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Comment Fluid versus crystallized (Score 2) 127

I think what is really going on is that is not 'fluid IQ', but regular, normal "IQ".

"Fluid" intelligence is the ability to think, reason, solve problems, and learn things. "Crystallized" intelligence is your amassed knowledge.

These are technical terms used in the literature.

Intelligence is nature's guess as to how complex your environment will be... but there's an out. People with low fluid intelligence have to work harder to understand things, but if they put in the work they can amass a body of knowledge that rivals that of people with high fluid intelligence.

And of course, lots of people with high intelligence stop learning in their mid twenties. At that point they've conquered their environment and are living successful lives (good job, married, kids &c) so there's no real reason to push themselves. Lots and lots of people, even smart people, haven't read a single book in the last year - and this observation was true in the 1970's before the internet.

(And nowadays this is probably more accurate due to the appalling quality of information found on the internet.)

That is, stupid people either do not realize the AI is wrong, or more likely, they are so used to being corrected by more intelligent people that they just assume the AI must be smarter than they are and do not challenge it.

It's a question of training. We're evolved to believe what people say, it's a way of reducing the cognitive load of learning things (by believing what someone else has already figured out). We're not used to questioning the logic of someone else's beliefs.

As an example of this, note that Warren Buffet has built a career on identifying fallacies in business, google "Warren Buffet fallacies" for a list.

None of these fallacies is taught in school, everyone has to find them and figure them out on their own. And then you have to use them in your daily lives.

Almost no one is used to doing that, which leads to the current problems with AI.

Comment Re:Go watch Patrick Boyle's video on YouTube (Score 1) 81

Amazon's valuation was insane back then, their potential for growth was anything but certain (or even likely) at the time. And the SpaceX valuation seems to have been inflated by buying the similarly overvalued xAI company, and doing a stock swap to cement those valuations. I'm sure plenty of people will jump at the chance of owning SpaceX stock at whatever price (I would have when it was just SpaceX), but in the long run?
Well, maybe. Maybe lower launch costs will open up new markets for launches. Maybe they'll get their space-based data centers to work. Maybe xAI's AI will amount to something some day. Maybe there's a vast market for sat based cellular service. Not something I'm going to bet my money on... $1.75T seems high even if they manage to achieve one or all of those things.

Comment Re:Physical books good (Score 2) 67

I love my e-ink reader. I can read anything anywhere, and when my last book is finished, the next read is just a tap away. But that's just for linear reading. When I'm studying, I might be flipping back and forth through a syllabus, or have several of them open side by side. That works poorly on a tablet. On the plus side, with a tablet or latop, students no longer have to carry an unhealthy amount of heavy books to school.

As for using a laptop for taking notes, I find that to be way more distracting than taking notes on paper, whether it's me taking the notes or someone next to me.

Comment Re:uhh (Score 3, Informative) 77

The interface in OnlyOffice more closely resembles the modern ribbon interface in MS Office. For some people, that's a reason to choose LibreOffice instead. OnlyOffice. LibreOffice works very well for me, but I don't work with complex documents, and I don't need collaboration or cloud stuff. The latter might be why they selected OnlyOffice, since that's more like Office365 than MS Office; a more modern paradigm.

Comment Re: Latex schmubs (Score 4, Informative) 50

The claim that "false premises invalidate everything built on them" only holds when the error is unrecoverable and propagates non-linearly.

But in many cases:

The error is consistent and quantifiable, so results can be recalibrated

The relational findings survive even if absolute values shift

The direction of effect holds even if the magnitude is off

A good counterexample of this is carbon dating. Early carbon dating used an assumed atmospheric C-14 ratio that turned out to be slightly wrong. The premise was false, but scientists didn't throw out decades of dating results. Instead, they developed calibration curves (using tree rings, coral, etc.) to correct the systematic offset.

Comment Re:Has Anyone Here Seen It? (Score 4, Insightful) 71

Not yet but I’ll go see it soon What makes me really sad though is that being a “non franchise movie” is now enough of a thing for it to be pointed out specifically. All the big productions these days are in some “universe”, part of a franchise, a sequel or prequel or reboot. God forbid a studio dares to allot a blockbuster budget to an original work.

Comment Use an Age-verified flag (Score 2) 193

Why use a date field, which introduces all manner of privacy and anonymity issues? Instead, you could use flags: unverified, verified-minor, verified-adult. (and for further protection you could opt to leave minors at the unverified state). It might need some refinement since age restrictions vary with jurisdiction. But recording whether someone is at least over a certain age beats recording their exact date of birth.

Comment Re:The fusion delusion strikes again (Score 2) 55

Another reason is that if you send someone up there for roughly a year just to get there

With a working fusion rocket you won't have to coast most of the way, and the journey can be significantly shorter. It's right there in the summary: "from months to just a few weeks". Though I doubt that this company will build an actual fusion rocket motor anytime soon, if ever.

Comment The new MAD? (Score 1) 312

In the 70s and 80s, the threat from a handful of countries was: "We can destroy everything". With developments in Russia, Ukraine, Iran and now China, the new doctrine is: "We can destroy anything"... and that's not just from a few large states, but potentially other actors who are both willing to send these things, and do not greatly have to fear retaliation.

Comment Re:Touch ID (Score 1) 80

That is covered by the "providing false or misleading information" clause. In other countries it might be considered "destruction of or tampering with evidence". Around here, you can't be compelled to provide passwords to your personal devices, but providing a burn-down pin or otherwise deleting information after the police have asked for it, is a crime.

As for Touch ID or Face ID: in many places you can be compelled to unlock your phone with your fingerprint, or they can simply hold it up to your face in case of Face ID. Most phones have a shortcut to lock out biometrics and revert to password/PIN only, comes in handy if you're stopped by police and you suspect it's not just a traffic stop. (On iPhones it's 5 clicks of the side button. That also starts a call to 911 / 112 so make sure to cancel that).

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