Posts by Ken Hagan 8168 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2007
The problem was/is not robotics/AI. It was and remains the wretched governments that we tolerate. Putting these bastards in charge of AI development would be quite the worst thing we could do. I say "would" because, as the article notes, none of this was binding and it never will be.
"The plea deal she was offered was ridiculous"
Maybe, maybe not. However, in twenty years the only thing people will remember is that the ring-leader got nailed for a zillion years and the fine article implies that her testimony helped ensure that.
As far as the prosecutor is concerned, the legal system as a game where you are happy with a fairly high score and really want to avoid a very low score, so their strategy makes sense.
"This specifically happened to Windows Phone/Mobile MVPs, and was how many of us knew "for certain" the line was gonna die before it was official."
So we can guess that MS plan to drop Windows now? Ok, that's absurd, but less absurd is the idea that they see the actual OS as a little more than a necessary evil and anything resembling support should be weeded out. That is certainly how it has felt to me for quite a few years now.
"Excel localises the names of all of the inbuilt functions, ..."
It could, of course, have remembered which locale was in effect when the script was written and translated the names according to the current locale.
But why would anyone want to use Excel in any locale other than "English (US)"?
Yes. Generating for a different instruction set is trivial. That's a compiler switch and some more testing.
Harder is writing software that has to call different APIs because neither one of "Windows on ARM" and "Windows on x64" is actually a subset of the other. That's a pain in the butt and if I'm going to port to a "close but no cigars" variation of Windows then I'd probably pick winelib as my target because there are more potential customers.
Nit-pick, but no. The second law does not apply to the universe as a whole.
It applies to a "closed system", which in thermodynamics is one that is open to transfers of energy from an infinite heat bath. The universe as a whole is, by definition, not open in that way and no sizeable fraction of the universe is either because the "rest of the universe" is not infinite by comparison.
Developers don't need data integrity. Firstly, they have a clue so they have backups, which is a far better form of resilience than an inefficient filesystem. Secondly, there should be nothing irreplaceable on a developer system. Everything should be either a tool that can be reinstalled or a version-controlled working copy that can simply be grabbed afresh.
"Everything I send is privately encrypted BEFORE it gets into email or WhatsApp or....!!"
...except where, as in this case, the intended recipient isn't as paranoid as you and can't/won't decrypt at their end.
You have, however, demonstrated the mindset that will ensure that the only people whose comms aren't snooped are the original targets of the legislation.
'or perhaps I inadvertently used the phrase "Field work" (yes, really - this is considered offensive by some)'
I cannot imagine what spurious etymology or mis-reading of history could lead anyone to find that offensive. On the plus side, it lowers the bar considerably for anyone trying to produce an AI that is comparable to a (carefully selected) human intelligence.
ICBMs are already hypersonic and the ability to retaliate exists unless the "first strike" is also the last, taking out every missile silo, bomber and submarine. These new weapons would appear to be interesting for active and ongoing conflicts, since they are harder to stop, but don't appear to change the strategic calculus.
"without Hitler we would probably been spared the Holocaust"
Not so sure. There was (and is) a lot of anti-semitism about. Also, the various European empires of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany had the side effect of suppressing a general feat/distrust/dislike of neighbours, which was suddenly unleashed when those empires were replaced with a load of smaller states, each of which had a clear local majority and a patchwork of minorities "on their turf" for historical reasons. Some degree of ethnic cleansing was almost inevitable. We see it even now almost anywhere where a large state breaks up. We also see the reverse effect where two antagonistic groups join a much larger body and have to abide by its rules.
I disagree. We can agree that any encryption that is scannable in this way is not fit for purpose and sane heads in government recognise this but cannot say so out loud for fear of angering the Daily Mail. Therefore ... they have come up with a formula that (to anyone with a clue) permanently rules it out but (to a DM reader) appears to rule it in as soon as possible. Everybody is happy.
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