You should also consider the possibility that in programming, one of the most complex and difficult activities known, experience might actually be valuable.
Just because you can learn to sling some Javascript and use a few libraries in 18 months, don't think you know it all.
For the time being. As long as the biggest financial swindle in world history continues - the clever trick of getting everyone to agree on the dollar as world currency at Bretton Woods (provided it remained backed by gold), followed by Nixon taking the dollar off the gold standard in 1971. Ever since 1971 the US government gets to turn the handle and create dollars out of thin air, and mug foreigners go on accepting it as money.
That's not going to go on much longer, especially as the mug foreigners have noticed that the main use made of the "magic money" is to wage war on them.
Half is Russian and half is mostly American. It should be possible to do what King Solomon refused to do, and split it in half. The Russians want to build a space station of their own, anyway.
The American section can be accessed, as one Russian official suggested, by means of a trampoline.
"That leaves 40 percent not innovating which could see them lose out in a world where consumers want better, faster financial products".
Actually, it turns out that consumers want a good life; a happy, healthy family and friends; interesting work that (ideally) helps others; respect and appreciation; healthy, tasty food and drink; plenty of interesting exercise and sporting activities; enough money to enjoy all those things...
"Better, faster financial products" come absolutely nowhere on the list of things that sane, sensible, well-balanced consumers want.
They shouldn't be eating any "crops" except what they can graze. If you feed animals corn, soy, etc. they will become just as unhealthy as people who eat that kind of food.
Actually quite wrong. (See the instructive but revolting book "Farmageddon", passim).
What is wrong is the attempt to apply industrial methods to farming, This results in vast monocultures and the feeding of artificial mixtures and even artificial "foods" to livestock kept indoors so they never see the sun.
There is no reason to reduce production of meat. On the contrary, livestock for meat should be raised on land that is suitable for grass but not crops. That way the animals live in natural conditions, eating their natural food, and fertilize the land naturally. Their meat is far healthier to eat, and dairy products and eggs are also safer and more nourishing. Deer and buffalo are of course natural grazers. Cows and sheep should be grazed outdoors whenever possible, and when forced indoors by cold weather should be fed hay and other natural food. Ruminants did not evolve to digest seeds any more than humans did. Pigs and chickens should be raised free range, foraging naturally as they have done through all of history until the last few years.
Instead, what do we see? Cows and other animals forced indoors, kept in the dark or under artificial light with insufficient space and no chance of exercise. Instead of grass underfoot and the sun above, they have filthy mud mixed with their own urine and manure underfoot, and electric lights above. And what are they fed? Disgusting and entirely unnatural mixtures of soya beans and fish meal, fetched from the ends of the earth at vast cost in energy and carbon dioxide emissions.
Then the immense quantities of manure and urine produced by thousands or tens of thousands of animals cooped up in sheds become dangerous hazards, and in some places are virtually impossible to dispose of safely.
Instead of all this, put animals back where they belong. Let pigs and chickens forage in orchards. Grow as many different fruits, vegetables, fungi and crops as possible intermingled - and to hell with "optimizing yield per acre". Because if you go on doing that for long enough, you won't have any soil left.
My favourite part of this story - which I heard retailed with a perfectly straight face by some BBC presenter - is the webcams with the nice view of Red Square. Because all highly secret Russian hackers must, by law, occupy rooms with a view of Red Square. Indeed, they are probably lodged in the Kremlin - just as the NSA has its offices in the White House.
Well, human beings in the mass are most certainly neither safe nor ethical.
More generally, this whole topic is a fine illustration of the dangers in store when people whose ignorance about computing is abysmal decide to sound off about AI.
Digital computing is essentially a tiny (although quite important and useful) subset of human intelligence. It was originally defined by abstracting away everything from the real world except simple arithmetic and logic. As it happens, you can accomplish an awful lot with enough such operations - and because digital computers have a very rapid cycle time, they can perform quite impressive tasks.
But there are still limitations that are absolutely fundamental, arising from the original act of abstraction. A human brain cannot be isolated from the attached nervous system - nor from the rest of the body that is permeated and controlled by the nervous system. As is now known, there is a good deal of brain tissue in and around the gut, which communicates directly with the brain stem.
All of this means that a human brain has to make a significant effort to think at as abstract a level as a computer. It can be done, but only at the conscious level and with a good deal of difficulty. Subconsciously - where the vast majority of mental activity goes on - "thought" as we conceive it is absolutely inseparable from wishes, fears, and emotions in general. Any organism must be driven primarily by what it wants and what it wants to avoid. So almost all human mental activity arises from our instinctive drives and emotions. As Alexander Pope wrote in his “Essay on Man”,
"On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale".
Computers only do "reason", which places a vast gulf between human intelligence and any kind of artificial replica.
You can tell that NSA is inhabited by a lot of super-nerds. It's actually a quiet little in-joke. They are virtue signalling by honestly admitting that, not only are they not honest, it isn't even on their "to-do" list.
The generally expressed desire of "America first" can not be criticized. It is a perfectly correct aspiration for our people to cherish. But the problem which we have to solve is how to make America first. It can not be done by the cultivation of national bigotry, arrogance, or selfishness. Hatreds, jealousies, and suspicions will not be productive of any benefits in this direction. Here again we must apply the rule of toleration. Because there are other peoples whose ways are not our ways, and whose thoughts are not our thoughts, we are not warranted in drawing the conclusion that they are adding nothing to the sum of civilization.
"We can make little contribution to the welfare of humanity on the theory that we are a superior people and all others are an inferior people. We do not need to be too loud in the assertion of our own righteousness. It is true that we live under most favorable circumstances.
"But before we come to the final and irrevocable decision that we are better than everybody else we need to consider what we might do if we had their provocations and their difficulties. We are not likely to improve our own condition or help humanity very much until we come to the sympathetic understanding that human nature is about the same everywhere, that it is rather evenly distributed over the surface of the earth, and that we are all united in a common brotherhood.
"We can only make America first in the true sense which that means by cultivating a spirit of friendship and good will, by the exercise of the virtues of patience and forbearance, by being "plenteous in mercy," and through progress at home and helpfulness abroad standing as an example of real service to humanity".
- Calvin Coolidge, speech to an American Legion convention in 1925
The US went to war all over the globe to stop the spread of global communism...
Yes, and that worked out really well. One of the classic cases, of course, was Vietnam. Several US presidents and other Washington officials solemnly assured us that, if "the commies" were allowed to "overrun" their own country, there would immediately ensue a "Domino Effect" with all the rest of South-East Asia going communist, followed by India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, South America... and eventually they would come for the good ol' loveable US billionaires and take away their hard-earned dollars to give to worthless starving poor people.
Anything was preferable, so the USA spent over a decade and about 50,000 of their own soldiers' lives to kill over 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians while destroying villages, farms, and forests with napalm, Agent Orange and other pleasant substances.
And when they finally got ignominiously kicked out, having to fight for places on the last helicopters out, what happened? How many nations did the Domino Effect claim? Did the Red Tide reach the shores of the USA? South America? Africa? Europe? India?
No, it didn't. So those 3 million people died for nothing at all, except to boost the MICC's profits and to prove that the Domino Theory was complete and utter nonsense.
Oddly enough, you have said something true. Was that a mistake on your part?
Did Russia invade and annex the Crimea? No. It was America.
The USA certainly did plan to take over strategically important parts of Crimea after spending $5 billion (at least) to bring about a violent revolution in Kiev and have the legally elected president chased out of the country in fear for his life. (And before you scoff at that, remember what happened to Saddam Hussein and Colonel Qadafi).
Russia did not "invade" Crimea; although there were a few Russian soldiers based there, that was allowed under the existing agreement with Kiev. Besides, there was no need for force when over 90% of Crimeans voted for reintegration with Russia.
Oh, and remember that Crimea became part of Russia before the USA was created - and about 60 years before the USA stole two-thirds of Mexico. Over that time between half a million and a million Russians gave up their lives fighting invaders to keep Crimea Russian.
Was MH17 shot down by a Russian missile? No. It was American.
Unlikely. My money is on a Ukrainian fighter jet - but it may have been a Ukrainian SAM. Certainly encouraged by Washington, and quite probably funded and planned by Washington.
Has Russia violated numerous trade encumbrances with North Korea? No. America has.
Has Russia ever killed 20% of the North Korean population (men, women and children) or completely levelled the entire North Korean built infrastructure? Just asking.
Has Russia provided North Korea with nuclear missile technology? No. It's all American.
You mean, like Israel's nuclear missile technology? Since it's absolutely against Russia's interests for North Korea to have nuclear weapons, your suggestion is nonsense.
Does Russia have a troll farm trying to exploit divisions in rival countries in an effort to destabilize them? No. That's the American way.
Damn straight it is. And has been since the 1950s.
The Russians don't need "troll farms", as they usually tell the truth. Which, to some people's great distress, has a way of getting around very quickly.
Slashdot Mirror
"The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm".
That looks like a reference to part of the Hippocratic Oath. Honoured, regrettably, in the breech these days.
"Medical Care Is 3rd Leading Cause of Death in U.S."
https://chriskresser.com/medic...
Admittedly that dates from about ten years ago. I expect the butcher's bill has grown since.
You should also consider the possibility that in programming, one of the most complex and difficult activities known, experience might actually be valuable.
Just because you can learn to sling some Javascript and use a few libraries in 18 months, don't think you know it all.
Well, I care about what sconeu said.
But I certainly don't care about what you said, especially as you are an AC and your comment contained no significant content.
Is America a truly modern country without universal healthcare or paid time off for illness?
"American decline: Open pools of raw sewage in the richest country in the world"
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/41857...
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEv...
Do you have any concept of how much 100 billion dollars is?
About 12% of the annual US "defence" budget.
"We have the most money by a wide margin..."
For the time being. As long as the biggest financial swindle in world history continues - the clever trick of getting everyone to agree on the dollar as world currency at Bretton Woods (provided it remained backed by gold), followed by Nixon taking the dollar off the gold standard in 1971. Ever since 1971 the US government gets to turn the handle and create dollars out of thin air, and mug foreigners go on accepting it as money.
That's not going to go on much longer, especially as the mug foreigners have noticed that the main use made of the "magic money" is to wage war on them.
"The Russians definitely won't cooperate with deorbiting it while it's still functional".
Sounds reasonable to me. And, until Elon Musk builds a suitable trampoline, no one other than Russians (or their guests) will be going there.
Half is Russian and half is mostly American. It should be possible to do what King Solomon refused to do, and split it in half. The Russians want to build a space station of their own, anyway.
The American section can be accessed, as one Russian official suggested, by means of a trampoline.
... care to speak up for the users?
"That leaves 40 percent not innovating which could see them lose out in a world where consumers want better, faster financial products".
Actually, it turns out that consumers want a good life; a happy, healthy family and friends; interesting work that (ideally) helps others; respect and appreciation; healthy, tasty food and drink; plenty of interesting exercise and sporting activities; enough money to enjoy all those things...
"Better, faster financial products" come absolutely nowhere on the list of things that sane, sensible, well-balanced consumers want.
Errr... what do you think (farm) cows eat?
Grass. That's what they *should* eat.
They shouldn't be eating any "crops" except what they can graze. If you feed animals corn, soy, etc. they will become just as unhealthy as people who eat that kind of food.
Actually quite wrong. (See the instructive but revolting book "Farmageddon", passim).
What is wrong is the attempt to apply industrial methods to farming, This results in vast monocultures and the feeding of artificial mixtures and even artificial "foods" to livestock kept indoors so they never see the sun.
There is no reason to reduce production of meat. On the contrary, livestock for meat should be raised on land that is suitable for grass but not crops. That way the animals live in natural conditions, eating their natural food, and fertilize the land naturally. Their meat is far healthier to eat, and dairy products and eggs are also safer and more nourishing. Deer and buffalo are of course natural grazers. Cows and sheep should be grazed outdoors whenever possible, and when forced indoors by cold weather should be fed hay and other natural food. Ruminants did not evolve to digest seeds any more than humans did. Pigs and chickens should be raised free range, foraging naturally as they have done through all of history until the last few years.
Instead, what do we see? Cows and other animals forced indoors, kept in the dark or under artificial light with insufficient space and no chance of exercise. Instead of grass underfoot and the sun above, they have filthy mud mixed with their own urine and manure underfoot, and electric lights above. And what are they fed? Disgusting and entirely unnatural mixtures of soya beans and fish meal, fetched from the ends of the earth at vast cost in energy and carbon dioxide emissions.
Then the immense quantities of manure and urine produced by thousands or tens of thousands of animals cooped up in sheds become dangerous hazards, and in some places are virtually impossible to dispose of safely.
Instead of all this, put animals back where they belong. Let pigs and chickens forage in orchards. Grow as many different fruits, vegetables, fungi and crops as possible intermingled - and to hell with "optimizing yield per acre". Because if you go on doing that for long enough, you won't have any soil left.
"Never believe anything until it's been officially denied".
- Claud Cockburn
... and, I forgot to add, GCHQ in Buckingham Palace - with a lovely view of the Mall.
My favourite part of this story - which I heard retailed with a perfectly straight face by some BBC presenter - is the webcams with the nice view of Red Square. Because all highly secret Russian hackers must, by law, occupy rooms with a view of Red Square. Indeed, they are probably lodged in the Kremlin - just as the NSA has its offices in the White House.
"I'm glad you asked, kid. A computer is any device that's Turing-complete".
Well, human beings in the mass are most certainly neither safe nor ethical.
More generally, this whole topic is a fine illustration of the dangers in store when people whose ignorance about computing is abysmal decide to sound off about AI.
Digital computing is essentially a tiny (although quite important and useful) subset of human intelligence. It was originally defined by abstracting away everything from the real world except simple arithmetic and logic. As it happens, you can accomplish an awful lot with enough such operations - and because digital computers have a very rapid cycle time, they can perform quite impressive tasks.
But there are still limitations that are absolutely fundamental, arising from the original act of abstraction. A human brain cannot be isolated from the attached nervous system - nor from the rest of the body that is permeated and controlled by the nervous system. As is now known, there is a good deal of brain tissue in and around the gut, which communicates directly with the brain stem.
All of this means that a human brain has to make a significant effort to think at as abstract a level as a computer. It can be done, but only at the conscious level and with a good deal of difficulty. Subconsciously - where the vast majority of mental activity goes on - "thought" as we conceive it is absolutely inseparable from wishes, fears, and emotions in general. Any organism must be driven primarily by what it wants and what it wants to avoid. So almost all human mental activity arises from our instinctive drives and emotions. As Alexander Pope wrote in his “Essay on Man”,
"On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail,
Reason the card, but passion is the gale".
Computers only do "reason", which places a vast gulf between human intelligence and any kind of artificial replica.
... of what we all knew long ago.
You can tell that NSA is inhabited by a lot of super-nerds. It's actually a quiet little in-joke. They are virtue signalling by honestly admitting that, not only are they not honest, it isn't even on their "to-do" list.
Does Facebook know of somewhere democracy is practiced? Or maybe it means that social media acts to prevent any movement towards democracy.
Like Gandhi's reaction when asked by a patronizing British journalist what he thought of Western civilization.
"I think it would be a very good idea".
The generally expressed desire of "America first" can not be criticized. It is a perfectly correct aspiration for our people to cherish. But the problem which we have to solve is how to make America first. It can not be done by the cultivation of national bigotry, arrogance, or selfishness. Hatreds, jealousies, and suspicions will not be productive of any benefits in this direction. Here again we must apply the rule of toleration. Because there are other peoples whose ways are not our ways, and whose thoughts are not our thoughts, we are not warranted in drawing the conclusion that they are adding nothing to the sum of civilization.
"We can make little contribution to the welfare of humanity on the theory that we are a superior people and all others are an inferior people. We do not need to be too loud in the assertion of our own righteousness. It is true that we live under most favorable circumstances.
"But before we come to the final and irrevocable decision that we are better than everybody else we need to consider what we might do if we had their provocations and their difficulties. We are not likely to improve our own condition or help humanity very much until we come to the sympathetic understanding that human nature is about the same everywhere, that it is rather evenly distributed over the surface of the earth, and that we are all united in a common brotherhood.
"We can only make America first in the true sense which that means by cultivating a spirit of friendship and good will, by the exercise of the virtues of patience and forbearance, by being "plenteous in mercy," and through progress at home and helpfulness abroad standing as an example of real service to humanity".
- Calvin Coolidge, speech to an American Legion convention in 1925
The US went to war all over the globe to stop the spread of global communism...
Yes, and that worked out really well. One of the classic cases, of course, was Vietnam. Several US presidents and other Washington officials solemnly assured us that, if "the commies" were allowed to "overrun" their own country, there would immediately ensue a "Domino Effect" with all the rest of South-East Asia going communist, followed by India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, South America... and eventually they would come for the good ol' loveable US billionaires and take away their hard-earned dollars to give to worthless starving poor people.
Anything was preferable, so the USA spent over a decade and about 50,000 of their own soldiers' lives to kill over 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians while destroying villages, farms, and forests with napalm, Agent Orange and other pleasant substances.
And when they finally got ignominiously kicked out, having to fight for places on the last helicopters out, what happened? How many nations did the Domino Effect claim? Did the Red Tide reach the shores of the USA? South America? Africa? Europe? India?
No, it didn't. So those 3 million people died for nothing at all, except to boost the MICC's profits and to prove that the Domino Theory was complete and utter nonsense.
There is a right and wrong in the world, we are the good guys, and the world is a better place if we win.
OK, everyone, this is conclusive proof that we are dealing with a deluded lunatic. No need to pay any further attention to his ravings.
Exactly, this is America's fault.
Oddly enough, you have said something true. Was that a mistake on your part?
Did Russia invade and annex the Crimea? No. It was America.
The USA certainly did plan to take over strategically important parts of Crimea after spending $5 billion (at least) to bring about a violent revolution in Kiev and have the legally elected president chased out of the country in fear for his life. (And before you scoff at that, remember what happened to Saddam Hussein and Colonel Qadafi).
Russia did not "invade" Crimea; although there were a few Russian soldiers based there, that was allowed under the existing agreement with Kiev. Besides, there was no need for force when over 90% of Crimeans voted for reintegration with Russia.
Oh, and remember that Crimea became part of Russia before the USA was created - and about 60 years before the USA stole two-thirds of Mexico. Over that time between half a million and a million Russians gave up their lives fighting invaders to keep Crimea Russian.
Was MH17 shot down by a Russian missile? No. It was American.
Unlikely. My money is on a Ukrainian fighter jet - but it may have been a Ukrainian SAM. Certainly encouraged by Washington, and quite probably funded and planned by Washington.
Has Russia violated numerous trade encumbrances with North Korea? No. America has.
Has Russia ever killed 20% of the North Korean population (men, women and children) or completely levelled the entire North Korean built infrastructure? Just asking.
Has Russia provided North Korea with nuclear missile technology? No. It's all American.
You mean, like Israel's nuclear missile technology? Since it's absolutely against Russia's interests for North Korea to have nuclear weapons, your suggestion is nonsense.
Does Russia have a troll farm trying to exploit divisions in rival countries in an effort to destabilize them? No. That's the American way.
Damn straight it is. And has been since the 1950s.
The Russians don't need "troll farms", as they usually tell the truth. Which, to some people's great distress, has a way of getting around very quickly.
Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking about slashdotters like you.