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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Macavity akularaj@************.edu
Subject: ShadowRN digest, Vol 1 #563 - 21 msgs
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 03:19:19 -0800
> Imagine (as happens with the voice software, for different reasons) working
> on a nice piece of code and some guy next to you is like "I'm gonna delete
> everything!!" and you think "delete everything.. wtf is he talking
about?"
> without first thinking that little command (whatever it is) to disable the
> encephalon?
>
> "delete everything" it hears and FOOF.. oops.
>

When you delete data on an encephalon, you probably aren't thinking in words, but
in concepts. So merely thinking the words "delete everything" probably wouldn't
work. You would have to have the clear image/idea of deleting this 'set' of
information in your encephalon. Clear, easy, and intuitive. Most humans are
still very visually/conceptually oriented. Language is merely layered on top.

-Macavity "The Mystery Cat"
Message no. 2
From: Asymmetric all@******.net
Subject: ShadowRN digest, Vol 1 #563 - 21 msgs
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 21:03:57 -0500
At 03:19 12/6/99 -0800, you wrote:



>When you delete data on an encephalon, you probably aren't thinking in
>words, but
>in concepts. So merely thinking the words "delete everything" probably
>wouldn't
>work. You would have to have the clear image/idea of deleting this 'set' of
>information in your encephalon. Clear, easy, and intuitive. Most humans are
>still very visually/conceptually oriented. Language is merely layered on top.

It's possible that it would work that way.. although when doing things like
writing a paper, writing code, or doing anything else that deals with stuff
outside of just concepts, it's unlikely.

I don't want to convey the concept that someone close to me has died when
writing that letter.. I want to express it with the exact words that I wish
to use..

What really matters is that no matter how it works, there is always the
possibility that it'll screw up because of a borked input.. and if we all
remember Murphys law, if the possibility exists, it'll happen. If the
possibility exists that it'll happen with catastrophic results, then that
will happen too.



-A

"There comes a time when the operation of a machine becomes so odious,
makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; not even tacitly take
part, and you have to throw yourself on all the gears and all the levers
and you have to make it stop."

-Mario Savio, founder of the free speech movement.

Commandment XI: Thou shalt not inflict upon me thy useless prattlings, for
I thy God am a busy God.
-Joe Thompsonn

Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!