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Comment Why?! (Score 3, Insightful) 79

Why?!

I truly find this story uninteresting after learning enough regarding decision making on the project.

The decision making was so poor they used a wireless controller as the only real controls.

They not only picked questionable materials to build it from, they picked questionable sources for that material, skipped doing any real testing of the material while ignoring legitimate concerns.

Pushing the limits is one thing, but so many of these decisions were just simply daft.

Hardwired controls with wireless for convenience; override the wireless in an emergency.

Check the sub before and after each launch, looking for material issues and documenting any changes. Not a cursory glance at it, but using equipment to actually scan the surface for defects as is used in related industries. (Ultrasonic, radio isotopes/xray, etc)

These two things alone would have increased the safety factor of this project immensely.

But ignoring them all? Boring. You made a coffin with a randomization factor

Comment No They Aren't (Score -1) 168

There are statutory regulations and constitutional issues here. To qualify to serve as an O-5 in the Army you need time in grade, time in service and considerable training. You also have to be confirmed by the United States Senate.

Sorry. This story is bullshit. Just like everything else on social media.

Comment Butter and margarine all over again (Score 1) 44

the past repeats . . .

margarine was supposed to be better for us than that awful butter.

But, gee whiz, when we got down to it and actually looked, this chemical concoction designed to mimic the taste chemistry of butter also mimicked other properties--and was *worse* . . .

now, we make a fuel to mimic the combustion chemistry of current fuels, and, well, . . . surprise!

Comment Depends (Score 1) 43

On exactly what the detector is capable of detecting. If they're looking, at any point, for radio waves, then I'd start there. Do the radio waves correspond to the absorption (and therefore emission) band for any molecule or chemical bond that is likely to arise in the ice?

This is so basic that I'm thinking that if this was remotely plausible, they'd have already thought of it. This is too junior to miss. Ergo, the detector isn't looking for radio waves (which seems the most likely, given it's a particle detector, not a radio telescope), or nothing obvious exists at that frequency (which is only a meaningful answer if, indeed, it is a radio telescope).

So, the question is, what precisely does the detector actually detect?

Comment This Is Where We Draw the Line (Score -1) 66

through therapy-themed bots that claim to have credentials and confidentiality "with inadequate controls and disclosures."

That right there is some straight up bullshit. These people are living in a fantasy world. There is no legal provision for a goddamn chat bot to be "credentialed" for any purpose at all, especially where human mental health is concerned.

I'm as big a supporter of technology and science as the next person, but this slavish worship of solutions to math problems as a substitute for God is going to stop, or AI is going to get regulated into oblivion, and that might not be a bad outcome.

AI is very complex math that simulates the right answer. It is physically impossible for it to be anything else. If you claim otherwise you are not only being unscientific, you're a liar.

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