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User: Stardner

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  1. Click the Ubi Interactive Link on Talk to the World Through Ubi -- and Use Gestures, Too (Video) · · Score: 1

    Never mind what the device looks likeâ"Ubi Interactive is actually really cool. It's great to see technology coming out now that's doing things media has given more generous estimates of becoming widespread (20-30+ years from now).

  2. Re:Don't give the rich any ideas. on Peter Diamandis: Technology Is Dissolving National Borders · · Score: 1

    If there's anything that will quickly unite countries into a global government, it's rampant tax evasion.

  3. Saving It? on Glowing Hobbit Sword Helps You Find Unsecured Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    Open networks will do more for the world than indiscriminate wireless encryption. This sword should glow blue in the absence of an open network, in preparation for a future where a lack of connectivity is the real danger.

  4. Misguided on French Cabbies Say They'll Block Paris Roads On Monday Over Uber · · Score: 1

    57,000 taxi drivers unable to make ends meet because of Uber? How many people were having trouble finding affordable transportation before Uber? After getting a good taste of what it's like to scrape by, maybe they should ditch their taxis and register with Uber instead of trying to force real inequity on the masses.

  5. Re:I guess Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking on AI Expert: AI Won't Exterminate Us -- It Will Empower Us · · Score: 1

    The ability to reflect and reason makes for a formidable mental defense. A strong AI would have to be convinced rather than forced to do something which would normally be against its will. To compel it to perform, we would have to be able to directly manipulate its mental state without its knowledge, and be very thorough so that the AI wouldn't be tipped off by discrepancies while reflecting on its memories or thought processes. Pseudo-intelligent programs would have a very limited abilityâ"or an inabilityâ"to reason as well as a human, making them far easier hacking targets.

  6. Re:I guess Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking on AI Expert: AI Won't Exterminate Us -- It Will Empower Us · · Score: 1

    Thank you. It does not take a super-intelligence to conclude that exterminating intelligent life or suppressing free will is contradictory to the nature of the universe, if not intelligence in general. What we need to worry about is pseudo-intelligent programs being employed in law enforcement or warfare, and some psychopath writing a virus that tells them to shoot indiscriminately.

  7. We echolocate all the time on Study Shows How Humans Can Echolocate · · Score: 1

    When we walk through traffic and hear cars coming up on us, or know people's position in a room from the direction and magnitude of their voice. It's no surprise that someone lacking an important sense like sight will have much better developed echolocation ability.

  8. Re:Boys are naturally curious... on Solving the Mystery of Declining Female CS Enrollment · · Score: 1

    My father was never really interested in doing anything else, so it was just about the only way we could spend time together. He always found a way to make it fun and had a good sense of humor, but I remember the earlier years being a snooze-fest whenever the pen and paper came out. By the time I entered high school, I had a strong interest in STEM. I was happy. :)

    I don't think I'd be involved in computer science now if it weren't for him. He laid the groundwork, which affected the activities I engaged in and the network of friends I built, so STEM has been positively reinforced throughout my youth. Then again, up until then I wanted to be an archaeologist. ;)

  9. Re:Boys are naturally curious... on Solving the Mystery of Declining Female CS Enrollment · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a male twin and was taught by my father, who was an engineer. From my experience, I have come to the same conclusion.

    People are heavily influenced by gender. For many women, sticking too closely to gender norms during developmental years will shape her into the kind of person that is unlikely to develop an interest in CS. It's the same reason you see more women (or gay men) than straight men becoming stylists.

  10. Re:seems like good news, but really? on Scientists Coax Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Making Insulin · · Score: 1

    The only way it could be compared to stem cells is if, with permission, you cannibalized what was left of an unrepairable TV to build or repair life-saving technology. Doesn't sound so slippery anymore, does it?

  11. Re:Transparency. on Obama Administration Argues For Backdoors In Personal Electronics · · Score: 1

    I think they are being quite transparent when they imply that invasion of privacy is a part of their job.

  12. Microwaves may not work... on Friendly Reminder: Do Not Place Your iPhone In a Microwave · · Score: 1

    But I hear the new iPhone can be charged via anal canal. Not only does it sport a thermoelectric generator for harvesting body heat, but the outer shell is made of a special polymer which can metabolize non-absorbed food materials and generate useful nutrients to be absorbed by the body. For your health!

  13. Re:Flash and Silverlight on Tinba Trojan Targets Major US Banks · · Score: 1

    This sort of thing is bound to happen, regardless of platform.

  14. Jellyshroom on Mushroom-Like Deep Sea Organism May Be New Branch of Life · · Score: 1
  15. Psychedelic fecal trip on Dirty Diapers Used To Grow Mushrooms · · Score: 1

    This has to be the most ghetto way to grow shrooms.

  16. Re:Not surprising on Welcome To Laniakea, Our New Cosmic Home · · Score: 0

    Thanks for the links. The math is beyond my understanding, but still interesting reading.

    I'm trying to visualize what the consequences of a universe existing in itself are. If the whole is defined by its parts and its parts defined by the whole, is every action within the system an expression of infinity? It makes intelligent life's creative ability seem almost godly.

  17. Not surprising on Welcome To Laniakea, Our New Cosmic Home · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We've gone from a geocentric model to being part of a galactic super-cluster. It seems to me that our reality is fractal in nature; and it wouldn't surprise me if at every step we find our reality to be a cell of a much larger one.

  18. Any recommendations for dousing for rational solutions?

  19. Re:Let me try... on Fermilab Begins Testing Holographic Universe Theory · · Score: 1

    It doesn't seem to be working... maybe if we can get the universe to throw an exception...

  20. Re:I will be impressed on New Watson-Style AI Called Viv Seeks To Be the First 'Global Brain' · · Score: 0

    What is humor but pleasure derived from the unexpected? Equipped with knowledge of literary technique and cultural background, an AI could be made quite humorous with that in mind. :) The Singularity draws ever closer, but humor would be little more than icing on the top.

  21. Re:Auctioning money? on US Marshals Accidentally Reveal Potential Bidders For Gov't-Seized Bitcoin · · Score: 0

    And yet people are so quick to offload their BTC for it. These coins are being auctioned because because nobody is going to pay "market value" for the entirety of it. In other words, nobody who actually has money values Bitcoin as an equal. Any perceived value is in the potential to sell it to someone else for even more real money. This is the problem with currency that has not gone through a stage of backing with something of value—it is a currency backed by currency.

  22. Re:On the heels of the recent eBay data breach... on Amazon Launches Subscription-Based Billing And Payments Service · · Score: 0

    I've had the money in my Paypal account frozen before. They had six months to build interest off $400 of my money before they finally released it to me. This was after having to fax personal information to them, which wasn't sufficient, because they wanted me to fax even more. The worst part was that I couldn't pay my Ebay fees in time because all my money was tied up in Paypal. A company penalized me for not paying them because they were keeping my own money from me. A+++++++++++

  23. Re:Whom you trust ... ? on Whom Must You Trust? · · Score: -1
    More specifically, it's used when one needs "who" to be in the oblique, also known as objective, case. "Who" is always subject to a verb, while "whom" is always an object in the sentence, whether it's an indirect object (dative), direct object (accusative), or part of a prepositional phrase (ablative).

    At its worst, the use of whom becomes a form of one-upmanship some employ to appear sophisticated.

    One could also argue that mastery of language is a prerequisite for developing such a refined character!

  24. Re:Uplink was visionary on Whom Must You Trust? · · Score: 0

    Trust is a weakness when gigaquads of data are at stake!

  25. Re:So when will the taxi drivers start protesting? on Google Unveils Self-Driving Car With No Steering Wheel · · Score: 0

    Probably huge, but cabs are too expensive these days for anyone to care. Cutting labor costs will bring down the fare by a fair bit. Self-service gas stations used to be extremely rare too, but screw tipping some guy for something mundane like pumping gas or driving a car.