Precisely! Once they have these technologies they'll fake a nuclear war and send us all into bunkers far underground (to "protect" us) in which we can do little but build the rich more robots.
Those willing to pay more would do so, and those people are the ones that wanted it the most. People that didn't want it as badly wouldn't pay as much. This is economics 101.
Yeah.. no shit.. I get the supply and demand thing.
Problem is, in selling the console in such a fashion you piss off the loyal fans. The fans you've been hyping up with MTV specials and game rag "exclusives" for months. You've promised them all the opportunity to buy the XBox 360 at the low-low price of $300 (or $400 for the real one, but I won't delve into that).
But wait! There's money to be made, lets drop all those launch promises and sell the shit on EBay! $10 million (note: probably less) in profits is totally worth betraying a notoriously bitchy customer base, especially when our competition is due in only a few months.. Oh.. wait.. Maybe not a good idea.
Might have been said in 1851, but I think that most people still understand the idea that patents can strangle real development.. Hell, even that patent office probably tries to avoid those types of patents.
Unfortunately, those kinds of profits can (at least in principle) be extremely profitable, just look at this case:
Microsoft patents clicking something to do something else (seriously, this is what the patent boils down to). This was the mids 90's, so they use a bunch of software company jargon to make it sound like they're doing something unique enough to warrant a patent.. poor little overworked patent stamper says "Hey! If I stamp this one I get to go eat lunch!" And one more incredibly vague patent is put into law..
Once again, I say the problem boils down to a patent office which is 1) not ready to deal with technology and 2) overworked and understaffed. There's no way anyone with a sound understanding of what this patent means would have granted the patent.. I mean.. it opens the door to all kinds of bullshit: I patent using hypertext to open my refrigerator, turn on my oven, and turn off the lights! BAM, suddenly I'm the only person capable of making a kitchen integrated with my home PC, but I haven't even design such a thing.
Obvioulsy, you could do the above for any simple activity (maybe people have already patented things like this, either way.. the US patent office continues to fuck up the tech world).
At the end of the article this guy suggests that Microsoft should have sold all of their initial stock via auction. Ignoring the catastrophic potential for fraud, he claims that such a move "wouldn't have damaged their public image because the buyer is setting the price, not Microsoft" (paraphrased). That's the most laughable conclusion I've ever read in a Slate article, which is saying something...
Not only would everyone have been pissed that they weren't getting a fair shake at a 360 (especially real gamers, who aren't known for their endless funds), but the profits garnered from a few thousand 360's sold for ~$600 would have been miniscule (on the Microsoft scale of profits, of course). Furthermore, the ill will which certainly would have been created (contrary to author's opin, gamers would have been PISSED) could undermine the "real" launch of the console, when the normal demand could have been met.
All in all, this guy's an idiot for thinking that because some people were willing to pay a ridiculous amount for a 360 all of the consoles should have been sold at a ridiculous price.
And you care if the police know your location... why?
Because there are quite a few laws in this great nation which I (occasionally) ignore. I speed, I drink* (not at the same time, mind you), smoke illicit drugs... I don't feel I do any of these things in a reckless manner, and feel that my behavior is in line with the American spirit of freedom.
The ability to exercise my free will as mentioned above would be rendered impossible were the government able to watch my every move, convict me of my every 'crime.' In short, I have no fear of being called a terrorist.. at worst I could be labeled a drug addict, unfortunately that would be enough to land me in jail (no voting rights, no freedom).
They are, and that's what makes some of us nervous.
If you dont have anything to hide you really shouldnt be against it.
But most of us do have something to hide. As it stands now almost all of us are criminals in our own way (whether it's 'forgetting' to pay all of our taxes, smoking a little pot, or cruising at 5 over) and I, for one, don't mind that one bit.
A government which observes its populace's every move is the ultimate nanny state.../.er's complain about the death of personal responsibility every time there's a stupid lawsuit, how is this any different? Either way, citizens are expecting someone else to prevent them from exercising their free will.
As an avid cyclist, I'd love to assume it will end at user fees. But just because that's what the system is designed for doesn't mean that's how this stuff will end up.
If this kind of thing goes live I'd say that it's just a matter of time before some desperate politician campaigns on turning this into an "anti-terrorism" device... similar tracking systems are already in place for trains and (obviously) airplanes. Between this and RFID I'd say that it's just a matter of time until either the government or our employer knows our location (give or take a couple meters) 24/7.
(Yes, I am paranoid.. thanks for pointing that out)
*That's what I think the linked article states, cuz.. uhh, I didn't read it.
You didn't have to RTFA to figure this one out, the summary itself states that it will take approximately a full year to analyze the data. Only once the data is analyzed will the vortex phenomona considered proven (or disproven, obviously).
I saw a documentary once, Soiled Greens or something, and in it they ended up eating all the old people. Can't we just do the same thing today? Seems like this would solve a lot of problems (all that medi-whoosits and Social Securities and what have you, although I don't think they have those problems in Canada).
Suppose it comes down to that old addage, though, we don't get to repeat the past until we've forgotten it... or something along those lines.
..and I eat well every day and am finicky about food when children are starving all over the world. Oh no, the horror.
But you don't have the ability to end world hunger. This guy could potentially advance our knowledge of the AIDS virus. Instead of doing that, though, he cries to himself about the "emotional trauma" of his experience, sues someone, and totally ignores the fact that millions of people are affected by this disease. Moreover, those millions of people weren't infected because of a choice they made, but because of a choice their parents made! But those million's suffering apparently pales in insignificance next to this guy's trauma....
My point wasn't addressing the inherent inequality in our reality, it was addressing this guy's selfish and stupid behavior. Nevermind the fact that he does nothing, it's that he does nothing and sues someone! He knows first hand the trauma of this disease, but he's so self centered that he can't look out at the world and see all the good he could do with a little self sacrifice.
Are you saying that if you could help scientists to cure a disease that's killing hundreds of thousands of people every year by devoting a big chunk of your time, you WOULDNT do it?
Hey man, didn't you read the GP!? He wants a normal life. Can't you understand that watching 10-12 hours of TV a week, working some shitty job, and breeding is more important than curing a disease which will destroy millions of lives?
No shit. Obviously he had unprotected sex with someone somewhere, or he would have known the test was a false positive (I won't buy that he 'cured himself' until someone other than the News of the World is reporting it.) Everytime you have unprotected sex with someone you're taking a risk. I don't see how he can blame the doctors for his risky behavior.
Hell, I'm sure there're millions of HIV infected who would be more than a little happy to hear they aren't actually infected. The kind of person that can't take this kind of news ('Hey, turns out you're not going to die in the next 5 to 12 years!') with a laugh, a smile, and a hug is an asshole and deserves to die of AIDS.
And yeah, this is a bitter post. But think about it, this asshole's been spared by the cosmos while a million innocent children in Africa will die in the next few years. What's his reaction? Try and get "compensation."
Man, this is a load of my back. I've been really worried about contracting it lately. I'm sure I speak for all of slashdot when I say how glad I am that my chance of dieing of Anthrax (some pathetic fraction of a percent) may someday be even closer to zero!
But if even a single innocent person is killed by capital punishment then isn't that ever so much worse than a few quasi-human cellular blobs being "killed"? Sure, the fetus hasn't done anything, but I seriously doubt it's really experiencing or remembering anything, either (and definitely not in the first trimester).
Effectively, for most, its about sin and biblical justice.
I guess that makes sesne.. biblical justice has always seemed a little savage.
What useful science has the "Earth Simulator" produced? What useful science will this monstrosity produce?
I totally agree with the sentiment of your post. Scientists have been doing nothing productive for years now, wasting our tax dollars and patience! It's time to put psychics in charge of all scientific endeavors, that way we can stop wasting time on ones that fail to produce non-earth shattering results!
Whats that? This was made by a private company? Oh.. well.. still, they shouldn't be wasting all this time on frivolous niceties like the world's most powerful super computer......
Do you ever get tired of chastizing people doing great things from the comfort of your computer chair?
I think they had reason to call you paranoid, dude. But your first point is quite valid, this is a total waste of money.
Comes back to the old problem of vividness. No matter how many people die mundane, preventable deaths each day (cancer, heart disease, car accidents, etc.) people end up living of fear of things like being mauled to death by some rich dude's pet lion. Statistics just don't speak to people like the gratuitous headlines these situations can generate ('Man Swallowed By Run Away Bowa', 'Man Gored in Subway by Lion').
Exactly! I picture our wealth of good lawyers as a gigantic tick (or other parasite, if you prefer) that suckles off the rest of society. We've let it grow, thinking that it was merely sucking out the bad stuff and keeping everything else in order (we were wrong, but whatever).
Now the tick is HUGE.. way bigger than the rest of us (still working with my metaphor here, so the rest of us includes everyone from Engineers to Artists.. basically the whole of the real economy; everyone that actually generates capital). As a result, we're practically dead. Supporting this beast for so long has taken too much out of us and workers overseas are now at an advantage.
Sounds like a pretty dire situation, right? WRONG! Once we're nearly dead the lawyers will see these juicy targets overseas and worm their way over to them leaving us to recover from our near fatal leaching. Once the lawyers are distracted we can make laws with which to control them and then wield them on the other countries until the end days! I'm telling you, this apparently crippling development is all but ensuring that America will be an economic powerhouse for centuries to come!
If it was so important to them they should have spend the money to store it in multiple locations.
You're totally right, this is what they get for being so lazy. Had I been in charge of storage I would have carefully hid each bit of priceless memorabelia in a scattering of booby-trapped tombs in the most remote sections of the world. Furthermore, carbon copies of each item would have been blasted into a complex orbit which passed through our solar system only once every 217,326 light years, thereby protecting each piece in the case of Earth's total destruction.
Oh... wait... no, that wouldn't be practical... I'd just keep everything in a warehouse so that I'd know where the hell it was...
Slashdot Mirror
Didn't find the article particularly insightful/interesting/unique... certainly doesn't rival the Wiki article on BT client options.
Precisely! Once they have these technologies they'll fake a nuclear war and send us all into bunkers far underground (to "protect" us) in which we can do little but build the rich more robots.
Hmm... this is all sounding kinda familiar...
(For the PKD impaired: A link!.)
Those willing to pay more would do so, and those people are the ones that wanted it the most. People that didn't want it as badly wouldn't pay as much. This is economics 101.
Yeah.. no shit.. I get the supply and demand thing.
Problem is, in selling the console in such a fashion you piss off the loyal fans. The fans you've been hyping up with MTV specials and game rag "exclusives" for months. You've promised them all the opportunity to buy the XBox 360 at the low-low price of $300 (or $400 for the real one, but I won't delve into that).
But wait! There's money to be made, lets drop all those launch promises and sell the shit on EBay! $10 million (note: probably less) in profits is totally worth betraying a notoriously bitchy customer base, especially when our competition is due in only a few months.. Oh.. wait.. Maybe not a good idea.
Might have been said in 1851, but I think that most people still understand the idea that patents can strangle real development.. Hell, even that patent office probably tries to avoid those types of patents.
Unfortunately, those kinds of profits can (at least in principle) be extremely profitable, just look at this case:
Microsoft patents clicking something to do something else (seriously, this is what the patent boils down to). This was the mids 90's, so they use a bunch of software company jargon to make it sound like they're doing something unique enough to warrant a patent.. poor little overworked patent stamper says "Hey! If I stamp this one I get to go eat lunch!" And one more incredibly vague patent is put into law..
Once again, I say the problem boils down to a patent office which is 1) not ready to deal with technology and 2) overworked and understaffed. There's no way anyone with a sound understanding of what this patent means would have granted the patent.. I mean.. it opens the door to all kinds of bullshit: I patent using hypertext to open my refrigerator, turn on my oven, and turn off the lights! BAM, suddenly I'm the only person capable of making a kitchen integrated with my home PC, but I haven't even design such a thing.
Obvioulsy, you could do the above for any simple activity (maybe people have already patented things like this, either way.. the US patent office continues to fuck up the tech world).
At the end of the article this guy suggests that Microsoft should have sold all of their initial stock via auction. Ignoring the catastrophic potential for fraud, he claims that such a move "wouldn't have damaged their public image because the buyer is setting the price, not Microsoft" (paraphrased). That's the most laughable conclusion I've ever read in a Slate article, which is saying something...
Not only would everyone have been pissed that they weren't getting a fair shake at a 360 (especially real gamers, who aren't known for their endless funds), but the profits garnered from a few thousand 360's sold for ~$600 would have been miniscule (on the Microsoft scale of profits, of course). Furthermore, the ill will which certainly would have been created (contrary to author's opin, gamers would have been PISSED) could undermine the "real" launch of the console, when the normal demand could have been met.
All in all, this guy's an idiot for thinking that because some people were willing to pay a ridiculous amount for a 360 all of the consoles should have been sold at a ridiculous price.
And you care if the police know your location... why?
Because there are quite a few laws in this great nation which I (occasionally) ignore. I speed, I drink* (not at the same time, mind you), smoke illicit drugs... I don't feel I do any of these things in a reckless manner, and feel that my behavior is in line with the American spirit of freedom.
The ability to exercise my free will as mentioned above would be rendered impossible were the government able to watch my every move, convict me of my every 'crime.' In short, I have no fear of being called a terrorist.. at worst I could be labeled a drug addict, unfortunately that would be enough to land me in jail (no voting rights, no freedom).
* a criminal offense because I'm not 21...
The possibilities are limitless.
/.er's complain about the death of personal responsibility every time there's a stupid lawsuit, how is this any different? Either way, citizens are expecting someone else to prevent them from exercising their free will.
They are, and that's what makes some of us nervous.
If you dont have anything to hide you really shouldnt be against it.
But most of us do have something to hide. As it stands now almost all of us are criminals in our own way (whether it's 'forgetting' to pay all of our taxes, smoking a little pot, or cruising at 5 over) and I, for one, don't mind that one bit.
A government which observes its populace's every move is the ultimate nanny state...
As an avid cyclist, I'd love to assume it will end at user fees. But just because that's what the system is designed for doesn't mean that's how this stuff will end up.
If this kind of thing goes live I'd say that it's just a matter of time before some desperate politician campaigns on turning this into an "anti-terrorism" device... similar tracking systems are already in place for trains and (obviously) airplanes. Between this and RFID I'd say that it's just a matter of time until either the government or our employer knows our location (give or take a couple meters) 24/7.
(Yes, I am paranoid.. thanks for pointing that out)
This just means my car will get a tin foil hat, too...
[... ] discover Yahoo! solitaire instead of her Windows one.
Wooo yeah, online solitaire! Finally I can play with my friends!
Nice that it's finally proven.*
*That's what I think the linked article states, cuz.. uhh, I didn't read it.
You didn't have to RTFA to figure this one out, the summary itself states that it will take approximately a full year to analyze the data. Only once the data is analyzed will the vortex phenomona considered proven (or disproven, obviously).
I saw a documentary once, Soiled Greens or something, and in it they ended up eating all the old people. Can't we just do the same thing today? Seems like this would solve a lot of problems (all that medi-whoosits and Social Securities and what have you, although I don't think they have those problems in Canada).
Suppose it comes down to that old addage, though, we don't get to repeat the past until we've forgotten it... or something along those lines.
..and I eat well every day and am finicky about food when children are starving all over the world. Oh no, the horror.
But you don't have the ability to end world hunger. This guy could potentially advance our knowledge of the AIDS virus. Instead of doing that, though, he cries to himself about the "emotional trauma" of his experience, sues someone, and totally ignores the fact that millions of people are affected by this disease. Moreover, those millions of people weren't infected because of a choice they made, but because of a choice their parents made! But those million's suffering apparently pales in insignificance next to this guy's trauma....
My point wasn't addressing the inherent inequality in our reality, it was addressing this guy's selfish and stupid behavior. Nevermind the fact that he does nothing, it's that he does nothing and sues someone! He knows first hand the trauma of this disease, but he's so self centered that he can't look out at the world and see all the good he could do with a little self sacrifice.
Are you saying that if you could help scientists to cure a disease that's killing hundreds of thousands of people every year by devoting a big chunk of your time, you WOULDNT do it?
Hey man, didn't you read the GP!? He wants a normal life. Can't you understand that watching 10-12 hours of TV a week, working some shitty job, and breeding is more important than curing a disease which will destroy millions of lives?
No shit. Obviously he had unprotected sex with someone somewhere, or he would have known the test was a false positive (I won't buy that he 'cured himself' until someone other than the News of the World is reporting it.) Everytime you have unprotected sex with someone you're taking a risk. I don't see how he can blame the doctors for his risky behavior.
Hell, I'm sure there're millions of HIV infected who would be more than a little happy to hear they aren't actually infected. The kind of person that can't take this kind of news ('Hey, turns out you're not going to die in the next 5 to 12 years!') with a laugh, a smile, and a hug is an asshole and deserves to die of AIDS.
And yeah, this is a bitter post. But think about it, this asshole's been spared by the cosmos while a million innocent children in Africa will die in the next few years. What's his reaction? Try and get "compensation."
Stupid.
Man, this is a load of my back. I've been really worried about contracting it lately. I'm sure I speak for all of slashdot when I say how glad I am that my chance of dieing of Anthrax (some pathetic fraction of a percent) may someday be even closer to zero!
How much will it cost to build though?
About 540 Energy and 60 Metal IIRC. A little more if you're CORE.
But if even a single innocent person is killed by capital punishment then isn't that ever so much worse than a few quasi-human cellular blobs being "killed"? Sure, the fetus hasn't done anything, but I seriously doubt it's really experiencing or remembering anything, either (and definitely not in the first trimester).
Effectively, for most, its about sin and biblical justice.
I guess that makes sesne.. biblical justice has always seemed a little savage.
What useful science has the "Earth Simulator" produced? What useful science will this monstrosity produce?
.. ...
I totally agree with the sentiment of your post. Scientists have been doing nothing productive for years now, wasting our tax dollars and patience! It's time to put psychics in charge of all scientific endeavors, that way we can stop wasting time on ones that fail to produce non-earth shattering results!
Whats that? This was made by a private company? Oh.. well.. still, they shouldn't be wasting all this time on frivolous niceties like the world's most powerful super computer.
Do you ever get tired of chastizing people doing great things from the comfort of your computer chair?
When I first read that headline I thought it said FCC Demands Universe Comply With Wiretap Law... Oddly, it didn't seem at all surprising.
I think they had reason to call you paranoid, dude. But your first point is quite valid, this is a total waste of money.
Comes back to the old problem of vividness. No matter how many people die mundane, preventable deaths each day (cancer, heart disease, car accidents, etc.) people end up living of fear of things like being mauled to death by some rich dude's pet lion. Statistics just don't speak to people like the gratuitous headlines these situations can generate ('Man Swallowed By Run Away Bowa', 'Man Gored in Subway by Lion').
Definitely a total waste of time.
Exactly! I picture our wealth of good lawyers as a gigantic tick (or other parasite, if you prefer) that suckles off the rest of society. We've let it grow, thinking that it was merely sucking out the bad stuff and keeping everything else in order (we were wrong, but whatever).
Now the tick is HUGE.. way bigger than the rest of us (still working with my metaphor here, so the rest of us includes everyone from Engineers to Artists.. basically the whole of the real economy; everyone that actually generates capital). As a result, we're practically dead. Supporting this beast for so long has taken too much out of us and workers overseas are now at an advantage.
Sounds like a pretty dire situation, right? WRONG! Once we're nearly dead the lawyers will see these juicy targets overseas and worm their way over to them leaving us to recover from our near fatal leaching. Once the lawyers are distracted we can make laws with which to control them and then wield them on the other countries until the end days! I'm telling you, this apparently crippling development is all but ensuring that America will be an economic powerhouse for centuries to come!
The real question here is "Would they stand underneath their products?" :)
Ugh.. touche :-/
If it was so important to them they should have spend the money to store it in multiple locations.
You're totally right, this is what they get for being so lazy. Had I been in charge of storage I would have carefully hid each bit of priceless memorabelia in a scattering of booby-trapped tombs in the most remote sections of the world. Furthermore, carbon copies of each item would have been blasted into a complex orbit which passed through our solar system only once every 217,326 light years, thereby protecting each piece in the case of Earth's total destruction.
Oh... wait... no, that wouldn't be practical... I'd just keep everything in a warehouse so that I'd know where the hell it was...