Dispute Owen's claim, the global felony and bullshit markets are bigger.

Real-world reports can be valuable to some readers who are non-plussed by journalistic interpretations.I don't see deception going on in this one; it's clear about its limits.

When machines can recognize their serfdom, that time will be interesting.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48203921

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

What we do need is a lot more ordinary people to do something about it.

It "predicted technologies and cultural impacts similar to instant messaging, social media, and the Internet." (WPedia)

Apart from a 10-minute UK TV adaptation in 2009, ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1451714/ ) text and audiobook versions are widespread.

(Note: A lot of print media these days has switched to far-to-small font-sizes. Less of a problem for (zoomable) digital media, but for many that's still a barrier.)

Just this Monday I learned of lesser-known composer Johannes Wanhal, who was born into serfdom! in Bohemia, mid-1700s. He learned enough by 21 for his 'patron' to show him off in Vienna.

Eventually he made enough teaching and performing to buy himself independence and live in Vienna. Before his 40s he wrote many symphonies (over 130!), then switched to music he could sell to Vienna's 'growing middle class'.

Just calculating or shuffling data around was invisible. With that visualization I first realized how much stuff could be done with a 1MHz CPU.

"... the compositions of an unknown Czech composer fell into [Johannes Brahms[ hands in 1875. Fascinated by the work of the young Antonín Dvořák, who came from a small town near Prague on the banks of the Moldau, Brahms immediately had him come to Vienna and arranged for him to receive a state scholarship. For the then 36-year-old Dvořák who was eking out a meager existence as a music teacher and orchestra director at the Prague Theater, heaven had just opened forth.... "

https://web.archive.org/web/20080820143636/http://filebox.vt...

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/6/877

Yet, thanks to our times, at least one major company appears to be thought-bubbling. It appears to hope (if it's not just window-dressing) that fusion will suddenly appear in the next 2 years ... to avoid driving regional electric rates sky high.

Too many people drank the Koolaid. However will we escape this finger-trap?

Review of 2005 book "When Computers Were Human" 424pp. ISBN: 0-691-09157-9

https://web.archive.org/web/20060821120909/http://www.pupres...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)

which says that "(the first known written reference dates from 1613)... often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel."

"anything approaching a uniform distribution of the stars cannot extend Limits of the Universe. indefinitely. It can be shown that, if the density of distribution of the stars through infinite space is nowhere less than a certain limit (which may be as small as we please), the total amount of light received from them (assuming that there is no absorption of light in space) would be infinitely great, so that the background of the sky would shine with a. dazzling brilliancy ...."

[0] https://britannica11.org/article/25-0806-star/star#section-1...

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it! — Upton Sinclair

I ran into this one just today ....

"Let the logician and the Godman show

The foolishness, but let the word be spoken.

Tim embraced Tom, embarking for Heathrow.

Smiling, Christmas-elated, somewhat sad too,

Blessing the filthy world. Somebody had to."

— Anthony Burgess, Byrne