WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
This week is the second of our ‘catch up’ versions, but we start with some current news. Google has been fined billions for breaking the EU regulations on monopolies. Moving on we look at space governance, scientists, volcanoes, the EU and Asimov’s laws of robotics, the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft, and the year 2038 bug. In the pictures section we have some videos of rocket launch explosions (BANG!), while Scanner contains pointers to material on a PDP-11 revival, an important inventor, people leaving the video game business in droves, printer paper jams, paperback books and the troops, the US Declaration of Independence v. Facebook’s AI, Etak, cryptocurrency’s criminal revolution, and Californian wine. Our quote for the week is from the British judge, Lord Scarman.
Shorts:
Well Google is starting to find out that thumbing its nose at governments can be expensive – the EU has just fined it 4.3 billion Euros (just over US$5 billion) for breaking the regulations. Not only that, but they’ve got 90 days to stop breaking the regulations, or there will be further fines.
The EU objected to three things in particular:
1) The requirement for android phones to have Google Search and the Chrome browser pre-installed by phone makers.
2) Payments to phone makers to make Google Search the Default
3) Restrictions on creating ‘forks’ of Android.
So Google have three months – 90 days to fix these problems or hand over more cash...
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/18/european_commission_fines_google_over_android/
Homework:
The question of who governs in space is starting to rear its head with rise of commercial firms planning to colonise the various bodies, in particular the Moon and Mars. At the moment there are only a handful of humans in space, and those all in Earth orbit, and put there by their nation states. Science Fiction has over the years had a lot to say about the governance of the solar system – most of it suggesting conflict between rugged, self-reliant, pioneers in space and an Earth bureaucracy determined to hold them in check. I doubt if it’s going to be like that, if only because the chances of a single hegemonic Earth bureaucracy range from exceedingly slim to non-existent.
So what will it look like? The Space Review recently published a piece looking at the possibilities, and what is currently in place. It’s worth taking a look, because as the technical barriers fall, sorting out these questions will become increasingly important.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3498/1
While we are talking serious matters, I thought that I’d draw your attention to an interesting article entitled ‘Society is not a science problem (but science’s problems are social)’. It’s about scientists’ attitudes to society, and it’s short, sweet and to the point. See what you think!
https://mailchi.mp/martingeddes/society-is-not-a-science-problem?e=eab3a9dc66
There are a lot of myths out there about volcanoes, such as the idea that volcanoes and earthquakes in the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ around the Pacific Ocean are connected. With all the stuff in the news about Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, the myths are multiplying rapidly. Thus it’s perhaps just as well that Science Alert has taken it upon itself to debunk a few of the more common myths. See for yourself and see how many of them you thought were true when, in fact, they were just myths...
https://www.sciencealert.com/five-myths-about-volcanoes
Geek Stuff:
The European Union’s ruling bureaucracy have something of a deserved reputation for being dour and humourless. I was therefore delighted to find out that it is being suggested that Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics are recommended in their entirety for inclusion in the EU’s health and safety laws! Spotted in ‘Ansible’ #371.
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/29232 [see section 5.3.2.6]
https://news.ansible.uk/a371.html
Hackaday.com has a fascinating look at how the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were put together and launched in the early 1970s. An interesting look at what went into the first spacecraft to visit the outer planets.
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/25/hacking-when-it-counts-the-pioneer-missions/
Year 2000 bug? Pah! What are you doing about the year 2038 problem?
https://lwn.net/Articles/757042/
Pictures:
Here is a rather spectacular video, taken from various angles, of a rocket crash at take off. I especially liked the pic of the control room crew putting their hands over their ears as the thing came down!
https://www.sciencealert.com/japanese-rocket-launch-momo-2-lasted-literally-seconds-before-crashing-to-earth-massive-fireball-interstellar-technologies
And for those of you into such things, here’s a YouTube video of no less than ten launch explosions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rciEwuagKXA
Scanner:
Das blinkenlights are back thanks to RPi revival of the PDP-11
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/21/raspberry_pi_pdp_11_revival/
The most important inventor you’ve never heard of
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-most-important-inventor-youve-never-heard-of/
The great video game exodus
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/318588/The_great_video_game_exodus.php
Why paper jams persist
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/why-paper-jams-persist
How specially printed paperbacks won over American troops in World War II
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/pulp-faction-how-specially-printed-paperbacks-won-over-american-troops-in-wwii/
US Declaration of Independence labelled hate speech by Facebook bots
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/05/us_declaration_of_independence_labeled_
hate_speech_by_facebook_bots/
How Etak paved the way to personal navigation
https://hackaday.com/2018/06/29/how-etak-paved-the-way-to-personal-navigation/
Cryptocurrency’s criminal revolution
https://medium.com/s/story/cryptocurrencys-criminal-revolution-6dae3cdf630f
Fukushima reactors lend exotic nuclear finish to California’s wines
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/19/fukushima_cesium_wine/
Quote for the week:
The quote this week is from the British judge, Lord Scarman, who said, “A government above the law is a menace to be defeated.”
(Oxford Dictionary of Quotations)
Coda:
Well, that’s it for this week. Hopefully, by next week I’ll be up to producing something a little more like the regular edition, although there are still quite a lot of backlog items to catch up with. In the meantime, have fun.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
22 July 2018
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
