Random Thoughts 7

[fresh_42]

What's coming is more the point. I've always been able to imagine what the world will be like in 20 years. Now, I have no idea.

It has always been difficult:
https://www.rd.com/list/predictions-that-were-wrong/

 

[WWGD]

It has always been difficult:
https://www.rd.com/list/predictions-that-were-wrong/

I bet the list of predictions that were right is much shorter.

 

[WWGD]

What's coming is more the point. I've always been able to imagine what the world will be like in 20 years. Now, I have no idea.

I can't tell what will happen 3 years down the road. Alvin Toffler in overdrive.

 

[BillTre]

 

[WWGD]

I stopped getting blank stares when I stopped referring to comedian "Carrot Top" as "Carrot Cake". My bad.

 

[WWGD]

View attachment 366837

Maybe they would in overall introverted societies like Finland. Wonder if this is qualified in/by Hofstadter.

 

[skyshrimp]

 

[WWGD]

I wonder why Cadillac hasn't come out with a model named ' Akka'. I would love to buy a Cadillac -Akka.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I can't tell what will happen 3 years down the road. Alvin Toffler in overdrive.

One of my favorites, I modeled my business on his idea for the "electronic cottage" (as he called it) in his book, The Third Wave. Accordingly, I was running a systems integration business in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere, with my nearest customer 100 miles away, back in 1998. It was just becoming practical to do business over the internet. Thanks to Toffler, I was all over it. And for the next 20 years it worked.

 

[WWGD]

One of my favorites, I modeled my business on his idea for the "electronic cottage" (as he called it) in his book, The Third Wave. Accordingly, I was running a systems integration business in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere, with my nearest customer 100 miles away, back in 1998. It was just becoming practical to do business over the internet. Thanks to Toffler, I was all over it. And for the next 20 years it worked.

He lived to see his prediction come true. He died in 2016. I admired him for being both smart academically and down to earth and commonsensical, i.e., not an egghead.

 

[OmCheeto]

What's coming is more the point. I've always been able to imagine what the world will be like in 20 years. Now, I have no idea.

Do you remember my "Dual Timeline" short stories/paragraphs that I wrote around the turn of the millenia? Although the stories were meant to be polar opposites, the outcomes became intertwined into something where nearly everything in both stories came true.

Frighteningly, one previous creepy premonition that didn't happen, is currently being whoreled about.....

Worst Case

"G. W. Bush, elected to his 3rd term in spite of being hated by most of the free world and most of Americans, said he was pleased with the progress of the war in the middle east, Asia, and eastern Europe."​

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Best Case

"Ralph Nader, elected to his 2nd term in spite of heavy funding by the corporate oil giants, enjoyed a 63% majority of the popular vote. Fortunately, he had abolished the powers of the electoral college in his previous term, as their mock election would have resulted in the election of his rival."​

.....

Ok. I'm done.
As always: Ok to delete, infract, and ban.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Already we are seeing people fall in love with their AI companion.

What happens (if and) when AIs become sentient?

 

[skyshrimp]

AI is getting so realistic.

 

[Borg]

I've heard that luxury cars are expensive to repair. I can confirm that's the case today.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I was shocked to learn recently that some of our young electrical engineers (where I work) only took two physics classes in college. I have noticed time after time that many don't seem to know basic physics.

TWO! I think EE majors at my alma mater had to take two years of physics classes.

 

[symbolipoint]

I was shocked to learn recently that some of our young electrical engineers (where I work) only took two physics classes in college. I have noticed time after time that many don't seem to know basic physics.

TWO! I think EE majors at my alma mater had to take two years of physics classes.

A fair guess is that one semester was Kinematics and Fundamental Mechanics, maybe including something of Thermodynamics; and the two# semester was to push E&M and "Modern" Physics all into the single semester. I could not say if such arrangement would be deficient for the students' Engineering courses/programs.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A fair guess is that one semester was Kinematics and Fundamental Mechanics, maybe including something of Thermodynamics; and the two# semester was to push E&M and "Modern" Physics all into the single semester. I could not say if such arrangement would be deficient for the students' Engineering courses/programs.

We have one guy, an EE PE, who thinks physicists are really just philosophers. At first I thought he was joking or just being antagonistic, but he really didn't understand the difference. There is another who didn't know that all engineering is derived from physics.

On the upside, this often gives me a huge advantage.

 

[WWGD]

We have one guy, an EE PE, who thinks physicists are really just philosophers. At first I thought he was joking or just being antagonistic, but he really didn't understand the difference. There is another who didn't know that all engineering is derived from physics.

On the upside, this often gives me a huge advantage.

I looked like the dull one in this exchange when I thought they were referring to someone "Passky", when they were referring to Pass Keys, sadly, it took me a couple of minutes to realize it. Duh.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

While I haven't really followed baseball or any sports since about 1980, I grew up a Dodgers fan and still have a soft spot for them.

Yay Dodgers!!! They had a great team this year and Ohtani is amazing!

 

[WWGD]

How many letters to type for the phone to suggest the correct word? Ok, so my estimate for all words of any length is to type 5 letters on average, and just the whole word for shorter ones.

 

[WWGD]

I guess not much of a chance that February 23 or 24 will be "Square root 5 Day". Poor approximations.

 

[WWGD]

Is it really such a great idea to post videos on YouTube that teach Redamsa and other hacking methods with explicit instructions?

 

[WWGD]

Number of Numerical Magic Square , up to rotations, reflections, where rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same number :1 for 3x3, 880 for 4x4, 275,305,224 for 5x5, approximately 17,753,889,197,660,635,632 for 6x6. And we haven't even reached 10 x 10 yet. When I looked it up first, on my DuckDuckGo, I found Magic Squares for letters, supposedly used to invoque spirits to hurt someone. I tried one just out of curiosity, but my boss only told me he had a headache, and it rained for like a week straight. Edit: Last paragraph is a joke, of course.

 

[Klystron]

...but my boss only told me he had a headache...

Now that I believe.

 

[skyshrimp]

I'm amazed by what I'm seeing on TikTok regarding advancements in Chinese robotics. Viewers are commenting that they think the robots are actually people in suits. That's how natural they are walking now.
They're not just walking. They can do anything and have passed the limitations of human movement. It's beyond parkour.

I can post the TikTok videos as I come across them here if you want, but I'm under the impression that TikTok posts are frowned upon here. The Chinese use TikTok as a social media platform to showcase their advancements. One Chinese start up company is offering these robots for the price of a smartphone.

The exponential speed of the advancements are shocking. We're talking a few months now instead of years.

I wish I was young so I can see it all happen, but I don't have long left unfortunately.

What a tease.

Blade Runner 'skin jobs' are right around the corner.

 

[skyshrimp]

I first thought they would just make a synthetic human, but these robots will be super human.

If this tech got in the wrong hands, with rogue AI, I have no idea what might happen.

The future is very uncertain. I'm not just talking robotics. AI can make a virus can can kill mankind.

The world as we know it is about to change rapidly.

 

[skyshrimp]

Obviously, we won't have synthetic humans in 12 months, but with each yearly quarter, AI will change the world.

Sorry, just rambling random thoughts

 

[collinsmark]

I'm amazed by what I'm seeing on TikTok regarding advancements in Chinese robotics. Viewers are commenting that they think the robots are actually people in suits. That's how natural they are walking now.
They're not just walking. They can do anything and have passed the limitations of human movement. It's beyond parkour.

Just be sure to use critical thinking when assessing robot advancement videos on TicTok, or any other social media platform for that matter. Check the source of the video. Check the source's sources to make sure it's all legit.

While this may be good advice about any subject, it especially applies to robotics videos lately. In my personal anecdotal experience, in my own social media feed lately, of all the videos lately that involve robots, nearly 100% of these videos are AI generated or just simply AI slop.

In other words, yes the robots look extremely natural and realistic, but that's just because AI video generation is getting so much better (there aren't even necessarily any real robots at all, in most of these videos).

Of the few (very few) videos that are real, most of them are made by the companies' marketing that portray the robot overly optimistically (probably).

That's not so say that there are no robot advancements. There are. There's plenty of actual, true advancements in humanoid robotics lately. I'm just saying that most of the videos circulating on social media mischaracterize these advancements.

 

[Swamp Thing]

This cardboard box has a little tab on the big tab that keeps the "lid" flap closed by fitting into a slot on the flap. The little flap helps you to pull the big tab out of the slot more easily when you want to open the box.

This reminded me of "servo tabs" on certain aircraft --- little tabs that the pilot's control actually operate, which then move the main control surfaces through their own aerodynamic forces.

 

[skyshrimp]

Just be sure to use critical thinking when assessing robot advancement videos on TicTok, or any other social media platform for that matter. Check the source of the video. Check the source's sources to make sure it's all legit.

While this may be good advice about any subject, it especially applies to robotics videos lately. In my personal anecdotal experience, in my own social media feed lately, of all the videos lately that involve robots, nearly 100% of these videos are AI generated or just simply AI slop.

In other words, yes the robots look extremely natural and realistic, but that's just because AI video generation is getting so much better (there aren't even necessarily any real robots at all, in most of these videos).

Of the few (very few) videos that are real, most of them are made by the companies' marketing that portray the robot overly optimistically (probably).

That's not so say that there are no robot advancements. There are. There's plenty of actual, true advancements in humanoid robotics lately. I'm just saying that most of the videos circulating on social media mischaracterize these advancements.

You are correct. I’ve seen amazing videos years ago before AI video generators were capable of deceiving us. I’ll dig them up and probably start a new thread about it.

There are developments that are not being showcased that are amazing, but also quite worrying. They have made killing machines that make the Terminator T-500 look ridiculous. They’re keeping that arsenal under their hats.

China has an army that should not be trifled with.

This video is 16 years old.