I agree with the Chinese guy from the game Deus Ex, who says that government needs to be brought to a level that people can comprehend. Of course, he wanted to bring about a new dark age to accomplish that, which is why I don't usually pick his side at the end...
That would be Tracer Tong. One of the problems with the real world's secret surveillance programs is how little we're allowed to know, which makes conspiracy theories that much more credible.
I've been thinking about David Brin's book The Transparent Society. His argument is that the cameras are coming -- the police are planning to use them in America, and Englishmen are already submitting to an even worse version -- so what we should do is make sure the cameras aim both ways. I don't want to be tracked this way, but if the cops are going to be monitoring my movements this way when I'm doing nothing wrong, I want to be able to track what they're doing.
Do you trust the government to be the only one with these tools?
As a law student, I agree that the law is far too complicated. Understanding your own country's laws should not take a graduate-level education. If the laws are incomprehensible to the average citizen, how can we call them democratic? I'd like to have not just "civics," but the basics of torts, contracts and civil procedure taught in grade school!
In defense of the law, though, look at the Model Penal Code, which attempts to declare that "everything not forbidden is allowed."
TV... license? I had to look this up. The UK is an example of how bureaucracy can't be trusted to protect people from being ripped off or oppressed -- you can fight corporations, but how do you (peacefully) fight a government agency? At least with a private agency there's often an option to go to a competitor.
"Have a pleasant evening."
Although Greenpeace still opposes all nuclear power -- a Google search for them showed a victim of Chernobyl, with no mention of the less-glamorous pollution you cite -- one of the group's founders has called nuclear "an environmentally sound and safe choice." As I understand it the nuclear plant designs have improved considerably over the last few decades; I'd rather live near a newly-built nuke plant than near a coal plant.
Re: environmentalists opposing wind power, I recently saw an article about this. One argument they made was that the windmills would kill birds -- can't use a power source that harms any living thing in any way! Worse, it just so happens that Sen. Ted Kennedy opposes a wind farm that would spoil the view from his mansion. It's not even a reasonable aesthetic complaint -- the windmills are neat-looking. "More than 17 government agencies" are involved in the permiting process.
My father and I, both smart people, had trouble figuring out how to use one of those machines. It took longer than a human cashier would have, first of all. Second, we had to pay with a $100 bill, which required having a human attendant run off and delay us while he got change. We took the food and the money and walked out... only to be stopped in the parking lot and asked if we planned to pay! The clerk had handed us $100 change for our $100 rather than, you know, deducting the price of the goods we'd scanned in, so that we were still expected to feed bills to the machine. Upshot: slow service plus extra hassle, all for the store's convenience. I have no intention of using these machines again. Nor do I plan to get a "frequent shopper card" and have the Giant/NSA complex or whoever analyzing my purchases.
Oh -- I'm too young to know, but I'm told that when ATMs were introduced, banks said they were a money-saving measure. And then started charging fees to recoup the extra costs of those expensive machines. And then continued charging those fees. How long before you get to pay for the privilege of scanning and bagging your own groceries?
I've just endured a hard drive failure on a Win XP laptop, and am thinking about Ubuntu as a dual install. But in my short experience with an Ubuntu Live CD, I couldn't figure out how to get the programs I need working:
-Basic firewall/antivirus
-Support for my USB drive (just plugging it in didn't work) so I can actuall transfer files
-Support for my wireless card (D-Link)
-Finding Python's IDLE, for programming
-Building distributable versions of my Python programs equivalent to EXEs so that I don't have to give away my source code
I'm told I should find the program "Partition Magic" and use it to reserve some space for Linux, then install it. Any advice?
I wonder why this is. From studying a little Japanese history it seems that the Japanese might be more comfortable with adopting advanced technology, having gone from feudal society to high-tech empire in one lifetime (1853-1900). Is that the reason, or is it something else?
How does this thing compare to the RoboSapien v2? If I got into robotics, it'd be for the sake of messing with AI, not developing the ability to hold panels for construction workers. I'd want a hassle-free programming interface, ideally with Python, and wouldn't care about the exact hardware. What market exactly is this thing meant to appeal to?
Oh, but haven't you heard Molyneux is working on some new games? He promises they're going to have features, and gameplay, and be the most amazing things ever!
RPGamer.com celebrated 1998 Oct. 1, "The END DAY" in the obscure NES game "Crystalis," and remade the whole page for the "Day of Lavos" in 1999. (Which was strange, since I don't think "Chrono Trigger" even gave the day of the year.)
Wal-Mart is a big backer of RFID tech. The company set a 2005 deadline for its 100 top suppliers to use it on pallets of products (rather than individual cereal boxes), and tested the tech in Texas in 2004. Wal-Mart reported some success, but there were also problems. Not sure what the latest news is.
If such chips are going to be everywhere, then we should encourage everyone to have readers for them so that the information on them is in everyone's hands, not just governments' and corporations'. For an example of how people could use this tech, see the cyberpunk story "Maneki Neko," about a Web-mediated barter club.
I like it -- the US has never formally claimed "its" slice, so there's a big unclaimed area... But what about floating colonies instead? Better weather. =)
The problem isn't that it's theoretically impossible -- after all, we could implant radios in people's heads -- but that there's no solid evidence for it despite much searching, yet people continue to believe. It's as though people had dragged nets back and forth across Loch Ness, dropped depth charges into it etc., yet large numbers of people still were confident that a big monster is hidden in it. Similarly, people remain convinced that prayer heals the sick, despite the fact that the studies say it's just a placebo. (A book I saw attempting to present evidence to the contrary couldn't find one study that they wouldn't admit had mediocre results or severe flaws.) When you look and look and find nothing, wouldn't a reasonable tentative conclusion be that the thing you're looking for doesn't exist?
I agree. As much as I oppose the Creationists and the "Heather" curriculum, I'd rather have some schools teach things that I think are stupid than have a central authority design a one-size-fits-all curriculum that appeals to the lowest common denominator. I'm skeptical also of this heavily Web-based school -- look at this "day in the life" description -- but would like to see it, and a variety of other approaches, allowed to continue.
I think that once the right tools are out there, a lot of games will get remade by fans or even the same companies. For instance, there's a fan-made Secret Maryo Chronicles, and a versatile Zelda Classic. Ecco the Dolphin has a following, too; I recently saw a weird Diablo-like top-down dolphin game called Finlay's Fathoms, and once built part of the physics for a side-view dolphin game using the engine Verge2.
The key to making games possible to upgrade is to separate graphics cleanly from gameplay. In some projects of mine, I've done this so much that the game is playable in a pure-text mode, with the entire graphics system (not just the graphics themselves) being possible to swap out.
"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
I think the quote's out of context though. The first talkie movie was Al Jolston's "The Jazz Singer," in which singing was the "killer app." It still seems to be, in India.
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Is this serious? It sounds like a bizarrely complicated way to do a simple board game.
Maybe it's so that NSA can look for suspicious Monopoly activity.
I agree with the Chinese guy from the game Deus Ex, who says that government needs to be brought to a level that people can comprehend. Of course, he wanted to bring about a new dark age to accomplish that, which is why I don't usually pick his side at the end...
That would be Tracer Tong. One of the problems with the real world's secret surveillance programs is how little we're allowed to know, which makes conspiracy theories that much more credible.
I've been thinking about David Brin's book The Transparent Society. His argument is that the cameras are coming -- the police are planning to use them in America, and Englishmen are already submitting to an even worse version -- so what we should do is make sure the cameras aim both ways. I don't want to be tracked this way, but if the cops are going to be monitoring my movements this way when I'm doing nothing wrong, I want to be able to track what they're doing.
Do you trust the government to be the only one with these tools?
"And quit rubbing that plastic bar of soap around on the desk!" -Strong Bad
As a law student, I agree that the law is far too complicated. Understanding your own country's laws should not take a graduate-level education. If the laws are incomprehensible to the average citizen, how can we call them democratic? I'd like to have not just "civics," but the basics of torts, contracts and civil procedure taught in grade school!
In defense of the law, though, look at the Model Penal Code, which attempts to declare that "everything not forbidden is allowed."
TV... license? I had to look this up. The UK is an example of how bureaucracy can't be trusted to protect people from being ripped off or oppressed -- you can fight corporations, but how do you (peacefully) fight a government agency? At least with a private agency there's often an option to go to a competitor. "Have a pleasant evening."
Although Greenpeace still opposes all nuclear power -- a Google search for them showed a victim of Chernobyl, with no mention of the less-glamorous pollution you cite -- one of the group's founders has called nuclear "an environmentally sound and safe choice." As I understand it the nuclear plant designs have improved considerably over the last few decades; I'd rather live near a newly-built nuke plant than near a coal plant.
Re: environmentalists opposing wind power, I recently saw an article about this. One argument they made was that the windmills would kill birds -- can't use a power source that harms any living thing in any way! Worse, it just so happens that Sen. Ted Kennedy opposes a wind farm that would spoil the view from his mansion. It's not even a reasonable aesthetic complaint -- the windmills are neat-looking. "More than 17 government agencies" are involved in the permiting process.
My father and I, both smart people, had trouble figuring out how to use one of those machines. It took longer than a human cashier would have, first of all. Second, we had to pay with a $100 bill, which required having a human attendant run off and delay us while he got change. We took the food and the money and walked out... only to be stopped in the parking lot and asked if we planned to pay! The clerk had handed us $100 change for our $100 rather than, you know, deducting the price of the goods we'd scanned in, so that we were still expected to feed bills to the machine. Upshot: slow service plus extra hassle, all for the store's convenience. I have no intention of using these machines again. Nor do I plan to get a "frequent shopper card" and have the Giant/NSA complex or whoever analyzing my purchases.
Oh -- I'm too young to know, but I'm told that when ATMs were introduced, banks said they were a money-saving measure. And then started charging fees to recoup the extra costs of those expensive machines. And then continued charging those fees. How long before you get to pay for the privilege of scanning and bagging your own groceries?
I've just endured a hard drive failure on a Win XP laptop, and am thinking about Ubuntu as a dual install. But in my short experience with an Ubuntu Live CD, I couldn't figure out how to get the programs I need working: -Basic firewall/antivirus -Support for my USB drive (just plugging it in didn't work) so I can actuall transfer files -Support for my wireless card (D-Link) -Finding Python's IDLE, for programming -Building distributable versions of my Python programs equivalent to EXEs so that I don't have to give away my source code I'm told I should find the program "Partition Magic" and use it to reserve some space for Linux, then install it. Any advice?
I wonder why this is. From studying a little Japanese history it seems that the Japanese might be more comfortable with adopting advanced technology, having gone from feudal society to high-tech empire in one lifetime (1853-1900). Is that the reason, or is it something else?
Anyone else want to join on a raid to capture the people behind Fallout and the entire Baldur Gate line of games...
I would, but from playing recent RPGs I think I'd have to level up first by massacring slimes.
I read that interview and wasted my time.
Molyneux: I'm working on new games! They're incredible! They've got amazing new features I can't tell you about!
Call me back when you have a screenshot or something.
Really? It was a good game, but I didn't know it was popular. How about Terranigma?
How does this thing compare to the RoboSapien v2? If I got into robotics, it'd be for the sake of messing with AI, not developing the ability to hold panels for construction workers. I'd want a hassle-free programming interface, ideally with Python, and wouldn't care about the exact hardware. What market exactly is this thing meant to appeal to?
Oh, but haven't you heard Molyneux is working on some new games? He promises they're going to have features, and gameplay, and be the most amazing things ever!
RPGamer.com celebrated 1998 Oct. 1, "The END DAY" in the obscure NES game "Crystalis," and remade the whole page for the "Day of Lavos" in 1999. (Which was strange, since I don't think "Chrono Trigger" even gave the day of the year.)
Wal-Mart is a big backer of RFID tech. The company set a 2005 deadline for its 100 top suppliers to use it on pallets of products (rather than individual cereal boxes), and tested the tech in Texas in 2004. Wal-Mart reported some success, but there were also problems. Not sure what the latest news is. If such chips are going to be everywhere, then we should encourage everyone to have readers for them so that the information on them is in everyone's hands, not just governments' and corporations'. For an example of how people could use this tech, see the cyberpunk story "Maneki Neko," about a Web-mediated barter club.
I like it -- the US has never formally claimed "its" slice, so there's a big unclaimed area... But what about floating colonies instead? Better weather. =)
Glad I live in a country with a constitution, even if it gets ignored sometimes. Englishmen, please, run while you can.
The problem isn't that it's theoretically impossible -- after all, we could implant radios in people's heads -- but that there's no solid evidence for it despite much searching, yet people continue to believe. It's as though people had dragged nets back and forth across Loch Ness, dropped depth charges into it etc., yet large numbers of people still were confident that a big monster is hidden in it. Similarly, people remain convinced that prayer heals the sick, despite the fact that the studies say it's just a placebo. (A book I saw attempting to present evidence to the contrary couldn't find one study that they wouldn't admit had mediocre results or severe flaws.) When you look and look and find nothing, wouldn't a reasonable tentative conclusion be that the thing you're looking for doesn't exist?
The limitation on AI right now is on what it should do, not on raw hardware power. It could be implemented on existing hardware if we only knew how!
I agree. As much as I oppose the Creationists and the "Heather" curriculum, I'd rather have some schools teach things that I think are stupid than have a central authority design a one-size-fits-all curriculum that appeals to the lowest common denominator. I'm skeptical also of this heavily Web-based school -- look at this "day in the life" description -- but would like to see it, and a variety of other approaches, allowed to continue.
I think that once the right tools are out there, a lot of games will get remade by fans or even the same companies. For instance, there's a fan-made Secret Maryo Chronicles, and a versatile Zelda Classic. Ecco the Dolphin has a following, too; I recently saw a weird Diablo-like top-down dolphin game called Finlay's Fathoms, and once built part of the physics for a side-view dolphin game using the engine Verge2.
The key to making games possible to upgrade is to separate graphics cleanly from gameplay. In some projects of mine, I've done this so much that the game is playable in a pure-text mode, with the entire graphics system (not just the graphics themselves) being possible to swap out.
"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" I think the quote's out of context though. The first talkie movie was Al Jolston's "The Jazz Singer," in which singing was the "killer app." It still seems to be, in India.
Don't forget the drug dealers!