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Comment Basic probability maths (Score 1) 97

Clearly the statistical analyses' are wrong for at least two of those companies. The prior probability of risk for a given disease is 'average', and if you don't test enough polymorphisms or if the correlations are weak then it remains average. Trouble is you can't make a business case on selling such weak information, so there's an incentive to spice up the summary info they provide.

Comment Re:well thats more just the processor... (Score 1) 143

True, and you're also one software/hardware bug away from creating the infamous grey goo - or at the very least killing everyone on the planet without creating a grey goo. I'm not sure if Kurzweil has ever addressed this specific issue, I guess he would say that biological life would be defunct at that point and we'd all hav either uploaded our minds to an artificial substrate or will have been wiped out and replaced by some machine intelligence. Happy new year!

Comment Re:well thats more just the processor... (Score 5, Insightful) 143

OK but what if you want to put them inside nanobots designed to target and kill cancer cells or a zillion other applications that are made possible by smaller and less power hungry computation? Smaller also means more powerful computers at the 'classic' scale, for which we know there is demand for right now by way of the very existence of supercomputers.

Movies

Submission + - A Convenient Truth - Preview goes online (climatefilm.com)

Anonymous Coward writes: "A CONVENIENT TRUTH" PREVIEW GOES LIVE
Feature length preview of "A Convenient Truth", a film about the world getting better, goes online.

Shot in late 2006, after watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Jack Guest was inspired to find a A Convenient Truth about climate change. He invested his life savings and took a film crew to Sweden (by boat), a country aiming to break its dependency on oil by 2020. There he met a full range of people, from politicians and scientists, to families and entrepreneurs.

The feature length preview film tells the story of Jack's journey to Sweden, with part one released today:

www.climatefilm.com/preview

In December of the same year Jack continued his journey, crossing the Atlantic by cargo ship in search of love, a low carbon footprint, and time to enjoy the ride. Things didn't go exactly according to plan. With a light hearted tone A Convenient Truth's positive message is that things can get better and that change does not have to mean sacrifice.

The film is heading for release in early 2008.

Jack Guest, Director of Participate Productions said: "We've split our feature length preview of A Convenient Truth into five parts and will be releasing a new part online weekly following the launch on the 15th November, so it can reach as many people as possible. The film's global message is that things can get better, that the world can work for everyone, and that we will make it happen.""

Government

Submission + - Footage Released of Canadian Police Taser Death

locster writes: "The BBC reports that footage has been released of the tasering and subsequent death of Polish man Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport on Octover 18th. It appears that Robert was distressed and in need of help rather than a swift tasering. This looks like a clear case of taser first and ask questions later. Mr Dziekanski's mother has seen portions of the video and has approved its release."
Math

Submission + - Rubiks cube solvable in no more than 26 moves

locster writes: "The BBC are reporting research by Daniel Kunkle and Gene Cooperman at Northeastern University in Boston that proves any Rubiks cube configuration can be solved in 26 moves or less. Research was centered around exaustive searching of some cube configurations, but not all — "cranking through the 43 billion billion possible Rubik's cube positions would take too long even for a supercomputer. Instead, the scientists used a two-step technique in their calculations." Basically they used a number of predetermined configurations as baselines instead of trying to solve every combination right through to solution."

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