Comments on: Raw unadulterated computational power

By: MDA

MDA — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 01:18:56 +0000

A nice clarification, paul.za. I was more going for increasing the complexity and computational power of each of the individual bees (the ‘per unit mass’ take). Your ‘per number of items’ description is perhaps a better one, though, as you point out, not one with which the analogy can be drawn in the same way.

The post, actually, is kind of crap. At least, it’s not what I intended. I had a vague idea about what I wanted to do/say, but it didn’t work out in the end. So I munged it about until it could be made to hit an easy target.

Oh, and in addition to hating freedom, I also unilaterally despise all members of the armed forces, high-school football, firemen, southern rock, apple pie, and the elks club.

Hey Brendan. Nice to hear from you. How’s it going?

By: Paul.za

Paul.za — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:16:41 +0000

I’m sorry, Mike, I lost you for a second there: in the scaling up process, we make something as large as many planets, with the computational power of a networked bees. But when doing so, are we keeping the processing power per unit mass fixed, or per number of items? Because if it’s only the latter, you get a system of huge inertia, throwing around tons of mass with not much thought per unit mass behind it. Reshaping vast tracts of the status quo with scant regard for the consequences, or the little things that might get squashed… in fact, we’re started to sound not unlike the current administration.

So, yes, I guess you must mean the former. Well, never mind.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 11:14:35 +0000

From McSweeney’s “Things I’d Probably Say If the Bush Administration Were Just a Weekly TV Show and I Were a Regular Viewer”:

“Now, see, you can’t just go and do something like that. That would be illegal.”

“Boy, someone’s gonna get fired for that.”

“Wasn’t that the one who made all the mistakes? Why is she getting promoted?”

“Come on, in real life you’d never get away with something like that.”

“They really expect us to believe that?”

“Am I the only one confused here?”

“Does this make any sense to you?”

“Why is this still on?”

By: Brendan Hammond

Brendan Hammond — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 07:27:40 +0000

I enjoyed the way you led up to your golden nugget of wisdom.

By: Kristján

Kristján — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 04:40:50 +0000

That’s a long way to say Bush is teh s0×0r!!one. Nice though.

By: xaosseed

xaosseed — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 01:55:51 +0000

He-ey, he said *responsible* exploration! They’ll stack all the polar bears and crap in a shed somewhere and put them back where they’re done! Stop rocking the boat! Why do you hate freedom?