On Leap Day, some thoughts on timekeeping problems from Alan Boyle.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
“Neither Gods Nor Goo”
An interesting survey on the current state of nanotech.
“Neither Gods Nor Goo”
An interesting survey on the current state of nanotech.
“Neither Gods Nor Goo”
An interesting survey on the current state of nanotech.
“Slow The Development Of Future Combat Systems”
In what fantasyland does Obama think that this is a winning campaign plank during a war?
I see another 1972 coming up for the Dems.
“Slow The Development Of Future Combat Systems”
In what fantasyland does Obama think that this is a winning campaign plank during a war?
I see another 1972 coming up for the Dems.
“Slow The Development Of Future Combat Systems”
In what fantasyland does Obama think that this is a winning campaign plank during a war?
I see another 1972 coming up for the Dems.
Terminators, Coming Up
Alan Boyle has an interesting post on the ethics of killer robots.
“Asimov contributed greatly in the sense that he put up a straw man to get the debate going on robotics,” Arkin said. “But it’s not a basis for morality. He created [the Three Laws] deliberately with gaps so you could have some interesting stories.”
Even without the Three Laws, there’s plenty in today’s debate over battlefield robotics to keep novelists and philosophers busy: Is it immoral to wage robotic war on humans? How many civilian casualties are acceptable when a robot is doing the fighting? If a killer robot goes haywire, who (or what) goes before the war-crimes tribunal?
Strange Internet Problems
As some of you have heard (it seems to be the main news now on cable), Florida had a massive power outage today. It didn’t affect me, except indirectly.
About quarter after one, I heard a little click from my UPS, which usually indicates a power drop, but we didn’t lose power, and even a computer that wasn’t on a UPS didn’t seem to have a problem. But I noticed shortly afterward that I had no internet connection. The DSL modem lights were all working fine, but I couldn’t connect, even after repeated resets. I ended up being on the phone with AT&T for over an hour, and they finally got things working again. They told me that somehow (somehow?) my authentication had gotten screwed up, and that they had rejiggered (or some other technical term) the lines to get it working again. They didn’t believe that it had anything to do with the power outage–that it was just coincidence. I’m skeptical.
Anyway, as you can see, I’m back on line.
Are Americans Stupid?
Phil Bowermaster has some thoughts:
See how deftly it’s done? Stupid religious Americans, clever “heathen” Europeans. Unfortunately, in the context, this doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense. Americans are opposed to stem cell research because we’re ignorant religious bigots. Okay, sure. But we’re opposed to nanotechnology for the same reasons? And GM foods?
GM foods? Now wait a second…a lot of Europeans are opposed to GM foods. I bet they would even say it’s on moral grounds! Yet somehow, they manage to pull that off without being either 1) religious or — more importantly — 2) stupid. Personally, I think being morally opposed to GM foods is kind of stupid, and being “morally” opposed to nanotechnology is idiotic. However, I don’t see how American stupidity is dumber than European stupidity; one may be informed by religious belief, the other by a paranoid superstitious dread of scientific progress. Advantage: Europe? If you say so.
I just hope that Americans aren’t stupid enough to fall for Obama, as the Democrats currently seem to be.