No. Protect extend and rebuild the environment at the same time as raising all of humanity to a standard of living better than what we enjoy currently in America. This is using today's technology and free market mechanisms, not this authoritarian "Third Way". Life is a gamble, get used to it. You HAVE to do something in life, might as well make it worthwhile, right? Think of what you are saying, basically, that the Third World, and poorer people in the developed world, should be kept down for the benefit of the international ruling caste? The "Third Way" leaders (Clinton, Blair, Schroedinger, etc) are not interested in any "common" people, they are only interested in their helping the corporations that have granted favors to them, and to the special interests and other lobbies that dictate policy to them. If you aren't "special", or Fortune 500, they consider you nothing more than a source of money and consumption. On your fear of environmental degradation, in the US, it's alot better than people realize. Also, do a search on "bruce sterling viridian" on your favorite search engine. Here's a good Viridian starter: http://www.bespoke.org/viridian/ Man, do I have indigestion from this... J05H
You are proposing the same outcome from both scenarios. On one hand, you state that "...imposition of a more global economy, that would bring the American standard of living (which I very much enjoy BTW) out of the stratosphere and onto the more level plane of globalisation?"
And then, the last paragraph: "Would these people still be there if they knew that the alternative to what the WTO stands for is (for example) a 200% increase in the cost of gasoline? Do they really want to HAVE TO grow their own vegetables, pluck their own chickens and ride a bike for transportation rather than cheeseburger-burning exercise?"
These are the exact same end result, one of lower standard of living in the US. Alternative applications for technology are one thing, but outright or subtle attempts to limit American's options in life are going to cause a back lash. Remember the Boston Tea Party? J05H
From http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991130/ts/wto_le adall_38.html
Governor Gary Locke called up two national
guard units specializing in crowd control and
ordered them to the streets of Seattle to assist
police forces already at the scene. ``We're very
concerned about public safety,'' Locke said
This is interesting, because WHAT THE HELL DOES THE NATIONAL GUARD NEED RIOT UNITS FOR?!? I would assume that they use them overseas as well, but deplowing them in this case is sure to spur more protests.
Earth and humanity's existence are not zero sum games, by any means. If people choose to see a world of limited opportunity and oppression that is their choice, but it is easily provable that it is not. The need for raising standards of living worldwide does not necessitate more oppresive regimes holding people down. People in America, since that seems to be the locale of everyone's beef, are not going to stand by while their economy is eroded by power-freak bureaucrats in Federal and international organizations. If everyone in China also had a color tv set, would that be Ok, or does America somehow "need" to be ripped apart? Why do you assume that any aspect of the world, be it the biosphere, the economy, or any human endeavor, is a zero sum game, in which everything must have some fixed level of usability or extensibility? The material resources just in the top few miles of crust and oceans of the earth are staggering, and easily enough to raise every human being on earth to an American standard of living. This is using technology available today, if people and companies (maybe even governments, despite their historic wastefulness) wanted to make this happen. Even without the promises of nanotech and a newly burdgeoning commercial space industry, life and economic existence are not zero sum. This is a mistake that even Malthus rejected later in life, you should consider evaluting your position on it. I would highly recommend "Mining the Sky" by John Lewis, on space development that relates to this , along with "Through Green Colored Glases: Environmentalism Reconsidered" by Beckerman. J05H
These riots seemed pretty certain to happen, with as much anger and bad blood over the WTO. Here are some things that are immediately apparent to me about these riots:
masks
People are afraid at these protests, many are trying to hide their identities with scarves, bandanas, masks and hoods. This can be attributed to three factors, the most important, IMHO, being that people are worried about reprisals and retribution even for attending the peaceful protests. The other two factors seem to be CS gas protection (not effective unless face covering is wet and covers eyes) and the natural inclination to disguise while vandalizing, for the more violent protesters.
disinformation
Major media outlets (CNNonline, local TV in Boston, Reuters) and the Seattle PD are not acknowledging using rubber bullets or CS (tear) gas, despite photos, video and eyewitness accounts of the use of both. Medics have reported treating CS burns, yet CNN claims that only pepper spray is being used.
evolving state of govt and economy
People from all over the political spectrum, left, right libertarian and "buchananites", are out there with a beef against the WTO. People are flying in from all over the world with an agenda against the WTO. Ergo, no one likes the WTO, except for those who stand to directly benefit from it's existence. Those benefits do not seem to extend to ordinary citizens, be they Bangladeshi, American or Estonian. Instead, they seem to benefit an increasingly powerful group of professional politicians, worldwide, and the people and companies that keep them in power.
This "new cultural elite" (LM 125) draws influences from all over the political spectrum, but increasingly demands structure, stability and authority in a suddenly fluid world. It purports capitalism, while working towards something an egalitarian and open capitalism should find anathema. Markets are increasingly being propped up, lowered, tweaked and micromanaged, by unelected "officials" who continuously enact new rules and regulations that directly harm people's lives, with no accountability. The WTO is one of many, many examples of a political tool that does that. In among some of the news stories and weblogs discussing the WTO are some horror stories about things the WTO has done. The major problem is a total lack of accountability, so they do whatever they feel like. The resentment this has caused, worldwide, is prompting people to vent their spleens in Seattle, because they most definitely do want control of their own lives.
You forgot the startup's offices on the Cali coast getting up close and personal with a cruise missile... Interface is an excellent book, highly recommend it to anyone that likes Stephenson's work! J04H
I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed by Jon Katz take on this. "Troubled" kids can be identified, and often fall into one or more of the following:
Alchoholic or substance-abusing parents
Emotionally absent parents
Controlling parents
ADHD
Depressive
Manic Depressive
Gifted (Above-average ability/intelligence)
Physically or socially "different"
Hmm. I know I fit into 6 of the listed categories. Strangely, I never went pSyCh0 and killed anyone. This isn't to say that counselling and a change of environment won't help, it's just not the type of solution that solves the whole problem.
Think about it for a moment. What drives kids who are normally disinclined toward violence to do these drastic things? Getting your face smashed into a locker every day by someone bigger and meaner than you really CAN have an impact on behavior. Same goes for endless teasing, food fights, etc.
Dennis Hastert, the House Majority leader, dumbshit that he is, was on TV after Columbine, railing about the evils of the Net and Marilyn Manson. He said that he wrestled in school, and that kids should do that instead of "violent" things!! His implication was, of course, that sports are good, and D+D and Doom are bad. Hastert was the kind of person in school, I bet, that knocked books out of "geeks" hands.
This Mosaic-2000 software is going to do nothing but repress different kids. It might be designed to spot potentially violent students, but with attitudes like Hastert's and every guidance counselor I've encountered, do you really think it'll only be used for that? It's not a question of wearing a trenchcoat, but when you check that little box that says "get angry sometimes?", they'll earmark you for further observation...
I spent to many hours discussing this last April, I've gotta get back to work...
J05H
PS: Katz. For the last time: ACCESS TO GUNS IS NOT THE PROBLEM. GET OVER IT, OR REPEAL THE 2ND AMENDMENT. DISCIPLINE AND TRAINING WITH FIREARMS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM, SO ENCOURAGE FIREARMS TRAINING.
I bought Snow Crash as a trade paperback, back in 93. I guess I'm one of the original purveyors of the "you gotta read this" school. Gotta say, Stephenson is one of the best SF writers still typing. His work is hard to compare to anyones, it's just to eclectic and good to really slap into categories. Yes, it's science fiction, yes it's 'post cyberpunk' but that's about it. You could also call it humor, but that doesn't quite fit. I think he deserves his own category, maybe the School of Neal? Quick word/virus note: the "language as virus" meme is central to William S Burroughs' work. All of the cyberpunks were huge WSB, and I'm assuming Stephenson is, too. This is where that idea is coming from. Ride music beam back to base. J05H
I've got a story I worked on a while ago that deals, somewhat, with this. It's about a group of gene-modified/cyborged people exploring Mars. It needs some more work, but I'm working on some other writing projects now, so the Cats are on the back burner: Cats on Mars Anyway, if you like it, send me some feedback.
A gentleman named Henry Spencer who is almost always correct on everything has his.sig say:
The good old days weren't.
I know this simplifies the "issues" a lot, but it basically stands. We, the children of the 80s and 90s are so much better off than our predecessors, and most of us don't even realize it.
If life is so bad now, why don't these neo-Luddites build cabins in the woods and live by kerosene lamps and gardenning. Oh, wait, maybe it's because central heat, telephones, computers and modern medecine are Good Things? I've lived like that before, it's actually quite pleasant, but it's hard. Getting up at 3:30 AM to stoke a stove, so that you won't freeze that night, every night, gets tiring. Hauling water from a well up a hill to a cabin is very rustic, but loses it's shine really quick. Whatever. J05H
I got an email asking for a little coroboration on my "My informed guess is that there are applications NOW that are using neural feedback." statement. Here's my response: Check out: IBVA A while ago on slashdot, there was an article about some British doctors that had (bells and trumpets) gotten a quadrapelegic person to "type" using a yes/no brain implant. This sounds like a way-cool advance, but there were US neuro surgeons doing more advanced work in the 70s. The one that immediately comes to mindis a documentary that I saw when I was little. It had this blind man who had had a 13 (I think) pin plug installed, with leads going deep into the visual cortex. I'm assuming his optic nerve had been damaged. Anyway, the doctors working with him got a system together that would "display" Braille characters for him. They appeared as grids of fuzzy dots, but he was able to read them. This was in the mid 70s, so the research probably continued. Also, there's an excellent Scientific American Frontiers show that is all about neural control. It has an Air Force test pilot who is helping design a neural pitch/yaw system for faster flying, and an MIT prof who has a sailboat kinked to accept brain input. I heard that he recently completed a round-the world trip using the system. You can probably rent it at a good video store, or order a tape/transcript from PBS or Chedd Angiers (the producers). Hope this helps a little. J
Katz's friend Andy is barking up the wrong tree. HyperSoar is an interesting technology, but it's going to end up in the same aerospace trashheap as NASP, DC-Y, and DynaSoar. HyperSoar as a flight regime might be useful some day, but well before that day there will be commercially developed vehicles, maybe the Roton or K1 or Astroliner or any of dozens of others being built right now. The HyperSoar would "save" fuel and mass by skipping across the outer limits of the atmosphere. This is the same method that the Nazi Saanger skip bomber was going to use. It provides great fuel savings, but is rough on the craft, and involves a cycle of freefall and 2 G every 30 seconds to 1 minute, as the vehicle yo-yoes along it's flight path. Ugh. I'd much rather board a Kelly Astronliner at the airport, and deal with a 2G boost and then 90 minutes of nice, comfy freefall, thank you very much. No need to lose your lunch over it. 8)
Screw 2020, I predict, judging by the very fast development through the mid and late 90s, that there will be fast package and maybe suborbital passenger service by 2010, on the outside. Maybe 2006, if Vela Tech or Kelly are successful. These are all companies that have money, investors, and designs. Vela's tech partner is bending metal, Kistler is bending metal and has both the Saudi and Taiwanese governments funnelling "all money needed" to them. Roton is testing the ATV. There's no need for NASA to be working this flight regime, private enterprise is covering it.
As far as fast (ie. non-chemical rocket) powered interplanetary and interstellar flights, I think there is going to be much more progress over the next 10-15 years than anyone is predicting. I know of at least 3 projects that NASA and DOE are working, the updated Timberwind, a laser powered fusion drive and one that Frank Diaz is working on, a hybrid of a couple high-energy designs. Any of these could result in the fabled "three weeks to Mars" drive. Any of them could open up the solar system, and provide reasonable trip times to the nearest stars.
Also, on the brain implants. My informed guess is that there are applications NOW that are using neural feedback. For the time being, there is no need for invasive surgery, but that will probably be necessary for sensory input. Dig this, by 2010 I bet there will be inputs for imaging, using the optic nerve. There is simply to great of a market for this not to happen. The market involved is not just blind people, either. Imagine the military applications of being able to "patch into" a series of remote cameras. Or, the opportunities for artists and animators when it comes to staging and visualizing projects.
Last, I have great respect, big respect for Sir Arthur Clarke, but if I see another "fusion will save the world in 50 years" prediction, I'm gonna hurl. People have been claiming that fusion is 50 years away for the past 50 years! It's a joke, folks! Fusion will hopefully happen someday, some recent reactors have almost hit the break-even point with their energy output, but it's gonna be the sort of thing that comes as a complete surprise to the research community and the world. Remember the physics students that built that small plutonium breeder for a treasure hunt? Yeah, something like that. Unexpected, and hopefully open sourced. The last thing the world needs is some government getting exclusive access to a working fusion reactor.
Subject says it all. I was so excited that Cosmo's software and source were going to be released, then SGI sold them to Platinum, then Platinum got bought out, and I was stuck without a good VRML authoring kit. It's good the the Blaxxun source is published. It'll mean better vrml browsers on any platform that has open source coders. Blaxxun's software seems pretty good, but I don't have much experience with it. I'm just glad that SOMETHING is happening in the VRML world. J05H
Just the first one found around a main sequence or nearly-main sequence star. In 1989, three Earth sized (well, one is Mars sized, but close enough) planets were discovered orbitting a pulsar. They are obviously dead planets, like their star, but they always fail to be mentioned, especially in the mainstream media. Anyway, check out the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia for more info on all of this.
And yes, the fans spinning up in micro-g cause all kinds of control problems. From where I'm sitting, I can see two people that are using up all of our writing pads trying to solve them.
Hi! I might have a solution. I'd guess you are using the fans in pairs, two next to each other on three axis. (if not, this solution is bogus)
Anyway, set the fans up so that they counter-rotate. The spins will (roughly) cancel each other out.
If the SMR was designed with this in mind (the structure), it could be built with a 3-axis "core" that is hollow, with the fans mounted inside, so it could thrust in 6 directions. It would be able to produce thrust in 3 directions, and change vectors quickly.
Anyway, if you want to brainstorm, email me at "gigantin@shore.net" or start a discussion on sci.space.policy, with either "SMR" or "PSA" in the subject.
Good luck with the project, it's a great idea! And, market the damn thing, when it's finished! 8)
Gosh, would that be Jim Carvill? (might have spelling wrong) He was Clinton's campaign manager, and recently went over to Israel to make sure Barak got elected. It's kinda sick, how blatant the political "spin machine" can be about it's attitudes about all of the "sheeple". 8( Many of the people in that position have forgotten one very important thing: not everyone is part of the herd waiting to be controlled and slaughtered. J05H
If the U.N. had control/regulatory authority over the Net, the entire world would be facing the same sort of censorship/monitoring that the US is starting to face.
It wouldn't happen right away, but it would creep up on us, slowly but surely.
The U.N. consistently has written legislation that is totally against liberty and freedom oriented people.
They are closet totalitarians, the same way the current adminstration is. Anyone that denies this is categorically ignoring everything that has happened for the last 40 years (UN) and the last 7 years (Clinton).
Look at the Kyoto accords, for instance. If the policies from Kyoto are implimented, they will gut US industry, while leaving the "developing" world to continue polluting. This would relegate the US to having no heavy industry, no manufacturing, hence not much of an economy. It would cripple energy production, so even Net development would be slowed, and exported.
Giving the UN ANY kind of authority over the Net is a Very Bad Idea(TM).
If you want more evidence of bad things the UN has done do a Google search on "Moon Treaty", which the US thankfully has not ratified.
NASA does good, even great, as a research and exploration agency. NASA does horribly at operations, though. This is why they have turned over the day-to-day ops of Shuttle to USA (United Space Alliance- Boeing and Lockmart). At every turn, NASA's Administrator, Dan Goldin, slams commercial space startups, like Rotary and Kistler. He, and by extension, NASA, have a serious beef with companys other than the Big Two having any piece of the launch market, or the exploration market. NASA, in it's current, supposedly non-commercial guise, has killed many companys and efforts (Conestoga, almost Kistler, and Jim Davidson's "tourist to Mir" sweepstakes). If NASA became a competitor in an open market, it would wield an incredible and destructive influence, since it would still have huge contacts in other govt. agencies and the Big Two, it could effectively strangle any company that didn't fit 'the agenda'. This might sound slighlty paranoid, until you reflect on how much damage NASA has done to commercial space efforts, even it's own commercialization efforts with Shuttle and Station, without being an actual competitor.
Be very afraid for the future of space exploration and utilization if NASA tries to go commercial.
The problem is that the NASA just cancelled Champollion. 8(
It seems that the combination of Clinton's budget cuts and the money-sucking pit known as ISS are having some severe impacts on NASA. On top of that, Dan Goldin keeps sucking up and saying how happy he is to "do more with less". The problem is that the real science at NASA has started to suffer to an ever-increasing degree.
Of course, Goldin hasn't cut Al Gore's pet satellite, Triana.So, in exchange for bailing on new, potentially exciting planetary science, we are going to get a screensaver of the Earth and a few rich Russian cosmonauts.
Little Joe is also the one of the kicking boys on sci.space.policy. He has been claiming some major benefits and advances (bridge building, mining asteroids) while the only thing he can demonstrate is two black cubes sliding against each other. On top of his inane rantings and attitude, he posts some fairly racist and totalitarian crap on s.s.p. Since the article uses him as a major source, I would take the rest of it with a shaker of salt. YMMV. J05H
WOOHOO! That's a great speech! Sterling rocks, he's one of my favorite writers, and seems to really understand geekiness. Much more so than Gibson, at least. His stories are really inspirational, especially the Schismatrix/Shaper/ Mechanist stories. We can survive and continue being radical. Anyway, thanx for the text, I'm going to try to memorize it...
I hated high school. I REALLY hated high school. High school, the act of getting up every fscking morning to walk through hallways of laughing happy people, to get shoved around by people I didn't even know, to get called names for the way I dressed, spoke.
I had friends, very close friends, but we were a tight group because of the oppression and crap that got thrown at us every day.
I remember getting slammed into lockers every day for two years, over and over, for being a little different. I remember teachers, especially Mr Gunn, the coke head that stared down girl's shirts, simply turning away, knowing what was going on, but not caring.
In my high school, you got kicked out for throwing a punch, so defending yourself from physical agression lead to suspension.
I don't support what the kids in Colorado did, I think it's repugnant, but I understand how they were driven to what they did. The parents, guidance counselors and adminstrators don't have the balls, or intelligence, or compassion, to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Unless people, that is, teenagers in our schools, somehow start treating each other like valuable human beings, instead of social doormats, this sort of slaughter is going to continue as more of the discontent snap.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be what is happening. It seems that, so predictably, there is yet another backlash against the geeks, freaks, nonconformists and kids who don't fit in. "Be normal" they will tell you, over and over, "Try to get along", failing to realize that it's not you, but the savages that are stepping on you that are not being well behaved.
To all/.ers that read this that are still stuck in high school: good luck with the next few years, my heart goes out to you. It should get better afterwards, it might not seem like it now, but there will be a time after school when you can look back and think "How did I survive that?"
Slashdot Mirror
No. Protect extend and rebuild the environment at the same time as raising all of humanity to a standard of living better than what we enjoy currently in America. This is using today's technology and free market mechanisms, not this authoritarian "Third Way".
Life is a gamble, get used to it. You HAVE to do something in life, might as well make it worthwhile, right? Think of what you are saying, basically, that the Third World, and poorer people in the developed world, should be kept down for the benefit of the international ruling caste? The "Third Way" leaders (Clinton, Blair, Schroedinger, etc) are not interested in any "common" people, they are only interested in their helping the corporations that have granted favors to them, and to the special interests and other lobbies that dictate policy to them. If you aren't "special", or Fortune 500, they consider you nothing more than a source of money and consumption.
On your fear of environmental degradation, in the US, it's alot better than people realize. Also, do a search on "bruce sterling viridian" on your favorite search engine. Here's a good Viridian starter:
http://www.bespoke.org/viridian/
Man, do I have indigestion from this...
J05H
You are proposing the same outcome from both scenarios. ...imposition of a more global economy, that would bring the American standard of living (which I very much enjoy BTW) out of the stratosphere and onto the more level plane of globalisation?"
On one hand, you state that
"
And then, the last paragraph:
"Would these people still be there if they knew that the alternative to what the WTO stands for is (for example) a 200% increase in the cost of gasoline? Do they really want to HAVE TO grow their own vegetables, pluck their own chickens and ride a bike for transportation rather than cheeseburger-burning exercise?"
These are the exact same end result, one of lower standard of living in the US. Alternative applications for technology are one thing, but outright or subtle attempts to limit American's options in life are going to cause a back lash. Remember the Boston Tea Party?
J05H
From http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991130/ts/wto_le adall_38.html
Governor Gary Locke called up two national
guard units specializing in crowd control and
ordered them to the streets of Seattle to assist
police forces already at the scene. ``We're very
concerned about public safety,'' Locke said
This is interesting, because WHAT THE HELL DOES THE NATIONAL GUARD NEED RIOT UNITS FOR?!? I would assume that they use them overseas as well, but deplowing them in this case is sure to spur more protests.
J05H
Earth and humanity's existence are not zero sum games, by any means. If people choose to see a world of limited opportunity and oppression that is their choice, but it is easily provable that it is not.
The need for raising standards of living worldwide does not necessitate more oppresive regimes holding people down. People in America, since that seems to be the locale of everyone's beef, are not going to stand by while their economy is eroded by power-freak bureaucrats in Federal and international organizations. If everyone in China also had a color tv set, would that be Ok, or does America somehow "need" to be ripped apart? Why do you assume that any aspect of the world, be it the biosphere, the economy, or any human endeavor, is a zero sum game, in which everything must have some fixed level of usability or extensibility? The material resources just in the top few miles of crust and oceans of the earth are staggering, and easily enough to raise every human being on earth to an American standard of living.
This is using technology available today, if people and companies (maybe even governments, despite their historic wastefulness) wanted to make this happen.
Even without the promises of nanotech and a newly burdgeoning commercial space industry, life and economic existence are not zero sum. This is a mistake that even Malthus rejected later in life, you should consider evaluting your position on it. I would highly recommend "Mining the Sky" by John Lewis, on space development that relates to this , along with "Through Green Colored Glases: Environmentalism Reconsidered" by Beckerman.
J05H
These riots seemed pretty certain to happen, with as much anger and bad blood over the WTO.
Here are some things that are immediately apparent to me about these riots:
masks
People are afraid at these protests, many are trying to hide their identities with scarves, bandanas, masks and hoods. This can be attributed to three factors, the most important, IMHO, being that people are worried about reprisals and retribution even for attending the peaceful protests. The other two factors seem to be CS gas protection (not effective unless face covering is wet and covers eyes) and the natural inclination to disguise while vandalizing, for the more violent protesters.
disinformation
Major media outlets (CNNonline, local TV in Boston, Reuters) and the Seattle PD are not acknowledging using rubber bullets or CS (tear) gas, despite photos, video and eyewitness accounts of the use of both. Medics have reported treating CS burns, yet CNN claims that only pepper spray is being used.
evolving state of govt and economy
People from all over the political spectrum, left, right libertarian and "buchananites", are out there with a beef against the WTO. People are flying in from all over the world with an agenda against the WTO. Ergo, no one likes the WTO, except for those who stand to directly benefit from it's existence. Those benefits do not seem to extend to ordinary citizens, be they Bangladeshi, American or Estonian. Instead, they seem to benefit an increasingly powerful group of professional politicians, worldwide, and the people and companies that keep them in power.
This "new cultural elite" (LM 125) draws influences from all over the political spectrum, but increasingly demands structure, stability and authority in a suddenly fluid world. It purports capitalism, while working towards something an egalitarian and open capitalism should find anathema. Markets are increasingly being propped up, lowered, tweaked and micromanaged, by unelected "officials" who continuously enact new rules and regulations that directly harm people's lives, with no accountability. The WTO is one of many, many examples of a political tool that does that. In among some of the news stories and weblogs discussing the WTO are some horror stories about things the WTO has done. The major problem is a total lack of accountability, so they do whatever they feel like. The resentment this has caused, worldwide, is prompting people to vent their spleens in Seattle, because they most definitely do want control of their own lives.
J05H
You forgot the startup's offices on the Cali coast getting up close and personal with a cruise missile...
Interface is an excellent book, highly recommend it to anyone that likes Stephenson's work!
J04H
Hmm. I know I fit into 6 of the listed categories. Strangely, I never went pSyCh0 and killed anyone. This isn't to say that counselling and a change of environment won't help, it's just not the type of solution that solves the whole problem.
Think about it for a moment. What drives kids who are normally disinclined toward violence to do these drastic things? Getting your face smashed into a locker every day by someone bigger and meaner than you really CAN have an impact on behavior. Same goes for endless teasing, food fights, etc.
Dennis Hastert, the House Majority leader, dumbshit that he is, was on TV after Columbine, railing about the evils of the Net and Marilyn Manson. He said that he wrestled in school, and that kids should do that instead of "violent" things!! His implication was, of course, that sports are good, and D+D and Doom are bad. Hastert was the kind of person in school, I bet, that knocked books out of "geeks" hands.
This Mosaic-2000 software is going to do nothing but repress different kids. It might be designed to spot potentially violent students, but with attitudes like Hastert's and every guidance counselor I've encountered, do you really think it'll only be used for that? It's not a question of wearing a trenchcoat, but when you check that little box that says "get angry sometimes?", they'll earmark you for further observation...
I spent to many hours discussing this last April, I've gotta get back to work...
J05H
PS: Katz. For the last time: ACCESS TO GUNS IS NOT THE PROBLEM. GET OVER IT, OR REPEAL THE 2ND AMENDMENT. DISCIPLINE AND TRAINING WITH FIREARMS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM, SO ENCOURAGE FIREARMS TRAINING.
I bought Snow Crash as a trade paperback, back in 93. I guess I'm one of the original purveyors of the "you gotta read this" school.
Gotta say, Stephenson is one of the best SF writers still typing. His work is hard to compare to anyones, it's just to eclectic and good to really slap into categories. Yes, it's science fiction, yes it's 'post cyberpunk' but that's about it. You could also call it humor, but that doesn't quite fit. I think he deserves his own category, maybe the School of Neal?
Quick word/virus note: the "language as virus" meme is central to William S Burroughs' work. All of the cyberpunks were huge WSB, and I'm assuming Stephenson is, too. This is where that idea is coming from.
Ride music beam back to base.
J05H
mmm... Mars
I've got a story I worked on a while ago that
deals, somewhat, with this. It's about a group
of gene-modified/cyborged people exploring Mars.
It needs some more work, but I'm working on some
other writing projects now, so the Cats are on
the back burner:
Cats on Mars
Anyway, if you like it, send me some feedback.
A gentleman named Henry Spencer who is almost always correct on everything has his .sig say:
The good old days weren't.
I know this simplifies the "issues" a lot, but it basically stands. We, the children of the 80s and 90s are so much better off than our predecessors, and most of us don't even realize it.
If life is so bad now, why don't these neo-Luddites build cabins in the woods and live by kerosene lamps and gardenning. Oh, wait, maybe it's because central heat, telephones, computers and modern medecine are Good Things? I've lived like that before, it's actually quite pleasant, but it's hard. Getting up at 3:30 AM to stoke a stove, so that you won't freeze that night, every night, gets tiring. Hauling water from a well up a hill to a cabin is very rustic, but loses it's shine really quick.
Whatever.
J05H
I got an email asking for a little coroboration
on my "My informed guess is that there are applications NOW that are using neural feedback." statement. Here's my response:
Check out:
IBVA
A while ago on slashdot, there was an article about some
British doctors that had (bells and trumpets) gotten a
quadrapelegic person to "type" using a yes/no brain implant.
This sounds like a way-cool advance, but there were US
neuro surgeons doing more advanced work in the 70s.
The one that immediately comes to mindis a documentary
that I saw when I was little. It had this blind man who
had had a 13 (I think) pin plug installed, with leads
going deep into the visual cortex. I'm assuming his optic
nerve had been damaged. Anyway, the doctors working with
him got a system together that would "display" Braille
characters for him. They appeared as grids of fuzzy dots,
but he was able to read them. This was in the mid 70s,
so the research probably continued.
Also, there's an excellent Scientific American Frontiers
show that is all about neural control. It has an Air Force
test pilot who is helping design a neural pitch/yaw system
for faster flying, and an MIT prof who has a sailboat
kinked to accept brain input. I heard that he recently
completed a round-the world trip using the system.
You can probably rent it at a good video store, or order
a tape/transcript from PBS or Chedd Angiers (the producers).
Hope this helps a little.
J
Katz's friend Andy is barking up the wrong tree.
HyperSoar is an interesting technology, but it's
going to end up in the same aerospace trashheap as
NASP, DC-Y, and DynaSoar. HyperSoar as a flight
regime might be useful some day, but well before
that day there will be commercially developed
vehicles, maybe the Roton or K1 or Astroliner or
any of dozens of others being built right now.
The HyperSoar would "save" fuel and mass by skipping
across the outer limits of the atmosphere. This is
the same method that the Nazi Saanger skip bomber
was going to use. It provides great fuel savings, but
is rough on the craft, and involves a cycle of
freefall and 2 G every 30 seconds to 1 minute, as
the vehicle yo-yoes along it's flight path. Ugh. I'd
much rather board a Kelly Astronliner at the airport,
and deal with a 2G boost and then 90 minutes of nice,
comfy freefall, thank you very much.
No need to lose your lunch over it. 8)
Screw 2020, I predict, judging by the very fast development
through the mid and late 90s, that there
will be fast package and maybe suborbital passenger
service by 2010, on the outside. Maybe 2006, if
Vela Tech or Kelly are successful.
These are all companies that have money, investors,
and designs. Vela's tech partner is bending metal,
Kistler is bending metal and has both the Saudi
and Taiwanese governments funnelling "all money
needed" to them. Roton is testing the ATV.
There's no need for NASA to be working this flight
regime, private enterprise is covering it.
As far as fast (ie. non-chemical rocket) powered interplanetary
and interstellar flights, I think there is going to
be much more progress over the next 10-15 years than
anyone is predicting. I know of at least 3 projects
that NASA and DOE are working, the updated Timberwind,
a laser powered fusion drive and one that Frank Diaz
is working on, a hybrid of a couple high-energy
designs. Any of these could result in the fabled
"three weeks to Mars" drive. Any of them could open
up the solar system, and provide reasonable trip times
to the nearest stars.
Also, on the brain implants. My informed guess is
that there are applications NOW that are using neural
feedback. For the time being, there is no need for
invasive surgery, but that will probably be necessary
for sensory input. Dig this, by 2010 I bet there will
be inputs for imaging, using the optic nerve. There
is simply to great of a market for this not to
happen. The market involved is not just blind people,
either. Imagine the military applications of being
able to "patch into" a series of remote cameras. Or,
the opportunities for artists and animators when it
comes to staging and visualizing projects.
Last, I have great respect, big respect for Sir Arthur
Clarke, but if I see another "fusion will save the
world in 50 years" prediction, I'm gonna hurl. People
have been claiming that fusion is 50 years away for
the past 50 years! It's a joke, folks! Fusion will
hopefully happen someday, some recent reactors have
almost hit the break-even point with their energy output,
but it's gonna be the sort of thing that comes as a
complete surprise to the research community and the
world. Remember the physics students that built that
small plutonium breeder for a treasure hunt? Yeah,
something like that. Unexpected, and hopefully open
sourced. The last thing the world needs is some
government getting exclusive access to a working
fusion reactor.
gahh. My hands hurt from typing.
J05H
Subject says it all.
I was so excited that Cosmo's software and
source were going to be released, then SGI
sold them to Platinum, then Platinum got
bought out, and I was stuck without a good
VRML authoring kit.
It's good the the Blaxxun source is published.
It'll mean better vrml browsers on any platform
that has open source coders. Blaxxun's software
seems pretty good, but I don't have much
experience with it.
I'm just glad that SOMETHING is happening in the
VRML world.
J05H
Just the first one found around a main sequence or nearly-main sequence star.
In 1989, three Earth sized (well, one is Mars sized, but close enough) planets were discovered
orbitting a pulsar. They are obviously dead planets, like their star, but they always fail
to be mentioned, especially in the mainstream media. Anyway, check out the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia for more info on all of this.
And yes, the fans spinning up in micro-g cause all kinds of control problems. From where I'm sitting, I can see two
people that are using up all of our writing pads trying to solve them.
Hi! I might have a solution. I'd guess you are using the fans in pairs, two next to each other
on three axis. (if not, this solution is bogus)
Anyway, set the fans up so that they counter-rotate. The spins will (roughly) cancel each other out.
If the SMR was designed with this in mind (the structure), it could be built with a 3-axis "core" that is hollow, with the fans mounted inside, so it could thrust in 6 directions. It would be able to produce thrust in 3 directions, and change vectors quickly.
Anyway, if you want to brainstorm, email me at "gigantin@shore.net" or start a discussion on sci.space.policy, with either "SMR" or "PSA" in the subject.
Good luck with the project, it's a great idea! And, market the damn thing, when it's finished! 8)
J05H
Gosh, would that be Jim Carvill? (might have spelling wrong)
He was Clinton's campaign manager, and recently
went over to Israel to make sure Barak got elected.
It's kinda sick, how blatant the political "spin machine"
can be about it's attitudes about all of the "sheeple". 8(
Many of the people in that position have forgotten one very
important thing: not everyone is part of the herd waiting
to be controlled and slaughtered.
J05H
But... That'd take all the fun out of it!
8)
>hey josh, stop reading slashdot
/. at the time! 8)
But I wasn't reading
Anyway, it's not THAT big of a time-sink,
and I get a lot of valuable news from
the site.
J05H
Yeah, but if it's the DEA, and their in a
helicopter, you can bet it's the wrong
people, doing it for all the wrong reasons.
8)
Subject says it all.
If the U.N. had control/regulatory authority over the Net, the entire world would be facing the same sort of censorship/monitoring that the US is starting to face.
It wouldn't happen right away, but it would creep up on us, slowly but surely.
The U.N. consistently has written legislation that is totally against liberty and freedom oriented people.
They are closet totalitarians, the same way the current adminstration is. Anyone that denies this is categorically ignoring everything that has happened for the last 40 years (UN) and the last 7 years (Clinton).
Look at the Kyoto accords, for instance. If the policies from Kyoto are implimented, they will gut US industry, while leaving the "developing" world to continue polluting. This would relegate the US to having no heavy industry, no manufacturing, hence not much of an economy. It would cripple energy production, so even Net development would be slowed, and exported.
Giving the UN ANY kind of authority over the Net is a Very Bad Idea(TM).
If you want more evidence of bad things the UN has done do a Google search on "Moon Treaty", which the US thankfully has not ratified.
NASA does good, even great, as a research and exploration agency. NASA does horribly at operations, though. This is why they have turned over the day-to-day ops of Shuttle to USA (United Space Alliance- Boeing and Lockmart).
At every turn, NASA's Administrator, Dan Goldin, slams commercial space startups, like Rotary and Kistler. He, and by extension, NASA, have a serious beef with companys other than the Big Two having any piece of the launch market, or the exploration market.
NASA, in it's current, supposedly non-commercial guise, has killed many companys and efforts (Conestoga, almost Kistler, and Jim Davidson's "tourist to Mir" sweepstakes). If NASA became a competitor in an open market, it would wield an incredible and destructive influence, since it would still have huge contacts in other govt. agencies and the Big Two, it could effectively strangle any company that didn't fit 'the agenda'.
This might sound slighlty paranoid, until you reflect on how much damage NASA has done to commercial space efforts, even it's own commercialization efforts with Shuttle and Station, without being an actual competitor.
Be very afraid for the future of space exploration and utilization if NASA tries to go commercial.
J05H
But the US is attempting it in 2005.
The problem is that the NASA just cancelled Champollion. 8(
It seems that the combination of Clinton's budget cuts and the money-sucking pit known as ISS are having some severe impacts on NASA. On top of that, Dan Goldin keeps sucking up and saying how happy he is to "do more with less". The problem is that the real science at NASA has started to suffer to an ever-increasing degree.
Of course, Goldin hasn't cut Al Gore's pet satellite, Triana.So, in exchange for bailing on new, potentially exciting planetary science, we are going to get a screensaver of the Earth and a few rich Russian cosmonauts.
Little Joe is also the one of the kicking
boys on sci.space.policy.
He has been claiming some major benefits and
advances (bridge building, mining asteroids)
while the only thing he can demonstrate is
two black cubes sliding against each other.
On top of his inane rantings and attitude, he
posts some fairly racist and totalitarian
crap on s.s.p.
Since the article uses him as a major source,
I would take the rest of it with a shaker of
salt. YMMV.
J05H
WOOHOO! That's a great speech!
Sterling rocks, he's one of my
favorite writers, and seems to
really understand geekiness.
Much more so than Gibson, at
least.
His stories are really inspirational,
especially the Schismatrix/Shaper/
Mechanist stories. We can survive
and continue being radical.
Anyway, thanx for the text, I'm
going to try to memorize it...
I hated high school.
/.ers that read this that are still stuck
I REALLY hated high school.
High school, the act of getting up every
fscking morning to walk through hallways of
laughing happy people, to get shoved around
by people I didn't even know, to get called
names for the way I dressed, spoke.
I had friends, very close friends, but we
were a tight group because of the oppression
and crap that got thrown at us every day.
I remember getting slammed into lockers every
day for two years, over and over, for being
a little different. I remember teachers,
especially Mr Gunn, the coke head that stared
down girl's shirts, simply turning away, knowing
what was going on, but not caring.
In my high school, you got kicked out for
throwing a punch, so defending yourself from
physical agression lead to suspension.
I don't support what the kids in Colorado did, I
think it's repugnant, but I understand how they
were driven to what they did. The parents, guidance
counselors and adminstrators don't have the balls,
or intelligence, or compassion, to prevent this sort
of thing from happening. Unless people, that is,
teenagers in our schools, somehow start treating
each other like valuable human beings, instead of
social doormats, this sort of slaughter is going to
continue as more of the discontent snap.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be what is
happening. It seems that, so predictably, there is
yet another backlash against the geeks, freaks,
nonconformists and kids who don't fit in. "Be normal"
they will tell you, over and over, "Try to get along",
failing to realize that it's not you, but the savages
that are stepping on you that are not being well
behaved.
To all
in high school: good luck with the next few years,
my heart goes out to you. It should get better
afterwards, it might not seem like it now, but there
will be a time after school when you can look back
and think "How did I survive that?"