I agree with your premise, but I do think there are a few additional specific was AI can be helpful. For example, I find it useful to get AI to generate code to call an unfamiliar API, the first time I use it. Also, when the syntax is obscure, such as SQL Server XML or JSON manipulation commands. These are easy to review, hard to generate. The underlying principle is right on: Know exactly when to use AI, and when to skip it.

There is another reason I use AI: to generate drudgework code that I don't want to mess with myself. I don't even care if it takes a bit longer, it's worth it to me because I don't have to do an annoying task.

Sure. Your idea of "decent" is different from mine. So define what "decent" is to you, and be that person. That's where you will find other like-minded, "decent" people. If your version of "decent" means being a hermit and avoiding in-person contact with people, then yes, you'll have trouble meeting decent people.

Yep, I know. This generation is so absorbed with their phones, that they don't look up and have conversations with the decent people around them. Decent people are still here, doing volunteer work, getting together in person with neighbors and friends, participating in the community or churches. If you "can't find" a decent partner, it might be because you're not out there *being* a decent person.

This is true, if you sit behind a computer or phone screen all the time.

Sure, if life is about satisfying your desires, then you're absolutely right. Personally, I believe that is a very shallow existence. Yes, children change your relationship. I know, I have two grown sons. But they also bring rich rewards into your life, that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Not to mention, having a chance to influence the next generation for the better.

Good luck with your cooperative society. Take away people's ability to better their lives through their own work, and you take away their *will* to better their lives. If it could be done, some country somewhere would have done it by now. Certainly, many of claimed to do it, only to find out that people are inherently selfish. In every case, these countries quickly degenerated into dictatorships. Every single one.

I'm curious about the "cool things" you think people want to do on Texas public lands. I think you've been on Reddit too much. In truth, 4.2% of land in Texas is public. https://www.summitpost.org/pub... Notably, *all* beaches in Texas are public, it is not legal to privately own land beyond the vegetation line. That's more than California can say.

To me, "being prepared" means educating myself thoroughly on this new technology, so that I know exactly what it can and cannot do, what it's good for and not good for, and how to leverage it to my own advantage. Looking away and pretending it doesn't exist, is not any kind of "preparation."

Usually, cheap means low quality. How long will these "dozens of (cheap) robots" last? How readily will using them, translate into actual learning about robotics?

I don't think $300 is a bad price for a robotics educational tool. Lego Mindstorms certainly wasn't cheaper, and I felt like it was a bargain.

Don't worry, Elon Musk is starting a new "America" party. He'll ruin that word too.

Having no moving parts, is not an inherent advantage. Solar panels do decay and need to be replaced over time, just like wind turbines do.

Sun shine is NOT more dependable than wind. The sun is guaranteed not to shine at night, every night. In windy places that are used for wind farms, the wind tends to blow constantly. West Texas is a great example, the wind rarely stops, and usually blows at about 30 mph. It does slow during the day, when the sun is shining, but picks up at night, when the sun is not shining.

Both sources of power have advantages and disadvantages, and complement each other. More variety of sources, is better than depending on any one single source.

By this logic, Indeed and Glassdoor wouldn't be allowed to use *computers* for hiring and staffing. AI does not change this equation, it's just another kind of software that runs on computers. Despite the hype, it is no more replacing humans than "regular" software replaces humans.

No sane person would demand that staffing agencies decline to use computers.

Thanks for the source, I stand corrected.

OK no, sorry, rsilvergun is not a source. He is a commenter. Neither the linked articles, nor the other articles I've seen, point to a specific missing employee of FEMA who would have conveyed the alerts, had he been present. This notion is fiction.

So which is it? 50 years of deregulation, 50 years of Republican influence, or 3 months of Trump? You can't have it both ways. Pick a villain and stick to it.

There are certainly questions about dark matter, and about when exactly humans started to domesticate wolves and raise crops. But the one thing that's least in doubt in this study, is the timeline of when zoonotic pathogens began to appear in the genetic record. Carbon dating is well-established and proven accurate through thousands of separate studies. Likewise, genetic analysis is highly accurate.

So while we might not know exactly *why* zoonotic pathogens began to appear at this time in history, we can be quite confident in *when.*