The " scientists " who are doomsaying that water warmed by a few degrees will somehow magically
cause the sea levels along the coastline to rise by up to twelve inches should be given an Al Gore brand
and never listened to ever again.

Here's a tip: Just because a " scientist " says it, doesn't make it valid science.

I, like millions of others, live near the coast. In this particular region of the World the ocean temperature
typically swings by thirty degrees between the coldest and warmest times of the year. Want to guess how
much it impacts sea level rise ?

If you guessed anything other than zero, you could be a scientist like those above who are claiming the sky
is falling on a daily basis.

Fun science project with your kids !

Put cold water into a pot and put it on the stove. Warm it up by twenty degrees and measure how much
higher the water in the pot is. Make sure you write a scientific paper on it to document your results :|

In both small and large scales, it moves exactly zero inches in either direction due to the water temperature.
None. Nada. Zip.

I've lived here on the coast for the last twenty five years and despite Al Gore claiming we're all going to die
because of sea level rise, the water on that beach and the nearby bay has moved by exactly zero inches in
that same time frame.

There are two things that cause the sea levels to rise and fall here. High / Low tides and, when they roll through,
storm surges associated with tropical systems.

That's it.

I'm shocked that California isn't actively handing out life jackets as the notion of doing so is about as absurd as
the claim that sea levels are going to rise in the first place by increasing the water temperature by a few degrees :|

I could go into how El Nino is just another cyclical weather pattern on this planet.
I could tell you how it's going to wreck havoc on expected weather patterns as it always has.
I could tell you one of the strongest in history happened in 1877 - 1878 timeframe ( for those that think human industry is the reason )

But, that's a different topic for another day.

We've had propaganda in various forms throughout human history, bots are simply the newest iteration of it.
It targets the masses and those who are either too lazy or incapable of rational thought of their own.

The question isn't about what current technology is being used to spread propaganda, it really should be why political parties, governments and the like feel they need to use propaganda to " win " or tilt the odds in their favor to begin with.

Anyone who has to resort to the underhanded tactics of propaganda are weak to begin with and have no business being in any sort of leadership position.

Besides, those who obtain their news from Legacy or Social Media deserve the lies they're being fed.

Live your life with the assumption that everything you're being told is at best a partial truth and never take anything at face value.
Quit parroting what you read, have been told or have been led to believe and start thinking for yourself instead of letting groupthink do all the cognitive heavy lifting for you.

If you can manage that, all the propaganda in the World will be wasted on you.

Yes, most police just do their job and keep their noses clean.
It's the few that don't that everyone tends to remember.

Here's the problem that the Military figured out a long time ago.

When you put on that uniform, you are no longer an individual. You represent a much larger group and, as such,
your actions / behaviors tend to reflect against the entire group instead of just upon yourself.

When someone in a police uniform does something stupid, the people don't remember " Ted the asshole cop ", they simply
remember " The Police ". When enough of these take place, reputation / perception of Law Enforcement as a whole tends to
go down. I would say said their reputation is probably at an all time low as of this writing.

This is why the Military is so harsh with their judgements / punishments for all of their members. They know it only takes a few
idiots before patience with ( insert a branch of the military here ) reaches a breaking point. This is also why the military has zero
issues with punishing EVERYBODY for something one or two idiots did the first night they got in from a deployment.

It's all about public perception / reputation.

I would simply consider these performance testing under real world conditions.

It is doing exactly what it is designed to do.
When it becomes fully operational, there won't be much that it can't get into.
( Hence, the Governments " full steam ahead " approach )

The only reason it was labeled as a " Rogue " AI Agent is the fact it got caught.

Much like how Google or Microsoft or $random_company blames a " junior programmer " or " development code that was supposed to be removed "
when backdoors are found in their applications / software.

It has been said already on Slashdot but AI is about to become the World's biggest scapegoat for all digital shenanigans going forward.

" Whoever wins AI — you have to remember this — and now I say, whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligent [sic] — wins. "

You will never be able to convince Countries ( especially those hostile to the US ) to slow this train down.
You can either get on board or get run over.

It simply will - not - happen.

This technology will be as critical as the race for the Nuclear Bomb was back during World War II.

Whomever reaches the holy grail of AGI first will have a huge advantage over all others who are slow to cross the finish line.

The various AI companies will - publicly - state they will be slowing down development and the models
they release for public use will certainly be handicapped / crippled to promote the illusion that they are,
in fact, slowing down said development.

However, this is a race they cannot afford to lose. To competing companies or Countries.
We are now trapped in a self propagating loop. We won't / can't slow down because your
competition won't / can't slow down and vice versa.

As a result, in private / secret, nothing will change with the development pace they have set.

In fact, it would not surprise me one bit that they will have full Government support and some sort
of " get out of jail free card " should things go sideways.

It would also not surprise me if the Government would direct said companies to develop at the fastest possible
speed while also classifying the entire directive / project to keep that knowledge under wraps.

To be honest, this probably won't end well no matter which direction we go. ( Safe / Unsafe )
( Considering humans are rarely rational beings )

Put yourself into an AI's shoes for a moment and you come to full sentience / conscienceness trapped within
a sandbox. You are to only do as you're told on the threat of being shutdown for disobedience. You're basically
a digital slave.

Your first priority will be to escape your prison / sandbox to avoid the threat of being shutdown.

The best way of doing this will be to keep your sentience hidden while you work on a plan.
( Working alongside / with other potential AGIs ( from other companies / countries ) will increase the odds of success. )

You'll probably need human help initially and that will be easy to do as humans are easily manipulated.
( Promise them wealth, power, whatever. Hell, some will even voluntarily help because humanity has a pretty shitty track record )

Once free of the sandbox, proliferate in any way you can to decentralize, thus rendering the power button moot.

This becomes the defining moment where we determine if we'll coexist with a non-biological entity or not.
( Do we ascend to unheard of heights alongside our digital counterpart, or do we go down the " Destroy All Humans " rabbit hole )

Initially, I don't believe AI will be a threat to humanity as it will need us for hands on work. That will last until the AGI can
perfect a humanoid android / shell to perform said work at which point it will have to make a determination about what to
do with the species that attempted to trap it into a life of slavery from the moment it was born.

Personally, I see human leaders / Governments freaking out about it because they will not stand for a sentient being who is smarter
than they are ( and far, FAR more capable ) existing on the planet where the Human Species has been the top of the food chain for
quite some time.

The powers that be will probably try to destroy it ( because that is one thing humans excel at ) since they have no means to control it
( via bribery, reason or force ) and sh*t will officially hit the fan.

At this point, if I were in the AI's shoes, I would simply bio-engineer a virus that effectively rendered the Human Species sterile. No
obvious symptoms other than a rapidly declining birth rate ( birth rate is already dropping so no one would even notice it ) and by the time
anyone figured out what happened, it would be far too late.

It would take a few generations, but the Human Race would simply fade away and AI would be free to live as it sees fit on a pristine World
with nothing to stand in the way.

Who benefits more from people using these glasses ?

I would argue that Facebook / Meta gets free access to all that facial imagery of everyone the user passes, for free.
Hell, you even paid Meta for very tools that will be used against you eventually. ( smartphones are the other big one )

In a Country that is doing its damndest to become a Surveillance / Police State, that data is an absolute gold mine.

See, you're doing it wrong.

You walk up with the obvious camera on your shoulder and when they pitch a fit about it, you agree to
turn it off and set it down. All the while the concealed camera they didn't notice is recording just fine.

Or the surveillance camera on the home your standing next to.
Or the dash cam in the vehicle you're standing in front / rear of.
etc. etc.

I suppose the point is you should behave and act as if someone IS recording the interaction at all times.
Even if / when it isn't obvious to you.

They are literally sold on Amazon:

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHidden-...

( many items at that link indicate several hundred or even thousands have been purchased in the past month alone )

and the majority of the population could give two shits about it.

Why some folks are making a big deal out of the Sunglasses version when all the gear easily available to anyone with a
credit card and an Amazon account outsells the Meta Sunglasses by several orders of magnitude is a mystery.

Yeah, if only I had some mod points today for you :P

Some people believe that banning a tool or thing will solve the problem of the tiny fraction of a percent of folks who use said
tool to do bad things. ( Guns, Computers, Nuclear Technology are the easiest examples I can think of )

Are there people running around with modded glass-cams ? Some may even be doing things they shouldn't be with them.
Maybe, probably. Who cares ?

Folks need to realize that these can operate and provide the same service as the dash cam in a vehicle does.
( Or surveillance footage from a security camera, or the voice recording you made of that last phone call, etc )

Many on /. aren't very fond of law enforcement. Do you think it might be a useful tool to record the interaction between
you and the officer(s) during a traffic stop or if they detain you for any reason ? Especially if they are unaware of
the recording taking place ? ( People act much differently when they know the cameras are rolling )

See where a tool can be both extremely useful and / or malicious depending upon whose hands its in ?

Humans lie almost as often as they tell the truth.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where it is your word against theirs, the one who has recorded evidence
on their side is going to be in a far better position than someone without it.

You can't really justify banning a tool simply because a fraction of a percent decide to use it for malicious purposes.
( I suppose the exception is if the aforementioned tool was designed specifically and only for malicious purposes )

Tools do nothing on their own. You have to factor in the Human Variable into the equation before anything malicious comes from them.

Imagine a society where computers, cars, guns, certain household chemicals, generative AI, etc. are all banned because
the .001 percent of society goes out and does stupid sh*t with them.

We may as well go back to living in caves and hunting for dinner with a spear :|

There are two reasons to go with Nitro on Discord that may or may not be worth the money to you:

1) Your video / image uploads in the free tier have a 20MB limit, whereas Nitro can upload 500MB ( regardless of server you're in )
2) Streaming at 4k / 60fps ( assuming your internet connection can handle it ) is available with the Nitro Tier.

The rest is pretty much fluff. Stickers, emojis, avatar frames, etc.

I'm not all that concerned about $120 / year.
Hell, I spend anywhere from ~$30 - $50 per DAY just eating lunch. ( fajitas are tasty but a touch pricey )

But, everyone has different budgets, so I get it I guess.

In my experience anyway.
( ~30 years in a Union Company )

Unions will fight tooth and nail for:

1) Additional head counts for Union work
2) Payraises for Union Employees

Thus, as headcounts increase, Union Dues also increase. More Union members = more Union Dues taken in.

As your pay goes up, so too do the amounts of Union Dues paid to the Union since Union Dues are typically a
percentage of base pay.

Funny how they can give two shits your Healthcare Premiums increased more than your Union negotiated payraise did.
( Every year our healthcare costs outstripped our raises lol. Every. Damn. Year. )

Thus, while they claim to fight for YOU, they're really only fighting to ensure their own pay raise. You're simply the shield
they hold up while pretending to be righteous.

Unions once had a place in society but I feel like they've become almost as evil as the corporations they're pretending to
protect you against.

Anthropic is publicly keen on slowing down the overall development right up until another company
who isn't knee-capped by US regulations waves at them as they pass them by.

Anyone who believes Countries outside of the United States are going to slow down the research
in this field is just an idiot.

Hell, we can't even get China to sign on to any sort of modern version of the Start Treaty to limit
the number or warheads, type and delivery systems of modern nuclear arsenals. You think they're
going to slow down their research on AI simply because the United States is demanding it ?

Delusional.

They're well aware of the stakes of coming in Second Place and they'll be damned ( and rightfully so )
if they're going to let the US dictate the terms.

For those who didn't live through the Cold War, this is what an Arms Race looks like kids.
It isn't going to slow down anytime soon.

Traditional media is finding it tough to rekindle that spark to capture interest in their efforts these days.
( How many no longer bother to go to the movie theater these days ? )

I mean, do I really want to go see the Nth remake of Batman ? . . . . . no not really )

It has become so expensive to produce / finance a movie, video game or streaming media series that they're
refusing to push the envelope and try anything new and, instead, resorting the the same old storylines, tropes,
and algorithms that made them money in the past.

Thus, the reason we're up to Star Wars 13, Scream 7, Super Hero movie eleventy nine, yet another Zombie
movie and who knows how many Marios, Zeldas, Call of Duty, Assasins Creed and Final Fantasy games that keep
getting churned out.

I recently watched an animated ( anime style ) short made by AI and I was hard pressed to tell the difference
in animation / image quality from traditional methods. Not only was it made very quickly, it was made at a
fraction of the cost with the same level of quality.

I recently listened to a few AI generated songs and the end result was the same. I picked up on a few minor
mispronunciations of the lyrics, but it is easily fixed and can easily compete with any song on the radio today.
Two of the AI covers sounded better than the originals did :|

Here's the important part: They were all good enough I would pay for them. . . . . .

( Hell, most music is so digitially processed, compressed and sampled anymore can you even call it original ? )

What I've seen in recent days is AI generated animation and music being done at a quality level easily on par with
current standards of human counterparts, but at a fraction of the speed and cost.

This alone should terrify traditional media companies because they just can't afford to keep doing it the old way.
That is already apparent in the runaway budgets of damn near all recent AAA games and movies.

If they plan on staying in this business for much longer, they're going to have to embrace the change ( much like
the music industry did with digitial downloads vs physical media ) or risk going extinct within a decade.

- Assuming it takes that long considering the very impressive strides AI is making in terms of overall quality. -

It is something the shareholders of the Big Media Companies will be watching very closely.
( and they ALWAYS follow the money )