"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."
--Dr. Carl Sagan
But don't worry, we'll soon have machines to understand all that dull stuff for us.
I actually think talking about human colonization of space is misguided and horribly naive. Consider the effects of microgravity on human physiology. Unless you found a planet with gravity pretty similar to Earth's, you'd have to do some really freaky genetic engineering to create a human(?) that was adapted to say Mars or Moon gravity. At that point you're talking speciation anyway, I suspect. You could simulate Earth gravity on a very large space station, but I can't imagine that's a fun place to live in perpetuity.
The reason our space exploration is currently robotic is that it makes economic and practical sense. They don't have most of our frailties and needs. If we want to reach the stars, it would be a lot easier to figure out how to port ourselves to silicon than it would be to create space-faring human-like creatures. Sorry for invoking the Singularity, but I think it's a lot more likely than the space monkeys scenario.
I hope they are better at plant breeding than at marketing. Unless they are planning to grow the potatoes under water, there isn't going to be any more market for salt tolerant potatoes than there is now, no matter how high the seas rise.
True, I don't think sea levels are the problem. Seems like the real issue will be keeping up with demand for fresh water when higher temperatures melt the snow pack earlier each year and the world population continues growing. So, if you don't have to do much (any?) processing to sea water, there'd be much less strain on water resources with halophile crops.
Please select your response from the following/.-approved categories (check all that apply):
This project sucks because...
[ ] Microsoft is evil
[ ] They totally stole this idea from
[ ] They've never done ANYTHING original or noteworthy
[ ] EVERYTHING they do is about hurting consumers
[ ] did this 100 times better 10 years ago
[ ] Microsoft killed my family and made me watch
I'm assuming the MS system is going to have to rely on various gimmicks when you want to select something or fire a weapon or whatever..
Having the "body controller" doesn't preclude using a regular controller with buttons, triggers, etc. at the same time. A FPS with some kind of gun prop AND body control could be incredibly fun.
Sigh... What's with kids today? The poster was being satirical --in the spirit of Swift's Modest Proposal or Colbert. Sure, it took me a couple of sentences to catch on, but come on people, obviously dpbsmith is being funny. Please mod appropriately.
I haven't had a console since the N64. I'll probably grab one so I can play with the kids in a few years (when they're old enough to demand one), but I'm happy with the PC for now. It's much cheaper entertainment than the consoles thanks to great user-created mods and maps --and I don't really mind unobtrusive DRM. For instance, Steam is DRM done right (IMHO); Ubisoft is the devil. I've bought games from those jerks that I could only play 1 in 20 times thanks to their DRM fcking up the disc that they demand every time.
I just moved from a condo with a COA to a free-standing house with no HOA and I couldn't be happier. I really won't miss dealing with would-be dictators and arbitrarily applied rules while paying $300/month in association dues for the privilege. But on the other hand, one reason our dues were so high was because of neighbors not paying their share. Some places were foreclosed or abandoned (and banks won't pay the dues) and then there were assholes who just stopped paying dues --yet were able to buy luxury cars and display other conspicuous consumption. I think there needs to be some compassion in HOAs, but I can't stomach paying for scumbags (and banks) that are perfectly capable, but taking advantage of others instead.
A lot of posters seem to be missing the point. As this is slashdot, I do completely understand, but:
Ugh. Light jazz? What's that supposed to repel? People with taste?
Light jazz repels kids that want to look cool to their friends. As does classic country, etc. It isn't that the sound is repugnant to their ears, it just cramps their style and makes them less cool.
This really should have been obvious.
So obvious, in fact, that I didn't bother addressing it. I was taking an opportunity to make a disparaging comment about light "jazz" (which may be better than listening to kittens being bludgeoned to death, but it really cramps my style). Try to keep up.
A local coffee shop has done this for years. They're a little too close to the high school for comfort, so they installed a speaker outside playing classical/light jazz.
Ugh. Light jazz? What's that supposed to repel? People with taste? That crap is the worst kind of Muzak, not only repugnant to the senses, but the ultimate insult to what jazz is all about.
I honestly don't think the bias on their *news* programs are any worse than the other networks.
That is not to say anything about the quality of the programmes, on any network.
I used to think it was just O'Reilly, Hannity, and their other talking heads that were biased, but when I watched more closely I noticed that almost every time I watched over an hour of their "news" there was an obvious dig at a Democrat. For instance, I remember a seemingly apolitical story about the dangers of Ephedra and they just had to throw in something about it being legalized by the Clinton administration. (Like he oversaw every drug approval at the FDA!) Then there's the litany of so-called mistakes like replacing "R" with "D" next to the name of Republican politicians involved in a scandal, running misleading footage, or promoting and then covering right-wing events.
Every news network's main agenda is making money (not journalism), but Faux News is also obviously a political organization.
The occasion that amazes/shocks me the most is the long business call in the bathroom. Every couple of weeks I'll hear somebody inviting a business associate or significant other to come inside the boys' room and have a chat while listening to the sound of their own pissing or (horrors!) defecation. I'm no prude, but jeez... My dog's got a better sense of propriety than that.
The ugly truth about many prejudices is that when you know nothing but one little piece of information, they're usually better than a coin flip. (Of course, intelligent people always try to get more/better data and judge individuals, not generalities.)
When I see an AOL, Compuserve, or even Yahoo e-mail address, I usually suspect the person is either old, technologically hopeless, or conservative --likely all three. The constellation makes intuitive sense to me; these are folks that value familiarity over innovation. This is not an empirical assumption, but based off the e-mail forwards and forum posts I see from people on these services.
I use Fastmail.fm (a fantastic service) for my e-mail and I noticed something new in my inbox yesterday. Little icons now appear next to messages from LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. to indicate that the origin of the message has been verified through some new service called Truedomain. Anybody know the technical details?
Yeah... all the technology could be distracting. As an adult you kind of need to have some self-control and the sense to avoid doing stupid things that could get you killed or injured, like texting while adjusting the radio while eating while driving a speeding ton of metal down the road.
It sounds like the music-hating boss is a lost cause, but, if he's willing, you might try to educate him with a demonstration. Since he obviously doesn't code, perhaps you could have him solve a sudoku or logic puzzle while in the middle of a conversation-filled room (tell your fellow programmers to say his name occasionally so the cocktail effect kicks in). Time him, then give him a similar task with some innocuous electronica and time him again. And then he'll still probably want it his way, just to save face.
Sigh... It never ceases to amaze me how many people think the point of a justice system is to restore some magical cosmic balance. It isn't. The point is to protect the rights and safety of the rest of society --whether it's protection from murder or Bernie Madoff taking all your money. I believe in mercy, but at the end of the day "the system" should give utilitarian goals highest priority.
Actually, I think women will be some strange, never-before-seen shape and metallic by 2409 --maybe beings of pure energy. It's kind of funny to assume we'll still be simple biological entities at that point. Even if you think Kurzweil's estimates of the date of the Singularity are absurd, it's difficult to believe it won't have happened in under 400 years (barring some cataclysmic disaster, of course).
I really enjoy sci-fi with space-faring humans in the distant future and all that, but the robots are going to think that stuff is absolutely hilarious.
I remember, over ten years ago, a computer sci professor pointing out that it's all data --web sites, voice, video are all digital now. It's really comical to me that it's taken this long for people to come to terms with this fact (and that we're paying hundreds of dollars per MB for text messages). I don't think it will be long before everything we access over any network is subject to one fee schedule.
Slashdot Mirror
"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."
--Dr. Carl Sagan
But don't worry, we'll soon have machines to understand all that dull stuff for us.
Yeah... It would be 15 years old today if it were still alive.
(Coincidentally, 15 years is roughly 95 in IT years.)
I actually think talking about human colonization of space is misguided and horribly naive. Consider the effects of microgravity on human physiology. Unless you found a planet with gravity pretty similar to Earth's, you'd have to do some really freaky genetic engineering to create a human(?) that was adapted to say Mars or Moon gravity. At that point you're talking speciation anyway, I suspect. You could simulate Earth gravity on a very large space station, but I can't imagine that's a fun place to live in perpetuity.
The reason our space exploration is currently robotic is that it makes economic and practical sense. They don't have most of our frailties and needs. If we want to reach the stars, it would be a lot easier to figure out how to port ourselves to silicon than it would be to create space-faring human-like creatures. Sorry for invoking the Singularity, but I think it's a lot more likely than the space monkeys scenario.
But... Until everyone has nasty little deals to favor certain content, I'll do everything I can to NOT do business with such evil companies.
I hope they are better at plant breeding than at marketing. Unless they are planning to grow the potatoes under water, there isn't going to be any more market for salt tolerant potatoes than there is now, no matter how high the seas rise.
True, I don't think sea levels are the problem. Seems like the real issue will be keeping up with demand for fresh water when higher temperatures melt the snow pack earlier each year and the world population continues growing. So, if you don't have to do much (any?) processing to sea water, there'd be much less strain on water resources with halophile crops.
Please select your response from the following /.-approved categories (check all that apply):
This project sucks because...
[ ] Microsoft is evil
[ ] They totally stole this idea from
[ ] They've never done ANYTHING original or noteworthy
[ ] EVERYTHING they do is about hurting consumers
[ ] did this 100 times better 10 years ago
[ ] Microsoft killed my family and made me watch
The important question I'm asking myself is, how can I make an easy buck selling concerned parents binaural beat testing kits?
Advertising has gone too far already with being microtargeted, someone has to draw the line.
Try to look at the upside; do you really want to watch ads for feminine hygiene products?
IBM's Watson and now this... Skynet and a liquid metal T-1000 can't be far away.
I'm assuming the MS system is going to have to rely on various gimmicks when you want to select something or fire a weapon or whatever..
Having the "body controller" doesn't preclude using a regular controller with buttons, triggers, etc. at the same time. A FPS with some kind of gun prop AND body control could be incredibly fun.
Do cars make humanity faster or slower?
Are we talking about our ability to get places in a hurry? Or our ability to run?
Sigh... What's with kids today? The poster was being satirical --in the spirit of Swift's Modest Proposal or Colbert. Sure, it took me a couple of sentences to catch on, but come on people, obviously dpbsmith is being funny. Please mod appropriately.
I haven't had a console since the N64. I'll probably grab one so I can play with the kids in a few years (when they're old enough to demand one), but I'm happy with the PC for now. It's much cheaper entertainment than the consoles thanks to great user-created mods and maps --and I don't really mind unobtrusive DRM. For instance, Steam is DRM done right (IMHO); Ubisoft is the devil. I've bought games from those jerks that I could only play 1 in 20 times thanks to their DRM fcking up the disc that they demand every time.
I just moved from a condo with a COA to a free-standing house with no HOA and I couldn't be happier. I really won't miss dealing with would-be dictators and arbitrarily applied rules while paying $300/month in association dues for the privilege. But on the other hand, one reason our dues were so high was because of neighbors not paying their share. Some places were foreclosed or abandoned (and banks won't pay the dues) and then there were assholes who just stopped paying dues --yet were able to buy luxury cars and display other conspicuous consumption. I think there needs to be some compassion in HOAs, but I can't stomach paying for scumbags (and banks) that are perfectly capable, but taking advantage of others instead.
A lot of posters seem to be missing the point. As this is slashdot, I do completely understand, but:
Ugh. Light jazz? What's that supposed to repel? People with taste?
Light jazz repels kids that want to look cool to their friends. As does classic country, etc. It isn't that the sound is repugnant to their ears, it just cramps their style and makes them less cool.
This really should have been obvious.
So obvious, in fact, that I didn't bother addressing it. I was taking an opportunity to make a disparaging comment about light "jazz" (which may be better than listening to kittens being bludgeoned to death, but it really cramps my style). Try to keep up.
A local coffee shop has done this for years. They're a little too close to the high school for comfort, so they installed a speaker outside playing classical/light jazz.
Ugh. Light jazz? What's that supposed to repel? People with taste? That crap is the worst kind of Muzak, not only repugnant to the senses, but the ultimate insult to what jazz is all about.
I honestly don't think the bias on their *news* programs are any worse than the other networks.
That is not to say anything about the quality of the programmes, on any network.
I used to think it was just O'Reilly, Hannity, and their other talking heads that were biased, but when I watched more closely I noticed that almost every time I watched over an hour of their "news" there was an obvious dig at a Democrat. For instance, I remember a seemingly apolitical story about the dangers of Ephedra and they just had to throw in something about it being legalized by the Clinton administration. (Like he oversaw every drug approval at the FDA!) Then there's the litany of so-called mistakes like replacing "R" with "D" next to the name of Republican politicians involved in a scandal, running misleading footage, or promoting and then covering right-wing events.
Every news network's main agenda is making money (not journalism), but Faux News is also obviously a political organization.
The occasion that amazes/shocks me the most is the long business call in the bathroom. Every couple of weeks I'll hear somebody inviting a business associate or significant other to come inside the boys' room and have a chat while listening to the sound of their own pissing or (horrors!) defecation. I'm no prude, but jeez... My dog's got a better sense of propriety than that.
The ugly truth about many prejudices is that when you know nothing but one little piece of information, they're usually better than a coin flip. (Of course, intelligent people always try to get more/better data and judge individuals, not generalities.)
When I see an AOL, Compuserve, or even Yahoo e-mail address, I usually suspect the person is either old, technologically hopeless, or conservative --likely all three. The constellation makes intuitive sense to me; these are folks that value familiarity over innovation. This is not an empirical assumption, but based off the e-mail forwards and forum posts I see from people on these services.
I use Fastmail.fm (a fantastic service) for my e-mail and I noticed something new in my inbox yesterday. Little icons now appear next to messages from LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. to indicate that the origin of the message has been verified through some new service called Truedomain. Anybody know the technical details?
Yeah... all the technology could be distracting. As an adult you kind of need to have some self-control and the sense to avoid doing stupid things that could get you killed or injured, like texting while adjusting the radio while eating while driving a speeding ton of metal down the road.
It sounds like the music-hating boss is a lost cause, but, if he's willing, you might try to educate him with a demonstration. Since he obviously doesn't code, perhaps you could have him solve a sudoku or logic puzzle while in the middle of a conversation-filled room (tell your fellow programmers to say his name occasionally so the cocktail effect kicks in). Time him, then give him a similar task with some innocuous electronica and time him again. And then he'll still probably want it his way, just to save face.
Sigh... It never ceases to amaze me how many people think the point of a justice system is to restore some magical cosmic balance. It isn't. The point is to protect the rights and safety of the rest of society --whether it's protection from murder or Bernie Madoff taking all your money. I believe in mercy, but at the end of the day "the system" should give utilitarian goals highest priority.
Actually, I think women will be some strange, never-before-seen shape and metallic by 2409 --maybe beings of pure energy. It's kind of funny to assume we'll still be simple biological entities at that point. Even if you think Kurzweil's estimates of the date of the Singularity are absurd, it's difficult to believe it won't have happened in under 400 years (barring some cataclysmic disaster, of course).
I really enjoy sci-fi with space-faring humans in the distant future and all that, but the robots are going to think that stuff is absolutely hilarious.
I remember, over ten years ago, a computer sci professor pointing out that it's all data --web sites, voice, video are all digital now. It's really comical to me that it's taken this long for people to come to terms with this fact (and that we're paying hundreds of dollars per MB for text messages). I don't think it will be long before everything we access over any network is subject to one fee schedule.