[quote=āsil, post:1, topic:9113ā]
Desuckling from the corporate teat: are we being held back by waiting for permission we donāt need from corporate sponsors of Linux OSes? (3.34)[/quote]
Iām way not qualified to answer this but I do remember being put-off by some of the decisions some corporate sponsors have made, and how they made it. I can point to a couple of specifics where I felt like the community was ignored but I donāt have the energy to complain about distro x introduxing y, or mothballing z -but in all honesty thatās not really answering the quesion being asked.
The short answer to the question, for me, ānoāā¦
Havenāt used it, I was kind of enthusiastic about it when I first learned of it -but Bryan and Stuart seemed to sum up what Iāve been hearing from a lot of the croud that I listen to. I was HUGELY excited about diaspora and signed up the second I heard of it -but I found it a chore to use so I dropped it. Loads of respect for Diaspora, though and I hope they grow and grow.
Iām on G+ and I like it for the same reasons the segment talked about: it has geeky and/or passionate people - the artists and engineers.
My parents were both journalists -the old-school, idealist types.It gave me an interest in journalism and in media in general. I love what the web has done for getting people heard (and for lots of other things) but I think journalism has suffered because of it. I donāt think the web is the only reason for it, but I bet itās played a large roll. It might be that journalism is just going through growing pains as it tries to deal with the new world -I sure hope so because Iāve become more and more jaded about news stories and outlets.
I can be pretty cynical and critical, and there lots of memes that start to irritate me after a while -and ones that bother me from the get-go. But in general Iām a fan of the phenomenon. Memes, at their best, bring people together -they give us a chance to have a common touch-stone with others. At worse theyāre sloppy, unoriginal, stupid, and stupid.
Every now and then I read a book, watch a movie, listen to music, try software, etc. that I think Iāll dislike or disagree with -mostly as a sort-of mental execise but also to make sure Iām not missing something awesome.
Iām mentioning this because I recently picked up a book on the subject of this segment. I was fully prepared to decide that the author was a nut, chicken-little, or just wrong -but I ended up really liking it and now I see the issue a bit differently -I think itās worth worrying about. The book is called āOur Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Eraā by James Barrat Our Final Invention - Wikipedia .
The book was pretty even-handed, though its central argument is super-intelligent AI is such a potential disaster to humans (as well as other species, and the planet in general) that we need to start thinking about how to approach AI research. He put it more strongly than that, but the book was not an āomg, omg, weāre all gonnaā dieā rant against AIās potential. The author seemed to believe that AI super intelligence was likely to happen at some point (IIRC he said, or some people in the fild said, anywhere from 20 to 300 years). The book was entertaining and interesting - thereās also a lot of geeky history of tech and interviews with some of the big players in the field.
RE: Stephen Hawking; thereās absolutely a feeling with some that itās the lay-person or public that has crowned Stephen Hawking king of all the geniuses. Having said that I think the guy is amazingly,
off-the-charts smart and, like any good scientist, seems willing to accept new evidence -even when that evidence clashes with, or disproves his ideas. His argument for Hawking radiation alone should give him the status of crazy-awesome brain.
Iād also like to know of any references for the idea that heās racist or bigoted. Iām positive you didnāt lie about that; but I really hope you were mistaken -itād suck a lot if itās true.
Really enjoyed the show -I look forward to more.
