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Comment Re:Put them at restaurants (Score 1) 311

Why not just swap the battery out with a fully charged one? I guess they would be pretty heavy (the leaf battery is around 300 kg), but if you get the system in place, then you can just set up a robot arm to do the changing, and setup a car wash style conveyor belt thing?

Then, we could use the batteries that are being stored as an energy store connected to the grid (so we can make better use of some renewable connected to the grid like wind and solar), with the added benefit of only having the charge the batteries at night when power is supposedly cheaper.

I swap my propane gas bottle in this fashion. The stations around don't bother having the large tanks to refill the bottles, they just keep a dozen or full so people can swap them. You just have to build in the depreciation of the tanks into the price of the swap.

Comment Re:robots can't kill people (Score 1) 215

You make it sound like the UNHRC has a majority and can do what it likes. Currently, the UNHRC has 15 members from the OIC out of a total 47 members who sit on the council. This works out to about 30%. The OIC has 57 member states from a total of around 193 total UN member states, which works out to around 30%, so OIC member states are not over-represented on the UNHRC.

Also, the UN makes laws, but they do not go over national laws. It's up to nation states to adopt treaties. States have sovereignty.

Comment Re:Remind me,,, (Score 1) 327

Class warfare exists because there is a 'class' of people that identify themselves as a 'class' because they had to 'fight' in some conflict.

The warfare between classes is something that actually creates identity in a class which leads to more class struggle.

So, as long as people identify as proletariat or bourgeoisie, there will be conflict and class warfare.

Comment Re:Snow Crash (Score 1) 321

Somewhat ironically, I remember listening to a podcast about some professor who developed a one-handed keyboard and then developed the skill to type as fast as people can talk. Then, with one hand in his pocket, was able to record in text every conversation he had during his work day.

I think he started doing this back in the late 70's, and at the time of the podcast, had arranged a wearable eye piece that would enable him to search through the conversations. This means that while you're talking to him, he can 'remember' what you were talking to him about the last 5 or so times you spoke to him.

The whole process, he said, had become automatic. I'd like to know what he's up to these days if anyone has any information or if this sounds familiar.

Comment Re:Not even close (Score 1) 486

Opening up all the statistical information contained in the medial records of the entire population could certainly be a massive benefit to the whole of humanity.

The usefulness of the information comes from the flexibility that comes from being able to look at the data is any number of ways.

Then again, companies can already get a limited view of your medical condition by looking at what you spend your money on. Aged between 20 and 40, are female and are buying baby clothes, cots, push chairs and lotion on your visa? You're probably pregnant. Allow me to market to you directly! Think about how much they could infer when you look at GP/hospital visits and what you've been buying over the counter at the pharmacy.

We can try and save our privacy, but in the end we'll realise we gave it all away, willingly. As long as good is done with it (for the individual as well as the community), then it wont really seem that we're being coerced.

Comment Re:Proportional representation. (Score 1) 694

Yes. This is an important point.

Once you have negotiations between parties, the negotiations tend to be out in the open because the public have a clear idea of what a party stands for.

If you keep these discussions behind closed doors, then you end up being overly influenced by lobby groups.

Comment Re:So what the article is saying... (Score 5, Insightful) 758

I don't come from a country that uses the term 'liberal'. However, I *think* I'm a liberal, and OP is easy to rebuff.

1. Freedom of speech must be balanced against those that seek to cause harm, i.e. by inciting violence. The state should press charges if you for yelling 'fire' in a crowded movie theatre. This means, don't be surprised if I object to your poorly worded 'critical expression' if I feel as if it will incite violence.

2. I'm not *for* guns, or else I'd be *for* guns for everyone, especially those that cannot afford them. I don't see anyone argue *for* subsidised guns for everyone.

3. I'm not afraid of self-empowerment. It just shouldn't come at the cost of not restricting the freedoms of others. The bucket filling program that you write about is probably less a liberal position, but more a tool to manage a classroom. Anything to help kids think about their actions is a good thing.

4. I don't prefer either. The end of the scale, aggression, is generally a form of coercion. If you need to be aggressive towards someone, you're probably removing their ability to make their own decisions.

I finish off my post with some sweeping generalisations, and then a emotive, rousing call to arms. Just kidding.

Note that being 'out-numbered' isn't an excuse to be an asshole.

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