Update, linking to CNet still sucks.

We still don't even have Level 5 autonomy in elevators (they have a manual override for emergencies). Maybe Tesla should try designing some elevators first.

Ask your car manufacturer which the driver is supposed to do:

1. Wait to see if the autopilot will react to a situation, and if it doesn't, then (belatedly) react yourself. (Which is probably too late.)

2. Keep alert and react as fast as you can, yourself, not presuming to trust the autopilot. (In which case, why enable the annoying thing? It's more of a hindrance.)

BTW, regarding this particular situation, if the car in front of you is blocking your view of a stopped vehicle, and suddenly swerves to avoid it at the last moment, then I figure autopilots and humans will be equally ineffective.

Remember the rule of paradoxes.

He's both a traitor and a hero? This isn't just a difference of opinion: it's very easy to argue that he's both. It sounds paradoxical.

Whenever you see a paradox, the rule is: look for the flaw in your assumptions. Your assumptions might include:

• Performing your civic duty doesn't necessitate breaking the law.
• He leaked only the information necessary to perform the civic duty.
• Being a traitor (legally) is the same as being a traitor (morally).
• Being a traitor to your country is the same as being a traitor to your country's citizens.
• Whistleblowing is encouraged and protected.
• (Plenty of other assumptions, I'm sure.)

This is the best kind of software: one that gives an opaque authoritative answer that users are likely to just take on faith. Cheap; no quality control necessary.

> There's already a pistol emoji. There's no reason not to add a rifle emoji for completeness sake.

Yes there is: we don't need damned emojis for every object in the world.

No, though you can see that the original draft had it covering all public utilities, and was subsequently changed to cable and internet providers only.

http://leginfo.legislature.ca....

All those fucking swear words fucking spruced up those old fucking jokes! It's 10 times more fucking funny! I fucking laughed so much I couldn't even fucking swear!

I've always been of two minds about this. I admire taking such an action on principle, and certainly you don't want to be in the position of taking actions you can't tolerate. But on the other hand, if all the moral people leave, you get a company full of immoral people (in this case, a company with lots of clout). Is it better to stay and push back from the inside?

The exact value of pi is only relevant in a flat (Newtonian) space-time, not in general relativity.

If you think improvements like this are going to speed up your commute, read about

• Marchetti's Constant --- technology doesn't improve commute times
• Jevons paradox --- increased efficiency leads to increased resource usage
• Lewis-Mogridge Position --- traffic expands to fit the available road space

But nobody else gave a damn about bringing it to market. Nobody was competing on resolution; barely-able-to-read-it resolution was "good enough". Would that pattern have been broken without Apple?

How about this one: a race that behaves like primates.

Fusion should allow us to push out the limit of our unbridled exponential population growth for an extra ... decade or so. Increases the chances of the Malthusian catastrophe happening after my lifetime.

So please, we need fusion ASAP.

Oh, yeah, I guess we could start to think about some population planning too. Might be nice.

Some words, like "inflammable" and "hologram", are irreversibly broken; don't use them. (Unless communication is less important than the smug sense of superiority you get from thinking you're smarter than everyone else).

Physicists, can you come up with another name for this? I know, your definition got there first, and it's a shame, but it's time to give up and move on.