The more intelligent you are, the more aware you are of more things around you, and your understanding of them also increases; that's my experience, at least. That heightened awareness of the worlrd around you, and all the troubles that you perceive, can certainly stress you emotionally. "Ignorance is bliss" is a truism; on the flip-side of that coin, "Laughter is the best medicine" is also true; without sometimes laughing my ass off at whatever, I think I'd be much less balanced emotionally (Whose Line Is It Anyway is very good for this, by the way).
You can easily turn off Wake On LAN settings for any ethernet interface, that's the difference. Also you don't need a smartphone to call 911 or anyone else, a basic non-smartphone is fine. Very few people 'NEED' a smartphone. Period.
Subject line says it all. I'm not even going to be bothered to do a gods-be-damned thing unless I see my identity has been stolen or my bank account has been affected because it's already too gods-be-damned late to do anything about it anyway, and thanks so FUCKING MUCH for that, Equifax, YOU HAD ONE JOB AND YOU FUCKED IT ALL UP!
Except that the crap they're pushing on us calling it 'AI' isn't even really 'AI', it's what used to be called 'expert systems', they can't actually think and never will, they've just been hyped to death to the point where most people believe that these things can actually talk to them like a human being; they CAN'T. The entire approach of the technology is wrong, no matter how many processors or how much data you throw at these things, they will NEVER be able to 'think', and they'll ALWAYS fall short of the mark; it's a DEAD END.
So-called 'self driving cars' will fall flat on their face too, for the same reasons as the above: wrong approach.
We won't have anything like real 'artificial intelligence' until we solve the riddle of how our own meat brain performs this trick -- and I have it on the best of authority that we're nowhere near figuring that out, not in 5 years, not in 20 years, maybe not in hundreds of years, at the rate we're going.
So far as the rest of your comment goes: 'Big data' has become a cancer on humanity, just being leveraged by greedy and power-hungry people who want to drain our bank accounts and have control of our lives. I've seen nothing that 'big data' has done that really benefits humanity in general. They violate our privacy and steal from us and then expect us to open our wallets and give them our money. 'Big data' needs to go away.
I agree with you 100%. Just wanted you to know you're far from being alone in your assessment of smartphones and how unnecessarily addicted to them people are -- even if we do seem to be in the minority.
phones have been pretty necessary for decades. Everything from emergency services to scheduling appointments or contacting customer support.
None of those things require a smartphone, or even a wireless phone. A landline would suffice.
I find that most people find excuses masquerading as 'reasons' why they 'need' a smartphone, but they rarely hold up under scrutiny, eventually being revealed as 'want' and not 'need', and reasons to be lazy.
I do not have nor is it even remotely likely I'll ever have a smartphone. They're a security nightmare, completely incapable of being secured against intrusion in even the most basic ways, due to a complete lockdown of the OS and the software loaded onto the phone. Worse, many of them have been found to be completely compromised right out of the factory. Then there's the documentable fact that wireless companies are constantly logging and spying on everything you do, where you are, and so on, and documentable proof that government agencies, leveraging the aforementioned lack of security, can push spyware onto anyones phone they choose to, and listen in and watch everything you're doing, everywhere you go. Couple all this with the fact that most smartphones can't be completely turned off, can be remotely turned on, and that you can't remove the battery in many of them, and you have a recipe for never having your privacy, and never having anything on your smartphone secure against intrusion. No thanks, I'll pass.
Doesn't matter if it's empty or not, really, if their 'smart city' is only going to be financially accessible to the rich, then I think it's a shitty idea.
This isn't a 'story', it's an advertisement for a Microsoft product.
Oh and by the way when did/. become a shill for Microsoft? Did they get sold again or something?
Seriously,/. is shitty enough at times, we don't need advertisements for Miscreant-o-soft products masquerading as 'tech news stories'. Please delete this 'story' immediately.
Get rid of your so-called 'smartphone' and take back your lives. All they are is another time-suck and a waste of money, you do not need them AT ALL. Get over it, get rid of it, and spend the time you'd spend staring at your phone doing something useful instead.
Some of us consider every month dumping wireless phones completely and going back to POTS and an answering machine, just to poke these bastard companies in the eye.
Get rid of your smartphone and deny them as much data as possible. Get a plain old telephone and turn it off when you're not using it or put it in airplane mode so there's no tracking your location. If you're electronically inclined then open it up, locate the GPS antenna, and short it to ground so there'll be no GPS tracking of your location possible except what cell tower you're connected to (when the phone is on that is). Now you're giving them essentially ZERO data and they can go pound sand if they don't like it. Benefits to you are a cheaper wireless bill every month and more time to do other things instead of staring at your phone. Or you can whine at me about how you 'need' your smartphone, when you're likely just addicted to it and can't make yourself stop. Choice is yours, you can be their BITCH or you can take back control. Choose wisely.
This isn't a 'story', it's an advertisement for a Microsoft product.
Oh and by the way when did/. become a shill for Microsoft? Did they get sold again or something?
Seriously,/. is shitty enough at times, we don't need advertisements for Miscreant-o-soft products masquerading as 'tech news stories'. Please delete this 'story' immediately.
You can have 'respectful parent-child relationships' without teaching your children than it's okay for corporations and governments to spy on you in what should be the sanctuary of your home, or that their very-much-normal-and-natural NEED for privacy is somehow abberant and unnatural, and that mere 'convenience' is somehow more important than any of those. Or do you not care if your children grow up to be ill-adjusted and neurotic adults? Or are you just so lazy that you don't care and your 'convenience' is more important than anything else?
Ask yourself this: What did I do before these things existed? What did EVERYONE do before these things existed? You do not NEED this technology, and the so-called 'benefits' do NOT outweigh the cost in invasion of your privacy and theft of your personal information. Re-examine your priorities.
Yeah, sure thing. But if their response is, "You've got a fatal dose of radiation, we can give you a quick painless death", or "You've got radiation-induced cancer, we'll make you comfortable as possible while you die", then I'm all for dosing each and every one of them with polonium so they can share a painful and lingering death, too. Wecolme to the NEW EPA, America: We don't give a FLYING FUCK about your health or safety, so long as our CORPORATE MASTERS MAKE AS MUCH PROFIT AS POSSIBLE. Hope all you goddamned Trump voters are REAL FUCKING HAPPY with your choices when you're in hospice care waiting to DIE.
That's the most BULLSHIT argument I've ever heard. "Just give up, they already have everything". BULL FUCKING SHIT. You can keep letting them STEAL from you all you want BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE TO!
You don't need a 'precedent', all you need is 'common sense' -- or don't you have any of that? Besides which it's already been shown that the capability is there -- REGARDLESS of any of their denials that it's being used. That's all you should need to know: They CAN do it, so it's likely they WILL do it. Therefore you should not allow these devices in your home. Ever. ALL companies today datamine the living hell out of everyone for information they can sell to someone else. What makes you think you're exempt from that? You're not. Why would you allow that?
Because everyone on the receiving end of your money doesn't give a rats ass about YOU being secure so long as they get your money. So far as they're concerned all these security breaches are YOUR problem and they can't be bothered. GO BACK TO USING CASH. Then it won't be a problem anymore.
Don't change anything, just keep doing the same thing over and over again forever and cross your fingers that nothing bad happens to YOU! CONVENIENCE is more important than keeping your accounts and identity secure!
You're ridiculous and you don't even understand WHY you're ridiculous. Electronic payment systems are clearly and objectively INSECURE and UNRELIABLE now, there are security breaches practically EVERY GODDAMNED DAY, and you're recommending just ignoring that? Utter stupidity. GO BACK TO USING CASH until they get on the ball and fix the security problems!
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The more intelligent you are, the more aware you are of more things around you, and your understanding of them also increases; that's my experience, at least. That heightened awareness of the worlrd around you, and all the troubles that you perceive, can certainly stress you emotionally. "Ignorance is bliss" is a truism; on the flip-side of that coin, "Laughter is the best medicine" is also true; without sometimes laughing my ass off at whatever, I think I'd be much less balanced emotionally (Whose Line Is It Anyway is very good for this, by the way).
the REAL issue is that it makes negotiating a one-way street, with the company having all the power and you have nearly none.
Welcome to fascist America.
Not impressed, doesn't prove anything, and why should anyone even care?
You can easily turn off Wake On LAN settings for any ethernet interface, that's the difference. Also you don't need a smartphone to call 911 or anyone else, a basic non-smartphone is fine. Very few people 'NEED' a smartphone. Period.
Subject line says it all. I'm not even going to be bothered to do a gods-be-damned thing unless I see my identity has been stolen or my bank account has been affected because it's already too gods-be-damned late to do anything about it anyway, and thanks so FUCKING MUCH for that, Equifax, YOU HAD ONE JOB AND YOU FUCKED IT ALL UP!
Except that the crap they're pushing on us calling it 'AI' isn't even really 'AI', it's what used to be called 'expert systems', they can't actually think and never will, they've just been hyped to death to the point where most people believe that these things can actually talk to them like a human being; they CAN'T. The entire approach of the technology is wrong, no matter how many processors or how much data you throw at these things, they will NEVER be able to 'think', and they'll ALWAYS fall short of the mark; it's a DEAD END.
So-called 'self driving cars' will fall flat on their face too, for the same reasons as the above: wrong approach.
We won't have anything like real 'artificial intelligence' until we solve the riddle of how our own meat brain performs this trick -- and I have it on the best of authority that we're nowhere near figuring that out, not in 5 years, not in 20 years, maybe not in hundreds of years, at the rate we're going.
So far as the rest of your comment goes: 'Big data' has become a cancer on humanity, just being leveraged by greedy and power-hungry people who want to drain our bank accounts and have control of our lives. I've seen nothing that 'big data' has done that really benefits humanity in general. They violate our privacy and steal from us and then expect us to open our wallets and give them our money. 'Big data' needs to go away.
The person who calls hmself 'Luthair', in his comment, doesn't get it at all:
phones have been pretty necessary for decades. Everything from emergency services to scheduling appointments or contacting customer support.
None of those things require a smartphone, or even a wireless phone. A landline would suffice.
I find that most people find excuses masquerading as 'reasons' why they 'need' a smartphone, but they rarely hold up under scrutiny, eventually being revealed as 'want' and not 'need', and reasons to be lazy.
I do not have nor is it even remotely likely I'll ever have a smartphone. They're a security nightmare, completely incapable of being secured against intrusion in even the most basic ways, due to a complete lockdown of the OS and the software loaded onto the phone. Worse, many of them have been found to be completely compromised right out of the factory. Then there's the documentable fact that wireless companies are constantly logging and spying on everything you do, where you are, and so on, and documentable proof that government agencies, leveraging the aforementioned lack of security, can push spyware onto anyones phone they choose to, and listen in and watch everything you're doing, everywhere you go. Couple all this with the fact that most smartphones can't be completely turned off, can be remotely turned on, and that you can't remove the battery in many of them, and you have a recipe for never having your privacy, and never having anything on your smartphone secure against intrusion. No thanks, I'll pass.
Doesn't matter if it's empty or not, really, if their 'smart city' is only going to be financially accessible to the rich, then I think it's a shitty idea.
Oh hey great idea, let's build huge high-rise apartment complexes full of affordable housing, it'll be quite the Project I think.
We don't have real AI so you can't have an AI chip. It's just another microprocessor, STOP THE HYPE.
This isn't a 'story', it's an advertisement for a Microsoft product. Oh and by the way when did /. become a shill for Microsoft? Did they get sold again or something?
Seriously, /. is shitty enough at times, we don't need advertisements for Miscreant-o-soft products masquerading as 'tech news stories'. Please delete this 'story' immediately.
Is this just more places to live for rich people, and the middle class and poor can just bugger off? If so then GTFO, Google.
Get rid of your so-called 'smartphone' and take back your lives. All they are is another time-suck and a waste of money, you do not need them AT ALL. Get over it, get rid of it, and spend the time you'd spend staring at your phone doing something useful instead.
Oh gee did I piss off the Trump voters, who are now seeing the truth? Does it hurt? IT SHOULD. Maybe you'll know better next time.
Some of us consider every month dumping wireless phones completely and going back to POTS and an answering machine, just to poke these bastard companies in the eye.
Get rid of your smartphone and deny them as much data as possible. Get a plain old telephone and turn it off when you're not using it or put it in airplane mode so there's no tracking your location. If you're electronically inclined then open it up, locate the GPS antenna, and short it to ground so there'll be no GPS tracking of your location possible except what cell tower you're connected to (when the phone is on that is). Now you're giving them essentially ZERO data and they can go pound sand if they don't like it. Benefits to you are a cheaper wireless bill every month and more time to do other things instead of staring at your phone. Or you can whine at me about how you 'need' your smartphone, when you're likely just addicted to it and can't make yourself stop. Choice is yours, you can be their BITCH or you can take back control. Choose wisely.
This isn't a 'story', it's an advertisement for a Microsoft product. /. become a shill for Microsoft? Did they get sold again or something? /. is shitty enough at times, we don't need advertisements for Miscreant-o-soft products masquerading as 'tech news stories'. Please delete this 'story' immediately.
Oh and by the way when did
Seriously,
You can have 'respectful parent-child relationships' without teaching your children than it's okay for corporations and governments to spy on you in what should be the sanctuary of your home, or that their very-much-normal-and-natural NEED for privacy is somehow abberant and unnatural, and that mere 'convenience' is somehow more important than any of those. Or do you not care if your children grow up to be ill-adjusted and neurotic adults? Or are you just so lazy that you don't care and your 'convenience' is more important than anything else?
Ask yourself this: What did I do before these things existed? What did EVERYONE do before these things existed? You do not NEED this technology, and the so-called 'benefits' do NOT outweigh the cost in invasion of your privacy and theft of your personal information. Re-examine your priorities.
Yeah, sure thing. But if their response is, "You've got a fatal dose of radiation, we can give you a quick painless death", or "You've got radiation-induced cancer, we'll make you comfortable as possible while you die", then I'm all for dosing each and every one of them with polonium so they can share a painful and lingering death, too. Wecolme to the NEW EPA, America: We don't give a FLYING FUCK about your health or safety, so long as our CORPORATE MASTERS MAKE AS MUCH PROFIT AS POSSIBLE. Hope all you goddamned Trump voters are REAL FUCKING HAPPY with your choices when you're in hospice care waiting to DIE.
That's the most BULLSHIT argument I've ever heard. "Just give up, they already have everything". BULL FUCKING SHIT. You can keep letting them STEAL from you all you want BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE TO!
You don't need a 'precedent', all you need is 'common sense' -- or don't you have any of that? Besides which it's already been shown that the capability is there -- REGARDLESS of any of their denials that it's being used. That's all you should need to know: They CAN do it, so it's likely they WILL do it. Therefore you should not allow these devices in your home. Ever. ALL companies today datamine the living hell out of everyone for information they can sell to someone else. What makes you think you're exempt from that? You're not. Why would you allow that?
Nothing will make the keyboard obsolete. NOTHING.
Absolutely, 110% correct.
Because everyone on the receiving end of your money doesn't give a rats ass about YOU being secure so long as they get your money. So far as they're concerned all these security breaches are YOUR problem and they can't be bothered. GO BACK TO USING CASH. Then it won't be a problem anymore.
Don't change anything, just keep doing the same thing over and over again forever and cross your fingers that nothing bad happens to YOU! CONVENIENCE is more important than keeping your accounts and identity secure!
You're ridiculous and you don't even understand WHY you're ridiculous. Electronic payment systems are clearly and objectively INSECURE and UNRELIABLE now, there are security breaches practically EVERY GODDAMNED DAY, and you're recommending just ignoring that? Utter stupidity. GO BACK TO USING CASH until they get on the ball and fix the security problems!