You are assuming a neural net will emerge with all the properties of a human brain. I don't think this has yet been shown to be true. Some aspects may be modeled by a neural network but not all those that we use to solve problems.
AI is just not that simple. For example, by observing, say, 4th order Diophantine equations, we can solve them. No algorithm, however, can do the same. All current computer systems use algorithms, we seem not to be using any known algorithm to solve these equations.
Penrose, amongst others, believes there is a quantum component in our brains that allows us this trick. No quantum computer yet built exhibits these properties. IMHO, we are no where near AI as yet.
Even self-proclaimed 'expert' users sometimes amaze me with their search results. One SysAdmin I know had an idea for a product that he was going to build with a friend of his. He drew me pictures, gave an outline of expected profits. He said that he'd done quite a bit of searching on the Net and couldn't find any competition. I thought that was odd and sat at his terminal and within a few minutes, found nine companies selling almost exactly the product he'd described on both sides of the Atlantic, from basic to luxury with a wide range of prices. He promptly gave up the idea. (Perhaps I should have charged consultancy?)
From TFA: "...but it [MS] is continuing with a separate, main appeal against the Commission's decision that it abused the near monopoly of its Windows operating system..."
So if it wins here, will sanctions eventually be dropped? It's just manoeuvring by MS surely.
A The majority of fertilized eggs are aborted naturally.
B Eggs are donated and fertilized outside the womb. Again most may not survive even when implanted. Numbers of extra fertilized cells are used for research.
C This shows how it works
...gonna run all this on solar and wind power... or something like it.
You're gonna have to sometime, the oil will not last forever. And without oil, no electricity, little economy and yep, grass huts and beans. Spend your children's inheritance, so long as you had fun in your Hummer, right?
And, no doubt, JSON etc. will work exactly the same across browsers/platforms and any combination of client/server platform. There will be no surprises. Yeah right.
And all those crappy Javascript 'programs' are going to be magically transformed into high-quality type-safe rock-solid modules by the same people who wrote the crap JS in the first place?
I understand law/directive can be made by the Commission/Council by approving amendments 'on the nod'. In any case, the current process implies we, the voting public, have little say as to what new law might be introduced. Furthermore, we are well removed from the power process because a Commissioner/member of the Council mainly takes note of his/her political masters and tends to ignore the great unwashed mass of the public (as they see us...).
In this case,of course, we are talking about a directive concerning a European institution, the EPO which, I believe, does not require all governments to ratify any directive. It'll happen of the Council says it will happen.
There was talk in autumn 2000 about a 'consultative process' and the results were published in March 2001 (obviously an in-depth process) which effectively said: "Some think software patents are good, others think they are bad." (You get what you pay for, eh, what?).
In my humble and unprejudiced opinion, Patricia Hewitt is a brain-dead industry yes-woman ("...outsourcing is good. We have appointed the CEO of an Indian outsourcing company to determine the effects and will be reporting soon...").
Here in the UK, I have a deal with Bulldog (4Mb line, non-VoIP phone included) as a monthly fee. All calls to landline phones in the UK are unlimited and 'free'. On top of that, however, I have signed up with voipuser and outgoing VoIP (including calls routed to POTS) is 'free' including international calls to quite a lot of areas (Hong Kong, USA, Australia etc.). It's 'free' because incoming calls are made to premium rate numbers which subsidise the outgoing costs. I'm not sure how much longer this service might last...
And perhaps those lazy Web developers who use simplistic crappy Javascript to determine your browser name/version will be forced to use something more professional that determines your browser's current capabilities (you have: Flash plug-in, Javascript, no Java, ask about cookies, no ActiveX etc.etc.etc.). The site will then work depending on your settings, never mind the name/version.
...Chemical process patents, for example, are structurally and functionally indistinguishable...
Poor argument. They map only one way and are not used generally. How many chemical processes are used to calculate my tax or send an order after 'one-click'?
That wasn't the case in the 19th century when the US was the worst IP thief in the world. Now the US has joined the IP oligarchs, now they want to protect their patch. This attitude does not generate wealth, it does not spread wealth and it keeps poor countries poor.
A US judge put it best (Atlantic Works v. Brady, opinion of Justice Bradley, US Supreme Court (1882) [see FFII UK]):
"It was never the object of [patent] laws to grant a monopoly for every trifling device, every shadow of a shade of an idea, which would naturally and spontaneously occur to any skilled mechanic or operator in the ordinary progress of manufactures. It creates a class of speculative schemers who make it their business to watch the advancing wave of improvement, and gather its foam in the form of patented monopolies, which enable them to lay a heavy tax upon the industry of the country, without contributing anything to the real advancement of the arts. It embarrasses the honest pursuit of business with fears and apprehensions of concealed liens and unknown liabilities lawsuits and vexatious accountings for profits made in good faith."
This was a prescient statement made over 120 years ago. If only EU politicians were as far seeing.
It's done that way specifically so that post processing gets the colour balance right. Other info is used to balance the colour. Hence the raw images are greyscale.
Slashdot Mirror
You are assuming a neural net will emerge with all the properties of a human brain. I don't think this has yet been shown to be true. Some aspects may be modeled by a neural network but not all those that we use to solve problems.
AI is just not that simple. For example, by observing, say, 4th order Diophantine equations, we can solve them. No algorithm, however, can do the same. All current computer systems use algorithms, we seem not to be using any known algorithm to solve these equations.
Penrose, amongst others, believes there is a quantum component in our brains that allows us this trick. No quantum computer yet built exhibits these properties. IMHO, we are no where near AI as yet.
Even self-proclaimed 'expert' users sometimes amaze me with their search results. One SysAdmin I know had an idea for a product that he was going to build with a friend of his. He drew me pictures, gave an outline of expected profits. He said that he'd done quite a bit of searching on the Net and couldn't find any competition. I thought that was odd and sat at his terminal and within a few minutes, found nine companies selling almost exactly the product he'd described on both sides of the Atlantic, from basic to luxury with a wide range of prices. He promptly gave up the idea. (Perhaps I should have charged consultancy?)
From TFA: "...but it [MS] is continuing with a separate, main appeal against the Commission's decision that it abused the near monopoly of its Windows operating system..."
So if it wins here, will sanctions eventually be dropped? It's just manoeuvring by MS surely.
A The majority of fertilized eggs are aborted naturally.
B Eggs are donated and fertilized outside the womb. Again most may not survive even when implanted. Numbers of extra fertilized cells are used for research.
C This shows how it works
NASA-GISS Warming
...gonna run all this on solar and wind power... or something like it.
You're gonna have to sometime, the oil will not last forever. And without oil, no electricity, little economy and yep, grass huts and beans. Spend your children's inheritance, so long as you had fun in your Hummer, right?
Should be called: CorporateCrapDaily
And, no doubt, JSON etc. will work exactly the same across browsers/platforms and any combination of client/server platform. There will be no surprises. Yeah right.
And all those crappy Javascript 'programs' are going to be magically transformed into high-quality type-safe rock-solid modules by the same people who wrote the crap JS in the first place?
I won't hold my breath on this one...
I understand law/directive can be made by the Commission/Council by approving amendments 'on the nod'. In any case, the current process implies we, the voting public, have little say as to what new law might be introduced. Furthermore, we are well removed from the power process because a Commissioner/member of the Council mainly takes note of his/her political masters and tends to ignore the great unwashed mass of the public (as they see us...).
In this case,of course, we are talking about a directive concerning a European institution, the EPO which, I believe, does not require all governments to ratify any directive. It'll happen of the Council says it will happen.
There was talk in autumn 2000 about a 'consultative process' and the results were published in March 2001 (obviously an in-depth process) which effectively said: "Some think software patents are good, others think they are bad." (You get what you pay for, eh, what?).
In my humble and unprejudiced opinion, Patricia Hewitt is a brain-dead industry yes-woman ("...outsourcing is good. We have appointed the CEO of an Indian outsourcing company to determine the effects and will be reporting soon...").
Not for making law it isn't (or it shouldn't be)...
eWeek
What's your problem? I whipped up that site in a couple of hours, it works with all browsers. Cowards are always losers (and brain dead).
You can receive calls if you use standard SIP based services (Skype is proprietary). See voipuser.com etc.
For a start, you're paying your broadband costs.
Here in the UK, I have a deal with Bulldog (4Mb line, non-VoIP phone included) as a monthly fee. All calls to landline phones in the UK are unlimited and 'free'. On top of that, however, I have signed up with voipuser and outgoing VoIP (including calls routed to POTS) is 'free' including international calls to quite a lot of areas (Hong Kong, USA, Australia etc.). It's 'free' because incoming calls are made to premium rate numbers which subsidise the outgoing costs. I'm not sure how much longer this service might last...
I can't see what Google has to offer over this.
Why Skype? If Google has any sense they'll be using standard SIP, not proprietary systems...
Agreed!
And perhaps those lazy Web developers who use simplistic crappy Javascript to determine your browser name/version will be forced to use something more professional that determines your browser's current capabilities (you have: Flash plug-in, Javascript, no Java, ask about cookies, no ActiveX etc.etc.etc.). The site will then work depending on your settings, never mind the name/version.
Does he correct for all those errors in real-time too?
...Chemical process patents, for example, are structurally and functionally indistinguishable...
Poor argument. They map only one way and are not used generally. How many chemical processes are used to calculate my tax or send an order after 'one-click'?
Well, it is because it follows the strict definition of having a stopping point. But is is utterly trivial and should not have gained a patent.
That wasn't the case in the 19th century when the US was the worst IP thief in the world. Now the US has joined the IP oligarchs, now they want to protect their patch. This attitude does not generate wealth, it does not spread wealth and it keeps poor countries poor.
A US judge put it best (Atlantic Works v. Brady, opinion of Justice Bradley, US Supreme Court (1882) [see FFII UK]):
"It was never the object of [patent] laws to grant a monopoly for every trifling device, every shadow of a shade of an idea, which would naturally and spontaneously occur to any skilled mechanic or operator in the ordinary progress of manufactures. It creates a class of speculative schemers who make it their business to watch the advancing wave of improvement, and gather its foam in the form of patented monopolies, which enable them to lay a heavy tax upon the industry of the country, without contributing anything to the real advancement of the arts. It embarrasses the honest pursuit of business with fears and apprehensions of concealed liens and unknown liabilities lawsuits and vexatious accountings for profits made in good faith."
This was a prescient statement made over 120 years ago. If only EU politicians were as far seeing.
It's done that way specifically so that post processing gets the colour balance right. Other info is used to balance the colour. Hence the raw images are greyscale.
Patricia Hewitt is a techno-brainless minister (not MEP). I believe that the majority of Labour MEPs are against software patents.