Self repairing machines maybe science fiction now, but so were cell phones with internet browsers in 1995

The EU also has spent billions of dollars on a brain mapping/simulation project as well.

If that ever gets significant progress it wouldn't be too far fetched for machines to self diagnose and self repair.

The difference between the buggy and whip and auto makers is the automakers still required people to work.

I think the question should be asked when will automation be good enough to exclude any human input. Even the engineers and artists will be out of job.

I heard a VR software developer say "People overestimate technological change for a year, but under estimate change when you talk about a decade."

Something to that effect...

So its worth to give a bit of thinking on what happens when machine learning is good enough to eliminate current jobs and all possible jobs after that.

Besides who is going to foot the bill to retrain all 14 million truck drivers when Google self driving cars are good enough? I highly doubt they are all going to be robot repairmen.

Hrm... I take it you haven't tried the product yet or watched the reaction of people who have used it.

I'm a child of the 90's so I used to play those VR games for a dollar for 5 minutes in the arcades and have to agree those were pretty shitty.

However, the Oculus Rift is something else to behold.

I own a dev kit and I actually get "Oh shit" moments in the Rift playing the roller coaster demos. Regular games don't do that for me. I get vertigo playing Minecraft in the Rift when I am high up building something. Regular Minecraft doesn't do that.

When I play Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the Rift I find myself looking left and right and checking my mirrors just like I drive a car in real life. I even look out the window to look at the scenery. Without the Rift I don't do that.

And this is a low rez version without positional tracking.

Its not a gimmick and its not going away. 2 billion dollars says its not going away. Even if you hate Facebook you can invest in one of the other kickstarters like AntVR and use their product.

I've been participating in the RiftMax shows and it reminds me of the scene in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex where they are in a virtual chat room on the net.

This is going to be big.

One a side note. If your significant other doesn't allow you 30 minutes of me time uninterrupted then you are going to have a rocky relationship.

When my special something is reading a book. I leave her alone unless its an emergency. (Also she has a bad habit of watching TV shows ahead of me on hulu so if I bother her she will start saying spoilers).

When I'm on the computer she does the same.

I just make sure at a certain time I turn the computer off and spend some time with her before we go to bed.

We generally watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report and then head to bed.

Actually... I have an Oculus Rift and have to say I don't use it more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time.

Mostly because a lack of a killer app at this point (Skyrim with special drivers comes close, but I think Star Citizen will be the app everyone has to get VR because its amazing just sitting in the hanger looking at the 3d screens sitting in your ship's hanger that pop out at you).

Anyways... If you can't find 30 minutes to an hour a day to enjoy some me time then I would argue that there is something wrong with your life.

I don't have kids personally but I have dealt with families that do and basically unless you go to bed when the kid does, you should have at least 30 minutes to enjoy the experience.

Basically I spend 30 minutes alone playing games. Then maybe an hour watching TV with the significant other and then to bed to get 8 hours of sleep.

If not, then I would argue, you are going to have stress management issues in your life and no one wants that.

So yeah... The Oculus Rift is amazing. Most of the demos are short games so I haven't spent six hour with it in a sitting, but demos like Titans of Space really take my breath away.

Also the rollercoaster demo made me go "Oh shit!" out loud. Only happened once since successive rides had me knowing I would be ok, but no non-Oculus Rift game has ever made me fear for my safety.

Its something that even non-video game players can get a kick of it.

Anyways, I own one and its amazing. The only problem with it is that I'm going to have to buy an expensive computer to play the 1080p and the lack of games for it right now.

Once both of those issues are resolved. I think we are seeing a revolution.

Dude, Bert and Ernie could have travelled BACK IN TIME from this event!

"If we don't export food, mostly grains, the world starves." Maybe back in the 1960s and 1970s, but this is a myth or urban legend in the 21st Century. See for example this. If anything, we are taking corn OUT of the export market and driving up world food prices with our insane tax subsidies on corn to produce fuel ethanol.

Next they'll have to prove that a Raspberry Pi is not a Genetically Modified Organism.

Helium has gained a lot of traction in recent years as the suicide vehicle of choice. It has progressively become more central in every update of Final Exit.

A self-inflicted 22LR to the head killed my mother in 1979. A friend of mine had a daughter that used a .38 on herself and is a vegetable in a nursing home. You never know.

In November the $25 Raspberry Pi computer will become available. Check it out.

Invite, please: rickyjames at gmail etc etc - Thx!!!

VB6 is an American classic just like a 64 Mustang. Forget OOP and just git er done. Its back to the future and I couldn't be happier. Welcome back old friend!

In Japan it is.

If you go to Japan and notice a bunch of old ladies reading comics, chances are you seeing the Yaoi section. (I went holy shit and started l started laughing when I realized it was true what they said when I walked through a store in Akihabara once)

Truth be told, not all Yaoi is pornographic. I'd wager the majority of it isn't in Japan. They have a weird sense of things. Like maid cafes and host clubs, they get off on subtle things like "dead Japanese parent syndrome" (where the plot of the story is the kids parents have died releasing them from their obligations... strange how so many Anime and Manga's have that plot line)

Anyways, my point is, that the stuff English speakers google is probably pornographic because that is what they expect from Japan while in reality Japan isn't all about sex.

PRO:TIP

Poor credit ratings can hurt a person far worse than a IRS audit can these days. Why?

Because employers, apartments, housing, cars, and to some regard school is now determined by your credit.

(not that its harder to hire people with good credit these days, but its still considered a black mark)

And credit is purely a three corporation deal not handled by the government.

So if they wanted to for some unknown reason, they could blackball you from ever getting a good job again unless you play by their rules.

So yes, they seem to have reserved a special right in that regard when it comes to your well being.

Also health insurance... Companies have been leveraging the threat of going without health insurance for some time. Its one of the reasons many people put up with employee abuse when it comes to forcing them to do things beyond the scope of the original agreement.

Its not said, but it weighs on everyone's mind when they think about saying "no" to unreasonable demands of an employer or when thinking about taking a new job from a non-corporate who doesn't give benefits.

If there was universal healthcare in the states like France or Canada, then employers would have a harder time forcing employees into doing things they'd unethical things or simply the fear of not being able to pay medical bills.

Simply keeping everything in house at one location does not protect from acts of god or bad luck.

Fires, floods, and theft happen.

A really good backup system includes off site backup somewhere in the loop.

This doesn't mean you have to use the cloud to do it.

You could have a simple system with someone taking backup tapes to a different office or something, or even taking encrypted hard drives to a safety deposit box.