Zack_M_Davis comments on The things we know that we know ain't so - Less Wrong

16 Post author: PhilGoetz 11 January 2010 09:59PM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 12 January 2010 11:13:37AM 0 points [-]

When you ask yourself whether Al Gore invented the internet it isn't as straightforward because you have to ask what you mean with the term. Inventing the internet wasn't only a technical problem but had also to do with getting the regulation right. Rereading GURPS Cyberpunk always makes me remember that it's quite a success that you don't have to pay additional money to send a megabyte to another continent than you have to pay to send it to your neighbor while you have to pay more when you make a phonecall. Al Gore claims credit for producing a regulatory environment that allowed the internet as we know it today.

Comment author: Zack_M_Davis 12 January 2010 11:46:37AM *  4 points [-]

it's quite a success that you don't have to pay additional money to send a megabyte to another continent than you have to pay to send it to your neighbor while you have to pay more when you make a phonecall

Is it a success? If sending a megabyte to another continent costs more, then it's plausible that things would work better if the sender actually pays that cost. We may not know what we're missing.

Comment author: pdf23ds 12 January 2010 11:58:47AM 1 point [-]

This doesn't directly address your comment; it just came to mind.

Girl Arrested for Charging Cell Phone (link Not Safe for Work)

A young lady (20) in Japan who had the temerity to charge her phone using a socket at a railway station has been arrested for theft of electricity, after a passerby called police to avert the robbery, having stolen 0.015 watt hours (or 54 joules), worth a shocking total of 0.03 yen ($0.0003).

The lady, a student, is suspected of charging her phone at a station whilst waiting with a friend. A passerby saw the crime in progress and dialed 110, summoning police, who came rushing the arrest the thief before she fled with her ill-gotten gains.

After being arrested the thief was repentant: “I understand now it was a bad thing to do.”

Police issued a reprimand, but did not consider her crime grievous enough to prosecute, treating it as a minor offence.

The police in charge had this to add: “Theft is theft, even three hundredths of a yen.”

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