Yes, they do!! With torrents, it just takes a single seeder to keep the torrent alive, but Usenet isn't peer to peer - you're downloading stuff from a centralized server(s), and they simply cannot keep everything alive forever.
IMO it's fine though. Usenet provides you with very timely access to all the "newest" stuff, in excellent, very consistent quality.
And for older stuff, there's torrents.
I pay for one Usenet provider/indexer. I also still use tons of torrent sources.
90% of the time, stuff that I'm monitoring gets downloaded via Usenet for currently airing or rather new shows.
50% of the time when actively looking for stuff from the past 5-10 years I use Usenet, the other half is torrents
90% of stuff older than that, I only find torrents
100% of non-English stiff I get from torrents (I'm subscribed to an English Usenet indexer though, so that tracks).
In short: Why not use both?
Yep. They leave us alone so we'll function as a control group. This way contact can later point at us and go "look! That's what happens if we don't intervene!"
Noone was trying to force that on them though, the actual reason IIRC correctly that Idirans had a religious imperative for expansion, and the Culture had a moral imperative to prevent other sentients' suffering at the hands of the Idirans.
IMO he mostly sidestepped the issue by clarifying that this is NOT a future version of "us"
That is a beautiful comparison. Terrifying, but beautifully fitting.
I read Stross right after Banks. I think if I hadn't, I'd be an AI-hype-bro. Banks it the potential that could be, Stross is what we'll inevitably turn AI into.
Oh, alright. The original creator works for Microsoft (presumably on Linux related things?), but systemd itself is still OSS
What??
(As in, could you kindly elaborate?)
This is the first mention of Accelerando I've seen in the wild. (Assuming it is. I'm not sure.)
Currently, no. But I also haven't opened a game on my PC in months, since that time sadly has to go towards my Master's thesis. But ever since I got the deck, I have heavily used it. It's easier to pick up and put down than the same game on PC, so I just do (did) more frequently.