Based on what these lawyers seem to be arguing: If the contents of a link changed to something illegal, all the existing links would become illegal. So, does this mean that I am automatically a narcotics felon if I happen to drive down a street that happens to have drug-dealers selling on the corners? Hrm, so much for "Life, Liberty etc" in the USA.
I've browsed the first few comments and found that, unsurprisingly, they say nothing that hasn't already been repeated ad nauseum. I'd like to ask/. to try for a little more discretion in posting articles and to try to cut a little of the hype and bullbaiting. Not that the odds are in favor of this occuring..
That's exactly why I read more than I post. One of these days, I'd like to be able to actually have some valid input, but until then, I just read and learn. (Two eyes, one keyboard...)
Well, it would seem that congress has finally done something intelligent! We'l see, though, how well they hold to it. Personally, I'm a little skeptical
Now, as to what else you said... (VERY interesting discourse, IMHO)
I think that cloning is morally neutral (as organ transplants per se are morally neutral) and inevitable. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth that's coming from the morons and the religious right is not going to change the fact that the cloning and genetic manipulation of humans is coming.
I would have to agree. It was inevitable as soon as science was able to genetically alter bacteria (e.g to produce human insulin as a "waste product") Is that morel? Is it immoral? Doesn't matter, anymore. It's here to stay, and it's saved lives. So, in my book, its a good thing. YMMV.
I think that at first it'll be treated similarly to the way various fertility techniques are viewed now: not necessary for "normal" people (heavy, heavy quotes around 'normal'), expensive, not the proper topic of a party conversation, but very useful if you really need them. Later the cloning/genetic manipulation should become more accepted and get to the status of, say, plastic surgery.
Again, I agree with your statement. IMO, some of teh application of fertility drugs is extremely irresponsible. Not evil, not "bad" as such, just irresponsible, both on the part of science (the doctors) and the part of the public (e.g. the parents of 7x and 8x multiples). I am REALLY glad that it hasn't directly affected me and my life, because I would NOT want to be in the position where I had to chose which of the soon-to-be people (many-times multiples) get to live and which don't.:(
That's not to say that I think altering genes to prevent certain diseases (e.g Tay-Sachs(sp?), sickle cell anemia, Tourette Syndrome, Down's Synd.) is a bad thing. However, it's a slippery slope, and we're already sliding down it. The essence of my post regarding the movie Gattica was merely to shine the light of what could happen into the dark corners.
Cloning isn't evil. Gene therapy isn't, either. But where does it stop? It could EASILY turn into Adolf's "Master Race" theory. THAT is what makes me nervous, especially since so very much of sci-fi has (or is in the process of) come to be reality.
Or, alternatively, imagine clone banks where you can go to pick the genes of your child when you can check out how these genes turned out in real people. "See, the type CX774976 has a very good body, but 56% of these develop mild depression around the age of 30... if you check out type DN8743992, it has no depression tendencies, but it's grade point average in high school tends to be noticeably lower, and of course they have to watch their diet or they'll become fat by middle age...".
Thanks, Kaa. That's something that I wanted to broach. It's an interesting topic, especially in light of the movie Gattica a couple of years back. click here for what I consider a accurate review of the movie. Here's another one. Chilling stuff, IMO. Chilling.
As I think has been said, It's not the science that's freightening... It's the application of it. (i.e. Just because we CAN do it doesn't mean we SHOULD do it!)
People buying Linux WILL buy RedHat over the $1.99 version, and I'll tell you why: RedHat's customers are major corporations, and they want the support that comes with paying $80. Sure, YOU can go download it for free, but as Linux gets adopted into the mainstream IT market, you can bet that IT managers will pay RedHat for the support. Sure, it's questionable whether RH will make its main bucks off of support, but it makes IT people happier to pay for it. So much the better for everyone.
And calling someone an oaf isn't exactly elevating the debate to the next level, now is it?
Correct me if I'm wrong, here, but isn't the support that comes with the purchase of an Official Red Hat copy just for install support? Granted, you can purchase additional support from Red Hat for extra ducats, just like you can for that other company. But if I'm not scanning blank sectors, the "support with the official version" is just for installation support.
Therefore, what is the benefit of purchasing more than one "official" copy of the RH distro? So you just buy one copy and REALLY get your money's worth out of the RH Install Support team.:)
And you are correct: Name-calling is not elevating the debate to the next level.
Heh, it looks liek I'm not the only one who's ticked at the venom.:) I don't claim to have written VB code. But I know better than to vapidly click "OK" at every opportunity. *snort*
First, the only truly secure computer is the one that's never been turned on, is sealed in a box, and put somewhere unreachable. Meaning, there's no such thing as a completely secure system.
Second, there's that old saw about a pinch of prevention being woth a pound of cure. There are TOO MANY PEOPLE who just click-n-open ANY attachment, without bothering to stop and think. Was I expecting this attachment? Does the tone of the e-mail sound like my friend who it came from?
Third is these damned new-fangled e-mail programs that open stuff FOR the user! Dammit, the dumbing down of everyting is REALLY getting on my nerves! (On my *nix box, I use PINE as my reader for now. On my M$ box(es. My wife has one at home, and I have to use one in the office) I use Eudora Pro (latest version) with the "suto-open" crap turned off, and dis-allowing HTML executables. Can we say "JAVA-bomb?" (Who remembers ANSI bombs? Anyone?
Finally, there is the wild idea of having decent anti-virus software on both the (corporate) e-mail server AND on the user's client machine.
I'm a Linux user AND a Window$ user. There are things that I like about both. I'm nowhere NEAR the level of knowledge of *nix that I want to be, but I have installed Slakware on a laptop (CPQ, LTE 5000 series) AND had X working on it, so I'm not afraid of this stuff. But, even back in the old BBS days, I had stuff on my computers to try to prevent malicious programs zapping me. To this day, I use preventive medicine, rather than bitching that I got shot for bein' stupid.
None of *my own* computers have ever been infected with a malicious program. Some of the ones that I have WORKED on have gotten popped. But what company that uses M$ progs as it's main-stay (Excel and Word, notably) have never had even one macro-virus inside?
Please, quit with the jihad. Train who you can. help the rest.
Slashdot Mirror
Based on what these lawyers seem to be arguing: If the contents of a link changed to something illegal, all the existing links would become illegal. So, does this mean that I am automatically a narcotics felon if I happen to drive down a street that happens to have drug-dealers selling on the corners? Hrm, so much for "Life, Liberty etc" in the USA.
I've browsed the first few comments and found that, unsurprisingly, they say nothing that hasn't already been repeated ad nauseum. I'd like to ask /. to try for a little more discretion in posting articles and to try to cut a little of the hype and bullbaiting. Not that the odds are in favor of this occuring..
That's exactly why I read more than I post. One of these days, I'd like to be able to actually have some valid input, but until then, I just read and learn. (Two eyes, one keyboard...)
Well, it would seem that congress has finally done something intelligent! We'l see, though, how well they hold to it. Personally, I'm a little skeptical
Regarding the tab key: God point. Rob??
:(
Now, as to what else you said... (VERY interesting discourse, IMHO)
I think that cloning is morally neutral (as organ transplants per se are morally neutral) and inevitable. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth that's coming from the morons and the religious right is not going to change the fact that the cloning and genetic manipulation of humans is coming.
I would have to agree. It was inevitable as soon as science was able to genetically alter bacteria (e.g to produce human insulin as a "waste product") Is that morel? Is it immoral? Doesn't matter, anymore. It's here to stay, and it's saved lives. So, in my book, its a good thing. YMMV.
I think that at first it'll be treated similarly to the way various fertility techniques are viewed now: not necessary for "normal" people (heavy, heavy quotes around 'normal'), expensive, not the proper topic of a party conversation, but very useful if you really need them. Later the cloning/genetic manipulation should become more accepted and get to the status of, say, plastic surgery.
Again, I agree with your statement. IMO, some of teh application of fertility drugs is extremely irresponsible. Not evil, not "bad" as such, just irresponsible, both on the part of science (the doctors) and the part of the public (e.g. the parents of 7x and 8x multiples). I am REALLY glad that it hasn't directly affected me and my life, because I would NOT want to be in the position where I had to chose which of the soon-to-be people (many-times multiples) get to live and which don't.
That's not to say that I think altering genes to prevent certain diseases (e.g Tay-Sachs(sp?), sickle cell anemia, Tourette Syndrome, Down's Synd.) is a bad thing. However, it's a slippery slope, and we're already sliding down it. The essence of my post regarding the movie Gattica was merely to shine the light of what could happen into the dark corners.
Cloning isn't evil. Gene therapy isn't, either. But where does it stop? It could EASILY turn into Adolf's "Master Race" theory. THAT is what makes me nervous, especially since so very much of sci-fi has (or is in the process of) come to be reality.
Or, alternatively, imagine clone banks where you can go to pick the genes of your child when you can check out how these genes turned out in real people. "See, the type CX774976 has a very good body, but 56% of these develop mild depression around the age of 30... if you check out type DN8743992, it has no depression tendencies, but it's grade point average in high school tends to be noticeably lower, and of course they have to watch their diet or they'll become fat by middle age...".
Thanks, Kaa. That's something that I wanted to broach. It's an interesting topic, especially in light of the movie Gattica a couple of years back. click here for what I consider a accurate review of the movie. Here's another one. Chilling stuff, IMO. Chilling.
As I think has been said, It's not the science that's freightening... It's the application of it. (i.e. Just because we CAN do it doesn't mean we SHOULD do it!)
Geordon
People buying Linux WILL buy RedHat over the $1.99 version, and I'll tell you why: RedHat's customers are major corporations, and they want the support that comes with paying $80. Sure, YOU can go download it for free, but as Linux gets adopted into the mainstream IT market, you can bet that IT managers will pay RedHat for the support. Sure, it's questionable whether RH will make its main bucks off of support, but it makes IT people happier to pay for it. So much the better for everyone.
:)
And calling someone an oaf isn't exactly elevating the debate to the next level, now is it?
Correct me if I'm wrong, here, but isn't the support that comes with the purchase of an Official Red Hat copy just for install support? Granted, you can purchase additional support from Red Hat for extra ducats, just like you can for that other company. But if I'm not scanning blank sectors, the "support with the official version" is just for installation support.
Therefore, what is the benefit of purchasing more than one "official" copy of the RH distro? So you just buy one copy and REALLY get your money's worth out of the RH Install Support team.
And you are correct: Name-calling is not elevating the debate to the next level.
Geordon
Heh, it looks liek I'm not the only one who's ticked at the venom. :) I don't claim to have written VB code. But I know better than to vapidly click "OK" at every opportunity. *snort*
Train who you can. Help the rest.
Come on people. stop and think about it.
First, the only truly secure computer is the one that's never been turned on, is sealed in a box, and put somewhere unreachable. Meaning, there's no such thing as a completely secure system.
Second, there's that old saw about a pinch of prevention being woth a pound of cure. There are TOO MANY PEOPLE who just click-n-open ANY attachment, without bothering to stop and think. Was I expecting this attachment? Does the tone of the e-mail sound like my friend who it came from?
Third is these damned new-fangled e-mail programs that open stuff FOR the user! Dammit, the dumbing down of everyting is REALLY getting on my nerves! (On my *nix box, I use PINE as my reader for now. On my M$ box(es. My wife has one at home, and I have to use one in the office) I use Eudora Pro (latest version) with the "suto-open" crap turned off, and dis-allowing HTML executables. Can we say "JAVA-bomb?" (Who remembers ANSI bombs? Anyone?
Finally, there is the wild idea of having decent anti-virus software on both the (corporate) e-mail server AND on the user's client machine.
I'm a Linux user AND a Window$ user. There are things that I like about both. I'm nowhere NEAR the level of knowledge of *nix that I want to be, but I have installed Slakware on a laptop (CPQ, LTE 5000 series) AND had X working on it, so I'm not afraid of this stuff. But, even back in the old BBS days, I had stuff on my computers to try to prevent malicious programs zapping me. To this day, I use preventive medicine, rather than bitching that I got shot for bein' stupid.
None of *my own* computers have ever been infected with a malicious program. Some of the ones that I have WORKED on have gotten popped. But what company that uses M$ progs as it's main-stay (Excel and Word, notably) have never had even one macro-virus inside?
Please, quit with the jihad. Train who you can. help the rest.
Take it easy,
Geordon