I don't believe this would be the case, at least not for long - the new USB chips will become cheaper as time goes by.

But even if this happens, it's a good thing. As a customer, I much prefer to buy merchandise where what I see is what I get. I don't want to have to dig through fine print on some vendor's confusing site to find out what the real capabilities are. I can compare a laptop that has 2 full USB-C ports against one that has 3 full USB-ports. I can't really compare it against a laptop that has 1 full port, two that only support power charging, and another one that supports display but no data, or whatever weird combo cost-cutters come up with.

I'd like to recommend the very thought-provoking short story Learning To Be Me, written by Australian writer Greg Egan (if you don't want spoilers, the Wikipedia article contains a plot summary). It's quite topical to this discussion, and also quite unsettling.

As the man says, Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi. It's the Republican way: when we do it it's good. When somebody else does it, it's the greatest crime ever.

What we're seeing now is just a continuation of the profound hypocrisy that characterizes the Republican party. Not that Democrats are saints, but Republicans have been and still are completely shameless in their double standards. For example, as the Dubya admin was pushing the American deficit to unprecedented heights, Cheney famously said "Deficits don't matter" - and the Republican party applauded. As soon as Democrats came into power, Republicans instantly turned into deficit hawks, attacking Obama for the deficit they themselves had created. There are even worse examples out there, but I don't want to make this rant too long. And sadly, it's not only Republican politicians who are guilty of that; regular Republican voters are by now quite versed in double-think.
 

You needn't worry; I'm sure our respected leaders will provide proper venues for us peons to redeem ourselves through work. After all, don't they tell us that work will set you free? (though it sounds better in the original German).

I read both the Bloomberg and the Reuters articles linked in the summary, and there is no mention of EVs. Most companies mentioned in the article - BYD, Great Wall, Dongfeng Motors - produce both EV and hybrid/ICE vehicles. The only pure EV manufacturer in the articles (Leapmotor) is a relatively small startup, and it was only mentioned tangentially, because its stock suffered losses. There is no mention whether Leapmotor was summoned to discussions.

It looks like your EV reference is a hallucination. Either you're an AI or your MAGA is showing.

Whyever not? Should you also not be able to tell a human artist to draw something in Ghibli style? Or, if you're skilled enough, shouldn't you yourself be able to draw something in Ghibli style?

I don't see much of a difference between drawing something in Ghibli style using Photoshop or even pencils and drawing something in Ghibli style using an AI.

Actually no; the thread is here . It's on a forum for casual discussions in Romanian

Coincidentally, there was a very recent thread asking what people use ChatGPT for on one of the national reddit groups I sometimes visit. It appears there are quite a few users of AI, and they use it in very creative ways. Here are a few of the responses, condensed:

- New hire for electrician position: used ChatGPT as a tool for learning the regulations related to electrical installations and offer solutions for various work-related problems (got a raise early)
- Technical translations for various handbooks
- Help learning a foreign language, explaining grammar rules, providing examples and explaining differences in nuance between various words or expressions
- Ask for the correct words to use by providing either the antonyms or a vague definition (better than Google)
- Fix typos and suggest better wording for formal texts/mail; adapting resumes for different job offers
- Develop new recipes using ingredients and proportions from food industry
- Suggest recipes based on ingredients in the fridge, with calories count; also suggest substitutes for missing ingredients
- Suggesting menus for parties, adapting them if some people have allergies or don't like some foods
- Scripts for Photoshop/InDesign
- Ask all kinds of weird questions (for example, what would a world populated by Neanderthals look like)
- Recognize forest plants from photos
- Fanfiction writing, generate memes, generate various images
- Help with tailoring - the user uploads a pattern and ChatGPT explains the steps and advice
- Help choosing the appropriate attire for an interview
- Training schedules
- Home design: upload a photo of a room and various tile options and ChatGPT generates images of the rooms with those tiles
- Somebody to talk to/informal therapist
- Create personalized vacation itineraries for participants (elderly, handicapped, with young children etc), with side trips, general advice, things to see
- (mother of young child): journal for keeping track of new foods added to the child's diet, with the baby's reactions. Reports from the journal, suggest meals and recipes using well tolerated ingredients.
- Food journal for dieting
- Arduino circuit design

I don't see 100% adoption of EVs as a goal in itself. For me, EVs are one of the mechanisms for reducing pollution and helping the environment. From this point of view it would be great if we manage to get to 80% EV adoption. Heck, even 50% would be excellent, so I wouldn't be bothered at all if we can't get to 100%.

Note that there is a feedback mechanism at play. As ICE vehicles become more scarce, their support infrastructure (oil extraction, refineries, gas stations, but also skilled mechanics, spare parts etc) will also dwindle, making ICE ownership more painful. At the same time, with more and more EVs, it will become profitable for businesses to address the related friction points (for example, building more charging stations). As the EV support infrastructure grows, owning an EV will become easier than owning an ICE in more and more places. People who don't care about environmental effect or other similar ideological reasons will end up choosing an EV simply for convenience.

I was born in an Eastern European country and lived there until after the fall of communism. Your message is typical of a form of Western naivety I often see from people who haven't experienced life in a dictatorship - communist or otherwise.

Your hack will not work. The loss of regular reports from the application will surely be seen as proof of spying. You may not even use a Faraday cage, and just leave your phone in the hotel room; somebody will see your location doesn't change, and check with the hotel personnel, who will report on your comings and goings. Leaving the phone in the room will also be seen as proof of spying. You'll face some unpleasant days, after which, with luck, you'll only get expulsion. If however some local official doesn't like your face, or wants to look good reporting to his superiors, you may risk even worse consequences.

Nah, it has nothing to do with consumerism. Nor is it a case of humans "going" to be hacked. The techniques for "hacking" people are age-old. They've been created and used millennia ago, and became formalized into sciences.

In ancient Greece young statesman and nobles were taught rhetoric - the art of persuasion. The first teachers of rhetoric (mainly in contexts of legal or political debate) were the sophists (from whose name derives the term sophistry ). They weren't very concerned with facts; their goal wasn't establishing the truth, but rather winning their case. Socrates (who was himself accused of sophism) criticized rhetoricians who teach anyone how to persuade people in an assembly to do what they want, without knowledge of what is just or unjust.

Rhetoric used to part of academic curricula until about a century ago; from the study, it appears ChatGPT is rediscovering at least one of the basic concepts of rhetoric: adapt your argument to the audience.

Well, Google and the other ad slingers would do better to use their AI to identify those viewers and only send ads to them. The AI could easily realize there are people who never look at ads and don't buy stuff from commercials. Sending ads to those people is just a waste of time and resources.

Of course they wanted to! Apple is legendary for embracing universal standards with open arms. No proprietary cables, no exclusive ecosystems, and definitely no forcing customers into any kind of walled garden. All Apple ever strove for was seamless compatibility with everything else out there. Yep, any day now!

Or, how about instead of throwing away all your accessories you buy a USB-C to lightning adapter? Admittedly, it will set you back all of 29 bucks, but if you already have a bunch of accessories and are also planning to spend at least a few hundred dollars for a spanking new iPhone, I think another 30 bucks wouldn't break the bank. And I'd be surprised if there aren't some cheaper Chinese adapters available too.

Eh, no. Apple's stated position was "We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world". They even commissioned studies to show that customers want more types of connectors rather than fewer. Of course, their opposition was all about innovation, not locking customers in. Honi soit qui mal y pense!

In the end they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into changing.