About "paying customers" - It is interesting to contemplate how the GP's viewpoint is basically anti-oligarchical. He's OK with the disaster because of who was on the sub. If it had been normal people on that submarine, if the tickets were $80 and his mother was thinking of taking the plunge, he would take a much different stance.

A submarine imploding generally doesn't impact bystanders. A plane falling out of the sky very much can.

I'll admit, I'm not sure if the people on the sub were or weren't on the Forbes list. But I feel confident in saying they also "had people", and those people didn't prevent them from climbing into the vessel.

I only wish he could have found a way to get more of the Forbes list onboard. Aren't there a whole hundred of them? We're going to need a bigger carbon-fiber submarine for this job...

Replace the word "any" in your post with "some" and it reads much more rationally.

We're already seeing the bottom drop out in code quality, in those organizations that are really trying to apply AI in the way it's been sold (as a magic bullet to kill labor.)

Maybe quality doesn't matter for some people. There are certainly a lot of "too big to fail" companies who bring shit products to market year after year and never have to worry about competition. But that's not everyone who needs computer software.

Yes, that's why they have to specify.

"Microsoft sucks" isn't just something you read in Slashdot comments anymore. This last year or two, the meme has gone fully mainstream. Starting with the Clownstrike thing (blamed on Microsoft, rightly or wrongly) and accelerating with the Windows 11 shitshow and the contemporary Copilot / cloud services force-feeding.

Their patches have gotten so bad in the vibe-coding era that even Susan From Accounting is starting to notice. She's afraid to update anything now. I don't blame her, and I no longer install Windows patches immediately either. (Same goes for nVidia drivers.)

It had to be named after the Bible. Just to drive the point home that it's about science.

You've pulled up this new word "enhancer" I've never encountered during my extensive research of pharmaceuticals. From the context I can deduce that it's not a medicine.

What, in your estimation, is an "enhancer" and how is that distinguished from a "medicine"?

Optimizing means making the code better. All the programmers I've talked to have told me that you can generate code, more code than you could ever know what to do with, mountains of code in fact, whatever color of mountain you want - but it's never going to be good code.

Some might tell me they are just in denial about their replacement, but what they're saying sounds totally believable to me, based on the interactions I've had with AI.

I see it as the DoE was the most pliant bureau at this point in time. Harder to get the other ones to agree to this nonsense. Once the idea of submitting all your data directly to the government at end-of-day becomes normalized, then will come the mandates, and then restrictions on what you can study.

Wait, you thought this was about promoting science?

That's not a problem for them, it's the point. Thought-shaping and direct visibility into anyone trying to research anything. Not long until it becomes mandatory.

It will be interesting to compare his reception there to Ed Snowden's. I'm assuming it will involve luxury accommodation with a marina and an airfield, not sleeping on an airport bench for 3 years.

Coming soon: Attorney-generals, the best of both worlds. Court not cooperating with seizing your property? He'll send in an armored tank division.

I think there are a few already decorated, judging by the commercials.

So sad, then, to see America turning away from the American model. Every week brings another story of a precrime project from the police, preclearance needed for media to run a story, and a TSA precheck at the airport rummaging through your phone and social media accounts. Just off the top of my head.

It would run on Chinese-made graphics cards, just like it does in the US.