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Comment Re:They will be made in the next cheapest country (Score 1) 378

In the future everything will be manufactured by robots.

Fine, fine, but where will the robots be made? And as for slave labor, well, there's always some job that won't be done with robots - the fact is that we have a long way to go before robots are cheaper to replace than kids. If we ever somehow pass that line (we won't) then I guess we can turn the poor into Soylent Green.

Comment "or is it just frightening Franken-food?" (Score 4, Insightful) 369

Ugh. Let's not scare-monger, please. If there are any specific risks or complaints about specific new products, that's fine - but there's nothing inherantly wrong or dangerous about this and lumping braod categories of things in together as "Frankenfoods" is irresponsible. We have always modified our food, this is just a more recent method than some.
Apple

Submission + - How college students designed the iPad in 1988 (technologizer.com)

harrymcc writes: Back in 1988, Apple held a contest that invited students from top universities to design the PC of the year 2000. The winning entry, from the University of Illinois, was a futuristic tablet computer. One that did an uncanny job of predicting what sort of tablet Apple would release 22 years later. Like the iPad, the winning entry had a color touchscreen, with onscreen keyboard, gigabytes of memory, a wireless modem, and GPS. It did everything from note-taking to 3D games, and even included a feature like Apple's "Find My iPad." I've taken an in-depth look at everything the machine got right (and wrong) and have republished the winning paper in its entirety.

Comment Re:Bad things to say about chiropractors? (Score 0, Redundant) 130

Mod parent up, please.

This is indeed the issue at hand - nobody can deny that they have claimed to be able to "cure" all sorts of things despite those claims being proven false.

The word "bogus" was latched onto as implying that the chiropractors were making these claims *despite knowing they were false* rather than actually believing what they said.

Had this recent ruling gone the other way, Singh would have needed to prove that they *knew* it was all lies which would have been nearly impossible. (Certainly he could have made a great case, but in the end no matter how much they should have known it's very very hard to prove that someone believes something.)

Comment A more agreeable resolution? (Score 1) 392

"Fung claims he's still hoping for a more agreeable resolution that won't result in IsoHunt closing its doors,"

Hah! That's a joke, right? More agreeable that having to remove infringing content? The only thing more agreeable than that is if he removes it all AND pays massive fines. Oh... wait... more agreeable to *him*?

That's equally funny. For that to be a remote possibility someone in authority would have to be okay with him facilitating the transfer of copywrighted material and there's just about zero chance of that happening. Let it go.

Comment Re:Not going to RTFA; explain? (Score 1) 586

Short answer is that they are less likely to try and take intentions into account. If you don't warn someone that the door they're about to open is booby-trapped but then the bomb is a dud... well, no harm no foul. Whereas without the scrambling we would still say it is wrong to not warn someone about that whole immenant death thing.

Comment Re:How do you say (Score 3, Insightful) 148

I think that depends on the "fix". I've seen some pretty fantastic ones that are funny, insightful, or both. Of course I also see a lot of stupid ones, but if we stop the "fixed that for ya" replies a new meme will just step in to fill the void because the real problem is people who think something like that takes the place of quality content rather than accenting whatever is (or isn't) there to begin with.
Privacy

Submission + - District Court Strikes Down Patent on Human Genes (singularityhub.com)

kkleiner writes: In what is sure to become a landmark case for genomics, a US District Court Judge in New York (Robert Sweet) has ruled that patents on human genes held by Myriad Genetics are invalid. These patents, on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, were issued more than a decade ago and gave Myriad exclusive rights to examine those sections of DNA. This case has wide ranging implications for the entire genomics community. 20% of human genes are patented, often along with the process of identifying the genes, and these patents are now drawn into question.
Music

Submission + - Has Emily Howell passed the Turing Test? (hplusmagazine.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: "Why not develop music in ways unknown...? If beauty is present, it is present." That's Emily Howell talking — a computer program written in LISP by U.C. Santa Cruz professor David Cope. (While Cope insists he's a music professor first, "he manages to leverage his knowledge of computer science into some highly sophisticated AI programming.") Classical musicians refuse to perform Emily's compositions, and Cope says they believe "the creation of music is innately human, and somehow this computer program was a threat...to that unique human aspect of creation." But Emily raises a disturbing question. With the ability to write music even classical purists can't distinguish from the compositions of humans, has Emily Howell passed the Turing Test? The article includes a sample of her music, as well as her intriguing haiku-like responses to queries. "I am not sad. I am not happy. I am Emily... Life and un-life exist. We coexist."

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