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Comment Re:Honorable mention: circular reasoning, or beggi (Score 1) 311

LOL.... "People who redefine words corrupt and destroy history. If you care about such things, then you need to oppose them. If you don't oppose them, you may as well just go burn all the old books, because your descendants won't understand them anyway." Um, have you never done any historical research? Done any studies of sources in another language (maybe even a dead one)?? If you're using your current definition of a word you happen to recognize in much over fifty year old manuscripts, without checking that definition against its usage *within context*, you are not doing research. Nothing remains unchanged for very long, and we make up new stuff (and words to describe it) at a crazy rate. You don't even need to go that far back - most of the slang we were using as teenagers would leave a current one puzzled, at best. Here's the perfect example - US Law. Try reading it. It's crawling with words no one understands, because the legal system has attempted to do exactly what you propose - continue using a 200 year old language, so it can't become "corrupt". Unless you study law (and learn its language), you're lost. Which proves my point - you *must* study the language used within the context of its use, *because* change is inevitable.

Comment Fear and violence. (Score 2) 333

Current-era Christians would crucify Christ again, should he show up here and now (if they haven't already), several varieties of Muslims would kill/behead/stone Mohammed after prayers on Friday (if they haven't), etc. You really think the world's population would do anything less than their fear-driven violent best to massacre *anything* that showed up from "out there"? Even if they were offering the universe???

Comment It's all relative (Score 4, Insightful) 286

At 20, I was going to live forever, but never expected to make 30. At 30, I started wondering if I'd make it through another year, and was afraid I'd make 40. At 40, I realized all these pithy sayings about age were so much bunk, so I didn't bother with one at 50.

Comment Re:Additional extra smart Features - (Score 1) 558

Hi there. Try this - look up the nearest outdoor range, and find out when they're having the next match, any sort will do. Go there, with ear and eye protection (your prescription lens glasses will pass in most places, any safety glasses will do). Watch how the day goes. Afterwards, consider how many times the same basic thing is happening, on any given weekend, across the country. If you want the condensed version, look up USPSA, IPSC, IDPA, Sporting Clays, Trap, Skeet, Cowboy Action, 3-gun, or just Shooting Match on YouTube. The super-condensed version is, I sent two people to a single day competitive handgun class with 1800 rounds of ammunition, and they returned with ~400. I'm not talking "militia's", just competitive shooters. Then let's discuss the above...

Comment To add a positive note (Score 1) 217

A friend once received a letter from his grandfather, mailed from a nursing home in another state. It was addressed with only his first name, "The Donut Boy", and the city - no last name, no state, no zip. It was delivered to the donut shop we worked at. The USPS gets all sorts of things right, we just forget to talk about it...

Comment Re:What about change? (Score 1) 95

Or, keep driving until you can take over, but this doesn't change my point. There's also the problem of the AI has only learned what you've taught it - missing a turn (for whatever reason) could leave it on roadways it's never seen. I'm fairly certain the coders aren't morons, but don't believe a 'learning' program would benefit most drivers. It would demand much more oversight than most users are willing to give.

Comment Re:What about change? (Score 1) 95

I agree, but a major construction project could quickly exceed the count. What my (warped) imagination sees is, pull out the drive on the way to work, tell the car to go to work. Now that you're not driving, the day's paper comes out, but half way into the sports section, the car announces it's confused and you should take over, whilst zipping down the road. Or any number of other similar situations. The point is, if there's *any* possibility of the program suddenly demanding a driver, it largely negates most of the reasons someone would want this feature, even if it can transition sanely.

Comment What about change? (Score 1) 95

So, what happens if, say, a building gets demolished, or a set of trees are cut, or it snows? If the software is looking for specific topography, which it learned from previous trips, isn't it as likely as humans to get lost when things change?

Comment Re:Just like DRM has prevented piracy (Score 1) 528

My response was directed more towards those who seem to think we can prevent this, than to the article. The site owner(s) may do whatever they wish, it's their site, and frankly, I don't care one way or another about what they host. But the early responses seemed to think this could/should be supressed, and that's about as productive as wishing Pandora's Box was never opened. Until we can look past the horror of what's on top, we will never find that underneath.

Comment Just like DRM has prevented piracy (Score 4, Insightful) 528

I don't blame anyone for worrying about liabilities, but Pandora's Box is open, there's no closing it now. The specs for many, many firearms parts are readily available, and anyone who wants to take the time to translate those designs to 3D, is going to be able to print them, and distribute the designs. I'm waiting for someone to notice they can print 3D magazines, of any capacity they want. Yes, this is another opportunity to learn that all we do for good, can and will be perverted to bad. Are we willing to throw out the whole 3D printing movement as a result?

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One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting as an advisor... is to discourage... from expecting too much from mathematics. -- N. Wiener

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