schwit1 shares a report from ScienceAlert: [S]cientists have just delivered their verdict on whether we’d be able to control a high-level computer super-intelligence. The answer? Almost definitely not. The catch is that controlling a super-intelligence far beyond human comprehension would require a simulation of that super-intelligence which we can analyze. But if we’re unable to comprehend it, it’s impossible to create…
Tag: reasoning
The Problem With Problem Sharks
A marine biologist’s ideas for singling out sharks that attack humans have prompted objections from other shark scientists. From a report: The war on sharks has been waged with shock and awe at times. When a shark bit or killed a swimmer, people within the past century might take out hundreds of the marine predators to quell the panic, like executing…
How to land a good letter of recommendation: Advice from an admissions expert
by Mary Beth Carroll, Assistant Director of Student Affairs in the Office of Student Engagement and Practice at the University of Michigan School of Public Health Most graduate school applications require two to three letters of recommendation, which provide another dimension to your application and, when viewed alongside other factors such as your GPA, professional experience and […]
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Astronomers identify 24 possible superhabitable worlds
Are there worlds out there – orbiting distant stars – even better suited for life than Earth? Might they be older, larger, warmer, wetter and with longer-living stars? Now astronomers have identified 24 possible superhabitable worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/superhabitable-exoplanets-better-suited-for-life-than-earth…
Uber CEO Says Its Service Will Probably Shut Down Temporarily in California if It’s Forced To Classify Drivers as Employees
Uber would likely shut down temporarily for several months if a court does not overturn a recent ruling requiring it to classify its drivers as full-time employees, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an interview. From a report: “If the court doesn’t reconsider, then in California, it’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,” Khosrowshahi…
Disney Almost Bought Twitter in 2016
This fall saw the release of an autobiography by former Disney CEO Bob Iger (2005 to 2020) titled The Ride of a Lifetime. And Friday Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner shared an interesting excerpt (spotted by blogger John Gruber) in which Iger reveals he saw Twitter as “a potentially powerful platform for us, but I couldn’t get past the challenges that would…
AT&T To Drop Misleading ‘5G Evolution’ Marketing For Non-5G Networks
AT&T says it will stop advertising its wireless network as “5G Evolution” after a division of the Better Business Bureau determined that its language was misleading. The Associated Press reports: While AT&T and other wireless carriers in the U.S. have now begun rolling true 5G wireless networks, AT&T in December 2018 began talking about a “5G Evolution” service that was already…
The ACLU Wants To Know Why Facebook Beat a 2018 Wiretap Case
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Facebook in 2018 beat back federal prosecutors seeking to wiretap its encrypted Messenger app. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking to find out how. The entire proceeding was confidential, with only the result leaking to the press. Lawyers for the ACLU and the Washington Post on Tuesday asked a San Francisco-based…
Mimosa, 2nd-brightest in Southern Cross
To see Mimosa, you need to be at the latitude of New Orleans, Hawaii, Cairo or New Delhi. From the southern hemisphere, Mimosa is a prominent and beloved star. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/southern-mimosa-is-the-19th-brightest-star…
Is Microsoft Retaliating For Chrome’s Warnings About Extension Security in Edge?
Several pundits criticized Google for warning Edge users to switch to Chrome if they wanted to use Chrome extensions “securely”. “In Chrome, a plugin can be remotely disabled by the Chrome team if it’s considered unsafe for whatever reason,” notes PC World. “Google lacks the ability to remotely disable the same plugin within Edge, prompting Google to recommend switching to Chrome,…