I agree that vigilance is important but the hyperbole gets monotonous and loses all meaning when there is a serious breach in our "ideals".
"Great men" also stand on the shoulders of giants, I disagree that we should avoid making historical comparisons, to do so risks repeating past mistakes. A good example is the current economic hassles and the desire not to repeat the mistake of the 1930's where governments sat on their hands for 4yrs and watched the international economy implode.
Somewhat ironically, life is what made our atmosphere breathable. Without life it's highly unlikely there would be anything more than trace amounts of free oxygen in an alien atmosphere.
It's been suggested recently that the perchlorates invalidated the micro-oven experiments, Apparently when heated they release large amounts of oxygen that would incerate any organics. Since I only have a vauge idea of what a perchlorate is, I have no idea if that's a valid criticisim. But given the possibility of ground water I think the methane hots spots are worth a closer look.
Excellent post! I agree the "good old days" is nothing more than selective memory from old farts that is parroted by their children. When I was growing up in Australia during the 60's, Aborigines couldn't vote, you could be arrested for displaying a replica of the statue of David, certain books were banned, NEWS was heavily censored, conscription was a GoodThing(TM), gays and abortionists were thrown in jail, unmarried mother's were forced to give up their children at birth, couples "living in sin" were ostracised, etc, etc. The west really is a more humane place to live than it has ever been despite the best efforts of GWB and Howard to drag us back to the 1950's.
When the UK starts putting cameras inside every home and strapping rats to people faces then I might take the shrill panic of the 1984 crowd a bit more seriously.
Indeed, ignorance is not constrained by politics. The ignorant on the left claim it's against Nature, the ignorant on the right claim it's against God. The ignorant in the middle claim it's a bit of both.
The only figure I've seen for the trials was $80K but that was $80K too much in my book since we already have a govt. sponsored filter that is used in public schools and govt deptartments.
"Yep. 2. Billion."
I'd be pissed about such obvious pork too, IIRC it cost Australia less than that to buy back (at a fair price) every semi-auto and pump action in the country and crush them.
Not picking on you personally but the average slashdotter is pretty gullible when it comes to machiavellian politics. This was no mistake, politicians often adopt a cause in order to kill it. Conroy deliberately killed the trails and legislation by including Fielding's anti-abortion supporters on the blacklist. I and many other Aussies predicted this outcome, not because we are particularly astute, mearly because we saw the same thing happen with the last government.
"If you're going to take the time to reply, you might as well at least reply to the main substance of my comment."
I did, are you claiming there was more to it than a plea to control the behaviour of people you don't like but have done you no more harm than "walking down the street"? The saddest part of that is that you are probably correct about the number of people who agree with you (including many alcoholics and social drinkers).
That's Disney's bandwagon, MS just hopped on for the ride. What MS does is called vendor lock, IBM perfected that trick well before Bill Gates was born.
I agree with the OP in that MS has done a great job with VS over the years. Many posters disagree and claim they have to "fight" the IDE, having used it since V1.5 on Win3.1 all I can say is RTFM! The only annoyance I have is that every major realese, MS shuffles things around for no apparent reason other than to sell training courses.
"I don't think the default editor of VS supports regex substitution even today, which is one of the most basic features of an editor."
Not sure about express version but regex has been in the full version for a very long time (in my 2005 version it's on the find/replace dialog and also the "find in files" dialog), the VS find really is the best windows grep around. I have converted many of my winphobic collegues just by using it while they were watching.
You can also use expressions for breakpoints, eg: break when loop is on it's 476897th iteration or break when pointer P=NULL, very useful for when an array overflow bug changes a variable in an unrelated part of the app.
"it's very easy to fire gdb up and let a program run and collect some stuff while the program runs (breakpoints, and commands). To do it in VS editor is a pain, AFAIK."
Have you tried the debug menu at the top of the screen? - How is right click or pressing F9 to toggle a breakpoint on the current line more of a pain than gdb?
"One of my biggest pains with using VS is the lack of power (in other words, scripting support) for the editor and the debugger."
It has macro's, add-ins and commands such as "tabify" but I haven't found a good use for macros or add-ins in the past decade or so. Personally I can't think why you would want to run a script in a debugger, generally debugging is bug specific it's not something you do twice? Do you have a specific example to demonstrate this alleged "lack of power"?
I'm not sure when you last looked at VS but your criticisims are typical of someone who hasn't looked very hard and doesn't want to.
"because when I have drunks walking down the street all the time to the pub on the corner, I want to be able to call the police and have them be able to do something about it."
I agree, people I don't like who insist on "walking down the street" should be put to death./sarcasm
As far as we can tell humans are animals, both exist and operate via the same physical process, therefore you can say "everyone knows" consiousness when they see it just as easily as you can say "everyone knows" you can feel gravity. Gravity has a good diagnostic test but can be indistinguishable from acceleration, consiousness does not have a good test.
I don't suggest that the majority of scientists reject animal consciousness, However many people have made a proffession out of denying the obvious (Take a look at Evolution, AGW or tabacco), a very small number hit on something such as Eienstien's "Time is not constant". And when they do it's not long before people are saying "yeah, but it was obvious".
Yes there is no real subjective test for consiousness but most people recognise it when they see it (or have it pointed out). Another assumption I think you are making is that we have to understand the brain to make one, this is not at all true, people were making and using levers well before they understood how they worked. A physically accurate model of a brain may well spontaneously produce consiousness in exactly the same way as the seasons, hurricanes, cold fronts, etc all "emerge" from physically accurate climate models. Indeed the blue brain project claims that data from brain scans fed into it's simulated neocortex produces the same reactionary patterns as seen in the real brains.
"If its will is to enjoy and prefer to care for the elderly"
Kepp your machine away from me, I have a deal with my adult daughter that when the time comes she can put me in a home provided it has a cute nurse doing the sponge baths.
"How is this possible? I cannot even think how one would test this with another human"
One method they use is to put the virtual brain into a virtual body and watch what it does in virtual world. Personally I would like to see them install it on honda/sony robots and have them fight each other with cattle prods.
The brain's functionality is not modular, pain and pleasure are auto-training mechanisims that are a reaction to patterns in the nurons (such as the pattern that appears when one's asre is on fire, pain emerges and makes you slap your own arse ).
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that vigilance is important but the hyperbole gets monotonous and loses all meaning when there is a serious breach in our "ideals".
"Great men" also stand on the shoulders of giants, I disagree that we should avoid making historical comparisons, to do so risks repeating past mistakes. A good example is the current economic hassles and the desire not to repeat the mistake of the 1930's where governments sat on their hands for 4yrs and watched the international economy implode.
"Weather or not its breathable"
Somewhat ironically, life is what made our atmosphere breathable. Without life it's highly unlikely there would be anything more than trace amounts of free oxygen in an alien atmosphere.
It's been suggested recently that the perchlorates invalidated the micro-oven experiments, Apparently when heated they release large amounts of oxygen that would incerate any organics. Since I only have a vauge idea of what a perchlorate is, I have no idea if that's a valid criticisim. But given the possibility of ground water I think the methane hots spots are worth a closer look.
Excellent post! I agree the "good old days" is nothing more than selective memory from old farts that is parroted by their children. When I was growing up in Australia during the 60's, Aborigines couldn't vote, you could be arrested for displaying a replica of the statue of David, certain books were banned, NEWS was heavily censored, conscription was a GoodThing(TM), gays and abortionists were thrown in jail, unmarried mother's were forced to give up their children at birth, couples "living in sin" were ostracised, etc, etc. The west really is a more humane place to live than it has ever been despite the best efforts of GWB and Howard to drag us back to the 1950's.
When the UK starts putting cameras inside every home and strapping rats to people faces then I might take the shrill panic of the 1984 crowd a bit more seriously.
Indeed, ignorance is not constrained by politics. The ignorant on the left claim it's against Nature, the ignorant on the right claim it's against God. The ignorant in the middle claim it's a bit of both.
Victoria, Australia = Flood, Fire, Dust, Tourist.
The only figure I've seen for the trials was $80K but that was $80K too much in my book since we already have a govt. sponsored filter that is used in public schools and govt deptartments.
"Yep. 2. Billion."
I'd be pissed about such obvious pork too, IIRC it cost Australia less than that to buy back (at a fair price) every semi-auto and pump action in the country and crush them.
"Not picking on you, but were you including yourself in that statement?"
My 1970's self, of course. Now get of my lawn!
"People who confuse their Member and their Minister are in for some trouble."
If it wasn't for the honesty of my member it would be difficult to distinguish between them.
Not picking on you personally but the average slashdotter is pretty gullible when it comes to machiavellian politics. This was no mistake, politicians often adopt a cause in order to kill it. Conroy deliberately killed the trails and legislation by including Fielding's anti-abortion supporters on the blacklist. I and many other Aussies predicted this outcome, not because we are particularly astute, mearly because we saw the same thing happen with the last government.
"If you're going to take the time to reply, you might as well at least reply to the main substance of my comment."
I did, are you claiming there was more to it than a plea to control the behaviour of people you don't like but have done you no more harm than "walking down the street"? The saddest part of that is that you are probably correct about the number of people who agree with you (including many alcoholics and social drinkers).
That's Disney's bandwagon, MS just hopped on for the ride. What MS does is called vendor lock, IBM perfected that trick well before Bill Gates was born.
I agree with the OP in that MS has done a great job with VS over the years. Many posters disagree and claim they have to "fight" the IDE, having used it since V1.5 on Win3.1 all I can say is RTFM! The only annoyance I have is that every major realese, MS shuffles things around for no apparent reason other than to sell training courses.
"I don't think the default editor of VS supports regex substitution even today, which is one of the most basic features of an editor."
Not sure about express version but regex has been in the full version for a very long time (in my 2005 version it's on the find/replace dialog and also the "find in files" dialog), the VS find really is the best windows grep around. I have converted many of my winphobic collegues just by using it while they were watching.
You can also use expressions for breakpoints, eg: break when loop is on it's 476897th iteration or break when pointer P=NULL, very useful for when an array overflow bug changes a variable in an unrelated part of the app.
"it's very easy to fire gdb up and let a program run and collect some stuff while the program runs (breakpoints, and commands). To do it in VS editor is a pain, AFAIK."
Have you tried the debug menu at the top of the screen? - How is right click or pressing F9 to toggle a breakpoint on the current line more of a pain than gdb?
"One of my biggest pains with using VS is the lack of power (in other words, scripting support) for the editor and the debugger."
It has macro's, add-ins and commands such as "tabify" but I haven't found a good use for macros or add-ins in the past decade or so. Personally I can't think why you would want to run a script in a debugger, generally debugging is bug specific it's not something you do twice? Do you have a specific example to demonstrate this alleged "lack of power"?
I'm not sure when you last looked at VS but your criticisims are typical of someone who hasn't looked very hard and doesn't want to.
"don't print it or its out of date"
Good advise for all sorts of technical docs.
"It was because of government that Microsoft got it's monopoly."
Can I have some of what you are smoking?
"because when I have drunks walking down the street all the time to the pub on the corner, I want to be able to call the police and have them be able to do something about it."
/sarcasm
I agree, people I don't like who insist on "walking down the street" should be put to death.
GTG
As far as we can tell humans are animals, both exist and operate via the same physical process, therefore you can say "everyone knows" consiousness when they see it just as easily as you can say "everyone knows" you can feel gravity. Gravity has a good diagnostic test but can be indistinguishable from acceleration, consiousness does not have a good test.
I don't suggest that the majority of scientists reject animal consciousness, However many people have made a proffession out of denying the obvious (Take a look at Evolution, AGW or tabacco), a very small number hit on something such as Eienstien's "Time is not constant". And when they do it's not long before people are saying "yeah, but it was obvious".
"Is there really anyone here who hasn't known that song by heart for at least ten years?"
Never heard of it, I'm a 50-ish white Aussie, radio is tuned to "Golden oldies".
Why do you assume HUMAN conciousness?
Yes there is no real subjective test for consiousness but most people recognise it when they see it (or have it pointed out). Another assumption I think you are making is that we have to understand the brain to make one, this is not at all true, people were making and using levers well before they understood how they worked. A physically accurate model of a brain may well spontaneously produce consiousness in exactly the same way as the seasons, hurricanes, cold fronts, etc all "emerge" from physically accurate climate models. Indeed the blue brain project claims that data from brain scans fed into it's simulated neocortex produces the same reactionary patterns as seen in the real brains.
Probably more than you want to know href="http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page26906.html">here.
"If its will is to enjoy and prefer to care for the elderly"
Kepp your machine away from me, I have a deal with my adult daughter that when the time comes she can put me in a home provided it has a cute nurse doing the sponge baths.
"How is this possible? I cannot even think how one would test this with another human"
One method they use is to put the virtual brain into a virtual body and watch what it does in virtual world. Personally I would like to see them install it on honda/sony robots and have them fight each other with cattle prods.
The brain's functionality is not modular, pain and pleasure are auto-training mechanisims that are a reaction to patterns in the nurons (such as the pattern that appears when one's asre is on fire, pain emerges and makes you slap your own arse ).
"Alternative variant our machines overcome limitations of being well... machines."
Yes, ain't evolution grand....