In the ancient world, there was no copyright. And among the literate elite, there was mass duplication when someone could transcribe poetry recitals, give it to a team of amanuenses to copy, and then sell it in the marketplace with no money going back to the author. Nonetheless, fine literature flourished and so many of the masterpieces Western civilization cherishes today were born. Abolition of copyright would mean the return of patrons as a motivating force in the arts, and it would probably be for the best.
This is a community where people are pretty open about using Bittorrent to download films instead of buying or renting the DVD or going to the cinema. It's a community where people have shared secrets about the best file-sharing networks for music swapping. It does seem like a good portion of the Slashdot community doesn't think there should be restrictions on the sharing of media. If there is some conflict with Stallman's ideas, they haven't noticed it yet.
Stallman created the GPL to use copyright against itself. He probably would be happy in a world that didn't know copyright or other forms of "intellectual property". Even if people weren't compelled to keep their changes open, a lack of NDAs and the legality of reverse engineering with help would ensure changes got leaked anyway.
Before those of us here who love to download copyright films and music at no cost start cheering these men on who challenge the RIAA, let's remember that Lessig doesn't want to abolish copyright, but simply restore short terms. He is not our ally in ensuring we can get whatever media we want whenever we want for no cost.
I'm surprised to see such attitudes on an atheist/agnostic-dominated site like Slashdot. The way that atheists respond to the argument "if there is no God, all is permitted" is essentially with a version of utilitarianism. In a world where theism and related concepts like dualism no longer hold much sway, natural rights theory doesn't seem too useful.
This reminds me of Cliff Stoll's infamous book Silicon Snake Oil. Published in 1996, the book doesn't insist that growing up with heavy computing will turn us all into heartless, antisocial robots. But it does strongly assert that computers don't make an efficient contribution to education as you think. It's a book all Slashdotters will get a laugh from because of its way off vision of the future. And Stoll, who claimed e-commerce would never take off, himself now sells klein bottles over the net.
Do Swedes still believe in natural law theory? I thought that was only an American thing. In most of Europe, natural rights theory has been superseded by utilitarianism for nearly two centuries now.
It's not that simple. There is a well-established non-violent market for hammers. For Bittorrent, use of the technology to do legal things like download Linux ISOs is statistically negligible. It's a technology that for most people is identified with getting copyright films, music and e-books for free. Now, I download stuff I watch to listen to or watch frequently, but I don't think this argument against the media companies works.
Could this new metal shield against cosmic rays as well as lead? I'm reminded of the scene in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars where the inhabitants of a spacecraft have to hold out against an incoming solar flare and find their shielding woefully insufficient. A material that could block rays yet be lightweight and less toxic would no doubt be a boon to the space industry.
Examples of women molesting children are stastically negligible, while being molested by a male authority figure is statistically a very present danger. Furthermore, the articles you link involve women engaging with children older than elementary school age, which is the phase under discussion here.
Publicly dentifying as a Protestant Christian to win over an electorate is nothing new. I'm baffled that you would claim that. Carter made much of his Protestant religious beliefs. Eisenhower tried to keep his Jehovah's Witness family under wraps. Look back through history and you can see many presidents who probably weren't devout Protestants, but in that case they never confessed their religious beliefs to the public.
These are a good investment even without interplanetary missions. One of the features of Frank Herbert's novel Dune that I always thought fascinating was the stillsuit, where a person's waste water, whether urine, tears, or sweat, could be recycled with extreme efficiency. If you work in the desert, wouldn't it be nice to have one of these for emergencies?
As a Classics major as an undergrad, I'm always happy to see these kind of stories. There was some wicked humour in the ancient world that is still hilarious today, from the political jibes in the plays of Aristophanes to the obscenities of Petronius' Satyricon. It's a pity that most people would never think about reading them, because one tends to assume that old literary works are dry and serious.
With the rise of nanotech, grey goo has always been a popular vision of the end of the world. After recently reading Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, however, what I'm more scared of is the combination of nanotech and AI that would reduce human beings to mere drones of a hive mind. Is the human race still human if it's subjugated to the will of our future digital overlords?
When I served in the Navy, I was often amused at how everything we got in boot camp was "Made in USA", but often produced in Saipan where minimum wage laws didn't apply. Not exactly helping the home economy.
I've been to KZ twice, will go again soon, and hang out in Almaty and Astana with a motley crew of clued-up locals and expats from a dozen countries. It's funny how the average Kazakh has no idea about this Borat character. Our cries of "Jagshemash!" upon entering shops or the gesture of pointing both thumbs up just baffle them. The film was never distributed in KZ, whether in theatres or on pirated DVDs, which means that only university students with broadband have downloaded it and know what the fuss is all about.
But anyway, I'd highly recommend Kazakhstan for tourism. Almaty feels like one of those cities of the future, like Dubai or Singapore, with prices to match. Astana is interesting, yet another one of those capital cities build by administrative fiat like Brazilia or Canberra, and subsequently lacking much of a personality. It's so dull it's fun. And Kustanay and Ust-Kamenogorsk are Russian-dominated towns which have a Wild East feel to them.
My big goal now is to explore the West of the country, Caspian Sea oil towns and endless steppe.
Keep in mind that civil disobedience carries with it the willingness to suffer the consequences.
While etymologically "civil disobedience" meant that, the term as commonly used today does not necessarily suggest that a person would be willing to undergo punishment. Indeed, I suspect in many counter-cultural rounds, the term is no longer even limited to non-violent action. The meanings of words change, l'arbitraire du signe and all that, and we have to adapt so that we can understand each other.
Slashdot Mirror
In the ancient world, there was no copyright. And among the literate elite, there was mass duplication when someone could transcribe poetry recitals, give it to a team of amanuenses to copy, and then sell it in the marketplace with no money going back to the author. Nonetheless, fine literature flourished and so many of the masterpieces Western civilization cherishes today were born. Abolition of copyright would mean the return of patrons as a motivating force in the arts, and it would probably be for the best.
This is a community where people are pretty open about using Bittorrent to download films instead of buying or renting the DVD or going to the cinema. It's a community where people have shared secrets about the best file-sharing networks for music swapping. It does seem like a good portion of the Slashdot community doesn't think there should be restrictions on the sharing of media. If there is some conflict with Stallman's ideas, they haven't noticed it yet.
Stallman created the GPL to use copyright against itself. He probably would be happy in a world that didn't know copyright or other forms of "intellectual property". Even if people weren't compelled to keep their changes open, a lack of NDAs and the legality of reverse engineering with help would ensure changes got leaked anyway.
The RIAA holds copyrights on recordings. The copyright on songs like Happy Birthday is held by songwriters' associations like BMI/ASCAP.
Before those of us here who love to download copyright films and music at no cost start cheering these men on who challenge the RIAA, let's remember that Lessig doesn't want to abolish copyright, but simply restore short terms. He is not our ally in ensuring we can get whatever media we want whenever we want for no cost.
I'm surprised to see such attitudes on an atheist/agnostic-dominated site like Slashdot. The way that atheists respond to the argument "if there is no God, all is permitted" is essentially with a version of utilitarianism. In a world where theism and related concepts like dualism no longer hold much sway, natural rights theory doesn't seem too useful.
This reminds me of Cliff Stoll's infamous book Silicon Snake Oil . Published in 1996, the book doesn't insist that growing up with heavy computing will turn us all into heartless, antisocial robots. But it does strongly assert that computers don't make an efficient contribution to education as you think. It's a book all Slashdotters will get a laugh from because of its way off vision of the future. And Stoll, who claimed e-commerce would never take off, himself now sells klein bottles over the net.
It's recognized by even the most free market-fanatic economists that the government has a responsibility to break up monopolies.
Do Swedes still believe in natural law theory? I thought that was only an American thing. In most of Europe, natural rights theory has been superseded by utilitarianism for nearly two centuries now.
Yes, you'll know them by their vapour trails, but you won't hear them coming.
It's not that simple. There is a well-established non-violent market for hammers. For Bittorrent, use of the technology to do legal things like download Linux ISOs is statistically negligible. It's a technology that for most people is identified with getting copyright films, music and e-books for free. Now, I download stuff I watch to listen to or watch frequently, but I don't think this argument against the media companies works.
Could this new metal shield against cosmic rays as well as lead? I'm reminded of the scene in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars where the inhabitants of a spacecraft have to hold out against an incoming solar flare and find their shielding woefully insufficient. A material that could block rays yet be lightweight and less toxic would no doubt be a boon to the space industry.
Examples of women molesting children are stastically negligible, while being molested by a male authority figure is statistically a very present danger. Furthermore, the articles you link involve women engaging with children older than elementary school age, which is the phase under discussion here.
Publicly dentifying as a Protestant Christian to win over an electorate is nothing new. I'm baffled that you would claim that. Carter made much of his Protestant religious beliefs. Eisenhower tried to keep his Jehovah's Witness family under wraps. Look back through history and you can see many presidents who probably weren't devout Protestants, but in that case they never confessed their religious beliefs to the public.
The energy demands for this thing must be huge. I wonder how they are offsetting the carbon.
These are a good investment even without interplanetary missions. One of the features of Frank Herbert's novel Dune that I always thought fascinating was the stillsuit, where a person's waste water, whether urine, tears, or sweat, could be recycled with extreme efficiency. If you work in the desert, wouldn't it be nice to have one of these for emergencies?
That's a reason to lead a campaign against Novell in itself.
Guys, the fact that he mentions XMMS, a program defunct for years now, suggests he's trolling.
Yeah, Jaguar might look cool with its advanced capabilities, but there's no games for it and the controller design is lame.
As a Classics major as an undergrad, I'm always happy to see these kind of stories. There was some wicked humour in the ancient world that is still hilarious today, from the political jibes in the plays of Aristophanes to the obscenities of Petronius' Satyricon. It's a pity that most people would never think about reading them, because one tends to assume that old literary works are dry and serious.
With the rise of nanotech, grey goo has always been a popular vision of the end of the world. After recently reading Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep , however, what I'm more scared of is the combination of nanotech and AI that would reduce human beings to mere drones of a hive mind. Is the human race still human if it's subjugated to the will of our future digital overlords?
When I served in the Navy, I was often amused at how everything we got in boot camp was "Made in USA", but often produced in Saipan where minimum wage laws didn't apply. Not exactly helping the home economy.
I've been to KZ twice, will go again soon, and hang out in Almaty and Astana with a motley crew of clued-up locals and expats from a dozen countries. It's funny how the average Kazakh has no idea about this Borat character. Our cries of "Jagshemash!" upon entering shops or the gesture of pointing both thumbs up just baffle them. The film was never distributed in KZ, whether in theatres or on pirated DVDs, which means that only university students with broadband have downloaded it and know what the fuss is all about. But anyway, I'd highly recommend Kazakhstan for tourism. Almaty feels like one of those cities of the future, like Dubai or Singapore, with prices to match. Astana is interesting, yet another one of those capital cities build by administrative fiat like Brazilia or Canberra, and subsequently lacking much of a personality. It's so dull it's fun. And Kustanay and Ust-Kamenogorsk are Russian-dominated towns which have a Wild East feel to them. My big goal now is to explore the West of the country, Caspian Sea oil towns and endless steppe.
I for one would welcome our child-molesting ursine overlords.
While etymologically "civil disobedience" meant that, the term as commonly used today does not necessarily suggest that a person would be willing to undergo punishment. Indeed, I suspect in many counter-cultural rounds, the term is no longer even limited to non-violent action. The meanings of words change, l'arbitraire du signe and all that, and we have to adapt so that we can understand each other.