Well without new antibiotics lots of people would definitely die, whereas now those people will remain alive but might face some socioeconomic challenges. Without trivialising those problems we may face - which could be severe! - I still think it's a better situation for them to be in.
I try to take measures to secure myself against this kind of gooseberry fool, like encrypting my phone and other devices, but if you really wanted to thwart these people it would be a full-time job. One hundred percent security is an impossibility anyway, unless you want to live completely offline. Even that may be impossible because even if an individual chooses not to connect to the internet every service they use in day to day life certainly will.
If it makes you feel any better, these things are highly targetted. Unless you are running a nuclear program for an Eastern government you probably dont have to worry all that much.
Falsey wrote:If it makes you feel any better, these things are highly targetted. Unless you are running a nuclear program for an Eastern government you probably dont have to worry all that much.
You seem to be forgetting that massive theft of SIM keys by NSA and GCHQ that was reported just the other week. They hacked email and social media profiles of legitimate employees of a legitimate security firm simply because they had access to information these agencies considered "useful". It's will be interesting to see how much criminal damage Gemalto can now sue our government for considering the massive number this revelation has done to their share values.
Funny how these agencies supposedly exist to protect our security and yet actively seek to undermine the mechanisms needed to keep networks secure. 'Insecurity agencies'? Why is the government letting them go around damaging the security of the systems we rely on to support the online economy? If anyone else were doing that we would lock them up for thirty years.
Falsey wrote:If it makes you feel any better, these things are highly targetted. Unless you are running a nuclear program for an Eastern government you probably dont have to worry all that much.
Ah, strawberry float.
It's comments like this that get you put on a list. Military background too...
There was a nice article on Ars the other day about AI (more specifically, whole brain emulation) and how we could ethically go about it and be nice to them. Was interesting.
AI could threaten us, true, however the alternative is far worse; human intelligence.
Okay, let me explain that. As technology keeps progressive humans are going to have more and more power concentrated into their hands. Our knowledge and ability to craft things that have potentially hugely destructive consequences (such as nuclear weapons) increases with each generation but the individual intelligence of those making the decisions that govern the use of said technology remains constant. Reading accounts of the Cold War is a litany of terrifying near misses and escalation. The number of times that bad luck or the wrong man in charge might have doomed civilisation doesn't bear thinking about. If we are to survive yet further advances in our destructive capabilities and technologies then we need more intelligence than we currently have access to and better governance than human minds are currently capable of providing.
AI provides a possible solution. Rather than handing the power of gods to feckless mortals, construct a being with the godlike knowledge and foresight needed to control and regulate such power wisely. This obviously requires a lot of trust but so does our current government and they are as flawed, if not more so, than we ourselves. Creating beings of greater intelligence than ourselves to provide leadership may be the only way of keeping a lid on all the terrible things we might unleash on ourselves.
So yeah, I think human stupidity is a bigger threat than artificial intelligence.
Honestly, I'm surprised at these famous names coming out against AI. You'd think that distinguished scientists would know better than to forget the universal truth: our problems are always best faced by more intelligence, not less.
Luckily, it's nowhere near us. As long as we don't get stupid and decide, "You know where our first extra-solar colony should be? By a black hole," we'll be okay.
Vertical farm can make 44,000 pounds of tomatoes on the side of a parking lot Project lets Wyoming town keep growing food all year long
The Wyoming town of Jackson Hole gets long and bitter winters. One mile above sea level in a landlocked state, months of heavy snow leave the town unable to grow much of its own produce, forcing it to import fresh fruit and vegetables from other states or other countries. But the creators of a new initiative called Vertical Harvest — a multi-storey greenhouse built on the side of a parking lot — hope that one of the world's few vertical farms can help feed the town with tomatoes, herbs, and microgreens.
Vertical Harvest places plants on carousels that keep them moving the length of the greenhouse, giving them equal time in natural light, and also allowing workers to pick and transfer the crops. Using hydroponics, Vertical Harvest will be capable of producing over 37,000 pounds of greens, 4,400 pounds of herbs, and 44,000 pounds of tomatoes. Its founders say that Vertical Harvest's 30 foot by 150 foot plot of land offers the same growing areas as 23 acres of traditional farmland, and has a fraction of the environmental impact, using 90 percent less water and 100 percent fewer pesticides than traditional farming.
Funded partially through a successful Kickstarter campaign and set up in collaboration with Jackson Hole's town authorities, the initiative's founders, Nona Yehia and Penny McBride, say that although greenhouses use a lot of energy, it's still a net gain over importing tomatoes and other vegetables from out of state. The two have also offered jobs at the vertical farm to people with developmental disabilities, who will be planting and harvesting the crops when Vertical Harvest opens this year.
If you want your town stinking of human gooseberry fool. I've not looked into sewage processing, but I'm assuming the liquid contains lots of harmful cleaning chemicals.
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