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Comment Re:It's two things (Score 1) 68

Real, rapid progress is being made toward creating useful tools that will help scientists and engineers solve previously intractable problems.

Yes, we can call this actual artificial intelligence. Good work is going on, but it's not the stuff being hyped.

There is an irrational frenzy, driven by hypemongers and pundits that cause investors and gamblers to pour billions into anything with AI in the name as they desperately look for "the next big thing".

Yes, this is the hype: large language models and their cousins, which have no actual intelligence, but simply put together patterns.

So yeah, it has a strong bubblish aroma

Comment Re:"repay the final instalment" (Score 2) 20

My point is that they were paid money in the past for this same (faulty) report that they have apparently not agreed to repay.

Agree. They should pay back that money they paid in the past as well.

They should pay back the entire payment, not just the final installment; the report should be trashed, and a new report should be commissioned that is written by humans.

Comment Re:"repay the final instalment" (Score 1) 20

I didn't miss that.

What I saw is, they identified signatures that one part of the report was AI written. My conclusion is that if they caught an AI writing one part of it, then they probably used an AI to write all of it. That final section just happened to be the part that got caught.

Comment Re:Lots of Other Factors Could Contribute As Well (Score 4, Interesting) 128

It's certainly possible that this correlation plays a role in the difference of longevity between the sexes. However, there are plenty of other explanations which can also be playing a significant role for humans in particular,

Which is precisely why this article is interesting.

In humans, gender roles are so pervasive that it is completely impossible to separate out the effect of chromosomes from the effects of different gender roles. Looking at 1000 different mammal and bird species takes away that confounding factor. It's particularly fascinating because by looking at both mammals and birds, they look at cases where the male has the unpaired sex chromosome and compare it with cases there the female has the unpaired sex chromosome.

Comment Re:This is a preposterous conclusion to make (Score 1) 48

Particularly given the energy requirements of the simplest life forms. Some warm spots are a balmy 157K. Good luck with methanogenesis.

The hypothesis is that life could exist in the ocean beneath the Enceladus ice shell, about 30 degrees F, not on the icy surface. That's about 275K, not 157K.

Comment The Solomon Solution! [Re:$400 million?] (Score 1) 107

Cut the thing up! I said it before I stand by it. It never needs to be "air worthy" again. In fact splitting thing apart so people can also see its internal structure etc would actually make it a better exhibit.

OOH! I think you have it! The Solomon solution: just divide it in two and give each museum half!

Comment Washington or Houston [Re: Quit pretending it'...] (Score 1) 107

I think it's a waste to move now, but Houston would have made more sense. On top of the NASA significance, it's also more geographically fair. If NY lost theirs, they still have one within a 3 hour train ride.

You are aware that it's the shuttle in Washington DC that they're planning to move, not the one in New York, right?

And they want to move it from the Smithsonian collection, a museum that's free and open to the public, to a private pay-to-visit museum.

(*to be technically accurate, in Arlington Virginia, right next door to DC)

Comment Re:Weasel words (Score 1) 174

I wish I had an answer to the question of how to stop the flow of misinformation without damaging free speech. But I don't.

Disinformation is fought with more speech, not censorship.

It sure would be nice if that worked. But the internet era has proven that it's not true. It turns out that disinformation can be generated and propagated far faster than true information can address it, and since disinformation can be crafted to appeal to the listener's prejudices and preconceptions, while truth simply is what it is regardless of what you want it to be, disinformation has the edge.

Also: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpsychology-spot.com%2Fbr...

Comment Re:Weasel words (Score 2) 174

public health studies estimate hydroxychloroquine use was linked to at least 17,000 deaths worldwide, though the true toll is likely higher.

"linked to" and "likely higher". Was it also clear (at the time) what was and wasn't misinformation for COVID?

Yes,

I thought the medical community wasn't sure at the time.

The medical community wasn't sure at first, but data came in pretty quickly once it started being investigated. This is typical of science: you start out knowing nothing, you learn more and start knowing "maybe but we're not sure", and you keep on increasing your level of certainty. But too many people were dazzled by the early "maybe" and turned their ears off to avoid hearing the "but turns out not."

Hydroxychloroquine actually is a miracle drug. It's just not a miracle drug that cured COVID-19.

I hear that YouTube is restoring accounts for people who lost theirs due to COVID misinformation and Election misinformation NOW. I am sure those people had no lasting effects on their lives when their primary source of income was cut off

If their primary source of income was sucking money from credulous fools by touting quack cures that are actually dangerous, I am not going to cry about their "primary source of income" getting cut off.

I do worry about free speech, however.

I wish I had an answer to the question of how to stop the flow of misinformation without damaging free speech. But I don't.

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