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User: seven+of+five

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  1. Flipped on its head on Europe Divided Over Robot 'Personhood' (politico.eu) · · Score: 1

    Yeah, just wait till the AIs get together and vote on whether humans count as sentient.

  2. Dear Uber Drivers: on California May Soon Allow Passengers In Driverless Cars (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Remember that side gig you took on to try to make ends meet? IE pay off that onerous student loan, or put a dent in the wife's cancer treatment bills, or buy the kids clothes for school?

    It's going away.

  3. Re:"demographics is destiny" on The Gig Economy Keeps Growing, But Worker Benefits Aren't (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    Though people are making less and have fewer benefits, the economy isn't losing money -- it's getting sucked to the top.

  4. Re:"demographics is destiny" on The Gig Economy Keeps Growing, But Worker Benefits Aren't (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While there's truth in all that, the other truth is the very wealthy are getting better and better at "drinking your milkshake" -- siphoning off the financial rewards of the many to benefit the few. Tearing down the old style benefits like pensions, raises, etc, and with increasing frequency, creating new jobs that are far less stable, have fewer rights, pay less and offer traditional benefits to fewer workers.

  5. Re:We might already have a working theory... on An Up-Close Look At the Parker Solar Probe -- the Spacecraft That Will Skim the Sun's Surface (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 2

    our Sun is not the brightest.

    shudders, remembering how often parents said that

  6. The idea of "safety driver" might be inherently flawed. When you drive a normal car, your attention is fixed on the traffic and surroundings. When the car does the driving, how are you supposed to sustain your attention for more than a few minutes? Boredom and attention lapses may be inevitable. If the safety driver is told ahead of time that attention lapses have severe penalties, they might struggle to remain alert for a while longer, but it might be a fact of human nature, that avoiding distractions is an uphill battle.

  7. Re:It's just vandalism on Self-Driving Cars Are Being Attacked By Angry Californians (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    What about personal responsibility ?

    What about social responsibility? If you're bent on disrupting the lives of bystanders, help them plan a way forward, instead of throwing them off the dock and seeing if they can swim. Otherwise what you're doing is profiting on the externalized cost of other people's hardship. If that means nothing to you, be careful: you may be a sociopath.

  8. The Takeaway: Pay is Crap on Uber Challenges Study Suggesting Its Drivers Earn $3.37 Per Hour (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Uber no longer needs to pay its drivers well to build its base; that's done, and the rates came tumbling down.

    The pay is the smallest it can get away with before drivers leave in droves, in order to compete with cabs and other services. The only upside to Uber driving is the ability to set your own hours. Otherwise, there's no reason not to work at fast food.

  9. Summary of Text on AI May Have Finally Decoded the Mysterious 'Voynich Manuscript' (gizmodo.com) · · Score: 1

    In brief, the manuscript says, "Dear World, this is my esoteric theory of the nature of the universe. I wrote it because I am very very smart, and you should pay attention to me, and shower me with honors. Because it is esoteric and holds the key to all metaphysical knowledge, I have written it such that only the most intelligent and worthy may know its secrets. However, if no one decodes it, I will die happy because it proves I was the smartest person alive. Sincerely, Yaddayadda."

  10. problem-solving skills are the most-sought by employers, more than language proficiency, debugging, and system design.

    Yeah. Try getting your resume past HR if you've had 15 years of problem-solving experience in a dozen different languages but not the one their shop uses.

  11. Don't tell me... on America's Fastest Spy Plane May Be Back -- And Hypersonic (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    The first pilot is a young dude named Speed Racer, and he calls his dad "Pops."

  12. Re:My Great Big Nuclear Button on Scientists Get Closer To Replicating Human Sperm (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    Playing God with the procreation process is usually a civilization destroying process.

    You're kidding, right? Nevermind modern birth control, synthetic hormones, IVF etc, non-procreative sex has been around since before primates waddled around upright. No civilizations destroyed.

  13. The news that California has adopted this as an official position is a bit disturbing, especially in a state that's home to so many great universities. This could only mean that lawmakers don't have much STEM education if any. I hope this remains isolated to the one state. In the current culture of ignorance, it could spread like California wildfire.

    Hasn't it occurred to them, that, with billions of cellphones in use around the world for decades, if there were any problem, it'd be obvious?

  14. The tech companies need to ask the feds if they want a modern internet with secure banking and communications. Cause if they DO, the whole "backdoor" nonsense is a nonstarter. If you compromise a mathematically-proven and trusted system, guess what? No one can trust it anymore. On the other hand, if the feds really don't care if there's secure online communications or not, then hey, no problem.

    What we seem to have are people who keep asking for the impossible without understanding what's really at stake.

  15. State & Local Laws? on GM Says It Will Put Fleets of Self-Driving Cars In Cities In 2019 (detroitnews.com) · · Score: 1

    I didn't think the state & local laws were anywhere near prime-time ready for anything but prototypes or "autopilot" mode with driver.

  16. Re:GMO trees... on What They Don't Tell You About Climate Change (economist.com) · · Score: 2

    Please see: tropostats here and here.

  17. For robots to "take over," don't AIs first need intention? ie. goals and a motive?
    As far as I know, software's still just a tool with no more self-motivation than a screwdriver.
    Given that, it's all about who owns the tools.

  18. "Capital" == assets. "Capitol" == seat of government.

  19. Re:Does this include... on CIA Releases 321GB of Bin Laden's Digital Library (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 2

    Yeah, but there's only 72 videos...

  20. "A sad day in Hollywood... We say goodbye to one of the greats..." -OR- "Identify these celebrities... Only 7% Know the Answer..."

  21. Don't worry - supplement, not replace on Walmart Tests Shelf-Scanning Robots In Over 50 Stores (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    ... and they all lived happily ever after!

    The End!

    Thanks, Wal-Mart! Please tell us another one!

  22. So they'll collectively put $5T in escrow to handle any problems that should come up, should either they fail to keep their promise, or any of their gazillion competitors, or if they keep their promise but some shit happens by mistake anyway.

    Yes?

  23. "Dwarfed by China" on The Factory Where Robots Build Robots (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Not the greatest news for Chinese working class...

  24. Anything That Doesn't Kill Me on EPA Says Higher Radiation Levels Pose 'No Harmful Health Effect' (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Only makes me stronger.

    Signed, Bruce Banner

  25. Yes, but so what? on Cord-Cutters Drive Cable TV Subscribers to a 17-Year Low (houstonchronicle.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cable fees just as high as they ever were... where's the incentive to stay with cable?