... And then person number 10,000,000,001 becomes the "last person". My only assumption is that the free rider problem still exists, and you have yet to address it. Why should I be one of the billion people to volunteer my money, when I will enjoy the rewards if I just wait for someone else to do it?
Let's say you are the last person to decide whether or not he wishes to contribute. You will be getting the $10B return even if you contribute nothing. The opportunity cost (which is $10) FAR outweighs the theoretical benefit (a 0.0000001% difference in the R&D budget), so an individual acting rationally in his own self interest would opt not to contribute. Your system, without modification, would result in a tragedy of the commons.
Sorry for being elitist, but this IS Slashdot after all. Try picking up an economics textbook before you try solving the world's intellectual property problems.
Your idea is similar to that of the Free software bounty. However, it may result in a "free rider problem" - if 999,999,999 people have already promised $10 for that cure, there is no incentive for that last person to pledge their share. As the pot grows, people will receive more of a benefit by paying for existing treatments for themselves than pitching in for further research.
Not to say that this or a similar system couldn't work, but this is a serious problem that would need to be addressed.
So what does it say about our government when it has grown so complex that even senators often do not fully understand their votes? The problem isn't just the people - there are many different ways to address voter fatigue. The problem is the fact that we have a bloated, corrupt government.
I think you're missing why we Slashdotters buy them. I've got one, and it DEFINITELY helps this awkward geek to be in the middle of a darkened, vacant movie theater with a woman. I even invested in a special darkening device for use during the day!
The page should scroll down for only two or three screens, not six. "This site is disproportionate," Narang says.
1. So you should only be viewing the site in a full screen window on a 4:3 screen, with a specific resolution and text size, with no sidebars open? Because that's the only way everyone would have the same height/width ratio. I bet this analyst wishes the web was all in PDF.
2. I hate having to click "next page" on sites where the content is mostly text. It's just another set of ads to view and another pause for the page to load.
Statistically speaking, it's likely that a sizable percentage of these students download copyrighted material from the Internet. Do you think any of them are concerned about IP rights then?
What sort of twisted logic is this? I guess statistically speaking, college students should never speak out against premarital sex or binge drinking either. This fool is implying that a group of people (united only by the fact that they are pursuing an education) are less deserving of certain rights than the general population.
Not to mention that I "downloaded copyrighted material" when I loaded this page, but he is clearly referring to illegal downloads.
Um, "just enough to keep honest men honest" would be a paypal (or the like) icon on your site. If you need any sort of DRM, then you're telling the honest men that even they cannot be trusted.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if the reduced insurance rates would be worth the increased cost of the car due to this fancy system.
Why the ancient (2002) article? No one's puzzled any more; we know now that if you use aged DNA, you will have an aged clone.
... And then person number 10,000,000,001 becomes the "last person". My only assumption is that the free rider problem still exists, and you have yet to address it. Why should I be one of the billion people to volunteer my money, when I will enjoy the rewards if I just wait for someone else to do it?
Let's say you are the last person to decide whether or not he wishes to contribute. You will be getting the $10B return even if you contribute nothing. The opportunity cost (which is $10) FAR outweighs the theoretical benefit (a 0.0000001% difference in the R&D budget), so an individual acting rationally in his own self interest would opt not to contribute. Your system, without modification, would result in a tragedy of the commons.
Sorry for being elitist, but this IS Slashdot after all. Try picking up an economics textbook before you try solving the world's intellectual property problems.
Your idea is similar to that of the Free software bounty. However, it may result in a "free rider problem" - if 999,999,999 people have already promised $10 for that cure, there is no incentive for that last person to pledge their share. As the pot grows, people will receive more of a benefit by paying for existing treatments for themselves than pitching in for further research.
Not to say that this or a similar system couldn't work, but this is a serious problem that would need to be addressed.
That site crashed my browser!
(Granted, I'm running Firefox 2 on Kubuntu, which crashes every time I load a page with HTML in it.)
This almost seems to indicate... that taxing phone use is an inherently stupid idea! *gasp*
So what does it say about our government when it has grown so complex that even senators often do not fully understand their votes? The problem isn't just the people - there are many different ways to address voter fatigue. The problem is the fact that we have a bloated, corrupt government.
Ironically, the "Your Rights Online" section is the only one blocked where I work.
I think you're missing why we Slashdotters buy them. I've got one, and it DEFINITELY helps this awkward geek to be in the middle of a darkened, vacant movie theater with a woman. I even invested in a special darkening device for use during the day!
Perhaps if we ever colonize Mars, someone will stumble upon its wreckage.
Wow, I've never heard of Microsoft using power responsibly before.
2. I hate having to click "next page" on sites where the content is mostly text. It's just another set of ads to view and another pause for the page to load.
Keep in mind there's only one math, and it makes sense. There are thousands of langages, and none of them make any damn sense.
Ever hear of
?
Uh, you can go ahead and keep looking forward to that rapture of yours. I'm going to actually do something and boycott the RIAA.
That's "United Federation of Planets". SOMEONE SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD.
Well, we are talking about brain diseases here. Look who we voted into office!
I feel for you, dude. The government oppressed me the time I added rocket boosters to my ride.
Have you ever tried to USE Orkut? They do a GREAT job of keeping you from entering any personal information.
Um, "just enough to keep honest men honest" would be a paypal (or the like) icon on your site. If you need any sort of DRM, then you're telling the honest men that even they cannot be trusted.