Comment Re: Same old crap (Score 1) 63
That is one thing I do not get. Silence is nice. Allows you to think clearly.
Comment Re:"Enshittification" is not just a US thing (Score 1) 63
A ruling that says "engagement engineering" is illegal would be difficult to enforce, but presumably not impossible.
At the very least it would curb extreme cases like the one from the story.
Comment OrangeGPT (Re: inventor of WWW) (Score 1) 42
"I invented everything wonderful! I even invented Al Gore, believe me! Radios and TV's used to have big glass tits and wankers that glowed orange, such a wonderful color, but they were big and heavy, like Rosie O'Donnell, so nobody wanted them.
So I got one of my bone spurs med tablets, soaked it in Diet Coke for 3 days, stuck wires into it, and it became the very first Trans Sister. I hated that woke name so called it Capacitor instead, and even made it flux. Some say it can go back in time, which I may do to get my Nobel Prizes back, that Hannibal Lecter and Autopen Joe stole from me. Everyone knows they are Filthy Antifa Crooks!"
Comment uh, both, dummy ? (Score 2) 78
Obviously, sooner or later we will want to do things that require our physical presence. And be it because the ping time to Mars really, really sucks.
Robots are way easier to engineer for space than humans, even though space is so unforgiving that that's not trivial, either. The same is true for other planets. Building a robot that works well in 0.2g or 5g is an engineering challenge but doable even with today's tech. Humans... not so much.
But let's be honest here: We want to go out there. The same way humans have found their way to the most remote places and most isolated islands on planet Earth, expansion is deeply within our nature.
So, robots for exploration to prepare for more detailed human exploration to prepare for human expansion.
And maybe, along the way we can solve the problem that any spaceship fast and big enough to achieve acceptable interplanetary travel times (let's not even talk about interstellar) with useful payloads is also a weapon of mass destruction on a scale that makes nukes seem like firecrackers.
Has What If? already done a segment on "what happens is SpaceX's Starship slams into Earth at 0.1c" ?
Comment How about "no" (Score 1) 20
No serious researcher wants a single company (much less NV) to "own the bridge that every quantum computer will need". Seriously, fuck NV and their proprietary bullshit. CUDA is bad enough, now they have to deal with some new-fangled version of NVLink? Hell Naw.
Comment No-one wants "cool" AI (Score 1) 21
People want helpful AI that doesn't hallucinate, code crap code, tell you to eat glue or commit suicide.
Comment Re:What's the product (Score 1) 7
The stock price "growth" while the government is pumping the bubble, just like the last time around.
Comment Re:One Way Trips (Score 3, Informative) 78
Send lawyers and politicians, nobody will complain.
Comment Re: I find it quite strange... (Score 1) 62
I think you may have a good point here...
Submission + - A jailed hacking kingpin reveals all about cybercrime gang (bbc.com)
alternative_right writes: Penchukov and the gangs he either led or was a part of stole tens of millions of pounds from them.
In the late 2000s, he and the infamous Jabber Zeus crew used revolutionary cyber-crime tech to steal directly from the bank accounts of small businesses, local authorities and even charities. Victims saw their savings wiped out and balance sheets upended. In the UK alone, there were more than 600 victims, who lost more than £4m ($5.2m) in just three months.
Between 2018 and 2022, Penchukov set his sights higher, joining the thriving ransomware ecosystem with gangs that targeted international corporations and even a hospital.
In the late 2000s, he and the infamous Jabber Zeus crew used revolutionary cyber-crime tech to steal directly from the bank accounts of small businesses, local authorities and even charities. Victims saw their savings wiped out and balance sheets upended. In the UK alone, there were more than 600 victims, who lost more than £4m ($5.2m) in just three months.
Between 2018 and 2022, Penchukov set his sights higher, joining the thriving ransomware ecosystem with gangs that targeted international corporations and even a hospital.
Submission + - Why Solarpunk is already happening in Africa (substack.com)
schwit1 writes: You know that feeling when you’re waiting for the cable guy, and they said ‘between 8am and 6pm, and you waste your entire day, and they never show up?
Now imagine that, except the cable guy is ‘electricity,’ the day is ‘50 years,’ and you’re one of 600 million people. At some point, you stop waiting and figure it out yourself.
What’s happening across Sub-Saharan Africa right now is the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history, except it’s not being built by governments or utilities or World Bank consortiums. It’s being built by startups selling solar panels to farmers on payment plans. And it’s working.
Over 30 million solar products sold in 2024. 400,000 new solar installations every month across Africa. 50% market share captured by companies that didn’t exist 15 years ago. Carbon credits subsidizing the cost. IoT chips in every device. 90%+ repayment rates on loans to people earning $2/day.
And if you understand what’s happening in Africa, you understand the template for how infrastructure will get built everywhere else for the next 50 years.
Now imagine that, except the cable guy is ‘electricity,’ the day is ‘50 years,’ and you’re one of 600 million people. At some point, you stop waiting and figure it out yourself.
What’s happening across Sub-Saharan Africa right now is the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history, except it’s not being built by governments or utilities or World Bank consortiums. It’s being built by startups selling solar panels to farmers on payment plans. And it’s working.
Over 30 million solar products sold in 2024. 400,000 new solar installations every month across Africa. 50% market share captured by companies that didn’t exist 15 years ago. Carbon credits subsidizing the cost. IoT chips in every device. 90%+ repayment rates on loans to people earning $2/day.
And if you understand what’s happening in Africa, you understand the template for how infrastructure will get built everywhere else for the next 50 years.
What's the Best Ways for Humans to Explore Space? (noemamag.com) 78
Should we leave space exploration to robots — or prioritize human spaceflight, making us a multiplanetary species?
Harvard professor Robin Wordsworth, who's researched the evolution and habitability of terrestrial-type planets, shares his thoughts: In space, as on Earth, industrial structures degrade with time, and a truly sustainable life support system must have the capability to rebuild and recycle them. We've only partially solved this problem on Earth, which is why industrial civilization is currently causing serious environmental damage. There are no inherent physical limitations to life in the solar system beyond Earth — both elemental building blocks and energy from the sun are abundant — but technological society, which developed as an outgrowth of the biosphere, cannot yet exist independently of it. The challenge of building and maintaining robust life-support systems for humans beyond Earth is a key reason why a machine-dominated approach to space exploration is so appealing...
However, it's notable that machines in space have not yet accomplished a basic task that biology performs continuously on Earth: acquiring raw materials and utilizing them for self-repair and growth. To many, this critical distinction is what separates living from non-living systems... The most advanced designs for self-assembling robots today begin with small subcomponents that must be manufactured separately beforehand. Overall, industrial technology remains Earth-centric in many important ways. Supply chains for electronic components are long and complex, and many raw materials are hard to source off-world... If we view the future expansion of life into space in a similar way as the emergence of complex life on land in the Paleozoic era, we can predict that new forms will emerge, shaped by their changed environment, while many historical characteristics will be preserved. For machine technology in the near term, evolution in a more life-like direction seems likely, with greater focus on regenerative parts and recycling, as well as increasingly sophisticated self-assembly capabilities. The inherent cost of transporting material out of Earth's gravity well will provide a particularly strong incentive for this to happen.
If building space habitats is hard and machine technology is gradually developing more life-like capabilities, does this mean we humans might as well remain Earth-bound forever? This feels hard to accept because exploration is an intrinsic part of the human spirit... To me, the eventual extension of the entire biosphere beyond Earth, rather than either just robots or humans surrounded by mechanical life-support systems, seems like the most interesting and inspiring future possibility. Initially, this could take the form of enclosed habitats capable of supporting closed-loop ecosystems, on the moon, Mars or water-rich asteroids, in the mold of Biosphere 2. Habitats would be manufactured industrially or grown organically from locally available materials. Over time, technological advances and adaptation, whether natural or guided, would allow the spread of life to an increasingly wide range of locations in the solar system.
The article ponders the benefits (and the history) of both approaches — with some fasincating insights along the way.
"If genuine alien life is out there somewhere, we'll have a much better chance of comprehending it once we have direct experience of sustaining life beyond our home planet."
Harvard professor Robin Wordsworth, who's researched the evolution and habitability of terrestrial-type planets, shares his thoughts: In space, as on Earth, industrial structures degrade with time, and a truly sustainable life support system must have the capability to rebuild and recycle them. We've only partially solved this problem on Earth, which is why industrial civilization is currently causing serious environmental damage. There are no inherent physical limitations to life in the solar system beyond Earth — both elemental building blocks and energy from the sun are abundant — but technological society, which developed as an outgrowth of the biosphere, cannot yet exist independently of it. The challenge of building and maintaining robust life-support systems for humans beyond Earth is a key reason why a machine-dominated approach to space exploration is so appealing...
However, it's notable that machines in space have not yet accomplished a basic task that biology performs continuously on Earth: acquiring raw materials and utilizing them for self-repair and growth. To many, this critical distinction is what separates living from non-living systems... The most advanced designs for self-assembling robots today begin with small subcomponents that must be manufactured separately beforehand. Overall, industrial technology remains Earth-centric in many important ways. Supply chains for electronic components are long and complex, and many raw materials are hard to source off-world... If we view the future expansion of life into space in a similar way as the emergence of complex life on land in the Paleozoic era, we can predict that new forms will emerge, shaped by their changed environment, while many historical characteristics will be preserved. For machine technology in the near term, evolution in a more life-like direction seems likely, with greater focus on regenerative parts and recycling, as well as increasingly sophisticated self-assembly capabilities. The inherent cost of transporting material out of Earth's gravity well will provide a particularly strong incentive for this to happen.
If building space habitats is hard and machine technology is gradually developing more life-like capabilities, does this mean we humans might as well remain Earth-bound forever? This feels hard to accept because exploration is an intrinsic part of the human spirit... To me, the eventual extension of the entire biosphere beyond Earth, rather than either just robots or humans surrounded by mechanical life-support systems, seems like the most interesting and inspiring future possibility. Initially, this could take the form of enclosed habitats capable of supporting closed-loop ecosystems, on the moon, Mars or water-rich asteroids, in the mold of Biosphere 2. Habitats would be manufactured industrially or grown organically from locally available materials. Over time, technological advances and adaptation, whether natural or guided, would allow the spread of life to an increasingly wide range of locations in the solar system.
The article ponders the benefits (and the history) of both approaches — with some fasincating insights along the way.
"If genuine alien life is out there somewhere, we'll have a much better chance of comprehending it once we have direct experience of sustaining life beyond our home planet."
Comment Re: This is just an asshole trying to project a t (Score 1) 59
And how do you propose to get that medical diagnosis and treatment plan right when you lack the knowledge, education and experience to spot the mistakes? Right.
Good luck, you are going to need it. LLMs cannot replace experts.
Comment Re:\o/ (Score 3, Insightful) 15
Pfffft
These days it's just a never-ending flood of DMCA requests driven by a janky alogorithm or borked LLM
Comment Re:This is just an asshole trying to project a thi (Score 1) 59
Well, the belief in AI is a cult-like thing. No rationality involved. The last few AI hypes already showed that nicely.
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Physician: One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well. -- Ambrose Bierce
