Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- You'd think this would be something Taco Bell would offer

- Morgan Housel on a Few Ways the World Works

- The complete beginner's guide to Autonomous Agents. Long but interesting read.

- I support Rand Paul's amendment to protect firefighters.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- A major reason why manufacturers are looking at places like India and Vietnam as alternatives to China. (Via)

- Cool resource - the Biodiversity Heritage Library has around 150,000 illustrations available free for download.

- Marc Andreessen - On the Candlemaker's Petition. Be sure to read the footnotes as you go.

- "I worked on Google's AI. My biggest fears are coming true." Key line to me, "there's no way of knowing the side effects of this technology." We're potentially opening a Pandora's box.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Beyond Meat is struggling. Good - why anyone would eat fake-meat garbage is beyond me.

-  Russ Roberts' critique of utilitarianism (very long read but it's Russ Roberts!)

- AI understands the First Amendment better than the FBI 

- Probably why the Left is so keen to take down statues of Thomas Jefferson these days

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I for one welcome our new AI overlords.

-  The four materials essential to modern civilization are cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia - and they all need fossil fuels to create. Interesting to me that the article appeared in Time. 

- Laughed too much at this

- On a lighter AI note

Meta's Chatbot Says the Company 'Exploits People'

This is hilarious. I don't think Meta's going to be a big success. Someone should have asked the chatbot about Meta's stock.

Also reminded of the quote of when someone tells you who they are - believe them. The chatbot may have just told the world what Meta (and Mark Zuckerberg) really are. I believe the chatbot. 

HT Digg

Peter Thiel Thinks People Should Be Concerned About Surveillance AI

I think Peter Thiel is 100% right.

"If we say crypto is libertarian and that it is fundamentally a force for decentralization, then I think we should also be willing to say that AI, especially the low-tech surveillance form, is essentially communist."

"If you want to frame it as a technological race... I want the crypto decentralized world to work," he said.  

(HT Meanderthal)

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- If you thought profiling by police was disturbing then just wait till it's done as the result of AI (artificial intelligence)  and ML (machine learning). "Somehow, AI produced by white guys often seems to work best on white guys." Interesting long read but worth the time.

- Would Could Cause a US China War?

- The Rise of Avatarism. The future will be weird. Very weird. "I am not a cat."

- Never change Texas

- Wait -Texas is responsible for what?

Linky Links

 Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Artificial Intelligence defeats human Lockheed F-16 pilot in virtual dogfight.

- Victor Davis Hanson: A sort of good-bye to Germany? I agree 100% with the US troop withdrawal from Germany. 

- Is Daily Fantasy Sports gambling? The IRS now says "Yes"

- That's some hot coffee

- Like this Machiavelli quote.

Linky Links

 Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Storing energy in red bricks. Common red bricks. Just "50 bricks would enable powering emergency lighting for five hours." Still trying to wrap my head around this.

- Sweden's disease expert says just wearing masks could be "very dangerous."

- Funny because there could be a grain of truth to it!

- Also funny because there could be a grain of truth to it!

- A college kid's fake AI generated blog becomes one of the most popular on the web. This is a little scary when you think of the potential ramifications and uses. I was amused by him choosing a "blog category that doesn't require vigorous logic: productivity and self-help."

- Fantastic Roger Moore story. He was such a gentleman.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh

- A rediscovered John Steinbeck short story about a chef and his cat has been published in English for the first time.

- A reminder that people work very hard to put food on your table

- Cool - Machine learning has been used to translate ancient long-lost languages.

- Naval Ravikant: the company size is shrinking

- This is an interesting idea.

- Probably going to try to work one or two of these into my workout routine.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Rasputin sings Beyonce

- Interesting thread on Trump and Iran

- NASA has a probe that has been stuck on Mars for months. And they are trying to rescue it.

- Library Porn

- Drew Brees wins $6.1 million jewelry lawsuit. Why so much jewelry in the first place Drew? Are you compensating for not having one of these?

- Creepy but yet you cant help but find yourself trying to find the clown in each picture

- The Ancient Greek philosopher who was exiled for claiming the moon was a rock and not a god.

Is Artificial Intelligence Alive?

Recently on the Joe Rogan podcast there was an interesting discussion on if Artificial Intelligence can be considered to be "alive". Let's look:

Does it have a life cycle? Well it is created so it has a birth but does it eventually die? Not sure - the software could manipulate itself into new "hardware" if necessary. Going to say maybe on this one.

Does it undergo metabolism? Well it does consume power but metabolism? Going to say NO on this one.

Can it grow? Yes AI will have the power to grow.

Can it adapt to its environment? Going to say YES here as well.

Can it respond to stimuli? Yes - AI will be able to respond to stimuli.

Can it reproduce? Yes and this is our second biggest fear about AI.

Can it evolve? Yes and this is our biggest fear.

It looks like AI will meet most of the biological requirements for being classified as being "alive". So much so that I fully expect some wingnuts to start argue about AI having rights. Which should scare you if you're like me and scream at Siri in the car when she gives you bad information or can't understand the question. In the future I might be liable for jail time for this verbal battery.

I just hope we are a long way from this future.

Deepfake AI

Interesting article on Samsung's deepfake AI that could fabricate a video of you from a single photograph.

While the article highlights some of the negative potential for the technology (like inserting your ex's face into explicit "revenge porn") I kept thinking of a very positive potential application.

Remember the portraits in Howarts in the Harry Potter universe? Paintings that seemed alive? Can you imagine a classroom in the not to distant future where say a physics class is lined with the photos of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking and other physics greats?

These portraits could combine this deepfake AI with true AI where the portraits are loaded with all of the works of the person they show. In addition the data of where more modern science has either disproved or enhanced their ideas can be added. The teacher could ask "Sir Isaac could you explain your theory of gravity?" and the painting could come alive with an explanation. Then the teacher could follow-up by asking Sir Isaac how his theory differs from Einstein's. How cool would that be?

In the cases of more modern folks like Einstein and Feynman where we have recordings of their actual voices it may be possible for the "paintings" to even adopt many of the characteristics and mannerisms of those they portray.

Like Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." We may be getting close to that point here.

This Week in Musk World

With Valentine's Day this past Tuesday maybe the big news on the Tesla front this week was the features and upgrades starting with the perfect time to use Tesla's Romance Mode.

- Sentry mode was made active.
- Dog Mode was released.
- And of course let's not forget about Fart Mode.

The Kia Niro EV could emerge as the leading competition to the Model 3 in the US. That is once the car is available in more than 12 states. Audi teases the Q4 e-tron as a potential competitor to the Model Y. The Q4 e-tron SUV is not scheduled to be available until late 2020 (is that why they called it the Q4?) or 2021. The Model Y gets a head start as it is supposed to be ready for shipment in 2020 and if it gets a perfect crash-test safety rating like it's big brother the Model X then the Model Y will be tough to top. Meanwhile Amazon invests $700 million in electric pickup truck startup Rivian. Setting up Bezos vs Musk once again (like SpaceX vs Blue Origin). GM is also rumored to be an investor in the Michigan based startup.

Threats of competition are nothing new for Tesla. But if Tesla can continue to top the lists of "most satisfying" cars this competition will continue to exist largely on paper. And as noted by Morgan Stanley - Tesla's Supercharger Network is a big competitive advantage. Even if Tesla opens up the Supercharger Network to other manufacturers just the subconscious sheepishness of an owner connecting to a Supercharger with a big "TESLA" on it will make them feel probably a little more than second class.

In non-hypothetical news - the first big shipment of Model 3's made landfall in China this week. Real cars, real revenue. The shipments would continue to be in place until the new Gigafactory in China is complete. But once again - real cars, real revenue.

In SpaceX news - it could cost less than $500,000 to move to Mars and maybe as little as $100,000 according to Elon. Musk stated that the return trip would be free for those wishing to leave. He also stated that the chances of him going to Mars is 70% (kinda skeptical of that). SpaceX is facing certification review by the Pentagon. It is stated that "it's not known what sparked the Pentagon investigation" but a cynic could say that the answer was supplied earlier in the article when it was noted that certification allowed SpaceX to "take on regular defense contractors Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp." Money talks.

An Elon Musk backed AI company created a text generator AI that's too good out of the box causing the company to slow down the project to look for potential harmful issues with the technology. Musk hasn't been active with the company in over a year and does not sit on the company's board. It should also be noted the Musk is also one of the most outspoken leaders on the existential damage AI could cause to mankind. All that said - I would like to read the rest of the 1984 story the AI text generator would have created.

Artificial Intelligence may be an existential threat but self-driving cars can be an actual threat as underlined by this recent crash. I'm not sold on auto-pilot for any vehicles yet. That doesn't make me a grumpy old man either. Just makes me a pragmatist.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Churchill in Hitler's bunker. (Via)

- Scientists say "Planet Nine" can't hide much longer. The hypothetical planet is supposed to be 10-times the mass of Earth and 50-times further from the Sun than Pluto

- This is the best

- Cool - a way to remember deep time

- Europe wants to mine the moon by 2025. There is a new space race going on.

- Interesting Michael Caine interview. Seems I've read many of those answers before though.

- A poker playing robot goes to work for the Pentagon

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Is Oumuamua an ancient alien solar sail visiting our solar system?

-  Heh Heh

- Limiting factors: what's holding you back?

- AI surveillance in China is already going beyond any Big Brother imaginings in 1984

- History will not be kind to the FBI investigation of Trump

- Old time hockey!

- Serious question - why is Turkey still  member of NATO? Read this and tell me it isn't time to cut ties with this regime.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- NASA's InSight Mars mission to test what's under the surface of the Red Planet

- Supreme Court declines to take on Net Neutrality challenges. And I'm honestly confused on how to feel about this.

- Wow - I want to try this to see if it works (but I'm not sure if I own a sewing needle and thread)

- New discovery sheds light on mystery of pyramids construction

-  Supplementation with spermidine could improve memory of adults at risk for Alzheimer's. But if Pharma companies want adult males to swallow this they are definitely going to have to come up with a better name.

- Deadwood movie is in production! And the gang's all back! But I do wonder what the plot will do with Gerald McRaney's character (have an idea but will keep it to myself).

- And speaking of Alzheimer's - AI detects Alzheimer's six years earlier

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting - foreign interests have spent over $534 million in lobbying efforts in the US since 2017. Not all of it is nefarious seeing how Tourism Ireland is the 3rd largest spending entity. China specifically targeting industries in "Red States" with tariffs and mid-term elections coming - now that's nefarious.

- Even with the apostrophe - still don't think I'm eating here

- Cool - the first dunk contest in 1976 featuring Dr. J vs David Thompson. Things have certainly changed in pro basketball in the decades since.

-  Watch an AI robot take all the fun out of Where's Waldo. If they ever train AI to find the G-spot men are finished!

- This is so awesome!

- This is also awesome!

- History will not be kind to the Mueller Investigation

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If I were a programmer my coder name would be "Biatus" and any time I hacked a system I'd leave a note "Hack from Biatus" (I have a very low bar on what I find amusing)... Interesting? Scary? The "Buffett Indicator" and why it says a market correction may be due... Still disappointed that when Burger King and Canada's Tim Horton's merged they didn't call the new company Burger Horton's... Interesting - an argument that Ken Burns PBS series on Vietnam wasn't as impartial as it claimed to be... If I ran an Artificial Intelligence company I'd call it A.I. Davis and have my "Siri" voice be that of the late Raiders owner... "The game of life is the game of everlasting learning. At least it is if you want to win." Charlie Munger... Have no idea why the Bruins have waited this long to retire Rick Middleton's number 16. And a reminder why they called him Nifty...