From: Dan Hook (dhook@andrew.cmu.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 09 1999 - 09:23:02 MST
>From Slashdot:
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991211/warningstr.html
Seems we are closer to yet another bit of Vingean tech. In "Marooned in
Real Time" some of the High Techs possessed surveillance technology of
such high precision that it was referred to as a "no sparrow may fall
network." While a human component (a "George", using the terminology of
the article) is still required in reality, it's not hard to imagine the
human component of the surveillance system being replaced entirely.
There would still need to be humans to take action based on the
information provided by the system, call them "enforcers," but those
providing the information, call them "informers," would be entirely
artificial. I see the first application of completely automated
surveillance in private homes, where the cost of a "George" is
prohibitive, and the invasion of privacy is intolerable.
It seems I may soon be protected from a knife in the back(1). Now
the problem remains to figure out how to stop those pesky nuclear
assaults(2) and nanoweapons(3). Unfortunately, even the high techs were
only protected from 1 and 2.
Dan Hook
"Whatever you say Jack, you're the master race." -- Connor McLeod
GE d-(--) s+: a19>? C++++ UL+ P++ L++>+++ E- W+(++) N+ o K? w(+) !O M- V-
PS+++ PE++ Y+ PGP t+@ 5+@ X R !tv() b++ DI+ D+ G e h--() r-- y?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:06:02 MST