With the explosion of school shootings, we should be asking ourselves "what's changed?" and one of the obvious answers is the increasing violence and realism of video games.
I think you mean: with the DECLINE in school shootings, we should be asking ourselves "what's changed"? and one of the obvious answers is that video games give kids, and especially troubled kids, an alternative outlet.
Gasoline still has an order of magnitude more energy per unit weight than batteries.
Gasoline engines are an order of magnitude less efficient than battery powered cars.
I have an electric car and range is not a problem. My daily commute uses less than 20% of the capacity. Once or twice a year I need to drive beyond the range of the car, so I either recharge enroute (usually while eating lunch or dinner) or I drive a different car.
Indeed. Anyone that mentions "blockchain" and "small nuclear fusion" in the same sentence is a certified kook. Even more so when he mentions fusion and "astonishing progress" together.
No it doesn't. Since 2001, there have been roughly 100,000 killed in Afghanistan. That is less than 0.5% of the population. The other wars are even less intense. These are sputtering insurgencies, not armies fighting set piece battles. That is only happening in Syria.
the solution MUST BE social and 'spiritual' in nature.
When has "spiritualism" ever solved a problem?
99% of progress comes from nerds. Even the social changes are driven by technology. We abolished slavery and child labor because steam engines and automation replaced their labor and gave us enough prosperity without them.
Case in point, immunizations. We have the technology, yet there is a social issue as we have anti-vexers.
The anti-vaxers are a fringe group that are having near zero effect on worldwide vaccination rates.
Same with climate change deniers. They make noise, but have little effect on progress. Red states are way ahead of blue on alternative energy (excluding hydro).
That can be achieved without Nerds. All you need is a big enough war...
Wars tend to increase population growth. The highest birthrate in the world is in Niger, followed by Somalia and Mali. The highest birthrate outside of Africa is Afghanistan.
What do all these countries have in common? Answer: Civil war.
When people feel insecure about their children surviving, then tend to hedge their bets by having more and investing fewer resources in each child.
Reduced population growth results in less global warming. So one of the best remedies for AGW is peacekeeping operations, vaccinations, nutritional supplements, and wells for clean water, which all reduce infant and child mortality, and encourage people to have fewer kids.
FUNDAMENTALLY the problems aren't technical or scientific
Nonsense. Technology is the solution, and it is the ONLY solution. People are not going to accept lower living standards, nor are billions of people in the 3rd World even going to accept staying at their current level. So we need to find ways for people to live better lives with less energy, and that energy can't be carbon based.
Better solar panels, better batteries, better wind turbines, better lighting, better cars, better telecommuting and telepresence infrastructure, better transport systems, better delivery services, better structural materials. We need all of these things, and we are making progress. This is happening because of science and engineering.
If you apply it to sonar data, it could probably find "silent" submarines.
Perhaps, but it cuts both ways. Machine learning can indeed find patterns in sonar data to locate subs. But AI also allows autonomous "air-independent" submarines that have no crew and no pressure hull. They are filled with liquid. The electronics are immersed in inert fluorocarbon fluid. This means there is less for the sonar to bounce off, but also means the sub can go much deeper, below the thermocline and below the "deep scattering layer" that is difficult for sonar to penetrate.
Sure, you just got about 6 and a half billion more people to teach about PGP.
People didn't have to learn about cryptographic algorithms to use HTTPS. Thee is no reason they need to learn it for secure email either. All that is needed is for Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple to agree on a standard. Everyone else will be forced to follow or be left behind.
Opening an email in a modern mail client or web app should be harmless. Some old apps would automatically load html-linked images, but if that is still a problem, it is not the user's fault.
He was from Wisconsin. He only went to college in Florida. Florida's humid climate is not a good place to make explosives, since you get more bang for the buck when you can fully desiccate.
The Amazon echo _relies_ on always listening as a core part of it's functionality.
It listens for one thing: The trigger word "Alexa". It transmits over WiFi, and you can watch the packets and confirm that it transmits if and only if it hears the trigger word. Plenty of people have done this.
With a smartphone, you typically expect that it's not listening unless you tell it to.
What you "expect" is irrelevant. A smartphone has more recording and monitoring capability, and it transmits over the cellular network that is far more difficult to sniff.
If you are paranoid about Alexa and not paranoid about your smartphone, then you have some severe cognitive dissonance.
Your smartphone doesn't require you to accept an EULA that grants them permission to record you at any time and store and process this data on some server somewhere.
Neither does the Amazon Echo. You would be more credible if you tone down the hyperbole.
Slashdot Mirror
if you pollute and dump whatever into the atmosphere should you be able to compete with someone who spends more on cleaning after themselves ?
On a per capita basis, America emits more than twice as much CO2 as China.
With the explosion of school shootings, we should be asking ourselves "what's changed?" and one of the obvious answers is the increasing violence and realism of video games.
I think you mean: with the DECLINE in school shootings, we should be asking ourselves "what's changed"? and one of the obvious answers is that video games give kids, and especially troubled kids, an alternative outlet.
a real deep and abiding thoughtfulness.
Good luck with that. Let us know when you make some progress.
In the meantime, the rest of us will focus on solutions based on reality.
Gasoline still has an order of magnitude more energy per unit weight than batteries.
Gasoline engines are an order of magnitude less efficient than battery powered cars.
I have an electric car and range is not a problem. My daily commute uses less than 20% of the capacity. Once or twice a year I need to drive beyond the range of the car, so I either recharge enroute (usually while eating lunch or dinner) or I drive a different car.
Indeed. Anyone that mentions "blockchain" and "small nuclear fusion" in the same sentence is a certified kook. Even more so when he mentions fusion and "astonishing progress" together.
War does mean lots of people die
No it doesn't. Since 2001, there have been roughly 100,000 killed in Afghanistan. That is less than 0.5% of the population. The other wars are even less intense. These are sputtering insurgencies, not armies fighting set piece battles. That is only happening in Syria.
How much pollution and CO2 emissions have been exported during this same period via globalization?
Not much. Most CO2 emissions come from cars and electricity generation for residential use. Industrial emissions peaked at about 10%.
the solution MUST BE social and 'spiritual' in nature.
When has "spiritualism" ever solved a problem?
99% of progress comes from nerds. Even the social changes are driven by technology. We abolished slavery and child labor because steam engines and automation replaced their labor and gave us enough prosperity without them.
Case in point, immunizations. We have the technology, yet there is a social issue as we have anti-vexers.
The anti-vaxers are a fringe group that are having near zero effect on worldwide vaccination rates.
Same with climate change deniers. They make noise, but have little effect on progress. Red states are way ahead of blue on alternative energy (excluding hydro).
That can be achieved without Nerds. All you need is a big enough war...
Wars tend to increase population growth. The highest birthrate in the world is in Niger, followed by Somalia and Mali. The highest birthrate outside of Africa is Afghanistan.
What do all these countries have in common? Answer: Civil war.
When people feel insecure about their children surviving, then tend to hedge their bets by having more and investing fewer resources in each child.
Reduced population growth results in less global warming. So one of the best remedies for AGW is peacekeeping operations, vaccinations, nutritional supplements, and wells for clean water, which all reduce infant and child mortality, and encourage people to have fewer kids.
FUNDAMENTALLY the problems aren't technical or scientific
Nonsense. Technology is the solution, and it is the ONLY solution. People are not going to accept lower living standards, nor are billions of people in the 3rd World even going to accept staying at their current level. So we need to find ways for people to live better lives with less energy, and that energy can't be carbon based.
Better solar panels, better batteries, better wind turbines, better lighting, better cars, better telecommuting and telepresence infrastructure, better transport systems, better delivery services, better structural materials. We need all of these things, and we are making progress. This is happening because of science and engineering.
Nerds will save the world, not politicians.
If you apply it to sonar data, it could probably find "silent" submarines.
Perhaps, but it cuts both ways. Machine learning can indeed find patterns in sonar data to locate subs. But AI also allows autonomous "air-independent" submarines that have no crew and no pressure hull. They are filled with liquid. The electronics are immersed in inert fluorocarbon fluid. This means there is less for the sonar to bounce off, but also means the sub can go much deeper, below the thermocline and below the "deep scattering layer" that is difficult for sonar to penetrate.
The merger between email and browsers with javascript enabled ...
Citation please. Can you name a single email client or app, less than a decade old, that executes JavaScript inside a received email?
Sure, you just got about 6 and a half billion more people to teach about PGP.
People didn't have to learn about cryptographic algorithms to use HTTPS. Thee is no reason they need to learn it for secure email either. All that is needed is for Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple to agree on a standard. Everyone else will be forced to follow or be left behind.
No, firing and hiring people with a healthier level of suspicion should work too.
These are state employees, so firing them for incompetence is not an option.
OPENED the email, or actually pursued it?
Opening an email in a modern mail client or web app should be harmless. Some old apps would automatically load html-linked images, but if that is still a problem, it is not the user's fault.
And easier to use.
Not easier to use. Just easier to learn.
You can learn to ride a tricycle easier than a bicycle. But you aren't going to win the Tour de France on a trike.
He was from Wisconsin. He only went to college in Florida. Florida's humid climate is not a good place to make explosives, since you get more bang for the buck when you can fully desiccate.
So what's the advantage of this system then?
1. Cheaper
2. Faster
3. More accurate
OK, I'll bite. What technology is about to dethrone Google?
Smart speakers. Duh. RTFA.
The Amazon echo _relies_ on always listening as a core part of it's functionality.
It listens for one thing: The trigger word "Alexa". It transmits over WiFi, and you can watch the packets and confirm that it transmits if and only if it hears the trigger word. Plenty of people have done this.
With a smartphone, you typically expect that it's not listening unless you tell it to.
What you "expect" is irrelevant. A smartphone has more recording and monitoring capability, and it transmits over the cellular network that is far more difficult to sniff.
If you are paranoid about Alexa and not paranoid about your smartphone, then you have some severe cognitive dissonance.
Your smartphone doesn't require you to accept an EULA that grants them permission to record you at any time and store and process this data on some server somewhere.
Neither does the Amazon Echo. You would be more credible if you tone down the hyperbole.
The question is if violence being normalized in popular media makes us more violent or more accepting of violence.
That is indeed the question. And the answer, according to the evidence, is "No".
Corn, wheat, and soybeans were some of the first crops to be genetically modified.
Total hogwash. There is no commercially grown GMO wheat, and neither corn nor soybeans contain gluten.
explain how it is that corn that kills bugs isn't poisonous?
Oxygen is poisonous to many living things.