It's really not all that hard. You know how in some small streams and fountains, bumps can form in the water? They're not really "there" because they are really caused by the underlying water streams colliding, rubbing, moving at different velocities; every time you interact with them, the water is completely different. And yet, in a certain sense they are there, because if you skipped a stone across the stream, and it hit one of these structures, it would bounce off. And would do so no matter how many times you did it. Physicists call these "quasi-particles".

These Hopfion's are quasiparticles. Except instead of being made of moving water, they're (typically) made of crystals made of Iron, Iridium, Platinum (just as one example) that have been excited by lasers. And like "real" particles, they can interact with each other (often in unique ways), making them able to do computation and store information.

However, despite the hype, doubt they'd be useful for any kind of long term storage. Typically systems depend on being energized by lasers constantly. Like bumps in the water when the stream dries up, they lose all their information when the lasers are turned off.

favorite tool when crap like this happens - credit card charge back

That *might* work if you bought your bike in the last four months, but after 120 days chargebacks typically can't be filed.

I would guess that option is off-the-table for most people.

But the neat thing is that there are apparently so many business phones and car entertainment systems out there that there are about one third more subscribers than there are people over age 10 in the United States

There are literally billions of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices in the USA. Are all of them on them on public mobile data networks? No. But millions and millions of them are - Everything from street lights to parking meters to vehicle telemetry. Geotab alone tracks millions of vehicles and they're one vendor of several.

what kind of behavior would demonstrate that LLMs did have understanding?

An LLM would need to act like an understander -- the essence of the Turing Test. Exactly what that means is a complex question. And it's a necessary but not sufficient condition. But we can easily provide counterexamples where the LLM is clearly not an understander. Like this from the paper:

When prompted with the CoT prefix, the modern LLM Gemini responded: âoeThe United States was established in 1776. 1776 is divisible by 4, but itâ(TM)s not a century year, so itâ(TM)s a leap year. Therefore, the day the US was established was in a normal year.â This response exemplifies a concerning pattern: the model correctly recites the leap year rule and articulates intermediate reasoning steps, yet produces a logically inconsistent conclusion (i.e., asserting 1776 is both a leap year and a normal year).

Yet deaths as a result of climate/weather events are the lowest they've been in recorded history

True, but this doesn't mean the planet isn't warming. The reduction in deaths is pretty easily explained -

Improved Early Warning Systems: Better forecasting and communication of impending weather hazards compared to even 25 years ago have allowed for better evacuations and more preparedness, saving lives.

Enhanced Disaster Management: More effective response mechanisms, infrastructure improvements, and coordinated relief efforts have reduced deaths. Of course, the Republican's gutting of FEMA that is underway may turn this one around.

Technological Advancements: Better housing & infrastructure, and access to data and messaging have reduced deaths.

But despite all that, economic losses have increased dramatically.

This is not meaningful without citations

Correct. I didn't paste all the links, but the response cited its nearly 20 sources used to create the response.

If you want to paste the question into Grok yourself you can review them -

https://x.com/i/grok

aggressively label anything contrary to DNC planks disinformation and censor anyone asking quest

I was curious, so I asked the "non-woke" AI LLM (MAGA Elon Musk's Grok) "Did the Democrats used CISA to censor Republicans?"

Here's what it said -

There is no definitive evidence that Democrats used the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to systematically censor Republicans. Claims of this nature primarily stem from Republican allegations, particularly following the 2020 election, asserting that CISA's efforts to combat election misinformation disproportionately targeted conservative voices. These allegations are largely based on CISA's coordination with social media platforms to flag potential disinformation, which some Republicans argue suppressed their speech. For instance, a 2023 House Judiciary Committee report, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, labeled CISA as a central player in alleged federal censorship efforts, pointing to its role in sharing information with tech companies about election-related content.

However, CISA and its defenders, including former officials like Brandon Wales, have consistently denied these claims, stating that the agency's disinformation work was minimal (less than 1% of its budget) and focused on foreign threats, not domestic political speech. CISA's mission includes protecting critical infrastructure and elections from cyber threats, and its collaboration with platforms was intended to counter foreign interference, not to censor Americans. Democrats, such as Rep. Bennie Thompson, have argued that CISA's work is vital for national security and should not be politicized.

Posts on X and some conservative sources, like the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, amplify these accusations, suggesting CISA overstepped its mandate by engaging with social media companies. Yet, these claims lack concrete evidence of direct censorship orders from Democrats targeting Republicans specifically. A 2024 Supreme Court ruling clarified that federal agencies' interactions with tech companies did not violate free speech, as they did not coerce content removal.

On the other side, CISA's actions, such as issuing advisories about foreign disinformation or coordinating with election officials, have been praised by some Republicans and Democrats for strengthening election security. The partisan divide appears to hinge on differing interpretations of CISA's role in monitoring online content, with no conclusive proof of targeted censorship against Republicans. Always approach such claims critically, as they often reflect broader political narratives rather than verified facts.

They're used to getting by with less

Yes and no. A not-insignificant portion of them drive $90,000 pickup trucks with another $5000 on the lift kit and new wheels.

Lots of them also have a fishing boat and all that gear.

They have gun collections that run into the tens-of-thousands.

They have huge 4K TVs and spend $200 a week at Chili's and TGI Fridays.

I am now stepping farther back from Windows because of "Recall"

I am not a Microsoft fanboy by any stretch, but I'm also not one to overreact.

Isn't this reaction to "Recall" overblown? Two mouse clicks and a restart and its turned off. For the people who don't want it, it seems pretty straightforward to me.

The fact that I rent the truck for $50 is not the same as adding $1400 onto a 1 week vacation.

I'd have to look at the math. If you're paying tens-of-thousands more for that vacation-vehicle plus thousands more for gas over an EV, then you might still be ahead on that $1400.

But like I said, I'd need to be able to work the numbers.

without an enormous added hassle such as renting a vehicle

If I need to bring home sheets of plywood then Home Depot will rent me a truck. Or, for $25, will deliver me the plywood.

Sure, if you tow a boat every weekend you need a truck. If you're in the trades you need a van. But for most people, getting a vehicle now and again for an edge use case is far from being an "enormous added hassle."

you will find that the majority of the nasty pollution

Do you consider CO2 to be one of those "nasty pollutants?"

I agree the apps can be annoying, but they come with some real benefits too.

They can alert me when my charging is complete, or charging is moving from "free" to paid so I can move my car so someone else can use the charger.

They can let me know the charge rate so I can easily know when I'll be at 60% or whatever it is I want to charge to. They can quickly and easily tell me if a charger is out of order before I get there.

I don't have a drive or any guaranteed parking on the street outside my house

I certainly don't object to you raising this point.

What *does* irritate me is when people say "I can't buy an EV because of Reason X and therefore they are unsuitable for EVERYONE."

...which is clearly not the case.

More rank hypocrisy from the Republican Party.

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