Archive for the ‘Computers/technology’ Category
Artificial intelligence is dangerous in State, not private, hands
Monday, July 7th, 2008I was reading about the Three Laws of Robotics at Wikipedia, and for anyone who hasn't read any Isaac Asimov, I highly encourage you to start with I, Robot and go all the way through Foundation and Earth. That's 12 books altogether: five robot novels and seven Foundation novels, which ...
Kill switches and remote control
Friday, July 4th, 2008Bruce Schneier, the computer-security guru whom Brad at WendyMcElroy.com often links to, wrote a pretty chilling post on kill switches and remote control. This type of technology is an example of why government is not your only enemy, but its creation of the national-security state enables private companies and individuals ...
To the Home Office, everyone is a terrorist suspect
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008It's a shame George Orwell didn't foresee the advent of computers and the computer age because if he had, 1984 would have been so much more frightening. The Home Office of Great Britain plans to create "Big brother" database for phones calls, emails and web use. This fascism hasn't been ...
Bionic eye returns sight to blind
Thursday, April 24th, 2008This bionic vision system consists of an ultra-thin electronic receiver implanted into the eyeball, which receives a signal transmitted by a special pair of glasses that the patient wears. Pfff, I don't know who would want that; I'd much rather wear a gold, semicircular visor that looks like it came ...
Staggering ignorance
Friday, March 21st, 2008In this week's issue of Nature, John Browning reviews Nicholas Carr's latest book, The Big Switch. I like reading Nicholas Carr's blag, Rough Type, for its insights and commentaries on the computer/technology industry and its future. This post isn't really about Carr or his book or his blag or the future ...
Why computers work and health care doesn’t
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008I think arguing by analogy is quite effective as a way to introduce an argument to someone whose beliefs are very different from yours. It can be quite instructive. Bill Walker wrote a good article last month about the contrast between the computer industry and the health care industry. Instead ...
Should governments block websites?
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008This is apparently what passes for moral-political discourse at the BBC.
Internet geeks aren’t largely libertarian
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008The Ron Paul fan club made a big deal about his extensive support on the internet, as evidenced by the success and popularity of Ron Paul forums, his success in so many online polls from news outlets (Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc.) after debates, his online donations that totaled a lot ...
Reworded broadband plan resold as new and improved
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008Tim Swanson, who closely follows the internet and telecommunications world for the Mises Institute, posted an update on the theft, corporate welfare, and monopoly protection that constitutes federal telecommunications policy, which he wrote extensively about in December (here and here). This week a report (pdf) was issued by EDUCASE which ...
Dog translator
Saturday, January 19th, 2008The BBC reports on a new computer program that can translate what your dog is saying by the tone and nuances of its barks. That's a fantastic invention, but not as impressive as this...
Intel CEO at CES
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008Intel CEO Paul Otellini spoke today about the future of the internet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's an interesting article, though it discusses what we basically already know: the future of the internet is personalization, context-awareness, mobility (as in iPhones etc.), and incessant connectivity. Obviously this ...
Red Hat’s new CEO
Friday, January 4th, 2008Jim Whitehurst, the man hired as Delta's CEO to lead them out of bankruptcy, is the new CEO of Red Hat, Inc. His and Red Hat's goal in the near future is to keep a sizeable portion of open source software, support, development, and "leadership" out of the hands ...
The RIAA is evil
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008Which of the following stories is true? RIAA bans telling friends about songs RIAA sues radio stations for giving away free music RIAA sues man for ripping his legally purchased CD's to his computer Thanks to Justin Ptak of the Mises blag.
Tim Swanson on the harm of State regulation of telecom
Thursday, December 27th, 2007Tim Swanson has written a collection of masterful columns for the Mises Institute, one in 2006 and two in the past week, about the harm already done to consumers by State intervention in the telecommunications industry and the harm that more State intervention will cause. I will try to amalgamate and ...
MINIX operating system
Tuesday, December 25th, 2007When I was looking for blags to add to our blagroll, I came across movementarian.com, Tim Swanson's web page. Even if I hadn't heard of Tim Swanson, I would have added him without hesitation because of his libertarianism and obvious fixation on "The Simpsons." He could hate baseball and beer ...