The article claims that people would be able to use their cell phones to play Doom, and "See the environment on the screen." Why does this sound like they just ported Doom to the phone? It doesn't give any indications that it somehow connects real-life cell phones into some sort of laser tag-like network. -1 vaporware, is my guess.
Some have postulated recently that larger brains (larger cranium) was not an evolutionary advantage so much as a mating feature, a competitive attribute much like the feathers of a peacock. Those feathers do not help the peacock survive, far from it, but act as a display to outdo other peacocks for female attention. Larger brains could have evolved in such a way. Think of it as a prehistoric inverse of the current mating systems in place today, favoring the geeks over the studs..
Oh, how horrible it would be if they were to find something more useful to do! Scan through/. posts and the internet some time, and you'll find an enormous amount of useful work that was generated to fill gaps by people doing it for the sheer pleasure of it, or to help themselves and others, or just because they're bored. The economy can most certainly survive the death of intellectual property. Change is painful, but necessary for growth.
Think of your typical computer game MMORPG, or RPG, or FPS, or just about any other game of that sort. There are always bugs, but worse yet, there are always things which cause fatal errors and crashes. Bugs can never be removed entirely, but more importantly, the fact is that if such a fatal exception occured to an entity inside the simulation, it's existence would be compromised. Obviously, we would notice if people were randomly disappearing or "glitching" into being frozen in place, before our eyes. This does not happen. Therefore, either this has been addressed somehow, or we are not living in the matrix. Scenario one is unlikely, because of the enormous amount of code that would have to be optimized and de-bugged for everything to run correctly and without noticeable failures. Therefore we do not live in a virtual world.
But if all particles are not being continually simulated, the effects will be apparant if the virtual scientists try to, for instance, measure the effect of gravity. For instance, if for the sake of saving processor power by omitting a vast amount of unseen matter, the simulation were to ignore and leave out every bit of matter say, 50 meters below and deeper than sea level, this would be very noticeable. Shock waves from earthquakes, for instance, would not transmit correctly unless the simulation were patched to falsify data results. People would float off the planet (or else the shell would collapse in upon itself), and necessitate another patch to apply constant gravity standards, and keep things from falling past that point. The list goes on, and while each could be patched, there would always be the bugs that get past, and have to be fixed post-launch. Virtual denizens will eventually notice them. Any simulation with the complexity of the real world would inevitably miss an enormous sum of bugs, and could never find them all. Without resetting the entire game, or invalidating the simulation by modifying memories, the overriding intelligence would simply be forced to allow the knowledge to proliferate.
Incorrect. For a more primitive being, perhaps animals at the zoo, such an environment would suffice. However, if you are creating a virtual world where the smallest resolution is only a few microns, you will inevitably run into problems when the intelligent beings of that world attempt to use science to learn. If our world were virtual, and had no detail below 10 microns, or a tenth of one, or a thousandth, scientists with knowledge of what should be, would notice. Experiments could be devised using lasers in such a virtual world to demonstrate the smallest possible "pixel size", and the cat would be out of the bag immediately. For a simulation to run effectively and keep it's inhabitants unaware of their situation, it requires complete, total, perfect simulation of what we think of as reality.
As the spoon from the first demonstrates the illusion of the Matrix, the spoon given in the second is a clue given to Neo that the reality he is in is false.
After just coming home from the theatre, I have several things that occurs to me that no one else seems to recall or give significance to. The following in particular:
* What is the significance of the spoon irritating-boy gives Neo?
* Why doesn't Neo just attack/injure/threaten the Architect, instead of just standing there?
* Could Neo's ability to halt the Sentinels infact be due to some sort of connection between him in the real world, and the machines (ie, programming that 'wedged' itself into the Matrix from him)? We know all humans have the little plugs-and-whatnot on them, a radio transmitter seems plausible.
* Who is the guy guarding the Oracle?
* What is the Oracle's motivation?
* What is the significance of the number 6 (Neo's) and 12 (people saved)? And why so many different versions of Neo shown on the tele-wall, when supposedly only 5 others existed?
by John Steakley. Not quite out of print, but hard to find. I think the last edition released was 1985-95. Enormously good book...the best science fiction book I've ever read.
could this be of any serious usefulness. Because, really, what is the density per-square-mile of wireless cameras (not to mention the density-per-square-state of *interesting* cameras)?
Why am I not suprised that this is going to be in Seattle?
You Have Failed In Your Mission
on
Feral Robot Dogs
·
· Score: -1, Funny
Guess they weren't smart enough to avoid a slashdotting. Maybe we can cross-breed the mirror sites to select/.-resistant genes, and build a/.-resistant webpage..
Really. We're talking about a little box with a motor inside and some flexible plastic treads. If this is the first step down the "slippery slope" towards Skynet, T-1000, and HAL, then I think we can all sit back and wait a few more centuries before they get far enough to learn how to actually massage, not tickle.
So Discover magazine, a rather highly respected science magazine, makes it practice to send out 1/12 of all it's issues with a giant, enormously untrue cover story and a half dozen pages in the center of the issue devoted to a lie? That is perfectly feasible and nothing really new?
That trailer was revolting. I had to contain my digestive track from inverting itself onto the keyboard looking at that sad commercialistic tripe advertisement. Cowboy Bebop has never needed commercials. They more likely drove away fans by making that trailer, then did anything to attract viewers to all 4 cinemas playing it, NONE OF THEM IN FLORIDA!
Anyone else notice the reference to the Bruce Willis film 12 Monkeys? That logo on the front of the machine is identical to the 12 Monkeys logo from the movie..
I've been a betatester in Project: Entropia for the last 6 months, and have seen quite a bit of the world. PE's public relations has been relatively poor so far, and their main PR guy, Marco Behrmann is frequently the target of pissed-off players. The game is very laggy, bugs are common, and it is quite difficult for many experianced players to make money. Speaking as a voice of the community, I don't think we expect it to be ready by January. Perhaps by next fall it might be relatively prepared for release, but right now it's simply too laggy and unbalanced. I've been able to make money in-game, but definitely not enough to make a living off of it. Server crashes are common as well as client time-outs. Prices are inflated and everyone is hard-pressed to profit. Ultimately what the game needs is the financial and public backing by a major company such as Microsoft or Sony. In the end, it's sucess relies on it's playability. If it can get a widespread player base, then it can seek alternative financial support, and let everyone profit. Otherwise, it looks like it could find itself in trouble. Time will tell where PE goes, and I'll go with it, but I have difficulty seeing hope.
Slashdot Mirror
Fourteen bucks a day? Sounds a wee bit expensive.
Been there, done that. Only problem is when the teacher sees everyone typing away on the screens..
The article claims that people would be able to use their cell phones to play Doom, and "See the environment on the screen." Why does this sound like they just ported Doom to the phone? It doesn't give any indications that it somehow connects real-life cell phones into some sort of laser tag-like network. -1 vaporware, is my guess.
Just...electronic! Dark Energy!
Some have postulated recently that larger brains (larger cranium) was not an evolutionary advantage so much as a mating feature, a competitive attribute much like the feathers of a peacock. Those feathers do not help the peacock survive, far from it, but act as a display to outdo other peacocks for female attention. Larger brains could have evolved in such a way. Think of it as a prehistoric inverse of the current mating systems in place today, favoring the geeks over the studs..
Why rhetorically, and not physically?
Oh, how horrible it would be if they were to find something more useful to do! Scan through /. posts and the internet some time, and you'll find an enormous amount of useful work that was generated to fill gaps by people doing it for the sheer pleasure of it, or to help themselves and others, or just because they're bored. The economy can most certainly survive the death of intellectual property. Change is painful, but necessary for growth.
Think of your typical computer game MMORPG, or RPG, or FPS, or just about any other game of that sort. There are always bugs, but worse yet, there are always things which cause fatal errors and crashes. Bugs can never be removed entirely, but more importantly, the fact is that if such a fatal exception occured to an entity inside the simulation, it's existence would be compromised. Obviously, we would notice if people were randomly disappearing or "glitching" into being frozen in place, before our eyes. This does not happen. Therefore, either this has been addressed somehow, or we are not living in the matrix. Scenario one is unlikely, because of the enormous amount of code that would have to be optimized and de-bugged for everything to run correctly and without noticeable failures. Therefore we do not live in a virtual world.
But if all particles are not being continually simulated, the effects will be apparant if the virtual scientists try to, for instance, measure the effect of gravity. For instance, if for the sake of saving processor power by omitting a vast amount of unseen matter, the simulation were to ignore and leave out every bit of matter say, 50 meters below and deeper than sea level, this would be very noticeable. Shock waves from earthquakes, for instance, would not transmit correctly unless the simulation were patched to falsify data results. People would float off the planet (or else the shell would collapse in upon itself), and necessitate another patch to apply constant gravity standards, and keep things from falling past that point. The list goes on, and while each could be patched, there would always be the bugs that get past, and have to be fixed post-launch. Virtual denizens will eventually notice them. Any simulation with the complexity of the real world would inevitably miss an enormous sum of bugs, and could never find them all. Without resetting the entire game, or invalidating the simulation by modifying memories, the overriding intelligence would simply be forced to allow the knowledge to proliferate.
I win!
Incorrect. For a more primitive being, perhaps animals at the zoo, such an environment would suffice. However, if you are creating a virtual world where the smallest resolution is only a few microns, you will inevitably run into problems when the intelligent beings of that world attempt to use science to learn. If our world were virtual, and had no detail below 10 microns, or a tenth of one, or a thousandth, scientists with knowledge of what should be, would notice. Experiments could be devised using lasers in such a virtual world to demonstrate the smallest possible "pixel size", and the cat would be out of the bag immediately. For a simulation to run effectively and keep it's inhabitants unaware of their situation, it requires complete, total, perfect simulation of what we think of as reality.
As the spoon from the first demonstrates the illusion of the Matrix, the spoon given in the second is a clue given to Neo that the reality he is in is false.
After just coming home from the theatre, I have several things that occurs to me that no one else seems to recall or give significance to. The following in particular: * What is the significance of the spoon irritating-boy gives Neo? * Why doesn't Neo just attack/injure/threaten the Architect, instead of just standing there? * Could Neo's ability to halt the Sentinels infact be due to some sort of connection between him in the real world, and the machines (ie, programming that 'wedged' itself into the Matrix from him)? We know all humans have the little plugs-and-whatnot on them, a radio transmitter seems plausible. * Who is the guy guarding the Oracle? * What is the Oracle's motivation? * What is the significance of the number 6 (Neo's) and 12 (people saved)? And why so many different versions of Neo shown on the tele-wall, when supposedly only 5 others existed?
by John Steakley. Not quite out of print, but hard to find. I think the last edition released was 1985-95. Enormously good book...the best science fiction book I've ever read.
could this be of any serious usefulness. Because, really, what is the density per-square-mile of wireless cameras (not to mention the density-per-square-state of *interesting* cameras)?
Why am I not suprised that this is going to be in Seattle?
Guess they weren't smart enough to avoid a slashdotting. Maybe we can cross-breed the mirror sites to select /.-resistant genes, and build a /.-resistant webpage..
Really. We're talking about a little box with a motor inside and some flexible plastic treads. If this is the first step down the "slippery slope" towards Skynet, T-1000, and HAL, then I think we can all sit back and wait a few more centuries before they get far enough to learn how to actually massage, not tickle.
So Discover magazine, a rather highly respected science magazine, makes it practice to send out 1/12 of all it's issues with a giant, enormously untrue cover story and a half dozen pages in the center of the issue devoted to a lie? That is perfectly feasible and nothing really new?
Being the only other human being alive who read that book...I must say that's an awfully bad reference ;)
That something so small and so massive would have gone ahead and collapsed into a black hole. Were there multiple beachballs per supernova?
That trailer was revolting. I had to contain my digestive track from inverting itself onto the keyboard looking at that sad commercialistic tripe advertisement. Cowboy Bebop has never needed commercials. They more likely drove away fans by making that trailer, then did anything to attract viewers to all 4 cinemas playing it, NONE OF THEM IN FLORIDA!
Heh..First?
Anyone else notice the reference to the Bruce Willis film 12 Monkeys? That logo on the front of the machine is identical to the 12 Monkeys logo from the movie..
I've been a betatester in Project: Entropia for the last 6 months, and have seen quite a bit of the world. PE's public relations has been relatively poor so far, and their main PR guy, Marco Behrmann is frequently the target of pissed-off players. The game is very laggy, bugs are common, and it is quite difficult for many experianced players to make money. Speaking as a voice of the community, I don't think we expect it to be ready by January. Perhaps by next fall it might be relatively prepared for release, but right now it's simply too laggy and unbalanced. I've been able to make money in-game, but definitely not enough to make a living off of it. Server crashes are common as well as client time-outs. Prices are inflated and everyone is hard-pressed to profit. Ultimately what the game needs is the financial and public backing by a major company such as Microsoft or Sony. In the end, it's sucess relies on it's playability. If it can get a widespread player base, then it can seek alternative financial support, and let everyone profit. Otherwise, it looks like it could find itself in trouble. Time will tell where PE goes, and I'll go with it, but I have difficulty seeing hope.