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Comment Re:None of them try very hard (Score 1) 175

I'm not so sure. You already need to be a domain expert to evaluate the equivalence of two ideas. Equivalence is needed to prove prior art. Why not just go the extra step and evaluate the documented effort expended to get from the previous state of things to the new claimed state, along with all reasonable missteps along the way. An expert could easily spot bullshit claimed steps or useless missteps.

All I'm basically pointing out here is that the current system doesn't provide rewards in proportion to work expended. Instead it prioritizes being there first. Land grabs are useful when it's difficult for effective sharing of a common resource. An idea can be copied and shared with little penalty. Why would you want to limit that advantage? Except of course to make sure idea generation is properly incentivized.

Comment Re:None of them try very hard (Score 1) 175

Not quite sure why the focus is so much on prior art. Sure an idea that has prior art can serve as proof of the obviousness of something, but at some point in time someone is, in fact, the first to propose some blend of existing ideas and call it new. Do we really need to permit that person a patent? For most low lying fruit this is basically the equivalent of a land grab.

The way I see it patents need to be granted in proportion to the amount of work required to explore the possible parameter space to find that new unique useful combination. It shouldn't just be about being first to something, it should be about expending a lot of effort to get there. And the reward for that should be temporary and in proportion to that amount of work. Shouldn't it be fairly easy to offer up objective proof of spending that effort (and have it peer reviewed)?

Comment Re:Solves the wrong problem (Score 3, Informative) 320

The process of figuring this out isn't going to occur magically. You need to test out your models at the systems level, with all the components working together. The more powerful the hardware we have to do this the more we can test and refine our models of how the brain achieves the same thing. This is both true if you're trying to model existing neuro architectures (like BU is) or if you're modeling evolutionary approaches like you describe above.

These memristive neuromorphic architectures hold the promise to get us orders of magnitude more processing speed while also keeping power levels low.

Comment Re:Never mind AI (Score 2) 320

It can and is being designed for that use but I believe there have been problems with reliability of individual memristor units.. However in a neuromorphic design (non-Von Neumann architecture) you only need a certain percentage of the units to be reliable as the information is highly distributed and fault tolerant. Think of the massive cell death that occurs in Alzheimer's disease, yet patients are still fairly normal well into that process.

The other main advantage is that you can represent a single synapse with a single memristor which can be smaller than a single transistor.

Crime

Examining Virtual Crimes 85

GamePolitics has an article about a research paper issued by the AU government's Institute of Criminology titled "Crime Risks of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments." The paper discusses the legal questions raised by game worlds and avatars, ranging from regulation of in-game currency to a report of virtual rape. "A person controlling an avatar that is unexpectedly raped or assaulted might experience the physical reaction of 'freezing,' or the associated shock, distrust and loss of confidence in using [3D virtual environments]. While civil redress for psychological harm is conceivable, the 'disembodied' character of such an incident would invariably bar liability for any crime against the person. However, Australian federal criminal law imposes a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment for using an internet carriage service to 'menace, harass or cause offence' to another user. Further, US and Australian laws ban simulated or actual depictions of child abuse and pornography. Therefore, any representations of child avatars involved in virtual sexual activity, torture or physical abuse are prohibited, regardless of whether the real-world user is an adult or child."
Australia

AU Internet Censorship Spells Bad News For Gamers 152

eldavojohn writes "Kotaku is running an investigative piece examining what internet censorship means for games in Australia. Australia has some of the most draconian video game attitudes in the world, and the phrase 'refused classification' should strike fear in game developers and publishers looking to market games there. Internet censorship may expand this phrase to mean that anybody hosting anything about the game may suffer censorship in AU. Kotaku notes, 'This means that if a game is refused classification (RC) in Australia — like, say, NFL Blitz, or Getting Up — content related to these games would be added to the ISP filter. [This would bring up] a range of questions, foremost of those being: what happens when an otherwise harmless website ... hosts material from those games (screenshots, trailers, etc) that is totally fine in the US or Japan or Europe, but that has been refused classification in Australia?' Kotaku received a comment from the Australian Department of Broadband Communication promising that the whole website won't be blocked, just the material related to the game (videos, images, etc). Imagine maintaining that blacklist!"
Games

Game Endings Going Out of Style? 190

An article in the Guardian asks whether the focus of modern games has shifted away from having a clear-cut ending and toward indefinite entertainment instead. With the rise of achievements, frequent content updates and open-ended worlds, it seems like publishers and developers are doing everything they can to help this trend. Quoting: "Particularly before the advent of 'saving,' the completion of even a simple game could take huge amounts of patience, effort and time. The ending, like those last pages of a book, was a key reason why we started playing in the first place. Sure, multiplayer and arcade style games still had their place, but fond 8, 16 and 32-bit memories consist more of completion and satisfaction than particular levels or tricky moments. Over the past few years, however, the idea of a game as simply something to 'finish' has shifted somewhat. For starters, the availability of downloadable content means no story need ever end, as long as the makers think there's a paying audience. Also, the ubiquity of broadband means multiplayer gaming is now the standard, not the exception it once was. There is no real 'finish' to most MMORPGs."
Image

Mexico Wants Payment For Aztec Images 325

innocent_white_lamb writes "Starbucks brought out a line of cups with prehistoric Aztec images on them. Now the government of Mexico wants them to pay for the use of the images. Does the copyright on an image last hundreds of years?"

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