One of our Canadian (CBC) news personalities mentioned this fact as some kind of indictment against the "evil market" and "rich people".
The fact is that most of GMs employees that are about to loose their jobs hold GM stock, as do the rest of the 150,000 employees as do retired former employees as do pension funds and mutual funds of all sorts as do individual investors big and small etc.
In the past, a single house hold earner could provide for a family. Now it takes two.
What's changed? THAT'S what we need to look at.
I suspect it will be a mix of increased costs due to:
Government regulations and their impact on manufacturers.
Industry practices...required because they can. fees surcharges, penalties, etc.
Increased consumer materialism. You HAVE to have the big screen TV, you HAVE to have that 4 wheeler, new car, etc.
Try, just TRY please, to get into the mindset of your freeloading leech that is consuming your bandwidth and using your tech while expecting to pay absolutely nothing for it
FTFY. I hate ads too but I don't want to pay for no ads so I'm stuck with them because free shit.
Wow, talk about first world problems. If it bothers you that much to see adds while consuming free content and sucking up their bandwidth, then pay for the no-ads version or go somewhere else (like, outside).
Just decide whether you like free shit more than you hate ads.
Killer robots remove one of the major political costs, particularly in a democracy. Wars are unpopular with the citizenry, especially when body bags start coming back.
Exactly and this means more war and killing (of the other guys) because there is no cost in lives on the home front. When was the last time you heard about a drone being shot down or crashing after bombing someone in Yemen? Never. If it was a manned aircraft going down, people would pay more attention to the mission and ask questions.
If having weapons worked, nobody would fight wars. They'd turn up, count weapons, and the one with the least would go home. Doesn't happen.
You are so wrong. The nuclear apocalypse was avoided during the Cold War by using exactly that logic. Wars happen not because everyone is armed but because there is an imbalance of armaments and one side thinks that it can easily win with little consequences to themselves. You want everyone armed to a similar level. Over time countries can work on mutually reducing the level of armaments through diplomacy.
But it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered yields, when our online store comes crashing down! But it is not this day!
And then Bezos rode out of the meeting on his mighty steed...
My kids (6 and 8) have their own little Linux machines (Pocket Chips) on which I've put some DOS games via Dos Box. So they need to boot the thing, open a terminal, start Dos Box, navigate to the game directory and type in the name of the.exe file to start it. It takes a few minutes...
The love it! They play the usual DOS goodness: Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Populous etc. Currently they're hooked on Dune 2... now they want me to read them the book...
One day, when they do get their smart phones, they'll know they're crap and that the games on them are crap.
Lawyers are the biggest roadblocks on the way of justice.
Can you define "justice" for us?
Probably not without spending way more time on it than I care to.
However, I can say that when the outcome of a legal process depends largely on the amount of money one is able to spend spend on their legal team, it is definitely NOT justice.
Point taken. It could be one of those "bad system but better than anything else we can think of".
Hillary was careless about email at a time when the threat environment was a fraction of what it is today.
Yes, Clinton's years were quiet and peaceful with no threats whatsoever, except the Arab Spring, annexation of Crimea, Ukraine imploding, rise of ISIS, the Iraq war, North Korea launching nukes, Snowden, Wikileaks... there was a ton of stuff going on during her years. Today seems more peaceful, comparatively.
People used to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, from children to their deaths.
Then we negotiated the 8 hour work day.
Then we negotiated the 5 day work week.
This probably happened concurrently with production methods improving, thus allowing people to produce the same amount in less time. This would have allowed the reduction in hours without loss in overall productivity.
"I find it unlikely that the Russians are better than Nate Silver at predicting elections."
Nate Silver likely never left his basement and the pollsters that collected his data likely didn't venture past the local Starbucks anywhere they went... or just did some bullshit sentiment analysis on social media...
I find it unlikely that they would know anything about what actual people think.
Whereas human drivers generally try to drive as quickly as possible without being delayed by accidents or police traffic stops.
Humans drive at speeds and in ways that feel comfortable and safe to them. Sometimes that means driving 10-20% over the speed limit, in good conditions. Likewise, driving the speed limit on a street with crowded sidewalks is likely not safe.
The problem with self driving systems is that driving is a very social activity and relies on predicting human behaviour which, surprise, humans will always be better at.
No, it really isn't. Unless Waymo is trying to cause a collision, the onus is on the following driver to watch out for irrational behavior. Humans are often irrational. Often, when following one driver, I see them do literally a dozen different irrational things in the space of a couple of blocks. They speed up, they slow down, they drift lanes, they start a lane change and then stop it for no reason... If I assumed they would be driving rationally and predictably, I would hit them. I don't, so I don't. The law is quite clear that if I run up their ass, I'm at fault.
No, you're confusing liability and who actually caused the accident by driving like a moron. If I brake check someone at 80mpg I am the one who caused the problem even if the poor slob behind me if the one liable. The vast majority of human drivers are quite predictable.
Slashdot Mirror
GM stock went up 5% after announcing the layoffs.
One of our Canadian (CBC) news personalities mentioned this fact as some kind of indictment against the "evil market" and "rich people".
The fact is that most of GMs employees that are about to loose their jobs hold GM stock, as do the rest of the 150,000 employees as do retired former employees as do pension funds and mutual funds of all sorts as do individual investors big and small etc.
In the past, a single house hold earner could provide for a family. Now it takes two.
What's changed? THAT'S what we need to look at.
I suspect it will be a mix of increased costs due to:
Government regulations and their impact on manufacturers. Industry practices...required because they can. fees surcharges, penalties, etc. Increased consumer materialism. You HAVE to have the big screen TV, you HAVE to have that 4 wheeler, new car, etc.
More people in the work force.
Once they stop selling my data, they can get back on that high horse again.
It is perfectly clear that you are trading your data and time (watching ads) in exchange for free content and that you are doing this voluntarily.
So, just stop. I would love to see some kind of alternate platform and model take off.
Try, just TRY please, to get into the mindset of your freeloading leech that is consuming your bandwidth and using your tech while expecting to pay absolutely nothing for it
FTFY. I hate ads too but I don't want to pay for no ads so I'm stuck with them because free shit.
Wow, talk about first world problems. If it bothers you that much to see adds while consuming free content and sucking up their bandwidth, then pay for the no-ads version or go somewhere else (like, outside).
Just decide whether you like free shit more than you hate ads.
Reagan believed it was his holy duty to bring about the end of the world. Do you think it was MAD that stopped him?
Citation needed.
You're neglecting two things.
First, WW3 was averted at least three times, despite MAD, because of freak events.
That doesn't invalidate the other 40 years that WW3 did not start because of MAD.
Second, there was imbalance throughout the cold war.
There was no meaningful imbalance. Both sides had enough armaments to guarantee the others destruction and to make "winning" impossible.
This is why you unionize. So workers get a larger share of the profits.
It's not that simple. Watch Milton Friedman discussing unions, it is very insightful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Killer robots remove one of the major political costs, particularly in a democracy. Wars are unpopular with the citizenry, especially when body bags start coming back.
Exactly and this means more war and killing (of the other guys) because there is no cost in lives on the home front. When was the last time you heard about a drone being shot down or crashing after bombing someone in Yemen? Never. If it was a manned aircraft going down, people would pay more attention to the mission and ask questions.
If having weapons worked, nobody would fight wars. They'd turn up, count weapons, and the one with the least would go home. Doesn't happen.
You are so wrong. The nuclear apocalypse was avoided during the Cold War by using exactly that logic. Wars happen not because everyone is armed but because there is an imbalance of armaments and one side thinks that it can easily win with little consequences to themselves. You want everyone armed to a similar level. Over time countries can work on mutually reducing the level of armaments through diplomacy.
But it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered yields, when our online store comes crashing down! But it is not this day! And then Bezos rode out of the meeting on his mighty steed...
My kids (6 and 8) have their own little Linux machines (Pocket Chips) on which I've put some DOS games via Dos Box. So they need to boot the thing, open a terminal, start Dos Box, navigate to the game directory and type in the name of the .exe file to start it. It takes a few minutes...
The love it! They play the usual DOS goodness: Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Populous etc. Currently they're hooked on Dune 2... now they want me to read them the book...
One day, when they do get their smart phones, they'll know they're crap and that the games on them are crap.
If only we could harness the hot air created by all these "policy makers"...
Lawyers are the biggest roadblocks on the way of justice.
Can you define "justice" for us?
Probably not without spending way more time on it than I care to.
However, I can say that when the outcome of a legal process depends largely on the amount of money one is able to spend spend on their legal team, it is definitely NOT justice.
Point taken. It could be one of those "bad system but better than anything else we can think of".
Lawyers are the biggest roadblocks on the way of justice.
Can you define "justice" for us?
Hillary was careless about email at a time when the threat environment was a fraction of what it is today.
Yes, Clinton's years were quiet and peaceful with no threats whatsoever, except the Arab Spring, annexation of Crimea, Ukraine imploding, rise of ISIS, the Iraq war, North Korea launching nukes, Snowden, Wikileaks... there was a ton of stuff going on during her years. Today seems more peaceful, comparatively.
Surely the Russians did this. They seem guilty of everything else these days...
... for having workers who need food stamps and other public assistance to make ends meet.
So, in effect, nothing has changed in 300 years. This is work ethics from the steam age.
I bet you love that free shipping though...
People used to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, from children to their deaths. Then we negotiated the 8 hour work day. Then we negotiated the 5 day work week.
This probably happened concurrently with production methods improving, thus allowing people to produce the same amount in less time. This would have allowed the reduction in hours without loss in overall productivity.
Define task. Define machine.
Who is this Al guy?
"I find it unlikely that the Russians are better than Nate Silver at predicting elections."
Nate Silver likely never left his basement and the pollsters that collected his data likely didn't venture past the local Starbucks anywhere they went... or just did some bullshit sentiment analysis on social media...
I find it unlikely that they would know anything about what actual people think.
No. Just no.
the Waymo cars try to drive safely and legally
Legal and safe are not always the same thing.
Whereas human drivers generally try to drive as quickly as possible without being delayed by accidents or police traffic stops.
Humans drive at speeds and in ways that feel comfortable and safe to them. Sometimes that means driving 10-20% over the speed limit, in good conditions. Likewise, driving the speed limit on a street with crowded sidewalks is likely not safe.
The problem with self driving systems is that driving is a very social activity and relies on predicting human behaviour which, surprise, humans will always be better at.
No, it really isn't. Unless Waymo is trying to cause a collision, the onus is on the following driver to watch out for irrational behavior. Humans are often irrational. Often, when following one driver, I see them do literally a dozen different irrational things in the space of a couple of blocks. They speed up, they slow down, they drift lanes, they start a lane change and then stop it for no reason... If I assumed they would be driving rationally and predictably, I would hit them. I don't, so I don't. The law is quite clear that if I run up their ass, I'm at fault.
No, you're confusing liability and who actually caused the accident by driving like a moron. If I brake check someone at 80mpg I am the one who caused the problem even if the poor slob behind me if the one liable. The vast majority of human drivers are quite predictable.