It is a long time since I have read it, but I don't know what you guys are talking about. It is clear that this is a criticism of totalitarian states (which I call dictatorship, but I know, some people would argue that this could be a communist state with no head, or an oligarchy or a triumvirat, or...) towards several aspect:
* Constant surveillance
* Invasion of privacy
* Brainwashing by state-controled news
There is in fact a message in the form "surveillance is baaaad!". It surely is, because it is often the symptom of a more grave disease : the bending toward a totalitarian state.
Yes, France.
You mean in the US there is no status for professional reporter ? Here they are awarded a "press card" that gives them priviledged rights, most notably the right to not tell justice the source of their articles. This also grants them access to locations usually denied to the public, personalities are more inclined to be interviewed by these people.
Oh, and of course anyone is free, even without these cards, to write an article, send it to a newspaper and see it published, they are free to start their own newspaper or blog. I thought that some form of "press card" also existed in US. I am surprised this is not the case, how do you sort NYT reporters from bozos from skyblog ?
Ok, I admit I fell for the sensationalism, this story is really far-fetched, it could have happen anywhere in a free country. Typical minor abuse of power.
1984 has become IMHO a generic term for a depiction of a future dictatorship. More people can understood a reference to this book than with a more accurate reference tp P.K.Dick or Stephenson's works.
You can go to the left without going to the far left. And you can go to the right without going to the far right. Remember, moderation is not "surrender".
In fact ITER completion is scheduled for 2040.
Ain't it a shame ?
AI though, is always "X years away" except for the year it will actually happen. One day someone (a person or a lab) will be able to make one and the Singularity will be here. That should make fusion a lot more near, by the way...
The same country whose government surrendered in WWII developed one of the finest cuisines and wines that exist.
If you ask a slightly proud and biaised french, he would tell you that the government never surrendered, because there were two of them. One was Petain's (Gouvernement de Vichy) the other one was De Gaulle's (France Libre). They both accused each other as being illegitimate. Although Petain's government negociated inherrited from the "control" of the land and of a small piece of the army, today's french government is the continuation of De Gaulle's one, which was then exiled in London and didn't recognize the peace signed by Petain. It had lands too : most of the french colonies rallied him, at that time it was a fairly consequent empire, that made the decision to secede in order not to surrender.
I think you are right in the long term, but here and now, 80% of all machines and vehicles are made for humans. You can automate a machine, and this machine will be automatic. If you can create a humanoid robot, it could use all machines. Today I think we need to prove that "it can be done", that some tasks don't require a human brain to supervise the operation. I am sure that a construction droid with a hundred different tools on his body would be more efficient, but right now we need a robot with a hand that can take a screwdiver, can use a vacuum cleaner, can drive a wheel-and-pedal vehicle. Then, only then, investors will be ready to invest in R&D for specialized and efficient robots.
I wouldn't call it easy, but yeah a robot-soldier is technically in the realm of possibility. South-Korea has such a research program. It should produce something (a land-drone with machine-gun) by 2010.
Similar to the authorities in Google, whose outgoing links make a statement about the trustworthiness of other sites, an "authority" on the Semantic Web can make statements about the trustworthiness of other sites.
Want to manage a $10 billion company in ten years ? Here is your plan...
In fact all these problems/victimization come from an interesting issue : We come at the level where we can say "this reaction, this mood is caused because of this molecule in the brain". We can even diagnose a higher molecular reaction for some people, a dependance for others, different secretion schemes. We begin to see the inner workings of the brain and "normal" people, the "mainstream" population (if such a thing even exist in the mythical big blue room) discover that there is stuff inside their skulls that obey to some physics and chemical laws and that it is not the black box directly rigged to the quantic-incomprehensible-esoteric-mystical soul. There is stuff inside that "does stuff". We (the proud geek/nerd community) with our SF and cyberpunk readings, have pondered these problems of free-will vs determenistic rules. For average Joe, however, the head only contains a ghost known as "soul" and know we tell them it has been fed with chemicals with barbaric names, probably drugs that prevent their beautiful "self" to manifest fully...
I think they will eventually manage to get security right. Back in the Win98 time, Linux was considered superior because of stability, so they improved stability. Now it is security, they will improve security. Never underestimate the capabilities of a $80 billions Behemoth to strive to secure its survival.
Because oil will become much more rare, much more expensive, and that this ressource is controled by less-than-friendly country (that fact could be explained by the constant intervention in their domestic affairs during the last 50 years)
Trade, espiecially free trade, suppose that if you don't like a supplier, you can turn to another one. On the oil market, the day Saudi Arabia wants it, it can create an economical crisis in the US and the world (already happened twice). Maybe it is desirable to prevent such effect isn't it ?
Slashdot Mirror
It is a long time since I have read it, but I don't know what you guys are talking about. It is clear that this is a criticism of totalitarian states (which I call dictatorship, but I know, some people would argue that this could be a communist state with no head, or an oligarchy or a triumvirat, or...) towards several aspect :
* Constant surveillance
* Invasion of privacy
* Brainwashing by state-controled news
There is in fact a message in the form "surveillance is baaaad!". It surely is, because it is often the symptom of a more grave disease : the bending toward a totalitarian state.
Yes, France.
You mean in the US there is no status for professional reporter ? Here they are awarded a "press card" that gives them priviledged rights, most notably the right to not tell justice the source of their articles. This also grants them access to locations usually denied to the public, personalities are more inclined to be interviewed by these people.
Oh, and of course anyone is free, even without these cards, to write an article, send it to a newspaper and see it published, they are free to start their own newspaper or blog. I thought that some form of "press card" also existed in US. I am surprised this is not the case, how do you sort NYT reporters from bozos from skyblog ?
Cool! Just like the movies. Leave it like this, the reporters will have fun.
And this becoming a common practice will make it easier to get rid of too disquiet reporters...
"The use of illegal cell phones is so... unprofessional. Now handle your licence."
"Well of course he got killed! Don't you see where he has been!."
Ok, I admit I fell for the sensationalism, this story is really far-fetched, it could have happen anywhere in a free country. Typical minor abuse of power.
1984 has become IMHO a generic term for a depiction of a future dictatorship. More people can understood a reference to this book than with a more accurate reference tp P.K.Dick or Stephenson's works.
You can go to the left without going to the far left. And you can go to the right without going to the far right. Remember, moderation is not "surrender".
Because science-fiction that becomes reality is News For Nerds. And when that science-fiction is 1984 it definitely is Stuff That Matters!
"...until there is real fraud, in a real election, nothing is going to change."
Well it has already change : a president with no common sense has been elected, then re-elected despite a disastrous record.
We'd probably be more safe had we responded to 9/11 by literally doing nothing at all.
Plus, THAT would have been a strong message to send to terrorist : We don't care
(to the Weird Al's tune or Manson's one, whatever)
We are stars now!
In the dope show!
We are stars now!
In the dope show!
In fact ITER completion is scheduled for 2040.
Ain't it a shame ?
AI though, is always "X years away" except for the year it will actually happen. One day someone (a person or a lab) will be able to make one and the Singularity will be here. That should make fusion a lot more near, by the way...
or, the EU sanctions may have make them think about a thing or two.
I am French and I like to nitpick :-)
:)
The same country whose government surrendered in WWII developed one of the finest cuisines and wines that exist.
If you ask a slightly proud and biaised french, he would tell you that the government never surrendered, because there were two of them. One was Petain's (Gouvernement de Vichy) the other one was De Gaulle's (France Libre). They both accused each other as being illegitimate. Although Petain's government negociated inherrited from the "control" of the land and of a small piece of the army, today's french government is the continuation of De Gaulle's one, which was then exiled in London and didn't recognize the peace signed by Petain. It had lands too : most of the french colonies rallied him, at that time it was a fairly consequent empire, that made the decision to secede in order not to surrender.
Now you can mod me off-topic
I think you are right in the long term, but here and now, 80% of all machines and vehicles are made for humans. You can automate a machine, and this machine will be automatic. If you can create a humanoid robot, it could use all machines. Today I think we need to prove that "it can be done", that some tasks don't require a human brain to supervise the operation. I am sure that a construction droid with a hundred different tools on his body would be more efficient, but right now we need a robot with a hand that can take a screwdiver, can use a vacuum cleaner, can drive a wheel-and-pedal vehicle. Then, only then, investors will be ready to invest in R&D for specialized and efficient robots.
Orbital Fire ? Check in Soviet Russia:
o mbardment_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_B
USSR : makers of cool stuff that goes BOOM since 1945
I wouldn't call it easy, but yeah a robot-soldier is technically in the realm of possibility. South-Korea has such a research program. It should produce something (a land-drone with machine-gun) by 2010.
I as one am, want merry welcome our overlorded linuxed French robot.
:-)
That should hurt your brain like it did mine
Je suis fier d'être le premier à déclarer (correctement):
Bienvenue à nos nouveaux suzerains robotiques tournant sous linux !
Similar to the authorities in Google, whose outgoing links make a statement about the trustworthiness of other sites, an "authority" on the Semantic Web can make statements about the trustworthiness of other sites.
Want to manage a $10 billion company in ten years ? Here is your plan...
Just my two cents, soon to be gazillions...
That, and the URL format changed, so ancien links doesn't work anymore.
"Older Article" link returns a 503 error.
RSS links are not valid anymore.
Should I make an entry in the bug tracker or is it obvious enough ?
In fact they did. They didn't had any particular prefered direction except in the case that they saw pacman directly
Just change the definition of death by adding the word "irreversably" before ceased, and you'll be fine.
Except that you can actually measure in an objective way that there is brain activity or not. I have no idea of a way of measuring its reversability.
In fact all these problems/victimization come from an interesting issue : We come at the level where we can say "this reaction, this mood is caused because of this molecule in the brain". We can even diagnose a higher molecular reaction for some people, a dependance for others, different secretion schemes. We begin to see the inner workings of the brain and "normal" people, the "mainstream" population (if such a thing even exist in the mythical big blue room) discover that there is stuff inside their skulls that obey to some physics and chemical laws and that it is not the black box directly rigged to the quantic-incomprehensible-esoteric-mystical soul. There is stuff inside that "does stuff". We (the proud geek/nerd community) with our SF and cyberpunk readings, have pondered these problems of free-will vs determenistic rules. For average Joe, however, the head only contains a ghost known as "soul" and know we tell them it has been fed with chemicals with barbaric names, probably drugs that prevent their beautiful "self" to manifest fully...
Well for this one, at least, there is a close date. 31th July 2006. If at this date MS doesn't comply, the fine will be $3M/day.
I think they will eventually manage to get security right. Back in the Win98 time, Linux was considered superior because of stability, so they improved stability. Now it is security, they will improve security. Never underestimate the capabilities of a $80 billions Behemoth to strive to secure its survival.
So much for the Anonymous Coward ;-)
And his IP address
Because oil will become much more rare, much more expensive, and that this ressource is controled by less-than-friendly country (that fact could be explained by the constant intervention in their domestic affairs during the last 50 years)
Trade, espiecially free trade, suppose that if you don't like a supplier, you can turn to another one. On the oil market, the day Saudi Arabia wants it, it can create an economical crisis in the US and the world (already happened twice). Maybe it is desirable to prevent such effect isn't it ?