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Comment Re:How to get good (Score 1) 140

For the most part, when the media talks about "math" in primary and lower secondary school we're talking about arithmetic. I remember learning Calculus as a teenager, and it was confusing and not intuitive, but once I got it there was very little more I needed to do. That was a completely different experience compared to multiplication, where I had to drill with flash cards before I had enough of the fundamentals in order to do arbitrarily large multiplication problems, and later it proved to be a vital prerequisite for long division.

Not everything stuck with me, despite practice. I'm really slow at polynomial division, I don't have the basic process down in my head and I use it so rarely that I tend to have forgotten steps when I eventually do need to do it.

I think by the time someone enters high school, they ought to have a basic skill in arithmetic. They don't have to be the fastest at it, but it's going to hold them back in the sciences if not mathematics.

Do you want a nurse that can't add 0.15 mL and 0.35 mL ? Processes in a hospital avoid putting people in the situation of doing arithmetic on the spot, but it tends to happen and people screw it up.

Comment Re:Smartphones should be a commodity (Score 1) 19

That's like saying "Windows and Linux should perform the same function in a compatible way.". I cannot even begin to describe how much I don't want that.

I'm looking at this website from Linux right now because it is HTML/CSS rather than a custom client for AOL or Prodigy or whatever.
Also PDFs work on Windows and Linux. And even calendar invites from my wife are working on my Linux computer (.ics).
Basically desktop Linux performs many (most?) of the same functions as a Windows or Mac in a compatible way. Different flavors of user interface (or whatever this is that the GNOME team calls a user interface)

Who the heck DOESN'T put beans in chili? As a lifelog upper-midwest resident the concept of beanless chili just doesn't compute.

Texas style all-meat chili is pretty good. But it is terrible at being a one pot meal.
It's all just some warped version of Mexican chili con carne. Which I never make myself, but do prefer over Midwestern chili. Some hot tortillas and Spanish rice on the side. It's excellent.
A few of the diners in Michigan serve something they call chili that is more like soup with bits of tomato floating in it. I like this too, but I will accept that it's not really chili but something else.

Comment They have a monopoly (Score 3, Funny) 12

So the backlash is basically irrelevant. Even if valve can get some Linux hardware into people's hands the majority of operating system purchases for computer desktop and laptop hardware or for corporations and business and Linux does not have anything approaching active directory.

So they can ignore any complaints. Because realistically the average user can't do anything about it..

Meanwhile AI has the potential to replace hundreds of billions if not trillions of worth of wage labor. Remember AI is not a product for you. It's not even a product for your boss or your boss's boss. It's a product for the 8,000 billionaires on this planet who are sick and tired of the answer to the question "who's going to buy their products"?

Nobody. Nobody's going to buy their products because they're not going to have products. The goal is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new kind of feudalism.

Comment Re:Smartphones should be a commodity (Score 1) 19

Any phone, shouldn't matter, should basically perform the same function in a compatible way.,

I assume that's on the agenda, right after peace in the Middle East. Serious answer, though: That's like saying "Windows and Linux should perform the same function in a compatible way.". I cannot even begin to describe how much I don't want that.

(that's right, I put beans in my chili. Because beans are CHEAP and my Mom wasn't going to buy two pounds of ground chuck just to make dinner)

Who the heck DOESN'T put beans in chili? As a lifelog upper-midwest resident the concept of beanless chili just doesn't compute.

Comment Smartphones should be a commodity (Score 1) 19

Any phone, shouldn't matter, should basically perform the same function in a compatible way.
It's like buying a can of kidney beans and then wondering if the brand you bought is compatible with your chili recipe. (that's right, I put beans in my chili. Because beans are CHEAP and my Mom wasn't going to buy two pounds of ground chuck just to make dinner)

Comment Re:Why compare to these schools? (Score 1) 32

China recognizes over 200 languages and something like 180 ethnicities, they're one of the most diverse countries on the planet (either second or third, depending on how India counts their ethnicities). IIRC Russia is fourth, with around 100 languages spoken and almost that many ethnicities.

Comment How to get good (Score 1) 140

Nobody is going to like this, but the secret to doing arithmetic: repetition.
You're not going to get it right the first time. And you're not going to remember it long-term unless you've been drilled on it so much that you've been in tears over it.

Math isn't natural for our brains, so it's rather difficult to learn at first, but everyone needs some basic grasp of arithmetic in this society. We're not hunter-gathers anymore, we have bills, taxes, and far more complex lives than we did 1000's of years ago. And we can't just sit in front of a phone and watch videos roll by and expect our lives to amount to anything. You learn by doing, and you get better with practice.

Comment Re:No (Score 1) 32

In the long-term, consumers don't benefit. But the con is in the short-term gains and the benefit is to investors that get out in time, or otherwise have instruments that manage risk of a soon-to-be toxic asset.

Your average 401K or retirement fund manager isn't going to keep people's retirement safe, their focus is on the commission they earn for selling retirees extract things they probably don't need, like term life. Or doing almost nothing if they aren't using commission-based or hybrid compensation. I bring up 401Ks because that's where the significant fraction of the free money that fills these worthless investments comes from. It's ultimately the middle class that gets the short end of the stick in stock market fluctuation. We've seen people's retirements hit hard in previous bubbles, and there is less regulation now than there was in the 2000's and 1980's.

Comment It doesn't really work (Score 1) 124

Not unless you give it absurd amounts of computer power that is incredibly expensive.

AI is worth the money when you're replacing workers with it. But unless it can cut your headcount the cost of the competing resources exceeds regular computer software.

Right now I see it being used a lot to do reports nobody reads. The kind that used to be done by hand or if somebody's clever with a script. But if you have that kind of job you have it because you are somebody's head count.

I've said this before but conservatives are about to get a taste of all the efficiencies they keep clamoring for and they are not going to like it. The real thing AI is doing is letting every CEO know that there might be stuff in their organization they can automate.

And they're firing a lot of essential staff too. Really doesn't matter how important you are. It took me months to sort out a prescription because the company that makes it fired all their staff and replaced them with nothing.

Submission + - U.S. employee well-being hit new low in 2024, survey reveals (phys.org)

alternative_right writes: The latest research confirms a decline in general employee well-being since 2020. In 2024, employees reported the lowest well-being scores on record, as opposed to 2020, when employees reported the highest well-being scores.

"In some cases, the lower scores represent a reduction in employee flexibility for either flexible hours or remote work," the latest research states. "In other cases, these scores could be related to challenges associated with greater economic shifts related to inflation or productivity needs."

"What we're seeing is a growing gap between how leaders and their teams experience the workplace," said Smith. "Managers may feel a return to normalcy, but that doesn't mean their employees do. Leaders must be cautious not to assume their own well-being reflects the broader workforce at their organization. The data shows a potential disconnect, and that's a signal for action."

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