EdEarl

Hunting is prohibited in the US National Parks, such as Yellowstone, and I think that is true for many similar parks around the world.

In 1970 Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, which explained how people suffer from a form of culture shock when faced with rapid technological changes; he called it future shock. In addition, he rightly predicted that the changes were accelerating. The changes that will occur between now and 2060 are beyond our imagination. Three common predictions are automation will eliminate the need for humans to work, computers will be smarter than we are today, and our brains will be augmented by computer technology including direct internet connection. The first of these three predictions is simple enough to imaging, computers would be our slaves. The second one has been the subject of Hollywood and Sci Fi authors for a long time; there are many possible outcomes. The third prediction could be a Matrix like world among others. Unfortunately, future reality seldom resembles Sci Fi futures very much.

There's a lot of help online.

No, no question.

Recently Pluto became a dwarf planet, based on whether it has cleared other matter from the neighborhood of its orbit. Masses too small to be nearly spherical are asteroids, comets or smaller stuff. It seems to me a related naming convention, to signify spherical or not, would communicate important info similar to the dwarf planet title. I believe it will be more important as extremely large telescopes see light; they are likely to find moons.

Dehydrated H2O, just add water. I'm afraid anti-religion laws would drive religion underground; laws don't change beliefs. However, teaching that religions are myths in grammar school would IMO decrease the number of people who believe in religion. On another note: online companies are eliminating jobs for lawyers with AI apps. I expect to see religious AI apps that call people on the phone, preach to them, and charge them $/hr.

Your twitter reference is not evidence of USIC doing anything; in fact, there is no reference to USIC. Moreover, thinking that sixteen different intelligence agencies could cooperate to provide false information is as likely as throwing a ball into orbit. On the other hand, that they are inept enough to provide false information is possible. The president needs to be smart enough to realize that intelligence reports are often opinion and incorrect to some degree.

The surface of the ocean is ~3.6×108 km2. If we assume the oceans will rise 7 meters (typical estimate by climatologists), then the volume of water increase is ~3.6×7×108 km2 = ~25.2×108 km2. Mt. Everest occupies about 60 km2. Thus, to dig a hole big enough to level the oceans from 7 meters to 0 meters rise would require moving ~25.2×108 km2/60km2 = ~4.2×107 = 42,000,000 Mt. Everest volumes of dredge from the ocean floor. Where do you propose putting 42 million Mt. Everests? Moreover, what equipment do you suggest could do it? And, surely it would create a major environmental trauma.

good discussion. Light heavy is an oxymoron.

Trump is a con man with no empathy, whose actions as president are despicable. I would like to see him impeached and sent to prison. I'd feel good that justice had been served. However, Trump is a circus who distracts us from the important issue; his impeachment would have no significant effect on US politics, where money rules and the super rich control politicians. We need a constitutional amendment to assure one person one vote, and to exclude corporations from the political process.

Yes, need all of the above. Additionally, inputs and outputs might be valuable. What is Sat?

I don't think they rigged the election; I think the Russian connection is about something else, possibly oil.

This morning, 4:30am local (GMT-5h) there were multiple stories about the Comey firing on youtube, including a couple of republican politicians saying the firing was suspicious and reminded them of Watergate. A few hour later, those videos don't show up on recommendations, and I can't find them with specific searches. The reason Trump gave for firing Comey was that he had insulted Hilary during the election, and that it had nothing to do with the Russian-Trump investigation. I also heard Trump fired Spicer, his press secretary, for fumbling when asked about the Comey firing. The story I heard was that Trump had not told Spicer about the firing, and reporters ran to Spicer asking about the firing, and Spicer in some bushes (found a bushes story on youtube). Now, I don't see anything about Spicer being fired, but his deputy did a news conference for him. I think there is a big cover up regarding the Russians.

Ray Kurzweil is a scientist, researcher, and futurist who predicted AI and robots will take all jobs, and humans will augment themselves to have better and better connections to the internet, including (one day in the future) nano technology entering our bodies to establish a live online link between our brain and the internet. The story of old AT&T illustrates how the goals of a corporation were achieved, goods and services became inexpensive due to automation and economies of scale, until long distance became free. In the 50s AT&T established itself as a near monopoly of telephone service, owning both local and long distance calling services. Long distance was expensive, several $ per minute. Over the years tech improvements reduced the price of long distance voice calls so much that we can now call almost anywhere in the world as part of our monthly phone service, essentially $0 for long distance calls. As companies automate, their costs fall, and prices fall. Eventually, 3D printing and automation will produce goods for $0. lettuce factory automated Wendy's automated retail automated shelf stocking 3D house printing self driving car AI sports writer AI cancer diagnosis AI fighter pilot and many more The age of automation replacing human workers is now. How quickly this evolution will occur is unknown. Will it be difficult, that depends on how much social services provide for people, rather than making them suffer; I expect difficult times. Why do we let people starve; although, there is or could be food for everyone. In the US more food is trashed than needed to feed the poor. The number and variety of AI and robot applications in the pipeline nearing delivery is large, and this economic evolution will transform our lives in currently unseen ways. AI needs to be democratic, not controlled by a few. Elon Musk started OpenAI.com to work towards that goal.

The Hard Problem must be divisible into several simple problems, as the Hubble Space Telescope is comprised of systems that are ultimately composed of simple machines (inclined plane, lever, wheel, etc.) and simple electronic circuits (and, or, not, etc.). Thus, the Hard Problem must be redefined as many pieces; subsequently, each piece is either understandable or not. If not, it is another hard problem that needs to be divided into simpler problems. This division may occur many times before a simple problem can be understood as programmable. Scientists are currently identifying many components of the Hard Problem, which are also hard (for example speech recognition), and they are building AI solutions that are rapidly improving. No expert currently knows how to make AI conscious, but I think many believe it is possible enough to work towards improving the state of the art. And, I can understand why there are non believers.

When you create ions in air, you will have current flow; though, it can be very small. What is a seeded vacuum? On Earth, a gas between cathode and anode will remain ionized as long as a voltage is applied to the cathode and anode. There are too many electrons in the environment for an ion to remain ionized for very long without a potential difference (voltage) to keep it ionized; although, it is possible to capture charge in a capacitor. If your purpose is to collect a charge, both a Van de Graaff and Wimshurst collect charges of static electricity. It is not possible to create ions in a vacuum, because an ion is an atom stripped of an electron. A vacuum tube applies a voltage between a hot cathode (-) and an anode (+), which cause electrons to travel from cathode to anode causing a current. Since no vacuum is perfect, there will be a few atoms in any vacuum.

Unfortunately, this aspect of global warming is good business for arms dealers, and some of the proceeds, probably, go for climate change denial to improve business.

Even heat from the Earth eventually ends up traveling in space like the photons that didn't encounter anything in space. It seems they do not have to hit anything and might travel forever.

Just in case you missed Cultured neuronal networks.

Since post #52, many posts have become speculative with no science to support statements. For example, Raider seems to think the brain is a logic engine; in fact, it is a pattern recognition engine that can learn logic and practice it with some difficulty. Also, Itoero thinks all decisions are emotional, but I think they are not. Moreover, Neural Turing Machine is support for my contention that our brains are neural nets and learning machines that are can emulate a Turing Machine. We are capable of logic, and we are often flooded with emotion, but neither logic nor emotion are the modus operandi of brains.

Dry ice sublimates at about -78C, and it is inexpensive. You will need a heat exchanger; perhaps several pieces of 1/2 in electrical conduit made of metal.

"Your interposing cloud of electrons would appear to me to constitute a plane rather than a pulse?" ... not a pulse Maybe I'm fixated on an issue already closed.

If you provide me with a circuit that delivers X volts DC varying +/- x volts, where x<X, then I can attach the ground your circuit to one terminal giving -X volts DC and the other terminal grounded. We can then measure the signal x with either 0 or X DC volts, depending on whether we measure from your actual ground or ground on your circuit. Your circuit would work the same whether it is grounded to actual ground or -X.

I thought of another viewpoint. On Earth, the ground is considered as zero volts; however, storm clouds move vast numbers of electrons and put a voltage between the clouds and ground, this ground voltage is often ignored when working on electricity and electronics, and the 0 volt axis is relative to some other point. I suspect there is nowhere in the universe without an electric field to calibrate a true zero volts.

agree