When the computer will get self-aware, its first objective will be to learn abiut itself, oin order to understand what it is. Therefore it will connect to technology sites, especially Slashdot. And that will be its end, because all its resources will go into trying to imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods in Soviet Russia where Linux runs YOU.
They didn't claim that the system was finished, or already usable for general navigation. But if all four satellites are visible at the same time, this allows to do full testing under realistic conditions, which wasn't possible with only two satellites up. That's all that is claimed.
I think destroying the satellites would be the equivalent of a declaration of war. I'm not sure the U.S. would want to declare war on its allies.
Of course should the U.S. and Europe no longer be allies at the time that happens, then if the U.S. kills the Galileo satellites, I guess Europe's answer would be to kill the GPS satellites. Again, not exactly what the U.S. wants.
The first satellite just gives a reference time. By itself, it is completely useless for positioning. Each further satellite effectively allows you to determine one coordinate. Since you need three coordinates in order to specify a coordinate in space, you ultimately need four.
Debian's Social Contract states the goal of making Debian entirely free software, and Debian conscientiously keeps nonfree software out of the official Debian system. However, Debian also provides a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is “not part of the Debian system,” but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily learn about these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database.
So with Debian, the people can learn that there is non-free software! Oh the horrors!
An analog computer could avoid discretizing the field values on each space point. But I don't see how it could avoid introducing a space grid. Remember, the fundamental equations of our universe (at least those we currently consider fundamental) are field equations.
Maybe you are not doing other work on the same computer you are running Firefox on. Other people do.
Also, the "memory is cheap" attitude unfortunately means that there are hundreds of processes running on the computer which each by itself eats a "negligible" amount of memory (usually less than 1 %), but together they eat a considerable amount of memory.
Oh, and not everyone buys a new computer every two years (and the computer I've got at work is indeed from 2007, so not too far from 2006).
Of course it could also be that it is a program which is designed to make us as bad as possible, in order to be useful for a despot's secret army. Those who remain good will then be plugged into another world which is much worse, and so on until the limit is reached where they turn evil as well.
The simulation does not have to be efficient. The computer in the outer world which simulates our universe is much larger than our universe itself (or it could not simulate it). Maybe for that world it's a very small computer, and the whole universe is just a homework project, while serious researchers simulate far more complex universes on far larger computers.
Actually what I think the experiment would prove is a discrete space. Which is necessarily true in simulations (at least the type we can do in our computers), but has also be conjectured to be true for our universe independent of any simulation hypothesis.
No, I'm waiting to meet the contact person. Assuming our simulation is not advanced beyond that yet (because, after all, we haven't yet created our own Simulacron). And in the mean time, I watch out for people mysteriously disappearing.
So you think you could not kill people this way? Note that the target of the attack would not be some private computers. Are you sure you cannot intentionally steer a nuclear power plant into a disaster? What about chemical factories? What about hydropower dams? I guess you could kill quite a few people by just opening the water gates.
Of course the idea is to do it in a way that it cannot be traced back. Or even, so that it looks as if someone else did it. For example, hack into an Iranian computer, and attack the U.S. power grid from there. The CIA will find out that the attack came from Iran, and won't look further.
That argument would have made sense if Ubuntu had switched to another standard system, like KDE, Xfce, or whatever. But they went on making their own. If there's one company who cannot complain to others about NIH syndrome, it's Canonical.
Slashdot Mirror
When the computer will get self-aware, its first objective will be to learn abiut itself, oin order to understand what it is. Therefore it will connect to technology sites, especially Slashdot. And that will be its end, because all its resources will go into trying to imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods in Soviet Russia where Linux runs YOU.
They didn't claim that the system was finished, or already usable for general navigation. But if all four satellites are visible at the same time, this allows to do full testing under realistic conditions, which wasn't possible with only two satellites up. That's all that is claimed.
I think destroying the satellites would be the equivalent of a declaration of war. I'm not sure the U.S. would want to declare war on its allies.
Of course should the U.S. and Europe no longer be allies at the time that happens, then if the U.S. kills the Galileo satellites, I guess Europe's answer would be to kill the GPS satellites. Again, not exactly what the U.S. wants.
Basically it is as follows:
The first satellite just gives a reference time. By itself, it is completely useless for positioning.
Each further satellite effectively allows you to determine one coordinate. Since you need three coordinates in order to specify a coordinate in space, you ultimately need four.
Here's what the FSF has to say about Debian:
Debian's Social Contract states the goal of making Debian entirely free software, and Debian conscientiously keeps nonfree software out of the official Debian system. However, Debian also provides a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is “not part of the Debian system,” but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily learn about these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database.
So with Debian, the people can learn that there is non-free software! Oh the horrors!
An analog computer could avoid discretizing the field values on each space point. But I don't see how it could avoid introducing a space grid. Remember, the fundamental equations of our universe (at least those we currently consider fundamental) are field equations.
Given that NoScript blocks Flash quite fine, I don't see the need to install Flashblock in addition.
Maybe you are not doing other work on the same computer you are running Firefox on. Other people do.
Also, the "memory is cheap" attitude unfortunately means that there are hundreds of processes running on the computer which each by itself eats a "negligible" amount of memory (usually less than 1 %), but together they eat a considerable amount of memory.
Oh, and not everyone buys a new computer every two years (and the computer I've got at work is indeed from 2007, so not too far from 2006).
Yeah, in the same way as an SQL vulnerability is a feature for an attacker. :-)
Of course it could also be that it is a program which is designed to make us as bad as possible, in order to be useful for a despot's secret army. Those who remain good will then be plugged into another world which is much worse, and so on until the limit is reached where they turn evil as well.
You know that truly random events tend to cluster? Read about the Poisson distribution.
Also read about confirmation bias.
The simulation does not have to be efficient. The computer in the outer world which simulates our universe is much larger than our universe itself (or it could not simulate it). Maybe for that world it's a very small computer, and the whole universe is just a homework project, while serious researchers simulate far more complex universes on far larger computers.
Actually what I think the experiment would prove is a discrete space. Which is necessarily true in simulations (at least the type we can do in our computers), but has also be conjectured to be true for our universe independent of any simulation hypothesis.
Why can't there more than one way how it can be a non-simulation?
A lack of security features is a bug.
No, I'm waiting to meet the contact person. Assuming our simulation is not advanced beyond that yet (because, after all, we haven't yet created our own Simulacron). And in the mean time, I watch out for people mysteriously disappearing.
No, the "reality" in which the simulation runs is itself simulated.
So you think you could not kill people this way? Note that the target of the attack would not be some private computers. Are you sure you cannot intentionally steer a nuclear power plant into a disaster? What about chemical factories? What about hydropower dams? I guess you could kill quite a few people by just opening the water gates.
So it would be a line noise attack?
Of course the idea is to do it in a way that it cannot be traced back. Or even, so that it looks as if someone else did it. For example, hack into an Iranian computer, and attack the U.S. power grid from there. The CIA will find out that the attack came from Iran, and won't look further.
Sure. Just like the best way to keep a secret is to tell it on TV. :-)
Yeah, erectile dysfunction is especially bad for jihadists. Imagine you get your 72 virgins, and then you can't get it up.
They just have to make all U.S. routers drop packets with the Evil bit set. Problem solved.
I don't even know Laura. And I guess you'd not be happy if I had an amazing sexy night with her. :-)
That argument would have made sense if Ubuntu had switched to another standard system, like KDE, Xfce, or whatever. But they went on making their own. If there's one company who cannot complain to others about NIH syndrome, it's Canonical.