I didn't know weather to post this here or in the weird thread ... so I decided here, because the subject is a serious one... And for the record, I find the idea insane and absolutely ridiculous. At least not until real and proven consciousness has been achieved through artificial means. Which is something I don't envision in the near future, since consciousness itself has not yet been understood, and much less defined.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/12/technology/robots-rights-experts-warn-europe/index.html​

What the hell is wrong with these people that they think they even remotely ought to do this? Are all the other chores of government so well taken care of that they seek to stick their noses under yet another tent? The only thing I can think of that would motivate this un-needed and unwanted action is that these creeps want to give robots voting rights, as long as they are set to vote the right way of course.

 

 

The only thing I can think of that would motivate this un-needed and unwanted action is that these creeps want to give robots voting rights, as long as they are set to vote the right way of course.

I disagree. I believe the ultimate goal is to make robots too expensive to use to replace human labor.

 

I disagree. I believe the ultimate goal is to make robots too expensive to use to replace human labor.

That's definitely a challenge that our grandchildren (and even our children) will have to face...

 

That's definitely a challenge that our grandchildren (and even our children) will have to face...

No. They'll just have dress up as "Mr. Robotos".

 

No. They'll just have dress up as "Mr. Robotos".

Ughhh ... I hate that song! ...

 

That's called academic social horseshit.

 

I disagree. I believe the ultimate goal is to make robots too expensive to use to replace human labor.

Ah yes, make them union members.

 

 

I was thinking to myself, "Boy, you can see the little gears running in his head."

Then the equations popped up. Made me LOL.

 

I was thinking to myself, "Boy, you can see the little gears running in his head."

Then the equations popped up. Made me LOL.

Yeah -- animals can and do think things through, sometimes for quite a while, before making a (sometimes wrong) decision. At times, you can see them getting ready to try it one way and then you can see the moment when they conclude that perhaps that's not such a good idea and then see them set up a different way.

 

 

Though now we are going away from the "everything has one price" norm.

Now different people get charged different prices depending on whether they belong to some rewards program or not. In some instances, there are several reward programs that you have to be enrolled in in order to get the lowest price in a given store.

The one that always chaps my behind is Safeway. When they jumped on the rewards card program they made a BIG deal about NEVER having to clip coupons EVER again -- because, "The savings are in the Card!". But then they added a different reward program that you had to present the coupon from their weekly flyer independent of whether you had a rewards card or not. Then they added an app that you had to install on your smartphone (which not everyone actually has) in order to get an additional set of coupons added to your rewards account.

I've had many times when I've gone in there and bought things that were at a special price under one of these other programs and had the store manager not be able to figure out how to ring it up at the correct price and having to eventually do an override and enter the price manually. Of course, had I not been paying attention both to what the special price was and what it actually rung up as, I would have just ended up paying the normal (i.e., inflated) price, which I'm sure is the idea.

 

I’ve seen this one before. I sent it to an engineer friend as the perfect illustration of the failure of models. The equations can all be great, but if the model fails to include a critical factor, it fails. You can only rely on models that have had exhaustive real world testing.

 

You can only rely on models that have had exhaustive real world testing.

The first trial is complete. The engineers are assessing the failure and will proceed with testing shortly.

Edit: after 8 more failures, they will need to build a new prototype.

 

The first trial is complete. The engineers are assessing the failure and will proceed with testing shortly.

Edit: after 8 more failures, they will need to build a new prototype.

There was a creek near my house when I was a kid. We used to spend a lot of time playing in and near it, and there were several spots that we could jump across. There's no feeling quite like that last footfall of your jump attempt unexpectedly hitting soft mud. Like the cat, you know there's no chance of success.

 

This is a very interesting development:

https://edition-m.cnn.com/2018/04/16/asia/japan-rare-earth-metals-find-china-economy-trnd/index.html

The 16 million tons of materials could contain 780 years worth of yttrium, 620 years worth of europium, 420 years worth of terbium, and 730 years worth of dysprosium. In other words, according to the paper, it "has the potential to supply these materials on a semi-infinite basis to the world."

 

Yeah -- animals can and do think things through, sometimes for quite a while, before making a (sometimes wrong) decision. At times, you can see them getting ready to try it one way and then you can see the moment when they conclude that perhaps that's not such a good idea and then see them set up a different way.

Sometimes human animals not so much...

 

Tired of working for the "man"? Tired of slaving over that board just to make the mortgage? Get you some mud son!

Mud Mining is the new Technology Gold. History Channel shows in the making...Mud Fever, Bering Sea Mud, Yukon Mud, Ice Cold Mud...ad nauseum.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/16/asia/japan-rare-earth-metals-find-china-economy-trnd/index.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23948-5.pdf

Edited: I had not noticed that this has already been reported in post #217