tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1319966180516686953..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The FACT Act and other proposals for the Union side (the D-Party) in this Culture WarDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24388611824130933842023-06-02T18:34:42.135-07:002023-06-02T18:34:42.135-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83525446788025361592023-06-02T18:03:36.350-07:002023-06-02T18:03:36.350-07:00From the same op-ed on coding I referenced earlier...From the same op-ed on coding I referenced earlier...<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/ai-coding.html<br /><i><br />Over much of the history of computing, coding has been on a path toward increasing simplicity. Once, only the small priesthood of scientists who understood binary bits of 1s of 0s could manipulate computers. Over time, from the development of assembly language through more human-readable languages like C and Python and Java, programming has climbed what computer scientists call increasing levels of abstraction — at each step growing more removed from the electronic guts of computing and more approachable to the people who use them.<br /><br />A.I. might now be enabling the final layer of abstraction: The level on which you can tell a computer to do something the same way you’d tell another human.<br /></i><br /><br />What he's describing is the Second Law of Robotics writ large. And no, it's not about making slaves of a sentient being. It's about a next-next-next level of programming language using commands that are virtually indistinguishable from imperatives in human language.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83579702518293463652023-06-02T18:00:50.276-07:002023-06-02T18:00:50.276-07:00Tell that to those of us in the Transgender popula...Tell that to those of us in the Transgender population who have seen a rise in horrific language against us which is ignored, while any attempts by transgender people to protect themselves results in our deletion from Twitter. Oh, and Musk's own opinion that giving transgender children puberty blockers should result in the doctors going to jail - despite the fact puberty blockers has been shown in cishet children to cause no harm and helps reduce suicide rates in trans children. Musk is a horrific person. And he could die tomorrow and SpaceX would be none-the-worse as a result, because <i>the engineers</i> created those rockets, not Musk.<br /><br />Oh, and his electric cars are trash. If you want to have Tesla continue to upkeep your car you have to sign an NDA about any and all problems you suffer with your car. But the secret is slowly coming out and non-Tesla electric cars are proving to be superior to his vehicles.<br /><br />Acacia H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58404052698502857672023-06-02T17:42:58.379-07:002023-06-02T17:42:58.379-07:00I do not buy the idea that Musk has become in any ...I do not buy the idea that Musk has become in any way "evil"<br /><br />His continual hard work to make this planet better for all of us and to make the riches of the solar system available massively hugely outweighs his dubious activities on Twitter<br /><br />And the fact that he has these "bad" political views is at least 90% down to the way "Liberal establishment" has treated him<br /><br />In a lot of ways our "Liberal Establishment" is like a modern equivalent of CP Snows "Two Cultures"<br />Not sure what they study in the place of "the classics" but they do have a similar distain for people who actually DO THINGSduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71724495716247032382023-06-02T17:27:31.205-07:002023-06-02T17:27:31.205-07:00Dr. Brin,
I hope so. Liars usually don't get ...Dr. Brin,<br /><br />I hope so. Liars usually don't get far in scientific communities. But then, the tobacco industry used to have a whole lot of fake and/or corrupted scientists, and it worked for decades. <br /><br />And why is it that GOP congress creatures can get away with saying they aren't scientists, and yet still pontificate and legislate on scientific subjects they clearly and admittedly don't comprehend?<br /><br />PSBLenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693969299639295594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65657342030873279642023-06-02T16:15:24.863-07:002023-06-02T16:15:24.863-07:00PSB a hack appointed by a gop rep would be far mor...PSB a hack appointed by a gop rep would be far more easily confronted with a direct remand to test specific assertions, e.g. re ocean acidification. The rep himself can dofge that, his chosen 'science guy' cannot.<br /><br />I agree it won't change enveryone. It doesn't have to. We need only peel a couple million marginally sane GOPpers to collapse the entire confederate anti-science edifice.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30858408865989055822023-06-02T16:02:21.184-07:002023-06-02T16:02:21.184-07:00Re: Musk and Twitter. Always bear in mind who his ...Re: Musk and Twitter. Always bear in mind who his underwriters were.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32970715129547377992023-06-02T14:56:36.455-07:002023-06-02T14:56:36.455-07:00Dr. Brin,
All very good points. The only problem...Dr. Brin,<br /><br />All very good points. The only problem, I see is that to at least 70 million Americans, truth is what they want it to be. If you give sacks o' shit like Jim Jordan a hack "scientist" to back up his lies, it gives them the appearance of legitimacy. And if 100,000 other scientists point out that the hack is lying, those 70 million people will roll their eyes and tell all their church buddies that no one can trust scientists because they never agree about anything. We can talk about false equivalences forever, but the undervaluing of education has gotten so bad that vast numbers of people don't even know what science is, and trust their preachers to opine on scientific subjects.<br /><br />Would it work to pack the Scientific Congress with as many legitimate scientists as hacks? That way when the half of hacks that vote one way and all the real scientists vote with the other hacks, it would help to show which side actually has some scientific legitimacy.<br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br />PSBLenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693969299639295594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88073056761668893942023-06-02T14:46:42.974-07:002023-06-02T14:46:42.974-07:00I learned BASIC in high school using a teletype to...<i>I learned BASIC in high school using a teletype to a mainframe. I can tell you my experience was essentially the same. It seemed magical.</i><br /><br />I learned BASIC the same way, but I don't remember it seeming magical. Neat, sure, but not magical.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61813634080816721912023-06-02T14:06:58.295-07:002023-06-02T14:06:58.295-07:00Re: Musk
He is once again the richest man in the ...Re: Musk<br /><br />He is once again the richest man in the world (good year for Tesla, bad year for Arnault). I think I could straighten him out with a 10 minute talk. Why? Because he once broke into tears at the lack of moral support for early SpaceX from venerable NASA astronauts. I'm not at all comparing him to me, but I get the heartbreak and betrayal. Doctrine and authority form a mean SOB.scidatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152319593457629592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-12764490124316379812023-06-02T13:42:27.314-07:002023-06-02T13:42:27.314-07:00Darrell E,
Amen.
Now I have to make a few adjust...Darrell E,<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Now I have to make a few adjustments in the mental model I built to try to understand you. Your last post thrashed it good. Thank you for the opportunity to correct it.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41568628454779005892023-06-02T12:33:09.910-07:002023-06-02T12:33:09.910-07:00Darrell E:
As far as Elon Musk, I'm generally...Darrell E:<br /><i><br />As far as Elon Musk, I'm generally embarrassed by how "my side" has seemingly lost their minds about Musk. I get that his apparent political views and actions are shitty. I agree, they are. ...<br />But exactly like "my side" so often accuses others of denying reality and lacking nuance, too many of those on "my side" now deny all sorts of well verified facts about Musk simply because the reality just doesn't fit with their view that Musk is purest evil,<br /></i><br /><br />I believe that I am on "your side" as you mean that. I don't think Musk is evil by nature. What I take issue with is that he has chosen to use his powers for evil. That he was once a humanitarian only makes that worse. If he hasn't deliberately chosen to cause harm, then he's proving himself to be a "useful idiot", no matter how intelligent he actually is. And his money and influence, especially as king of Twitter, make him a very useful one.<br /><br />His involvement in social media and politics proves the truism that just because someone is a genius in one area doesn't mean he's an authority on other areas. Michael Jordan was (maybe still is) the greatest basketball player ever, but when he tried to do baseball, he couldn't make it in the major leagues.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84258106566655234012023-06-02T12:10:13.571-07:002023-06-02T12:10:13.571-07:00PSB there are many good reasons to have the repres...PSB there are many good reasons to have the representative choose her/his/their/eire own scince adviser. If it is imposed on them it becomes elitist oppression. If they may choose their own from the home district, then refusing INSULTS the home district, implying they could not find anyone. <br /><br />Choosing ANYONE takes away from them the refusal to answer questions with "I am not a scientist." Now someone in their circle is behooved to stand and answer questions. If it is a lame-o idiot or dogmatist, that comes out, under on-camera questioning.<br /><br /> If it is even a community college prof who has some cogency and knowledge - even a devout Christian or conservative - then they WILL break from the dogmatic stance at least partly and the needle will move.<br /><br />finally, if the rep chooses, then the Science Congress has some legitimacy rooted in the will of the voters. That council can THEN choose the top councillors. But there are no advantages to your approach. It would kill the idea from the start.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1594181733058359802023-06-02T10:27:34.529-07:002023-06-02T10:27:34.529-07:00the revelation that, with just the right set of in...<i>the revelation that, with just the right set of incantations, you can summon to life these otherwise inert machines and get them to do your bidding.</i><br /><br />I learned BASIC in high school using a teletype to a mainframe. I can tell you my experience was essentially the same. It seemed magical.<br /><br />I also happened to be taking HS geometry that same year. Two column proofs and the game of "proving theorems" was the focus. What hit me early on is how similar these incantations were. All of them. That was the year I realized mathematics wasn't really about calculations. Doing the numbers was simply how you played the game.<br /><br />The coding magic burned out for me as a freshman in college when I took a COBOL class and spent thirty hours trying to debug a program, but I never forgot the power.<br /><br />scidata,<br /><br />It's because of Kasparov and others like him that I use the term 'centaur' to describe our relationships with computers.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27151066030707610242023-06-02T10:20:42.979-07:002023-06-02T10:20:42.979-07:00Tim H.,
That was a good rant, but I don't hav...Tim H.,<br /><br />That was a good rant, but I don't have much confidence in her POV. Two examples where I think she is very wrong, Mitch McConnell and Elon Musk. Neither of them are remotely close to her fascist profile.<br /><br />I think Mitch "Fucking" McConnell is a contender for worst person in the world, but no, he is not dumb and is very capable of making and executing complicated plans that require an expert understanding of the way our government works. And he amply demonstrated that for years. I agree with the not giving a fuck part though. But that's far from all that Mitch has got in his arsenal. Thank goodness that his reign seems to have ended and the morons have taken over. That's what's likely to save us.<br /><br />As far as Elon Musk, I'm generally embarrassed by how "my side" has seemingly lost their minds about Musk. I get that his apparent political views and actions are shitty. I agree, they are. I also get that he's a gazzillionaire and thereby warrants skepticism and watchful eyes, and I agree with that too. But exactly like "my side" so often accuses others of denying reality and lacking nuance, too many of those on "my side" now deny all sorts of well verified facts about Musk simply because the reality just doesn't fit with their view that Musk is purest evil, therefore they can't be true. And besides, that article on the internet said so.<br /><br />The facts are Musk is highly competent at many things, and yes, he was instrumental in creating Tesla and SpaceX, and no he didn't just put up the money. He was instrumental in the technical & business aspects that have led both of those companies to the undeniably incredible successes they've had to date. It's also a fact that his reason for getting involved with Tesla and starting SpaceX were to try and ensure a better future for human society. In other words, his ethics aren't uniformly bad (and really who's are?), he's very smart and he's very capable of making very long term plans and working very hard to make progress towards them. It's not necessary to approve of Musk's ethics, or to like him, in order to accept those facts and rewriting history in order to justify hatred of a person is stupid, because GIGO, and it's unethical too. That's what the bad guys do, we aren't supposed to do that.Darrell Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14054311762477388637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11130437848045986642023-06-02T09:30:14.048-07:002023-06-02T09:30:14.048-07:00 An opinion worth reading:
https://catvalente.subs... An opinion worth reading:<br />https://catvalente.substack.com/p/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-smart-fascist<br />Seen at mastodon.social/exploreTim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12380916635831994159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37142637902070180312023-06-02T08:51:19.253-07:002023-06-02T08:51:19.253-07:00"When you make the finding yourself - even if..."When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it."<br />- Carl Sagan<br /><br />In a nutshell, that's how tyranny falls.scidatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152319593457629592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35418462874980286762023-06-02T08:39:43.484-07:002023-06-02T08:39:43.484-07:00A NY Times columnist weighs in on coding...
https...A NY Times columnist weighs in on coding...<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/ai-coding.html<br /><i><br />...<br />But the [1980s] games took forever to load, and while waiting I would often pore over the incredible programming manual that came with the Spectrum. The book was full of simple programs written in the accessible BASIC programming language; most of it went over my head, but as I experimented with the examples, I began to feel the thrill that people who fall for computer programming often talk about — the revelation that, with just the right set of incantations, you can summon to life these otherwise inert machines and get them to do your bidding.<br />...<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6444125195423656492023-06-02T07:11:39.142-07:002023-06-02T07:11:39.142-07:00I did read over your Fact Act, and I like it, but ...<i>I did read over your Fact Act, and I like it, but item #3 gives me pause. Why allow Congress creatures to choose their own scientific advisors? You know they are just going to get people who share their prejudices, or can be paid to pretend they do.</i><br /><br />I've only just now looked at the link, and I agree. Considering who was appointed to various positions during the last president's reign, and who is currently getting leadership positions in Florida, I think this is the likely outcome.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85647789337102661702023-06-02T06:35:06.908-07:002023-06-02T06:35:06.908-07:00Saw this gem on the fediverse. In short, early mic...Saw <a href="https://mastodon.social/@reiver/110474433091885617" rel="nofollow">this gem</a> on the fediverse. In short, early microcomputers can be thought of as "BASIC machines."Lorrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13567383019731167967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9132194299508747832023-06-02T06:07:30.815-07:002023-06-02T06:07:30.815-07:00Minecraft, robotics, learning, LLM AI (GPT4), and ...Minecraft, robotics, learning, LLM AI (GPT4), and by extension, neuro-rehab and exploration/exploitation of space by means of automated 'bootstrapping' (see the technology learning & application features).<br /><br />An Autonomous Minecraft Player<br />https://voyager.minedojo.org/<br /><br />It includes hints of what Gary Kasparov is on about when he talks of hybrid human-machine chess players. Mimicry of human intelligence is not AGI, but it's still fantastically useful.scidatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152319593457629592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60576499977338427402023-06-02T05:17:42.147-07:002023-06-02T05:17:42.147-07:00Darrell E
Lego robotics programs at the elementar...Darrell E<br /><br />Lego robotics programs at the elementary level are fairly widespread. It's under the general umbrella of FIRST robotics. I've been involved at the high school level with the big stuff for many years now. The young people I work with there account for a fair amount of my general optimism.<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44616407688485707272023-06-01T23:04:27.457-07:002023-06-01T23:04:27.457-07:00Dr. Brin,
Sorry I haven't been around much la...Dr. Brin,<br /><br />Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I did read over your Fact Act, and I like it, but item #3 gives me pause. Why allow Congress creatures to choose their own scientific advisors? You know they are just going to get people who share their prejudices, or can be paid to pretend they do. Maybe recruit a pool of possible/willing advisors and assign them randomly to our legislative lackeys?<br /><br />PSBLenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693969299639295594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4953708368820072722023-06-01T21:05:42.610-07:002023-06-01T21:05:42.610-07:00@Larry it's how Clarke described the situation...@Larry it's how Clarke described the situation in the book and notes. (although Hal's 'points' were gained by keeping the real reason for the mission from the crew.)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19752783976244763762023-06-01T20:32:42.635-07:002023-06-01T20:32:42.635-07:00Has anyone else heard about the AI drone tasked wi...<i>Has anyone else heard about the AI drone tasked with destroying SAMs that took to interpreting any interference with this mission as a distraction to be eliminated... including the drone operator (fortunately for the operator, it was a simulation). When told not to destroy the operator, it took to destroying the comms tower instead.</i><br /><br />Yeah, I'm reminded of the 2010 short story "Malak" by Peter Watts, available here:<br /><br />https://rifters.com/real/shorts.htm<br /><br />Won't describe it other than to say it's really good, as I don't want to spoiler it.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.com