Yes, there is something profoundly screwed up about the fact that, under our current economic model, it is considered a BAD THING when someone no longer has to perform drudge labour because it can now be performed by a machine. That said, I don't know what the alternative model should be. Just that there's something wrong with the current system.

Thanks, these puns really gave me a lift!

Clearly I'm not the only one who read the whole summary in auto-tune.

Forgive me, but I don't really understand the business model, though. If it's true that their own studies have shown that pirates are better customers, this would presumably indicate that allowing piracy would increase revenue. So if their goal is to maximize profit, why wouldn't they want to take this on board?

The email states the effect was witnessed MARCH 22, not July 22, which is when the missile launch was scheduled.

Pew! Pew Pew! Pew Pew Pew Pew! ...sorry.

GOATSE ALERT

Craigslist spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

The Gizmodo article, like most of the speculation, was largely overblown:

That is not the case. The DNA is largely the same, except that phosphorous has been exchanged with Arsenic. Don't get me wrong, this is still a hugely interesting discovery, but it was implied during the pre-conference speculation that this was an entirely separate instance of abiogenesis, and that is simply not the case, unfortunately.

Good idea in theory. The problem is, the only people who have the power to implement the vast educational reforms you talk about are those who benefit most from the current state of ignorance...

Sorry, don't you mean 2 933 football fields under the sea?

Obviously SOMEONE wasn't watching gymnastics at the Summer Olympics...

I wonder what effect this would have on emotional response. There is growing evidence that there is a two-way feedback loop between subjective emotion and bodily affect. In other words, not only does being nervous cause your heartrate to increase, but an increased heartrate makes you feel more nervous. I would be very interesting to see if this pulse-less heart would result in flatter emotional responses.

Haha, my parents live in Nanaimo. Never saw it as a technological hub :P I'll tell you what it is good for though: Summer work. All you have to do is work for one of the 87% (estimated) retired people there. Once you work for one, they will tell 3 friends, and you can work for them, and your workload grow exponentially. It is glorious. I worked full-time for an entire month without sending out a single resume.