Who has not turned on their computer and see a message like: “We’ve got an update for you.” or “Restart now” or “Restart required to complete the installation” of worse yet… “Your device has reached the End of Service, Shutting Down in 30-Seconds”?
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I get legitimate updates from Win11 almost daily, because I’m currently in a country whose fibre optic equates fast dialup in most others.
So, updates end up partially installed, and so I get constant notifications to complete the installation of updates from prior days! (I’ll bet this is doing my new(less than 1 year old) laptop a load of good!)
Not to mention half the e-mails I get are repeats from 2-3 days ago, and the same rusty news headlines.
Apparently, serious internet infrastructure upgrades are not a national or regional priority where I am.
I’ve read quite a few Arthur C Clarke books. Many of them had good humor, imo
And they weren’t “dense” or difficult to read, unlike some hard-core sci-fi authors
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Are apps, or kiosks really AI? I Simple see them as a tool, no different from analysers I have be using for 30 years.
AI is a highly complex, powerful computational system that operates on a foundation of advanced mathematics and algorithms to process information in unprecedented ways, but it is without the essense that defines true intelligence.
It’z, just a weally smart compuder dat uses some phancy programs to answers youse questions, it’z knot smart like I iz… 
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The medical AI system would ONLY be getting/giving info through a closed AI system and not reading the general internet, again, it would be a tool just like a factory service manual that you pay for, or diagnostic equipment that doctors have to pay for, kinda like mechanics with their $6,000 diagnostic equipment that is linked to a fast data base that does not get it’s info from redit or this forum etc, the info provided would all be checked and confirmed by humans, just like all the medical books that the doctors go to when trying to diagnose a system they are not familiar with… Again the AI would be medical grade info NOT the online junk you read on the free internet or that bubba said was the issue… So NO garbage in garbage out made up stuff…
And manufacturing plants already use robots to do work, why couldn’t a robot(s) be programed to make a burger, but yes would still need human intervention, the humans would be managers…
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Would we be willing to pay a ‘living tax’ to support unskilled non-management workers who lost their jobs to robots and couldn’t find work elsewhere?
No more than any other worker that has ever been laid off in history… Most of the unskilled non management workers are teens or are still very young adults anyways, like most fast food joints, they just have to find another job and or learn a skill… That is what unskilled jobs are for, for workers without skills that can work about any unskilled job, hence the unskilled part…
When the Oscar Mayer plant shut down in my area years ago, the world didn’t come to an end, the workers found jobs in other fields, I know of several that lost their jobs when the plant closed and got a job at the state or whatever, most people in life have more than one job in their lifetime, lots of people change fields and leave jobs, jobs come and jobs go, part of life, has been happening long before AI started taking jobs…
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That’s the nice part of the capitalistic system. It all self adjusts over time. If you try to force changes, you just end up with a mess. Won’t mention the folks that think they can just dictate a $20 fast food wage, and find out franchises move or robots are installed. Then tax too much and find out the folks just move away. Some people think you can just redistribute what is mine to someone else but that never works for long.
I consider myself among their ranks.
I have a college degree, but with no practical skills imparted. My career was hopping from job to job because I lacked the patience to get through rough patches at any one job. I held jobs in the service sectors in finance, hospitality, direct marketing, donated goods retail, etc.
I lived overseas for a while (early retirement you could say) and found it actually more tiring than living in and working back in the U.S. Being in my fifties, I want to take advantage of what physical strength I still have left, and work for another 5-10 years if someone is willing to give me a chance. I was born and raised in the States, second generation American, America gave me plenty of opportunities that I was too blind to see, despite my Mother having a vicious case of the “Youcan’ts”, and now at this late stage in the game, I feel like I’m getting my second wind. I wouldn’t want “AI” or robots to rob any of our class of folks from being able to earn a living and not have to make a choice between paying the rent some months or going hungry.
There are car-related things I can do - besides tires of course - if a site comes along where I can work my way up to a B-level mechanic and maybe earn an ASE in the process. I know the competition from entrants young enough to be my grandchildren could be fierce, but, as they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Universal basic income? You could have people that can live and supplement their income doing side jobs. This happens to some extent with people that are on disability around here.
These companies suck everything out of us to the point we are used up at 45 and 50 years old all so the fat cats can have another lake house and boat. Many end up on disability because they can no longer work like they used to and they supplement their disability doing what they can still do.
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Except now AI will be taking jobs of people who matter, the degreed workers.
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Not around here. There are not great opportunities for jobs, most fast food employees are older here, there are few alternatives. They deserve respect and they work hard. Maybe the CEO could have one less vacation house and a smaller yacht so these people could be paid fairly with benefits.
What is an unskilled position. Do you know a CDL driver is “unskilled” labor.
Very few jobs are truly unskilled. Lets wake up.
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Rick and Bing, please be mindful of the political stuff. it’s ok to digress but I can see this going into a ditch. thanks.
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We don’t have a capitalist system in this country in that sense. We have crony capitalism. Corporatism. In a free market society you wouldn’t have bail outs, subsidies and companies too big to fail.
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Like Asimov’s Foundation trilogy? Yeesh! Some of Asimov’s books, like I, Robot are quite readable and foundational to the science of robotics even today.
I am a fan of Clarke as well as Robert Heinlein…probably my favorite growing up. Philp K. D.i.c.k wrote the book that one of my favorite films is based on… Blade Runner.
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That is what most AI systems are. There are a few systems like Neuro-Symbolic AI or NeuroAI that mimic brain neuron synapsis. Still in its infancy with this technology. Basically, what it does is the attempt to build a human brain using hardware and software.
AI (or at least the concept of AI) has been around since computers. As early as the 1930’s Alan Turing proposed to see if a machine perceived intelligence could be indistinguishable from a human - called the Turing Test.
One of my first classes in computer science was in a language called LISP (used for building AI systems). It was a ■■■■ out class that was designed to be hard to ■■■■ out anyone who might not be suited for Computer Science. 150 of us started the class and 6 of us passed it. I knew at least one guy who finally passed on his third try.
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How intelligent is AI that censors words in CarTalk? Granted, I would have said snapped it up, rather than s n a t c h e d it up.
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