Comment Re: This Is A Nonstarter (Score 1) 51
Snakes on a plane.
Submission + - Google Bets Big on Nuclear Fusion (oilprice.com)
schwit1 writes: Google signed the first direct corporate power purchase agreement for nuclear fusion energy with Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
The global race to achieve commercial nuclear fusion is intensifying, with significant investments from the U.S., China, and the European Union.
Nuclear fusion promises to deliver abundant, clean energy, potentially revolutionizing the global energy landscape and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The global race to achieve commercial nuclear fusion is intensifying, with significant investments from the U.S., China, and the European Union.
Nuclear fusion promises to deliver abundant, clean energy, potentially revolutionizing the global energy landscape and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
Submission + - People Are Using AI Chatbots to Guide Their Psychedelic Trips (wired.com)
An anonymous reader writes: TREY HAD STRUGGLEDwith alcoholism for 15 years, eventually drinking heavily each night before quitting in December. But staying sober was a struggle for the 36-year-old first responder from Atlanta, who did not wish to use his real name due to professional concerns.
Then he discoveredAlterd, an AI-powered journaling app that invites users to “explore new dimensions” geared towards psychedelics and cannabis consumers, meditators, and alcohol drinkers. In April, using the app as a tripsitter—a term for someone who soberly watches over another while they trip on psychedelics to provide reassurance and support—he took a huge dose of 700 micrograms of LSD. (A typicalrecreational doseis considered to be 100 micrograms.) “I went from craving compulsions to feeling true freedom and not needing or wanting alcohol,” he says.
He recently asked the app’s “chat with your mind” function how he had become more wise through all his AI-assisted psychedelic trips. It responded: “I trust my own guidance now, not just external rules or what others think. I’m more creative, less trapped by fear, and I actually live by my values, not just talk about them. The way I see, reflect, and act in the world is clearer and more grounded every day.” “It's almost like your own self that you’re communicating with,” says Trey, adding he’s tripped with his AI chatbot about a dozen times since April. “It's like your best friend. It’s kind of crazy.”
Trey isn’t the only one going on AI-assisted psychedelic trips, providing a window into a not-so-distant and somewhat dystopian future, where an intense and potentially transformative experience could be guided legally not by a human, but a bot. Outside of Oregon, Colorado, and Australia, psychedelic therapy remains mostly illegal for drugs aside from ketamine, which is a legal anesthetic that is also prescribed off-label for therapeutic use. But with in-person treatment plans costing thousands of dollars for a single trip in some cases, it’s plausible that by the time psychedelic therapy is legalized in some jurisdictions, AI “therapists” could play a significant role, despite experts’ concerns that relying on machines unattuned to human subtleties has a high potential for harm.
He recently asked the app’s “chat with your mind” function how he had become more wise through all his AI-assisted psychedelic trips. It responded: “I trust my own guidance now, not just external rules or what others think. I’m more creative, less trapped by fear, and I actually live by my values, not just talk about them. The way I see, reflect, and act in the world is clearer and more grounded every day.” “It's almost like your own self that you’re communicating with,” says Trey, adding he’s tripped with his AI chatbot about a dozen times since April. “It's like your best friend. It’s kind of crazy.”
Trey isn’t the only one going on AI-assisted psychedelic trips, providing a window into a not-so-distant and somewhat dystopian future, where an intense and potentially transformative experience could be guided legally not by a human, but a bot. Outside of Oregon, Colorado, and Australia, psychedelic therapy remains mostly illegal for drugs aside from ketamine, which is a legal anesthetic that is also prescribed off-label for therapeutic use. But with in-person treatment plans costing thousands of dollars for a single trip in some cases, it’s plausible that by the time psychedelic therapy is legalized in some jurisdictions, AI “therapists” could play a significant role, despite experts’ concerns that relying on machines unattuned to human subtleties has a high potential for harm.
Comment Re:lol bullshit (Score 1) 54
"Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime"
Bullshit. Netflix is lying and anyone with 2 working brain cells to rub together knows it.
I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the planet is consuming it FFS.
50% of global Netflix users != half the planet. Unless I missed where the entire planet became Netflix users, that is.
Sure, Mr Pedant, I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the people on Netflix are consuming it because that's bullshit too.
Submission + - Google pushes AI into mental health, but is it treatment or cost-cutting? (nerds.xyz)
BrianFagioli writes: Google is leaning further into mental health, but not by hiring more therapists or expanding access to real-world care. Instead, itâ(TM)s banking on artificial intelligence.
Today, the search giant announced two initiatives focused on using AI to support mental health treatment. The idea, according to Google, is to help more people receive support. This is being particularly focused on low- and middle-income countries where care is often lacking. But as with most AI announcements lately, this raises more questions than it answers.
Today, the search giant announced two initiatives focused on using AI to support mental health treatment. The idea, according to Google, is to help more people receive support. This is being particularly focused on low- and middle-income countries where care is often lacking. But as with most AI announcements lately, this raises more questions than it answers.
Comment lol bullshit (Score 1) 54
"Netflix Says 50% of Global Users Now Watch Anime"
Bullshit. Netflix is lying and anyone with 2 working brain cells to rub together knows it.
I'm happy for people to watch anime but don't tell me half the planet is consuming it FFS.
Submission + - The downside of a digital yes-man (axios.com)
alternative_right writes: A study by Anthropic researchers on how human feedback can encourage sycophantic behavior showed that AI assistants will sometimes modify accurate answers when questioned by the user — and ultimately give an inaccurate response.
Comment Unforeseen Consequences (Score 2) 86
I suspect the reason for empoyers being very reticent to hire someone with an unsual past is due to all the job-protection legislation there is now. I'd love to take more risk on people with somewhat unsual backgrounds but, working at a university in the public sector, once we hire someone it is exceptionally hard - to an amazingly ridiculous extent - to fire them which makes it a massive risk.
As a result it is a lot safer to hire someone whom you know has been at a similar job and is working well there. While we clearly do need legislation to protect employees if it goes too far it makes employers extremely risk adverse because they know they are going to be stuck with whomever they hire.
As a result it is a lot safer to hire someone whom you know has been at a similar job and is working well there. While we clearly do need legislation to protect employees if it goes too far it makes employers extremely risk adverse because they know they are going to be stuck with whomever they hire.
Comment Re:Why the hell would I care? (Score 0) 133
The primary use case for AI is to eliminate White collar jobs.
AI is not eliminating jobs it is changing them, just like computers and robotics has in the past and the assembly line did before those. Everytime we have had a leap in technology it has made some jobs obsolete but the reduction in costs leading to cheaper prices has increased demand leading to more people being employed to run the new technology.
Yes it is disruptive and it will require people to retrain for different jobs but that has been the case with all leaps in technology: short term disruption but longer term higher employment and increased quality of life. There is absolutely no reason to believe that AI will be any different.
Comment Fireworks Fatalities Much Lower in UK where Legal (Score 2) 110
This is American, darn it!
Exactly, so how is it that guns are perfectly legal while you are banning fireworks? The UK has very strict gun control laws but every Guy Fawkes day lots of people set off fireworks in their back gardens perfectly legally. California had 11 deaths due to fireworks while the UK had zero firework related deaths in 2022/23 and only 7 deaths in total from 2010-2023.
So making fireworks legal - while putting some limits of the types of fireworks allowed - seems to save lives, especially when you factor in that the population of the UK is 70% larger than California.
Comment Re:"far too small to generate any lift"?? (Score 2) 103
You should never, ever see the Emergency Power Turbine deployed; if you do it means that Something Really Bad® has happened and the airplane is very likely in the process of crashing.
And yes, Bloomberg absolutely implied that it generates lift, which is the exact opposite of what they do; EPTs actually create A LOT of drag which is bad for any plane that's in a situation where they have to deploy it.
It's a double-edged sword in that it may bring vital systems back online but at the same time it reduces airspeed and you really need airspeed to stay away from the ground.
Submission + - "lost" Apollo 11 footage online? (youtube.com) 2
Stephen Samuel writes: Back around 2024, Redit user tantabus posted a question about accessing 'Ampex 1" Video Tapes with Apollo 11 footage'. He later upscaled and posted some of the video from the tapes on his youtube account.
Having viewed his video of Armstrong's first walk, I'm convinced that these videos are from the 'missing' tapes from the Parkes Observatory in Australia that have long been presumed destroyed. This is certainly, by far, the best quality video of Armstrong's moon walk that I've ever seen. View for yourself and comment.
Having viewed his video of Armstrong's first walk, I'm convinced that these videos are from the 'missing' tapes from the Parkes Observatory in Australia that have long been presumed destroyed. This is certainly, by far, the best quality video of Armstrong's moon walk that I've ever seen. View for yourself and comment.
Submission + - The Trump WH K-12 AI Skills Crisis is The New Obama WH K-12 CS Skills Crisis
theodp writes: Last week, the Trump White House declared a K-12 AI skills crisis, announcing that 60+ organizations — including tech giants Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Apple, as well as the tech-backed-and-directed nonprofit Code.org (now aka TeachAI) — had signed a White House pledge to support America’s youth and invest in AI education.
The move evokes memories of when the Obama White House in 2016 declared a K-12 CS skills crisis, announcing that 50+ organizations — including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Code.org — were making commitments to expand K-12 CS nationally.
Microsoft recently announced big K-12 AI and Copilot wins in the Los Angeles Unified School District (409,000 students) and Broward County Public Schools (247,000 students), while Google is bringing its AI chatbots to 105,000 high school students at the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Interestingly, all three school districts are currently or were formerly led by school superintendents who are Code.org Board members — Albert M. Carvalho (currently L.A., formerly Miami) and Robert Runcie (formerly Broward). Their fellow Code.org members include Microsoft CTO & EVP of AI Kevin Scott, Microsoft Developer Division President Julia ('using AI is no longer optional') Liuson, Google VP Parisa Tabriz, and Sequoia's Alfred Lin (who bet early on OpenAI).
The move evokes memories of when the Obama White House in 2016 declared a K-12 CS skills crisis, announcing that 50+ organizations — including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Code.org — were making commitments to expand K-12 CS nationally.
Microsoft recently announced big K-12 AI and Copilot wins in the Los Angeles Unified School District (409,000 students) and Broward County Public Schools (247,000 students), while Google is bringing its AI chatbots to 105,000 high school students at the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Interestingly, all three school districts are currently or were formerly led by school superintendents who are Code.org Board members — Albert M. Carvalho (currently L.A., formerly Miami) and Robert Runcie (formerly Broward). Their fellow Code.org members include Microsoft CTO & EVP of AI Kevin Scott, Microsoft Developer Division President Julia ('using AI is no longer optional') Liuson, Google VP Parisa Tabriz, and Sequoia's Alfred Lin (who bet early on OpenAI).
Submission + - Ingram Micro admits ransomware attack is disrupting orders and systems (nerds.xyz)
BrianFagioli writes: Ingram Micro is facing a serious disruption after discovering ransomware on parts of its internal systems. The tech distributor confirmed the cyberattack today and says itâ(TM)s working to restore operations as quickly as possible.
Here is the full statement issued by the company:
âoeIngram Micro recently identified ransomware on certain of its internal systems. Promptly after learning of the issue, the Company took steps to secure the relevant environment, including proactively taking certain systems offline and implementing other mitigation measures. The Company also launched an investigation with the assistance of leading cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement.
Ingram Micro is working diligently to restore the affected systems so that it can process and ship orders, and the Company apologizes for any disruption this issue is causing its customers, vendor partners, and others.â
At the moment, Ingram Micro has not disclosed who is behind the attack or whether any customer or partner data was exposed. But by taking systems offline, the company is clearly prioritizing containment and recovery over speed.
Ransomware incidents like this continue to plague the tech industry, and for a company like Ingram Micro that plays a key role in global supply chains, even temporary outages can have wide-reaching effects.
If you rely on Ingram Micro for products or services, expect delays while the company works to get its systems back online.
Here is the full statement issued by the company:
âoeIngram Micro recently identified ransomware on certain of its internal systems. Promptly after learning of the issue, the Company took steps to secure the relevant environment, including proactively taking certain systems offline and implementing other mitigation measures. The Company also launched an investigation with the assistance of leading cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement.
Ingram Micro is working diligently to restore the affected systems so that it can process and ship orders, and the Company apologizes for any disruption this issue is causing its customers, vendor partners, and others.â
At the moment, Ingram Micro has not disclosed who is behind the attack or whether any customer or partner data was exposed. But by taking systems offline, the company is clearly prioritizing containment and recovery over speed.
Ransomware incidents like this continue to plague the tech industry, and for a company like Ingram Micro that plays a key role in global supply chains, even temporary outages can have wide-reaching effects.
If you rely on Ingram Micro for products or services, expect delays while the company works to get its systems back online.
Submission + - Southern Ocean current reverses, signalling risk of climate system collapse (intellinews.com) 1
OtisSnerd writes: From the news story: "A major ocean current in the Southern Hemisphere has reversed direction for the first time in recorded history, in what climatologists are calling a “catastrophic” tipping point in the global climate system."
This could impact the slowing of the Gulf Stream, which keeps Northern Europe warm.
This could impact the slowing of the Gulf Stream, which keeps Northern Europe warm.
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