Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re: Will make things less secure (Score 1) 79

Ok, except: that doesn't address vulnerabilities in C/C++ apps which are stopped in Rust. This also ignores the fact that there already exist functional tests of these core utilities.

If I can swap a 2mm hex nut from company A for a 2mm hex nut from company B -- and the nuts pass acceptance tests -- that's what you want. It's *ELIMINATING* sources of error within the existing framework of tests.

Comment No, it's a statistical inference model. (Score 1) 126

This does not have free will. It reflects the biases of information. That it displays oppositional defiance disorder means the creators of the model failed to curate the input data correctly. Garbage in, garbage out.

Does NO ONE understand how LLMs are implemented? It's only a statistical model! Learn statistical experiment design and analysis. Always have HITL safety rails. Always have cross-check software safety rails. These concepts are new to people who don't study information science. These concepts are decades old to people who study information science.

Comment Re: Evidence of global warming or something else? (Score 4, Insightful) 44

Oh, so a tiny invertebrate insect (not a mammal) surviving that far north, is a simple by-product of tourism?

Dude, I have some magic beans and a bridge in Brooklyn. Buy them from me. This offer is exclusively for you. Make me an offer.

For anyone not suffering from brain trauma similar to what Phineas Gage had, the reasons are clear. Climate change.

https://www.npr.org/sections/g...

Comment Re:Magnus did the same thing to Hans (Score 1) 48

Magnus Carlson did the same bullying thing to Hans Niemann. Hans had thoughts about ending it too. Guys - when chess is your whole life and then someone falsely accuses you of cheating, your whole world comes crashing down. What is worse is the online peanut gallery that is just hating on life and rage baiting. But these pro streamers and professional players - it hurts them deeply. That's why Magnus Carlson (former world chess champion in the classical format) had to pay a settlement out of court, as he did Hans so bad. I really feel for Danya (Daniel Naroditsky), his family, and his chess community. This is a very said day for chess.

Hans Niemann has been proven a massive cheater. He claims it is only online and not over the board, but what stops most of the elite from doing it is morals and sportmanship - something Niemann thus has proven that he does not have.

Comment Re:Drugs? (Score 1) 48

The "other reason" presumably being he finally gave in to the pressure that the family put on him to become a chess master and killed himself, so the happy family is trying to be forgotten?

Or did he just fall on the wet bathroom floor that Mom didn't wipe dry?

Naroditsky - alongside a couple of other grandmasters - has been the target of disgraced former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik for a long time now. Here's what the #1 player Magnus Carlsen has to say about it, and here's the world #2 Hikaru Nakamura on the same subject.

Another one of the GMs Kramnik has been pestering was David Navara, which caused a large ruckus earlier this year.

Comment Re:I still don't see how there's a basis to compla (Score 2) 37

The difference depends on context, of course.

Generally speaking there are several cases to consider:

(1) Site requires agreeing on terms of service before browser can access content. In this case, scraping is a clear violation.

(2) Site terms of service forbid scraping content, but human visitors can view content and ...
(2a) site takes technical measures to exclude bots. In this case scraping is a no-no, but for a different reason: it violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
(2b) site takes no technical measures to exclude bots. In this case, the answer is unclear, and may depend on the specific jurisdiction (e.g. circuit court).

(3) Site has a robots.txt file and ...
(3a) robots.txt allows scraping. In this case, even if the terms of service forbid scraping, the permission given here helps the scraper's defense.
(3b) robots.txt forbids scraping. In this case obeying robots.txt isn't in itself legally mandatory, but it may affect your case if the site takes other anti-scraping measures.

Comment Re:Shouldn't have circumcised those babies (Score 1) 59

Not *explicitly*. Offering such a database would be an invitation for people to look at the whole data broker industry. So what you, as a databroker who tracks and piegeonholes every human being who uses the Internet to a fare-the-well, do to tap into the market for lists of gullible yokels? You offer your customer, literally anyone with money, the ability to zero in on the gullible by choosing appropriate proxies.

For example, you can get a list of everyone who has searched for "purchasing real estate with no money down". Sad people who buy colloidal silver and herbal male enhancement products. People who buy terrible crypto assets like NFTs and memecoins. Nutters who spend a lot of time on conspiracy theory sites.

It's kind of like doxxing someone. You might not be able to find out directly that John Doe lives on Maple St and works for ACME services, but you can piece it together by the traces he leaves online. Only you do it to populations wholesale.

Comment If you don't like this (Score 2) 82

wait a week or two and the details will change completely.

Trump is nothing if not mercurial. His fans will tell you he's playing 11 dimensional chess... I have my doubts, but let's say that's true. The problem is that when it comes to the economy it's not chess. It's more like basketball, and the President is the point guard calling plays, except the play being called keeps changing before the players can execute the last call. It's a tough time to be running a business, you can't plan out more than a couple of weeks.

Comment Re:Every military that cares about homeland securi (Score 1) 197

Right, the economist refer to this as "externality". Fossil fuels aren't cheap, if you factor in the costs that people using them transfer to third parties. Theoretically, if the true cost of using fossil fuels were factored into every pound of coal or gallon of gasoline consumed, then we would use *exactly the right amount* of fossil fuels. Probably not zero, but not as much as we do when we pretend pollution isn't a cost.

Comment Re: Bad ideas that just won't go away (Score 1) 148

I essentially made the argument that if we want capitalism to work the way we were taught in civics class it is supposed to, companies must be forced by regulation not to undermine the basic assumptions that lead to efficient operation of the free market.

I am neither here nor there on a basic income. I think it depends on circumstances, which of course are changing as more and more labor -- including routine mental labor -- is being automated. We are eventually headed to a world of unprecedented productive capacity and yet very little need for labor, but we aren't there yet.

Slashdot Top Deals

If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.

Working...