The ThreeBallot voting system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThreeBallot), which is both anonymous and verifiable.
The main problem seems to be that it is too complicated for the average voter.
The article seemed to be saying that science fiction would become a thing of the past because in 20 years or so, according to Vernor Vinge, the pace of technological progress would become so rapid that any attempt at predicting the future of scientific discovery would be swamped by the mass of innovation.
First, like many other posters seem to believe, I think innovation is slowing down right now (at least percievably) rather than speeding up and can't really give Vinge's theory any credance (although his novels are some of the best SF I've read)
Second, science fiction and fantasy have basically the same appeal to me. They are thought experiments (like the article said) that create alternate worlds to our own by adding or taking away some functional properties of our current world (magic, space travel, alternate historical events, etc.). The only difference, for me, between SF and fantasy is that the SF world of any given novel has the potential to be the state of the author's world in the future. That said, I evaluate the quality of SF and fantasy the same way: Has the author created a world that I can believe in? The answer to this question takes into account a variety component aspects of the work such as: overall writing quality, realistic characters, the consistency of behavior of those characters with the state of the world, the general concept that makes the SF world system different from our own, and, also, how relevant the subject matter is to me now (what does it say about our world today).
Third, even if everything doesn't add up perfectly, it doesn't necessarily make an SF novel bad or good. Take Dune, for example. In some ways, it's hard to believe that force shields and the spice could create a world with both space ships and lasguns, while the combat seems primarily hand to hand knife fighting (I consider this somewhat of an inconsistency, yet it is certainly debatable). The knife fighting, however, also serves to emphasize the feudal social structure of the Dune world (as well as the differences between Fremen and civilized culture) and enables the novel to become more socially cohenent. But this is just an example.
Another thing I would note is that although Dune is considered one of the classic SF novels, it certainly has aspects of a fantasy: most of Dune technology doesn't seem like it could ever exist, despite its label technology (ex. Ghola genetic memory, off the top of my head). If this is what the article would call "degeneration" of the SF genre into fantasy, then I wouldn't necessarily be disappointed.
He was arrested on May 7 after confessing to German crime officials that he originally wanted to create a virus, Netsky, to remove two other viruses, MyDoom and Bagle, from infected computers. After developing several versions of Netsky, he created Sasser, according to the officials.
It seems like his intentions were good. The virus didn't really do anything direct malicious, as far as I remember. It just spread so fast that it took up all the network bandwidth. I can see how people might want to be compensated for loss of revenue, but if they put him in jail it should be for negligently causing harm rather than a deliberate crime.
It looks like the phone is curved so that the earpiece and microphone fit for a right handed caller, but I guess lefties just have to hold it convex side facing front... unless there are actually speakers and microphones on both sides.
Slashdot Mirror
The ThreeBallot voting system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThreeBallot), which is both anonymous and verifiable. The main problem seems to be that it is too complicated for the average voter.
The article seemed to be saying that science fiction would become a thing of the past because in 20 years or so, according to Vernor Vinge, the pace of technological progress would become so rapid that any attempt at predicting the future of scientific discovery would be swamped by the mass of innovation.
First, like many other posters seem to believe, I think innovation is slowing down right now (at least percievably) rather than speeding up and can't really give Vinge's theory any credance (although his novels are some of the best SF I've read)
Second, science fiction and fantasy have basically the same appeal to me. They are thought experiments (like the article said) that create alternate worlds to our own by adding or taking away some functional properties of our current world (magic, space travel, alternate historical events, etc.). The only difference, for me, between SF and fantasy is that the SF world of any given novel has the potential to be the state of the author's world in the future. That said, I evaluate the quality of SF and fantasy the same way: Has the author created a world that I can believe in? The answer to this question takes into account a variety component aspects of the work such as: overall writing quality, realistic characters, the consistency of behavior of those characters with the state of the world, the general concept that makes the SF world system different from our own, and, also, how relevant the subject matter is to me now (what does it say about our world today). Third, even if everything doesn't add up perfectly, it doesn't necessarily make an SF novel bad or good. Take Dune, for example. In some ways, it's hard to believe that force shields and the spice could create a world with both space ships and lasguns, while the combat seems primarily hand to hand knife fighting (I consider this somewhat of an inconsistency, yet it is certainly debatable). The knife fighting, however, also serves to emphasize the feudal social structure of the Dune world (as well as the differences between Fremen and civilized culture) and enables the novel to become more socially cohenent. But this is just an example. Another thing I would note is that although Dune is considered one of the classic SF novels, it certainly has aspects of a fantasy: most of Dune technology doesn't seem like it could ever exist, despite its label technology (ex. Ghola genetic memory, off the top of my head). If this is what the article would call "degeneration" of the SF genre into fantasy, then I wouldn't necessarily be disappointed.
He was arrested on May 7 after confessing to German crime officials that he originally wanted to create a virus, Netsky, to remove two other viruses, MyDoom and Bagle, from infected computers. After developing several versions of Netsky, he created Sasser, according to the officials. It seems like his intentions were good. The virus didn't really do anything direct malicious, as far as I remember. It just spread so fast that it took up all the network bandwidth. I can see how people might want to be compensated for loss of revenue, but if they put him in jail it should be for negligently causing harm rather than a deliberate crime.
It looks like the phone is curved so that the earpiece and microphone fit for a right handed caller, but I guess lefties just have to hold it convex side facing front... unless there are actually speakers and microphones on both sides.