I had one of those comments that didn't survive the great database crash of 3/12/09 for this post.

I think it's the wrong assumption to think that whatever software security systems we can create will be able to contain an "intelligence explosion." The understanding we have of our security systems will, by nature, be less than the understanding that the resulting super-intelligence will have. It's like opening Pandora's Box just a crack to peek inside.

The most powerful forces above Earth's crust have been evolution and intelligence, but intelligence has been limited by evolution and evolution is limited by time. This hypothetical singularity event is essentially removing the limitations of time on the evolution of intelligence in a synthetic environment.

The other wrong assumption taken by many people is the idea that the result of a singularity event will benefit us, or that the resulting super-intelligence created will relate to us on any level. It might relate to us as well as we relate to dust mites. It's naive to think that our intelligence is so great that no future entity can be beyond our comprehension. That's the very definition the singularity--that it is beyond our comprehension. Foolish optimism is pervasive in singularity enthusiasts. Why is it considered a wise move for humanity to risk our survival on an unknown?

I'm getting the feeling none of you actually watched the video in its entirety or at all, most notably the poster. I just finished it. So I can now objectively comment and respond without looking like a gobshite.

In fairness, the video, overall, has a hint of a Christian propaganda agenda. But what did you expect? It was produced by a Christian organization of, get this: Christians! Go figure eh?

However, the main message and concern that I picked up on was the danger and impact that hate crime legislation has on our freedoms and the foundation of our Constitution which has been a concern of mine for quite some time now.

Do not confuse the two: 1) hate crimes, and 2) hate crime laws.

Hate crimes are awful. I oppose them just like any other justice loving person would, but with hate crime legislation we may very well be opening pandora's box.

Anyone ever listen to certain maladjusted people babble on and on about how anything and everything around the globe is this giant conspiracy perpetrated by a multinational group of government officials who are trying to control the world? Ya, it's a bit silly and far fetched to a certain degree eh? Well do you know where something like that would start? "Thought Police" that can arrest, charge, convict, and sentence you based almost exclusively on conscience.

Maybe you should just watch the video instead of kneejerking at the "rock-brained Christians" and their "silly, ignorant videos".

Hard to pick just five:

1. Hyperion and the rest of the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons
   
2. Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge (though everything else he's written could easily have taken this spot)
   
3. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (and any other Takeshi Kovacs novel)
   
4. Footfall by Larry Niven -- IMO the best he ever wrote
   
5. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
   

• The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
  
• Accelerando by Charles Stross
  
• Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
  
• Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross
  
• Virtually anything by Robert J. Sawyer (particularly the "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy)
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, though I'm with dag, everything that's followed has been disappointing
  
• Domesday Book by Connie Willis
  
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
  
• The Golden Age Trilogy by John C. Wright
  
• Any short story by Michael Swanwick (particularly "The Radiant Doors" -- dft, there's another dystopia to be found in that one)
  

Yes, I think you're probably correct there, it's difficult to sell a music sift.

I'd recognised this song every time I heard it, but had no idea what it was called until recently... With a lot of the music sifts here, you don't know what you're getting till you listen. So, it seems to be the case that many tunes don't attract a lot of votes in general. I'm not sure how best to improve the method of advertising, but VideoSift could almost use its own Pandora feature.

So I tried to sexy up the tags a little, and hopefully the bad-arse sunnies will help

I shall have a look about for Equinox too, thanks!

>> ^ponceleon:
Yeah, this might not get sifted because people probably won't appreciate him, but Jarre is absolutely great. I grew up listening to this record and Equinox, which I actually like a bit better. If you haven't heard that one, I highly recommend it.

What's left to say?

The mainstream media hacks are fawning idiots with Obama and attack poodles with Bush. Bush never got a fair shake since Day One.

That said, Bush sealed his fate as a failure with the bailouts, which opened Pandora's Treasury for the coming "happy fascism" of the Messiah.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I agree with the comment that it's the best thing I've seen on the Sift for a while. I'm listening to DP on Pandora as we speak.

In reply to this comment by Laekroth:
Thanks for the doublepromote on my video dag! I'm glad you liked it. We definately need more Daft Punk on the sift

In reply to this comment by dag:
awesome! *doublepromote

Nice post. I'm using HotspotShield for Pandora, but it's pretty much useless for Hulu. Not gonna pay $15 a month for a VPN. If I were you dag I'd rather put that money into an usenet account.

Love this band. What a cool name. Found em on Pandora, wiki'ed them and they just stuck.

well...considering i've been too lazy to open up either rhythmbox or pandora, and have played this song about 5 times in the last half hour. i guess i should upvote eh

I didn't know much about this guy.


Found this song on Pandora, mixed in on my Gorillaz Channel.

... and while you're around, also take a peak at Pandora's 'LSD tested on British Troops'. Simply hilarious!

Hey:) thanks..sounds nice, Sounds From the Ground (similar to Tosca, Fragile State etc.) loungy stuff! Board of Canada is indeed a nice electronica group...
I use last.fm, via related artists/neighbours you can find a lot of new music..
We have a small siftrelated group there:
http://www.last.fm/group/VideoSift
join us!

In reply to this comment by Kevlar:
Hi Eklek,
Congrats again on your diamond! No bands comparable to Ulver in my catalog, I'm afraid, or at least none that you probably haven't already heard of. I was introduced to Boards of Canada recently whose work somewhat reminded me of Ulver's - somewhat - and I'd also recommend Sounds From The Ground to you.

Then again, I barely know how to describe any of these bands' styles to begin with, so I might not be good for this conversation. Do you use Pandora at all?

In reply to this comment by Eklek:
Thanks! They also did the soundtrack of this short film:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lyckantropen-2002-dirSteve-Ericssonsoundtrack-by-Ulver
no subtitles I'm afraid..
Bands in the same style you'd recommend me by chance?

In reply to this comment by Kevlar:
Great sift, Eklek. I've been meaning to check out Ulver for a long time.

Hi Eklek,
Congrats again on your diamond! No bands comparable to Ulver in my catalog, I'm afraid, or at least none that you probably haven't already heard of. I was introduced to Boards of Canada recently whose work somewhat reminded me of Ulver's - somewhat - and I'd also recommend Sounds From The Ground to you.

Then again, I barely know how to describe any of these bands' styles to begin with, so I might not be good for this conversation. Do you use Pandora at all?

In reply to this comment by Eklek:
Thanks! They also did the soundtrack of this short film:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lyckantropen-2002-dirSteve-Ericssonsoundtrack-by-Ulver
no subtitles I'm afraid..
Bands in the same style you'd recommend me by chance?

In reply to this comment by Kevlar:
Great sift, Eklek. I've been meaning to check out Ulver for a long time.

Nice ads by Google on the right!


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http://www.google.com/trends?q=last.fm%2C+Musiccovery.com%2C+Imeem.com%2C+pandora.com&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

I think at this point it's clear that last.fm is the biggest (and also the best) - and the very essence of the site is that it's not just an internet radio, it's a place to see your listening stats and habits in a convenient overview, which unless I'm wrong, they were the first to implement in Audioscrobbler.

Obviously, I might have overestimated it's popularity with Sift users, as kulpims is the only one to have joined yet. I guess it's partly due to it's popularity in Europe rather than the States, but I believe that's slowly turning around.