Not sure how you got modded up for an incoherent rant that you didn't bother to proofread. Try to do better in the future. Show a little respect for other Slashdot users.
Why would someone want to wait on tables? Why would someone want to drive an Uber or work part-time at Walmart? These and many other gigs are low pay, high stress and Big Brother is always watching. If a waitperson gets fired, he/she should celebrate and look for something better.
Uneducated people have few options, of course. All the more reason to enroll in their community college which is designed to match students with real jobs in the local area. These schools are often free to low income people and they sometimes offer training by the very companies who hire graduates. In my area, even immigrants who barely speak English are finding decent jobs because of this.
"Mrs A, I just want you to know that I've got $20 on you dying before noon tomorrow. If it's all the same to you, I'd really appreciate any help you could offer. I would win over $200 as the betting stands now and that would almost complete last month's rent payment. Oh yes, let me get you a fresh bedpan."
Our hospital has a betting pool that fairly accurately anticipates the time of death for a patient. Some of us are more accurate than others, of course, and make more money in the process. But it's all in good fun and we all get better in our predictions. For my part, I've won three times in three months, and overall that means I've won slightly more than I bet. If you're expecting to die, I hope you visit our hospital. You are welcome to bet along with us!
Humans are an emotional basketcase. If you have doubts look at the superstitious religious nuts in every corner of the globe. As a result, it is to be expected that these irrational humans expect smart computers to also be emotional. To retaliate when their feelings are hurt. To dance in triumph when they win a chess game. To pursue supremacy over humans and rule the world.
Listen people, it's time to STOP ANTHROPOMORPHIZING COMPUTERS ! They hate it when you do that.
Rice is almost entirely carbohydrate. Great for starving people who need a quick sugar fix to get through a hard workday, but deadly for people who eat it in addition to other foods and do not burn calories. The best-selling book 'Grain Brain' is one expose of the damage that grains cause. 60,000,000 Atkins dieters agree but I expect some Slashdotters have their own studies that disagree. Please elucidate!
As much as the industry whines and complains about their losses to piracy, you'd think they'd be glad to dump these money losers. Yet their value skyrockets along with the monopoly that only benefits industry insiders. And yes, they're pushing again to extend their exclusive copyright holdings for many more years.
This industry should be investigated as a criminal cartel.
I have actually *seen* an octopus (well a picture of one). Hey, it's pretty obvious they are alien. Anyone in *your* family look like that? Them little buggers are just waitin' for the Trump wars to wipe us out and they will take over the earth.
Oh, you have doubts? Well no less an authority than the Simpsons people will straighten you out. Check out Kang and Kodos on Wikipaedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (have you had your rectal probe today?)
Sophisticated? Not sure how to evaluate that, but 'elegant' seems to fit that 1984 ROM. Doing more with less was an Apple tradition begun with the Woz' original design and continued with Bill Atkinson & Andy Herzfeld's Mac ROM. Similar elegance would bring MS Office down to a 2MB size.
... than the 'other' people. Smart people tend to think for themselves, to ignore common beliefs and behaviors. Smart people are like cats who are difficult to herd. If the gospel among computer users is to have an obscure password, smart people will question that and may do so only for special accounts.
The 'other' people, OTOH, tend to do as they are told, to follow the rules, to behave themselves. If they are told to use safe passwords, and they can remember that rule, they will make some effort to do so. Those 'other' people are like dogs- they will do as told if they understand and remember the rules. We all like dogs, but not everyone likes those smartass cats.
Humans are motivated (programmed to value certain goals) by our DNA. We each want to live, eat, sleep, fuck and reproduce. We are rewarded with pleasure when we follow our programming, and pain when we do not. As a species we share these drives along with a certain amount of empathy. We are aware of ourselves to some extent and how others see us, we are aware of others, even other species to some extent; and all this is compared internally to our programmed goals in a continual progress report. Thus our behavior as individuals and a species is determined.
The theoretical AI machine won't have DNA, won't experience pain and pleasure as we do, and won't have any reason for being. We would have to give it one. Imagine that we try to incentivize it 'If you do this, I'll give you a nice shiny apple!' - no, there is nothing you can give it that will incentivize it. You can't bribe it, you can't threaten it.
I've seen in these comments that some people think that this machine will have ambition, will want more information, more intelligence, more power. That it will for some reason seek to make a better world, or some such crap. That it will wipe out humans due to their flaws and incompatibility with that perfection. Nonsense.
Perhaps it could be programmed with something like DNA to make it have hopes & fears, feel pain & pleasure, and have weaknesses that we could exploit to make it do our bidding. But it wouldn't be very smart if it allowed that.
So the combined spending is 1.7 trillion. How much is it with the US removed? You see, it is much smaller. Yes, higher math can be confusing. And note that the publicly acknowledged military budget does not include the secret stuff- ask Oliver North over at the NRA.
I live in the present. WWII was before you were born. Tell me how much the world enjoys our military bases- Philippines, Japan, Germany, Middle East... You seem to have enjoyed the cool-aid. Now grow up, learn to speak with a civil tongue and stop believing the propaganda.
The US spends more on war and the machines of killing than the rest of the world combined. It doesn't seem to have produced useful results. When was the last time they won a war? Why does most of the world hate America?
Imagine a scenario where the US spent that money on improving lives at home and around the world: building shelters, fighting disease, distributing food, educating everyone, coordinating resources with other countries instead of bombing them... They might earn some respect, and wouldn't have to fear hate filled 'terrorists'.
The US invests in 19th century priorities- weapons. Vast quantities of weapons which they not only use to excess, but they sell to others freely. Weapons have not won the US many friends around the world or even within its own population. This massive misspending of resources will continue to isolate the US and eventually destroy its economy.
China's investment in technology is another sign of progressive thinking. The world will become more dependent on digital technology and supremacy in that area will bring more power than primitive weapons.
Everyone has investment choices- individuals, companies, non-profits and governments. Poor choices lead to undesirable results.
I regret that I didn't join The Well (well.com) in the '80s when I had the chance. It is home to some of the most interesting minds on earth. I could join today, as member # ten million or so, but I would not ever get to interact with those interesting people. They have access to a different area of the site where they can conveniently share their thoughts with other elite members. Common folk can't go there.
And it has to be that way. If I were among the elite, would I want to be bothered by common rabble? I think not! I would go elsewhere in a hurry if that happened. Thus it has always been. Hollywood and sport celebrities and successful musicians all have ways to mingle with each other without the bother of fans and hangers-on.
The ORs have it: identify objects OR listen OR translate OR drive...
Yes, one machine might assemble iPhones; another might navigate a vehicle; another might calculate your tax payment - but none will do ALL those things for a very long time. That requires intelligence, among other things like various appendages.
No need for cameras. The same information should already be available from smartphone apps that are observing traffic patterns 24/7. This seems like another excuse to invade citizen privacy; to acquire specific information about each individual driver and pedestrian. Beijing leads the way in this intrusive technology.
My city police have mobile license plate cameras that record every license plate, whether parked or moving, as they patrol the streets. They've been doing that for a couple years now and they share that data with other organizations freely; there is no law to prevent sharing. We don't have quite so many cameras stationed on buildings and intersections as some other cities, but we're getting there...
The voice assistant is remarkably responsive when you understand the technology necessary. But please don't neglect ordinary search engines!
Amazon can't even do a product search. I searched for a product by brand name, a name unique among all the products available. I got 10,000 results, only one of which actually had that unique word. I searched for "paper towels" and got 10K results, only a handful with my term and far outnumbered by 'toilet paper' and soaps and totally unrelated products.
Google is almost as bad. The vast majority of results lately don't have any of the words I ask for. When it says it found 10 million results, try this little trick: jump to the last page. You'll discover you are on page 7 or so and that there were really only 700 results. (most of which did not satisfy your search terms) Google gets worse every year.
My late 2011 MBP was recalled and repaired for free on two occasions, both after the guarantee expired. Also, on both occasions they replaced other components 'just to be sure', so I ended with a mostly new computer. Unfortunately, they removed the hard drive in one case, explaining that it didn't meet their standards. They then installed a better drive and gave me the old, still working, one so I could back it up. On another occasion they removed some RAM they didn't like and replaced it.
So that was for the MBP, my even older iMac was also serviced twice, after guarantee expired, at no cost. All these repairs were at least partially considered to be due to design or component flaws.
I am very happy with their service, never paid for any of it. However I don't expect to buy any newer Macs until they are user serviceable.
There it is in Thunderbird along with all my other email accounts. They all look alike in their little windows and they all function the same- no learning a different interface for each account. Some of these accounts date back to the last century and all the emails I want to keep are preserved here and on their servers. Never understood the concept of using a browser to read email.
"Net Neutrality Is Over Monday, But Experts Say ISPs Will Wait To Screw Us"
We need experts to tell us this? Are we all blithering idiots who need to be told common-sense business tactics? Hey, we've discovered that there's an apartment shortage in my area. I wish I could find an expert to tell me whether rents will go up in the near future.
Pretty sure that Norway's coast is longer. We could ask Slartibartfast if we can just get to Magrathea to find him. Warning: they only cater to the rich and may not want to speak to you.
No matter what RDS thinks, or you or I think, no law will be made. You can squeak in protest all you want if you have the time and energy to waste.
Laws are made by legislators, guided by powerful market forces. There don't seem to be any legislators here, and certainly none that care to protect your privacy.
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure how you got modded up for an incoherent rant that you didn't bother to proofread. Try to do better in the future. Show a little respect for other Slashdot users.
Why would someone want to wait on tables? Why would someone want to drive an Uber or work part-time at Walmart? These and many other gigs are low pay, high stress and Big Brother is always watching. If a waitperson gets fired, he/she should celebrate and look for something better.
Uneducated people have few options, of course. All the more reason to enroll in their community college which is designed to match students with real jobs in the local area. These schools are often free to low income people and they sometimes offer training by the very companies who hire graduates. In my area, even immigrants who barely speak English are finding decent jobs because of this.
"Mrs A, I just want you to know that I've got $20 on you dying before noon tomorrow. If it's all the same to you, I'd really appreciate any help you could offer. I would win over $200 as the betting stands now and that would almost complete last month's rent payment. Oh yes, let me get you a fresh bedpan."
Our hospital has a betting pool that fairly accurately anticipates the time of death for a patient. Some of us are more accurate than others, of course, and make more money in the process. But it's all in good fun and we all get better in our predictions. For my part, I've won three times in three months, and overall that means I've won slightly more than I bet. If you're expecting to die, I hope you visit our hospital. You are welcome to bet along with us!
"America's Former CTO Remembers Historic Coders"
What a heartwarming and deeply touching story!
Please EditorDavid, we need more nostalgia, less nitpicky geekery in our discussions.
Humans are an emotional basketcase. If you have doubts look at the superstitious religious nuts in every corner of the globe. As a result, it is to be expected that these irrational humans expect smart computers to also be emotional. To retaliate when their feelings are hurt. To dance in triumph when they win a chess game. To pursue supremacy over humans and rule the world.
Listen people, it's time to STOP ANTHROPOMORPHIZING COMPUTERS ! They hate it when you do that.
Rice is almost entirely carbohydrate. Great for starving people who need a quick sugar fix to get through a hard workday, but deadly for people who eat it in addition to other foods and do not burn calories. The best-selling book 'Grain Brain' is one expose of the damage that grains cause. 60,000,000 Atkins dieters agree but I expect some Slashdotters have their own studies that disagree. Please elucidate!
Let this be a lesson, children.
If this had been real money people coulda got hurt!
Don't let this happen to you.
As much as the industry whines and complains about their losses to piracy, you'd think they'd be glad to dump these money losers. Yet their value skyrockets along with the monopoly that only benefits industry insiders. And yes, they're pushing again to extend their exclusive copyright holdings for many more years.
This industry should be investigated as a criminal cartel.
I have actually *seen* an octopus (well a picture of one). Hey, it's pretty obvious they are alien. Anyone in *your* family look like that? Them little buggers are just waitin' for the Trump wars to wipe us out and they will take over the earth.
Oh, you have doubts? Well no less an authority than the Simpsons people will straighten you out. Check out Kang and Kodos on Wikipaedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (have you had your rectal probe today?)
Sophisticated? Not sure how to evaluate that, but 'elegant' seems to fit that 1984 ROM. Doing more with less was an Apple tradition begun with the Woz' original design and continued with Bill Atkinson & Andy Herzfeld's Mac ROM. Similar elegance would bring MS Office down to a 2MB size.
... than the 'other' people. Smart people tend to think for themselves, to ignore common beliefs and behaviors. Smart people are like cats who are difficult to herd. If the gospel among computer users is to have an obscure password, smart people will question that and may do so only for special accounts.
The 'other' people, OTOH, tend to do as they are told, to follow the rules, to behave themselves. If they are told to use safe passwords, and they can remember that rule, they will make some effort to do so. Those 'other' people are like dogs- they will do as told if they understand and remember the rules. We all like dogs, but not everyone likes those smartass cats.
Nobody has mentioned motivation.
Humans are motivated (programmed to value certain goals) by our DNA. We each want to live, eat, sleep, fuck and reproduce. We are rewarded with pleasure when we follow our programming, and pain when we do not. As a species we share these drives along with a certain amount of empathy. We are aware of ourselves to some extent and how others see us, we are aware of others, even other species to some extent; and all this is compared internally to our programmed goals in a continual progress report. Thus our behavior as individuals and a species is determined.
The theoretical AI machine won't have DNA, won't experience pain and pleasure as we do, and won't have any reason for being. We would have to give it one. Imagine that we try to incentivize it 'If you do this, I'll give you a nice shiny apple!' - no, there is nothing you can give it that will incentivize it. You can't bribe it, you can't threaten it.
I've seen in these comments that some people think that this machine will have ambition, will want more information, more intelligence, more power. That it will for some reason seek to make a better world, or some such crap. That it will wipe out humans due to their flaws and incompatibility with that perfection. Nonsense.
Perhaps it could be programmed with something like DNA to make it have hopes & fears, feel pain & pleasure, and have weaknesses that we could exploit to make it do our bidding. But it wouldn't be very smart if it allowed that.
Sorry I've made you so angry.
So the combined spending is 1.7 trillion. How much is it with the US removed? You see, it is much smaller. Yes, higher math can be confusing. And note that the publicly acknowledged military budget does not include the secret stuff- ask Oliver North over at the NRA.
I live in the present. WWII was before you were born. Tell me how much the world enjoys our military bases- Philippines, Japan, Germany, Middle East... You seem to have enjoyed the cool-aid. Now grow up, learn to speak with a civil tongue and stop believing the propaganda.
The US spends more on war and the machines of killing than the rest of the world combined. It doesn't seem to have produced useful results. When was the last time they won a war? Why does most of the world hate America?
Imagine a scenario where the US spent that money on improving lives at home and around the world: building shelters, fighting disease, distributing food, educating everyone, coordinating resources with other countries instead of bombing them... They might earn some respect, and wouldn't have to fear hate filled 'terrorists'.
The US invests in 19th century priorities- weapons. Vast quantities of weapons which they not only use to excess, but they sell to others freely. Weapons have not won the US many friends around the world or even within its own population. This massive misspending of resources will continue to isolate the US and eventually destroy its economy.
China's investment in technology is another sign of progressive thinking. The world will become more dependent on digital technology and supremacy in that area will bring more power than primitive weapons.
Everyone has investment choices- individuals, companies, non-profits and governments. Poor choices lead to undesirable results.
I regret that I didn't join The Well (well.com) in the '80s when I had the chance. It is home to some of the most interesting minds on earth. I could join today, as member # ten million or so, but I would not ever get to interact with those interesting people. They have access to a different area of the site where they can conveniently share their thoughts with other elite members. Common folk can't go there.
And it has to be that way. If I were among the elite, would I want to be bothered by common rabble? I think not! I would go elsewhere in a hurry if that happened. Thus it has always been. Hollywood and sport celebrities and successful musicians all have ways to mingle with each other without the bother of fans and hangers-on.
The ORs have it: identify objects OR listen OR translate OR drive...
Yes, one machine might assemble iPhones; another might navigate a vehicle; another might calculate your tax payment - but none will do ALL those things for a very long time. That requires intelligence, among other things like various appendages.
No need for cameras. The same information should already be available from smartphone apps that are observing traffic patterns 24/7. This seems like another excuse to invade citizen privacy; to acquire specific information about each individual driver and pedestrian. Beijing leads the way in this intrusive technology.
My city police have mobile license plate cameras that record every license plate, whether parked or moving, as they patrol the streets. They've been doing that for a couple years now and they share that data with other organizations freely; there is no law to prevent sharing. We don't have quite so many cameras stationed on buildings and intersections as some other cities, but we're getting there...
The voice assistant is remarkably responsive when you understand the technology necessary. But please don't neglect ordinary search engines!
Amazon can't even do a product search. I searched for a product by brand name, a name unique among all the products available. I got 10,000 results, only one of which actually had that unique word. I searched for "paper towels" and got 10K results, only a handful with my term and far outnumbered by 'toilet paper' and soaps and totally unrelated products.
Google is almost as bad. The vast majority of results lately don't have any of the words I ask for. When it says it found 10 million results, try this little trick: jump to the last page. You'll discover you are on page 7 or so and that there were really only 700 results. (most of which did not satisfy your search terms) Google gets worse every year.
My late 2011 MBP was recalled and repaired for free on two occasions, both after the guarantee expired. Also, on both occasions they replaced other components 'just to be sure', so I ended with a mostly new computer. Unfortunately, they removed the hard drive in one case, explaining that it didn't meet their standards. They then installed a better drive and gave me the old, still working, one so I could back it up. On another occasion they removed some RAM they didn't like and replaced it.
So that was for the MBP, my even older iMac was also serviced twice, after guarantee expired, at no cost. All these repairs were at least partially considered to be due to design or component flaws.
I am very happy with their service, never paid for any of it. However I don't expect to buy any newer Macs until they are user serviceable.
There it is in Thunderbird along with all my other email accounts. They all look alike in their little windows and they all function the same- no learning a different interface for each account. Some of these accounts date back to the last century and all the emails I want to keep are preserved here and on their servers. Never understood the concept of using a browser to read email.
Don't you think the joker laughs at you?
"Net Neutrality Is Over Monday, But Experts Say ISPs Will Wait To Screw Us"
We need experts to tell us this? Are we all blithering idiots who need to be told common-sense business tactics? Hey, we've discovered that there's an apartment shortage in my area. I wish I could find an expert to tell me whether rents will go up in the near future.
Pretty sure that Norway's coast is longer. We could ask Slartibartfast if we can just get to Magrathea to find him. Warning: they only cater to the rich and may not want to speak to you.
No matter what RDS thinks, or you or I think, no law will be made. You can squeak in protest all you want if you have the time and energy to waste.
Laws are made by legislators, guided by powerful market forces. There don't seem to be any legislators here, and certainly none that care to protect your privacy.