Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] predicting the future

[Rick <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Which part?

Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:
> Rick wrote:
> > Mike Miller wrote:
> >
> > > Yes.  How long until we can create robots that look and act 
> > > indistinguishable from people?  It won't be happening in the 2020s.
> > Are you defining a robot as a mechanical person constructed of metal & 
> > plastic or a person "constructed" by altering the genetic structure. 
> > If you'll recall, the only way to tell the difference in the movie was 
> > studying behavior patterns and responses. The replicants were machines 
> > because they had been engineered, not because they were made from 
> > spare VW parts.
> >
> > > History shows that the flying car is always farther off than you 
> > > think it is.
> >
> > http://www.moller.com/skycar/
> >
> > Looks like the car itself is here...now for the hard part, government 
> > regulation.
> >
> > > I don't agree.  As soon as someone discovers a cure for cancer, he 
> > > will start to use it to make money - tons of it.  If he hesitates, 
> > > someone else will make the discovery and revenues from treatment 
> > > patents will dry up.
> >
> >
> > If it were that simple to "make the discovery", someone would have 
> > done it already. You are, of course, free to disagree with my 
> > cynicism, but if you think the forces that control our society want 
> > everyone to be cured of everything with a single shiny pill, then I 
> > would have to be very shocked at your naiveté's.
> >
> > It's sizably more profitable to construct a self-renewing revenue 
> > stream than to charge even exorbitant one time prices. I have not one 
> > single doubt that if an R&D scientist at Big Time Pharmaceutical Co. 
> > discovered a cure for cancer, they're very next major project would be 
> > how to dilute it down so it merely stemmed the progression of the cancer.
>
> I simply don't believe this in any way whatsoever.

--
We simply can't idiot-proof everything. Sometimes the idiots just have 
to suffer and die.
--http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/

_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion