Top 40 crap put out by the major labels -- so we're probably pirating mostly indie stuff. It's a safe bet that the indie labels have an even lower percentage of millionaires than the big labels. But if you choose to buy a track from a big label on iTunes, it's a bit like giving money to Google -- sure, a tiny portion of it goes to the guys on top, but most of it goes to the 99% of the rest of the people who are paid by the company.
I absolutely love this observation.
Your point is very valid, and the "greedy millionaires taking money from the poor consumer" is a flawed view.
After reading your post I thought over what the "RIAA" means, as a corporate entity to me and what I know about it, and it's shamefully little.
My own knowledge about the RIAA is limited to what I read on slashdot and on newssites, where it profiles itself as an agressive entity.
Which makes me think it's how the RIAA is out of tune with the needs of todays consumers, putting "measures into place", creating discomfort for users who otherwise would've been perfectly happy. Resulting in a greater need or desire for something more align with current media-consumption, which is direct, efficient, snack-sized. But on the other end, a coorporation with a businessmodel that doesn't apply anymore. Which comes back to the "relative perceived value"; if it's hasslefree, you'll pay more to not go through the hassle you experience otherwise.
So what's wrong by buying a boat, forking out money enough to have people work months and feed their families?
I find this mentality a bit shortsighted: if I would have a pile of money in excess (yes, excess) and would "invest it" (say buy an appartmentblock, cash rent and take from people in that way for my "wellbeing") people don't say a thing.
But when someone aqcuires something, which creates work (luxury items need to be made, people make them, and they're expensive because they're not massproduced, right?) you stimulate an economy and economical activity (people can go to work, do something with their time and get paid) yet that is "wrong" because you can't take a boattrip?
As much I would enjoy excessive luxury as well, spending money stimulates an economy. If you have alot of money, the best thing to "make things happen", and give value is to spend it.
I'm working with banks and wealthmanagement software, I don't have such an abdunce of money as I see passing through our software, yet it creates cashflow and because of that cashflow +100 people here are able to work and drive nice company cars. They are happy. Clients are happy. And those who the people who are happy and comfortable (not excessively) pay to get value from are happy as they can make a business. (80% of the people here order their lunch in a small business who deliver to our office. This means they can bill each day for about 320 to run their business.)
While the economic attitude has proven flawed (growth instead of sustainability and stability). Our economy and wellbeing of those in and around it (you and I buddy) depends on the spending.
I do agree on the point the RIAA is a bunch of greedy bastards. And the value demanded for that music or whatever is not align with the perceived and experienced value delivered. But that is another issue.
Instead of looking down on someone with such a badass boat, ask him you can take a ride, chances are it's a very lonely person misguided trying to acquire wealth sacrificing alot you wouldn't sacrifice. Chances are you get your free ride. I've seen that alot.
unbridgeable chasm between computer software and human intelligence
And don't believe a computer program can feel pain.
Why are you taking one thing (human intelligence) and elaborate on another (feeling of pain) to make your point?
You're defining a "intelligent living being" as being "a lifeform which can feel pain" or "a lifeform with the intelligence to conceptualize the pain being felt" other then the squealing it produces.
Respect for a "lifeform" shouldn't be based to the extend it can feel pain, imho.
Just simulate firing events which trigger neuronreceptors for pain. Your program wil feel pain. It's the very definition of pain: your body signals there is a painimpulse somewhere and your brain processes it, translating in what you "experience as pain". It doesn't make the program any more intelligent or wont be less or more respectful to a "lifeform".
You seem consider to be inflicted pain upon you as "unrespectful" which should be immoral as you're an intelligent being. But you will scream, as your brain triggers events to release stress hormons and experience pain in its totality while you scream or fight to avoid it with equal means available to you as an animal a plant, an Iraqi, a rock (a rock cannot move thus cannot defend itself. It also has no neurons.) or a softwareprogram reacting on the simulated neurons being fired.
If you say "you cannot emulate human intelligence", you might have a point. If you say "you cannot gap the bridge because a computer cannot feel physical pain" you're on thin ice. If you state "We can inflict pain to a computer, or make it perceive pain, and this is moral because we consider it less of an intelligent lifeform as ourselves", you might be on to something that's present in our society. (disregarding tortured nerds and geeks in social situations)
How do you define one's psyche and how is "mental health" or "mental illness" defined, and on what set of values?
Say I'm a chronic masturbator (to be in tune with the slashdot mentality) and it's considered "defective behavior" even though my body rewards me to do continue that habit.
So, he would build a synthetic copy of my brain, emulate my current state and that's it.
Now, my brain is in constant evolution, I have eroding neurons, I learn new things making new neuron-paths, which his machine wouldn't be able to the way I imagine it.
Would he allow the brain to rewrite and rewire itself? And if so, how? Are these processes well understood enough?
If they would be understood, and able to emulate, will they write "virtual medication" to influence the virtual brain to test side-effects or the propagation of a certain chemical interacting with the brain?
If the last is possible, will we end up with sentien beings who are stuck in the same state for an eternity? Wouldn't that be sortof agonizing?
A month ago, NASA announces "We've found them!", now they say "oh, they were erased (and it took us a month). But we restored a the thing you've already seen for you!"
Conspiracy theorist have something to do with their time once again.
I for one am waiting for the next headline: "the real moontapes leaked, torrent here", with yeti's UFO's and chuck norris, in spectacular 3D, with Bob from accounting.
@05:15PM (#2049871) I agree, that really boiled my blood. I saw the new layout this morning, I thought it was pretty damn cool looking.
Anthropolgists will wonder what he was replying to for ages...
One would assume initially he's being unsettled by the new layout as he elaborates further on it, appearantly referencing to the first sentence.
But after closer analysis (reading it twice), the elaboration is a contradiction if he's speaking in a figurative speech. ("that boiled my blood; I thought it was damn cool looking.") unless, back in 1999, the boiling of blood would be a favourative state of being that is "cool".
To me, it seems the boiling of his blood is thus to be taken literally and the article could be about a DIY-project which could result in blood being boiled due to possible high pressure, dating back to prerecorded history.
I think it's safe to assume that the first poster on slashdot forgot to build his own pressure-suit making his blood boil and so agreeing with a poster who made the notion to take this into account. A pressure-suit of his time would be important to be though of attempting a simular endeavour which is communicated in the collaborative context, while expressing out his appreciation for the new environment which started the historical record for slashdot.
I propose the honouring of "Anonymous Coward" and to make a historical figure out of him. (record shows, in 1999, female presence was neglectable and the often found '18/F' notion was not, as priorly assumed, an indication of age and sex. So the assumpsion "Anonymous Coward" was a male has a 99% probability.)
I must agree with the article though, which I haven't read.
as a 15yo I've spent most of my days playing carmageddon. Now when I, as a communiting adult, see pedestrians on my way to work I tend to drive them over while I scream "woaaaaaa!" and pronounce a splat-bonus. The face of bysitters is priceless if I scream "extra points for the old lady!" when they stare in shock to the bloodcovered windshield.
and also probably an oral historical memory of when this was real
I believe the "eating" in fairy tales isn't to be taken literally. The story of little red riding hood, for example, was told to warn girls for being raped: the verb "to eat", or in french "manger" could be interpreted both by eating or slang for fornication.
Some software company grows, they throw developers at it, need to deliver, throw more at it, they end up with a monster of code nobody wants to work on anymore after a few years, but they have contractual agreements and what not... "oh noes, what do we do...".
There have been a few "little mishaps", like burning out of a serverroom and such. "oh, the software? it's gone... we can't help it. Bob the cleaning hamster smoked in the room, but he's fired now. We can rewrite it again though..."
Why would a hacker take out a community, is beyond me.
I don't know, but putting those two pictures together, you've painted an image in my head where they're planting that flag somewhere else I priorly, innocently, assumed, outside of the picture.
Also, you're missing the aspect of sentimental "beauty", or emotion a picture evoces, this picture calls up alot to the viewer, and more the US population as it plays on patriotism, which lives strong in the US.(not saying anything about that or judging, it's a common observation.). A computer cannot really trap those nuances to tag it as aestheticallypleasing to you, in what way it will emotionally spark you, or even which thoughts and inspiration a picture provokes.
I see you took into account the working hours of only 8 hours/day (is that the daily working time at Google?), but you forgot the weekends. If only working monday to friday, the person will need more than 24 years.
I see you took into account the weekends (is this the weekly working period at Google?) but forgot to take human nature, illness, recuperation, holidays , drive, motivation and the state of the work-market into account.
Having experience with work-estimation, you'd need to sell 30 years, tell the reader to complete it in 20 and end up explaining 10 additional years to the client due to certain (imagined or not) circumstances which are refered to "personal magic trick box".
Absolutely not. But that's what the parent is indicating: it's overhyped and there's a spread of "fear" and needless "danger" associated with it in the media.
In recent events, the stockmarket has crashed, economies are trying to recover, alot of people in unemployment and instead of taking action, they're manipulated into panic and fear about some insignificant virus and envisioning a swine-apocalypse. To me it seems a bit as populuscontrol or some weak sensationalism.
Not only are they more shinny, but they also include Trendy Animated Character Du Jour, which kids have been getting trained to love for years before the video game tie-in is even made.
I suppose that could have some truth. otoh, the enjoyment in playing games while growing up with hasn't been surpassed by the new shinier things, even though I also was dragged in the 90s with the "upgrade to the next graphics card for more shinyness", always coming closer to "more reality", "better FPS", I've been there...
I've played through the NFS titles, enjoyed how they evolved, got better, more realistic, but I never spent as much time on any title as NFS2. Same with GTA. Halflife is something else though, the submerging in HF2 was amazing for the few weekends I've spent on it.
It's hard to tell, for me, wherever it's "nostalgia", the own reference and gameindustry playing on it. (remember the gameboy & tetris hype? Donkey Kong handhelds? Arcades even?) Today, my time is more limited, the context and stories of the games have changed which change the gameplay, and somehow I stopped caring for "better graphics", I was excited about DOOM3, before it came out, but soon the next-gen DirectX games came out and the novelty was lost. Maybe it's context, personal frame of refence (up from a fex pixel on a screen to DukeNukem was a very exciting improvement in 'graphics', today, the bottom standard is pretty high compared to the age where buying a 32mb RAM module would give you a smoother and more "detailed" experience), I don't know. I've stopped gaming because I work more then I have free time, so I make good use of my free time living in the real world as most of my professional life is behind a screen writing virtual things.
of the possibilities the porn industry could come up with.
So, you're going to project a naked body on a naked body?
Or are you going to render certain acts on certain patches of skin to simulate the experience? But it would be only possible by brutally handled and have a sheet of this material inserted on that patch of skin. As I suspect, that part of the sheet should be flexible as well if you would want to try to simulate a certain experience..
What lenghts teen nerds go to simulate a certain experience. Invest that effort in spacetravel of some sort and stop watching pornography and thinking of ways to come closer to the "real experience virtually".:)
Although, nerd hornyness has brought alot of innovation. We should breed farms of horny nerds, and put "challenges" in front of their porn-consumption, like a certain cypher for access or a certain patternrecognition to be hacked. Worldhunger would be solved overnight and we would have instant singularity.
It's not imaginary. It's virtual. Consider the following history:
During the crusades, people would travel alot, carrying their precious belongings (sometimes all of them) and being robbed while travelling. Imagine being a merchant in those times or one of the famersboys recruited in church to go "fight for god".
So, the bright Templar Knights, who travelled alot in their crusades, had the property, means and skill to store and protect their assets, they said: "Hey, you can store your money here, we will give you paper with the amount of your deposit with our stamp which allows you to retrieve the same amount of money at another of our locations in the Middle east, so you wont get robbed. we do take a percentage for the service".
It's the same principle. It represents a value, and you can exchange it as if it had the same value: at the end of the day you can exchange it as it's commonly accepted as representation of that value. It's a "trade", if I go out and work, what value is my effort estimated? It's relative to factors like availability of people with my skillsets, need, urgency,... and I receive a certain value for it represented with "money" which I can exchange for something else with value.
Slashdot Mirror
Exception thrown by target of invocation: Reference not found.
I absolutely love this observation.
Your point is very valid, and the "greedy millionaires taking money from the poor consumer" is a flawed view.
After reading your post I thought over what the "RIAA" means, as a corporate entity to me and what I know about it, and it's shamefully little.
My own knowledge about the RIAA is limited to what I read on slashdot and on newssites, where it profiles itself as an agressive entity.
Which makes me think it's how the RIAA is out of tune with the needs of todays consumers, putting "measures into place", creating discomfort for users who otherwise would've been perfectly happy. Resulting in a greater need or desire for something more align with current media-consumption, which is direct, efficient, snack-sized. But on the other end, a coorporation with a businessmodel that doesn't apply anymore. Which comes back to the "relative perceived value"; if it's hasslefree, you'll pay more to not go through the hassle you experience otherwise.
So what's wrong by buying a boat, forking out money enough to have people work months and feed their families?
I find this mentality a bit shortsighted: if I would have a pile of money in excess (yes, excess) and would "invest it" (say buy an appartmentblock, cash rent and take from people in that way for my "wellbeing") people don't say a thing.
But when someone aqcuires something, which creates work (luxury items need to be made, people make them, and they're expensive because they're not massproduced, right?) you stimulate an economy and economical activity (people can go to work, do something with their time and get paid) yet that is "wrong" because you can't take a boattrip?
As much I would enjoy excessive luxury as well, spending money stimulates an economy. If you have alot of money, the best thing to "make things happen", and give value is to spend it.
I'm working with banks and wealthmanagement software, I don't have such an abdunce of money as I see passing through our software, yet it creates cashflow and because of that cashflow +100 people here are able to work and drive nice company cars. They are happy. Clients are happy. And those who the people who are happy and comfortable (not excessively) pay to get value from are happy as they can make a business. (80% of the people here order their lunch in a small business who deliver to our office. This means they can bill each day for about 320 to run their business.)
While the economic attitude has proven flawed (growth instead of sustainability and stability). Our economy and wellbeing of those in and around it (you and I buddy) depends on the spending.
I do agree on the point the RIAA is a bunch of greedy bastards. And the value demanded for that music or whatever is not align with the perceived and experienced value delivered. But that is another issue.
Instead of looking down on someone with such a badass boat, ask him you can take a ride, chances are it's a very lonely person misguided trying to acquire wealth sacrificing alot you wouldn't sacrifice. Chances are you get your free ride. I've seen that alot.
They'll drive around with a buggy in a Area 51 hangar for a while for 25mio?
;)
I could do that for 12mio... within a year
Why are you taking one thing (human intelligence) and elaborate on another (feeling of pain) to make your point? You're defining a "intelligent living being" as being "a lifeform which can feel pain" or "a lifeform with the intelligence to conceptualize the pain being felt" other then the squealing it produces.
Respect for a "lifeform" shouldn't be based to the extend it can feel pain, imho.
Just simulate firing events which trigger neuronreceptors for pain. Your program wil feel pain. It's the very definition of pain: your body signals there is a painimpulse somewhere and your brain processes it, translating in what you "experience as pain". It doesn't make the program any more intelligent or wont be less or more respectful to a "lifeform".
You seem consider to be inflicted pain upon you as "unrespectful" which should be immoral as you're an intelligent being. But you will scream, as your brain triggers events to release stress hormons and experience pain in its totality while you scream or fight to avoid it with equal means available to you as an animal a plant, an Iraqi, a rock (a rock cannot move thus cannot defend itself. It also has no neurons.) or a softwareprogram reacting on the simulated neurons being fired.
If you say "you cannot emulate human intelligence", you might have a point. If you say "you cannot gap the bridge because a computer cannot feel physical pain" you're on thin ice. If you state "We can inflict pain to a computer, or make it perceive pain, and this is moral because we consider it less of an intelligent lifeform as ourselves", you might be on to something that's present in our society. (disregarding tortured nerds and geeks in social situations)
How do you define one's psyche and how is "mental health" or "mental illness" defined, and on what set of values?
Say I'm a chronic masturbator (to be in tune with the slashdot mentality) and it's considered "defective behavior" even though my body rewards me to do continue that habit.
So, he would build a synthetic copy of my brain, emulate my current state and that's it.
Now, my brain is in constant evolution, I have eroding neurons, I learn new things making new neuron-paths, which his machine wouldn't be able to the way I imagine it.
Would he allow the brain to rewrite and rewire itself? And if so, how? Are these processes well understood enough?
If they would be understood, and able to emulate, will they write "virtual medication" to influence the virtual brain to test side-effects or the propagation of a certain chemical interacting with the brain?
If the last is possible, will we end up with sentien beings who are stuck in the same state for an eternity? Wouldn't that be sortof agonizing?
Sounds like that hit close to home...
I always turn off my lights when I vaccuum. It helps...
Especially after the news of June 28 2009: NASA finds missing moon-landing-tapes. and all conspiracy theorist cringled... "oh no, what will I do now?"
A month ago, NASA announces "We've found them!", now they say "oh, they were erased (and it took us a month). But we restored a the thing you've already seen for you!"
Conspiracy theorist have something to do with their time once again.
I for one am waiting for the next headline: "the real moontapes leaked, torrent here", with yeti's UFO's and chuck norris, in spectacular 3D, with Bob from accounting.
I knew it was something I was doing wrong....
One would assume initially he's being unsettled by the new layout as he elaborates further on it, appearantly referencing to the first sentence.
But after closer analysis (reading it twice), the elaboration is a contradiction if he's speaking in a figurative speech. ("that boiled my blood; I thought it was damn cool looking.") unless, back in 1999, the boiling of blood would be a favourative state of being that is "cool".
To me, it seems the boiling of his blood is thus to be taken literally and the article could be about a DIY-project which could result in blood being boiled due to possible high pressure, dating back to prerecorded history.
I think it's safe to assume that the first poster on slashdot forgot to build his own pressure-suit making his blood boil and so agreeing with a poster who made the notion to take this into account. A pressure-suit of his time would be important to be though of attempting a simular endeavour which is communicated in the collaborative context, while expressing out his appreciation for the new environment which started the historical record for slashdot.
I propose the honouring of "Anonymous Coward" and to make a historical figure out of him. (record shows, in 1999, female presence was neglectable and the often found '18/F' notion was not, as priorly assumed, an indication of age and sex. So the assumpsion "Anonymous Coward" was a male has a 99% probability.)
I must agree with the article though, which I haven't read.
as a 15yo I've spent most of my days playing carmageddon. Now when I, as a communiting adult, see pedestrians on my way to work I tend to drive them over while I scream "woaaaaaa!" and pronounce a splat-bonus. The face of bysitters is priceless if I scream "extra points for the old lady!" when they stare in shock to the bloodcovered windshield.
use telnet for browsing the internet.
"Sharpen pencil with remaining eye"?
I believe the "eating" in fairy tales isn't to be taken literally. The story of little red riding hood, for example, was told to warn girls for being raped: the verb "to eat", or in french "manger" could be interpreted both by eating or slang for fornication.
You know, I've heard this before...
Some software company grows, they throw developers at it, need to deliver, throw more at it, they end up with a monster of code nobody wants to work on anymore after a few years, but they have contractual agreements and what not... "oh noes, what do we do...".
There have been a few "little mishaps", like burning out of a serverroom and such. "oh, the software? it's gone... we can't help it. Bob the cleaning hamster smoked in the room, but he's fired now. We can rewrite it again though..."
Why would a hacker take out a community, is beyond me.
I don't know, but putting those two pictures together, you've painted an image in my head where they're planting that flag somewhere else I priorly, innocently, assumed, outside of the picture.
Also, you're missing the aspect of sentimental "beauty", or emotion a picture evoces, this picture calls up alot to the viewer, and more the US population as it plays on patriotism, which lives strong in the US.(not saying anything about that or judging, it's a common observation.). A computer cannot really trap those nuances to tag it as aestheticallypleasing to you, in what way it will emotionally spark you, or even which thoughts and inspiration a picture provokes.
Or walk out of your society and join the freeman movement.
Check out some of Robert Menards' media on youtube.com
I see you took into account the weekends (is this the weekly working period at Google?) but forgot to take human nature, illness, recuperation, holidays , drive, motivation and the state of the work-market into account.
Having experience with work-estimation, you'd need to sell 30 years, tell the reader to complete it in 20 and end up explaining 10 additional years to the client due to certain (imagined or not) circumstances which are refered to "personal magic trick box".
Absolutely not. But that's what the parent is indicating: it's overhyped and there's a spread of "fear" and needless "danger" associated with it in the media.
In recent events, the stockmarket has crashed, economies are trying to recover, alot of people in unemployment and instead of taking action, they're manipulated into panic and fear about some insignificant virus and envisioning a swine-apocalypse. To me it seems a bit as populuscontrol or some weak sensationalism.
Do you remember SARS?
I suppose that could have some truth. otoh, the enjoyment in playing games while growing up with hasn't been surpassed by the new shinier things, even though I also was dragged in the 90s with the "upgrade to the next graphics card for more shinyness", always coming closer to "more reality", "better FPS", I've been there...
I've played through the NFS titles, enjoyed how they evolved, got better, more realistic, but I never spent as much time on any title as NFS2. Same with GTA. Halflife is something else though, the submerging in HF2 was amazing for the few weekends I've spent on it.
It's hard to tell, for me, wherever it's "nostalgia", the own reference and gameindustry playing on it. (remember the gameboy & tetris hype? Donkey Kong handhelds? Arcades even?) Today, my time is more limited, the context and stories of the games have changed which change the gameplay, and somehow I stopped caring for "better graphics", I was excited about DOOM3, before it came out, but soon the next-gen DirectX games came out and the novelty was lost. Maybe it's context, personal frame of refence (up from a fex pixel on a screen to DukeNukem was a very exciting improvement in 'graphics', today, the bottom standard is pretty high compared to the age where buying a 32mb RAM module would give you a smoother and more "detailed" experience), I don't know. I've stopped gaming because I work more then I have free time, so I make good use of my free time living in the real world as most of my professional life is behind a screen writing virtual things.
You have been listening to the wrong propaganda ;)
Ok, Jane. I'm all relaxed, so very relaxed... what now?
So, you're going to project a naked body on a naked body?
Or are you going to render certain acts on certain patches of skin to simulate the experience? But it would be only possible by brutally handled and have a sheet of this material inserted on that patch of skin. As I suspect, that part of the sheet should be flexible as well if you would want to try to simulate a certain experience..
What lenghts teen nerds go to simulate a certain experience. Invest that effort in spacetravel of some sort and stop watching pornography and thinking of ways to come closer to the "real experience virtually". :)
Although, nerd hornyness has brought alot of innovation. We should breed farms of horny nerds, and put "challenges" in front of their porn-consumption, like a certain cypher for access or a certain patternrecognition to be hacked. Worldhunger would be solved overnight and we would have instant singularity.
It's not imaginary. It's virtual. Consider the following history:
During the crusades, people would travel alot, carrying their precious belongings (sometimes all of them) and being robbed while travelling. Imagine being a merchant in those times or one of the famersboys recruited in church to go "fight for god".
So, the bright Templar Knights, who travelled alot in their crusades, had the property, means and skill to store and protect their assets, they said: "Hey, you can store your money here, we will give you paper with the amount of your deposit with our stamp which allows you to retrieve the same amount of money at another of our locations in the Middle east, so you wont get robbed. we do take a percentage for the service".
It's the same principle. It represents a value, and you can exchange it as if it had the same value: at the end of the day you can exchange it as it's commonly accepted as representation of that value. It's a "trade", if I go out and work, what value is my effort estimated? It's relative to factors like availability of people with my skillsets, need, urgency,... and I receive a certain value for it represented with "money" which I can exchange for something else with value.