My grandfather, a lifelong resident of Topeka, Kansas, is mostly apolitical. He votes, but not enthusiastically — if I had to guess, out of a sense of duty because his father, my great-grandfather, died in Anzio, Italy fighting fascists in 1944.
Yet he is wise enough — or cynical enough; take your pick — to understand that politicians by their nature are mostly duplicitous parasites who serve interests other than the ones they purport to. He’s very much a kindred spirit to George Carlin in that way, and others.
I like to probe him on political issues du jour from time to time when we talk, just to get the perspective of someone who’s mostly checked out and not constantly mired in the much like me.
I recently asked him, rhetorically: “You think they don’t care about the middle class now. What happens when they don’t need the labor anymore?”
(“They” being the technocratic blob.)
“Hmm,” he answered. “I never though to that.”
Migrants are known to take natives’ jobs from time to time, as South Park satirically covered in one of its most famous episodes — but they’ve got nothing on AI.
Here we go.Robots conduct classical symphony
Listen, Jack.No Malarkey.
No one is ever, under any circumstances, going to get excited about a robot conducting a Mozart rendition, not matter how technically proficient, because it will have no soul, which is what makes art compelling.
In a similar vein, I suppose at some point — and it’s looking like sooner rather than later — AI will be able to produce copy regarding current events with an efficiency and cheapness that will render writers like the team at PJ Media obsolete.
The grammar will probably be cleaner, because the human element of error will have been removed entirely. The structure will be logically organized with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
But would you really want to read that?
Airborne driverless Chinese taxis to take over Bangkok skyline
Let’s consider the factors here:
- Chinese tech firm
- Flying cars
- No human drivers
- Abysmal infrastructure
- Skyscrapers everywhere
- Exposed power lines everywhere
- Zero regulatory regime
- Zero traffic rules enforced
This is definitely not going to end well when it goes commercial.
I predict a minimum 2% casualty rate on a per-flight basis.
Also, there are seemingly like a million — but in reality more like thousands — human taxi drivers in Bangkok with families to support. They’re maybe not NASCAR-tier performers, but they get the job done. So who needs this, and why is Thailand allowing Chinese tech bros to experiment with flying plastic incinerators on their own people?
Related: Chinese Communist Party Literally Names Its Domestic Surveillance Program 'Skynet'
The answer, someway, somehow, of course, is cash money changing hands from Chinese tech bros into some upper-crust Thai bureaucrat’s bank account so he can buy something fancy for his concubine and maybe a new beachside condo in Phuket.
Via Cities-today.com (emphasis added)
Chinese urban air mobility (UAM) firm EHang has announced the first test run of its pilotless electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Bangkok, Thailand.
The test, which took place at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in central Bangkok, marks the company’s first flight in the country after receiving regulatory approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT).
The company is planning further flight tests of its EH216-S model on the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui by 2025.
“This demo flights marks significant progress in integrating urban air mobility (UAM) solutions into Thailand’s aviation industry,” said Suttipong Kongpool, Director, CAAT.
“EHang’s EH216-S is currently the world’s only eVTOL with airworthiness certificates, and we look forward to its commercial flight operations in certain areas of Thailand next year, which will serve as a significant contribution to Thailand’s UAM roadmap development plan.”
CAAT plans to open flight tests for certified eVTOLs across the country to “jointly promote the nation’s opening of low-altitude airspace and [the] air mobility market”.
The CCP deploys roving, rolling death robot to keep the peace
The Chinese authorities went from “look at our sweet robot police dog” to Black Mirror-style wheeled robot killer really quick.
The only things missing are the syringes (for industrial-scale injections) and the guns. For now, it’s just got nets.
For now.
China has revealed a spherical police robot designed to autonomously pursue and immobilize criminals by shooting nets and rolling at speeds of up to 35 km/h. pic.twitter.com/nkwRkEpCoA
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 8, 2024
Related: LAPD Gets $278,000 Robot Dog, Dallas School District Adopts Pre-Crime Surveillance Technology
AI prevails against human doctors in diagnostic proficiency experiment
Should doctors be relying on technology to make diagnoses? For sure, especially in the context of radiology reports that are difficult to accurately interpret even with decades of experience and virtually impossible for the layperson to make sense of.
But should your primary care physician be a robot? Probably not — however, that’s looking like the way things are headed eventually.
Via New York Times (emphasis added):
To the researchers’ surprise, ChatGPT alone outperformed the doctors.
“I was shocked,” Dr. Rodman said.
The chatbot, from the company OpenAI, scored an average of 90 percent when diagnosing a medical condition from a case report and explaining its reasoning. Doctors randomly assigned to use the chatbot got an average score of 76 percent. Those randomly assigned not to use it had an average score of 74 percent.
The study showed more than just the chatbot’s superior performance.
It unveiled doctors’ sometimes unwavering belief in a diagnosis they made, even when a chatbot potentially suggests a better one.
And the study illustrated that while doctors are being exposed to the tools of artificial intelligence for their work, few know how to exploit the abilities of chatbots. As a result, they failed to take advantage of A.I. systems’ ability to solve complex diagnostic problems and offer explanations for their diagnoses.
A.I. systems should be “doctor extenders,” Dr. Rodman said, offering valuable second opinions on diagnoses.
I wonder what kind of “second opinions” the robot will offer on the “death panel” dilemma that Bill Gates is obsessed with, when decisions for the “greater good” might be made to let Grandma kick the bucket so we can save some public-school teacher jobs?
Somehow I don’t imagine the same moral hang-ups will plague OpenAI as might a person with a grandmother of their own.
