As to privacy related to memories. Well, I would suggest that this machine isn't capable of reading a person's memories at all. However, I do think that this should be voluntary only. After all, there are many memories not related to the alleged crime that would have to be "read". Not only that (at least in the USA), all information "found" not related to the "crime" should not be able to be used by law enforcement.
Great, now on the next round of polygraphs, instead of the 'lifestyle' series of questions, I'll have to think of nothing but fields of daisies. Nice fluffy white daisies, and clouds.
Hey, that cloud kind of looks like a... *BZZZZZT*
On a serious note, I do not agree with this type of technology at all. There are some things that just shouldn't be done/allowed voluntary or not. When it is 'voluntary' eventually it becomes 'customary'. How often do you read in a news article that someone convicted of a crime had the audacity to refuse a polygraph? How long before someone is identified as refusing one of these scans?
Eventually you will start to see police/military/'tech' companies, and any other industry that has the extra cash and wants to boost their investor pool by claiming to 'scan all potential employees to ensure the highest level of quality and security'. That is not something I would look forward to. I'm no luddite, but developing this is scary stuff.
A bad doctor treats symptoms without addressing the underlying ailment. With China and India (1/3 of the world's population), and other parts of the world booming, the release of greenhouse gasses is only going to accelerate. If we took this money and invested it into researching and implementing green alternatives to our current fossil-fuel infrastructure instead, more progress would be made in the long run.
However, sometimes the underlying ailment is chronic and unable to be cured. In those situations, you have to adapt to the symptoms because the cause isn't going away. So with the world booming, what do you propose that will end the cause? You don't know that what you propose is possible, nor if it will actually solve the problem. And that, IS the problem. Climate change is going to happen, and nothing humanity can do will stop it, even if we vanished from the earth, the climate would continue to change.
What we need to do is determine a good medium between conservation efforts, and adaptation efforts. So cut back on our use of fossil fuels for transportation, but also work to move some communities from sea level elevations.
My argument against 'junk' DNA and similar things;
If it costs energy to do, then there is likely a reason it is being done. Otherwise, we would probably see it 'phased' out due to natural selection pressures.
That doesn't mean that a lot of them are not easily tracked even by amateur astronomers. It is tricky to make something that can see you, but you not be able to see it.
From what I hear, it's a pretty nice company to work for. Too nice in fact.
The guy who was my Best Man at my wedding works there. You guys really need to let him out more. He likes it too much, and his family and friends miss him.
Oh there is plenty to 'see' regarding a black hole.
Nearby matter will be falling into it, releasing energy. If it is spinning you may be able to observe some frame dragging. Light coming from behind it will experience gravitational lensing.
The thing itself may be black, but it certainly interacts with its surroundings.
"According to Ars Technica, Google's EULA for Chrome was just copy-and-pasted from its EULA for other services, a practice that is apparently common at Google."
Why the hell do they think they need an "EULA" or "TOS" for a supposedly Open Source program at all? Doesn't Google run these things pas their lawyers? Or do they and this is the result?
Open Source doesn't mean much at all.
It doesn't matter if you give the person the sourcecode or not, quite often licensing agreements are there to limit the liability of the company providing the software. Not all companies expect to have the same liability, so not all licensing agreements are the same.
For my personal tastes, I don't care for the GPL. I don't agree with some portions of it. Therefore I don't release software licensed under it. I do, however, provide the code when requested and I also include terms that protect me from lawsuits should someone decide that my program fried their internets.
There isn't just 'open source', there are many licenses out there and it is impossible to assume that something called 'open' is exactly the same as some other 'open' program.
And to think that I hated that line. Unfortunately for the life from a meteorite theory, computer viruses are a bit more resiliant to the extremes of space.
I was intending to build a semi-headless fileserver/media center (the display was my HDTV) and intended to spend no more than $500. I did get it done for $400 with minor part reuse (keyboard/mouse/CD drive) but spent a large part of it on RAM and a moderate quality video card.
I've been able to run most games on it at 1920x1080 resolution with no graphics issues. I've been trying the warhammer beta on it with no major issues either.
I just can't see what a 10k system could get you. Above 800-1000 with today's tech will definately start to see diminishing returns at a FAST pace.
Might I recommend that we use blank ballots?
Create pads of ballots in a similar way to how NY state deals with prescription pads for doctors. They are numbered and contain a few anti-tamper mechanisms (so no swapping amoxacillin for morphine).
You register, and you get your ballot that simply has the offices that are up for election this time. Then you have to write in the name of the candidate you want for each office. No pre-entered names, no 'vote the party' options.
But that would probably be too simple, and too fair. (And far too immune to tampering by the existing parties)
Sorry for the formatting of my previous post. I forgot I had HTML enabled. In addition to the registering of equipment I would suggest the following.
a. Enough volunteers to patrol the gaming areas. Keeping food off tables. Making sure that people aren't damaging equipment, helping them troubleshoot. A good team of volunteers on a regular schedule will help.
b. ban the backpacks. In my day, gaming laptops didn't exist, but I could see how this would be an issue today.
C. Provide transportation in and out of the gaming area. Registration is easier if your volunteers are helping carry out the equipment. Maybe even require that equipment in and out of the LAN area be on an open cart?
Remember that the LAN that we worked on was a major event and it was continuous for 48 hours, so it required shifts of volunteers, and a larger volume of equipment and people than a typical evening only LAN party. The checkpoints and padlocks may be overkill for your event. It worked for us, and tailor your plan accordingly.
We held a multi-day LAN party for nearly 100 people. This was an open LAN and also during PSU's dance marathon weekend. In otherwords, there were thousands of people going in and out over the course of the LAN party.
One of the method's that we used was to control the entry and exit points of the LAN. When people arrived, we had them enter the serial number of the more expensive portions of their equipment. Mice and Keyboards we ignored, but Cases and Monitors were checked in. When you wanted to leave, you had to go by our desk again and sign out. It was obvious if someone was leaving with a tower or monitor, so it was simple to check.
We also had Gamecubes setup with projectors. For those devices we locked the gamecubes in an AV cabinet and wrapped the controller's cords through a padlock to prevent people from walking with the controllers. I think the worst we encountered were a few lost dongles from the Xbox controllers (not stolen, just lost in the shuffle and found much later).
So, padlocks for the console controllers, registered equipment, and checkpoints at entry/exit chokepoints. I don't believe that we had anyone report any stolen equipment which was quite amazing for an open lan at a major university.
Except that at this point, it doesn't really feel like being an 'early adopter' with an iPhone. The iPhone itself has been out for over a year. It isn't magic. This isn't some amazingly new technology. There ARE other phones that can perform on 3g networks.
This is certainly not the 'bleeding edge'. If the iPhone claimed to use 4g technology, then I'd expect some issues, but this is mundane stuff that already exists across several commercial vendors.
It is irrational to attack the customers for not expecting problems with a fairly established technology. And it is unfair to expect them to wonder about cellphone antenna/chip design when they are just purchasing a phone. For a mass-market push, it is up to the corporation to perform due dilligence testing and accept the consequences if they miss something.
I have never met a single iPhone user who has had extensive use of a smart phone. Most iPhone users probably couldn't even come up with a somewhat accurate definition of a smart phone. Most probably know nothing about PalmOS or WindowsCE. Your remark is FUD, at best.
If his remark is FUD, then you remark is pure bullshit.
I have an iPhone and I still have my vx6700. I have tinkered the hell with my vx6700 in order for it to do stereo over bluetooth (before it was patched) used it to remotely administer my servers, and pretty much operated all of its functions at least once on the priniciple that I like to know if it works, and how it works.
So, you have now met at LEAST one person who has extensive experience with 'smart' phones and prefers the iPhone on almost every aspect.
Since we are debating from the perspective that if there is a god, but that he decided to change the rules...
There is nothing that prevents a 'god' from altering the rules. It doesn't matter if we have codified the laws of physics to absolute perfection. If you made the simulation, there is nothing preventing you from changing it later. Let's say 'god' wants to see a simulation in which his presence is unknowable. However, maybe he didn't do it completely right to start. Maybe he started the simulation but later realized that the 'sandbox' he built wasn't large enough as his simulation began to grow.
Expanding the boundaries of that sandbox doesn't automatically make him a liar.
That kind of behaviour makes God a liar and a fraud, which is not the kind of thing most theists like to believe in.
But it wouldn't make that being any less 'God'. You don't get to choose your parents either, but you don't have to like it.
So let's say I give you a copy of my book before it hits the shelves and ask you to not publish a review until the worldwide release date.
Your right to free speech is to say "No, I do not agree to those terms." Of course, I cannot levy any penalties on you outside of our agreement other than to say "Well, you don't get to read my next book early."
Now, if you purchased my book without entering into a contract with me (ie. you bought it on release day at a B&N), then if I tried to prevent you from publishing a review it would be a violation of your rights.
While attending school at Penn State, there was a small club that was run by the students. It was known as CHIP (Computer Hardware Initiative Project) and I believe it is now known as the ReTekProject. (retekproject.org). However, I do not know if the project is still ongoing or if the site is still up.
In short, they took in donations and rebuilt the machines for use by the needy and/or charitable organizations.
It is quite possible that similar programs exist at other Universities, I would pose some of the questions there.
(use caution when checking the retekproject website. It is blocked at my office, and though even some of slashdot is blocked here, I do not know if that site is still valid or if the club is defunct)
Slashdot Mirror
And even if you get an abnormal reading it may not be caused by guilt - it may be because the subject is unsettling.
I could kill the operator of the scanner with a thought. Simple countermeasures.
Just concentrate on an imagine of a combination of Goatse, Tubgirl, 2g1c, and Lemon Party. Instant aneurysm.
As to privacy related to memories. Well, I would suggest that this machine isn't capable of reading a person's memories at all. However, I do think that this should be voluntary only. After all, there are many memories not related to the alleged crime that would have to be "read". Not only that (at least in the USA), all information "found" not related to the "crime" should not be able to be used by law enforcement.
... *BZZZZZT*
Great, now on the next round of polygraphs, instead of the 'lifestyle' series of questions, I'll have to think of nothing but fields of daisies. Nice fluffy white daisies, and clouds.
Hey, that cloud kind of looks like a
On a serious note, I do not agree with this type of technology at all. There are some things that just shouldn't be done/allowed voluntary or not. When it is 'voluntary' eventually it becomes 'customary'. How often do you read in a news article that someone convicted of a crime had the audacity to refuse a polygraph? How long before someone is identified as refusing one of these scans?
Eventually you will start to see police/military/'tech' companies, and any other industry that has the extra cash and wants to boost their investor pool by claiming to 'scan all potential employees to ensure the highest level of quality and security'. That is not something I would look forward to. I'm no luddite, but developing this is scary stuff.
Wouldn't it then be trivial to clone a chip for each challenge?
Challenge A = Response: 234211
Challenge B = Response: 328058
.
.
.
A bad doctor treats symptoms without addressing the underlying ailment. With China and India (1/3 of the world's population), and other parts of the world booming, the release of greenhouse gasses is only going to accelerate. If we took this money and invested it into researching and implementing green alternatives to our current fossil-fuel infrastructure instead, more progress would be made in the long run. However, sometimes the underlying ailment is chronic and unable to be cured. In those situations, you have to adapt to the symptoms because the cause isn't going away. So with the world booming, what do you propose that will end the cause? You don't know that what you propose is possible, nor if it will actually solve the problem. And that, IS the problem. Climate change is going to happen, and nothing humanity can do will stop it, even if we vanished from the earth, the climate would continue to change. What we need to do is determine a good medium between conservation efforts, and adaptation efforts. So cut back on our use of fossil fuels for transportation, but also work to move some communities from sea level elevations.
My argument against 'junk' DNA and similar things; If it costs energy to do, then there is likely a reason it is being done. Otherwise, we would probably see it 'phased' out due to natural selection pressures.
Well, as I am not currently being married, he was the best man at my wedding.
I can't very well say, 'He is the best man at my wedding'. The tenses get all screwed up.
That EM it is absorbing has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is often heat.
That doesn't mean that a lot of them are not easily tracked even by amateur astronomers. It is tricky to make something that can see you, but you not be able to see it.
From what I hear, it's a pretty nice company to work for. Too nice in fact. The guy who was my Best Man at my wedding works there. You guys really need to let him out more. He likes it too much, and his family and friends miss him.
Oh there is plenty to 'see' regarding a black hole.
Nearby matter will be falling into it, releasing energy. If it is spinning you may be able to observe some frame dragging. Light coming from behind it will experience gravitational lensing.
The thing itself may be black, but it certainly interacts with its surroundings.
"According to Ars Technica, Google's EULA for Chrome was just copy-and-pasted from its EULA for other services, a practice that is apparently common at Google."
Why the hell do they think they need an "EULA" or "TOS" for a supposedly Open Source program at all? Doesn't Google run these things pas their lawyers? Or do they and this is the result?
Open Source doesn't mean much at all.
It doesn't matter if you give the person the sourcecode or not, quite often licensing agreements are there to limit the liability of the company providing the software. Not all companies expect to have the same liability, so not all licensing agreements are the same.
For my personal tastes, I don't care for the GPL. I don't agree with some portions of it. Therefore I don't release software licensed under it. I do, however, provide the code when requested and I also include terms that protect me from lawsuits should someone decide that my program fried their internets.
There isn't just 'open source', there are many licenses out there and it is impossible to assume that something called 'open' is exactly the same as some other 'open' program.
Time and space are vast, but 500 million years is a long time even on a cosmic scale.
Well duh, email is different than internets. You need a pretty long tube to send any internets from the ISS.
And to think that I hated that line. Unfortunately for the life from a meteorite theory, computer viruses are a bit more resiliant to the extremes of space.
I was intending to build a semi-headless fileserver/media center (the display was my HDTV) and intended to spend no more than $500. I did get it done for $400 with minor part reuse (keyboard/mouse/CD drive) but spent a large part of it on RAM and a moderate quality video card. I've been able to run most games on it at 1920x1080 resolution with no graphics issues. I've been trying the warhammer beta on it with no major issues either. I just can't see what a 10k system could get you. Above 800-1000 with today's tech will definately start to see diminishing returns at a FAST pace.
Might I recommend that we use blank ballots? Create pads of ballots in a similar way to how NY state deals with prescription pads for doctors. They are numbered and contain a few anti-tamper mechanisms (so no swapping amoxacillin for morphine). You register, and you get your ballot that simply has the offices that are up for election this time. Then you have to write in the name of the candidate you want for each office. No pre-entered names, no 'vote the party' options. But that would probably be too simple, and too fair. (And far too immune to tampering by the existing parties)
Sorry for the formatting of my previous post. I forgot I had HTML enabled. In addition to the registering of equipment I would suggest the following.
a. Enough volunteers to patrol the gaming areas. Keeping food off tables. Making sure that people aren't damaging equipment, helping them troubleshoot. A good team of volunteers on a regular schedule will help.
b. ban the backpacks. In my day, gaming laptops didn't exist, but I could see how this would be an issue today.
C. Provide transportation in and out of the gaming area. Registration is easier if your volunteers are helping carry out the equipment. Maybe even require that equipment in and out of the LAN area be on an open cart?
Remember that the LAN that we worked on was a major event and it was continuous for 48 hours, so it required shifts of volunteers, and a larger volume of equipment and people than a typical evening only LAN party. The checkpoints and padlocks may be overkill for your event. It worked for us, and tailor your plan accordingly.
We held a multi-day LAN party for nearly 100 people. This was an open LAN and also during PSU's dance marathon weekend. In otherwords, there were thousands of people going in and out over the course of the LAN party. One of the method's that we used was to control the entry and exit points of the LAN. When people arrived, we had them enter the serial number of the more expensive portions of their equipment. Mice and Keyboards we ignored, but Cases and Monitors were checked in. When you wanted to leave, you had to go by our desk again and sign out. It was obvious if someone was leaving with a tower or monitor, so it was simple to check. We also had Gamecubes setup with projectors. For those devices we locked the gamecubes in an AV cabinet and wrapped the controller's cords through a padlock to prevent people from walking with the controllers. I think the worst we encountered were a few lost dongles from the Xbox controllers (not stolen, just lost in the shuffle and found much later). So, padlocks for the console controllers, registered equipment, and checkpoints at entry/exit chokepoints. I don't believe that we had anyone report any stolen equipment which was quite amazing for an open lan at a major university.
Except that at this point, it doesn't really feel like being an 'early adopter' with an iPhone. The iPhone itself has been out for over a year. It isn't magic. This isn't some amazingly new technology. There ARE other phones that can perform on 3g networks.
This is certainly not the 'bleeding edge'. If the iPhone claimed to use 4g technology, then I'd expect some issues, but this is mundane stuff that already exists across several commercial vendors.
It is irrational to attack the customers for not expecting problems with a fairly established technology. And it is unfair to expect them to wonder about cellphone antenna/chip design when they are just purchasing a phone. For a mass-market push, it is up to the corporation to perform due dilligence testing and accept the consequences if they miss something.
I have never met a single iPhone user who has had extensive use of a smart phone. Most iPhone users probably couldn't even come up with a somewhat accurate definition of a smart phone. Most probably know nothing about PalmOS or WindowsCE. Your remark is FUD, at best. If his remark is FUD, then you remark is pure bullshit. I have an iPhone and I still have my vx6700. I have tinkered the hell with my vx6700 in order for it to do stereo over bluetooth (before it was patched) used it to remotely administer my servers, and pretty much operated all of its functions at least once on the priniciple that I like to know if it works, and how it works. So, you have now met at LEAST one person who has extensive experience with 'smart' phones and prefers the iPhone on almost every aspect.
Government
Unions
Administration
Parents
You would have to pay me (and most people in my field) a great deal of money to want to deal with those groups as part of my job.
Since we are debating from the perspective that if there is a god, but that he decided to change the rules...
There is nothing that prevents a 'god' from altering the rules. It doesn't matter if we have codified the laws of physics to absolute perfection. If you made the simulation, there is nothing preventing you from changing it later. Let's say 'god' wants to see a simulation in which his presence is unknowable. However, maybe he didn't do it completely right to start. Maybe he started the simulation but later realized that the 'sandbox' he built wasn't large enough as his simulation began to grow.
Expanding the boundaries of that sandbox doesn't automatically make him a liar.
That kind of behaviour makes God a liar and a fraud, which is not the kind of thing most theists like to believe in. But it wouldn't make that being any less 'God'. You don't get to choose your parents either, but you don't have to like it.
So let's say I give you a copy of my book before it hits the shelves and ask you to not publish a review until the worldwide release date. Your right to free speech is to say "No, I do not agree to those terms." Of course, I cannot levy any penalties on you outside of our agreement other than to say "Well, you don't get to read my next book early." Now, if you purchased my book without entering into a contract with me (ie. you bought it on release day at a B&N), then if I tried to prevent you from publishing a review it would be a violation of your rights.
While attending school at Penn State, there was a small club that was run by the students. It was known as CHIP (Computer Hardware Initiative Project) and I believe it is now known as the ReTekProject. (retekproject.org). However, I do not know if the project is still ongoing or if the site is still up. In short, they took in donations and rebuilt the machines for use by the needy and/or charitable organizations. It is quite possible that similar programs exist at other Universities, I would pose some of the questions there. (use caution when checking the retekproject website. It is blocked at my office, and though even some of slashdot is blocked here, I do not know if that site is still valid or if the club is defunct)