skyshine
Joined 18 years ago
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12
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15
Member since
Mar 21
www.skyshine.co.uk
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Comment · 11 years ago
That is exactly what I was wondering about.
Comment · 11 years ago
I've been using low self discharge NiMH batteries for years. I find they are better than Alkaline for almost everything. They are fine in all my remotes. Last for months. It is only a couple of items that just don't work with any NiMH batteries. The smoke detector and a clock. It's not that they run dry quickly. The smoke detector fails within 24 hours (gives a battery low warning siren) and a clock that just doesn't work.
Comment · 11 years ago
Could these be used to boost NiMH to 1.5 volts?
Could I finally stop throwing money at my smoke detector which always throws a fit at about 2AM if I try and put NiMH in it?
Comment · 11 years ago
What I want to know is how do they make the difficult decisions.
When does someone get fired?
If there are not enough resources in the pot, then who gets to expand?
Comment · 11 years ago
Does anyone know if they are planning on including an IM client with it. (I know it doesn't have one yet). Without that it is pretty useless to me.
Comment · 11 years ago
> majority consensus.
A majority consensus of those who have been bribed enough to make a mockery of the idea.
Comment · 12 years ago
Shame they are only available for iPads and not androids. The app might be free but iPads are expensive, especially for poor families.
Comment · 12 years ago
The problem with the shoe buying story is that a lot of crap is sold as 'the best' and it can be very hard to tell the truth. Shoes are a great example. I used to buy Brasher walking shoes. They were great, but then they sold out and the shoes are now an inferior quality whilst the marketing is the same and the price if anything has gone up.
Comment · 12 years ago
There is a common misconception that humans are in control of society. We are not. It is an emergent phenomena. Perhaps we can influence it, but to do so we have to understand what its purpose is. Many would say its purpose is to serve humans. I disagree. There is a wealth of evidence that all systems (from atoms to cells to solar systems to society etc) exist for one simple reason : they enable energy to be converted from states of low entropy to states of high entropy more rapidly than if that system did not exist.
The systems come about and develop by many methods, such as the physical forces in the case of atoms or biological evolution in the case of animals. But in every case they succeed at being better generators of entropy.
If we want to make society work for us then we have to understand how society can generate more entropy - and at the same time create roles for us (its component parts) that we want to live. Free market democracy has succeeded precisely because it does this exceptionally well. It creates a framework in which innovation is embraced and people are encouraged to work and consume (creating a very efficient dynamic for entropy production - literally turning resources into shit.)
If you want a socio-economic system that is less corrupt then you have to work out how to create one that has the benefits of the free market, but without the downsides. That is a hard problem to solve. But I think it is solvable, and so I have spent the last few years working on a new economic platform called Babbling Brook. http://babblingbrook.net
It is not a new economic system in itself. It is a protocol for social networking activity, that is based on an understanding of emergently complex non equilibrium thermodynamics. Which is essentially means it is an open ended platform with built in feedback loops that allow for increasingly complex systems of exchange to emerge.
Comment · 12 years ago
Then perhaps it is time to start looking for an alternative economic system. I've been developing a framework to explore new economic systems for several years. http://babblingbrook.net
There are two pressures in society. One pushing in the direction you say and another pushing towards a post scarcity economy. Which will prevail is difficult to say, but I suspect that in the short term the status-quo definitely have an advantage, but in the long term they will most likely lose.
The reason is due to a little known theory called non equilibrium thermodynamics, which essentially states that if the reconfiguring of a system (an atom, a cell, a solar system, a hurricane, society etc...) can produce more entropy in the universe, then given the opportunity, it will do that.
A moribund restrictive society that inhibits innovation creates less entropy than one where everyone is free to innovate, investigate and have fun in ways that expend energy. This doesn't mean that this will automatically happen, in the same way that biological evolution uses chance to produce more adapted species, so do all forms emergent complexity due to non equilibrium thermodynamics (evolution is just one organising principle). Also, it needs to be possible for the system to organise in this way. Societies organising principle is its socio-economic system. We have had several in the past, such as a monarchic command economy, but today the most successful is free market democracy. There is no reason to presume that this is the best one. Free market democracy became possible due to several inventions and innovations, such as coins, the printing press and debt. Recently we have invented the internet and this makes many new systems possible.
I've written a lot more on my theory page. http://babblingbrook.net/page/theory.
Sorry if this is poorly written. I have just bashed it out and would like to write more, but I have to go and get my daughter from grandmas so I don't have time...
Comment · 12 years ago
I've recently gone public with a an economic system I've been developing that can bridge the gap between a free market and a post scarcity economy. http://babblingbrook.net
Comment · 12 years ago
"The test was conducted on a 410km (255-mile) link"
I know I'm from the North, but last I checked Ipswich was practically next door to London. Did they route it via Manchester or something.
Comment · 13 years ago
This is all well and good, but it only really matters if they start lobbying heavily for this change. Words are cheap, it is actions that matter.
Comment · 18 years ago
You really should read up on the work of Clare Graves.
Whether people work better independently or with a boss is dependant on their dominant 'values' system - this can change but does so slowly. As people grow through life we develop through psychological states that oscillate between 'we' centred and 'I' centred. There are four main values systems that a programmer is likely to be inhabiting. In the first(DQ) a boss is essential. The second(ER) will work very well as their own boss. The third(FS) craves peer support - but not a boss. The fourth(GT) can work in either way - as long as they don't get board because they are out of there if they do.
(in reality people are complicated and can be inhabiting multiple values systems - but most have a dominant one.)