Hydrocarbons are only inexpensive if you discount the externalities. The actual damage to the environment inherent in burning hydrocarbons is quite expensive.

I was under the impression that these far-field voice assistants required an array of microphones to do things like beam forming, noise reduction, acoustic echo cancellation, etc. The Amazon Echo has 7 microphones in a ring.

So there's either more than one hidden microphone or Google is rolling out a feature that's not really going to work well for voice assistance. I have to wonder what the real purpose of this update is.

My ad-free decentralized open source Facebook replacement fantasy (FaceNet):

• Develop a specialized web server that ingests a Facebook user's data and assets and serves up an interface with features similar to Facebook.
• Package the web server with a suitable OS image into a Docker-like container.
• Partner with a hosting service that hosts the container and runs the web server at cost for a reasonable price, like a few dollars a month.
• Provide a service that takes the user's downloaded Facebook data and sets everything up with the hosting service.

It wouldn't be free of cost, but it would be free in the broader sense, and that's a killer feature.

The article describes a robot that can model itself physically.

The more interesting exploration would involve the robot modelling its own internal state. At that point a closed feedback loop could be initiated with the model informing the system about itself which in turn informs and becomes part of the model.

If the model becomes good enough, the system might eventually develop the illusion that its embedded model is actually itself. At least that seems to be what happened with the majority of humans.

They could have used the "white genocide conspiracy theory" selector to flood them with counter-propaganda advertising. Seems like a missed opportunity here.

I'm personally disappointed that Apple is dropping the SE. For me it's the perfect size, and the screen has a bevel so that I don't trigger unintended touches just trying to pick it up. There's the standard headphone jack so I can listen to music with decent headphones I already own, even while it's charging. It's also fairly reasonably priced, runs ARKit, and is supported by the latest iOS releases. Damn fine phone.

I wonder if soon all photographic, video, and audio recording devices will be required to incorporate hardened individual hardware certificates that can sign all the recordings that particular device creates. At least in that case it seems it would be possible to verify that a particular portion of unedited source material was recorded directly by a specific device without any additional manipulation, which could be useful in legal, political, or scientific contexts where verification of origin is required.

Assuming AI == neural networks here, this is a known fundamental limitation. A neural network makes the decisions that it does based on weights on the connections between the nodes. These weights are computed in an iterative feedback process that converges toward values that produce the desired results. There is no way to interrogate such a mechanism to determine "why" a certain decision is made.

To me it has to be either autonomous or not. If semi-autonomous driving requires you to be engaged and alert with both hands on the wheel, ready to take control at any time, then what's the point? How is it different from regular non-autonomous driving? Can anyone share their experience?

The proposed US legislation looks weak compared to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Why should people in the US have weaker protection? Facebook and other data collectors should be required to conform to a GDPR equivalent in the US and North America.

It appears to be some sort of subvocal recognition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... has a bit about the subject, but with no citations to the research.

The fundamental unexamined assumption these people are making is that the state of a person can be frozen statically. There is just as much evidence that the state of consciousness is dynamic, encoded in the flows of waves of currents in the brain.

Trying to capture the state of consciousness of a person with a static material representation would be like trying to freeze a candle flame. The flame doesn't exist without the dynamic combustion process and the flow of hot gases that feed it.

I moved to San Francisco in the mid-90's for the culture, politics, and community. I did have a job waiting for me in Silicon Valley, but I was determined to not make it the sole focus of my life.

Now, many of my newer neighbors just hate it here. Their focus is solely on the job and the money they're making. They only want to make their first or second million and then get the hell out.

To which I must reply, please hurry!

preloaded with Chinese spyware you can't delete? Good old American NSA spyware is good enough for me!

It would not be possible if your Javascript code ran exactly as you intended it to run. But the crux of the issue, from the Spectre paper, is this:

(Emphasis mine).