I always figured this would be how we kill ourselves off. Over use of antibacterial soaps and cleaners in homes. At some point in the next few decades we will have an outbreak of a supper bug that can not be defeated with any antibiotics that are available. As more and more people die off civilization collapses.
Of course the good news is that we can then ride around in big honking SUVs made of all kinds of different parts searching for gas and shooting arrows at each other. I wonder where we will get the hair dye for the mohawks that will be in fashion at that time or the leather for the jackets and straps?
So lets see, the ones that stand to rake in the cash would be those that provide CO2 scrubbers for power plants, materials to build flood walls, sell carbon allotments to other industries, alternate fuel source providers, politicians pushing environmental programs.
They all lie. Nobody tells the whole truth, only the parts that benefit themselves.
In the bigger scheme of things the climate is going to change one way or the other regardless of anything anyone does and regardless of any laws that are passed. We need to adapt. We need to create self sustaining colonies that are off this planet. If we stay here we will eventually reach a point were we won't have the resources to establish those self sustaining colonies. Once we reach that point we won't be able to ship resources back to this planet to feed, house, and maintain the population at this level or the levels that we will reach in the future. At that point our civilization will collapse on itself as we fight each other for the few remaining resources that are left. We may have already reached peak oil. We are getting close to reaching peak agriculture(food). Some of the solutions for dealing with peak oil will impact our food supplies in a negative way assuming we turn over acreage to producing fuel instead of food. That will hasten the collapse. At this point gasoline is hitting $4.00 a gallon today, by end of the year it will most likely be close to $5.00 if not over. Unemployment is rising as is the foreclosure rate. More and more people are finding it harder to earn enough to feed, clothe, and provide housing for their families. They are having to choose which of those they can afford since they can no longer cover all three.
Unfortunately we have arrived at a point in our history where we have reduced our government to a bunch of spineless sound bite spewing horde that answers only to the special interests since that is how they managed to get elected. They don't have any solutions or visions beyond the next election. No matter who we vote for it no longer matters. There are no Ciceros available anymore to call upon let alone any that would actually step up and do what needs to be done.
We are seeing the end of the golden age of Man. To bad it only lasted about 60 or 70 years.
Apparently according to another recent/. story we may be improving the climate since measurements indicate an increasing not decreasing biospere on Earth.
So maybe global warming is not the doomsday everyone things it is.
I also find it odd that Mars and Jupiter are showing signs of global warming. I guess the SUV has a farther reach than anyone thought. Or maybe it is the ISS causing global warming on those planets. They did recently have a problem with their toilet which obviously would have an affect if they were just dumping waste aimed at those planets.
Ignoring the tensile strength discussion raging on for the moment. The real problem with using paper as a construction material is what happens when it gets wet. Paper would quickly soak up the water and then the building would collapse in a wet pile of pulp. Similar to OSB when it gets wet and starts swelling but in a more spectacular manner as all that paper just falls to the ground.
And as others have pointed out such a material would be prone to insect damage unlike concrete and steel.
Of course maybe the idea is to combine this with another article about building lighter cars to improve performance instead of changing out the powertrain. But then your car would tend to swell and fall apart in a rain to say nothing of the crash worthiness of such a vehicle. But then most cars don't survive a 10 mile an hour hit anymore either.
Seriously, if people would stop being dicks then most of these issues would go away. But no, we have to pass specific laws to protect a few people.
All this is going to do is cause more people to be thrown into jail and have additional law suits filed. The lawyers are the only ones that will benefit.
The biggest problem that will be encountered at the election is the complete lack of qualified candidates to choose from. Given that we are stuck with a two party system and have over 200 years of evolution creating politicians that are excellent at sound bites and collecting money from lobbies none of the candidates have the peoples interests at heart. They are owned by conglomerates and lobbies that paid good money to pass whatever legislation they want.
No matter which candidate gets into office very little useful legislation will get passed. It will be more of the same pork barrel projects giving money to the "friends" of the candidates that won.
The really funny part is if by some stroke of luck or trickery the Democrats get the White House they still won't pass any useful bills even though they would control all parts of the government except for the judiciary. In some ways it will be better if the Republicans keep the White House since that would provide a check on Congress and the White House as they fight it out for another four years.
Correct. The funny part is that no matter who controls congress they still don't seem to be able to pass the laws and bills that would make a difference. No matter who is in control the same kinds of things get passed. Namely bills that pay money to friends of those in power and bills that take money from the population to give to those friends. In many cases the flow of money does not change direction regardless of who is in power. The same people behind the curtains pull all the strings.
Get ready for rampant inflation and famines. They are just around the corner.
The issues listed are so far down the list they should not be a factor. The Federal Governments job is to provide security for the country, not dabble in things that should be left to the states to decide. To much power has been given to the Federal Government. Why should the Feds have anything to do with anyone having access to broadband?
I think we are getting very close to the time when the government as it has become will need to be reset. Right now we have a two party system where we get pretty much the same no matter who is in power. They treat the population as a huge wallet that they extract money from. Then that money is paid to the lobbies and others that paid to get the officials elected. Sure there is some it spent to placate the masses, but bread and circuses only last so long.
The problem is we have no one to blame but ourselves. We created a system that has systematically evolved politicians into the sub-species that they have become. They are able to spew sound bites without ever doing anything concrete and are able to promise everyone exactly what they want to hear. At this point we are unable to elect someone that has the actual skills that are needed to lead this country the way it should be led. Once in power they will tax and spend just like they always have no matter who is in power.
Personally I think our only hope at the moment is to keep any single party from getting both congress and the White House at the same time. At least when they are held by different parties it prevents massive sweeping changes from being enacted. If a single party does control everything then it will be a sign that things are going to get really bad. There will be no stopping them from doing whatever they hell they want.
Regardless get ready for $10.00 a gallon gasoline and rampant inflation over the next four years. And I suspect we will start to see massive famines across the world and possibly in this country. And the endless debate that the other party caused all this.
I think you mis-understood. The cost of power from solar will not get cheaper. It will just become cost effective compared to using oil because oil will become so much more expensive. All indications are that we have been headed toward massive inflation of the dollar. That will create havoc across all business sectors with resultant company failures and massive unemployment. Which sadly will cause a spiral effect accelerating inflation. Solar will cost as much or more than it does now but will be less expensive than continuing to use oil.
The same thing will happen with gasoline automobiles. As the cost of fuel goes up it will become cost effective to spend 35,000 to 50,000 on an electric or hybrid vehicle than to spend $200 dollars to fill up a car that gets 20 miles per gallon. Of course the hard part of this is the transition period where those that can not afford to purchase a new vehicle that uses the new technology are left out and they lose their jobs because they can not get to work or lose their homes because it is either buy gas and work or lose the job.
Once this ripples through and things hit a new stability point where the average worker is making enough money (after inflation) to cover basics and has managed to buy into the new technology which is no longer dependent on oil which will cost more than anyone can afford things will settle down for awhile. Until then we are going to live in interesting times where inflation will rule and unemployment will skyrocket and companies will fold on a weekly basis. Much of this is already underway.
At some point over agriculture will peak just like when we hit peak oil. There is only so much arable land and only so much food can be grown on that land. Even now if there is a bad season in one area the impact is felt around the world. Apparently we are not able to raise enough crops currently to feed everyone, given all the starvation that occurs. This is not sustainable in the long run given the rate at which the population is growing.
The water problem may be more pressing. As more land it pressed into service growing food you need more water to support that. As more housing is built for the growing population we need more water for them. The aquifers are being taxed beyond their limits and many places have been in drought conditions for some time with sporadic rainfall. Water restrictions are becoming the norm with enforcement levels increasing to catch those that are not abiding by the rules. Desalinization can work but it is only now reaching the point where all the alternatives have been exhausted and the cost is becoming acceptable because there is no other choice.
We need some leadership that nails down a plan to make us energy independent. That will require building multiple nuclear plants in the near term and investing massively in research for fuel cells, hydrogen power systems, solar, wind, and other technologies that provide alternative power sources. We also need to create less expensive ways to reach orbit and go back to the Moon and on to the asteroids and Mars to secure resources that can be refined and brought back to Earth. Such projects will spark the economy creating thousands of jobs. But I doubt that any of the people that we are allowed to vote for will have that kind of vision or will to initiate such programs. They will bicker over better health care and welfare programs while passing out pork barrel projects to their friends that paid big money to get them elected. The rest of us will continue to lose ground due to inflation and many will end up homeless and out of work struggling to get anything to eat.
As such I doubt we will reach the singularity before we do ourselves in.
But everyone keeps saying "when solar becomes efficient enough...". We never seem to get there. What everyone seems to miss is that we are getting closer to more efficient solar power. But not the way most people think. It is going to become more efficient because oil it going to go to $250 or $300 per barrel. At that point a lot of other options become more cost effective than burning oil.
But Oil is not the only resource that we are going to run out of that is needed to sustain the current level we have achieved. Agriculture is approaching a peak level as well. I have not heard anyone talking about this one but it is going to happen. And probably in the next few years. At which point the squabble we have had over oil will pale in comparison to the squabble we will have over food. There is also potable water that is becoming an issue. I know that currently in my state they are squabbling over using water from some of the main rivers in the area. Just yesterday one guy in the paper stated that conservation of water is the best bang for the buck but that we are going to have to start looking at desalinization as a way to get the water that will be needed to sustain the growth we have been seeing. What that is telling me is that we are reaching the point where the expense of desalinization of sea water to potable water has become almost cost effective. Not because the process has become cheaper, but because the cost of doing so is cheaper than the alternative, in this case stopping growth.
I think you have hit on something. We are getting close to a resource issue that will impact the continued increase in technology and knowledge. We are now operating on a global scale. Where previously we operated on a more local scale involving hundreds of square miles at most we now are drawing on resources all over the planet. This singularity will eventually stagnate and implode if we are not able to obtain additional resources. And at this point the only new resources that we can tap are going to be off planet.
So if this singularity is to occur we are going to have to achieve routine space flight with commercial interests that will bring back massive resources to this planet.
If that does not happen then we are going to hit the plateau you mention and most likely start a decline as we struggle with the reduction in resources that will be available to sustain the current level that we have achieved.
This will happen due to a multitude of factors including environmental activism (preventing us from tapping remaining resources), governmental buffoonery (wasting of resources on bread and circuses to keep those elected in office), complacency by the masses, and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) types.
Actually if we ever develop nanobots capable of replication (which is the easiest way to create more nanobots, have them build themselves) we will most likely end up with a new disaster scenario once these replicating nanobots escape into the wild they will grow exponentially consuming all materials in the world. This is the gray slime disaster where the earth is covered in a mass of nanobots.
I read a scifi book recently that used nanobots in warfare. Disassemblers released in clouds over the battle field would attack people, vehicles, buildings and break them down. Interesting concept of nano warfare.
What the hell is SciFi channel thinking? First they replace most of the decent shows they had with fake ghost hunter shows. Now they want the outcome of a game to dictate the major plot points in a TV show?
Someone has not thought this through. People will force the game to go in directions that will make any kind of TV show look silly. It is pretty easy to get all of your team killed off either by letting the enemy through the lines or by fragging them your self.
Time to pick up some books and turn the TV and computer off for awhile.
Anyone know of some good Science Fiction books that have been release lately?
I can't wait for the first manned landing with the first weather report from Mars. "Well it looks kind of windy, hold on, let me take my glove and helmet off so I can lick my finger and hold it up to get a measurement of what direction the wind is blowing...." "POOF!" "ARRRGGGGGG!"
"Mars base, this is Houston, over"
"Mars base, this is Houston, over"
"Damn, I think we lost another weatherman..."
Constructive dismissal is when they effectively fire you without actually terminating employment, or in some places forcing you to quit. All a claim of constructive dismissal would do is allow him to sue for wrongful termination. Given he's already given notice, how exactly would that help.
My last employer did that for everyone. Last year they stopped making payroll. No more paychecks. They expected everyone to continue working twice as hard, but for no pay. This went on for two pay cycles. When the third one came around they actually managed to pay a few people. Most of use cashed that check and resigned. (Make sure you cash the check at the companies bank then deposit the cash to your own account.)
It was a sad situation. We had a really innovative network security product that had major potential. But the company that was financing the work did not really have the funds they said they did. So they tried to scam everyone. Their hope was that there would be huge amounts of revenue rolling in during the first year that they could shuffle around making it look like they had put in the money.
Anyone that has been in the business long enough knows that any startup that generates any revenue in the first year is doing really well. It normally takes two to three years to turn an actual profit. These guys apparently did not know that even though they claimed to be seasoned investors.
Sounds like they were really competent at doing mass layoffs. It's a shame that they weren't as competent at whatever their business was supposed to be doing so that mass layoffs weren't such a well-practiced event.
I think some companies went into business doing layoffs. It was the only way their stock ever went up. It was always surprising that they did not go completely out of business since eventually they would run out of employees to fire. But then I realized they are actually hiring in one door and firing out the other. So they have new bodies to lay off all the time.
Another reason for cutting off access and escorting people out is to protect the employee. If such a person still had access and something happened such as a server crashing or data suddenly was deleted that employee would come under sever suspicion of causing the problem. Without access that person has plausible deniablity.
So don't think of it so much as a punishment but as protecting your self.
I guess to some employers, once you say you're leaving, you're persona non grata. If they don't want to use your time any more, it's their dime.
Cheers
I was laid off from one large company once and they provided two months of paid time off. Once they notified me they cut off access. Their take was that my new job was to find another job. The kicker was that if you found another job during that time period then you did not get the payoff package at the end of the two months. Kind of funny, I found a new job just after the check cleared. They setup the rules, we just play by them.
I also had a situation a long time ago where a contractor that worked for me decided he was going to relocate for a new job. He gave two weeks notice. I checked his projects he had which were done and told him that he was no longer needed. I did not have any make work that justified me paying him for another two weeks. Such is the life of a contractor.
And don't forget the main rule here, no one is irreplaceable. No one! Not even you. (Yes, I even mean you there in the back with four digit/. id and the smug look on your face!) If you drop off the face of the Earth tomorrow the world is not going to end. Sure, there may be a few glitches here and there but someone will step in and keep things going. People that feel like they are irreplaceable are going to have a major ego correction at some point in their life. Some sooner than later.
This is about the same as the termite protection guarantees that Sears, Terminx and other termite companies provide. If you happen to get termites, see a swarm in a room or have base board break, they come in and fill the holes with spackle and paint over it. They don't open up the wall to see that the support beams have been half eaten or the other damage that may have been caused. That is why they can provide a million dollar guarantee, they never spend more than a few dollars on spackle and paint to repair anything.
I remember when this first happened, the guy had his identity stolen in short order. But they still are in business because it is a numbers game. There are so many suckers out there that are willing to pay for stuff that does not work that they can keep going even when large portions of the population know the service is not worth the cost.
Everyone is wrong! It is the mother ship calling! The signal has finally arrived and been detected! Everyone head to the embarkation points and prepare to depart!
This was suppose to have back on 12/31/2000 at midnight but for some reason the signal was not detected at that time. The time is now upon us! Finally!
Slashdot Mirror
I always figured this would be how we kill ourselves off. Over use of antibacterial soaps and cleaners in homes. At some point in the next few decades we will have an outbreak of a supper bug that can not be defeated with any antibiotics that are available. As more and more people die off civilization collapses.
Of course the good news is that we can then ride around in big honking SUVs made of all kinds of different parts searching for gas and shooting arrows at each other. I wonder where we will get the hair dye for the mohawks that will be in fashion at that time or the leather for the jackets and straps?
We are not bacteria! We are not bacteria! We are not monkeys! I mean we are not bacteria!
You can't even see a bacteria with your own eye, so this can't be real.
So lets see, the ones that stand to rake in the cash would be those that provide CO2 scrubbers for power plants, materials to build flood walls, sell carbon allotments to other industries, alternate fuel source providers, politicians pushing environmental programs.
They all lie. Nobody tells the whole truth, only the parts that benefit themselves.
In the bigger scheme of things the climate is going to change one way or the other regardless of anything anyone does and regardless of any laws that are passed. We need to adapt. We need to create self sustaining colonies that are off this planet. If we stay here we will eventually reach a point were we won't have the resources to establish those self sustaining colonies. Once we reach that point we won't be able to ship resources back to this planet to feed, house, and maintain the population at this level or the levels that we will reach in the future. At that point our civilization will collapse on itself as we fight each other for the few remaining resources that are left. We may have already reached peak oil. We are getting close to reaching peak agriculture(food). Some of the solutions for dealing with peak oil will impact our food supplies in a negative way assuming we turn over acreage to producing fuel instead of food. That will hasten the collapse. At this point gasoline is hitting $4.00 a gallon today, by end of the year it will most likely be close to $5.00 if not over. Unemployment is rising as is the foreclosure rate. More and more people are finding it harder to earn enough to feed, clothe, and provide housing for their families. They are having to choose which of those they can afford since they can no longer cover all three.
Unfortunately we have arrived at a point in our history where we have reduced our government to a bunch of spineless sound bite spewing horde that answers only to the special interests since that is how they managed to get elected. They don't have any solutions or visions beyond the next election. No matter who we vote for it no longer matters. There are no Ciceros available anymore to call upon let alone any that would actually step up and do what needs to be done.
We are seeing the end of the golden age of Man. To bad it only lasted about 60 or 70 years.
Apparently according to another recent /. story we may be improving the climate since measurements indicate an increasing not decreasing biospere on Earth.
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/06/09/050251.shtml
So maybe global warming is not the doomsday everyone things it is.
I also find it odd that Mars and Jupiter are showing signs of global warming. I guess the SUV has a farther reach than anyone thought. Or maybe it is the ISS causing global warming on those planets. They did recently have a problem with their toilet which obviously would have an affect if they were just dumping waste aimed at those planets.
Ignoring the tensile strength discussion raging on for the moment. The real problem with using paper as a construction material is what happens when it gets wet. Paper would quickly soak up the water and then the building would collapse in a wet pile of pulp. Similar to OSB when it gets wet and starts swelling but in a more spectacular manner as all that paper just falls to the ground.
And as others have pointed out such a material would be prone to insect damage unlike concrete and steel.
Of course maybe the idea is to combine this with another article about building lighter cars to improve performance instead of changing out the powertrain. But then your car would tend to swell and fall apart in a rain to say nothing of the crash worthiness of such a vehicle. But then most cars don't survive a 10 mile an hour hit anymore either.
Just pass this law....Don't be a dick!
Seriously, if people would stop being dicks then most of these issues would go away. But no, we have to pass specific laws to protect a few people.
All this is going to do is cause more people to be thrown into jail and have additional law suits filed. The lawyers are the only ones that will benefit.
Even when there is a paper trail hanging chads can cause all kinds of problems and shown in previous elections.
The biggest problem that will be encountered at the election is the complete lack of qualified candidates to choose from. Given that we are stuck with a two party system and have over 200 years of evolution creating politicians that are excellent at sound bites and collecting money from lobbies none of the candidates have the peoples interests at heart. They are owned by conglomerates and lobbies that paid good money to pass whatever legislation they want.
No matter which candidate gets into office very little useful legislation will get passed. It will be more of the same pork barrel projects giving money to the "friends" of the candidates that won.
The really funny part is if by some stroke of luck or trickery the Democrats get the White House they still won't pass any useful bills even though they would control all parts of the government except for the judiciary. In some ways it will be better if the Republicans keep the White House since that would provide a check on Congress and the White House as they fight it out for another four years.
Correct. The funny part is that no matter who controls congress they still don't seem to be able to pass the laws and bills that would make a difference. No matter who is in control the same kinds of things get passed. Namely bills that pay money to friends of those in power and bills that take money from the population to give to those friends. In many cases the flow of money does not change direction regardless of who is in power. The same people behind the curtains pull all the strings.
Get ready for rampant inflation and famines. They are just around the corner.
The issues listed are so far down the list they should not be a factor. The Federal Governments job is to provide security for the country, not dabble in things that should be left to the states to decide. To much power has been given to the Federal Government. Why should the Feds have anything to do with anyone having access to broadband?
I think we are getting very close to the time when the government as it has become will need to be reset. Right now we have a two party system where we get pretty much the same no matter who is in power. They treat the population as a huge wallet that they extract money from. Then that money is paid to the lobbies and others that paid to get the officials elected. Sure there is some it spent to placate the masses, but bread and circuses only last so long.
The problem is we have no one to blame but ourselves. We created a system that has systematically evolved politicians into the sub-species that they have become. They are able to spew sound bites without ever doing anything concrete and are able to promise everyone exactly what they want to hear. At this point we are unable to elect someone that has the actual skills that are needed to lead this country the way it should be led. Once in power they will tax and spend just like they always have no matter who is in power.
Personally I think our only hope at the moment is to keep any single party from getting both congress and the White House at the same time. At least when they are held by different parties it prevents massive sweeping changes from being enacted. If a single party does control everything then it will be a sign that things are going to get really bad. There will be no stopping them from doing whatever they hell they want.
Regardless get ready for $10.00 a gallon gasoline and rampant inflation over the next four years. And I suspect we will start to see massive famines across the world and possibly in this country. And the endless debate that the other party caused all this.
I think you mis-understood. The cost of power from solar will not get cheaper. It will just become cost effective compared to using oil because oil will become so much more expensive. All indications are that we have been headed toward massive inflation of the dollar. That will create havoc across all business sectors with resultant company failures and massive unemployment. Which sadly will cause a spiral effect accelerating inflation. Solar will cost as much or more than it does now but will be less expensive than continuing to use oil.
The same thing will happen with gasoline automobiles. As the cost of fuel goes up it will become cost effective to spend 35,000 to 50,000 on an electric or hybrid vehicle than to spend $200 dollars to fill up a car that gets 20 miles per gallon. Of course the hard part of this is the transition period where those that can not afford to purchase a new vehicle that uses the new technology are left out and they lose their jobs because they can not get to work or lose their homes because it is either buy gas and work or lose the job.
Once this ripples through and things hit a new stability point where the average worker is making enough money (after inflation) to cover basics and has managed to buy into the new technology which is no longer dependent on oil which will cost more than anyone can afford things will settle down for awhile. Until then we are going to live in interesting times where inflation will rule and unemployment will skyrocket and companies will fold on a weekly basis. Much of this is already underway.
At some point over agriculture will peak just like when we hit peak oil. There is only so much arable land and only so much food can be grown on that land. Even now if there is a bad season in one area the impact is felt around the world. Apparently we are not able to raise enough crops currently to feed everyone, given all the starvation that occurs. This is not sustainable in the long run given the rate at which the population is growing.
The water problem may be more pressing. As more land it pressed into service growing food you need more water to support that. As more housing is built for the growing population we need more water for them. The aquifers are being taxed beyond their limits and many places have been in drought conditions for some time with sporadic rainfall. Water restrictions are becoming the norm with enforcement levels increasing to catch those that are not abiding by the rules. Desalinization can work but it is only now reaching the point where all the alternatives have been exhausted and the cost is becoming acceptable because there is no other choice.
We need some leadership that nails down a plan to make us energy independent. That will require building multiple nuclear plants in the near term and investing massively in research for fuel cells, hydrogen power systems, solar, wind, and other technologies that provide alternative power sources. We also need to create less expensive ways to reach orbit and go back to the Moon and on to the asteroids and Mars to secure resources that can be refined and brought back to Earth. Such projects will spark the economy creating thousands of jobs. But I doubt that any of the people that we are allowed to vote for will have that kind of vision or will to initiate such programs. They will bicker over better health care and welfare programs while passing out pork barrel projects to their friends that paid big money to get them elected. The rest of us will continue to lose ground due to inflation and many will end up homeless and out of work struggling to get anything to eat.
As such I doubt we will reach the singularity before we do ourselves in.
But everyone keeps saying "when solar becomes efficient enough...". We never seem to get there. What everyone seems to miss is that we are getting closer to more efficient solar power. But not the way most people think. It is going to become more efficient because oil it going to go to $250 or $300 per barrel. At that point a lot of other options become more cost effective than burning oil.
But Oil is not the only resource that we are going to run out of that is needed to sustain the current level we have achieved. Agriculture is approaching a peak level as well. I have not heard anyone talking about this one but it is going to happen. And probably in the next few years. At which point the squabble we have had over oil will pale in comparison to the squabble we will have over food. There is also potable water that is becoming an issue. I know that currently in my state they are squabbling over using water from some of the main rivers in the area. Just yesterday one guy in the paper stated that conservation of water is the best bang for the buck but that we are going to have to start looking at desalinization as a way to get the water that will be needed to sustain the growth we have been seeing. What that is telling me is that we are reaching the point where the expense of desalinization of sea water to potable water has become almost cost effective. Not because the process has become cheaper, but because the cost of doing so is cheaper than the alternative, in this case stopping growth.
I think you have hit on something. We are getting close to a resource issue that will impact the continued increase in technology and knowledge. We are now operating on a global scale. Where previously we operated on a more local scale involving hundreds of square miles at most we now are drawing on resources all over the planet. This singularity will eventually stagnate and implode if we are not able to obtain additional resources. And at this point the only new resources that we can tap are going to be off planet.
So if this singularity is to occur we are going to have to achieve routine space flight with commercial interests that will bring back massive resources to this planet.
If that does not happen then we are going to hit the plateau you mention and most likely start a decline as we struggle with the reduction in resources that will be available to sustain the current level that we have achieved.
This will happen due to a multitude of factors including environmental activism (preventing us from tapping remaining resources), governmental buffoonery (wasting of resources on bread and circuses to keep those elected in office), complacency by the masses, and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) types.
Actually if we ever develop nanobots capable of replication (which is the easiest way to create more nanobots, have them build themselves) we will most likely end up with a new disaster scenario once these replicating nanobots escape into the wild they will grow exponentially consuming all materials in the world. This is the gray slime disaster where the earth is covered in a mass of nanobots.
I read a scifi book recently that used nanobots in warfare. Disassemblers released in clouds over the battle field would attack people, vehicles, buildings and break them down. Interesting concept of nano warfare.
What the hell is SciFi channel thinking? First they replace most of the decent shows they had with fake ghost hunter shows. Now they want the outcome of a game to dictate the major plot points in a TV show?
Someone has not thought this through. People will force the game to go in directions that will make any kind of TV show look silly. It is pretty easy to get all of your team killed off either by letting the enemy through the lines or by fragging them your self.
Time to pick up some books and turn the TV and computer off for awhile.
Anyone know of some good Science Fiction books that have been release lately?
I can't wait for the first manned landing with the first weather report from Mars. "Well it looks kind of windy, hold on, let me take my glove and helmet off so I can lick my finger and hold it up to get a measurement of what direction the wind is blowing...." "POOF!" "ARRRGGGGGG!"
"Mars base, this is Houston, over"
"Mars base, this is Houston, over"
"Damn, I think we lost another weatherman..."
My last employer did that for everyone. Last year they stopped making payroll. No more paychecks. They expected everyone to continue working twice as hard, but for no pay. This went on for two pay cycles. When the third one came around they actually managed to pay a few people. Most of use cashed that check and resigned. (Make sure you cash the check at the companies bank then deposit the cash to your own account.)
It was a sad situation. We had a really innovative network security product that had major potential. But the company that was financing the work did not really have the funds they said they did. So they tried to scam everyone. Their hope was that there would be huge amounts of revenue rolling in during the first year that they could shuffle around making it look like they had put in the money.
Anyone that has been in the business long enough knows that any startup that generates any revenue in the first year is doing really well. It normally takes two to three years to turn an actual profit. These guys apparently did not know that even though they claimed to be seasoned investors.
Sounds like they were really competent at doing mass layoffs. It's a shame that they weren't as competent at whatever their business was supposed to be doing so that mass layoffs weren't such a well-practiced event.
I think some companies went into business doing layoffs. It was the only way their stock ever went up. It was always surprising that they did not go completely out of business since eventually they would run out of employees to fire. But then I realized they are actually hiring in one door and firing out the other. So they have new bodies to lay off all the time.
Another reason for cutting off access and escorting people out is to protect the employee. If such a person still had access and something happened such as a server crashing or data suddenly was deleted that employee would come under sever suspicion of causing the problem. Without access that person has plausible deniablity.
So don't think of it so much as a punishment but as protecting your self.
I was laid off from one large company once and they provided two months of paid time off. Once they notified me they cut off access. Their take was that my new job was to find another job. The kicker was that if you found another job during that time period then you did not get the payoff package at the end of the two months. Kind of funny, I found a new job just after the check cleared. They setup the rules, we just play by them.
I also had a situation a long time ago where a contractor that worked for me decided he was going to relocate for a new job. He gave two weeks notice. I checked his projects he had which were done and told him that he was no longer needed. I did not have any make work that justified me paying him for another two weeks. Such is the life of a contractor.
And don't forget the main rule here, no one is irreplaceable. No one! Not even you. (Yes, I even mean you there in the back with four digit
This is about the same as the termite protection guarantees that Sears, Terminx and other termite companies provide. If you happen to get termites, see a swarm in a room or have base board break, they come in and fill the holes with spackle and paint over it. They don't open up the wall to see that the support beams have been half eaten or the other damage that may have been caused. That is why they can provide a million dollar guarantee, they never spend more than a few dollars on spackle and paint to repair anything.
I remember when this first happened, the guy had his identity stolen in short order. But they still are in business because it is a numbers game. There are so many suckers out there that are willing to pay for stuff that does not work that they can keep going even when large portions of the population know the service is not worth the cost.
HA HA!
Everyone is wrong! It is the mother ship calling! The signal has finally arrived and been detected! Everyone head to the embarkation points and prepare to depart!
This was suppose to have back on 12/31/2000 at midnight but for some reason the signal was not detected at that time. The time is now upon us! Finally!
Or if you are a Florida voter that can't seem to find the hole. But then hanging chads can cause all kinds of problems there too.