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Demon-Haunted World

locusmag.com

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Re: Demon-Haunted World

#191

Post by titzer »

This is an extremely important article.

In a world populated by IOT devices full of software (as discussed previously https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15034955), we'll end up in a post-scientific world where the underlying rules that govern a device's behavior are so complex and arcane that we'll have little chance of reverse engineering how basic devices work anymore.

I think in practice it will mean that devices become bricks relatively quickly, and when people realize they have been cheated, there will be a strong backlash: imagine "paleo diet" but for devices.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#192

Post by glaberficken »

Nomentatus wrote: post #147

This isn't a new demon-haunted world, this is the old, demon-haunted world before nineteenth-century progressive politics, back when "milk" that wasn't half chalk still might have a fish in it (see famous Thoreau quote on evidence.) We aren't enforcing the laws we have and our grandfathers and mothers had. (Three guesses why.) Not on monopolies, contracts, patent misuse... nothing. Just this week I and Hearthstone ca…

> back when "milk" that wasn't half chalk still might have a fish in it (see famous Thoreau quote on evidence.)

This also famously happened with bread. You can read about it for example in Bill Bryson's "At Home: A Short History of Private Life"

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/712524-because-bread-was-so...

“Because bread was so important, the laws governing its purity were strict and the punishment severe. A baker who cheated his customers could be fined £10 per loaf sold, or made to do a month's hard labor in prison. For a time, transportation to Australia was seriously considered for malfeasant bakers. This was a matter of real concern for bakers because every loaf of bread loses weight in baking through evaporation, so it is easy to blunder accidentally. For that reason, bakers sometimes provided a little extra- the famous baker's dozen.”

― Bill Bryson, At Home: A Short History of Private Life

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#193

Post by titzer »

jstanley wrote: post #190
russdill wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an engineering point of view, it's much cheaper to calculate to when 0.01% of cartridges will have run out of ink based on print history vs accurately measuring ink inside the cartridge. Of course that means that 99.99% of cartridges will be discarded with remaining ink, some of them with a rather significant quantity of ink. And it gives the opportunity to tune this number so cartridges are bought earlier. Alth…

> Having the printer stop and let you put in a new cartridge when ink is low is a helpful feature. Only if it also comes with a "I know it might be streaky, but print it anyway because I own this machine and I'm in charge here" feature.

If I were designing my own printer and wanted to both fully utilize ink cartridges (maximize efficiency) and also be able to print absolutely perfect pages when necessary, it'd be a simple solution: two cartridges. One that is potentially "low" and is used for printing low quality stuff, and one that is guaranteed to be full and is used for printing high quality stuff. Presumably, the "low" cartridge would run out first, and then you just move the existing "high" slot one down and put a new cartridge in the "high" slot. If instead the "high" one ran low first, then replace it with a new one and queue the old one to be the next "low" one when the existing "low" one ran out.

Or something. :)

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#194

Post by titzer »

cr0sh wrote: post #51
iak8god wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every year a shocking number of people die from illness caused by air pollution [1]. While it might be difficult or impossible to put a head count on "Dieselgate," the increased emissions certainly killed some. [1] http://news.mit.edu/2013/study-air-pollution-causes-200000-e...

If you go down that route, you farting contributed methane to the atmosphere, increasing global warming and thus contributed to killing someone somewhere. So are we going to start banning the passing of gas at the dinner table?

> So are we going to start banning the passing of gas at the dinner table?

No, we are going to enforce the existing pollution control laws and punish cheaters.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#195

Post by amelius »

computator wrote: post #168
jordigh wrote: post #145

There is so much "Stallman was right" in all of these examples... non-free software always manages to eventually sneak in malicious anti-user features, where the user has no recourse. At least with free software there's always the fundamental freedom to fork. You think systemd is a Red Hat plot to destroy Linux, then go use Devuan. You don't trust what Google could be doing with Chrome, take your pick of alternatives…

> Whenever someone refuses to show source code I always think, "what are you hiding in there?" There's usually something. There's a dilemma that developers face when deciding to release source code that's bigger than fear of software theft or the desire to hide something evil in the code. It's a fear of being scrutinized, ridiculed, or humiliated over the quality of their code. Imagine 2 programs that do something us…

You forgot to mention security issues.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#196

Post by meheleventyone »

rb666 wrote: post #132
SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

This is what I think about at the pump. More and more I see gas pumps ask if you want a receipt BEFORE the gas is dispensed. This seems risky. If you decline the receipt and then dispense gas, the pump could cheat on the amount of gas dispensed with less risk, as a papered record of the purchase amount and price is not produced. If on the other hand, the pump waits to ask if you desire a receipt until after the gasol…

What sort of weird gas station requires you to specify the amount of gas before actually refueling your car? Is that a USA-only thing? Never seen that in Europe.

This is common in Iceland as most pumps let you pay with card at the pump so you pre-auth from a number of options and get charged the actual amount you pump.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#197

Post by deepnet »

ryanx435 wrote: post #153
Nomentatus wrote: post #147

This isn't a new demon-haunted world, this is the old, demon-haunted world before nineteenth-century progressive politics, back when "milk" that wasn't half chalk still might have a fish in it (see famous Thoreau quote on evidence.) We aren't enforcing the laws we have and our grandfathers and mothers had. (Three guesses why.) Not on monopolies, contracts, patent misuse... nothing. Just this week I and Hearthstone ca…

Why are you blaming Trump when you yourself admit that this has been going on since the 1800s?

Because, currently the buck stops there.

Those in charge ultimately bear the responsibility.

Not criticising leaders is the road to ruin, and senseless jingoism.

National humility trumps national pride as a useful virtue.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#198

Post by astrange »

Nomentatus wrote: post #147

This isn't a new demon-haunted world, this is the old, demon-haunted world before nineteenth-century progressive politics, back when "milk" that wasn't half chalk still might have a fish in it (see famous Thoreau quote on evidence.) We aren't enforcing the laws we have and our grandfathers and mothers had. (Three guesses why.) Not on monopolies, contracts, patent misuse... nothing. Just this week I and Hearthstone ca…

> Blizzard's new policy insists on a credit card and that I owe them for purchases made if they leak the card no!

This can’t hurt you if you use a credit and not a debit card. Any false charge on a credit card is not your fault, and it’s not your money. The CC company will pay for it.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#199

Post by russdill »

titzer wrote: post #193
jstanley wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having the printer stop and let you put in a new cartridge when ink is low is a helpful feature. Only if it also comes with a "I know it might be streaky, but print it anyway because I own this machine and I'm in charge here" feature.

If I were designing my own printer and wanted to both fully utilize ink cartridges (maximize efficiency) and also be able to print absolutely perfect pages when necessary, it'd be a simple solution: two cartridges. One that is potentially "low" and is used for printing low quality stuff, and one that is guaranteed to be full and is used for printing high quality stuff. Presumably, the "low" cartridge would run out fi…

Close, just have an internal tank that contains ink for printing that is refilled by attaching cartridges. When the cartridge that refills the tank is empty, it's time to swap it.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#200

Post by titzer »

harrisi wrote: post #40
SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

This is what I think about at the pump. More and more I see gas pumps ask if you want a receipt BEFORE the gas is dispensed. This seems risky. If you decline the receipt and then dispense gas, the pump could cheat on the amount of gas dispensed with less risk, as a papered record of the purchase amount and price is not produced. If on the other hand, the pump waits to ask if you desire a receipt until after the gasol…

Certainly having the receipt doesn't actually do anything? Do you measure the volume of gas in your tank before and after filling up? Regardless, this seems very easy to test. Just fill up a gas can and check that you're paying the right amount for the amount of gas in the can.

Car manufacturers could also install more precise sensors in the gas tank and report the amount of received gas.

But they could collude... o_0

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