On Mon, Mar 15, 1999 at 10:02:56PM -0800, Andy Searls wrote:

Ghost in the Shell: Birth of a Species
Chapter 5, The Human Factor
V0.8
By Andrew Searls
Characters from Ghost in the Shell are creations of Masamune Shirow and not
my own.

AP INTERNATIONAL FEED, HYPERNET, 13-APRIL-2031:

JAPANESE JOINS WORLD IN REVERSAL OF WETWARE RULINGS.

The Japanese Senate abolished a law yesterday that had been enacted only a
year ago.  The Japanese government has joined the other computerized nations
in what has been the first globally unilateral dissolution of similar laws
in history.

"The trends in technological crimes have been very encouraging,"  said
Michael Peden, international technology consultant and analyst.  "Japan's
decision was not a surprise by any means.  In fact, most of the other
nations are surprised that they waited so long."

Most analysts have said that the Japanese government was simply responding
to pressure from Japanese businesses that are trying to compete with
businesses from other countries.  "The productivity indicators for the
wetware-enabled worker all agree that the advantages make wetware a
requirement for the competitive markets," said Peden.

I must say, this part had me laughing out loud.  Wetware, ie. a functional
human brain, is the most important part of a computer even today, but it's
amazing how many people fail to realize this. :)

-- 
  -Sean Connor  (sec@konatsu.dhs.org)
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