Because making those products in US, Germany, Japan or Taiwan (BTW both used to be doing the same things as China,) will not be price competitive; production in other 3rd world countries will have the same or worse problems. For the companies, all the extra costs and troubles still cannot negate the benefits. For the buyers, prices are always an important consideration. Quality is not the only criterion and is hardly quantifiable. Especially for electronics, my new laptop will be worth practically $0.00 in 1-2 year time frame; why do I want to pay extra for higher quality?
Why will they stop producing in China? When the labor cost starts rising. For examples, many of these labor intensive plants in Shenzhen were closed down this year and reportedly moved to Vietnam after the new labor law was enacted in China which mandates doub;e/triple pay for overtime and other restrictions. There are billions of poor laborers out there in the world.
First, they may just sell hydrogen instead of the device. But still, the current company execs and shareholders really only care about how much they make in near term (i.e their years in the company or before they profit from their stocks); why will they *really* care about the long term (many years later) profitability? If you can sell such a device at a price worth 10 years of gasoline usages and there are billions of buyers, why would you still flickering at the pump? You will make all the profits and go away. Same thing goes for pharmas, at least for popular diseases. If I could make a drug that actually cure diabetes, i would sell it at $1000 a pill, make all the money from each patient once and go away super-rich while all other diabetes drug makers go bankrupt.
You must overestimate the integrity of those execs and shareholders.
Besides, machines, like cars, will wear out and the demands are too large to be really filled up ever.
No to speak for any of those companies, but if this or other technologies are as good as they claimed to be and if Exxon/Shell/big-oil buy the technology, why would they shelf it in the basement of their lawyer's office? These are just for-profit companies. As such, they don't really care what they sell. If shits can power cars better/cheaper than gasoline, they will sell the shits because they have a competitive advantages compared to others in their business. Why would they pay the Saudi emirates if they can just monopolize the production of energy at home?
In a free economy, the rich person is whoever can figure out how to get the most people to labor his benefit. One becomes rich by organizing labor so that everyone benefits. The challenge is finding a motivation technique that can satisfy laborers more then money. Like slashdot mob points?
The technology is here the problem is the adoption. and that can only be solved by economic means. If IPv4 addresses are running out, like petroleum, then you can expect the price of fixed IPv4 address to go up, one hand lowering the demand (like relinquish existing addresses that you don't really need) and on the other forcing more and more people to adopt IPv6. Problem solved!
The proper name for "social engineering" is "politics". The proper name for "social engineer" is "politician. "Social engineering" is just a marketing name.
I think you are right, however. I read a study that showed that it would cost less and cause less inflation to rid ourselves of the IRS, etc. and simply print/create the money the government needs. But the government (and its constituent people) will always want infinite amount of money to satisfy infinite desire. Making the government spends based on loans collateral on tax income collected from people; at least there is a natural mean to control this inflation. Ultimately, how much the government can spend is bounded by how much the tax payer can afford. Otherwise, political pressure would drive inflation to an astronomical figure, as it used to happen.
If robot intelligence reaches human level and it will surely surpass human easily as it can be evolved and expanded much easier. What will happen?
First, many jobs can be replaced by robots -- janitors, construction workers, engineers -- will be replaced one by one. (Well... more likely it will be in the reversed order -- engineers, construction workers and janitor -- because computer will have higher logical processing skills than dealing with random environment.)
Then, jobs like -- scientists, CEO, Presidents, Directors of the Boards (the later don't much anyway and can be readily replaced even now) -- will be gone.
The whole supply chains of all products will be robotized -- even the cheapest labors from 3rd/4th/5th world countries will not be competitive.
Human politicians will be replaced by robot politicians. robot rights will be equalized to and surpass that of human rights.
At the end, human will become pets of robots, like dogs are pets of human.
Is that a bad thing? Probably not, see, my dog does not need to work but seems so much happier than I'm.
I found it hard to believe a billion-dollar NRO satellite would be totally dead a few hours after it reached the orbit -- it would be more believable if the satellite failed to reach orbit or it failed after sometimes of operations.
So that leaves only one theory -- the US also want to demonstrate its ASAT capability after China has done so. But the US wants to appear less rude, so they send up a dummy, pronounce it dead and dangerous and then shoot it down.
(stupid formatting cut my words) I meant "confuse between regular educated (equal or less than undergrads) and overly educated (equal to or higher than grads)"
huh... I must confuse between regular educated (= grads). You know, once you get too much education, you start thinking and behaving in strange ways. check out the undergrad's dome for a comparison and write a Ph.D. thesis on this topic.:-)
They refused to speak English except with the professors and had posters of Mao along with his poetry all over the half of the graduate-student office that they dominated. I don't want to sound xenophobic, but it was very strange. While I believe they may speak Chinese among themselves and may have fewer friends from other ethnicity. I can't believe your description about the Mao posters. One or two, maybe. Many? Definition impossible. Nowaday, few educated people in China like or believe Mao while poorer people there start putting up Mao's poster again, 30 years after Cultural Revolution, mainly as a dissatisfaction over the widen income/wealth gap created by the economic reform in China. Well educated graduate students from China shouldn't be the poorest ones there (or must their education system be really superior to the rest of the world); they are the wealthiest ones living in the city and enjoying pop culture. Maybe you get confused between Mao and some pop stars from Hong Kong or Taiwan; they are more likely to put up posters of the later.
Look! We didn't waste more of tax payers' money and we didn't violation any US copyright laws. Those pirate Windows installed? Oh... they were installed by the kids. We can't take blame for that.
The submission is someone putting a spin to a story of someone putting a spin to a story based on someone putting a spin on this [current-biology.com] original scientific article. Because the robots are the intermediate entities posting the spins.
"Animals use pheromones to attract each other for sex, and warn each other of danger. Now, Wired reports, military researchers are working to harness the 'human fear' pheromone to create a scent of terror.
I dont' understand: if they could harness the 'human fear' pheromone, why don't they harness the 'human sexuality' pheromone and release it in the battle field. Think about the possibilities: your enemy soldiers, typically of the same gender, upon smelling the pheromone, would drop their weapon on hand and start mating with their other guns attaching to pelvis; and you can do whatever to them: join them, arrest them, or take video and post to YouTube. And if you still didn't capture them, they would feel so guilty afterward due to their religious belief, quit, and go pray in their temple for rest of their lives.
I'm absolutely sure that would be a lot more productive.
My experience in the field tells me one should get a paying job instead of providing "customer" services. Business customers are nut and they will only drive you crazy with their stupid and unreasonable demands.
The Sandia team envisions a day when CR5s are installed in large numbers at coal-fired power plants. Each of them could reclaim 45 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air daily and produce enough carbon monoxide to make 2.5 gallons of fuel. So if installed at the current power plant, it can at least neutralized CO2 emission and maybe lower the fuel consumption, even if it can't be used as an large scale, economical energy source. So it does have immediate benefits if work as claimed.
The main problem is that
although large-scale implementation could be a decade or more away But by then, most likely, one or more of followings will have happened:
We will have been destroyed by global warming
We will have found global warming is not a real problem and we will be hyping some other global issue
We will have run out of fossil fuels already, and recessed into primitive ages
we will have found another green energy source. Last I check, nuclear fusion is just 50 years away, just like every other ideas presented.:-)
The cause of the dog rules in Beijing and other large cities in China are due to the rising of deadly rabies cases from dog bites.
Normally, one could deal with that by strict immunization requirements. However, even little rules like that are hardly enforceable in China. People just either ignore it or get a fake certificates to avoid the costs. Further, many vet clinics are selling fake medicines. And so the government comes up with stupid and crude rules attempting to get rid of the problem quickly or forcibly -- get rid of all large dogs.
That's why you will see lots of these stupid, unreasonable and over restrictive rules everywhere. Exam closely, you would understand the cause: anything more flexible will be quickly circumvented and unenforcible. The famous saying is that "whenever there are rules above and there will be workaround below." The same phenomena apply to other issues like birth control policy, business regulation, etc. This makes governing very difficult.
Who should be blamed for? It is their government ultimately! Why? Because after long long time of disrespecting their own laws and rules from the top to the bottom of the government, the culture of cheating has rooted in all of China and that in turn causes the government to make up even more stupid rules that force people to cheat even more and smarter; this turns into vicious cycle. It is like if one has a cheating parents, one would more likely to be dishonest. The biggest problem in China is the lack of trust. At this point, nothing can really save them -- not even democracy or religious believes.
I used to be a big proponent of "Great Men" history myself, but stuff like this gives me pause. Because humanity is too weak and needs hero to save their souls, that's why there is God (and gods.) Not to mention, individual human being also need glory, fame, and money.
Corruption is widespread in China, and very unpopular.
As I have lived in both China and the US, I found that: corruption is widespread in China and is mostly illegal, whereas in the US, corruption is not as widespread but is,b>mostly legal -- in name of campaign and political contribution.
While democracy sounds something wonderful, I actually doubt it can be carried out effectively in China when everyone from officials to average person on the street. There are now limited form of elections in China (vote for the heads of villages.) From what I heard, even that, the candidates will invite their constituents to banquets and give them gifts to "buy" more votes -- like what candidates will do in Taiwan
Looking abroad, where can I find any good examples of democracies in developing countries? Mexico? India? Philippine? Thailand? Russia? Taiwan? None of the important issues -- corruption, equality, fairness, poverty, environment protection -- have been solved any better than in China or Vietnam.
"Democracy" has become a marketing scheme for politicians and become as unrealistic as communism.
Slashdot Mirror
Why do computer software worth less than paper-printed books? Last I check, software codes do not destroy rain forest like books.
Because making those products in US, Germany, Japan or Taiwan (BTW both used to be doing the same things as China,) will not be price competitive; production in other 3rd world countries will have the same or worse problems. For the companies, all the extra costs and troubles still cannot negate the benefits. For the buyers, prices are always an important consideration. Quality is not the only criterion and is hardly quantifiable. Especially for electronics, my new laptop will be worth practically $0.00 in 1-2 year time frame; why do I want to pay extra for higher quality?
Why will they stop producing in China? When the labor cost starts rising. For examples, many of these labor intensive plants in Shenzhen were closed down this year and reportedly moved to Vietnam after the new labor law was enacted in China which mandates doub;e/triple pay for overtime and other restrictions. There are billions of poor laborers out there in the world.
First, they may just sell hydrogen instead of the device. But still, the current company execs and shareholders really only care about how much they make in near term (i.e their years in the company or before they profit from their stocks); why will they *really* care about the long term (many years later) profitability? If you can sell such a device at a price worth 10 years of gasoline usages and there are billions of buyers, why would you still flickering at the pump? You will make all the profits and go away. Same thing goes for pharmas, at least for popular diseases. If I could make a drug that actually cure diabetes, i would sell it at $1000 a pill, make all the money from each patient once and go away super-rich while all other diabetes drug makers go bankrupt.
You must overestimate the integrity of those execs and shareholders.
Besides, machines, like cars, will wear out and the demands are too large to be really filled up ever.
No to speak for any of those companies, but if this or other technologies are as good as they claimed to be and if Exxon/Shell/big-oil buy the technology, why would they shelf it in the basement of their lawyer's office? These are just for-profit companies. As such, they don't really care what they sell. If shits can power cars better/cheaper than gasoline, they will sell the shits because they have a competitive advantages compared to others in their business. Why would they pay the Saudi emirates if they can just monopolize the production of energy at home?
The technology is here the problem is the adoption. and that can only be solved by economic means. If IPv4 addresses are running out, like petroleum, then you can expect the price of fixed IPv4 address to go up, one hand lowering the demand (like relinquish existing addresses that you don't really need) and on the other forcing more and more people to adopt IPv6. Problem solved!
The proper name for "social engineering" is "politics". The proper name for "social engineer" is "politician. "Social engineering" is just a marketing name.
If it is something useful and usable, you would get addict playing with it; if it is not useful or buggy, you might addict trying to improve/fix it.
And there is no proof that such additions can be avoided.
If robot intelligence reaches human level and it will surely surpass human easily as it can be evolved and expanded much easier. What will happen?
First, many jobs can be replaced by robots -- janitors, construction workers, engineers -- will be replaced one by one. (Well... more likely it will be in the reversed order -- engineers, construction workers and janitor -- because computer will have higher logical processing skills than dealing with random environment.)
Then, jobs like -- scientists, CEO, Presidents, Directors of the Boards (the later don't much anyway and can be readily replaced even now) -- will be gone.
The whole supply chains of all products will be robotized -- even the cheapest labors from 3rd/4th/5th world countries will not be competitive.
Human politicians will be replaced by robot politicians. robot rights will be equalized to and surpass that of human rights.
At the end, human will become pets of robots, like dogs are pets of human.
Is that a bad thing? Probably not, see, my dog does not need to work but seems so much happier than I'm.
So that leaves only one theory -- the US also want to demonstrate its ASAT capability after China has done so. But the US wants to appear less rude, so they send up a dummy, pronounce it dead and dangerous and then shoot it down.
DISAPPOINTED!
I don't know why my opinions are becoming so important lately after this "Do Not Call" list is up. I need a "Do Not Poll" list.
- There are still a billion people on hunger, as it used to be
- There are still millions of people have no health care, as it used to be
- There are still millions of illiterate people, as it used to be
- Forests are still being cut at rapid pace, as it used to be
- Rich people get richer than they used to be
Nothing has really changed. Maybe you are still too young.(stupid formatting cut my words) I meant "confuse between regular educated (equal or less than undergrads) and overly educated (equal to or higher than grads)"
huh... I must confuse between regular educated (= grads). You know, once you get too much education, you start thinking and behaving in strange ways. check out the undergrad's dome for a comparison and write a Ph.D. thesis on this topic. :-)
Look! We didn't waste more of tax payers' money and we didn't violation any US copyright laws. Those pirate Windows installed? Oh... they were installed by the kids. We can't take blame for that.
I dont' understand: if they could harness the 'human fear' pheromone, why don't they harness the 'human sexuality' pheromone and release it in the battle field. Think about the possibilities: your enemy soldiers, typically of the same gender, upon smelling the pheromone, would drop their weapon on hand and start mating with their other guns attaching to pelvis; and you can do whatever to them: join them, arrest them, or take video and post to YouTube. And if you still didn't capture them, they would feel so guilty afterward due to their religious belief, quit, and go pray in their temple for rest of their lives.
I'm absolutely sure that would be a lot more productive.
My experience in the field tells me one should get a paying job instead of providing "customer" services. Business customers are nut and they will only drive you crazy with their stupid and unreasonable demands.
It says,
The Sandia team envisions a day when CR5s are installed in large numbers at coal-fired power plants. Each of them could reclaim 45 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air daily and produce enough carbon monoxide to make 2.5 gallons of fuel. So if installed at the current power plant, it can at least neutralized CO2 emission and maybe lower the fuel consumption, even if it can't be used as an large scale, economical energy source. So it does have immediate benefits if work as claimed.The main problem is that
although large-scale implementation could be a decade or more away But by then, most likely, one or more of followings will have happened:The cause of the dog rules in Beijing and other large cities in China are due to the rising of deadly rabies cases from dog bites.
Normally, one could deal with that by strict immunization requirements. However, even little rules like that are hardly enforceable in China. People just either ignore it or get a fake certificates to avoid the costs. Further, many vet clinics are selling fake medicines. And so the government comes up with stupid and crude rules attempting to get rid of the problem quickly or forcibly -- get rid of all large dogs.
That's why you will see lots of these stupid, unreasonable and over restrictive rules everywhere. Exam closely, you would understand the cause: anything more flexible will be quickly circumvented and unenforcible. The famous saying is that "whenever there are rules above and there will be workaround below." The same phenomena apply to other issues like birth control policy, business regulation, etc. This makes governing very difficult.
Who should be blamed for? It is their government ultimately! Why? Because after long long time of disrespecting their own laws and rules from the top to the bottom of the government, the culture of cheating has rooted in all of China and that in turn causes the government to make up even more stupid rules that force people to cheat even more and smarter; this turns into vicious cycle. It is like if one has a cheating parents, one would more likely to be dishonest. The biggest problem in China is the lack of trust. At this point, nothing can really save them -- not even democracy or religious believes.
As I have lived in both China and the US, I found that: corruption is widespread in China and is mostly illegal, whereas in the US, corruption is not as widespread but is ,b>mostly legal -- in name of campaign and political contribution.
While democracy sounds something wonderful, I actually doubt it can be carried out effectively in China when everyone from officials to average person on the street. There are now limited form of elections in China (vote for the heads of villages.) From what I heard, even that, the candidates will invite their constituents to banquets and give them gifts to "buy" more votes -- like what candidates will do in Taiwan
Looking abroad, where can I find any good examples of democracies in developing countries? Mexico? India? Philippine? Thailand? Russia? Taiwan? None of the important issues -- corruption, equality, fairness, poverty, environment protection -- have been solved any better than in China or Vietnam.
"Democracy" has become a marketing scheme for politicians and become as unrealistic as communism.