Well, it reminds me of Stargate (the movie). Keep people on a low tech level, so they can’t defend themselves against being exploited. Ask the Yes Men about how the WTO deliberately does this, backed by the will of the western population for cheap crap.
Or when was the last time you did fair business with an African?
The wonderful thing about the Internet is, that you can (theoretically) even do business when you live in a tent in the desert. (Not judging the lifestyle here.) So it’s perfect for areas poor of resources. In my opinion, if you simply gave poor African regions a Internet connection, own laptops, a freed them from the “I don’t know how to do that.” social conditioning, then it wouldn’t take long until they would come up with lots of great services that we happily would pay for. Because the knowledge is all on the net. (Of course learning foreign languages would be the recommended first step, and should be pre-installed on the system.:)
the impossibility for a Ugandan to obtain a credit card
Sorry, but in what weird society is a credit card an ideal over actually non-customer-raping alternatives? Credit cards are by their very design made to fuck you over. There is no such thing as a credit card that doesn’t. If you do digital payment, do it right. If you do money, do it right. Hell, half the reason the US economy is so bad for people, is the money system behind it. For which credit cards — the concept of giving you imaginary money and taking back more than there is actual money, to get free work from you without you noticing ” are an essential part.
Credit cards? No thanks. I won’t ever in my life take a credit. And if I can, I’ll avoid imaginary money (e.g. €) altogether.
As if you needed a password to get the data of a Facebook account... Dude, just ask Zuckerberg nicely. You’re by far not the first one he sold account data out to.
Pff, I bet I can get those accounts for a couple of bucks, by just asking Zuckerberg. After all, according to him, there is no privacy. Just make an app or something, and there you have the data.
Man am I happy that I deleted my Facebook account. (Which was, other than the friends list, completely empty anyway. But you know. Friends, photos, messages... that’s already too much.)
Protip: It’s called FinTS. With chip card. Look it up.:) I use it since it were still experimental and called HBCI 1.0. No browser involved. You have a separate reader with keys (and optionally a display) that you interact with. Unless someone modifies the reader, there is no way anyone else can get your code. In short it’s two-factor authentication on a trusted client. The PC just shoves encrypted packets back and forth between the reader and the bank server.
I recommend having a reader with a display. That way it can even guarantee you that the amount displayed is the amount you actually agree to be transferred. Additionally it allows you to load stored-value cards, do legally valid digital signatures, and read a lot of other chip cards.
It always surprises me, how game industry people don’t seem to know the word “troll” at all. They are trolls. And this is the normal word to use for them. Or I will start referring to trolls as sourpussies just to confuse you! ^^
The singularity will never occur. Because the problems while getting closer to it, will outbalance progress at one point. And then it will be a stable state.
Although, mentioning robotic overlords, I wonder if we both mean the same “singularity”. ^^
Will it include a deep-fisting Shiva or even Ganesh, and Xenu as a dominatrix? Oh, and of course a very specific burning goat and a pterodactyl! (Obviously NSFW!)
It's talking about people; you can't have 3.5 people,
But you can have 3.5 votes! People are never 100% for or against something. Raise the resolution of your sampling (voting). E.g. offer a 0..9 range to choose from. And you can even get “0.1 people voted for it” results. (Of course this will only get you a blank stare from dumb people. Luckily, mentally healthy people don’t play by the rules of dumb people, but gently guide the less-intelligent with their own rules by creating and using trust. But I’m digressing...)
Of course since the votes are already done in a atomic resolution, it’s a plain and simple round($votes). That’s how it is, by the rules of math. No discussion.
P.S.: Man, I wish we geeks and mathematicians would have the social skills to take the dominant-out-of-respect position in these discussions, and simply decide this in a matter of seconds... Guys, learn hacking minds!:D
Uuum, what government? We live in a industrial feudalism, if you haven’t noticed already... The government is just their industry forum for negotiations. We are their main resource. (Ever heard of a “human resources department”?) And the media and government agencies are the cowboys, dairy farmers and doctors, controlling us cattle, so we give the maximum of our work in that hamster wheel, in return for shiny glass beads from of our IKEA catalogs, that we don’t need.
It is not difficult to “monetize” an online presence. You just have to live in freaking reality!! Offer something. Ask a price for it. Done. Simple as that. As it’s a service, you’re offering... which results in infinitely copyable and uncontrollable information... you have to ask for all the money right on the first deal. As there is a big chance that there will not be any second deal. So it works like this: Offer all old stuff for just the costs of your hosting. Either paid trough ads or trough micropayment. And for your upcoming episode, offer people to buy it upfront. And I mean not licensing! I mean that you actually can do with it whatever you like. Including reselling it. The catch is, that those are the ONLY people who will get access to it, when it’s done. Then when you release the episode, you transfer the money, and send your paying clients a personalized link with a authentication token. Now because everyone paid good money for it, nobody is willing to just pass it on for free. And as they are even encouraged to resell it, they will do so. But if someone decides to give it away for free, at his own expense, then of course, those can pass it on for free as much as they like, and kill the price. But that would happen with physical objects too. Nonetheless, this is normally not the case for distributors, supermarkets, or any other resellers. The great think is, that this whole system does not require any law changes, isn’t influenced by the current systems, and can even run in parallel. It is completely in touch with reality, and so one can make good money, while not requiring any form of DRM, government or other control.
People still have a hard time accepting this. But they will get to it. In 10 years, this will be the preferred way of making money, other than trough advertising.
Their fear is not unfounded and is with precedent.
Welcome to Cheney’s propaganda... which is just as delusional as any religion. Come one! You’re better than this! You are wise enough to make your own opinions.
The “treat” from Muslim extremists is ridiculously low. Negligible even. Car accidents, smoking, fighting pointless wars... those are the real killers... so to speak... (Or the threat from Christian extremists in e.g. Alabama.;) You know that as well as I do.
Also, the biggest problem you can have with religious people, is trough social incompetence and ignorance. The trick is, to not speak with words. But with emotions. (Women have a genetic advantage in this skill, while we men sometimes have a hard time with it. This different way of communication is actually the main cause of problems in relationships.) And the skill is, being able to properly handle desperate schizophrenic people. (Religion can be seen as a mild [or stronger] schizophrenia.) What I mean by this, is not not ignorantly hate them, but to understand why they are like they are in the first place, and use that, to make them your allies and friends. (Sun Tzu already knew that this is the best of all strategies of war. And China was extremely successful with it in medieval times.)
Man, you sound like Cheney. When you aim south, somebody’s going to get shot in the north! ^^
Or in other words: You deserve an award for how much you miss the point. (And not a good award.)
Protip: There was a time when Christians acted like this. It’s called THE DARK AGES! It was a desperate time. With crusades, inquisitions, but most of all, power-greedy dicks controlling people. This is the exact same thing now. Only in the Muslim world. It does not matter AT ALL, which “religion” it is. Because religion really is a protective mechanism gone haywire, causing a delusional reality distortion. Which is then used by some real immoral assholes, to manipulate people, to do shit like this.
But your anger only fuels it even more. And I think you know this, and do it deliberately. Or at least should know it, if you want to call yourself educated and better. What do you think you going to get, by acting like a dick and strengthening their disease even more?
Wanna know how to get them out of their delusion? The same thing as with schizophrenia: Offer them a better alternative, and let them keep their pride. Let them migrate to that better alternative, until they simply stop having the need for the delusion. Then they naturally will stop caring for “Muhammed”.
Of course this is easier said than done. But I don’t see an alternative. Or do you really want to insult and kill disabled people? I couldn’t be that heartless. Because it would make me no betther than the mullahs or them.
Wanna know what I do when I meet a religious extremist? I do a little nice gesture, that makes their life better, and causes them to instantly like me. When I do it right, and give them some time, I can pull a joke on Muhammed, and they won’t hate me, but join in in it. The little glimmer of hope that we’re actually nice people and will together make things good, is already enough. Try it. And you may even make your enemies your allies.:)
Well, actually on southpark.de, because I’m in Germany, and they stupidly force me to use that site. It was linked on the front page. Interestingly, it went out of the episode list again. The blog post and comments are gone. The forum's database is down. And now the front page link to the above URL is also gone, reverted to the old episode. The direct link still works though.
But it feels weird even thinking of having a TV again... A projector is the same price, if not cheaper, much much bigger, can be used on your PC (which itself can be hidden in a corner), and my projector even has mouse control built into the remote. I think your IQ jumps up by at least 10 point, when you throw away your TV. (Unless you replace it by 4chan, of course. ^^)
Speech is an incredibly bad interface or nobody would ever be misunderstood.
Don’t mix up language with speech! I agree on the language part. But that’s simply a matter of which language you choose. Just like with electronic interface data formats. Also, It’s the only quick way to transport the whole information. Emotional and logical content, accentuation, etc. This text here, for example, still misses all my accentuation, and therefore, if you expect something I say to be accented in an angry way, you may mod me troll, even when I, myself did not mean it angry at all.
Also in any case, it’s still much better and simpler to get working now, than some BCI implant and interpretation software.:)
The brain is not elecrtical [sic],
Wrong.
it's electrochemical,
Correct.
with most connections being purely chemical. Thought, senses, movement, are really just complex chemical reactions.
Completely wrong. Yes, the transmitters in the synaptic clefts are chemical. But the whole flow in neurons, from the dendrites, trough the cells and their the axon into the synapses, is electrical. I think this is also commonly known even by children, by now...
The chemicals moving around outside, are the broadcasting system, and used for body-wide effects, like emotions.
But logic and learning is the effect of forwarding/firing/non-firing trigger levels changing. Which is an electrical effect. A software neural net simulates this. (Nowadays you can also simulate those global messengers.) So we can still interconnect things.
Or do you really believe that those already existing BCIs work chemically??
Actually I don’t think we do need it. But it certainly is simpler to get a higher bandwidth with so much neural contact surface. Also, I don’t think normal nerves can adapt that much, if at all. And finally, Laying something on your brain may not be as invasive as splicing nerves close to your back bone. I think the main problem with dedicated nerves (e.g. in arms or legs), is that you can either use them for their normal function, or of your interface. Not both. So you’d have to e.g. wiggle your toes at the same time of doing stuff. Which can be exhausting, silly, and just plainly not what you want to do. In the brain there is no real dedicated functionality. Sure, when you grow up, the parts become more and more specialized. But that is mostly rather arbitrary. It is proven to easily change. E.g. in case of an injury or simply lacking that part. Which is why the monkey could do that third-arm trick.
Because the comment format dropdown (left of the preview button) Is buggy for a couple of years now. (>5 years!) “Plain old text” actually is Extrans. And Extrans is “plain old text”, as far as I know. I never bothered to figure it all out. I just know that I can use HTML in p.o.t., but not in extrans, last time I checked.
Slashdot Mirror
While there are still no free software Blu-ray authoring tools
Sure there are:
http://btjunkie.org/search?q=Sonic%20Scenarist
http://btjunkie.org/search?q=Sony%20Vegas%20Pro
http://btjunkie.org/search?q=Adobe%20Encore
Free: Yes.
You didn’t say anything about open.
Or legal in delusional mentally insane law systems. ^^
Well, it reminds me of Stargate (the movie). Keep people on a low tech level, so they can’t defend themselves against being exploited.
Ask the Yes Men about how the WTO deliberately does this, backed by the will of the western population for cheap crap.
Or when was the last time you did fair business with an African?
The wonderful thing about the Internet is, that you can (theoretically) even do business when you live in a tent in the desert. (Not judging the lifestyle here.) So it’s perfect for areas poor of resources. :)
In my opinion, if you simply gave poor African regions a Internet connection, own laptops, a freed them from the “I don’t know how to do that.” social conditioning, then it wouldn’t take long until they would come up with lots of great services that we happily would pay for. Because the knowledge is all on the net. (Of course learning foreign languages would be the recommended first step, and should be pre-installed on the system.
the impossibility for a Ugandan to obtain a credit card
Sorry, but in what weird society is a credit card an ideal over actually non-customer-raping alternatives?
Credit cards are by their very design made to fuck you over. There is no such thing as a credit card that doesn’t.
If you do digital payment, do it right. If you do money, do it right.
Hell, half the reason the US economy is so bad for people, is the money system behind it. For which credit cards — the concept of giving you imaginary money and taking back more than there is actual money, to get free work from you without you noticing ” are an essential part.
Credit cards? No thanks. I won’t ever in my life take a credit. And if I can, I’ll avoid imaginary money (e.g. €) altogether.
As if you needed a password to get the data of a Facebook account...
Dude, just ask Zuckerberg nicely. You’re by far not the first one he sold account data out to.
Pff, I bet I can get those accounts for a couple of bucks, by just asking Zuckerberg.
After all, according to him, there is no privacy. Just make an app or something, and there you have the data.
Man am I happy that I deleted my Facebook account. (Which was, other than the friends list, completely empty anyway. But you know. Friends, photos, messages... that’s already too much.)
Protip: It’s called FinTS. With chip card. Look it up. :)
I use it since it were still experimental and called HBCI 1.0.
No browser involved. You have a separate reader with keys (and optionally a display) that you interact with. Unless someone modifies the reader, there is no way anyone else can get your code. In short it’s two-factor authentication on a trusted client. The PC just shoves encrypted packets back and forth between the reader and the bank server.
I recommend having a reader with a display. That way it can even guarantee you that the amount displayed is the amount you actually agree to be transferred. Additionally it allows you to load stored-value cards, do legally valid digital signatures, and read a lot of other chip cards.
griefers
It always surprises me, how game industry people don’t seem to know the word “troll” at all.
They are trolls. And this is the normal word to use for them.
Or I will start referring to trolls as sourpussies just to confuse you! ^^
Your definitions of “legit” and “pirate” are way off.
This has nothing to do with either legitimacy or pirates.
He doesn’t have to. He only has to know something about basic physics of a market.
No price drop -> no buy -> bankrupt
price drop -> buy -> PROFIT
Netgear hasn't released all of the source, as they should have to comply with the GPL.
Sue the bastards!
The singularity will never occur. Because the problems while getting closer to it, will outbalance progress at one point. And then it will be a stable state.
Although, mentioning robotic overlords, I wonder if we both mean the same “singularity”. ^^
Will it include a deep-fisting Shiva or even Ganesh, and Xenu as a dominatrix?
Oh, and of course a very specific burning goat and a pterodactyl! (Obviously NSFW!)
Yu can still watch it, if you know the link: :)
http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/1405/
http://www.southpark.de/alleEpisoden/1405/?lang=en (German site)
http://btjunkie.org/search?q=south+park+S14E05 (BitTorrent meta search)
You’re welcome.
I have three 21" CRTs. My total resolution is 4800x1200. I can change the resolution to whatever I want.
Wanna know what I paid?
$150!
Hell, for another $150, I could have a six-screen setup. If my table/wall and my graphics cards would support it.
Close, but no cigar.
(206 * 2)/3 = 137 1/3
Why use 0.66xxxx whatever, when you don’t have to?
It's talking about people; you can't have 3.5 people,
But you can have 3.5 votes! People are never 100% for or against something. Raise the resolution of your sampling (voting). E.g. offer a 0..9 range to choose from. And you can even get “0.1 people voted for it” results. (Of course this will only get you a blank stare from dumb people. Luckily, mentally healthy people don’t play by the rules of dumb people, but gently guide the less-intelligent with their own rules by creating and using trust. But I’m digressing...)
Of course since the votes are already done in a atomic resolution, it’s a plain and simple round($votes). That’s how it is, by the rules of math. No discussion.
P.S.: Man, I wish we geeks and mathematicians would have the social skills to take the dominant-out-of-respect position in these discussions, and simply decide this in a matter of seconds... Guys, learn hacking minds! :D
Uuum, what government? We live in a industrial feudalism, if you haven’t noticed already...
The government is just their industry forum for negotiations. We are their main resource. (Ever heard of a “human resources department”?) And the media and government agencies are the cowboys, dairy farmers and doctors, controlling us cattle, so we give the maximum of our work in that hamster wheel, in return for shiny glass beads from of our IKEA catalogs, that we don’t need.
It is not difficult to “monetize” an online presence. You just have to live in freaking reality!!
Offer something. Ask a price for it. Done. Simple as that.
As it’s a service, you’re offering... which results in infinitely copyable and uncontrollable information... you have to ask for all the money right on the first deal. As there is a big chance that there will not be any second deal.
So it works like this:
Offer all old stuff for just the costs of your hosting. Either paid trough ads or trough micropayment.
And for your upcoming episode, offer people to buy it upfront. And I mean not licensing! I mean that you actually can do with it whatever you like. Including reselling it.
The catch is, that those are the ONLY people who will get access to it, when it’s done.
Then when you release the episode, you transfer the money, and send your paying clients a personalized link with a authentication token.
Now because everyone paid good money for it, nobody is willing to just pass it on for free. And as they are even encouraged to resell it, they will do so. But if someone decides to give it away for free, at his own expense, then of course, those can pass it on for free as much as they like, and kill the price. But that would happen with physical objects too. Nonetheless, this is normally not the case for distributors, supermarkets, or any other resellers.
The great think is, that this whole system does not require any law changes, isn’t influenced by the current systems, and can even run in parallel. It is completely in touch with reality, and so one can make good money, while not requiring any form of DRM, government or other control.
People still have a hard time accepting this. But they will get to it. In 10 years, this will be the preferred way of making money, other than trough advertising.
Their fear is not unfounded and is with precedent.
Welcome to Cheney’s propaganda... which is just as delusional as any religion.
Come one! You’re better than this! You are wise enough to make your own opinions.
The “treat” from Muslim extremists is ridiculously low. Negligible even. ;)
Car accidents, smoking, fighting pointless wars... those are the real killers... so to speak...
(Or the threat from Christian extremists in e.g. Alabama.
You know that as well as I do.
Also, the biggest problem you can have with religious people, is trough social incompetence and ignorance.
The trick is, to not speak with words. But with emotions. (Women have a genetic advantage in this skill, while we men sometimes have a hard time with it. This different way of communication is actually the main cause of problems in relationships.)
And the skill is, being able to properly handle desperate schizophrenic people. (Religion can be seen as a mild [or stronger] schizophrenia.) What I mean by this, is not not ignorantly hate them, but to understand why they are like they are in the first place, and use that, to make them your allies and friends. (Sun Tzu already knew that this is the best of all strategies of war. And China was extremely successful with it in medieval times.)
Man, you sound like Cheney. When you aim south, somebody’s going to get shot in the north! ^^
Or in other words: You deserve an award for how much you miss the point. (And not a good award.)
Protip: There was a time when Christians acted like this. It’s called THE DARK AGES!
It was a desperate time. With crusades, inquisitions, but most of all, power-greedy dicks controlling people.
This is the exact same thing now. Only in the Muslim world.
It does not matter AT ALL, which “religion” it is.
Because religion really is a protective mechanism gone haywire, causing a delusional reality distortion. Which is then used by some real immoral assholes, to manipulate people, to do shit like this.
But your anger only fuels it even more. And I think you know this, and do it deliberately. Or at least should know it, if you want to call yourself educated and better.
What do you think you going to get, by acting like a dick and strengthening their disease even more?
Wanna know how to get them out of their delusion? The same thing as with schizophrenia: Offer them a better alternative, and let them keep their pride. Let them migrate to that better alternative, until they simply stop having the need for the delusion.
Then they naturally will stop caring for “Muhammed”.
Of course this is easier said than done. But I don’t see an alternative. Or do you really want to insult and kill disabled people? I couldn’t be that heartless. Because it would make me no betther than the mullahs or them.
Wanna know what I do when I meet a religious extremist? :)
I do a little nice gesture, that makes their life better, and causes them to instantly like me.
When I do it right, and give them some time, I can pull a joke on Muhammed, and they won’t hate me, but join in in it.
The little glimmer of hope that we’re actually nice people and will together make things good, is already enough.
Try it. And you may even make your enemies your allies.
I watched the show on http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/1405/ . Uncensored. Like everybody else.
Well, actually on southpark.de, because I’m in Germany, and they stupidly force me to use that site.
It was linked on the front page. Interestingly, it went out of the episode list again. The blog post and comments are gone. The forum's database is down. And now the front page link to the above URL is also gone, reverted to the old episode.
The direct link still works though.
But it feels weird even thinking of having a TV again... A projector is the same price, if not cheaper, much much bigger, can be used on your PC (which itself can be hidden in a corner), and my projector even has mouse control built into the remote.
I think your IQ jumps up by at least 10 point, when you throw away your TV. (Unless you replace it by 4chan, of course. ^^)
Speech is an incredibly bad interface or nobody would ever be misunderstood.
Don’t mix up language with speech! I agree on the language part. But that’s simply a matter of which language you choose. Just like with electronic interface data formats.
Also, It’s the only quick way to transport the whole information. Emotional and logical content, accentuation, etc. This text here, for example, still misses all my accentuation, and therefore, if you expect something I say to be accented in an angry way, you may mod me troll, even when I, myself did not mean it angry at all.
Also in any case, it’s still much better and simpler to get working now, than some BCI implant and interpretation software. :)
The brain is not elecrtical [sic],
Wrong.
it's electrochemical,
Correct.
with most connections being purely chemical. Thought, senses, movement, are really just complex chemical reactions.
Completely wrong. Yes, the transmitters in the synaptic clefts are chemical. But the whole flow in neurons, from the dendrites, trough the cells and their the axon into the synapses, is electrical. I think this is also commonly known even by children, by now...
The chemicals moving around outside, are the broadcasting system, and used for body-wide effects, like emotions.
But logic and learning is the effect of forwarding/firing/non-firing trigger levels changing. Which is an electrical effect.
A software neural net simulates this. (Nowadays you can also simulate those global messengers.)
So we can still interconnect things.
Or do you really believe that those already existing BCIs work chemically??
That’s what I read on a grave, last month...
Actually I don’t think we do need it. But it certainly is simpler to get a higher bandwidth with so much neural contact surface. Also, I don’t think normal nerves can adapt that much, if at all. And finally, Laying something on your brain may not be as invasive as splicing nerves close to your back bone.
I think the main problem with dedicated nerves (e.g. in arms or legs), is that you can either use them for their normal function, or of your interface. Not both. So you’d have to e.g. wiggle your toes at the same time of doing stuff. Which can be exhausting, silly, and just plainly not what you want to do.
In the brain there is no real dedicated functionality. Sure, when you grow up, the parts become more and more specialized. But that is mostly rather arbitrary. It is proven to easily change. E.g. in case of an injury or simply lacking that part. Which is why the monkey could do that third-arm trick.
Because the comment format dropdown (left of the preview button) Is buggy for a couple of years now. (>5 years!)
“Plain old text” actually is Extrans. And Extrans is “plain old text”, as far as I know.
I never bothered to figure it all out. I just know that I can use HTML in p.o.t., but not in extrans, last time I checked.
Taco doesn’t seem to care, or even notice...