My take on the whole consciousness backing-up thing is that we probably know at least enough about brains and enough about computing to say SOME informed things about why it can't be done yet and what some of the specific problems are.
At Pycon, I was hanging out with the Argentinians doing tourist stuff on the last day. They do cool stuff, including writing game development frameworks on camping trips. Do you and Kragen see the PyAr people?
I have no idea what to think of the Democratic candidate selection process. It seems from the outside to be complicated and non-responsive, and more than a little biased in favor of insiders.
Consciousness in machines, I don't know. It depends on what you mean, and I don't know what most people mean when they say that. Augmentation is closer to reality, and it wasn't well predicted. 30 years ago no one suspected everyone would be carrying a cell phone. Or a GPS.
I don't think any of the singularity will happen at all, as I understand it. Then again there are some who seem to think it already is...? Perhaps a difference in definition. That arm certainly seems cool, though! A more direct neural linkup would be interesting; right now it seems controlled by movements in other parts of the body instead of nerves in the stump.
As far as the Argentine politics, that does look like kind of a crisis. Some of the articles were claiming agricultural export taxes as high as 46%! That seems awfully high. I'm against exporting food in general, as I think food-receiving nations should strive for more self-sufficiency, but this seems more like getting revenue from a well-performing sector. What do you two think of it? I'm also interested in the demographics of the farmers. Is production concentrated on a relatively small number of big farms, as here, or are there lots of smaller and medium-sized farms? Is monoculture and chemically intensive agriculture the standard method?
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At Pycon, I was hanging out with the Argentinians doing tourist stuff on the last day. They do cool stuff, including writing game development frameworks on camping trips. Do you and Kragen see the PyAr people?
I have no idea what to think of the Democratic candidate selection process. It seems from the outside to be complicated and non-responsive, and more than a little biased in favor of insiders.
Consciousness in machines, I don't know. It depends on what you mean, and I don't know what most people mean when they say that. Augmentation is closer to reality, and it wasn't well predicted. 30 years ago no one suspected everyone would be carrying a cell phone. Or a GPS.
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As far as the Argentine politics, that does look like kind of a crisis. Some of the articles were claiming agricultural export taxes as high as 46%! That seems awfully high. I'm against exporting food in general, as I think food-receiving nations should strive for more self-sufficiency, but this seems more like getting revenue from a well-performing sector. What do you two think of it? I'm also interested in the demographics of the farmers. Is production concentrated on a relatively small number of big farms, as here, or are there lots of smaller and medium-sized farms? Is monoculture and chemically intensive agriculture the standard method?
Cute kitten :)
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