I agree with this, and this being said, what we've got here in the U.S. at the moment does not have much at all in the way of 'strong regulation', and the current Administration seems hell-bent to remove what little regulation and consumer protection exists.
I wouldn't at all be surprised if the above are what are really behind this sort of shenanigans. The former just want to disrupt the U.S. as much as possible; the latter sincerely believes that all science is evil and of Satan, and would love nothing better than to discredit all of it. We're talking the anti-vaxxers and the like, here, as well as out-and-out Dominionists, real facts, real truth, and encouraging people to think for themselves are all diametrically opposed to their agenda.
We're doing this for your protection, citizen, and you should be grateful that we're looking over your shoulder to ensure that you're not being defrauded!
I think what we've discovered is that the "capacity to actually think" is by and large unimportant for most of the needs we have
Yeah? Who the hell is this 'we' you're referring to? Not anyone I've ever talked to. I think you're making that up, and the 'we' is actually just 'you'.
If a "thinking" industrial robot kills a human, how the heck will we debug that or fix it?
At least you can then ask it why it did what it did, instead of even the programmers that wrote it telling you "We have no idea why it did that", which is the current 'state of the art' in AI; even the programmers have no idea what's going on 'under the hood' when it's running.
The only 'information' they'll get, is "Strong encryption will take YEARS or DECADES to break, can you wait that long?". Of course then they'll just arrest everyone and hold them in contempt, believing that they're lying and actually have Magical Keys that can decrypt anything.
If this is not just FUD or clickbait, is a Real Thing, then I'll bet this is where the Equifax data breach is going to bite us all in the ass, as our banking and idenitity information is used to access our accounts to facilitate this 'cash-out' scheme. Guess we'll know soon enough, won't we?
Not even going to bother worrying about it. Horse has left the barn a long time ago now.
They can pass all the legislation they want, it will NOT change reality. 'Backdooring' encryption of ANY kind RUINS it. Proper encryption CANNOT be broken easily, if it can then it's garbage.
That's the point it DOESN'T 'do the job plenty well enough' it always falls short of the mark because it has ZERO capacity to actually THINK, your dog or cat has better cognitive ability, and people will trust this half-assed excuse for AI too much and disasters will happen.
And you propose switching that investment to a speculative thing that might bear fruit in 50-100 years time, and if it did then the result would be a general-purpose intelligence that replaces a lowly-paid human being? Why should someone invest billions in that?
They're putting short-term profits ahead of something that isn't garbage. Face it: the so-called 'AI' they keep trotting out has had billions invested in it, thinking it's going to be Just Another Design Cycle, and it turns out that it falls short of the mark but they have to make their money back, and marketing bastards will hype it and hype it and hype it, along with the media (who doesn't know any better) and convince us it's the Real Thing instead of half-assed.
Oh come on don't be naive this isn't about 'security patches' or anyting that actually benefits the consumer it's about PROFITS plain and simple, sucking money out of people's pockets every month ad infinitum.
I've said it before, I'll keep saying it: until we actually understand how a biological brain produces the phenomena we call 'thinking', we will not be able to create 'machine intelligences' that match or exceed human beings. Period. It's 'magical thinking' to keep hooking up more and more processors and throw more and more data at the same half-assed software and expect it to suddenly be smart and cognitive like a human brain. 'Deep learning algorithms' are just a very small part of the total answer, and that's all they've been obsessively focusing on.
Now, what they should be investing 'billions and billions of dollars' in, is research and development of newer, better instrumentation for observing a living brain in action (and I do NOT mean 'a better fMRI, I mean invent something that's a new and different approach). Only when we can see the total system in action will we even have a chance to understand how it works, the problem being that once it's dead, it's dead, and dissecting it isn't going to show you what you need to see.
This 'rental' business model is complete and utter bullshit, and I don't limit that to computers: it seems like everything is moving in that direction, and I don't see it being good for anyone except the people on the receiving end of the money.
barcodes and QC codes
Funny thing, I *never* have any need for those, and I live a rich, full, technological life otherwise, multiple computers at home, a career in electronics, an IT background, etc, but I do not have nor do I need or want a smartphone. <sarcasm>How ever do I manage?</sarcasm>
You've drunk the kool-aid you were offered; now you're a smartphone addict. Just admit it, it's the first step to Recovery.
But conventional explosives are much easier to come by and every submarine of every navy on the planet that has them has torpedoes that will do the job. That's the point.
Ah, so you don't know that if your car has ANY wireless capabilities that it can be hacked into remotely, self-driving or not? Why are you even on Slashdot if you're so technologically ignorant that you don't know this? Stupid AC's are stupid.
How can any vehicle be considered 'secure' when there'll always be a backdoor for the government to seize control of your vehicle remotely, not allowing you any say in the matter? Any so-called 'security software' will be a joke, because you know that criminal hackers will be able to break into that backdoor and do whatever they want. This is why there should be a hardware switch that allows the owner of the vehicle to disable any radio transceivers that could be used to control the vehicle remotely or otherwise influence it's operation, including any 'updates' to it's firmware/software.
Smartphones are more and more a trap and a cancer. Don't get one at all, get cheap basic phone that's good at being a phone and never mind the rest of it. You'll save money on the phone, you'll save money on the wireless plan, and you'll maybe save your life by not being distracted by the thing when you're driving or even walking for that matter.
Sad but true, but the EU banning glyphosate has some weight in this matter, too, and perhaps Bayer, being an EU company, buying out Monsanto will have some effect on this, they might stop making/selling glyphosate.
Yeah, sure thing. No possible way those 'studies' could be falsified, or cherrypicked, and no way they could be supressing studies that don't support their narrative, because after all it's only a measly BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that are at stake for them, why would they POSSIBLY BE LYING!? Because Monsanto is just such a wonderful advocate for humanity!
Also, yeah sure the entire EU is smoking crack and that's why they've banned glyphosate.
How much is Monsanto paying you to astroturf, by the way? Where do I apply? I could use some extra income.</sarcasm>
Having worked in a previous life in the arcade game industry repairing coin-op games, I can tell you that all you really need to do if you need ROM images for an old coin-op game (if it's a coin-op game we're talking about that is) is to locate one of the companies still around that can repair them, and buy a set of replacement ROMs, then find someone with a chip programmer to read them out to binary files for you. Who you get the ROMs from might even be so nice as to give you image files of them. It's not like there's any copy protection on the ROMs/EPROMs themselves, they're just memory devices. Console game ROMs could be obtained from their original hardware sources with slightly more difficulty, but it's still relatively trivial, all you'd really need is a chip programmer and some basic soldering skills.
Also Nintendo is attempting to close the barn door long after the horses have left, moved on, started over, raised families, had grandchildren, and settled into retirement; never forget that once something has been out on the Internet, it's there forever, someone else will have them. All Nintendo has done is driven the source(s) of them underground.
No, it's time for Facebook (which I ridicule and call 'Zuckerbook', btw) to just wind down and die already. People are seeing what a cancer it is, so put a bullet in Facebook and end it already.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with this, and this being said, what we've got here in the U.S. at the moment does not have much at all in the way of 'strong regulation', and the current Administration seems hell-bent to remove what little regulation and consumer protection exists.
I wouldn't at all be surprised if the above are what are really behind this sort of shenanigans. The former just want to disrupt the U.S. as much as possible; the latter sincerely believes that all science is evil and of Satan, and would love nothing better than to discredit all of it. We're talking the anti-vaxxers and the like, here, as well as out-and-out Dominionists, real facts, real truth, and encouraging people to think for themselves are all diametrically opposed to their agenda.
We're doing this for your protection, citizen, and you should be grateful that we're looking over your shoulder to ensure that you're not being defrauded!
GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF MY BUSINESS, YOU ASSHOLES.
Yet another reason I'll never own a smartphone.
I think what we've discovered is that the "capacity to actually think" is by and large unimportant for most of the needs we have
Yeah? Who the hell is this 'we' you're referring to? Not anyone I've ever talked to. I think you're making that up, and the 'we' is actually just 'you'.
If a "thinking" industrial robot kills a human, how the heck will we debug that or fix it?
At least you can then ask it why it did what it did, instead of even the programmers that wrote it telling you "We have no idea why it did that", which is the current 'state of the art' in AI; even the programmers have no idea what's going on 'under the hood' when it's running.
so that things like hacks and remote surveillance can take place
Sure. So those things will be that much easier for criminals to do to whoever they want. Great fucking idea.
The only 'information' they'll get, is "Strong encryption will take YEARS or DECADES to break, can you wait that long?". Of course then they'll just arrest everyone and hold them in contempt, believing that they're lying and actually have Magical Keys that can decrypt anything.
If this is not just FUD or clickbait, is a Real Thing, then I'll bet this is where the Equifax data breach is going to bite us all in the ass, as our banking and idenitity information is used to access our accounts to facilitate this 'cash-out' scheme. Guess we'll know soon enough, won't we?
Not even going to bother worrying about it. Horse has left the barn a long time ago now.
They can pass all the legislation they want, it will NOT change reality. 'Backdooring' encryption of ANY kind RUINS it. Proper encryption CANNOT be broken easily, if it can then it's garbage.
And you propose switching that investment to a speculative thing that might bear fruit in 50-100 years time, and if it did then the result would be a general-purpose intelligence that replaces a lowly-paid human being? Why should someone invest billions in that?
They're putting short-term profits ahead of something that isn't garbage. Face it: the so-called 'AI' they keep trotting out has had billions invested in it, thinking it's going to be Just Another Design Cycle, and it turns out that it falls short of the mark but they have to make their money back, and marketing bastards will hype it and hype it and hype it, along with the media (who doesn't know any better) and convince us it's the Real Thing instead of half-assed.
Oh come on don't be naive this isn't about 'security patches' or anyting that actually benefits the consumer it's about PROFITS plain and simple, sucking money out of people's pockets every month ad infinitum.
I've said it before, I'll keep saying it: until we actually understand how a biological brain produces the phenomena we call 'thinking', we will not be able to create 'machine intelligences' that match or exceed human beings. Period. It's 'magical thinking' to keep hooking up more and more processors and throw more and more data at the same half-assed software and expect it to suddenly be smart and cognitive like a human brain. 'Deep learning algorithms' are just a very small part of the total answer, and that's all they've been obsessively focusing on.
Now, what they should be investing 'billions and billions of dollars' in, is research and development of newer, better instrumentation for observing a living brain in action (and I do NOT mean 'a better fMRI, I mean invent something that's a new and different approach). Only when we can see the total system in action will we even have a chance to understand how it works, the problem being that once it's dead, it's dead, and dissecting it isn't going to show you what you need to see.
This 'rental' business model is complete and utter bullshit, and I don't limit that to computers: it seems like everything is moving in that direction, and I don't see it being good for anyone except the people on the receiving end of the money.
barcodes and QC codes
Funny thing, I *never* have any need for those, and I live a rich, full, technological life otherwise, multiple computers at home, a career in electronics, an IT background, etc, but I do not have nor do I need or want a smartphone. <sarcasm>How ever do I manage?</sarcasm>
You've drunk the kool-aid you were offered; now you're a smartphone addict. Just admit it, it's the first step to Recovery.
But conventional explosives are much easier to come by and every submarine of every navy on the planet that has them has torpedoes that will do the job. That's the point.
Ah, so you don't know that if your car has ANY wireless capabilities that it can be hacked into remotely, self-driving or not? Why are you even on Slashdot if you're so technologically ignorant that you don't know this? Stupid AC's are stupid.
Piece of paper and a pencil.
You can do all those things in other ways. Stop making excuses for your smartphone addiction.
Flood it with seawater, and everything electronic inside is toast.
How can any vehicle be considered 'secure' when there'll always be a backdoor for the government to seize control of your vehicle remotely, not allowing you any say in the matter? Any so-called 'security software' will be a joke, because you know that criminal hackers will be able to break into that backdoor and do whatever they want. This is why there should be a hardware switch that allows the owner of the vehicle to disable any radio transceivers that could be used to control the vehicle remotely or otherwise influence it's operation, including any 'updates' to it's firmware/software.
Smartphones are more and more a trap and a cancer. Don't get one at all, get cheap basic phone that's good at being a phone and never mind the rest of it. You'll save money on the phone, you'll save money on the wireless plan, and you'll maybe save your life by not being distracted by the thing when you're driving or even walking for that matter.
Sad but true, but the EU banning glyphosate has some weight in this matter, too, and perhaps Bayer, being an EU company, buying out Monsanto will have some effect on this, they might stop making/selling glyphosate.
Yeah, sure thing. No possible way those 'studies' could be falsified, or cherrypicked, and no way they could be supressing studies that don't support their narrative, because after all it's only a measly BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that are at stake for them, why would they POSSIBLY BE LYING!? Because Monsanto is just such a wonderful advocate for humanity!
Also, yeah sure the entire EU is smoking crack and that's why they've banned glyphosate.
How much is Monsanto paying you to astroturf, by the way? Where do I apply? I could use some extra income.</sarcasm>
Having worked in a previous life in the arcade game industry repairing coin-op games, I can tell you that all you really need to do if you need ROM images for an old coin-op game (if it's a coin-op game we're talking about that is) is to locate one of the companies still around that can repair them, and buy a set of replacement ROMs, then find someone with a chip programmer to read them out to binary files for you. Who you get the ROMs from might even be so nice as to give you image files of them. It's not like there's any copy protection on the ROMs/EPROMs themselves, they're just memory devices. Console game ROMs could be obtained from their original hardware sources with slightly more difficulty, but it's still relatively trivial, all you'd really need is a chip programmer and some basic soldering skills.
Also Nintendo is attempting to close the barn door long after the horses have left, moved on, started over, raised families, had grandchildren, and settled into retirement; never forget that once something has been out on the Internet, it's there forever, someone else will have them. All Nintendo has done is driven the source(s) of them underground.
No, it's time for Facebook (which I ridicule and call 'Zuckerbook', btw) to just wind down and die already. People are seeing what a cancer it is, so put a bullet in Facebook and end it already.
Someone please put a bullet in Zuckerbooks' head and end this?