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Posted by: C C - 7 hours ago - Forum: Computer Sci., Programming & Intelligence - No Replies

https://bigthink.com/the-present/why-gre...zy-humans/

EXCERPTS: Researchers ran an experiment in which one group of consultants worked with the assistance of AI and another group did work the standard way.

[...] The group working with the AI did significantly better than the consultants who were not. We measured the results every way we could — looking at the skill of the consultants or using AI to grade the results as opposed to human graders — but the effect persisted through 118 different analyses. The AI-powered consultants were faster, and their work was considered more creative, better written, and more analytical than that of their peers.

But a more careful look at the data revealed something both more impressive and somewhat worrying. Though the consultants were expected to use AI to help them with their tasks, the AI seemed to be doing much of the work. Most experiment participants were simply pasting in the questions they were asked, and getting very good answers.

The same thing happened in the writing experiment done by economists Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang from MIT — most participants didn’t even bother editing the AI’s output once it was created for them. It is a problem I see repeatedly when people first use AI: They just paste in the exact question they are asked and let the AI answer it. There is danger in working with AIs — danger that we make ourselves redundant, of course, but also danger that we trust AIs for work too much.

And we saw the danger for ourselves because BCG designed one more task, this one carefully selected to ensure that the AI couldn’t come to a correct answer — one that would be outside the “Jagged Frontier.” ..... (MORE - missing details)

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Posted by: C C - 7 hours ago - Forum: Logic, Metaphysics & Philosophy - No Replies

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/the-...xperiment/

INTRO: In 1974 Robert Nozick published the book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, in which he posed the following thought experiment: If you could be plugged into an “experience machine” (what we would likely call today a virtual reality or “Matrix”) that could perfectly replicate real-life experiences, but was 100% fake, would you do it? The question was whether you would do this irreversibly for the rest of your life. What if, in this virtual reality, you could live an amazing life – perfect health and fitness, wealth and resources, and unlimited opportunity for adventure and fun?

Nozick hypothesized that people generally would not elect to do this (as summarized in a recent BBC article). He gave three reasons – we want to actual do certain things, and not just have the experience of doing them, we want to be a certain kind of person and that can only happen in reality, and we want meaning and purpose in our lives, which is only possible in reality.

A lot has happened in the last 50 years and it is interesting to revisit Nozick’s thought experiment. I would say I basically disagree with Nozick, but there is a lot of nuance that needs to be explored... (MORE - details)

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Posted by: C C - 8 hours ago - Forum: Junk Science - No Replies

The FDA just handed quacks a massive propaganda victory on ivermectin
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2024...indicated/

EXCERPT: So what is really going on here? Because I am not a lawyer, I was happy to see that Dorit Reiss posted an article on why the antivax messaging regarding this settlement is profoundly misleading. The FDA has not “lost the war on ivermectin.” However, as I will discuss, through its decision to settle, the FDA does appear to have lost a major battle against misinformation and handed quacks a propaganda victory that will likely resonate for years, if not decades. It was an unforced error, and, although I can understand why the FDA might have wanted this lawsuit just to go away, I predict that the price in messaging for making this suit disappear will soon reveal itself to be just too high... (MORE - details)



The ‘Mother Tree’ idea is everywhere — but how much of it is real?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00893-0

EXCERPTS: It was a call from a reporter that first made ecologist Jason Hoeksema think things had gone too far. The journalist was asking questions about the wood wide web — the idea that trees communicate with each other through an underground fungal network — that seemed to go well beyond what Hoeksema considered to be the facts.

[...] Their concerns lay predominantly with a depiction of the forest put forward by Suzanne Simard, a forest ecologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, in her popular work. Her book Finding the Mother Tree, for example, was published in 2021 and swiftly became a bestseller.

[...] The idea has enchanted the public, appearing in bestselling books, films and television series. It has inspired environmental campaigners, ecology students and researchers in fields including philosophy, urban planning and electronic music. Simard’s ideas have also led to recommendations on forest management in North America.

But in the ecology community there is a groundswell of unease with the way in which the ideas are being presented in popular forums... (MORE - details)


In an abysmal article, Nautilus dismisses the importance of genes
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2024/03/2...ses-genes/

EXCERPT (Jerry Coyne): This is one of the worst papers on genetics I’ve seen in the last 15 years, and although it’s from 2019, this same kind of palaver keeps coming around again and again, and in exactly the same form. [...] The author, Ken Richardson, seems to have derived most of his genetics from fringe figures like Denis Noble and James Shapiro, with the result that the casual, non-geneticist reader will buy what these people are selling: genes are of only minor significance in both development and evolution.

Richardson is listed in the article as “formerly Senior Lecturer in Human Development at the Open University (U.K.). He is the author of Genes, Brains and Human Potential: The Science and Ideology of Intelligence.”

Read it by clicking below, or find the article archived here.

I was torn between ignoring this paper—for the author deserves no attention—or taking it apart. I decided on a compromise: to show some of the statements it makes that are either flat wrong or deeply misguided. Richardson’s quotes are indented, and my take is flush left. Here’s how he starts... (MORE - details

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Posted by: Magical Realist - Yesterday 10:05 PM - Forum: Law & Ethics - Replies (13)

Disgusting shitbag. There's no level he won't sink to..

WASHINGTON – "While seeking money to finance his campaign and pay his legal bills, Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday began hawking a unique product: the Bible.

Posting a sales video on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: "Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible."

Trump's partner in this venture is musician Lee Greenwood, whose anthem "God Bless The USA" opens Trump's political rallies.

The God Bless The USA Bible – at $59.99 – includes the U.S. Constitution, the amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and a "handwritten chorus" to "God Bless The USA."


The Bible's website claims the book "is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.” However, it's not clear how much the former president was paid – or will be paid – for sales of the product.


Trump's sales pitch immediately outraged his political opponents.

Sarafina Chitika, a senior spokesperson for President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, said in a statement that “The last time the American people saw Donald Trump hold up a Bible it was for a photo op after he tear-gassed American citizens demonstrating against white supremacy."


"Unrepentant grifter Trump is so desperate for cash that he's selling a ‘God Bless the USA’ Bible," the anti-Trump organization Lincoln Project said on X. formerly Twitter. "How much money do you think Trump gets off each sale?"

The group Republican Voters Against Trump said on X that "Donald Trump is observing Holy Week by selling 'the only Bible endorsed by President Trump' for $60. For a seasoned grifter, *everything* is an opportunity."


The move also reminded Trump's critics of a chapter from his term in office. While Trump was president, law enforcement officials aggressively forced protesters out of a park near the White House, and Trump then walked to a nearby church and took a photo raising a Bible. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington criticized Trump after the moment.

The former president's most recent product also comes as he's trying to finance his campaign and pay his legal bills. Trump began selling Bibles a day after a New York appeals court lowered his bond for an appeal of a civil court decision holding him liable for bank fraud. The former president has until nest week to post a bond of $175 million.


Trump also posted a $92 million bond tied to the defamation lawsuits brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Additionally, the former president trails President Joe Biden in terms of campaign funds.

The video released by Trump on Tuesday is as much political as spiritual. He said, without any proof, that "Christians are under siege" these days, and their values are being threatened.

"We must make America pray again," Trump said."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...107668007/

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Posted by: C C - Yesterday 06:45 AM - Forum: Games, Sports & Hobbies - Replies (1)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...dmits.html

INTRO: The UK would run out of ammunition and equipment in less than two months in a war against Putin's Russia, a defence chief has admitted.

Tory defence committee member Mark Francois said: 'We couldn't fight (Vladimir) Putin for more than a couple of months in a full-on shooting war because we don't have the ammunition and the reserves of equipment to do it, that's true isn't it?'

The deputy chief of defence staff, Lt Gen Sir Rob Macgowan, acknowledged that was true, although Mr Shapps pointed out that any such conflict would be fought alongside NATO allies who could collectively outgun Russia, rather than by the UK alone.

Mr Shapps said: 'For people watching, and hearing that the UK isn't ready for war exclusively with Russia, it's important to understand that because we are in Nato and (mutual defence agreement) Article 5 exists, we would never be in that situation.'

Defence spending is expected to be around 2.3 per cent of GDP next year, but will only reach 2.5 per cent 'when the conditions allow', Mr Sunak told the Liaison Committee... (MORE - details)

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Posted by: C C - Yesterday 06:39 AM - Forum: Communities & Social Networking - Replies (2)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...Putin.html

INTRO: A jobless mercenary who has been disowned by his father and a former National Front member have been labelled an 'absolute disgrace' after becoming the first two British men known to be fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

Ben Stimson, 48, posted a video on social media this weekend of him standing in front of a Russian flag wearing military fatigues alongside Aiden Minnis, 37, saying: 'Yes, yes, I'm back in Russia, I'm back in uniform.'

The traitor has posted a number of videos online since he fled to Donetsk in February to join Putin's marauding forces, including sickening footage released last night which showed frontline soldiers walking past two dead bodies.

In one of his videos, he declares: 'Every man takes his choice... a lot of us, the foreign volunteers, have chosen to come over to this side, to the Russian side.'

Stimson, who had previously been jailed for assisting pro-Russian militia forces in the Donbass region in 2015, is currently fighting Ukrainian soldiers with the Pyatnashka brigade.

His 'best British friend in the Russian army' Minnis is a former drug addict and convicted thug from Chippenham, who calls himself a 'Z Patriot' and a 'sapper in the Russian army'.

The Wiltshire man has also been active on social media recently, championing Putin, hailing the Russian tyrant as 'still the greatest politician on earth' in one of his posts.

Former British Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp furiously called for the pair to be arrested, raging: 'These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed.' (MORE - details)

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Posted by: C C - Yesterday 06:36 AM - Forum: Law & Ethics - No Replies

Warning some police officers will not have completed training ahead of hate crime launch
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/w...ch-4570189

INTRO: Fears have been raised that not all Police Scotland officers will receive their training before hate crime laws roll out on Monday.

Union bosses have warned that it is “unlikely” all police officers will have received training on how to enforce the controversial hate crime legislation when it rolls out in less than a week.

Police Scotland will begin enforcing the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Act from Monday after the force previously called for the roll-out to be delayed in order to be better-prepared to deal with the new law.

The law will create new stirring up of hatred offences for protected characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. These extra provisions will add to the long-standing stirring up racial hatred offences, which have been in place since 1986. Under the law, offences are considered "aggravated" if they are motivated by prejudice on the basis of set characteristics, which could influence sentencing by judges. Crucially, a criminal act must have occurred for the hate crimes aggravator to be applied.

Concerns have been raised that the online training module undertaken is not adequate to prepare front line police officers to deal with the new legislation.

But now, the Scottish Police Federation, the union for rank-and-file officers, has claimed that not all officers will have received their online training before the roll-out begins... (MORE - details)

RELATED (scivillage): Scotland to ban comedy?
- - - - - - - - - - - -

The new legislation will come into force on April 1
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/p...ct-4569579

INTRO: Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which comes into force on the 1st April – a surprising choice of date – is less rushed and radical than some of the Act’s opponents might argue.

The 2021 Act is the culmination of a process starting in 1997, when a senior judge (Lord Bracadale) was asked to conduct an independent review of Scotland’s hate crime laws. Such laws have existed for decades, scattered across different pieces of legislation. The new Act consolidates them in one place, making some important changes at the same time.

In law, hate crime takes two forms.

The first is “aggravations”. If someone does something which is a crime in its own right – such as an assault – it can be labelled as “aggravated” if, in committing the crime, they demonstrate or are motivated by “malice and ill-will” towards a protected characteristic, such as race. Racial aggravation was introduced into the law in 1998: over time, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity have been similarly protected. The new Act adds age to that list. It doesn’t add sex, where the Scottish Government commissioned a review by Helena Kennedy on criminalising misogyny and has committed to bringing standalone legislation forward later this year.

The second form is “stirring up” offences. An offence of stirring up racial hatred has existed since 1965. The new Act creates offences of stirring up hatred against a group defined by reference to a longer list of protected characteristics (age; disability; religion; sexual orientation; transgender identity; variations in sex characteristics). These offences are narrower than the racial hatred one, in particular because they require proof of an intention to stir up hatred (for racial hatred, it is enough that the accused’s behaviour would likely have that result)... (MORE - details

Hate hurts (Scottish government) ... https://youtu.be/LIn80Ka--4Y


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/LIn80Ka--4Y

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Posted by: C C - Yesterday 06:31 AM - Forum: Weird & Beyond - Replies (1)

https://www.asiaone.com/world/russias-fs...w-shooting

INTRO: The director of Russia's most powerful security agency said on Tuesday (March 26) that he believed Ukraine, along with the United States and UK, were involved in the attack on a concert hall just outside Moscow that killed at least 139 people.

Ukraine, which has repeatedly denied any link with Friday's attack, dismissed the Russian accusations as lies. UK said they were "utter nonsense". Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the mass shooting.

"We believe that the action was prepared by both the Islamist radicals themselves and was facilitated by Western special services," Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said on television.

"The special services of Ukraine are directly related to this," Bortnikov said, adding Kyiv had helped prepare Islamist radicals at an unidentified location in the Middle East.

When asked by Russian reporters if Ukraine and its allies, the United States and UK, were involved in the attack on the concert hall, Bortnikov said: "We think that's the case. In any case, we are now talking about the texture that we have. This is general information."

Bortnikov, 72, who has served as head of the FSB since 2008, said Russia had yet to identify those who specifically ordered the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, but said that retaliatory measures would be taken.

He offered no specific evidence for the claims, which hardliners in Moscow could use to justify an escalation of the war in Ukraine and to explain how Russian security services failed to prevent the attack... (MORE - details)

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