But when they DO build them...you will FEAR them. Who else would be better commanding a remote army of robots than the S. Koreans? Looks like we'll need to get an elite team of piloted robots and send in the Japanese.
"On top of that, we've still got Cancer to worry about, which is kicking our asses."
Um....I don't mean to be a jerk, because cancer is a horrible horrible thing, but how is it kicking our asses? True, we haven't found a cure for all of it, but we can sure as hell get rid of a lot of it. And don't forget that our races birth rate still far surpasses our death rate. Now, the bubonic plague, that wiped out 2/3 of Europe, that is significant.
Thank you for your insightful post. I'd like to add to this that even if WE don't do the research, SOMEONE will because it is too profitable an idea to let slip. Better we do it and have control over it than others who might not be so peacefully minded.
The problem I have with that last thought of yours is that I can't HELP but fear death. Because while I'm alive, I don't WANT to die. Yet it is inevitable, and it makes me feel unbelievably hopeless.
I realize I probably won't care about all this once I'm dead, but I don't want to live in fear that I may die prematurely, or gruesomely, or tragically, etc.
What I'm curious about then, is why our brains evolved in such a way as to make us ask the grand question "What is the meaning of life?"
Is asking that question in some way linked to our desire to prolong our survival and thus gives us a better chance of adapting?
As a 21 year old who's just come to terms with the fact that I am no longer an invincible teenager and I will one day truly cease to exist, it has been difficult dealing with the cold harsh reality of what life really is...a extremely random and complex combination of strings (or whatever else it is we think the universe is made of). There is no purpose, there is no direction except forward.
I've always wondered if the reason faith and religion are still so popular today despite the discoveries of science about life, is because people are too scared to consider the truth about existence.
I'm curious how older, non-religious geeks have come to terms with thoughts about death and dying when its impossible for one to believe that there is anything after death.
What I'm more curious about is future evolution. Technology takes all the careful work nature did, and messes it all up and technological evolution happens MUCH quicker than natural evolution.
My vote is that future generations of humans get thumbs that are more dexterous for handheld devices. And when we start inplanting silicon in peoples brains, expect us to develop some new parts of our brain to cope with the extra input.
Now, IANAEB (I am not an evolutionary biologist) but I'm sure we have some on here. What are Slashdotters predictions for the future of human evolution?
I doubt they will turn off your ability to play older games. However, what I fear the most is that they will start forcing mod distributors to force people to download their stuff through Steam for "security" concerns, and then charge you a few bucks to download each mod. Unless of course you want to sit in line and watch advertising ala Fileplanet.
I take it you've never heard of the "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide" straw man argument.
First, there's no guarantee you'll be found innocent. If police want something bad enough, they've been known to do some not so legal things to get their man. Second, regardless of the outcome, your neighbors find out, your coworkers do, everybody does. That is enough to ruin a life right there. And if you don't think so, ask anybody who's been wrongfully accused of a felony charge.
But word gets out about police business because someone always knows someone.
And that's fine, you can be as apathetic as you like to them, but unfortunately this is a matter of law, and these people are considered innocent by the law. That means they are guaranteed protections, and this goes against that.
The reason this is a 1st amendment issue is because what if this passes, and all the people with FICTIONAL child porn (3d graphics, drawings, etc) turn up?
I mean, it was ruled by the supreme court that if they are not a real child, it is a victimless issue, and it is not illegal. But that would only be brought to bare once the person in question's life had been completely ruined after their job was notified and they were subsequently fired, after their neighborhood was notified and they get chased out, etc.
"Ok, here we have them landing on the moon.....no wait, now they're loading up to go home....errr....now they're taking off......OMG! The shuttle blew up!!!.......oh wait, there they are again on the moon......no wait, now the parts are dropping into the ocean!!!"
Hmm....on second thought, in-order delivery might be more important than I first thought.
I usually don't respond to ACs, but let me point out that if you are in a contractual agreement with a service provider, and you violate that agreement, they have the right to terminate your service.
If this agreement states that you cannot block any of the signals they transmit without their authorization, then that's your problem if you're willing to sign up for something like that.
All I'm saying is that the unreasonable privacy nuts think that because you pay for something you get it however you want. But if you are in a contractual agreement that is not the case and people need to realize and respect that. If you REALLY are that concerned, and don't want to give more of a reason than "Because I said so", that is your perogative, and you are MORE than welcome to not sign up for, pay for, and sign a contractual agreement for said service.
You own the tv, not the signals. Interfering with signals that YOU decided to accept into your home would violate some sort of agreement I'm certain (well, with cable providers at least).
And why do you care so much that they know you are watching X at Y time? Can you please give some serious reasons as opposed to just "Because I said so"?
"For those of you privacy advocates out there you will love Patent No. 5,872,588: Method and apparatus for monitoring audio-visual materials presented to a subscriber."
Oh please. Privacy advocates nothing. I am as big of a privacy nut as the rest of you, but I'm also in the advertising industry so I know that in order for tv to work the way it does today, this patent is important. You see, the main reason you have "free" television is because advertisers are willing to shell out MAJOR dollars for air time. Now, if you were spending that much money, wouldn't you want some way to know your ad ran when they said it would? And keep in mind that you typically don't buy ad space for a SPECIFIC time, but rather a "time-slot". This patent is clearly related to how networks track the running of ads so they can give assurance to advertisers that they were getting what they paid for.
Now, if they had technology to monitor audio and video OUTSIDE THE TV (ie. watching what you the viewer do and listening to what you say), that would be a different thing, although I'm sure Neilson would find many people willing to be monitored like that in exchange for big bucks.
This should be illegal? Yeah, we might as well ban every single other thing that could POSSIBLY be addictive, like alchohol, or the adrenaline rush from sky diving, or MMORPGs.
The vast majority of people do NOT have addictive personalities, and there's no way we should be punished because of a bunch of irresponsible people who can't manage their own lives. If they get addicted, and don't reproduce, or die, or whatever, well....thats Darwin for ya.
Well, I'm glad to hear from an expert (not that we have any proof you are, no offense). However, the beautiful thing about technology that anybody who's watched Connections will realize is that random flukes cause the weirdest things to be invented. Whats to say some random colliding of technologies won't produce the ability to do this in the near future? The thing is, we'll never know.
However, I agree it seems highly unlikely that they are able to do this. But ya know, if they ARE able to, then frankly I could give two shits if Sony has a patent, because the second this thing becomes real, every single company who ISN'T restricted by our stupid patent laws here will be making a cheap clone and the technology will get out of the bag faster than any cat ever could.
But remember that no matter how "good" an electrical impulse can make you feel, I have a hard time believing computers will EVER be able to simulate the effects of love and what its like to be physical with someone you love.
I totally agree. Isn't the point of Daylight Savings time to help deal with matters of time, and not energy conservation? Wouldn't that throw off a LOT of scientific data?
I mean, this sounds like removing leap year to save a few bucks.
I respectfully disagree. If they are not naming review sites, then nobody is being singled out. All the article does is serve to increase public awareness of the fact that on the internet, people may have a motive to not tell you the whole truth, or to sugar coat it.
This will encourage people to check with multiple sources, talk to people, and make product decisions for themselves, which is possibly one of the most important skills one can learn for surfing the internet.
I know that most of slashdot would pay their left nut (not like they need it) to ride in this thing.
How soon till we get the homebrew kit, how much will it cost, and when can they fly?
But seriously, this is really cool. And somehow I always had a gut feeling that true mecha would be created not by the military with their massive budgets, but by home tinkerers, who might not have the best materials and equipment, but still manage to cobble together something that works, and more importantly, something that is affordable.
Now, safety is a whole different issue, but safety be damned, I WANT ONE!
You don't "guess" one of several statements. You learn the commands to play the game much as you would a graphical one. Each attack does something different, and skilled fighters figure out tactics for that system, such as certain attacks put you in a more favorable combat position, some affect your balance in combat, etc.
Now, all this detail adds a TON of depth to the game for me, but if you're a typical EQ player who just likes to hit "attack" and kick back and relax, I can see why that might not appeal to you.
How difficult would it be to take images from two (or more) satellites as opposed to one and generate a 3d map based on that data? Then you could go to person level and it could show you how to drive or walk somewhere from a people-eye view instead of a birds eye view.
" People play WoW because it has unique and novel gameplay."
I hardly thing WoW is unique and novel. I mean, its clean and well done, just like a Blizzard game should be, but lets not kid ourselves. The reason WoW is successful is because it is the new player, they took all the successful bits of other games, mashed them all together, and gave it the Blizzard Spitshine(tm).
I personally think we'll start seeing real innovation not in the MMORPG segment, but the MMOFPS, and eventually I think we'll see several games that do a great job of blurring the line between the two.
Also, I'm waiting for the first MMORPG to include a special peripheral that lets you get more involved in the game. Like a handheld "lightsaber" type sword handle that you could swing to control the sword action in the game. That would be insane.
Slashdot Mirror
Um....I don't mean to be a jerk, because cancer is a horrible horrible thing, but how is it kicking our asses? True, we haven't found a cure for all of it, but we can sure as hell get rid of a lot of it. And don't forget that our races birth rate still far surpasses our death rate. Now, the bubonic plague, that wiped out 2/3 of Europe, that is significant.
Remember, never underestimate Greed.
NOBODY LOOK! It's a trap!
I realize I probably won't care about all this once I'm dead, but I don't want to live in fear that I may die prematurely, or gruesomely, or tragically, etc.
How do you escape that fear?
Is asking that question in some way linked to our desire to prolong our survival and thus gives us a better chance of adapting?
As a 21 year old who's just come to terms with the fact that I am no longer an invincible teenager and I will one day truly cease to exist, it has been difficult dealing with the cold harsh reality of what life really is...a extremely random and complex combination of strings (or whatever else it is we think the universe is made of). There is no purpose, there is no direction except forward.
I've always wondered if the reason faith and religion are still so popular today despite the discoveries of science about life, is because people are too scared to consider the truth about existence.
I'm curious how older, non-religious geeks have come to terms with thoughts about death and dying when its impossible for one to believe that there is anything after death.
My vote is that future generations of humans get thumbs that are more dexterous for handheld devices. And when we start inplanting silicon in peoples brains, expect us to develop some new parts of our brain to cope with the extra input.
Now, IANAEB (I am not an evolutionary biologist) but I'm sure we have some on here. What are Slashdotters predictions for the future of human evolution?
First, there's no guarantee you'll be found innocent. If police want something bad enough, they've been known to do some not so legal things to get their man. Second, regardless of the outcome, your neighbors find out, your coworkers do, everybody does. That is enough to ruin a life right there. And if you don't think so, ask anybody who's been wrongfully accused of a felony charge.
And that's fine, you can be as apathetic as you like to them, but unfortunately this is a matter of law, and these people are considered innocent by the law. That means they are guaranteed protections, and this goes against that.
I mean, it was ruled by the supreme court that if they are not a real child, it is a victimless issue, and it is not illegal. But that would only be brought to bare once the person in question's life had been completely ruined after their job was notified and they were subsequently fired, after their neighborhood was notified and they get chased out, etc.
Hmm....on second thought, in-order delivery might be more important than I first thought.
If this agreement states that you cannot block any of the signals they transmit without their authorization, then that's your problem if you're willing to sign up for something like that.
All I'm saying is that the unreasonable privacy nuts think that because you pay for something you get it however you want. But if you are in a contractual agreement that is not the case and people need to realize and respect that. If you REALLY are that concerned, and don't want to give more of a reason than "Because I said so", that is your perogative, and you are MORE than welcome to not sign up for, pay for, and sign a contractual agreement for said service.
And why do you care so much that they know you are watching X at Y time? Can you please give some serious reasons as opposed to just "Because I said so"?
Oh please. Privacy advocates nothing. I am as big of a privacy nut as the rest of you, but I'm also in the advertising industry so I know that in order for tv to work the way it does today, this patent is important. You see, the main reason you have "free" television is because advertisers are willing to shell out MAJOR dollars for air time. Now, if you were spending that much money, wouldn't you want some way to know your ad ran when they said it would? And keep in mind that you typically don't buy ad space for a SPECIFIC time, but rather a "time-slot". This patent is clearly related to how networks track the running of ads so they can give assurance to advertisers that they were getting what they paid for.
Now, if they had technology to monitor audio and video OUTSIDE THE TV (ie. watching what you the viewer do and listening to what you say), that would be a different thing, although I'm sure Neilson would find many people willing to be monitored like that in exchange for big bucks.
Hey, I should patent that idea.
The vast majority of people do NOT have addictive personalities, and there's no way we should be punished because of a bunch of irresponsible people who can't manage their own lives. If they get addicted, and don't reproduce, or die, or whatever, well....thats Darwin for ya.
However, I agree it seems highly unlikely that they are able to do this. But ya know, if they ARE able to, then frankly I could give two shits if Sony has a patent, because the second this thing becomes real, every single company who ISN'T restricted by our stupid patent laws here will be making a cheap clone and the technology will get out of the bag faster than any cat ever could.
Not that I'd know or anything......
I mean, this sounds like removing leap year to save a few bucks.
This will encourage people to check with multiple sources, talk to people, and make product decisions for themselves, which is possibly one of the most important skills one can learn for surfing the internet.
How soon till we get the homebrew kit, how much will it cost, and when can they fly?
But seriously, this is really cool. And somehow I always had a gut feeling that true mecha would be created not by the military with their massive budgets, but by home tinkerers, who might not have the best materials and equipment, but still manage to cobble together something that works, and more importantly, something that is affordable.
Now, safety is a whole different issue, but safety be damned, I WANT ONE!
Now, all this detail adds a TON of depth to the game for me, but if you're a typical EQ player who just likes to hit "attack" and kick back and relax, I can see why that might not appeal to you.
Once prices start dropping on DV recorders, we're going to see a flood of video footage (and information!) unlike any before.
I hardly thing WoW is unique and novel. I mean, its clean and well done, just like a Blizzard game should be, but lets not kid ourselves. The reason WoW is successful is because it is the new player, they took all the successful bits of other games, mashed them all together, and gave it the Blizzard Spitshine(tm).
I personally think we'll start seeing real innovation not in the MMORPG segment, but the MMOFPS, and eventually I think we'll see several games that do a great job of blurring the line between the two.
Also, I'm waiting for the first MMORPG to include a special peripheral that lets you get more involved in the game. Like a handheld "lightsaber" type sword handle that you could swing to control the sword action in the game. That would be insane.