Re:ask the designers -
on
AI in Sci-Fi
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I agree, at least partially. The main thing to remember is that an intelligent machine is not alive. Humans are, for the most part, both intelligent and alive. It's hard to imagine what a non-living intelligence would be like. The only model we have for intelligent entities is ourselves.
The drives and desires that people associate with intelligence -- procreation, independence, creative freedom -- are not necessarily the result of being an intelligent entity. They are at least partially the result of being a biological entity. Our biology causes us to act a certain way; our intelligence allows us to rationalize these actions.
Granted, you could, conceivably, create an intelligent machine that wants to make its own choices, that wants to reproduce itself, that has all the dreams and desires of a human. You could also create an intelligent machine that wants to hang out at the mall all day, listens to top 40 tunes and complains how you "just don't get it". But why would you?
...we wouldn't need to go, would we? That's why they call it space exploration. Otherwise, it'd they'd call it shopping trip. "While you're out, could you pick up a dozen igneous rocks and a six pack of space-borne microbes."
Personally, I'm hoping Pluto turns out to be the construction shack for the solar system. Who wrote "Construction Shack" anyway? Clifford Simak, wasn't it?
So, is it a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to place the entire text of Microsoft's Kerberos extensions spec in a cookie that is available only to microsoft.com? Assuming that you are in rightful posession of the spec and since cookies are supposed to be private and reasonably secure, it would seem that you've taken precautions to protect their confidential information. The fact that a bug in IE allows everyone and his dog to view anyone's cookies can't be construed as negligence on your part, can it?
The main problem I see in breaking MS up into OS and apps is that no one involved can agree on what constitutes an operating system. MS says it's anything they feel like bundling with their Windows distribution.
On the other end of the scale are those who say that the real OS is MSDOS, plus a bunch of device drivers and DLLs (i.e. the desktop - the thing the average user thinks of as Windows - is an app).
Everyone else is somewhere in the middle.
There's going to be a lot of confusion when they actually get down to saying "this goes to MSApps, that goes to MSOS".
Personally, I think the line should be drawn just above the desktop app - well, sort of. The OS should include a default desktop and a standard set of tools. Maybe it could include a rudimentary browser that has just enough functionality to allow the user to download a real browser and desktop app.
I used to work for a manufacturer of graphics chips. It doesn't matter which one. While working there, I noticed a couple of general rules:
1. Every manufacturer tweaks its own in-house benchmarks, thus making them useless to consumers.
2. The benchmarks in commercial magazines often favor their biggest advertisers, thus making them useless to consumers.
dmorin sez:I used to have a boss in my first job who liked to say (being a lifelong salesman), "Give away the razor. Sell the blades." During meetings when a good idea came up, he would ask "What's the razor? What's the blade?" The razor is the PC. The blade is the monthly service.
The problem is that, in this case, the razor will work without a blade.
Given that they've announced that the modifications are already implemented, it's likely that the change they made is a simple one. They obviously didn't have time to re-layout the board. Most likely they've clipped the connector, encased it in epoxy or something similar. You'd hope they weren't naive enough to assume that switching to "tamper-proof" screws would be sufficient.
I got a kick out of their statement: "Modification of the i-opener in any way is in violation of our terms and conditions." Shows a total lack of understanding of the type of people who have been buying the i-Opener. Someon who hacks into it to convert it into a PC isn't interested in whether it voids the warranty.
It's also interesting that they don't have a minimum subscription term. They've now started billing you for the first month but don't say what happens if you cancel your subscription. I would've thought that they'd put a 1-year minimum on the service. As somone else said "Ooooo. So it's $119."
I'd like to see if they're any good but there isn't a store in the area that sells them. I live in the Research Triangle area of NC, a major geek colony. The closest 7-Eleven I can find is 50 miles away. I suppose I could order one from Net Grocer but I'd hate to do that for a couple of bucks worth of stuff.
Genom said: "...not to mention the fact that these work the OPPOSITE from the way muscles work -- they EXPAND with electricity rather than contract. "
No problem. Put a bunch of round ones inside a muscle-shaped plastic bag, perpendicular to the line of the muscle and attached to the bag itself (i.e. each is a cross-section of the muscle bag). Pack the bag with non-reactive gel. When charge is applied, the disks expand, the bag increases in diameter and decreases in length.
Assumes the disks are relatively rigid and have good resistance to compression.
What a load of crap! Everyone knows that: - The Gulf War was filmed in Arizona and the Pathfinder Mission was filmed in Persia. - Sissy Spacek wasn't in Taxi Driver 2. It was Tina Yothers. - Martin Sheen is the current president. The whole Clinton thing is just to keep people from finding out who's really in control. - William McKinley wasn't murdered. He's still alive and teaching ballet in Beruit. - Strom Thurmond couldn't have had anything to do with the Racquetball Reform Bill. He was too busy faking the Spanish-American War.
Other than that, you've got it pretty much right. 7:^)
stiefvater sez: "If she's really animated, why not show more than one image?"
That's what caught my eye. I've seen about a dozen images of this character on various sites and they are all identical. The promotional site has the same image and nothing else. No MPEG or QuickTime, not even a sound clip.
I'd expect this thing is nothing more than a text-to-speech engine with a library of facial expressions and mouth movements for lip-synching. If they managed to make it even slightly better than laughable, I'll be impressed.
I agree. Much as I hate to admit it, Geller has a case. It's obvious that Un-Geller is a reference to Uri Geller. If they did this without his permission, then they're definitely in the wrong. The dollar amount is probably far off the mark, though.
BTW, I'm assuming that Un-Geller straightens spoons, right? 7:^)
Naw, natural selection just favors the ones most likely to reproduce. In today's world that doesn't mean the best and brightest. It usually means the ones too daft to avoid reproducing.
MTV is probably already planning something like this, though to a lesser extent.
If I was an MTV executive and didn't care much about ethics when it comes to getting ratings, here's what I'd do: Scenario A - put six people in a bunker with live video feeds - at midnight, "accidentally" cut all communication into the bunker - let them assume the worst - watch the fun
OR
Scenario B - hire six actors to go into a bunker - stage a communications failure at midnight - script some interesting reactions
I'm guessing you really mean socialism instead of communism. I prefer a little of both. Neither capitalism nor socialism works if it is let lose without restraint. Unrestrained capitalism leads to massive monopolies controlling everything. Unrestrained socialism leads to massive governments controlling everything.
Now communism. Well there isn't really any *real* communism in the world. At least not at the national level. So-called communist contries are really just socialist dictatorships, for the most part. The closest I've seen to real communism is the open-source movement. Linux is a good example of how communism *should* work. 7:^)
Doesn't really help. All that would happen then is that transfers would be replaced by a 2-step process: 1. squatter releases domain 2. buyer registers domain.
The buyers will still deal with the squatters because they've still got the domain names. The only difference is that the buyer has an even higher risk of losing the domain before he can register it.
What *might* work, though, is some sort of DNS blacklist, e.g. DNS servers don't recognize the registrations of known squatters. Be a bit tricky to implement since NSI *does* recognize the registrations.
That thought occurred to me as well. It does seem to have that "it fell off the truck" feel to it. I've got to admit, it'd be a nice scam: 1. Set up a company that auctions off domain names. 2. Set up another company that registers domain names. 3. Pay off an inside worker at NSI. 4. Wait for someone to transfer an interesting domain name. 5. Have your NSI insider make a mistake".
It'd probably work well as long as you didn't do it all the time. Pick the best ones but pass over some good ones, just to make it look plausible.
Seems to me that the only reason NSI has any power at all is because all DNS servers point to it. What would happen if someone set up a different master DNS and everyone pointed to that instead? I'm not sure how feasible this is. Maybe it's a stupid idea. On the other hand, maybe I just said the internet equivalent of "How about just throwing the tea overboard?" 7:^)
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Someone created a Flickr pool of the more interesting ones: http://flickr.com/groups/galaxyzoo/pool/
I agree, at least partially. The main thing to remember is that an intelligent machine is not alive. Humans are, for the most part, both intelligent and alive. It's hard to imagine what a non-living intelligence would be like. The only model we have for intelligent entities is ourselves.
The drives and desires that people associate with intelligence -- procreation, independence, creative freedom -- are not necessarily the result of being an intelligent entity. They are at least partially the result of being a biological entity. Our biology causes us to act a certain way; our intelligence allows us to rationalize these actions.
Granted, you could, conceivably, create an intelligent machine that wants to make its own choices, that wants to reproduce itself, that has all the dreams and desires of a human. You could also create an intelligent machine that wants to hang out at the mall all day, listens to top 40 tunes and complains how you "just don't get it". But why would you?
As you can see, the 'Pro' provides more protection from the elements.
Also found a photo of a 'Metro' being pushed back to the lab after a mechanical failure:
...we wouldn't need to go, would we? That's why they call it space exploration. Otherwise, it'd they'd call it shopping trip. "While you're out, could you pick up a dozen igneous rocks and a six pack of space-borne microbes."
Personally, I'm hoping Pluto turns out to be the construction shack for the solar system. Who wrote "Construction Shack" anyway? Clifford Simak, wasn't it?
Aw, ya beat me to it. (By only 3 minutes, though)
So, is it a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to place the entire text of Microsoft's Kerberos extensions spec in a cookie that is available only to microsoft.com? Assuming that you are in rightful posession of the spec and since cookies are supposed to be private and reasonably secure, it would seem that you've taken precautions to protect their confidential information. The fact that a bug in IE allows everyone and his dog to view anyone's cookies can't be construed as negligence on your part, can it?
Rico_Suave sez: "Bah. We should bring back public stonings."
What, like Woodstock? 7:^)
How about a virus that "cripples" Outlook so that it can't automatically execute attachments? 7:^)
On the other end of the scale are those who say that the real OS is MSDOS, plus a bunch of device drivers and DLLs (i.e. the desktop - the thing the average user thinks of as Windows - is an app).
Everyone else is somewhere in the middle.
There's going to be a lot of confusion when they actually get down to saying "this goes to MSApps, that goes to MSOS".
Personally, I think the line should be drawn just above the desktop app - well, sort of. The OS should include a default desktop and a standard set of tools. Maybe it could include a rudimentary browser that has just enough functionality to allow the user to download a real browser and desktop app.
I used to work for a manufacturer of graphics chips. It doesn't matter which one. While working there, I noticed a couple of general rules:
1. Every manufacturer tweaks its own in-house benchmarks, thus making them useless to consumers.
2. The benchmarks in commercial magazines often favor their biggest advertisers, thus making them useless to consumers.
Musta been one of them Darwin fishes. They run real fast.
The problem is that, in this case, the razor will work without a blade.
Given that they've announced that the modifications are already implemented, it's likely that the change they made is a simple one. They obviously didn't have time to re-layout the board. Most likely they've clipped the connector, encased it in epoxy or something similar. You'd hope they weren't naive enough to assume that switching to "tamper-proof" screws would be sufficient.
I got a kick out of their statement: "Modification of the i-opener in any way is in violation of our terms and conditions." Shows a total lack of understanding of the type of people who have been buying the i-Opener. Someon who hacks into it to convert it into a PC isn't interested in whether it voids the warranty.
It's also interesting that they don't have a minimum subscription term. They've now started billing you for the first month but don't say what happens if you cancel your subscription. I would've thought that they'd put a 1-year minimum on the service. As somone else said "Ooooo. So it's $119."
I'd like to see if they're any good but there isn't a store in the area that sells them. I live in the Research Triangle area of NC, a major geek colony. The closest 7-Eleven I can find is 50 miles away. I suppose I could order one from Net Grocer but I'd hate to do that for a couple of bucks worth of stuff.
Genom said: "...not to mention the fact that these work the OPPOSITE from the way muscles work -- they EXPAND with electricity rather than contract. "
No problem. Put a bunch of round ones inside a muscle-shaped plastic bag, perpendicular to the line of the muscle and attached to the bag itself (i.e. each is a cross-section of the muscle bag). Pack the bag with non-reactive gel. When charge is applied, the disks expand, the bag increases in diameter and decreases in length.
Assumes the disks are relatively rigid and have good resistance to compression.
What a load of crap! Everyone knows that:
- The Gulf War was filmed in Arizona and the Pathfinder Mission was filmed in Persia.
- Sissy Spacek wasn't in Taxi Driver 2. It was Tina Yothers.
- Martin Sheen is the current president. The whole Clinton thing is just to keep people from finding out who's really in control.
- William McKinley wasn't murdered. He's still alive and teaching ballet in Beruit.
- Strom Thurmond couldn't have had anything to do with the Racquetball Reform Bill. He was too busy faking the Spanish-American War.
Other than that, you've got it pretty much right. 7:^)
That's what caught my eye. I've seen about a dozen images of this character on various sites and they are all identical . The promotional site has the same image and nothing else. No MPEG or QuickTime, not even a sound clip.
I'd expect this thing is nothing more than a text-to-speech engine with a library of facial expressions and mouth movements for lip-synching. If they managed to make it even slightly better than laughable, I'll be impressed.
SD
So, will I need to hit Shift-Reload on my cable box to see the latest news on CNN? 7:^)
I agree. Much as I hate to admit it, Geller has a case. It's obvious that Un-Geller is a reference to Uri Geller. If they did this without his permission, then they're definitely in the wrong. The dollar amount is probably far off the mark, though.
BTW, I'm assuming that Un-Geller straightens spoons, right? 7:^)
Naw, natural selection just favors the ones most likely to reproduce. In today's world that doesn't mean the best and brightest. It usually means the ones too daft to avoid reproducing.
MTV is probably already planning something like this, though to a lesser extent.
If I was an MTV executive and didn't care much about ethics when it comes to getting ratings, here's what I'd do:
Scenario A
- put six people in a bunker with live video feeds
- at midnight, "accidentally" cut all communication into the bunker
- let them assume the worst
- watch the fun
OR
Scenario B
- hire six actors to go into a bunker
- stage a communications failure at midnight
- script some interesting reactions
I'm guessing you really mean socialism instead of communism. I prefer a little of both. Neither capitalism nor socialism works if it is let lose without restraint. Unrestrained capitalism leads to massive monopolies controlling everything. Unrestrained socialism leads to massive governments controlling everything.
Now communism. Well there isn't really any *real* communism in the world. At least not at the national level. So-called communist contries are really just socialist dictatorships, for the most part. The closest I've seen to real communism is the open-source movement. Linux is a good example of how communism *should* work. 7:^)
Doesn't really help. All that would happen then is that transfers would be replaced by a 2-step process: 1. squatter releases domain 2. buyer registers domain.
The buyers will still deal with the squatters because they've still got the domain names. The only difference is that the buyer has an even higher risk of losing the domain before he can register it.
What *might* work, though, is some sort of DNS blacklist, e.g. DNS servers don't recognize the registrations of known squatters. Be a bit tricky to implement since NSI *does* recognize the registrations.
That thought occurred to me as well. It does seem to have that "it fell off the truck" feel to it.
I've got to admit, it'd be a nice scam:
1. Set up a company that auctions off domain names.
2. Set up another company that registers domain names.
3. Pay off an inside worker at NSI.
4. Wait for someone to transfer an interesting domain name.
5. Have your NSI insider make a mistake".
It'd probably work well as long as you didn't do it all the time. Pick the best ones but pass over some good ones, just to make it look plausible.
Seems to me that the only reason NSI has any power at all is because all DNS servers point to it. What would happen if someone set up a different master DNS and everyone pointed to that instead? I'm not sure how feasible this is. Maybe it's a stupid idea. On the other hand, maybe I just said the internet equivalent of "How about just throwing the tea overboard?" 7:^)