69 Message 69: From exi@panix.com Thu Jul 22 18:24:27 1993 Return-Path: Received: from usc.edu by chaph.usc.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1+ucs-3.0) id AA25618; Thu, 22 Jul 93 18:24:24 PDT Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Received: from panix.com by usc.edu (4.1/SMI-3.0DEV3-USC+3.1) id AA16800; Thu, 22 Jul 93 18:23:35 PDT Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Received: by panix.com id AA18851 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for more@usc.edu); Thu, 22 Jul 1993 21:19:19 -0400 Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 21:19:19 -0400 Message-Id: <199307230119.AA18851@panix.com> To: Exi@panix.com From: Exi@panix.com Subject: Extropians Digest X-Extropian-Date: July 23, 373 P.N.O. [01:18:27 UTC] Reply-To: extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu Errors-To: Extropians-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu Status: R Extropians Digest Fri, 23 Jul 93 Volume 93 : Issue 203 Today's Topics: [7 msgs] 133 years old [1 msgs] DIET: L-tryptophan, _Smart Drugs II_ [1 msgs] HEX: useful script [2 msgs] List Software: test [1 msgs] MEETING: Boston gathering. [1 msgs] Meta: Who is on the new software? [2 msgs] Nightly Market Report [1 msgs] POLI: School vouchers [2 msgs] Pets (was Re: Wage Competition) [1 msgs] TECH: Some information about the Prospero system. [1 msgs] Wage Competition [1 msgs] Wage Competition [3 msgs] Your on the New List, Please read [1 msgs] future problems [2 msgs] Administrivia: No admin msg. Approximate Size: 51248 bytes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 23:07:51 WET DST From: rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray) Subject: HEX: useful script I've hacked up the following Perl script to send MULTI commands easily. -------CUT HERE------- #!/usr/local/bin/perl $mailpath = "Mail"; $"="\n"; @commands = split(/\s*,\s*/, join(' ', @ARGV)); open(MAIL, "|$mailpath -s MULTI") || die "Can't open $mailpath"; print MAIL "@commands\n"; close(MAIL); ------END HERE--------- You may have to edit the first line if your perl is installed somewhere else. Also, edit $mailpath if you want to use an alternative program. To use, save this program out as "hexm" and set its executable bit. Then just type hexm with your HEX commands seperated by commas. Example: hexm report,account, book lsoft, quote exi Enjoy!, and buy LSOFT! ;-) -Ray -- Ray Cromwell | Engineering is the implementation of science; -- -- EE/Math Student | politics is the implementation of faith. -- -- rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu | - Zetetic Commentaries -- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 23:31:54 WET DST From: rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray) Subject: HEX: useful script Opps, I sent the wrong version (I was debugging with this using a fake mail program.) Ray () writes: > > -------CUT HERE------- > #!/usr/local/bin/perl > $mailpath = "Mail"; $"="\n"; > @commands = split(/\s*,\s*/, join(' ', @ARGV)); > open(MAIL, "|$mailpath -s MULTI") || die "Can't open $mailpath"; ^^^^^^^^ Notice anything missing? Such as a email address? Change that line to open(MAIL, "|$mailpath -s MULTI hex@sea.east.sun.com") || die "BUGGED!"; > print MAIL "@commands\n"; > close(MAIL); > ------END HERE--------- -- Ray Cromwell | Engineering is the implementation of science; -- -- EE/Math Student | politics is the implementation of faith. -- -- rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu | - Zetetic Commentaries -- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 23:59:57 EDT From: The Hawthorne Exchange Subject: Nightly Market Report The Hawthorne Exchange - HEx Nightly Market Report For more information on HEx, send email to HEx@sea.east.sun.com with the Subject info. --------------------------------------------------------------- News Summary as of: Wed Jul 21 23:59:06 EDT 1993 Newly Registered Reputations: (None) New Share Issues: Symbol Shares Issued RJC 10000 Share Splits: (None) --------------------------------------------------------------- Market Summary as of: Wed Jul 21 23:59:07 EDT 1993 Total Shares Symbol Bid Ask Last Issued Outstanding Market Value ACS .50 .70 8.00 10000 126 1008.00 ALCOR 3.80 7.50 3.00 10000 2421 7263.00 ANTO - - - - - - BLAIR 5.00 30.00 50.00 10000 25 1250.00 CHAITN - - - - - - DEREK 2.65 2.70 3.00 100000 6120 18360.00 DRXLR 4.00 4.20 7.00 10000 1146 8022.00 DVDT 1.20 5.00 15.00 10000 90 1350.00 E .30 3.90 2.90 10000 2437 7067.30 ESR - - - - - - EXI 1.25 10.00 1.75 10000 3000 5250.00 FCP 11.50 - 11.50 10000 540 6210.00 GHG .30 .50 .30 10000 1455 436.50 GOBEL .30 1.50 1.00 10000 767 767.00 H 2.10 3.90 2.00 10000 6250 12500.00 HEX 100.00 150.00 100.00 10000 3218 321800.00 HFINN 2.00 10.00 10.00 10000 1005 10050.00 IMMFR - .80 .80 10000 501 400.80 JFREE .25 .90 1.00 10000 1650 1650.00 JPP .50 .50 .50 10000 2410 1205.00 LEF .25 .50 .50 10000 1026 513.00 LEFTY 1.00 4.00 4.00 10000 51 204.00 LIST .20 .50 .50 10000 1000 500.00 LSOFT .55 .60 .75 10000 3600 2700.00 LURKR - 3.00 - 100000 - - MARCR - - - - - - MLINK - .05 1.00 1000000 2601 2601.00 MWM - 1.50 1.50 10000 1260 1890.00 N 20.00 25.00 25.00 10000 98 2450.00 P 20.00 22.00 20.00 1000000 265 5300.00 PETER 1.00 - 1.00 10000000 600 600.00 PRICE - 4.00 2.00 10000000 1410 2820.00 R .25 2.80 .25 10000 5000 1250.00 RJC - 50.00 - 10000 - - ROMA - - - - - - SGP - - - - - - TIM 2.00 - - 10000 - - TRADE 8.00 9.00 - 1000000 - - TRANS .50 .60 1.00 10000 511 511.00 WILKEN 1.00 10.00 10.00 10000 101 1010.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 426938.60 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 01:21:14 -0400 From: Alexander Chislenko Subject: MEETING: Boston gathering. There's a Brasilian place called Pampas near Cambridge Central Sq.; they have an excellent vegetarian buffet and for one price keep bringing you about 16 different kinds of meat until you can eat no more. Although I'd agree with Harry that proximity to Copley Sq. is most important. Also, if somebody needs a place to stay, I can host 1 or 2 people; RSVP if interested! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Alexander Chislenko | sasha@cs.umb.edu | Cambridge, MA | (617) 864-3382 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 22:27:10 PDT From: hfinney@shell.portal.com Subject: Wage Competition From: Robin Hanson > In the long run, the entities who own the future are those self-owned > entities whose can resist the temptation to consume their wealth now, > and invest for the long-term. Whether their wealth is in the form of > capital or wage earning power is largely irrelevant. I think Robin is right about this. If robots or other machines start producing more of the wealth, then people who own the robots or the factories that make the robots and other machines are going to have wealth diverted to them from the displaced laborers. Unless most workers start saving instead of spending most of what they earn, they are not going to have enough money to invest like this. It's not easy to save money and at least in the U.S. most people aren't very good at it. In Japan, on the other hand, it's more plausible that workers would have enough capital saved up that they can actually invest in the companies that make the machines which replace them. I'm not sure how Robin's suggestion about human capital markets really solves this problem, motivating people to save more. If people could sell off their future income, I'd be afraid that most people would just view it as a fancy credit card and spend the new money. Many people spend all their time with their credit totally maxed out. In some ways it seems to me that credit works similarly to the proposed capital markets: you get money now and have to pay it back later, and the creditor in some sense makes an estimate of your future income stream to decide how much credit to offer you. Also, if someone is in a dead-end job, his future income stream isn't going to look nearly as good as the owner of a robot factor. The future-income markets may just add to the wealth of the wealthy capitalists because they are the ones who are going to have large future incomes. One thing that I could see happening is that if someone is in a business which appears to be vulnerable to future obsolescence, his future-income market value may be low. But if he gets retraining, as Nick suggests, that may drastically increase his market value. This might provide a more direct incentive for people to get out of dead-end jobs. I'll be gone until Saturday but I think Robin has produced a very interesting thread! Hal ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 01:39:42 -0400 From: Alexander Chislenko Subject: POLI: School vouchers I just heard it from a colleague of mine, who read a short article in Boston Globe (if you have more info, please share it!). California just enacted the voucher program which allows parents to take the state money for the child's education to a private school, including religious. Paying tax money for subsidizing religious "education" is a somewhat thorny issue, but with a strong influence of [conventional] religious organizations it might have made the whole thing easier... Now, the Witches' Coven [sp.?] decided to run a school too... And *this* Christians are not that happy about... Tax money for withcraft? What about Satanic cult? Or neo-pagans? They seem to have some pretty interesting discussions ahead... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Alexander Chislenko | sasha@cs.umb.edu | Cambridge, MA | (617) 864-3382 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Member: ExI, BCS, WFS, EFF, IONS, U/D Council, Foresight Inst., MENSA,... | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | This sig space is for rent - if you have any idea worth distributing, | | I would consider including it here. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 0:41:58 MDT From: bangell@cs.utah.edu (bob angell) Subject: Meta: Who is on the new software? >The following addresses/users are on the new >list software, FYI. > >bangell@cc.utah.edu could you change this to be: bangell@cs.utah.edu. thanks. -Bob- -- Bob Angell | Data Integration (multi-platform) Principal | AWK, C/C++, RDBMS langs, Paradox Management Systems Engineering | Health Systems Engineering Applied Information & Management Systems | Database design/development 1238 Fenway Avenue - SLC, UT 84102-3212 | Simulation/Modeling/Neural Nets bangell@cs.utah.edu; Voice: 801-583-8544 | Freelance writer, major publications IBMLINK:DEV4534, TEAMOS/2 | OS/2 2.x Application Developer [Disclaimer: I don't speak for IBM or the University of Utah!] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 8:58:35 GMT From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu Subject: Correct Interpretation of Tomorrow's World >From: edgar@spectrx.saigon.com (Edgar W. Swank) >Subject: Extropian Song Lyrics > >Thanks to Tim Starr for posting his candidate for "extropian" song >lyrics, "Tomorrow's World," by Joe Jackson. While it starts out well, >I have real problems with the LC (Libertarian Correctness), >the EC (Extropian Correctness), and I'm personally offended >by: > > We're gonna give in Tomorrow's World > >Who's "We", Lone Ranger? I'm gonna live in Tomorrow's World and I'm >not gonna give anybody a goddam thing!! Since I'll be free to keep >and bear arms in tomorrow's world, if anyone tries to -take- anything >from me, I'll blow his fucking head off!! You've just given us your opinion. You could give yourself a break from oversensitivity... I think that some of the lyrics can be interpreted in bad ways, but I don't think that any of them can't be interpreted in good ways. >The next line is easy to fix, change > > And there'll be food for everyone > >to > > there'll be cheap food for everyone. > >This better reflects the inevitable productivity improvements provided >by the capitalist system, whereas the original line smacks of food >stamps and the morally bankrupt welfare system. And here I thought we'd all presume that after the nanotech rapture nourishment would become a general condition of human welfare, not a scarce good... >Going back, the following line is not EC. > > We'll live on power from the sun > >Actually, solar power is completely inadequate even for today's >demands. It might as well have read > > We'll live in caves with no lights in Tomorrow's World. Even if it's from solar energy collection panels based in space, where a lot more surface area is to be had? >Until fusion is perfected, we'll live on power from fast breeder >atomic reactors. While the sun is powered by fusion, fusion power on >earth will actually come from the oceans. We need to fix this line; >perhaps > > We'll live on power like the sun's Even though I disagree, I think this alteration is poetically acceptable. Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! Assistant Editor: Freedom Network News, the newsletter of ISIL, The International Society for Individual Liberty, 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 864-0952; FAX: (415) 864-7506; 71034.2711@compuserve.com Think Universally, Act Selfishly - starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 9:21:39 GMT From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu Subject: My Worry, Guns, and Social Security >From: Carol Moore >Subject: Potlach/Tithing/Jubillee --was/Re: Another Worry > >Tim Starr worries, in effect, that those who receive the >least money in a free market, will be dissatisfied and, >I assume, seek statist redress. Actually, that wasn't my worry at all. My worry was that many advocates of laissez-faire make a mistaken argument, and that they will fail as a result. I have little objection to "spread the wealth" schemes, although they don't appeal to me very much. I prefer "spread freedom of opportunity" schemes. In another message, Carol forwarded an editorial of Schulman's which included a statistic that gave her pause about the desirability of peacefully getting rid of guns: >According to a study by Professor >Gary Kleck, Criminologist at Florida State University, Americans >use their privately owned firearms -- handguns, rifles, and >shotguns -- 1.4 million times every year to \save\ innocent >lives. Let me say that another way. Three thousand, eight >hundred times a day, an American firearm owner uses her or his >firearm to prevent a rape, a robbery, or a burglary. In 99% of >those thirty-eight hundred daily firearm defenses, no one is shot >at all -- and because non-violence is non-news, \you\ never hear >about it. > > Let me put this statistic in perspective. During the >fifteen-minute period in which a psycho murdered nine people at a >San Francisco law office, forty \ordinary\ Americans used their >privately owned firearms to \stop\ a crime, without shooting >anyone. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the protective power of guns. ISIL's preparing a pamphlet by David Kopel on gun policy that has a whole lot more, e.g.: trying to defend yourself from a robber with a gun reduces the robber's success rate from 88% to 30%. We'll be publishing it after we finish editing it. We're also about to publish a pamphlet on Social Security, which is where I was getting some of my info about it. I agree with Nick that retirement is evil; Perry, your father's disabled, not retired. May he live long and prosper! I don't think any Social Security reform is politically feasible in the sense that any majority of Congress will vote for it right now, so I see no reason not to advocate an extreme position: transfer money equivalent to the amount people have put in into pension fund accounts from which they may purchase disability insurance. Works like a dream in Chile! Then voluntarize the saving. Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! Assistant Editor: Freedom Network News, the newsletter of ISIL, The International Society for Individual Liberty, 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 864-0952; FAX: (415) 864-7506; 71034.2711@compuserve.com Think Universally, Act Selfishly - starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 9:43:35 GMT From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu Subject: Nature of Homosexuality According to Frances Kendall in "The Sex-Y Factor," the best explanation for homosexuality isn't genetic, but it is "nature," rather than nurture. She says that at some stage of pre-natal development, exposure to certain hormones seems to determine sexual orientation, withour regard to the sex of the fetus. Thus, if X is the hormone that causes attraction to males, exposing either males or females to X would make them horny for males. If Y is the one that makes one horny for females, exposing either to it would make them horny for females. She also says that if a pregnant woman is emotionally stressed, that can make them involuntarily release the "wrong" hormone to the fetus. That is, if a man beats his pregant wife, he may cause her male fetus to be exposed to the hormone that makes him horny for men, rather than the one that makes him horny for women. And vice versa. This presents a different sort of problem for anti-homos: "Dear Lord, what have we done to deserve this?" Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! Assistant Editor: Freedom Network News, the newsletter of ISIL, The International Society for Individual Liberty, 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 864-0952; FAX: (415) 864-7506; 71034.2711@compuserve.com Think Universally, Act Selfishly - starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 9:48:18 GMT From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu Subject: Why Worry About My Worry I suppose my worry that advocates of laissez-faire use a bad argument is an instance of a broader worry that this represents the general case, rather than the exception which proves the rule. So, now, my worry is that we (present non-libertarian company excepted) tend to use the wrong arguments to support our position, ones that aren't sound or ones that are sound but unpersuasive. Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! Assistant Editor: Freedom Network News, the newsletter of ISIL, The International Society for Individual Liberty, 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 864-0952; FAX: (415) 864-7506; 71034.2711@compuserve.com Think Universally, Act Selfishly - starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 07:38:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Harry Shapiro Subject: Meta: Who is on the new software? I can delete you and add you back with the new address but that would wipe out your current settings (if you have any) or wait for Ray to create the appriopriate dbm editting tool. /hawk a conscious being, bob angell wrote: > > >The following addresses/users are on the new > >list software, FYI. > > > >bangell@cc.utah.edu > > could you change this to be: bangell@cs.utah.edu. > > thanks. > > -Bob- > -- > Bob Angell | Data Integration (multi-platform) > Principal | AWK, C/C++, RDBMS langs, Paradox > Management Systems Engineering | Health Systems Engineering > Applied Information & Management Systems | Database design/development > 1238 Fenway Avenue - SLC, UT 84102-3212 | Simulation/Modeling/Neural Nets > bangell@cs.utah.edu; Voice: 801-583-8544 | Freelance writer, major publications > IBMLINK:DEV4534, TEAMOS/2 | OS/2 2.x Application Developer > > [Disclaimer: I don't speak for IBM or the University of Utah!] > > > > > -- Harry S. Hawk habs@panix.com Electronic Communications Officer, Extropy Institute Inc. List Administrator of the Extropy Institute Mailing List Private Communication for the Extropian Community since 1991 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 09:02:06 -0400 From: hhuang@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: DIET: L-tryptophan, _Smart Drugs II_ Stanton McCandlish writes, >Quoth hhuang@athena.mit.edu, verily I say unto thee: [...] >I don't think [L-tryptophan.'s] banned anymore. I've seen it in shops 3 >or 4 times. ! I'm going out to look around local stores today. I just sent away a letter to the England address selling it. >-=>By the way, _Smart Drugs II_ by Dean and Morgenthaler is out and can >-=>be ordered from CERI. > >!! 'Bout damn time! I will have to raid the bookstore tomorrow! Sorry about my misinformation: CERI will only start receiving the book on August 1 and will mail out two-day priority mail to pre-orders as soon as they receive it. Hence, retail bookstore availability will probably be later than that date. -Han Y. Huang hhuang@athena.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 11:21:35 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" Subject: Wage Competition hfinney@shell.portal.com says: > This may be true of farmers, because they were pretty self-sufficient. > But what if you were a 19th century buggy-whip manufacturer? Or blacksmith? > A 19th-century tanner? A by-hand pin manufacturer? A canvas sailmaker? And yet, we don't see out of work buggy-whip or sail makers around in the streets begging for work today. Over the years, many professions have arisen, come into their own, and disappeared without a trace. Somehow, the economy has survived it. Perry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 08:48:33 -0700 From: cappello@engineering.ucsb.edu (Peter Cappello) Subject: Your on the New List, Please read ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 11:56:28 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" Subject: Wage Competition Nick Szabo says: > Assuming some foresight (eg a buggy > whip futures market in 1900 predicting that many of them would > be out of business by 1920) there is plenty of time to retrain, > and/or save up money from the last years of the business and steer the > next generation into more lucrative areas. Its even better than that. Few businesses go away over night. The buggy manufacturing business sunsetted over many years. Woe, however, to those businesses in which the government via protection has prevented needed downsizing, such as shoe manufacture. When the day of reconing comes, lots of companies that would have vanished over thirty years will vanish in a year or two. Perry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 11:56:28 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" Subject: Wage Competition Nick Szabo says: > Assuming some foresight (eg a buggy > whip futures market in 1900 predicting that many of them would > be out of business by 1920) there is plenty of time to retrain, > and/or save up money from the last years of the business and steer the > next generation into more lucrative areas. Its even better than that. Few businesses go away over night. The buggy manufacturing business sunsetted over many years. Woe, however, to those businesses in which the government via protection has prevented needed downsizing, such as shoe manufacture. When the day of reconing comes, lots of companies that would have vanished over thirty years will vanish in a year or two. Perry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 09:14:09 -0700 From: cappello@engineering.ucsb.edu (Peter Cappello) Subject: POLI: School vouchers >I just heard it from a colleague of mine, who read a short article >in Boston Globe (if you have more info, please share it!). > California just enacted the voucher program ... I don't think that this is accurate. A Voucher proposal is slated to be on the CA ballot as an initiative in the near future. It will be BIG BIG news, if it passes. -Pete ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 12:31:21 -0400 From: "J. Laurens Troost" Subject: ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 09:52:17 -0700 From: dkrieger@Synopsys.COM (Dave Krieger) Subject: Pets (was Re: Wage Competition) At 5:50 PM 7/21/93 -0700, Robin Hanson wrote: >Nick Szabo writes: >>Growing numbers of people may >>come to rely on statist welfare or private charity, and may become the >>ancestors of those creatures the posthumans will keep as pets. ... >First, being a pet is a job with a wage, so those who can be pets are >not post-wage. I'm glad Robin brought this up, because I'm presently hiring in this area. Applicants should be cute, ingratiating, and possess all the other qualities we associate with pets. Must also be young enough to Learn New Tricks. Wages: room and board; library, media, and computer privileges; a negotiable allowance; lots of affection; full veterinary care; hardware upgrades as they become available. Prior housebreaking desirable but not necessary; will train. [:-)] / 2. dV/dt ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 14:11:51 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" Subject: Wage Competition hfinney@shell.portal.com says: > From: Robin Hanson > > In the long run, the entities who own the future are those self-owned > > entities whose can resist the temptation to consume their wealth now, > > and invest for the long-term. Whether their wealth is in the form of > > capital or wage earning power is largely irrelevant. > > I think Robin is right about this. If robots or other machines start > producing more of the wealth, then people who own the robots or the factories > that make the robots and other machines are going to have wealth diverted > to them from the displaced laborers. Hal and Robin, you've so disappointed me. Does not anyone here understand the notion of comparative advantage? Here is a clue to solving this whole connundrum for you: imagine that all the humans who work themselves live in one country, and all the humans with robots live in another, and imagine the trade patterns that would arise using the standard logic from Ricardo's proof that free trade is good because of comparative advantages. Then, of course, do the gedanken experiment again, this time without the silly transformation -- the result is, of course, identical. Perry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 14:35:09 -0400 From: merritt@macro.bu.edu (Sean Merritt) Subject: 133 years old SYRIAN MAN DIES AT AGE OF 133 DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuter) - A Syrian man who fathered nine children with a wife he married when he was 80 has died at the age of 133, the official news agency SANA said Thursday. Hamoudi al-Abdullah, whose age if authenticated would have made him the oldest human ever, died from a stroke Wednesday. SANA said Abdullah, from the northern town of Qamishli, had married for a fourth time at the age of 80, after which he fathered four boys and five girls. Abdullah, whose three previous marriages were childless, had 35 grandchildren. The Guinness Book of Records lists the world's oldest living person as Jeanne Calment of France who celebrated her 118th birthday last February. It says the greatest authenticated age to which a human has lived was 120 years 237 days in the case of Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan who died in 1986. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sean J. Merritt | Dept of Physics Boston University| "You leave me dry." merritt@macro.bu.edu | P.J. Harvey ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 15:04:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Edward J OConnell Subject: future problems Not really. I saw Falwell explaining that "God doesn't make people homosexual; that would be wrong." So all scientific proof to the contrary is merely the liberal squeeking of annoying pointyheaded geeks. I imagine they'll hold to this line. Isolating the gene for homosexuality raises some interesting issues for seperatists (with brains, not the MM) though. Jay ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 13:26:06 -0700 From: cappello@engineering.ucsb.edu (Peter Cappello) Subject: List Software: test ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 18:07:15 GMT From: al007@cleveland.freenet.edu (Nombrist Beor) Subject: future problems > > lem in the future. Namely, suppose a person or > couple is anti-abortion, and also anti-homosexual... > So do they abort and save the world from yet > another homosexual, or not abort and afflict the > world with said homosexual? Or do they allow the Worse yet, what if a person *is* homosexual and trying to promote their way of life over hetersexuals, as the "gay community" is trying to do now? If it is possible to test for homsexual predisposition and the majority of the "gay community" keeps their pro-choice stance, they are in essence committing suicide because only the heterosexuals are able to reproduce and will most likely eliminate "homosexual" babies as if they are genetic defects. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 17:09:19 CDT From: UC482529@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu Subject: TECH: Some information about the Prospero system. Is anyone else here familiar with a software system called Prospero? I've recently stumbled across it. It's an implementation of a theoretical model for file organization that the author, Clifford Neuman, calls the "Virtual System Model." It's quite interesting. Basically, the VSM supports the following (If this is already familiar to you, my apologies.) 1.) A global (potentially Internet-wide) polyhierarchical name space. All the objects in the system are nodes in a (potentially discontigous) directed graph. Any directory node in the graph can be used as the root of a hierarchical name space. 2.) Objects in this global namespace can have multiple pathnames. Like hard links in Unix, each name is fully equivalent to the others. If one name is changed or deleted, all other names still remain valid and still point at the same object. 3.) Individual users can create multiple personalized views of the global name space. These personalized name spaces are constructed out of objects and name spaces created by the users themselves, and/or objects and name spaces created by other users. Resource discovery is performed by browsing or searching names spaces constructed by other users. 4.) User-definable meta-information ("attributes") can be attached to directories and files. 5.) "Union links" can be used to dynamically merge (at access time) the contents of one directory into another. 6.) Programs ("filters") can be attached to directories to dynamically alter them upon access. A filter receives as its input a list of the objects in the directory it's attached to. It outputs a list of objects; this list is then passed to the process which requested the directory listing. This happens any time the directory is accessed (especially when resolving pathnames). A filter's output need not have any relation to its input. Multiple filters can be attached, and combined in sequence like Unix pipelines. For example, a directory of research papers could be dynamically split up into virtual subdirectories by file type or author (by looking at an "author=" attribute). Or, files older than a certain date could be withheld from a directory listing. IMHO, if Prospero gets widely deployed, it will greatly reshape how people perceive and use the Internet. Prospero could possibly be used as a foundation for a global shared hypertext system, with each document represented by a directory containing links to the objects (blocks of text, diagrams, digitized video sequences, etc.) which make up the document. A directory of papers (in PostScript format) discussing Prospero is at prospero.isi.edu:pub/papers/prospero/. My summary above does not really do justice to the niftyness of this system; you really should read about it for yourself. -Anthony Garcia uc482529@mizzou1.missouri.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 18:58:11 EDT From: Brian.Hawthorne@east.sun.com (Brian Holt Hawthorne - SunSelect Engineering) Subject: future problems > If it is possible to test for homsexual predisposition and the majority of > the "gay community" keeps their pro-choice stance, they are in essence > committing suicide because only the heterosexuals are able to reproduce and > will most likely eliminate "homosexual" babies as if they are genetic defects. 0. None of my friends in the "gay community" are trying to promote their way of life OVER heterosexuals. Do you have some evidence for your claim? 1. This isn't suicide. Suicide is killing oneself. At best, your scenario claims to depict a situation where homosexuality would become less prevalent. Even that conclusion I find suspect. 2. Many homosexuals reproduce, whether through artificial insemination, or one of many other methods. You seem to be claiming that sexual preference is somehow related to whether one wants to be a parent. 3. Given that many heterosexual couples currently choose to carry to term even fetuses known to be likely to have Down's syndrome, I really can't see this being a serious consideration. Did your hyperbole have some intent other than political rhetoric? Rowan (HEx symbol: R) ------------------------------ End of Extropians Digest V93 #203 ********************************* &