“Privacy” in the modern sense is less about protecting you from personal embarrassment or financial loss, and more about protecting society from the dangers of mass data collection.

Historical examples of mass datasets that were misused:

• The Nazis used demographic records (birth, death, marriage records, etc.) to identify Jews and other undesirables in conquered countries.
• Japanese Americans were identified for internment in part through illegal use of census information.
• The Rwanda genocide was facilitated by tribal information being printed on drivers licenses.

In none of these examples were the data collected for the evil purposes it was eventually used for. In some cases, the evil purposes were completely forbidden by the rules governing the data, but they were used anyway.

Information is a form of knowledge. Knowledge is power. And power in the wrong hands is dangerous.

When in doubt, shut up.

Surprised the article didn’t point out that the “Tim” axis is also pointing in the wrong direction.

The economic bubble being created between the AI and hardware companies is going to pop and take out huge swathes of the broader economy, a la mortgages in 2008.

The headline makes it seem like the lawyer’s statement caused the dismissals. But they were just reflecting on how many dismissals they’ve had.

Relevant Robot Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf5BkEhJ5fI

Not all species reproduce sexually. Not all sexual reproduction involves pairs.

I got a contact sugar high just from clicking that link.

That motherboard has a CMOS reset jumper next to the CMOS battery–two metal pins sticking up labelled “JBAT1”. Connecting the pins with a jumper cover tells the system to clear the CMOS memory on boot. In normal operation the pins should not be connected.

The problem is that an AI built to maximize paperclips might conclude that converting the planet to paperclips is an acceptable cost of maximizing paperclip production. It might understand why humans think it’s bad to convert the planet, but disagree. It would need to be explicitly programmed to prioritize human life over paperclips.

otherwise we would just switch it off

If it were super-intelligent, it could probably trick us into leaving it turned on.

What, am I meeting the Pope or something?

A paperclip maximizer driven by self-preservation? What could possiblie go wrong?

Pirate King: HE DID?!? … oh… oh, yes so he did… I was there.

Now wait a second. I don’t think Quark ever sold shoddy merchandise. Overpriced? Sure! Stolen? Probably! Contraband? Absolutely! But low quality merchandise doesn’t breed customer loyalty. It doesn’t generate repeat business.

Remember the 57th rule of acquisition: Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles

Who grades the test? Who judges the competition?

The true captain will give up the chair rather than see it cut in half.

There are three things you need to remember as a starship captain: 1) keep your shirt tucked in; 2) go down with the ship; and 3) detailed knowledge of ornithology.