I think the biggest obstacle will be public acceptance of a single pilot at the helm. It would take some serious backup tech assurances and maybe a generation's worth of time before it happens.
Of course the angelic souls who suddenly find themselves in charge of arranging such a system would have to be chosen somehow. Or would they just need to be ambitious creatures that take the reins and become benevolent dictators? Knowledge of human nature has to be a prerequisite here, does it not?
Well, in almost every functional democracy in the world, at some point the founders of it decided on a way to split up power. In the US, that meant 3 different branches of federal government, individual state governments, separation of church and state, and giving every citizen the right to establish a corporation and engage in trade (aka capitalism). So three separate estates, and subdivisions within each one. So we were lucky to have enough angelic (enough) souls who did arrange such a system (flawed as it is).
Contrast this to something like China where there is a single party and a single government with no checks or balances. And such as there is some free enterprise, it is not a universal protected right and even the richest citizens have no ability to affect politics. It does not seem like a favorable alternative.
People who become politically active in China end up disappearing regardless of party membership. I mean, you realise the "party" in a communist state is nothing like a political party in democracies? The word used is the same but their mechanics are totally different.
We had a one-party system in Yugoslavia. Today we have one ruling party which almost always wins the election and being a member will give you perks and advantages. Small parties are there mostly for the decor and coalitions. Sometimes the opposition will win at the city level, and then the county and state ruled by the party in power will do everything to undermine any disruptive actions, prevent advancements and things just stay blocked until that party wins the local election and unblocks the changes to attribute it to themselves. Also, significant infrastructure work often awaits for just before the next election, for better optics, or the government will choose where to invest public funds based on publicity and not the actual needs of the people, everything to secure the next election.
"An attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and gliding to the bomb-release point with only wind noise left to reveal their presence. German soldiers likened the sound to broomsticks and hence named the pilots "Night Witches"."
Soviet Republic: Workers and Resources has this. It is an incredibly deep city builder and sim with very well modeled systems. The realistic mode requires fuel for vehicles and workers for construction. You don’t simply plop buildings down or define zones that magically fill in.
Agree. ChatGPT is how I imagined the internet would be back in the 90s (without having the foggiest clue how it might get there). Your questions are similar to the types of searches that people really want but have to translate to 'GPS simple explanation' or 'COVID in <town> this year' while hoping for a set of relevant pages in the Google return.
I've gotten it to fail on some word problems, but even then it was impressive to see it try to come up with a solution. More humorous were requests like 'Create a post for ycombinator about ChatGPT in the style of Chris Farley'. It's surprising and quite welcome that it even attempts that.
That’s what the pay is indicative of. If people want it, they will pay for it, and your employer will pay you to deliver it. Unless you’re talking about being driven by a goal outside of any business (i.e. market) needs.
Saw them at Lollapalooza in New Orleans in 1993. None of my group of friends had ever heard of them. We were there for Tool, Primus and Alice in Chains. The crisp guitar and overall energy of Rage was jaw-dropping. The next day all of us bought their CD and blasted it while driving around for the next year.
That is a great perspective. I thought at the time that Shatner was being a bit of a drama queen for the cameras, making it about himself and his own experience. This piece made me realize I judged incorrectly. The others seemed genuinely happy, perhaps having processed the philosophical stuff more readily or perhaps it hadn't hit them yet. There in the middle was Bezos trying to keep things positive. Tough job when the eyes of the world are upon you.
Kerbal Space Program provided glimpses of this for me. Leaving the home planet and getting into orbit after hours of trial and error, then eventually heading towards the Mun and then other planets was a sort of virtual Overview Effect. I didn't have any attachment to the home planet (and the idea of much of the game is to leave in the first place) but leaving and then looking around while enjoying the first moment in orbit/arriving at a new planet was a big 'Woah!' in my gaming life.
Flight Instructor here. MSFS and its predecessors are invaluable in pilot training, particularly for the Instrument rating. The value is in the modeling of navigation systems, noot so much the scenery or exterior of the aircraft.
Set visibility to 1/2 statute mile, ceiling at 300ft and practice full approaches to your heart's content. I recommend shutting off the ATC that ships with MSFS and using VATSIM or one of the other 3rd party human ATC systems available. Use Airnav.com for free US charts.
At $200/flight hour, spending $1000-2000 on a high end PC, rudder pedals and decent joystick and throttle will save students money. MSFS doesn't replace training, but helps in handling the mental load of instrument flight.
