It's actually pretty cool - just tried it out with XP, Vista: IE, FF / OS X: Safari, FF, Opera (slow day...). Obviously, loading a layer on top of Google's API, because the best part is you can "sail" over/through anything! I chose the Container Ship (very slow maneuverability) and inadvertently "sailed" over land, then right through downtown Rotterdam. Also dragged the anchor across land - didn't seem to slow me down. The horn and anchor don't work in all browsers...
All ships are defaulted to Rotterdam, so that's the only point of origin.
I think this is pretty impactful. All jokes aside, the fact that Jabberwacky held an 11 hour conversation with a teenage girl is pretty astonishing. Obviuosly, a conversation of that nature is going to be all about emotion - not logic, reason or an empirical display of intelligence. Isn't that the point for AI to seamlessly interface with us? (I realize it's not necessarily the scope of the Turing test). Humans are teriible at logic and reason. Emotion is one of the key components which defines us as a species. I know a lot of humans who couldn't carry on an 11 hour conversation which primarily focussed on emotion... let alone with a teenage girl discussing nothing but fluff, pop-culture, or black and white ideologies.
I actually think it's funny, interesting and astonishing at the same time!
Oh yeah... I, for one, welcome our new teenage girl conversationalist... never mind...
I have a good friend who is in Upper Management at one of the major banks affected by the sub-prime/securities collapse. He told me a year and a half ago what was going on and used a great analogy to illustrate the point. This isn't necessarily breaking news, just an easy way of understanding a complex situation which the media tends to spin way out of context. Obviously, there's much more to it than this and I'm certainly not an economic expert...
All the major banks (6 at the time) were purchasing enormous blocks of "bad paper" (high risk "AAA" mortgage loans) from each other. They would in turn, back the bad loans with their own securities investments or even securities from other financial institutions willing to assume a percentage of the risk.
Billions of dollars of this bad paper, which everyone knew was bad since it was over extended by weak securities, was being passed around like a hot potato in a game of musical chairs. They all knew the music was going to stop and someone would be caught with their pants down. At times, particular banks in ownership of the paper would only hold on to it for hours or days - just long enough to make a fractional profit from the bulk interest. Although incredibly risky, this method would collectively work for everybody involved except one - like playing a single round of Russian roulette. My friend said the day to day business for the past 1.5 years was to simply find a buyer if you were holding the paper, or try to be next in line to purchase as quickly as possible, then sell again as quickly as possible.
Simply put, he said this just isn't the way the banking industry is supposed to operate. The level of irresponsibility wasn't really about the high risk sub-prime mortgages that were issued to questionable applicants. The true irresponsibility lays in the C-Level/Executive Management teams of all the major banks, who encouraged and practically mandated the daily buying and selling of high risk bulk paper at a volume that would collapse even the strongest of banks. The key here is the volume of risk - literally enough to crush any bank.
The first bank who got caught was Bear Sterns in January 2008. For some illogical and unbeknownst reason, the industry assumed a major financial institution like Bear Sterns would never be the one caught without a chair when the music stopped. The psychological ripple effect of this sobering event just made the stakes higher and increased the speed at which the game was played, rather than putting the brakes on.
He said that initially it was almost a relief when Bear Sterns collapsed, because he and many other people in the industry thought the game was over and they had made it through unscathed. But, to his astonishment everyone continued to play this dangerous game with a gambler's mentality. Each time Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac cut the rates, the banks took it as a sign to play another short term round of the game. Eventually when the larger, more conservative banks realized this was well on it's way to failure (the tip-off was the Fed stopped cutting rates) they ceased backing the paper with their securities and the game ended for everyone leaving the smaller banks, securities firms, and finnancial institutions with the highest debt/risk scrambling to recover from losses. Lehman Brothers was the odd man out this time around.
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Well, there are four sides to that question. It's going to take simultaneous 24-hour corner days to come up with an answer.
Of all my time on /. (since the very beginning), that joke NEVER gets old :) Gene Ray will finally be vindicated!!!
Best use of a movie quote in a long time! Didn't connect the reference until the CAPS
I'll be programming all of this tomorrow... on my new iPad
That's what she said...
I'm going to toss my cookies...
It's actually pretty cool - just tried it out with XP, Vista: IE, FF / OS X: Safari, FF, Opera (slow day...). Obviously, loading a layer on top of Google's API, because the best part is you can "sail" over/through anything! I chose the Container Ship (very slow maneuverability) and inadvertently "sailed" over land, then right through downtown Rotterdam. Also dragged the anchor across land - didn't seem to slow me down. The horn and anchor don't work in all browsers...
All ships are defaulted to Rotterdam, so that's the only point of origin.
Here's the direct link to load the "game" - requires GoogleEarth browser plug-in. http://ships.planetinaction.com/
Nice try AI Robot. I will not fall for your ploy to trap me into a gauged response!
wait... oops...
I think this is pretty impactful. All jokes aside, the fact that Jabberwacky held an 11 hour conversation with a teenage girl is pretty astonishing. Obviuosly, a conversation of that nature is going to be all about emotion - not logic, reason or an empirical display of intelligence. Isn't that the point for AI to seamlessly interface with us? (I realize it's not necessarily the scope of the Turing test). Humans are teriible at logic and reason. Emotion is one of the key components which defines us as a species. I know a lot of humans who couldn't carry on an 11 hour conversation which primarily focussed on emotion... let alone with a teenage girl discussing nothing but fluff, pop-culture, or black and white ideologies.
I actually think it's funny, interesting and astonishing at the same time!
Oh yeah... I, for one, welcome our new teenage girl conversationalist... never mind...
I have a good friend who is in Upper Management at one of the major banks affected by the sub-prime/securities collapse. He told me a year and a half ago what was going on and used a great analogy to illustrate the point. This isn't necessarily breaking news, just an easy way of understanding a complex situation which the media tends to spin way out of context. Obviously, there's much more to it than this and I'm certainly not an economic expert...
All the major banks (6 at the time) were purchasing enormous blocks of "bad paper" (high risk "AAA" mortgage loans) from each other. They would in turn, back the bad loans with their own securities investments or even securities from other financial institutions willing to assume a percentage of the risk.
Billions of dollars of this bad paper, which everyone knew was bad since it was over extended by weak securities, was being passed around like a hot potato in a game of musical chairs. They all knew the music was going to stop and someone would be caught with their pants down. At times, particular banks in ownership of the paper would only hold on to it for hours or days - just long enough to make a fractional profit from the bulk interest. Although incredibly risky, this method would collectively work for everybody involved except one - like playing a single round of Russian roulette. My friend said the day to day business for the past 1.5 years was to simply find a buyer if you were holding the paper, or try to be next in line to purchase as quickly as possible, then sell again as quickly as possible.
Simply put, he said this just isn't the way the banking industry is supposed to operate. The level of irresponsibility wasn't really about the high risk sub-prime mortgages that were issued to questionable applicants. The true irresponsibility lays in the C-Level/Executive Management teams of all the major banks, who encouraged and practically mandated the daily buying and selling of high risk bulk paper at a volume that would collapse even the strongest of banks. The key here is the volume of risk - literally enough to crush any bank.
The first bank who got caught was Bear Sterns in January 2008. For some illogical and unbeknownst reason, the industry assumed a major financial institution like Bear Sterns would never be the one caught without a chair when the music stopped. The psychological ripple effect of this sobering event just made the stakes higher and increased the speed at which the game was played, rather than putting the brakes on.
He said that initially it was almost a relief when Bear Sterns collapsed, because he and many other people in the industry thought the game was over and they had made it through unscathed. But, to his astonishment everyone continued to play this dangerous game with a gambler's mentality. Each time Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac cut the rates, the banks took it as a sign to play another short term round of the game. Eventually when the larger, more conservative banks realized this was well on it's way to failure (the tip-off was the Fed stopped cutting rates) they ceased backing the paper with their securities and the game ended for everyone leaving the smaller banks, securities firms, and finnancial institutions with the highest debt/risk scrambling to recover from losses. Lehman Brothers was the odd man out this time around.
just my 2 cents... oops 1.5 cents now...
I, for one, welcome our new $2,200/month Robotic Suit Overlords.