What I don't understand is why any self-respecting scientist or engineer would work on something so blatantly geared toward the eventual and haphazard restriction of human liberty. Look around you, folks -- you're creating the police state.
What I haven't seen in discussion yet is the fact that being trained from high school onward by a given company can really limit your mobility, even if you're competent. It doesn't matter if it's a "long missing concept in society" -- the fact remains that a lot of modern employers won't take a chance on someone without the de facto work ethic test that college has to a large extent become.
Bullshit, you'll just get punished worse than the bully. Nothing like an administrative and potentially criminal record for defending yourself. Ender's Game is not how the world works at this level. Try back when you're in corporate America, or be more crafty to begin with.
Unless you're injecting them with anti-depressants and altering their brain chemistry
Successfully engaging in activities that are intended to cause someone emotional trauma is altering that person's brain chemistry. Emotions are just chemistry, after all.
Simple - just make it illegal to become biologically immortal without also being reproductively sterilized. No death = no progeny. Things have to balance out somehow.
Granted, legislation probably isn't a very effective means toward that end, but honestly, this is the only solution that I see as totally viable - even highly educated people might want to have children, so simply providing better information is insufficient.
As far as society expecting more of people is concerned, I would think that people would try to out-compete each other in job performance as well as leisure activities. Imagine what an extra eight hours every single day could do for one's career (assuming that it didn't impact performance), and then think about what would happen if a few hundred thousand career-minded people thought of that. Society as a whole would shift toward longer work hours, and if the workers were salaried, compensation would likely not increase substantially. People would be doing more work for (proportionally) less pay, even if it took a few years, or even a generation, for the changes to occur.
Furthermore, if you're inclined to be skeptical, just think of what life used to be like before widespread cheap electric light was available - most people got at least nine hours of sleep - it was dark, there was little to do, and lighting was weak and expensive. Now, since economic and leisure activity is feasible 24 hours per day, the average American sleeps only about 7.6 hours per night (according to this government source), limited primarily by the biological necessity of sleep. If that necessity is removed (or at least obscured, as I suspect that this compound would do, since the functions of sleep are still poorly understood), sleep hours will correspondingly decrease, likely to near non-existence.
In spite of my inclination toward cynicism, the proposed Fair Use Act sounds like one of the best things that could happen to copyright law lately. DRM would no longer exist as a loophole for content producers trying to bar their consumers from fair use, and ordinary people would not be vulnerable to lawsuits for backing up their iTunes libraries. Overall, I think that this act would help alleviate some of the present contradictions in IP law.
Geosynchronous orbit = 42,164 km = 42,164,000 m. At 2 m/s, that's just over 244 days to get to orbit. Granted, speeds will undoubtedly improve, but in all honesty, even granting whatever "magic" medium-term advanced technology is necessary to make the cable (i.e. practical nanotubes, etc.), basic propulsion is going to be a problem. Further, that cable is going to take a lot of whatever material it is comprised of. Has anyone ever considered the absolutely, stunningly gigantic capital investment in materials alone? While I applaud efforts to make space travel cheaper, the whole concept of a space elevator is in need of some serious analysis as far as practicality is concerned.
The original poster is right in stating that a ban would be unthinkable. Have the people who own these patents actually done anything to further improve the technology, or are they merely trying to grab some cash by ruining the lives of American computer enthusiasts? This is just another testament to the sorry state of this country's patent system. Let's see a decision against the patents that sets a precedent against patents that impede the progress of science and the useful arts.
In the video it said 158 mph at the end of a quarter mile. I am almost positive that the summary underneath the video was a misinterpretation - its author probably confused the quarter mile time with the top speed. I mean seriously, 0-60 in.97 sec?! 400 horsepower in something that only weights 650 lbs (plus driver)?! That's the proportional equivalent of 1600 horsepower in something that weighs as much as a car. Unless there's some sort of governor (unlikely) or rpm limitation (very unlikely, since it's electric), it could probably just keep accelerating until the tires give out or it hits equilibrium with air resistance. I bet the real top speed (if it's ever been tested) is closer to 350 mph. This one, with a 550 horsepower Viper engine, has a top speed of close to 400 mph and 2.5 seconds for 0-60, so by my estimates the top speed of the electric bike should be close to that (the better 0-60 time is due to the massive torque provided by electric motors in comparison to internal combustion engines). I doubt anyone will ever take the KillaCycle to its top speed.
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It's an ID card, not a fucking tattoo. RTFA.
What I don't understand is why any self-respecting scientist or engineer would work on something so blatantly geared toward the eventual and haphazard restriction of human liberty. Look around you, folks -- you're creating the police state.
What I haven't seen in discussion yet is the fact that being trained from high school onward by a given company can really limit your mobility, even if you're competent. It doesn't matter if it's a "long missing concept in society" -- the fact remains that a lot of modern employers won't take a chance on someone without the de facto work ethic test that college has to a large extent become.
Why don't I have mod points? This comment is very insightful.
My room rental is almost a thousand dollars a month.
Bullshit, you'll just get punished worse than the bully. Nothing like an administrative and potentially criminal record for defending yourself. Ender's Game is not how the world works at this level. Try back when you're in corporate America, or be more crafty to begin with.
Lord Byron II shows us how its done!
Successfully engaging in activities that are intended to cause someone emotional trauma is altering that person's brain chemistry. Emotions are just chemistry, after all.
Simple - just make it illegal to become biologically immortal without also being reproductively sterilized. No death = no progeny. Things have to balance out somehow. Granted, legislation probably isn't a very effective means toward that end, but honestly, this is the only solution that I see as totally viable - even highly educated people might want to have children, so simply providing better information is insufficient.
Laser displays via full-face visors? That sounds like something out of Snow Crash....
I want a one exabyte iPod!
And it would appear that the United States is approaching that level as well.
As far as society expecting more of people is concerned, I would think that people would try to out-compete each other in job performance as well as leisure activities. Imagine what an extra eight hours every single day could do for one's career (assuming that it didn't impact performance), and then think about what would happen if a few hundred thousand career-minded people thought of that. Society as a whole would shift toward longer work hours, and if the workers were salaried, compensation would likely not increase substantially. People would be doing more work for (proportionally) less pay, even if it took a few years, or even a generation, for the changes to occur.
Furthermore, if you're inclined to be skeptical, just think of what life used to be like before widespread cheap electric light was available - most people got at least nine hours of sleep - it was dark, there was little to do, and lighting was weak and expensive. Now, since economic and leisure activity is feasible 24 hours per day, the average American sleeps only about 7.6 hours per night (according to this government source), limited primarily by the biological necessity of sleep. If that necessity is removed (or at least obscured, as I suspect that this compound would do, since the functions of sleep are still poorly understood), sleep hours will correspondingly decrease, likely to near non-existence.
In spite of my inclination toward cynicism, the proposed Fair Use Act sounds like one of the best things that could happen to copyright law lately. DRM would no longer exist as a loophole for content producers trying to bar their consumers from fair use, and ordinary people would not be vulnerable to lawsuits for backing up their iTunes libraries. Overall, I think that this act would help alleviate some of the present contradictions in IP law.
Geosynchronous orbit = 42,164 km = 42,164,000 m. At 2 m/s, that's just over 244 days to get to orbit. Granted, speeds will undoubtedly improve, but in all honesty, even granting whatever "magic" medium-term advanced technology is necessary to make the cable (i.e. practical nanotubes, etc.), basic propulsion is going to be a problem. Further, that cable is going to take a lot of whatever material it is comprised of. Has anyone ever considered the absolutely, stunningly gigantic capital investment in materials alone? While I applaud efforts to make space travel cheaper, the whole concept of a space elevator is in need of some serious analysis as far as practicality is concerned.
Darn, no mod points. Please mod parent up.
The original poster is right in stating that a ban would be unthinkable. Have the people who own these patents actually done anything to further improve the technology, or are they merely trying to grab some cash by ruining the lives of American computer enthusiasts? This is just another testament to the sorry state of this country's patent system. Let's see a decision against the patents that sets a precedent against patents that impede the progress of science and the useful arts.
In the video it said 158 mph at the end of a quarter mile. I am almost positive that the summary underneath the video was a misinterpretation - its author probably confused the quarter mile time with the top speed. I mean seriously, 0-60 in .97 sec?! 400 horsepower in something that only weights 650 lbs (plus driver)?! That's the proportional equivalent of 1600 horsepower in something that weighs as much as a car. Unless there's some sort of governor (unlikely) or rpm limitation (very unlikely, since it's electric), it could probably just keep accelerating until the tires give out or it hits equilibrium with air resistance. I bet the real top speed (if it's ever been tested) is closer to 350 mph. This one, with a 550 horsepower Viper engine, has a top speed of close to 400 mph and 2.5 seconds for 0-60, so by my estimates the top speed of the electric bike should be close to that (the better 0-60 time is due to the massive torque provided by electric motors in comparison to internal combustion engines). I doubt anyone will ever take the KillaCycle to its top speed.
Magnetic repulsion.... what if you need to turn??
Ever read The Trial by Kakfa?
One word: Faust.
If I had mod points, you would get them.
Options>>Preferences>>BitTorrent>>Protocol Encryption>>Enabled
Turnaround is fair play.