Will work that OS's do change much in future you think?

Will their core work still be interfacing filesystems, networking, processes and accounts to the underlying tin?

Will some UI-type tasks typically carried out by applications shift the OS? (UI: voice/video/gaze/gesture recognition... user information management: social feeds, messages... environment management: ... malware detection) Will there be real-time requirements?

Its is a peculiar computer science conceit - that people, with their biases and foibles, can be replaced by sufficiently sophisticated computing resources.

The conceit shows up everywhere - from users with 'system says no' responses, to Google's algorithmic approach to everything, to OLPC talking of heli-dropping laptops into remote villages, to apps for everything: no matter how unimportant.

Unfortunately, instead of augmenting humans tech tries to supplant them

Didn't Allstate show up yesterday with a silly patent?
                                  http://tech.slashdot.org/story...

First an overly broad patent (wait until a toilet seat manufacturer patents 'diagnosing- while-enthroned'). Now this.

Thought I don't think there's anything wrong with using a drone for this, as long as inhabitants (i.e. owners and renters) of a covered property have a choice in the matter. But its likely someone in Allstate is already dreams of a fleet of cheap unmanned drones in every Allstate building, sent off on frequent 'combat missions' to increase premiums and reduce claims.

Looks like someone's funded Allstate's Technology department a bit too well.

And also, making that information available to specified "private entities".
(probably any entity with enough money to muscle into some named market)

thanks kanye!

No.
Nukes were and are produced by government owned national labs*. Not by gunsmiths-turned-megacorps.
Nukes = nuclear bombs.
Nukes != yellowcake.
No. Private citizens or corporations cannot lawfully buy nukes. Or import them from Russia.

*Now operated by private contractors to whom the govt. pays a management fee: http://thebulletin.org/us-nucl...

The govt. still owns the labs.

The shooter in Sydney had access to one 1950s era French shotgun. He could only kill one person before special operations police killed him. Same guy with US gun laws = fully automatic weapons.

By the same token, US citizens should be able to buy nukes!

Now there *is* the small possibility of owners going postal now and again! Perhaps even rendering the place inhabitable. But thats a small price to pay for a free market, right? In the long run, the market always sorts it out (perhaps has a different species take over... maybe cockroaches.... viva la market!).

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea...

I wouldn't knock anecdotes. Science is basically a set of carefully written anecdotes confirming one another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

Do you, with non neglible cognitive ability, not realise people, kids, or emergency personnel can walk into an area where a car has apparently paused to let them through? And that technology that replaces human function better behave somewhat 'human' ?

Ignore this pedant. Thanks for the interesting grandparent post.

> The world has changed a lot since then. I would gladly pay $40 for a good browser
Not really - you've just become richer :-P