Algorithms Galore: The Musk Saga Continues

[Thales750]

To me the "fire in a crowded theater" doctrine is relevant. TikTok "Challenges" have been the cause of hundreds of injuries and many deaths because someone posts a challenge and some lemming dives off a cliff in response.

Well hopefully they did it before having children. Natural selection and all. You would think this would go right along with your perspective on evolution.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

If it is sold, are you not buying the “algorithm” that is TikTok? If you are buying the TikTok algorithm, then is the algorithm expected to be changed by the new owners? ie it is no longer TikTok - it is now TikTokUSA.

The flaw in your logic is that if a person with permanent resident alien status - who also happens to be Chinese - starts up TikTok USA, a Chinese person still has the algorithm and any implied code. It is NOT an OpenSource product.

Movies and books only lead actual science by a few decades at best. What the human mind can envision, it strives to create.

Including the Star Trek flip-top communicator and the modern flip-phone. And the idea of a device like a medical tri-corder that can take usable heart rhythm patterns, record them, and forward to your doctor. And there are devices you can plug in to the USB-C port (or use BlueTooth) to become a sensing extension of your phone. Yeah, the future is here. Arthur C Clarke predicted comm satellites in the mid-20th century and we had them by the 3/4 mark of that century. Star Trek theorized "warp drive" as a way to travel faster than light and Prof. Alcubierre of Mexico derived the theoretical equations to allow it. The reason we don't have FTL travel isn't a matter of scientific impossibility - it is the engineering that takes the theory and turns it into practical reality.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I'd still rather have a transporter. "Beam me up Scottie. There is no intelligent life down here."

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I'd still rather have a transporter. "Beam me up Scottie. There is no intelligent life down here."

The transporter would quickly become a matter replicator, since - like a multi-function printer/scanner - you can take a pattern and, with suitable energy sources, repeat the pattern as often as needed without the need for a rescan. Which would begin to eradicate world hunger. That would also be the key to terraforming since you could tune your transporter to only take, say, Sulfur Dioxide out of some volume of air. If anyone could solve the engineering issues there, you would have something so incredibly important that a Nobel Prize would be inadequate.

 

[Pat Hartman]

@Isaac I was at Walmart a few days ago and bought jeans, a nightgown and a t-shirt. The 20-something clerk actually balled up the clothes as she stuffed them into a bag. I asked her if her mother taught her how to put away clothes. Was that racist? I'm sure she wouldn't qualify for any other job. She was too sleepy to be a greeter. But really? She was a dumb and uncaring as she looked.

 

[Isaac]

one exception is home depot, they still seem to hire good employees

 

[Thales750]

The transporter would quickly become a matter replicator, since - like a multi-function printer/scanner - you can take a pattern and, with suitable energy sources, repeat the pattern as often as needed without the need for a rescan. Which would begin to eradicate world hunger. That would also be the key to terraforming since you could tune your transporter to only take, say, Sulfur Dioxide out of some volume of air. If anyone could solve the engineering issues there, you would have something so incredibly important that a Nobel Prize would be inadequate.

Not to mention cloned organ replacement, and soleless (or not) replicas.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Not to mention cloned organ replacement, and soleless (or not) replicas.

Actually, a Star Trek: Next Generation episode touched on that. Commander Riker, when he was a much younger officer, was transported successfully to a ship but a malfunction failed to erase the source pattern - and there were TWO Will Rikers thereafter.

There have also been some interesting sci-fi print stories about duplicates. Clifford Simak had one called "Good Night, Mr. James" about a duplicated man who was given the task of killing someone. Turned out he was supposed to kill his other self. One of them dies, prepares to take over the other person's life, and then finds out HE was the duplicate and had a special protein that would trigger in a couple of days and kill him. Some of the TV series like "Outer Limits" adapted the story.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

@Isaac I was at Walmart a few days ago and bought jeans, a nightgown and a t-shirt. The 20-something clerk actually balled up the clothes as she stuffed them into a bag. I asked her if her mother taught her how to put away clothes. Was that racist? I'm sure she wouldn't qualify for any other job. She was too sleepy to be a greeter. But really? She was a dumb and uncaring as she looked.

I've asked many clerks the same thing

 

[Thales750]

@Isaac I was at Walmart a few days ago and bought jeans, a nightgown and a t-shirt. The 20-something clerk actually balled up the clothes as she stuffed them into a bag. I asked her if her mother taught her how to put away clothes. Was that racist? I'm sure she wouldn't qualify for any other job. She was too sleepy to be a greeter. But really? She was a dumb and uncaring as she looked.

I use the self check out.

 

[Thales750]

Actually, a Star Trek: Next Generation episode touched on that. Commander Riker, when he was a much younger officer, was transported successfully to a ship but a malfunction failed to erase the source pattern - and there were TWO Will Rikers thereafter.

In this case, not soleless. And, an example of conditions over genetics, in term of behavior.

 

[Thales750]

one exception is home depot, they still seem to hire good employees

Even in Galveston.

 

[Isaac]

I use the self check out.

There's one thing I find very surprising, just a few short years ago Walmart overhauled their checkout terminals significantly. This was just I don't know 2 to 4 years ago and yet with all that expense and trouble they went to, the checkout terminals still do not accept tap to pay. Seems like a poor decision on their part.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I use the self check out.

There is no discount for doing their work for them. Besides, the line was empty.

@Isaac They also don't seem to have any stomach for prosecuting thieves. Twice in the past year, my daughter has had her Capitol One card stolen on line, not physically. The last time, she got an alert on her phone that her card had been used at Walmart a few minutes earlier. She called Walmart and told him they could find the perp at a particular register at a particular time if they reviewed the video and she would press charges. No interest. The Shelton police didn't care either.

I know this wasn't the crime of the century but what are the police for?

 

[Thales750]

There is no discount for doing their work for them. Besides, the line was empty.

I prefer cues over lines, and I'm faster rthen them anyway.