyone classes in understanding anothers point of view, and also explaining our points of view, it is difficult for non geeks to grok us at all, if they can better understand, and we can better explain then I think that would be a GOOD THING(TM). Any psychology students out there want to develop some communications strategies, do a project / thesis?
Ok moderated to 0 as Off topic, and it says to quote the top of the article:-
Ask Eric S. Raymond Anything
and
Please try to avoid the obvious ones he's answered thousands of times already
and of course/. never asks humourous, irreleveant and irreverrent questions...oh no whats this Poll thingy on the front...Best Breakfast Cereal Mascot... oh dear I think that must be a mistake....
You have speculated on the reasons why people contribute to Open Source, what do you think about the notion that its success is at least in part due to the fact that it allows people to do random things to it at a very low level, e.g. adding a new filesystem to Linux with specific attributes like automatic file versioning, indexing etc? Can we view it like DNA, instead of the selfish gene (a la Richard Dawkins), we have the selfish code? And as OSS tends to mutate faster than closed source (like bacteria against antibiotics) is there really any room for closed source except for custom made apps (e.g. within an organisation)?
(Sorry I know its only supposed to be one question per post but its all linked!)
Ok heres a humourous one, if you were on a desert island, which Linux distribution, application software, and nubile assistant would you like to have with you?
Current odds for Red Hat + Star Office + Gilian Anderson 10:1, anyone want to start a/. pool?
also look for references on the Net/Newsgroups to Echelon the UK-USA joint project between their respective communications interception agencies (GCHQ and NSA), there is a European Commission report on Echelon heres one of the many stories on it from The Guardian newspaper in the UK
Theres a lot of information and misinformation around, if you start from a good well researched resource like Cryptome, you have more of a chance of getting a realistic view.
This increasing complexity is the only common thread I see for the recent increases in random, inexplicable violence in American society.
Yes, people are having problems with complexity, when they want simple answers, currently a freind of mine is conducting a survey for a thesis into violence in schools, I think that we need to TEACH dealing with complexity, just look at your average American School, look at the divisions between the Jocks and the Nerds, the social Insiders and Outsiders, embracing complexity means imbracing difference as a source of change, and thats what is needed to become a tolerant society, that thrives on difference and complexity rather than shunning it out of fear.
The way humans invent stuff often seems a bit random
Thats the whole point, we are usually so caught up in having organised process that we ignore the randomness, if we take genetics if there were no random mutation then there could be no evolution, only stasis, I am currently exploring adding randomness into systems to allow them to evolve including neural network applications check the following URL for an insight into where this is going, its a work in progress, and if anyone has anything to contribute please just email me.
Right now there is only one form, single vote every n years for a represenatative. The Net allows for issue based voting, so that people can be directly responsible for leglislation. Not only that, it is easy enough to allow a moderated discussion of the issue to be voted on, and only those that contribute to the discussion allowed to vote, therefore making it more participatory. and more in line with meritocratic systems like OSS. Perhaps this is the future, I hope so, current politiicans are so inept and show little understanding of the subject matter that I'm sure we can do better.
The greatest nourishment is food for thought - Me 1999
Slashdot Mirror
I think the point that is being raised is very timely, right now we are in the midst of an ever accelerating high tech age, and many are refusing to even contemplate the ramifications, sticking to a its a GOOD THING(tm) or its a BAD THING(tm) position, without any real in depth discussion. In the past life changed only slowly, so that each new generation would accept things that the previous did not, now we are into massive intra-generational change, and we must all be prepared to constantly re-examine our views as technology and society match forward. That is a freedom that we must allow ourselves and others if we are to avoid becoming split and end with idiocies like Holy Wars which benefits noone.
- Free your mind and the rest will follow
It depends what you need to be cross platform, if its the user end, use Java running in a browser, quick and easy, and use either sockets or RMI to call the backend. If you need backend distribution then I suggest you use JavaSpaces, and then link the Java via JNI to call your C/C++ or PERL, see
a vaSpaces/introduction.html
. html
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/Books/J
for an introduction to JavaSpaces, also check out Java RMI over IIOP which might be another way to go
http://www.javasoft.com/products/rmi-iiop/index
I've just mailed off a load of questions and pointed the BBC to the coverage of MS on The Register :-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/981020-000020.html
now I cant wait for Sunday, if they use the info Bill and MS is going to look guilty of massive monopoly power and trying to usurp the courts, and yes Paxman is the man for the job, he makes politicians squirm all the time, now all we need are some suggestions for Bills resignation speach / suicide note ?
Ok, lets take your construction industry example, houses are very expensive to build, not just the labour, but also the materials as well, and the land on which they sit, which is why many people spend their whole lives paying for one. Now look at software, it might take a few million to put together, but it costs close to nothing to reproduce either on media or posted on the Net, and amortized over the number being shipped, means that many can enjoy the same product for a small cost, and so can enjoy hundreds, even thousands in their lifetime. As hardware increases in power and drops in price more possible products are created, and new classes of product emerge, so the number of tech people required increases. To say that the shortage is over would mean that the future would have to consist of companies going back to standalone machines, the userbase of the Net would be going down, and no one would be bothering to buy the latest version of Quake. This of course is complete and utter nonsense, we cant go back, only forward, and forward requires MORE people. As for genetic algorithms, who is going to program them? You cant just say heres a genetic algorithm and it solves all the worlds ills, you have to program what it is that is evolving, and they are still at a very early stage, and need a lot of computing resource to do anything above the simplist task, and the same goes for neural nets at the moment. The only way to ease the shortage is to encourage more people to take up tech carreers, and with things as they are in society, it doesnt look good. Also there is a huge difference between someone who can program and a real programmer who can solve problems and adapt in an increasingly changing environment, the later is much more useful than the former, and much rarer too.
I would say use your university years to explore many subjects in as many different ways, see the connections, marvel in the things you see others are good at, learn to think like an individual, question, prod, poke and generally have fun with it, then you'll walk out into the world with not only a peice of paper, a few ex-s and a good appreciation of beer, but the ability to absorb knowledge and to solve problems in any area you wish to pursue.
Just a couple of points, first there is a huge difference between being able to operate any technology and the ability to use it creatively. Its the people who can use it creatively, those that can open up new areas the "renaissance geeks" as one of the other posters put it are the ones that are always more in demand than the technicians ( see the previous /. article on The Programmers Stone for a look at the differences ). Second there are currently something like 1 million unfilled tech vacancies around the world which is projected to increase to 2 million in the next few years, so there will be more demand and supply will not keep up in the short term, and with the rapid acceleration and proliferation of new technologies the situation is likely to keep on getting worse for the rest of my lifetime, so dont worry, be just happy, you're one of the new priesthood.
Well maybe /. could have a pseudo-random reposting strategy based on the number / quality of comments on a previous article, it could come under the heading "Redux" so we all know its been up before, help keep debate alive on "important" topics.
Tim says :-
In order to compete with an authoritarian organization speed of delivery will be a matter of survival.
Why I dont think this statement is true is that speed means nothing if you are going in the wrong / non optimal direction. Much of what has been done in OSS has been replication of existing functionality, yet we have seen the rise of the Web, the poo pooing by MS at the start, and when the Web took off, MS had to turn itself round like the preverbial oil tanker. OSS allows people to tinker at will, and create whole new areas to explore, OSS allows people to see something new and exciting taking shape and to be able to participate in shaping new frontiers. That is where we are going, and large authoritarian companies like MS dont have the ability to be as granular as the individual developer with an itch to scratch and so will be open to being caught out by new innovations created in an OSS environment, especially at the OS level.
Spinal cord injuries, like serious brain damage caused by Parkinsons, Altzheimers etc right now are more open to treatment with stem cells ( cells that morph into the whatever tissue you like from a non specific stem state), they have already done some experents including on humans, where implanted cells have brought back at least some functionality to the damaged areas.
Well silicon versions of the retina have already been developed, check out the work of Carver Mead
c hips/mead_retina.html
http://www.pcmp.caltech.edu/visionchips/vision_
Well if you can get the images out, we can put them in, I can see some mad scientist right now cooking up the stimulus for a cat to continually view a ball of virtual string or a VR mouse scurring around. That said, if they would just wire me up for a hands free video of my life I would be very greatful, plus of course some image enhancement technology so I can zoom in if I see something interesting, then I could post it all on the Web for a record of my life, and of course the naughty bits could go into alt.binaries.sex.multimedia.wiredgeek
- No I didnt take my Lithium doctor
The goals of the writer and the programmer are exactly the same, to express an idea, they just address different hardware. Because people are "fuzzy", you can write and rewrite things in many different ways, with different enphasis, but with a computer you have to be precise with what you tell it, they cant yet deal with the fuzzyness we humans take for granted. Also both are creative processes, and engage much of the same drive to put something across. Think of a writer as a prose hacker, a coder in human concept, the same things apply as with computer hackers, the best are way ahead of most, like in the previous /. article on the Programmers Stone, the trick is to be able to take the thinking that allows you to be good at creating sentences and transfer it to a new media, whether it be programming computers, or creating a masterpiece on canvas, those that can master that have the wonderous ability to express themselves in any medium they chose, this is what we all need to develop if we as a species are to move on in the coming millenium.
Ok, yes the technology can be used to snoop, but just imagine combining it with some of those new glasses that project an image into your eye, you could instantly search the Net for supporting information for the conversation. If you think thats nuts, I now have telephone conversations and use search engines when I cannot recall something, which really freaked out someone the other week when we were talking about old TV programs and I couldnt remember the name of the actor in Max Headroom so I searched and found it was Matt Frewer while still chatting.
The Register story about the patent can be found here :-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/990929-000011.html
Thats ok if they say that politicians and law enforcement are exempt, just send it to their spouse / other relative, and they cant say that all relatives are exempt, because people will be able to follow their family trees back to prove a connection to someone related to a politician (the old six degrees of seperation argument). In truth the government can do nothing to fight encryption, its already lost, and that scares them, they want control, and its slipping inexcerably through their fingers.
As for "Freedom of Information Act" the UK WAS supposed to get one, but they decided to vote on fox hunting or something. Just shows what control freaks politicians really are, even our own supposedly sensible UK ones. Although we do try to protect whistleblowers over here, but that doesnt always work.
We all know that there is a huge amount on the Net and its increasing exponentially, only ~20% is currently even indexed, and not even up todate indexing either, the idea of having something to help us through it all is a good idea, and yet somehow we need to be able to keep the wonderful serendipity that the Net can provide. I dont think Katz and his clotho really has much thought in it, what we need are people who can actually specify how a person is going to get what they want, not just saying AI will do it, we need real strategies, ones that can be implemented, ones that are scalable with the increasing size of the Net. What about audio and video? No one has any ways of accurately catagorising them yet so they can be searched, these are all real solid issues that need to be addressed, not thinking up some obscure name for the THINGY. I'm disappointed, we could be brainstorming how to do current things better before moving on to the next thing, but Katz is acting like MS, the next idea is THE RIGHT THING, until the marketing push for the next RIGHT THING.
I agree there is a problem with society in general, a lack of tolerance and understanding, you just have to take a look at the Hellmouth stuff here on /. What we need is to give everyone classes in understanding anothers point of view, and also explaining our points of view, it is difficult for non geeks to grok us at all, if they can better understand, and we can better explain then I think that would be a GOOD THING(TM). Any psychology students out there want to develop some communications strategies, do a project / thesis?
Ok moderated to 0 as Off topic, and it says to quote the top of the article :-
/. never asks humourous, irreleveant and irreverrent questions...oh no whats this Poll thingy on the front...Best Breakfast Cereal Mascot ... oh dear I think that must be a mistake....
Ask Eric S. Raymond Anything
and
Please try to avoid the obvious ones he's answered thousands of times already
and of course
You have speculated on the reasons why people contribute to Open Source, what do you think about the notion that its success is at least in part due to the fact that it allows people to do random things to it at a very low level, e.g. adding a new filesystem to Linux with specific attributes like automatic file versioning, indexing etc? Can we view it like DNA, instead of the selfish gene (a la Richard Dawkins), we have the selfish code? And as OSS tends to mutate faster than closed source (like bacteria against antibiotics) is there really any room for closed source except for custom made apps (e.g. within an organisation)?
(Sorry I know its only supposed to be one question per post but its all linked!)
What do you think of having a roving Capitol of The Internet, changes every day/week/month to promote connectivity round the world?
Ok heres a humourous one, if you were on a desert island, which Linux distribution, application software, and nubile assistant would you like to have with you?
/. pool?
Current odds for Red Hat + Star Office + Gilian Anderson 10:1, anyone want to start a
For a good outsider view check Cryptome
1 2-echelon.html
http://jya.com/crypto.htm
also look for references on the Net/Newsgroups to Echelon the UK-USA joint project between their respective communications interception agencies (GCHQ and NSA), there is a European Commission report on Echelon heres one of the many stories on it from The Guardian newspaper in the UK
http://online.guardian.co.uk/technology/9053603
Theres a lot of information and misinformation around, if you start from a good well researched resource like Cryptome, you have more of a chance of getting a realistic view.
This increasing complexity is the only common thread I see for the recent increases in random, inexplicable violence in American society.
Yes, people are having problems with complexity, when they want simple answers, currently a freind of mine is conducting a survey for a thesis into violence in schools, I think that we need to TEACH dealing with complexity, just look at your average American School, look at the divisions between the Jocks and the Nerds, the social Insiders and Outsiders, embracing complexity means imbracing difference as a source of change, and thats what is needed to become a tolerant society, that thrives on difference and complexity rather than shunning it out of fear.
The most interesting bit that you say is
The way humans invent stuff often seems a bit random
Thats the whole point, we are usually so caught up in having organised process that we ignore the randomness, if we take genetics if there were no random mutation then there could be no evolution, only stasis, I am currently exploring adding randomness into systems to allow them to evolve including neural network applications check the following URL for an insight into where this is going, its a work in progress, and if anyone has anything to contribute please just email me.
http://members.xoom.com/insanlygreat/
Right now there is only one form, single vote every n years for a represenatative. The Net allows for issue based voting, so that people can be directly responsible for leglislation. Not only that, it is easy enough to allow a moderated discussion of the issue to be voted on, and only those that contribute to the discussion allowed to vote, therefore making it more participatory. and more in line with meritocratic systems like OSS. Perhaps this is the future, I hope so, current politiicans are so inept and show little understanding of the subject matter that I'm sure we can do better.
The greatest nourishment is food for thought - Me 1999