The best thing about all these AI stories is they give people a lot more chances for a FP.

50C defrosts faster than 50F :)

For (3): Defrost.

Kinda like a /. post.

Firstly, I very strongly disagree with "Also less devices like VCRs (a not-a-computer device where having correct time is important) exist in the modern home." I think that's just plain wrong.

It's "fewer."

:)

Secondly, the IoT hypothesis is totally reasonable but as someone who runs an IoT-rich environment ... yeah, they all just transparently adjust. It's never been an issue.

With permanent DST we won't get the stories twice a year.

They'll need the money to settle all the resulting lawsuits.

A calendar-clock change like this needs at least a year of time to prepare it and get all the software systems tested and ready for the change when it happens.

Even if they pass the law now doesn't mean it has to take effect when it's passed. Indeed, most newly passed laws' effective date isn't the day it's passed but typically months in the future. (However, if a law is declared unconstitutional, it's unconstitutional immediately.)

12PM is fucking noon is when the fucking sun is at its highest position in the sky.

While I somewhat share your sentiment, noon (as shown by your clock or watch, let's call it clock-noon) is not when the sun is at its highest point in the sky except for exactly 4 days per year and only if you just so happen to be standing on one of the 24 meridian lines on Earth.

When the sun is at its highest point in the sky is solar noon and isn't what most people mean (or what your clock or watch means) by "noon."

The discrepancy happens due to (1) the Earth's axial tilt, (2) the Earth position in its orbit, and (3) time zones. The first two can be compensated for using the Equation of Time. If you don't compensate, then you can be off by as much as 14 slow (around February 11) or 16 minutes fast (around November 3).

For time zones, you have to adjust by your longitude relative to your time zone's central meridian: for every degree east or west, you have to subtract or add 4 minutes, respectively.

Live with nature and quit fucking denying it like a conservative.

Ideally, yes, but reality isn't the way it is for the convenience of humans and it would be highly impractical for everyone to have his or her own local time based on their (current) longitude.

That said, the twice-a-year changing of our clocks certainly doesn't help matters.

Hey, thanks! Another interesting piece of fiction to read, I appreciate the pointer!

Shut down the whole business ..

Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Are you sure it's Stanislaw Lem? The story you're describing feels very similar to the story of the film Colossus: The Forbin Project, which is based on the book Colossus, by DF Jones.

Don't have to be a profit^w prophet to see that coming.

IQ measurements keep going up.
Autism diagnoses keep going up.
The price of food keeps going up.
People get a year older every year.

Something fishy is going on.

Are they going to chip you, or control your brain by more direct means?