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Is Elon Musk the greatest visionary or the greatest snake oil salesman of our age?

You have to deliver according to the terms of service. If be surprised if a tech terms of service doesn’t include a clause that allows them a certain level of outage.

I’d be highly surprised if Musk has read that.
 
How shortsighted is this from the US regulators? Health & Safety gorn maaad :mad:


Musk wants to do Neuralink fast, instead of doing it right. No wonder his company got turned down for clinical trial approval.

I know the US isn't very good at this, but we need to have a culture-wide discussion of the implications. Some of the medical applications of this sound interesting, but it has enormous potential for misuse too, especially in the hands of someone like Musk.
 
I don't know if I'm being paranoid but I feel like leftist media commentators are coming up less in my 'following' tab. I don't think the tab is just a straight delivery of posts from people I'm following any more. Anyone else noticing this?
 
I don't know if I'm being paranoid but I feel like leftist media commentators are coming up less in my 'following' tab. I don't think the tab is just a straight delivery of posts from people I'm following any more. Anyone else noticing this?
It feels very selective. If I think I haven't heard from X for a while I'll search them out and find a load of posts I haven't seen. Mind you, if you aren't on there 24/7 (I'm on for a bare half hour) you'll miss a load anyway.
 
I don't know if I'm being paranoid but I feel like leftist media commentators are coming up less in my 'following' tab. I don't think the tab is just a straight delivery of posts from people I'm following any more. Anyone else noticing this?
doesn't surprise me at all. right wing content either provokes or is emotionally satisfying to those who believe it, so if the algorithym can sort by that stuff, then why would they not? the algorithym doesn't really seem to care much about balance, or dry long analysis. You wanna see my youtube shorts feed :( mysoginy and andrew tate is the flavour of the day, and i think that's because i watched a few documentaries criticising him. I have an attitude of renunciation towards this stuff these days, will only visit occasionally. Lot less than I used to.
 
You wanna see my youtube shorts feed :( mysoginy and andrew tate is the flavour of the day
Same, despite the fact I spent a fair bit of time actively hitting the "don't show me this" button. Once it works out you're interested in say, computer games and/or any other "guy stuff" it clearly has Tate, Peterson and an endless parade of absolute wankers jabbering hateful nonsense into microphones on standby (I'm just thankfrul it's not worked out I'm 40+ yet so isn't battering me with age-targeted grifts). It's honestly a bit baffling that they let it become quite so prevalent because it's actively just boring repetition after a while and must drive quite a lot of people away on those grounds alone. Even Facebook does better.
 
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I know the US isn't very good at this, but we need to have a culture-wide discussion of the implications. Some of the medical applications of this sound interesting, but it has enormous potential for misuse too, especially in the hands of someone like Musk.
What are you imagining its potential use to be beyond basic medical applications?
 
I know the US isn't very good at this, but we need to have a culture-wide discussion of the implications. Some of the medical applications of this sound interesting, but it has enormous potential for misuse too, especially in the hands of someone like Musk.

Fortunately he can't do all the stuff he claims and isn't going to be able to any time soon so it's probably not that urgent a discussion.
 
What are you imagining its potential use to be beyond basic medical applications?

Just off the top of my head:
  • Identification (From birth and throughout your life)
  • Management of prisoners (Think of how this could be applied to political prisoners and protesters.)
  • Tracking of your movements (I bring this up because I had an insurance company demand that I put a tracking app on my phone so they could judge my driving).
  • Employers could use it to make sure you're working. (For example, they could track how well you pay attention to your computer screen).
  • I worry about the hackability of it. Who gets control of it and the data it provides?

A lot of this can currently be done with less invasive measures, but I can foresee how someone would want it to be more invasive if they had the power to demand it. Most of us already give out this data with our phones. A good share of this isn't currently possible, but the technology is improving. As usual, this will start out as voluntary, and then become mandatory once there's a large number of people opting in.

I could also see it used to keep track of children and the elderly with dementia (probably a good thing overall, but then again prone to abuse if handled wrong). It could also be used to identify bodies in a natural disaster.
 
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Sorry, I’m a bit lost here. Why is it necessary to install a chip in somebody’s brain just to keep track of them?

(Employers who are so minded can and do already keep track of attention paid to the computer, by the way. You definitely don’t need to put a chip in anybody’s brain for that)
 
Sorry, I’m a bit lost here. Why is it necessary to install a chip in somebody’s brain just to keep track of them?

(Employers who are so minded can and do already keep track of attention paid to the computer, by the way. You definitely don’t need to put a chip in anybody’s brain for that)

I did say as much above. Here's how it's different. You have a choice to keep your phone or not. Microchips are permanent. There's some talk of using chips to treat depression by upping dopamine levels. If that's possible, it's also possible to use dopamine levels as a leash. If you're eye wanders from your screen, maybe apply a little bit of a hit of anxiety. If the eye comes back, a little hit oxytocin. You could be made to love your job--literally. I know this is pretty out there, and a long way off (hopefully), but you have know someone out there is trying to develop it and given what people are already willing to give up to their employers, there are some willing to go along.
 
I did say as much above. Here's how it's different. You have a choice to keep your phone or not. Microchips are permanent. There's some talk of using chips to treat depression by upping dopamine levels. If that's possible, it's also possible to use dopamine levels as a leash. If you're eye wanders from your screen, maybe apply a little bit of a hit of anxiety. If the eye comes back, a little hit oxytocin. You could be made to love your job--literally. I know this is pretty out there, and a long way off (hopefully), but you have know someone out there is trying to develop it and given what people are already willing to give up to their employers, there are some willing to go along.
It Couldn't Happen Here :eek:
 
That sounds pretty horrible, but it all actually starts with concepts like “treating depression by upping dopamine levels“. Even typing that sentence makes me want to weep, and it’s got nothing to do with chips in brains.
 
That sounds pretty horrible, but it all actually starts with concepts like “treating depression by upping dopamine levels“. Even typing that sentence makes me want to weep, and it’s got nothing to do with chips in brains.

I think I need more of an explanation for me to understand your point.
 
I think I need more of an explanation for me to understand your point.
It presents the human in rationalist, positivist, mechanical terms. The cause is seen as some kind of brain imbalance from a normal baseline, and the solution is to correct that imbalance. It does not recognise the human as a social being and as part of a society, in relation with others. It doesn’t even begin to address the web of issues that underlie any problems of living that might be presenting as overwhelming sadness, or other emotional distress.

If you think you can “fix” a human with dopamine then you have already lost, chips or no chips.
 
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