So its important that this stuff be readable in the future and able to be shared.
The software that will have the greatest ability to read the Word documents that exist today in 20 years time will be open source. MS Word will have just as crappy support then as they have for 20-year-old Word documents today.
There's a good chance that this is just political theatre. The Conservatives promised their big-entertainment paymasters that they would introduce this bill in this session of parliament, so they are doing so, but this is the end of the session and the bill is hugely unpopular, so it will likely die when the parliamentary session closes.
What I would like to see for is the Conservatives to make the bill a matter of confidence, the Liberals to vote it under thereby forcing an election, and then the Liberals wining a majority government by harping on this piece of unpopular legislation. This would show the politicians that bills of this kind are political suicide for whatever party introduces them.
You believe that you have a soul because you are programmed to believe that you have a soul. You should look into the "computational theory of mind" if you want to know the almost certain truth. Of course, the lack of "magic" might make laypeople uncomfortable.
The US has a quarter of the world's prisoners but has less than 5% of the world's population.
I suspect that in the third world, the wait on death row isn't measured in decades, and stealing bread is a capital offense. That'll keep the numbers down.
I was at a clay & glass museum once and one of the items in the display case was a plain paper grocery bag. It was opened, a little crumpled and had the tell-tale stamp on it. I couldn't understand what it was doing there. Maybe it was some kind of a joke. After a minute or so, I noticed that the paper seemed just a little bit too thick... It was a clay sculpture. Brilliant!
If it is not possible to travel faster than light then the space and time between us and our nearest neighbouring civilisation is likely to be prohibitive.
I'd say that the limiting factor in the Drake equation is L, the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space. We've only been able to do that for about 70 years we've come close to blowing ourselves up more than once. Maybe L is only 200 years on average, or maybe 80. After Iran gets the bomb, all bets will be off.
Suppose there were an intelligent civilization a few light years away that blew itself up 200 years ago. We'd never know.
I would posit that Philosophy would be another class that it would be appropriate in (beyond the narrow religious studies classes).
I can agree with you, but only in the context that Intelligent Design is a poorly constructed straw-man argument that philosophy students should tear apart as their first homework assignment.
the average bank around me (So Cal) offers roughly 3% or less for savings accounts. CDs are slightly better
If you're silly enough to put the bulk of your long-term investments into fixed-rate accounts, you might be better off burning your money to heat your home.
"The charge is bank robbery. Now, my caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested. Therefore, robbing a bank is tantamount to that most heinous of crimes, theft of money. " — Judge Ron Whitey, Futurama
My problem is that by 2011, 1.6Ghz is going to be equivalent to sub-Ghz now, it's going to suck
Unlike with commercial software, open-source software actually gets refactored. This means that later versions of it run more efficiently than earlier versions of it.
ISO, like the UN, has always been at least as corrupt as its membership. Since half the countries in the world are genocidal dictatorships, both organizations are fundamentally corrupt. The only reform is to get rid of these members.
How about the fact that such an awful, immature, and unimplemented spec should never have been fast-tracked in the first place. Whatever ISO officials okayed that are either corrupt or grossly incompetent.
But those lucky enough to survive that barrage had to also clear the acid rain, who, media types were convinced, would prevent children from playing outside, as early as 1980.
Don't forget how we were all going to be up to our necks in garbage in 20 years in 1980. This was a big deal to environmentalists before Global Warming came along.
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Then what the hell happens to them?
If I gave you 100-trillion lines of spaghetti code, would you say you know everything about how the program works?
Don't underestimate the ability of the Democratic party to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It's almost like there was some kind of invisible hand at work.
C'mon, don't you know that all generalizations are wrong?
The software that will have the greatest ability to read the Word documents that exist today in 20 years time will be open source. MS Word will have just as crappy support then as they have for 20-year-old Word documents today.
And when this simulation claims to be conscious, what do we make of that?
There's a good chance that this is just political theatre. The Conservatives promised their big-entertainment paymasters that they would introduce this bill in this session of parliament, so they are doing so, but this is the end of the session and the bill is hugely unpopular, so it will likely die when the parliamentary session closes.
What I would like to see for is the Conservatives to make the bill a matter of confidence, the Liberals to vote it under thereby forcing an election, and then the Liberals wining a majority government by harping on this piece of unpopular legislation. This would show the politicians that bills of this kind are political suicide for whatever party introduces them.
You believe that you have a soul because you are programmed to believe that you have a soul. You should look into the "computational theory of mind" if you want to know the almost certain truth. Of course, the lack of "magic" might make laypeople uncomfortable.
Link.
I suspect that in the third world, the wait on death row isn't measured in decades, and stealing bread is a capital offense. That'll keep the numbers down.
I was at a clay & glass museum once and one of the items in the display case was a plain paper grocery bag. It was opened, a little crumpled and had the tell-tale stamp on it. I couldn't understand what it was doing there. Maybe it was some kind of a joke. After a minute or so, I noticed that the paper seemed just a little bit too thick... It was a clay sculpture. Brilliant!
I'd say that the limiting factor in the Drake equation is L, the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space. We've only been able to do that for about 70 years we've come close to blowing ourselves up more than once. Maybe L is only 200 years on average, or maybe 80. After Iran gets the bomb, all bets will be off.
Suppose there were an intelligent civilization a few light years away that blew itself up 200 years ago. We'd never know.
I can agree with you, but only in the context that Intelligent Design is a poorly constructed straw-man argument that philosophy students should tear apart as their first homework assignment.
I think he could have thrown in the terms "extortion" and "class-action lawsuit".
If you're silly enough to put the bulk of your long-term investments into fixed-rate accounts, you might be better off burning your money to heat your home.
"The charge is bank robbery. Now, my caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested. Therefore, robbing a bank is tantamount to that most heinous of crimes, theft of money. " — Judge Ron Whitey, Futurama
Unlike with commercial software, open-source software actually gets refactored. This means that later versions of it run more efficiently than earlier versions of it.
ISO, like the UN, has always been at least as corrupt as its membership. Since half the countries in the world are genocidal dictatorships, both organizations are fundamentally corrupt. The only reform is to get rid of these members.
Presumably, ISO will announce that MS-OOXML has passed as an interna[tiona]l standard tomorrow.
How about the fact that such an awful, immature, and unimplemented spec should never have been fast-tracked in the first place. Whatever ISO officials okayed that are either corrupt or grossly incompetent.
I should become the editor of a spec that competes with Microsoft. Then I could get the million-dollar bribes.
Yeah, but the cost of the first unit is a doozy. I think your model is a little bit flawed.
Squirrels like them, too.
Don't forget how we were all going to be up to our necks in garbage in 20 years in 1980. This was a big deal to environmentalists before Global Warming came along.
Guess you don't live in Ontario. If you're not careful, the courts might get you to sign an agreement saying that you'll stop blocking traffic.