I always thought that in order to build a general purpose AI that humans could comfortably interact with, the learning algorithm would have to be concealed in a human-like robot (indistinguishable from a human, so as not to "learn" various unexpected biases), and learn, at least initially, at the rate of a human being and from the same stimuli. Of course, once you build a bunch of those, they could upload their models, merge them and thus learn faster than an average human.

>>[SV companies] are innovating in ways that make life better for billions of people.

She meant to say, "they are innovating in ways that make life better for the billionaire people."

> You can't exchange a transaction (bitcoins) for a loaf of bread. Yes, you can. When you pay with a credit card, what exactly have you exchanged?

This is what is totally astounding to me. I have an engineering degree from a Midwestern US university and am able to afford my own townhouse, provide for my stay-at-home wife who is taking care of our 1 year old daughter, have a car (that mostly sits in the driveway), able to buy the highest end organic food, have a ton of free time, enjoy music, cinema, theater and have enough money left over for a hobby or two and save for retirement. Generally an intellectually and emotionally satisfying life. All of this despite having a 5-digit family income. What do I see around me? People who make twice as much money or more and own far more junk, who constantly complain about costs and taxes. Where does this come from? Americans need to wake up and realize they already own far more than an average person in this world. It's time to stop complaining and start living.

As opposed to risk ones life to cross the border, be abused by your employer, and live in fear of deportation? I'll take the years in hoops, thanks!

I stream time shifted regular radio from my home server over the web, which I then burn onto physical media (for the car), you insensitive clod.