tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1873334683965238959..comments2024-03-28T08:34:43.846-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The new Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination...plus innovative space conceptsDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14712547620076277592012-04-22T19:48:58.777-07:002012-04-22T19:48:58.777-07:00onwardonwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38069332940791356692012-04-22T19:46:33.800-07:002012-04-22T19:46:33.800-07:00The third TEDx Del Mar event on Envisioning
Transh...The third TEDx Del Mar event on Envisioning<br />Transhumanity will be held this coming April 29th at the Price Theater at U.C.S.D. north of San DIego.<br /><br />I'll be one of the speakers.<br /><br />The tickets have just been made available for purchase at the U.C.S.D. box office. A limited amount of free tickets will be made available to students and faculty. More information can be found on the TEDxDelMar.com website.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-496329973470675492012-04-21T23:50:57.119-07:002012-04-21T23:50:57.119-07:00Recall the quote from the most recent Batman film,...Recall the quote from the most recent Batman film, "Some men just want to watch the world burn"?<br /><br />A riff on it that makes it much better:<br /><a href="http://i.imgur.com/eXcHm.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/eXcHm.jpg</a>sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72219035990726335832012-04-21T23:24:13.156-07:002012-04-21T23:24:13.156-07:00Just watched DVD of TOWER HEIST with STiller-Murph...Just watched DVD of TOWER HEIST with STiller-Murphy...<br /><br />... and enjoyed it much more than expected. It was a fine action-dramady and I laughed out loud at least five or six times.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44687763426087020832012-04-21T20:22:44.333-07:002012-04-21T20:22:44.333-07:00Ian, I remember when it was predicted the fax mach...Ian, I remember when it was predicted the fax machine would soon bring down the Soviet Union. Soon after, it broke up. No one gives the fax machine credit anymore, although I don't know why. <br /><br />And of course to use a computer to plan anything successfully would require giving up Marx, Lenin, and Engels as bad modeling anyway.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59791506245751612812012-04-21T15:48:26.558-07:002012-04-21T15:48:26.558-07:00(Second attempt to post.)
Valve is introducing a ...(Second attempt to post.)<br /><br />Valve is introducing a new scale payment system for their next game: If you were fun to play against in their last game, you play for free. If you are new, you pay full price and get the full game. If you were a dick in the last game, you pay full price to play just the game, with an extra $100 if you want to chat. (Note: This is probably just Gabe Newell thinking out loud, and won't be implemented.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.develop-online.net/news/40568/Valve-DOTA-2-will-be-a-new-kind-of-free-to-play" rel="nofollow">http://www.develop-online.net/news/40568/Valve-DOTA-2-will-be-a-new-kind-of-free-to-play</a><br /><br />I find it amusing enough not to point out obvious loopholes.Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3439307414181426432012-04-21T15:44:34.137-07:002012-04-21T15:44:34.137-07:00Oh, Rob H, commented on your comment in the last t...Oh, Rob H, commented on your comment in the last thread.Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20286695026204763902012-04-21T14:21:05.480-07:002012-04-21T14:21:05.480-07:00Jumper, back in the 60's and 70's the Sovi...Jumper, back in the 60's and 70's the Soviets invested heavily in information technology precisely becasue they thoguht it would let them overcoem the inefficiencies of central planning. <br /><br />It didn't work.<br /><br />Of course, technology has moved on a great deal since then.Ian Gouldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352147295160200128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79811663996563684622012-04-21T13:26:28.935-07:002012-04-21T13:26:28.935-07:00"One thing you left out is that most Chinese ..."One thing you left out is that most Chinese hierarchs got engineering degrees. This is one reason why they have not yet hit "The Wall" of incompetence at GAR or Guided Allocation of Resources. Though of course, they will, witness the giant China Real Estate Bubble."<br /><br />Yes and as engineers the Chinese rulers are predisposed to technical fixes and to basnging bits of metal (or people) together.<br /><br />Western governments are dominated by lawyers, who are predisposed to solving problems by debatign until one side gives in.<br /><br />"The thing that many had expected was that the Chinese oligarchy would attempt to curb corruption where it hurts the most and matters most... down at the local level ... by instituting democratic reciprocal accountability down at that level. Freeing bloggers and the press to record and denounce local thieves.<br /><br />Another case of selectively adopting certain western processes when it seems convenient but fitting them into a system that is overall hierarchical, controlled, mercantilist and a classic pyramid-shaped social order.<br /><br />This process appeared to begin -- then was stopped. Because (1) local rambunctious accountability quickly sets the tone for it at higher levels. (2) They realized that most corruption is local... but it FEEDS UPWARDS in a steady flow of fiefdom baksheesh and that flow feeds the top."<br /><br />Well the other point there is that while China is a dictatorship at the national level and the central government has little difficulty in orderign privte citizesn aroudn they have extremely limited control over the subordinate levels of government.<br /><br />If you get hold of a book caleld "Can the Boat Sink the Water?". I don't have my copy readily to hand so I can't check the names of the authors.<br /><br />It's a history of local protests and public disturbances in modern China.<br /><br />One pattern that comes up over and over again is that a local Party branch or government agency will seek to impose an illegal tax or xonfiscate people's land. The peopel appeal to the provincial or national government, win in court but are then unable to get the judgment enforced.<br /><br />One of the key problems seems to be not kick-backs to upper levels of government or the party but Guanxi ("connections") where officials are unwilling to act agaisnt fellow officials with whom they have a personal relationship or to whom they feel obligated.<br /><br />The provincial level official who keeps putting the judicial order to compensate people on the bottom of his workpile isn;t being paid off by the lcoal offcial who forced people to sell their land at below market prices.<br /><br />But they were probably in the CYL together, their wives or sons might be busienss partners. The provincial guy might need the local guy's brothers support when he nominates for the NPC.<br /><br />Bihar-style openness with those judgments all a matter of public record (along with the fact they haven't been paid) would make a huge diffwerence in China.Ian Gouldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352147295160200128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71725739598102193142012-04-21T12:01:33.237-07:002012-04-21T12:01:33.237-07:00Is central planning doomed to such inefficiencies ...Is central planning doomed to such inefficiencies as in the past? With computerization, the ball game may have changed. When I was younger, there was no question a plethora of innovators was the more efficient method of improvements.<br /><br />Of course emergence was always going to give us dilemmas such as the prominence of VHS over Betamax, the superior technology.<br /><br />Nowadays? I'm rethinking it. And "central planning" encompasses industry standards, not just government alone, and indeed, can occur without government at all. The MP4 is an example. Of course government contributes support to such organizations in reality.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49527313884045454022012-04-21T10:52:15.276-07:002012-04-21T10:52:15.276-07:00DemetriosX - UCSD also has Vernor Vinge and Greg B...DemetriosX - UCSD also has Vernor Vinge and Greg Bear and Nancy Holder and Raymond Feist... though the latter doesn't do hard SF.<br /><br />Ian thanks for the Chinese politics review. One thing you left out is that most Chinese hierarchs got engineering degrees. This is one reason why they have not yet hit "The Wall" of incompetence at GAR or Guided Allocation of Resources. Though of course, they will, witness the giant China Real Estate Bubble.<br /><br />Back to your topic. The thing that many had expected was that the Chinese oligarchy would attempt to curb corruption where it hurts the most and matters most... down at the local level ... by instituting democratic reciprocal accountability down at that level. Freeing bloggers and the press to record and denounce local thieves. <br /><br /> Another case of selectively adopting certain western processes when it seems convenient but fitting them into a system that is overall hierarchical, controlled, mercantilist and a classic pyramid-shaped social order. <br /><br />This process appeared to begin -- then was stopped. Because (1) local rambunctious accountability quickly sets the tone for it at higher levels. (2) They realized that most corruption is local... but it FEEDS UPWARDS in a steady flow of fiefdom baksheesh and that flow feeds the top.<br /><br />== Tony I tried to rent Melancholia but Blockbuster cannot tell the difference between three awful films with the same name, slipping disks in each others' envelopes randomly!David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87863463101860938122012-04-21T10:00:22.453-07:002012-04-21T10:00:22.453-07:00It's good to focus on the elephant in the livi...It's good to focus on the elephant in the living room - radiation hazard for humans in space. And innovative thinking is needed, I'd say.<br /><br />What's the ratio of shielding mass - say boron - to human mass, required to retain, in space, average Earth human radiation exposures? (Yes, I know that's vague, so let's say radiation at a LaGrange point.)<br /><br />'Course, if you get to Phobos, or Cruithne, your shield is there for you. It's getting there that's the problem.<br /><br />The proposals from the links didn't look promising to me.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24671552170268842802012-04-21T08:16:17.124-07:002012-04-21T08:16:17.124-07:00@Tony Fisk
I saw Melancholia too. I am definitel...@Tony Fisk<br /><br />I saw Melancholia too. I am definitely in the camp that thinks Lars Trier was being very self indulgent. The movie went like molasses and left we wanting the earth to explode so it would end...Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30853563810334587192012-04-21T06:06:18.274-07:002012-04-21T06:06:18.274-07:00I suppose it's fitting that a movie with a mir...I suppose it's fitting that a movie with a mirror Earth should also have a mirror movie: Melancholia <br />(neither appeal to me but I thought it worth commenting that similar pieces were released at the same time)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29128183902949679872012-04-21T06:00:17.869-07:002012-04-21T06:00:17.869-07:00A quick primer on Chinese politics I wrote on a di...A quick primer on Chinese politics I wrote on a different site.<br /><br />Hopefully, people here will fidn it ofuse:<br /><br />Since the 1980's, China has had a system where every 10 years the main leaders are all replaced and where most decsions are made by the 9 men who make up the Standing Committee of the Politburo.<br /><br />There are two main factions inside the government: they're known as the Princelings and the CYL faction. The Princelings are the children or stepchildren of senior party leaders. CYL stands fro "Communist youth League" and is made up of people who rose to the top on their own merits.<br /><br />Both factions claim they support greater democracy, a free press and the rule of law. The difference is the CYL faction believe in very, very slow reform while the Princelings believe in even-slower-still reform. Both groups accept that they need to crack down on corruption and abuse of power at the local and provincial level but seem to be unable to actually do so.<br /><br />Back in 2002/3, Jiang Zemin a Princeling and one of the people responsbile for the Tiananmen Massacre handed power to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao who were both from the CYL faction and at the time many people thought political reofrm was finally at hand. It didn't happen, largely because a lot of real power in China resides with officially retired "senior leaders" like Jiang who can effectively veto decisions of the nominal leaders.<br /><br />In 2013, the next change-over is supposed to happen.<br /><br />The new Premier and head of the Central Military Commission will be Xi Jinping. Technically, you could say Xi is a Princeling since he's the son of a leading politician from the 1960's but his sympathies appear to be with the CYL faction. Xi was "sent down" during the Cultural Revolution when his father was purged meaning he spent his teens and early 20's doing manual labor on a collective farm.<br /><br /><br />(Sidenote: He's also part of the Class of '75. From 1965 to 1974 China's univerisities were all closed. In 1975, everyone who had reached high school leaving age was allowed to sit the university entrance exams. fewer than 1% were accepted. The class of '75 and very, very, smart and they're also very, very tough because they spent the better part of a decade working 16 hour days on a couple of bowls of rice. They're also tyically very skeptical of ideology becasue they had it crammed down their throats for that decade.)<br /><br />The Standing Committee generally decides most issues by consensus - they talk until everyone is prepared to support a common position.<br /><br />Xi was expected to inherit a Standing Committee divided between Princelings and CYL members. Bo Xilai was seen as a leading light of the Princelings and was probably the most popular politician in China. The elder leaders and the Princelings were prepared to accept a CYL-dominated Standing Committee because Bo would be there to protect their interests and stop any reforms from moving too fast or going too far by invoking the need for consensus.<br /><br />Bo's fall means the CYL will probably be more dominant in the Standing Committee.<br /><br />This doesn't mean we're going to see radical political change but we might just see the start of political reform. Like, for example, free and open elections for Local People's Congresses. (The LCP's elect the Provincial People's Congresses who elect the National People's Congress so that's more signifcant than it might sound. In the last elections some genuinely independent candidates - a few dozen nationally out of thousands - actually managed to get elected.)Ian Gouldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352147295160200128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24084449627185765612012-04-21T03:29:01.692-07:002012-04-21T03:29:01.692-07:00UCSD is also known as the university campus that h...<i>UCSD is also known as the university campus that has engendered more scientifically-oriented science fiction authors, among its graduates, than any other in the world.</i><br /><br />I can only think of 3: you, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Greg Benford. Are there others, or is it just a low bar?DemetriosXnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51416678291452005492012-04-20T22:54:39.287-07:002012-04-20T22:54:39.287-07:00"Another Earth" - including the cool end..."Another Earth" - including the cool ending.<br /><br />I thought the ending was very poor. We are left hanging with the sudden ending and no resolution.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73267671763564375082012-04-20T17:53:32.453-07:002012-04-20T17:53:32.453-07:00The climactic scene of "Childhood's End&q...The climactic scene of "Childhood's End" ... of Earth's Children tuned into a spectrum of reality incomprehensible to their elders ... seems very close to describing the natural outcome of earbuds, eyebuds and the internet ;-)rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.com