Imagine if the U.S. government or IRS sent notices like this that said "Warning: If you don't send us X amount of dollars
by March 31st, you will be in danger of facing criminal prosecution".
The IRS doesn't need to send out the notices. They've already taken the money from your paycheck. You have to file a form to get the money back. It's only a matter of time before Network Solutions cuts themselves this kind of break.
Do you realize how much time people waste talking on the phone? One guy next to me used to spend at least an hour a week chattering about bridge. It was very annoying. But he did good work so there.
Do businesses realize that people might call up phone sex lines? They can also contact prostitutes, drug dealers, hit men, or even rat out the company to the SEC/FBI. The list of bad contacts goes on and on. I say, "Let's rip those phones out of the wall."
And what about the friggin door. Many good companies like to say that their most important assets walk out of the door every evening. Hah. Do you realize the trouble they can find when they leave the protective womb? There are drugs, criminals, blackmailers and spousal distraction units. Heck, there are even video games. I say, "Just lock them up for good." To heck with the door.
I realize that they're supposed to be "in charge", but what are they in charge of doing? As far as I can tell, they have big meetings in strange, out-of-the-way places where reporters can't show up. Then they sit around, talk amoungst themselves, and choose who gets to have a top-level domain and who gets locked out.
Do they do anything else? I would love anywho who saved us from SPAM, but they can't seem to do that. I would love it if someone could lower the cost of registering domain names to close to the real cost, but they can't seem to do that. I would love it if they could promote more stable, secure protocols, but they aren't close to considering questions like that.
So can anyone else articulate something they have given us?
What about differential equations?
on
Digital Biology
·
· Score: 1
I think the reviewer's points about differential equations are good ones. If you check out the link in the bio, one article on AIDS points to the mistakes you can make with choosing the wrong rules for your "metaphors." Differential equations, for instance, require you to be able to take derivatives of the functions and fit the derivatives to some equation. That's great if the functions have derivatives, but it can be misleading if they don't. In one example, an economist hell-bent on using differential equations decides that AIDS can be curtailed if we all have more sex. (I kid you not!).
So are biological metaphors just as suspect? Perhaps. Digital evolution is cool, but I don't see why it is better than any of the other optimization techniques. If anything, the digital bio metaphor forces you to mimic creatures and all of their semi-monogamous, one-on-one reproduction. Equations don't have to conform to such a binary vision.
You don't write an X-Files episode about "undocumented remote procedure calls."
Yes, there are too many syllables. Scully and Mulder need short phrases like "DAT tape." The biologists are just more poetic. Three letter acronyms sound stupid, but programmers use them all of the time. Programmers love words with plenty of consonants. Biologists love vowels. Vowels are sexier and more ominous too.
Re:Be careful not to take this too far.
on
Digital Biology
·
· Score: 1
Yes, we get too amazed and let our enthusiasm outstrip our best judgement. I love the pictures of the fractal ferns, but what the heck does this teach us about biology and computer science? Maybe ferns use the same program again and again in creating fronds, but I doubt it. After a certain point, I think they stop repeating things.
We need to take a few ideas from the natural world, but there's no reason to imitate it slavishly. Why not have strange mating rituals for these digital memes that are supposedly evolving? Why not be a bit more mathematically precise? We might actually prove something for a change instead of talking about how cool it all is.
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Imagine if the U.S. government or IRS sent notices like this that said "Warning: If you don't send us X amount of dollars by March 31st, you will be in danger of facing criminal prosecution".
The IRS doesn't need to send out the notices. They've already taken the money from your paycheck. You have to file a form to get the money back. It's only a matter of time before Network Solutions cuts themselves this kind of break.
Do you realize how much time people waste talking on the phone? One guy next to me used to spend at least an hour a week chattering about bridge. It was very annoying. But he did good work so there.
Do businesses realize that people might call up phone sex lines? They can also contact prostitutes, drug dealers, hit men, or even rat out the company to the SEC/FBI. The list of bad contacts goes on and on. I say, "Let's rip those phones out of the wall."
And what about the friggin door. Many good companies like to say that their most important assets walk out of the door every evening. Hah. Do you realize the trouble they can find when they leave the protective womb? There are drugs, criminals, blackmailers and spousal distraction units. Heck, there are even video games. I say, "Just lock them up for good." To heck with the door.
I realize that they're supposed to be "in charge", but what are they in charge of doing? As far as I can tell, they have big meetings in strange, out-of-the-way places where reporters can't show up. Then they sit around, talk amoungst themselves, and choose who gets to have a top-level domain and who gets locked out.
Do they do anything else? I would love anywho who saved us from SPAM, but they can't seem to do that. I would love it if someone could lower the cost of registering domain names to close to the real cost, but they can't seem to do that. I would love it if they could promote more stable, secure protocols, but they aren't close to considering questions like that.
So can anyone else articulate something they have given us?
I think the reviewer's points about differential equations are good ones. If you check out the link in the bio, one article on AIDS points to the mistakes you can make with choosing the wrong rules for your "metaphors." Differential equations, for instance, require you to be able to take derivatives of the functions and fit the derivatives to some equation. That's great if the functions have derivatives, but it can be misleading if they don't. In one example, an economist hell-bent on using differential equations decides that AIDS can be curtailed if we all have more sex. (I kid you not!).
So are biological metaphors just as suspect? Perhaps. Digital evolution is cool, but I don't see why it is better than any of the other optimization techniques. If anything, the digital bio metaphor forces you to mimic creatures and all of their semi-monogamous, one-on-one reproduction. Equations don't have to conform to such a binary vision.
You don't write an X-Files episode about "undocumented remote procedure calls."
Yes, there are too many syllables. Scully and Mulder need short phrases like "DAT tape." The biologists are just more poetic. Three letter acronyms sound stupid, but programmers use them all of the time. Programmers love words with plenty of consonants. Biologists love vowels. Vowels are sexier and more ominous too.
Yes, we get too amazed and let our enthusiasm outstrip our best judgement. I love the pictures of the fractal ferns, but what the heck does this teach us about biology and computer science? Maybe ferns use the same program again and again in creating fronds, but I doubt it. After a certain point, I think they stop repeating things.
We need to take a few ideas from the natural world, but there's no reason to imitate it slavishly. Why not have strange mating rituals for these digital memes that are supposedly evolving? Why not be a bit more mathematically precise? We might actually prove something for a change instead of talking about how cool it all is.