Transhumanism is supposed to immortalize us. It involves uploading all memories and motions into computers so that we can live as human machines. This is fascinating as well as scary. Living forever is a nice ability, as long as it is in your hand to shut your system down whenever you feel like. Or you should be able to go into hibernation, self-programmed to wake up after a certain period, or when there is an emergency.
But this can also give rise to a species of super-humans that cannot be easily destroyed, that don’t tire, and that can change bodies in case some real damage occurs. In the beginning this technology will only be available to a selected few and this where the danger begins. What if a few rich people decide that only they can use the technology, and the rest of the people are turned into slaves? Humans have this tendency to enslave weaker, less privileged human beings whenever they get a chance, whether there is a valid need or not. They enslave merely to feel powerful and I’m sure no matter how much science and technology advance the basic attitude is going to remain the same.
But I am not against the idea as some people are. Lots of opportunities will be there for humans if the factor of death is removed from the same. Take for instance scientific discoveries and space exploration. If we don’t die we can continue our work for, let us say, hundreds of years. Imagine what could have been achieved if Newton, Ramanujam and Einstein could work together? What if Aryabhatta could use the latest space technology to study planets and other heavenly bodies? What mathematical fetes could Descartes have achieved with new computer software?
Of course with given scientific knowledge Transhhumanism is just a concept but it can some day really change the way we live and die, if dying doesn’t become obsolete by that time. Above all there will remain no such thing as disability, as long as we’re not talking about mental disability (but these days it is very difficult to make out who is mentally challenged and who is not). Another benefit of this technology will manifest when we totally mess up the environment. Since we won’t have biological bodies, we won’t need oxygen, and may be not even food. We’ll be able to live on man-made satellites in the sky or under water, where there is still lots of space. People who are not much inclined towards moving around will be able to share a mainframe with millions of other brains and this means millions of people will be able to live in a single room.
Sounds quite gloomy, but if you can create your own virtual reality (I assume by then technology will be able to give us lots of disk space and processing power within a single room) then it won’t be that boring.
A man named Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid has been arrested for posting vulgar tirades at an Orkut group called "I hate Sonia" against Sonia Gandhi, who is the Congress chairperson. The man was arrested with Google’s assistance, as the police needed to know his IP address etc.
As Michael Arrington of TechCrunch notes, what’s perfectly legal in America or Europe might be out and out illegal in other countries and since people on their own assume (without reading policies and terms and conditions etc.) that their data is safe with the social networking websites, they post whatever they feel like.
Now, I’m not comparing this to murderers and pedophiles, and I’m not even supporting posting vulgar messages against all and sundry, but I think information like "we will reveal your identity if the law of the land requires us to do so" should be boldly displayed on the home page.
Anonymity is bad and it is good too. For instance there are many blogs on the Internet run by anonymous writers who have plenty to say against the government. What if tomorrow the government begins a crackdown on these bloggers and starts tracking them with open support from blogging companies and server space providers? Such policies should be revealed, in bold, when one is about to sign up.
Since Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid was arrested at the behest of a political activist and since there is a very thin line that differentiates criminals and politicians, some human rights watch group must keep track of what happens with him.
More information:
People in Cuba can use PCs at home now. If you think this is the news from the early 90s you are mistaken. The communist government in Cuba never allowed its citizens to use computers. The Internet is still banned there. Empowerment and access to information are the most scary things for such regimes. Sometimes I feel certain people deserve such Draconian governments; they are too lazy or laid-back to overthrow their governments.
A couple of days ago I was reading in a forum that countries like India, China, Saudi Arabia, etc. don’t allow their citizens to use VoIP services like Skype because this will give them unrestricted power to communicate. Actually, Skype has many wonderful subscription features that allow you to make unlimited calls to landline phones as well as cellphones all over the world for a fixed, nominal, monthly fee. Only recently having a telephone itself was a luxury in India.
A few months ago I had written how Airtel was trying to fleece money out of me. Now my sister has been having umpteen problems with TATA Indicom whose Internet service she uses. I’m sure the management at the top level of these companies doesn’t intend to pursue such spurious measures (or maybe they do) and it all happens at the level of their incompetent staff but if this trend continues they’re going to leave lots of ripe ground for new, more efficient and sincere companies. Interestingly, more information can be found at the India Broadband Forum and it seems people even share their problems there with other users. This complaints board is a good option too.
Technorati Tags: tata indicom broadband problem
I had planned to write a post like this a few months back but at that time I thought, “Well, what the heck,” and had abandoned the idea. I’ll narrate here how Airtel — the company that provides mobile phone connections in India (and an assortment of other connectivity-related service) fleeces money out of unsuspecting consumers. The latest incident first.
For a few months I didn’t have a mobile handset so my prepaid number remained inactive during this time and consequently it was deactivated, which means neither incoming nor outgoing calls were allowed. The day before yesterday when I purchased a new handset I decided to recharge my prepaid connection. Since I couldn’t go to the shop I had sent the driver of my cab to get my phone recharged and using his best judgment he got the phone charged with a plan that gave me the maximum talk time for the amount paid.
Even after charging the phone I couldn’t use it; it remained deactivated. I was out the whole day so I couldn’t figure out why the phone wasn’t working. When I came back in the evening I called up Airtel service and the service executive there told me that even if my phone had been charged the tariff plan under which it had been charged didn’t activate the phone and in order to get it activated I would have to recharge my phone under another tariff plan. I asked him what would happen to the amount that I had already paid and he informed me that the amount would be automatically added to the new amount. I called them again to confirm this because somewhere I had an inkling that the entire amount would be reset, and even the second executive told me that the amount would be added: I just needed to recharge under another, lower tariff plan to keep my phone working for another month.
So today again when Alka got the phone recharged we thought that finally I would be able to use my new handset. When she came home and I tried to make a call I was again met with silence. Upon checking how much call time I had, to my great shock I just had one rupee left whereas I should have had around Rs. 296. I called their customer service to find out what happened to the amount I had paid yesterday? The wise executive on the other side informed me that I was given wrong information because when you recharge your phone while your phone is deactivated, and when you recharge it again to activate it, your previous amount is not carried forward that means it is reset to zero. There was no point in arguing with him because he was just giving me the information he had and he had no role in formulating the recharge policies of the company.
So the question is why was my phone recharged and I was allocated talk time when I couldn’t make a call? Isn’t it cunning on their part, especially when they are smart enough to make such a screwed up rule that resets the amount to zero when you recharge your phone while it is deactivated the moment you get it recharged in order to activate it? The executive that told me that I was given the wrong information wasn’t even apologetic, he just matter-of-factly told me that I was given the wrong information and was screwed in the process (he didn’t say the last part but his tone conveyed it). Before charging the phone why doesn’t an error message flash on the retailer’s computer screen that this prepaid subscriber’s number is deactivated and he or she should be given an option to recharge the phone under a different tariff plan that first activates the number and then allocates the talk time accordingly? What is so complicated in that?
I think this is a blatant rip-off and if many consumers are going through the same troubles than some consumer forum must take up the issue and sue this company. For instance if I wasted Rs. 333 for a recharge that was never destined to work then there must be thousands of people doing the same thing because they either don’t have the right information or the software that accepts money for recharges that are never going to work isn’t properly written. I am sure this has been done intentionally. This is pure stealing.
I don’t want to continue with my Airtel connection but Alka just reminded me that even the previous company (Hutch, now Vodafone I guess) from where I got my phone number wasn’t that great and there was a reason why I had shifted to the Airtel connection.
And now the second, the previous incident.
I use Airtel’s broadband Internet connection to do my work. I had the same broadband connection plan at the previous place where I lived — Sarita Vihar, in New Delhi. When we shifted to NOIDA I called the Airtel customer care to transfer my connection to the new place since this area too is covered by them. They instructed me to send a formal e-mail with my customer ID and all in order to get the connection transferred, which I immediately did (I was in a hurry because I needed the connection at the new place to carry on my professional commitments).
The wise guys promptly “transferred” my connection. The problem was, transfer means that my connection at Sarita Vihar should have been discontinued — that didn’t happen. They kept sending the old bill at the old house and whenever we visited the old house I used to call them up and tell them that since my connection had been transferred the old connection should be discontinued. Every time I was told that I was getting the bill due to some technical glitch and I shouldn’t bother. They also kept telling me that they would make sure that the bill wasn’t sent again and again.
Then one day after more than a year I got a call from them that I had an outstanding bill amount of around Rs. 5,000 and I needed to pay it immediately. They said that I never got the old connection disconnected. I asked them to check their old e-mails and see that I had requested them to discontinue my old connection and they told me, again, matter-of-factly, that they don’t store e-mails that are more than six months old. I was obviously quite pissed off and flatly refused to pay the amount. The guy on the other side said that legal action would be taken against me and even my present connection would be discontinued. I dared them to do the same and I also told them to send the legal notice and I would take the appropriate action but I would never pay them for the connection that according to me should have been disconnected a long time ago. Since a few weeks after this heated discussion my old handset broke and I stopped using the phone number they had in the database (the same number that I am trying to get activated now) they didn’t or couldn’t bother me again.
These are the tactics they use to exhort money from unsuspecting consumers. A few years ago I had read in the newspaper that the mobile phone companies (not the companies that give handsets but the ones that provide the connectivity) quietly add one or two rupees to the bills they send to their subscribers and consequently earn millions of rupees more in the process.
I cannot advise you to stay away from these companies because there is no other choice but I think the issue should be raised by as many people as possible so that more people are aware of these companies’ stealing techniques. They seem like a bunch of corporate crooks.
Technorati Tags: airtel sucks, airtel, mobile connection
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect. — Mark Twain
A sort of anti-Islam Facebook group faces closure due to large-scale threats of its users leaving the website if the group is not shut down. The description of the group IS offensive no doubt and even the forum topics are inflammatory, but why close the group if it is not instigating violence? Why curb the freedom of expression in this case? If Jesus can be shown ejaculating into a toilet seat and naked Sita can be shown straddling Lord Hanuman’s tail why a group called “Fuck Islam” cannot be tolerated? You can find millions of online groups venting hatred against all conceivable religions and it doesn’t make sense closing all of them.
Should Facebook give in to its users’ pressure? It shouldn’t. Tomorrow every community will demand the closure of another community and that would be the end of this great website. In short term it may seem prudent to remove the group and stop the other members from leaving but this act will permanently make a dent in the website’s popularity because people will think that no ideas are safe if they are communicated through Facebook. If the topics covered in the forum are so offensive, then I think they should be allowed to die their own death. In fact the protest has earned the group a mention in various magazines and newspapers, and blogs.
More links on the same topic:
Technorati Tags: facebook, anti-islam, islam, social media
There is so much software we don’t know of. Just see in this video how a scientist gives a presentation on world health and economic trends (which also shows how the world is getting flatter). And we think Office Vista must be cool.
This is a bit hard to believe. The famous social news bookmarking website Digg.com has struck an advertising deal with Microsoft to display ads on its website that gets 17 million unique monthly visitors. It’s a 3-year deal.
Most of its users will term this deal as a “deal with the Devil”. Digg used to display the Google ad network’s ads prior to this. Microsoft struck a similar advertising agreement with the social networking website Facebook last year.
I think it’s not a loss for Google, but a definite gain for Microsoft. I’ve never considered the Digg audience as a serious audience, although Digg can be a good source of accidental traffic surges, especially if you run a technology, web designing or blogging related blog. They act like a herd, and most of the digging is controlled by the top 100 diggers. So I wonder how much ad revenue Google is going to lose by not being able to display its ads there.
For Microsoft it’s a new entry into the Web 2.0 world (it never actually hit the Web 1.0 world). Compared to Google advertising network, Microsoft’s advertising network is a tiny one, so it is a significant stride for Microsoft.
Technorati Tags: digg, google, microsoft, online advertising, google ads
…online Internet speed tests always show results close, if not right on, the advertised three megabits per second. There are many factors that dictate your actual Internet speed, and there are also quite a few tricks that can be used to create the illusion of a faster connection.
ISPs know that new and existing customers are largely comparing their Internet-speed experiences to dial-up connections, which often barely sustain 28 Kbit/s. So, even at 150 Kbits/s, customers are getting a seven-fold increase in speed, which is like the difference between flying in a jet and driving your car. [ Link ]
I myself doubt the Internet browsing speed my ISP — Airtel — claims it provides, and when you call their helpline, they advise you to go to a particular link to test the speed. I feel the speed is half of what they say it is.
Technorati Tags: broadband connection, surfing speed, net connection
Everybody must have heaved a sigh of relief when NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis carrying seven astronauts, including Sunita Williams, landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, especially after all the hiccups. First there were technical problems and then the inclement weather played the spoil sports.
The landing at 12:49 p.m. Pacific time came after NASA had passed up four chances on Thursday and Friday to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of rain and low clouds in the area. [ Space Shuttle Lands in California Desert ]
All this time when Sunita Williams was trying to come back people in India were performing public prayers and performing yagnas for her safety. All news channels were continuously telecasting people in various cities performing various religious or clutish rites. Again, when the news of the safe landing broke people came on the streets to rejoice. It was as if only Sunita Williams was there in the space shuttle. Most of the newspapers today have headings like Sunita Williams returns after record stay in space and Children pray for Sunita didi, and even as far as Sunita signals a new high for women. The Vishwa Gujarati Samaj has decided to felicitate her.
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