Yesterday, while sitting at my desk, my attention was drawn across the entire room by some blinding, seizure-inducing flash ad. It was blinking dark-gray to light-gray about every millisecond. I second this motion.
I'm not too worried. Personally, I see the internet merely as a passing fad.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how one becomes a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.
Seriously though, this whole thread is refreshingly optimistic. Let me be the pessimist: it isn't just inefficiency that will stop the advent of this new technology. The oil industry is keeping a lot of powerful people rich, who could give a flip about anything new or better. It also gives a seemingly great reason for the US to exert its global muscle.
Now I want to respond seriously to the Anonymous Coward who frowns on the use of the word pedantic. Some of us have a vocabulary, something that's good for self expression. It does not make us pricks, we are not speaking with condescension (well you know, some of us). I really get riled when someone lashes out at another because they say "whom" or because they don't otherwise contribute to what is, in my opinion, the language being dumbed down.
If the Family Guy can get a new word out to the masses, then I applaud it (moreso). Screw you, consciousness shrinker.
The viability of a self-policing society is a very loaded philosophical proposition. I think the issue here can be simplified.
space_dude appeals to an ultimate authority that exists necessarily, maintaining the viability of self-policing society. Very deep dualism happening, yes.
But imagine if slashdot admins had significantly less capability to regulate. In the issue at hand (phising sites), there is no woman-in-a-chair somewhere who can click-click the problem away. Even if this situation is ideal to protect people on the 'net from scammers, it is not an option.
Of the given alternatives, I choose vigilantism over turning safety into another commodity (echoing thought: fuck the industry, I don't want to buy another anti-scammer software package, hear hear!). Furthermore, I haven't heard a better fix yet, so I won't reject the vigilantes on a basis of idealism, although I acknowledge space_dude's deeper considerations.
Slashdot Mirror
Yesterday, while sitting at my desk, my attention was drawn across the entire room by some blinding, seizure-inducing flash ad. It was blinking dark-gray to light-gray about every millisecond. I second this motion.
I'm not too worried. Personally, I see the internet merely as a passing fad. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how one becomes a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.
This thread is so puerile.
Seriously though, this whole thread is refreshingly optimistic. Let me be the pessimist: it isn't just inefficiency that will stop the advent of this new technology. The oil industry is keeping a lot of powerful people rich, who could give a flip about anything new or better. It also gives a seemingly great reason for the US to exert its global muscle.
Now I want to respond seriously to the Anonymous Coward who frowns on the use of the word pedantic. Some of us have a vocabulary, something that's good for self expression. It does not make us pricks, we are not speaking with condescension (well you know, some of us). I really get riled when someone lashes out at another because they say "whom" or because they don't otherwise contribute to what is, in my opinion, the language being dumbed down.
If the Family Guy can get a new word out to the masses, then I applaud it (moreso). Screw you, consciousness shrinker.
The viability of a self-policing society is a very loaded philosophical proposition. I think the issue here can be simplified.
space_dude appeals to an ultimate authority that exists necessarily, maintaining the viability of self-policing society. Very deep dualism happening, yes.
But imagine if slashdot admins had significantly less capability to regulate. In the issue at hand (phising sites), there is no woman-in-a-chair somewhere who can click-click the problem away. Even if this situation is ideal to protect people on the 'net from scammers, it is not an option.
Of the given alternatives, I choose vigilantism over turning safety into another commodity (echoing thought: fuck the industry, I don't want to buy another anti-scammer software package, hear hear!). Furthermore, I haven't heard a better fix yet, so I won't reject the vigilantes on a basis of idealism, although I acknowledge space_dude's deeper considerations.