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Comment Re:what about criminal library? (Score 1) 352

I'm sure they didn't think about detecting people/barricades that are blocking a street, that NEVER would have crossed my mind when designing a vehicle AI. </sarcasm>

People need to look up the youtube videos displaying the realtime computer vision processing that the google cars use, it will begin to change your mind about these things.

Comment Re:Great AI (Score 1) 352

You obviously didn't think of the fact that the car's computer would record *at least* a few minutes of telemetry before a crash event that could be reviewed in court or by police in teh event of a crash.

In fact in at least a few places they are considering implementing laws to have new cars sold with "black box" recorders in the near future.

Comment Re:NO. (Score 1) 646

The rush hour times would NOT be hardcoded.

Just modify the setting that tells it which hour is rush hour twice a year, way easier than modifying firmware.
Then make sure trhe next time you create traffic light software make sure this stuff is configurable.

Comment Re:Duh (Score 1) 339

I don't see the problem with deflation. It allows one to save their money and get good future value for their saved money. I think inflation is wrong. Inflation depletes your savings.

Deflation encourages hoarding and reduces the velocity of money - why invest money with risk when i can just hold onto it and increase it's value.

In a deflationary money system, the more people that horde the greater the value of the currency. It's like a catch-22, the more you save the more that people want to save.
Instantly all of people's discretionary spending grinds to a halt and businesses can't get loans because they have to spend a currency that will return in smaller amounts (because everyone else's money will be worth more) and have to pay it back in larger amounts that they may never get. Additionally, if you buy X amount of stock and tomorrow the currency is worth X * 0.9 you have lost money before you started. If it takes you 6 months to get the stock from wholesaler to customer you may never be able to sell it for more than what you paid for it. May as well just keep the money in the bank at 0% interest.

Large amounts of inflation are bad because people can't spend money fast enough for it to be useful, but deflation is worse because it literally stops the economy dead in it's tracks. This is why central banks keep inflation at around 3%, it's not enough to affect day to day prices so business and consumers can plan their budgets but it is enough that people don't keep money under their mattresses. Even putting your cash in an interest bearing account is in everyone's interest because that interest is you being paid to lend your money to businesses or other people to keep the flow of capital going.

People who say deflation is bad should go find a local community college and take Economics 101, it will teach you the basics theories of how this stuff works.

Comment Re:Hmm (Score 1) 196

Yes, but loser pays isn't a panacea for our problems, the fact is that if you don't win, that's not necessarily because you didn't have a case, if your attorneys weren't as good or you didn't have experts that were as good, you can still lose. Not to mention the times when you just have bad luck.

This is why most countries that have loser pays legal costs don't just automatically award them but it is automatically considered, otherwise a large entity could hire entire law firms and then lose on purpose to bankrupt their opponents.

For example in Australia when AFACT (local puppet for the MPAA) took our 3rd largest ISP to court for encouraging piracy by refusing to forward MPAA nastygrams to customers iinet were only awarded something like 75% of legal costs.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure comes down to how legitimate your case was and how able to wear the costs you are.

Comment Re:Because he wants to come home again (Score 4, Insightful) 97

You forget how deep the gravity well of mars is, It's not like the moon where you can pretty much just jump to put yourself into orbit around it.
Mars is more like taking off from earth, and the weight of all that fuel would never make it out of *our* gravity well let alone landing it safely and taking off again at the other end.
Until we have the ability to synthesize or mine more fuel at the other end of the trip and land a reusable launch module the trip to mars is one-way.

This is either a plan for one-way mission or it's a scam (or both?)

Space

China's Radical New Space Drive 419

First time accepted submitter Noctis-Kaban writes "Scientists in China have built and tested a radical new space drive. Although the thrust it produces may not be enough to lift your mobile phone, it looks like it could radically change the satellite industry. Satellites are just the start: with superconducting components, this technology could generate the thrust to drive everything from deep space probes to flying cars. And it all started with a British engineer whose invention was ignored and ridiculed in his home country."

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