9 Jun
2000
9 Jun
'00
3:06 a.m.
On Fri, 9 Jun 2000, R. D. Davis wrote:
Well, the ARPANET did have a big flaw in it didn't
it, I mean, they
spent all that money, and look what still happened: the invasion of
the AOLers (no offense to any AOL users here, I'm talking about the
onslaught that nearly crippled Usenet several years ago that was like
an infinite influx of first semester students who'd just gotten their
usernames and passwords in CS101). ;-)
It's OK, R.D. You can take your foot out of your mouth now.
In all seriousness, the internet, like many other
things, is a double
edged sword. It allows us to communicate more easily, and is
extremely useful; it's a wonderful research tool.
Ok, stop there. No? Sigh...
On the other hand, the Internet is a great wasy for
some people to
wasts vast sums of time, and, look at how easy it makes things for the
government to spy on vast numbers of citizens due to the way it's been
set up. Is the lack of security on the Internet possibly a well
designed feature disguised as a flaw? Had the ARPANET never existed,
isn't it likely that some other, perhaps more secure, form of
communication may have originated without government intervention and
become just as popular?
Remember what I was saying about your foot?
More seriously, I know that there will come a day when
the earth may
become uninhabitable, and space exploration may be our only key to the
survival of creatures living on earth. However, I seriously doubt
that everyone would be able to leave, and imagine that only a
relatively small number of carefully selected people and other
creatures would get to leave and possibly survive, leaving the
majority of the earth's inhabitants here to perish. What's the point
in that?
The problem is not the sheer number of people on this planet, but the
percentage of those that are complete and utter morons.
Unquestionably true, and I have a lot of respect for
the skills and
abilities of such engineers and scientists; however, could not their
abilities have been put to better use for society?
Yeah! We could use a LOT more creative ways to kill and maim people.
Nukes just didn't go far enough, eh?
I look foward to your answers, and if I'm wrong or
am overlooking
something, I'd very much like to know about it.
Dude, one word: TANG!
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
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