This concept of reputation based currency reminds me of the monetary system employed by the fictional race the Dwellers, in the Iain M Banks novel "The Algebraist". A given individual's reputation within that society determines the value of Kudos they have, which they can then barter/trade like money.

It's a pretty far reaching story and makes you think how trivial actions can have far flung consequences. Between the rise of the religious right in leading the US, the intrigue with the USAF vs NASA, and the degradation of the ability of the crewmembers to work with each other, the story takes some depressing turns. It's quite telling though, and I would highly recommend it. Some consider the last bit of the book controversial, and not fitting with the rest of the story. I found it to be different but it worked. You be the judge.

Come on guys, this is Slashdot, no one has yet made the comparison of this idea to one of the worst movies of all time, that being Manos: The Hands of Fate given the name of the CTO at AOL that is announcing this "breakthrough" in computing?

And here's an idea to help with the cooling on this outside enclosure - don't paint it BLACK!

Perhaps the use of writing and the ability to read (both could be argued as being classified as technologies) are being misused by these rioters as well. We should limit the ability for individuals to have access to these dangerous technologies so that we may protect the masses. Hmm. Dark ages anyone?

Thing about the gun nuts is - to an extent they are right in that the technology isn't solely at fault - it takes a person to kill another person. With that said, guns are explicitly made to kill, and so limiting availability of certain types of guns is OK in my book because of this.

Likewise regarding your statements about a time delay and police monitoring - I ask this - should we allow governments to filter what we see? Yeah sure to a certain extent this happens now in various ways but what happens if an oppressive regime has total control over communication? What then?

Agreed! My wife bought me the soundtrack the day we went to go see the movie, so we listened to it on the drive to the theater. Great soundtrack, and a great surprise! :)