I think it's more horses for courses, and can also vary considerably between what different demographics, both contemporary and historical, think of as "perfection". Hollywood is largely driven by white western males, so they naturally favour your "20% silicone", although that does seem to be undergoing a gradual change of late, but that's not the case for world cinema as a whole; you'll find far fewer wannabe Barbie Dolls in African cinema, for instance.

From a people portraiture perspective, especially candids, there is also a night and day difference between what a photographer would most typically want to shoot in a studio vs. on the street. The former is very much about some ideal of perfection, with hours spent on makeup and clothing the model(s) and setting up the lighting rigs, before the camera even gets turned on, whereas in the streets and fields, you are totally going to home in the people with the most interesting features, and those often tend to be very much the definition of imperfection. You are actively looking for the aged faces with more lines than a metro map, more piercings/tats than Vogue would likely ever consider acceptable, and anything else that really tells a story about the kind of life the viewer of the resultant image might imagine them to live. For the right images, there is absolutely value that can be measured in both clicks and dollars there too.

Also, why limit it to women implanting silicone to comply with some visual aspirational idea of perfection being forced on them by men (mostly), media, and entirely unrealistically proportioned dolls? Have you seen the lengths some men are going to as part of the "looksmaxxxing" fad? There's going to be a Darwin Award winner there real soon now, I'm sure.

Actually, I think it was Fred Schwed Jr. 86 years ago, but still just as relevant. In case it's not obvious from the fee, this is totally not about making YOU financially better off.

I'm guessing the tank has enough positive pressure left internally that it can withstand the pressure exerted upon it by the upper stage's engine exhaust without collapsing until the upper stage is clear. If it deforms, then presumably it would not be able to be reused, but if it can withstand the pressure long enough just fine then that removes the need for some additional shielding, and the mass that entails.

You're assuming the companies with these fleets of (currently largely non-existant) robots are still going to solvent if the bubble pops. That seems highly unlikely in many cases given the business model for AI is apparently "borrow massive amounts of money to fund it using the promise future orders as collateral". Asset strippers have no interest in salvaging a business; their business model is to buy the physical assets cheap, dump the debt on to bagholders (the shareholders), and sell the assets off to whoever wants it, hopefully for more than the cents on the dollar paid they probably for it. I buy stuff from these auctions from time to time; it's a great way to get nearly new, and often still on the market, kit at a fraction of the retail price.

Also, Facebook might not be the best counter example there. Remember what happened to many of the hires, business units, servers, and services, Meta setup when Zuck went all-in on the Metaverse? What do you think he'll do if going all-in on AI doesn't pan out for him?

Yeah, but these are Humanities students. That, by its very definition, is an area where AI should have very limited use, where it is applied should be done really, really, carefully, and job losses are far less likely than in many other fields. Sure, there's analysis of datasets, especially of geographical and historical data, but that is one of the areas where a specifically trained model can really be of use, but an AI is never going to painstakingly brush away dirt from some ancient historical site, and I shudder to think what would happen if AI hallucinations get let loose on philosophy or religion. That said, it would probably be very amusing watching those who buy into the output; and doubly so if the model was trained on the Butlerian.Jihad from Dune, less so for actual crusades, jihads, and "holy" wars.

Still, if these presumably tech savvy Gen Z students are not fans of the tech, regardless of whether that's because the recognise how its being used by corporates or some other reasons, then I think the people that need to be more worried about this are those that have built the massive pyramid trillions of dollars of debt to build something that few seem to want or trust. Like the .com boom, the bubble must pop sooner or later and sort out who is a "pets.com" and who is a "google.com", and there are growing indication that, unlike .com, the demand that will be required to pay for it all just isn't there, and we're already way beyond the scale of any previous government bailouts. That kind of crash only has one outcome; a lot of shareholders (which includes pension funds) are going to lose their shirts.

According to TFS, the layoffs are due on 20th May. No one is going to voluntarily quit if they can just phone it in for another 8 working days and get at least some additional severence pay to tide them over while they look for a new job. If they don't get cut and are still hacked off enough on the 21st, that's probably when people are going to start to quit.

Of course, one thing Meta is very good at is profiling people. And another, as TFS points out, is being callous sociopaths. Chances are they've factored all that in and I wouldn't be at all surprised if their actual target is a 15% RIF and they've worked out that if they fire *this* 10% on the 20th, then *this* further 5% that have definitely had enough and were hoping to be laid off will be so fed up with the loss of their former colleagues and even more hostile workplace will quit of their own accord over the next few weeks. If Meta was aware you were looking for another job before they announced the 10% RIF, it's pretty good bet you're in the additional 5% they are hoping for.

It's not a lake under the city, it's an aquifer, so it takes quite a bit of time for the water to disperse, rather than flow, through it. Replenishing a little bit of the water in one area through a leak might stave off some of the sinking in that area, but the areas where water is being extracted from will continue to sink much faster, with the additional complication that the density of the aquifter likely varies as well. The net result is the same though; different parts of the city sink at different rates, with those near leaks or denser parts of the aquifer slower than those near extraction points or the more porous areas, hence all the tilting buildings.

So yeah your AI can outperform a doctor that gets 5 minutes with the patient before having to move on to the next one in order to keep their private equity Masters satisfied.

So, suppose, we stick it to the "private equity Masters", compel them to double the number of doctors — forget for a second, who is going to pay for them — and afford them a whopping 10 minutes with the patient.

ChatGPT will still beat humans... And it will be getting better with every month, whereas the humans will not...

A new study from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess found that an OpenAI reasoning model outperformed experienced ER doctors at diagnosing and managing patient cases

AI is sufficiently anthropomorphic to be capable of making mistakes. Demanding perfection from it is stupid. It does not need to be error-free. It just needs to be better than humans...

because only a few at every level of government liked them *and* their legal status is very dubious

There, there. With enough of China-sponsored whipping up, the liking of a nuclear weapons research lab can be sunk overnight just as well. Indeed, this very story describes a symptom of that happening.

the rule of law is excruciatingly imperiled atm

"At the moment"? Laughing out loud...

This effectively is a fight between two branches of government, one federal, the other municipal

Federal government is at quite a disadvantage on local level — as ICE have found out dealing with other (or the same) anti-Americans.

David just might defeat Goliath

David was neither an insurrectionist, nor given aid or comfort to the enemies of his government.

I think you have the power-dynamic all backwards.

You do. Government's — even local town government's — power over businesses is immense and quite literally keeps us all from having good things.

Your data from [connected apps] isn't used to train our models

Why not — and why are people so worked up about it?

Do you resent a junior colleague learning from you too? Would you like employers to starting stupulating a right to erase memories of a departing employee upon termination of employment — lest, heaven forbid, he profits from the experience gained working at one place during the rest of his career?

There are special cases, but in general, of course conversations and collaboration should be enriching for both sides.

The thread that runs through your examples is knowingly allowing or directly facilitating known illegal activity.

It seems, you're stressing out the "knowingly" part as the distinction making a difference. But certainly, ChatGPT knew — or should have known — what the conversation was about. I've seen AI use terms like "narrative ark"...

If Google could be accused for abetting illegal drug importation, it does not seem unreasonable to go after ChatGPT in this case, not that I personally approve of either...

I asked Claude to find similar targeting of libraries or phonebook-providers in the pre-Internet era, and here are the two remotely related ones below.

The rot of criminal prosecutions of speech seems to originate from Europe...

Remsberg v. Docusearch, Inc., 149 N.H. 148 (N.H. 2003)

Information provider: Docusearch, Inc. — pre-internet-era commercial information broker (operated by phone and mail before going online)

Allegation: Liam Youens paid Docusearch $154 to obtain Amy Boyer's workplace address. Docusearch obtained it through a private investigator using "pretexting" (calling Boyer's insurer under false pretenses). On October 15, 1999, Youens drove to Boyer's workplace and shot and killed her as she left work, then committed suicide. Boyer's mother sued Docusearch for wrongful death, invasion of privacy, and violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Outcome: The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that information brokers owe a duty of care to third parties who may be harmed by the information they sell, and that selling a person's workplace address to a stranger — without verifiable legitimate purpose — can create liability for foreseeable harm. The case is civil, not criminal. Docusearch settled. This is the closest analogue to a "directory publisher" being held liable for a crime committed using their information.

Prosecuting attorney: Civil — private plaintiff (estate of Amy Boyer). No criminal charges against Docusearch. No DA involved.

The "Anarchist Cookbook" — No prosecution despite decades of use in crimes

Information provider: William Powell — author; Lyle Stuart, Inc. — publisher (1971)

Allegation: The Anarchist Cookbook contains instructions for manufacturing explosives, drugs, and weapons. It has been cited in connection with numerous crimes and terrorist incidents over five decades, including the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine shooters, and multiple UK terrorist convictions. Despite this, no criminal prosecution was ever brought against Powell or his publishers in the United States.

Outcome: No charges ever filed in the US. Powell spent the last decades of his life unsuccessfully trying to have the book withdrawn; the publisher refused. In the UK, mere possession of the book has been used as evidence of terrorist intent in several prosecutions of individuals (not the publisher). The book remains a key data point showing the limits of the Barnett/Paladin precedents: without proof of specific intent to assist a specific crime, criminal liability for publishers does not attach.

Prosecuting attorney: No prosecution. N/A.