Thursday, December 01, 2005
"The First Law of Holes says "stop digging". It applies, universally, to anyone who's in a hole. And Dr Alan Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand certainly is in a hole." This piece from Keith Rankin is a very easily understood analysis of the current (and near future) state of the economy, and as close to essential reading as I have seen recently. He explains clearly the significance of things like the high value of the NZ dollar, and the huge trade balance deficit.
Vatican media have reported on the "horrible and atrocious" conflict that the people of northern Uganda continue to suffer at the hands of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. In its Sunday edition, L'Osservatore Romano reported on a complaint made Nov. 25 by Dennis McNamara, special U.N. adviser for the displaced in humanitarian crises, on his return from a mission in the African country. In a press conference in Geneva, McNamara confirmed that the atrocities perpetrated by the "olum" -- or "grass," as the LRA rebels are called in the Acholi language -- continue systematically. Such atrocities prolong a situation "which is among the most neglected and serious in the world" and which, in the absence of outside intervention, "could worsen," stated the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper. Among the tragedies are that of the child-soldiers. Since 1986, rebels have forced tens of thousands of boys into combat or slavery. The target of the conflict, led by Joseph Kony and his LRA rebels, is the Kampala government. The price of war in Uganda includes the torture and death of innumerable civilians. The death toll is estimated at more than 120,000.
~ Zenit news service
Why the future doesn't need us. Bill Joy, cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems writes: "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species. By 2030, we are likely to be able to build machines, in quantity, a million times as powerful as the personal computers of today ... As this enormous computing power is combined with the manipulative advances of the physical sciences and the new, deep understandings in genetics, enormous transformative power is being unleashed. These combinations open up the opportunity to completely redesign the world, for better or worse: The replicating and evolving processes that have been confined to the natural world are about to become realms of human endeavor. In designing software and microprocessors, I have never had the feeling that I was designing an intelligent machine. The software and hardware is so fragile and the capabilities of the machine to "think" so clearly absent that, even as a possibility, this has always seemed very far in the future. But now, with the prospect of human-level computing power in about 30 years, a new idea suggests itself: that I may be working to create tools which will enable the construction of the technology that may replace our species. How do I feel about this? Very uncomfortable. Having struggled my entire career to build reliable software systems, it seems to me more than likely that this future will not work out as well as some people may imagine. My personal experience suggests we tend to overestimate our design abilities. Given the incredible power of these new technologies, shouldn't we be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction is a likely, or even possible, outcome of our technological development, shouldn't we proceed with great caution?
A team of French surgeons has broken a new ethical and surgical frontier by carrying out the world's first face transplant on a woman who was savaged by a dog. The 38-year-old patient suffered severe injuries in the attack to her nose, lips and chin. Her damaged face was replaced by a "triangle" of the same features taken from a dead donor.
Adoption law should be liberalised to allow single people and gay couples to engage surrogate mothers, says a major report in the Australian state of Victoria. This is part of a major overhaul of laws on reproductive technology proposed by the Victorian Law Reform Commission. If passed by the state legislature, it will probably influence other states as well.
~ BioEdge newsletter
In a 5-0 decision, the Swedish Supreme Court has acquitted Pastor Ake Green of charges he committed a hate crime by preaching a sermon that condemned homosexuality. Per Karlsson, a member of the Swedish bar and adviser to Pastor Green, says the court cleared the Pentecostal pastor because it chose not to view his sermon as hate speech and because the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, would have likely overturned Green's conviction and 30-day sentence on charges he agitated against a minority group.
There's a new Narnia trailer out (9min in length). See it here.
Vatican media have reported on the "horrible and atrocious" conflict that the people of northern Uganda continue to suffer at the hands of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. In its Sunday edition, L'Osservatore Romano reported on a complaint made Nov. 25 by Dennis McNamara, special U.N. adviser for the displaced in humanitarian crises, on his return from a mission in the African country. In a press conference in Geneva, McNamara confirmed that the atrocities perpetrated by the "olum" -- or "grass," as the LRA rebels are called in the Acholi language -- continue systematically. Such atrocities prolong a situation "which is among the most neglected and serious in the world" and which, in the absence of outside intervention, "could worsen," stated the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper. Among the tragedies are that of the child-soldiers. Since 1986, rebels have forced tens of thousands of boys into combat or slavery. The target of the conflict, led by Joseph Kony and his LRA rebels, is the Kampala government. The price of war in Uganda includes the torture and death of innumerable civilians. The death toll is estimated at more than 120,000.
~ Zenit news service
Why the future doesn't need us. Bill Joy, cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems writes: "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species. By 2030, we are likely to be able to build machines, in quantity, a million times as powerful as the personal computers of today ... As this enormous computing power is combined with the manipulative advances of the physical sciences and the new, deep understandings in genetics, enormous transformative power is being unleashed. These combinations open up the opportunity to completely redesign the world, for better or worse: The replicating and evolving processes that have been confined to the natural world are about to become realms of human endeavor. In designing software and microprocessors, I have never had the feeling that I was designing an intelligent machine. The software and hardware is so fragile and the capabilities of the machine to "think" so clearly absent that, even as a possibility, this has always seemed very far in the future. But now, with the prospect of human-level computing power in about 30 years, a new idea suggests itself: that I may be working to create tools which will enable the construction of the technology that may replace our species. How do I feel about this? Very uncomfortable. Having struggled my entire career to build reliable software systems, it seems to me more than likely that this future will not work out as well as some people may imagine. My personal experience suggests we tend to overestimate our design abilities. Given the incredible power of these new technologies, shouldn't we be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction is a likely, or even possible, outcome of our technological development, shouldn't we proceed with great caution?
A team of French surgeons has broken a new ethical and surgical frontier by carrying out the world's first face transplant on a woman who was savaged by a dog. The 38-year-old patient suffered severe injuries in the attack to her nose, lips and chin. Her damaged face was replaced by a "triangle" of the same features taken from a dead donor.
Adoption law should be liberalised to allow single people and gay couples to engage surrogate mothers, says a major report in the Australian state of Victoria. This is part of a major overhaul of laws on reproductive technology proposed by the Victorian Law Reform Commission. If passed by the state legislature, it will probably influence other states as well.
~ BioEdge newsletter
In a 5-0 decision, the Swedish Supreme Court has acquitted Pastor Ake Green of charges he committed a hate crime by preaching a sermon that condemned homosexuality. Per Karlsson, a member of the Swedish bar and adviser to Pastor Green, says the court cleared the Pentecostal pastor because it chose not to view his sermon as hate speech and because the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, would have likely overturned Green's conviction and 30-day sentence on charges he agitated against a minority group.
There's a new Narnia trailer out (9min in length). See it here.
