Experiments in rats have found that once plastic is introduced to their environment, their ability to reproduce declines drdmstically. Genitalia are smaller, slerm rates lower. And the effect compounds and grows generation after generation, getting worse and worse so long as plastic is consumed.

Studies have also shown that human fertility (regarding actual physical ability to reproduce, not the choice of whether to do so) has dropped dramatically genetation on generation since the rise of plastics

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2023/dec/19/chemicals-affecting-sperm-reproductive-health-infertility

I miss Tarja, but that is an incredible performance. Most bands sound kinda bad live, it is much more difficult to sing live vs in a studio and far fewer elements are in your control. Yet, despite Nightwish's vocals being so challenging she hits every note while singing live and headbanging surrounded by constant pyro. So much hard work must have gone into preparing for this set, what a pro.

They don't even need that sort of power for the argument to hold weight but yes, they do hold exactly that sort of power and use it for things like ensuring that Buckingham Palace isn't affected by racial equality in employment laws https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/08/royals-vetted-more-than-1000-laws-via-queens-consent

Then they hide it from us, too

They are "British heritage" because they killed, conquered and stole from our ancestors.

They are both different parts of the same problem. Prolog can solve logical problems using symbolism. ChatGPT cannot solve logical problems, but it can approximate human language to an astonishing degree. If we ever create an AI, or what we now call an AGI, it will include elements of both these approaches.

In “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, Turing made some really interesting observations about AI ("thinking machines" and "learning machines" as they were called then). It demonstrates stunning foresight:

An important feature of a learning machine is that its teacher will often be very largely ignorant of quite what is going on inside… This is in clear contrast with normal procedure when using a machine to do computations: one's object is then to have a clear mental picture of the state of the machine at each moment in the computation. This object can only be achieved with a struggle.

Intelligent behaviour presumably consists in a departure from the completely disciplined behaviour involved in computation, but a rather slight one, which does not give rise to random behaviour, or to pointless repetitive loops.

You can view ChatGPT and Prolog as two ends of the spectrum Turing is describing here. Prolog is "thinking rationally": It is predictable, logical. ChatGPT is "acting humanly": It is an unpredictable, "undisciplined" model but does exhibit very human-like behaviours. We are "quite ignoerant of what is going on inside". Neither approach is enough to achieve AGI, but they are such fundamentally different approaches that it is difficult to conceive of them working together except by some intermediary like Subsumption Architecture.

Agreed. I would add that that this applies to self-reflection, too. As social pressure reduces people are more likely to be more open minded and become aware of, or admit to themselves, their own same-sex attractions.

So there is coming out to your friends &family, but also there is coming out to yourself.

Great news. This was always such bullshit, especially from airlines

The human brain can run on a hamburger once every day or two. Investing immense amounts of energy into statistical models is only taking us further away from true, meaningful AI, not closer.

You are talking about a guy who takes economic advice from a "psychic medium" who he believes is in turn talking psychically to his dogs, who he believes are clones of resurrected jesus-dog.

Organic typically has a higher carbon footprint because it requires more land and often even water resources and of course more labour.

Less pesticides, yeah, sure. But those pesticides allow us to grow crops much more efficiently. Everything is a trade-off I suppose, but I am very skeptical that the trade-offs of organic are worthwhile.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/22/132497/sorryorganic-farming-is-actually-worse-for-climate-change/

My main project right now is a chess engine named Iroh and a Slack bot & accompanying framework. When I can make the time I also play around with voxel geometry in Bevy.

All in Rust 🦀

I'm 31M with Dyspraxia/ASD. Diagnosed since I was very young, grew up with quite severe developmental delays and hypersensitivity etc. Nowadays I mostly get along fine.

I'll certainly follow this community but I must admit, perhaps controversially, that I'm not fond of the term "neurodiverse". I'm not just diverse, I have a disability. And if it were possible to cure it, I would.