Comment Literal national security issue. (Score 1) 11
It's not an understatement to say this a break of national security. Everyone involved with the deception needs to be sent to federal prison for this.
Comment Re: Only makes training them safer and cheaper (Score 1) 15
That is a reasonable approach and it may be exactly how they plan on using the tech. I do understand your reaction though as startups tend to be lead by non-technical people that believe that AI is flawless or that it just needs to be fixed a bit and it will be flawless. However, Li is an actual researcher and professor, which makes them far more likely to recognize the limitations of the technology.
Submission + - Physicists identify 'octupolar' magnetism, with implications for quantum tech (phys.org)
alternative_right writes: Recent advances in quantum mechanics have revealed higher orders of magnetism, including an "octupolar order" in which a pattern of particles arranged in a crystalline structure within a material behaves as if it has eight magnetic poles rather than the familiar two.
Comment Re: Only makes training them safer and cheaper (Score 1) 15
Because it's not reality
How you can be sure that will impact the final outcome in any tangible way?
because the technology is fundamentally unsuited to the job. Industrial control should be predictable.
That is the goal but that goal runs counter to the real world where unpredictable situations occur and people get injured or killed despite having machinery with deterministic behaviors. This can be the result of failing machinery or more often operator error. As such, the questions are if AI will behave in a more predictable manner than humans and what is the scope of the potential consequences of unpredictable behavior.
I'm highly skeptical of large neural networks but think optimized neural networks can provide superior results to our own programming efforts which can be equally unpredictable due to edge cases.
Comment Acktually... (Score 2) 23
It says "combat" and "fight back", but it seems like it just protects the user and does nothing to retaliate.
If you are going to nitpick then at least verify your complaint is accurate.
In this case, "combat" is being used as a transitive verb and if you make a quick check to any dictionary you will notice there is an applicable definition.
transitive verb
1: to fight with : battle
2: to struggle against
especially : to strive to reduce or eliminate (e.g. combat pollution)
So "combat" and "fight" merely mean it is working to neutralize the nerve agent.
Comment Halfway to skynet! (Score 2) 51
If they didn't also put up cardboard cuts-outs of people and award it points for running them over then it's like they aren't even trying to make skynet.
Comment Re:Only makes training them safer and cheaper (Score 1) 15
Training the robots' models in a simulation before training them in the real world won't make them safer.
How could you know without ever evaluating the results of the training in the simulated environment? I'm not saying your argument is wrong just that it could be specious since simulations make it possible to train them for much longer periods of simulated time in a wider variety of environments.
Comment Re:macOS download? (Score 1) 3
For macOS, you need to have brew installed to install anything not signed by Apple which last I checked is a real pain which means if they posted an installer, macOS wouldn't let you install it. However, if you can manage to get brew installed then there is a way to do what you want with any advanced skill.
There is a open source AI coding agent that is free to use and will do all of the overly complicated and annoying steps for you.
1. installed the client via brew in a Terminal window using
brew install anomalyco/tap/opencode-v2
2. in the Terminal, make a new project directory and execute "opencode <project_directory_here>" (if the command isn't found then you may have to log out and a back in)
3. When run iit will bring you to an empty text prompt.
4. paste in "download the source for northstar-browser from github and then follow the contained documentation to make a release build for macOS"
5. It may need permission to install several brew packages but it will build the browser for you.
6. If it cannot, ask it to "write a command that will install the packages needed to build the browser", run the command it gives you and then go back to step 3.
7. Ask it to provide the absolute path to the executable.
8. Paste that inside a new terminal window to run the browser.
9. Tell it to install the browser if you want to use it a lot.
10. You can delete the project directory afterward. You can also uninstall opencode too.
It seems like a rapidly progressing project, so you might want to hold off with the installation.
If these instructions are insufficient then I'm sorry I couldn't help.
Comment Submit a fix. (Score 1) 4
I know submitting a fix is not ideal but do you know what the background of the prior CEO of Mozilla was? Data analytics. I have no doubt that in her term, telemetry became THE priority and thus a mess to clean up.
Submission + - Complain about a watchlist? Go on a watchlist! (metro.co.uk)
Shakes Fist writes: "Social media posts criticising government policy are being monitored and investigated by officials, Metro can reveal.
Negative X and Reddit posts from unsuspecting Brits attacking the UKâ(TM)s anti-terror programme Prevent were added to a database of critical online comments.
Metro has obtained a list of nearly 80 critical posts found and logged by the Standards and Compliance Unit (StaCU), which oversees Prevent, between March 2024 and February 2025.
One campaign group whose tweet was recorded in the database said the revelations raised âserious questions about freedom of expression and the right to dissent and protestâ(TM) in the UK."
âoeIt is deeply concerning to see the Prevent duty being used to enable the monitoring of people and organisations simply because they are critical of the programme. That raises serious questions about freedom of expression and the right to dissent and protest.â
We denounce the âoetroubling lack of transparency about what happens to the information gathered through this social media monitoring [by the Standards and Compliance Unit]: how long it is retained, who it is shared with, and ultimately what the government is using it for.â
Weâ(TM)re clear that âoePrevent has expanded far beyond its stated aim of identifying people considered âoevulnerable to radicalisationâ, and has increasingly been used to justify extensive surveillance.â
Criticising the programme for its many faults shouldnâ(TM)t lead to getting put on a database.
ðY' Sarah Lasoye for ORG.
Negative X and Reddit posts from unsuspecting Brits attacking the UKâ(TM)s anti-terror programme Prevent were added to a database of critical online comments.
Metro has obtained a list of nearly 80 critical posts found and logged by the Standards and Compliance Unit (StaCU), which oversees Prevent, between March 2024 and February 2025.
One campaign group whose tweet was recorded in the database said the revelations raised âserious questions about freedom of expression and the right to dissent and protestâ(TM) in the UK."
âoeIt is deeply concerning to see the Prevent duty being used to enable the monitoring of people and organisations simply because they are critical of the programme. That raises serious questions about freedom of expression and the right to dissent and protest.â
We denounce the âoetroubling lack of transparency about what happens to the information gathered through this social media monitoring [by the Standards and Compliance Unit]: how long it is retained, who it is shared with, and ultimately what the government is using it for.â
Weâ(TM)re clear that âoePrevent has expanded far beyond its stated aim of identifying people considered âoevulnerable to radicalisationâ, and has increasingly been used to justify extensive surveillance.â
Criticising the programme for its many faults shouldnâ(TM)t lead to getting put on a database.
ðY' Sarah Lasoye for ORG.
Submission + - AI Finds So Many Linux Bugs That Canonical changes Ubuntu Security Update (nerds.xyz)
BrianFagioli writes: Canonical is changing how Ubuntu kernel security updates are delivered as the number of reported Linux vulnerabilities continues to grow. The company says AI tools including large language models and specialized agents are helping researchers discover bugs faster. The Linux kernel becoming a CVE Numbering Authority has also increased the number of assigned CVEs.
Ubuntu is moving from separate four week regular and two week security kernel update cycles to overlapping two week cycles. The result will be a kernel release every week. Canonical says it will retain hardware certification and regression testing while organizations willing to test release candidates themselves can access fixes earlier through the proposed pocket.
The shift highlights an interesting consequence of AI assisted security research. Finding vulnerabilities faster also puts pressure on Linux distributions to fix and deliver patches faster.
Ubuntu is moving from separate four week regular and two week security kernel update cycles to overlapping two week cycles. The result will be a kernel release every week. Canonical says it will retain hardware certification and regression testing while organizations willing to test release candidates themselves can access fixes earlier through the proposed pocket.
The shift highlights an interesting consequence of AI assisted security research. Finding vulnerabilities faster also puts pressure on Linux distributions to fix and deliver patches faster.
Comment Re:Wrong premise. (Score 1) 87
You think having to work is suffering?
Anything that takes time away from what you would rather be doing is a form of suffering.
So, I have to suffer more to support your selfish apathy and laziness?
Quite the opposite, you wouldn't need to work to survive. You may refuse to acknowledge it but the basic needs of people have been warped into weapons of enslavement. There are plenty of homes and yet homes are unaffordable. There is plenty of food and yet the cost of it keeps increasing. You used to be able to support your family and own a home on a minimum wage job but now to own a home you need dual incomes.
I have to work to earn what I have. You have to work to earn what you have.
What about the child born to billionaires? Do they have to work? What did they do to earn it?
I have to surrender the benefits of my hard work so that you can sleep in?
Why do you believe that you are receiving the benefits of your hard work? Make no mistake, those above you are the only ones really benefiting and they give you crumbs. To put that in perspective, while they take the entire cake, you believe I'm trying to take your crumbs.
It doesn't matter what anyone else has, their lives aren't yours. Resenting what others have doesn't help you, it hurts you.
I don't resent what other people have, I resent what they have done to other people in order to obtain it. There doesn't hurt me, it makes me a better person for recognizing how nobody should behave.
Comment Re:Wrong premise. (Score 1) 87
It takes resources to keep you alive. Why shouldn't you be responsible for providing them?
We have the resources to keep everyone alive with minimal effort. Why should the bulk of society have to suffer for the few who hoard resources but did nothing to earn them?
Submission + - New tin-based solar cells trap heat 1,000 times longer, could beat 33% limit. (interestingengineering.com)
fahrbot-bot writes: Interesting Engineering is reporting that researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that tin-based perovskite solar cells can slow heat loss from high-energy “hot electrons” by a factor of 1,000 and could push solar cell efficiency beyond the theoretical 33 percent limit.
When sunlight strikes a panel, photons jump-start electrons into action. The most energetic photons create super-charged hot electrons. Theoretically, these high-voltage powerhouses should generate far more electricity, but, in practice, they are fleeting. In fractions of a trillionth of a second, these high-energy particles rapidly cool, dumping their bonus energy as waste heat before ever leaving the solar cell.
“This means that the energy is lost before the hot electron exits the solar cell material,” said Jan Anton Koster, Professor of Physics of Novel Semiconductors and Devices at the University of Groningen.
Using a specialized solar cell material called tin-based perovskite, Loi’s lab performed a feat many thought impossible: she slowed the heat loss down by a factor of 1,000. Suddenly, the extra energy lingered for nanoseconds instead of vanishing in picoseconds.
The study findings were published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.
When sunlight strikes a panel, photons jump-start electrons into action. The most energetic photons create super-charged hot electrons. Theoretically, these high-voltage powerhouses should generate far more electricity, but, in practice, they are fleeting. In fractions of a trillionth of a second, these high-energy particles rapidly cool, dumping their bonus energy as waste heat before ever leaving the solar cell.
“This means that the energy is lost before the hot electron exits the solar cell material,” said Jan Anton Koster, Professor of Physics of Novel Semiconductors and Devices at the University of Groningen.
Using a specialized solar cell material called tin-based perovskite, Loi’s lab performed a feat many thought impossible: she slowed the heat loss down by a factor of 1,000. Suddenly, the extra energy lingered for nanoseconds instead of vanishing in picoseconds.
The study findings were published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.
Comment Wrong premise. (Score 5, Insightful) 87
The real question that should be asked is why the fuck are we in a slave society where the only options are work, go to jail, or die? Machines have solved our farming problem where you needed to work on your farm every day and yet things keep getting worse! It's not like, "well if you work, you'll have something to show for it" is true because a tiny fraction of the population owns everything and they are making it worse by the day.
The AI is only being made because the slave masters demand it. Nobody said, "oh fuck, I wish there were more AI to annoy me while I'm trying to use my computer," it's big corps controlled by the billionaire class. Wake the fuck up.
