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So here we are discussing how AI will soon kill us all or at least solve the big questions of science, and at the same time we employ 800 souls in Utah working

by 8uhaal 3y ago

So here we are discussing how AI will soon kill us all or at least solve the big questions of science, and at the same time we employ 800 souls in Utah working 70 hours a week to decipher bad handwriting.

laichzeit0 3y ago
I think people underestimate the long tail of most problems. Even if it’s 98% good, what do you do with that last 2%? The same applies for self-driving and other computer vision related technologies.
- tomcam 3y ago
  > what do you do with that last 2%? My plan when I finally purchase a self-driving car is to get 800 people from Utah to help me navigate for that last 2%
- theodric 3y ago
  Realistically, keep running Utah until the next round of sweeping budget cuts comes, then cook up some reason to return/destroy the remaining 2% as "undeliverable" and shut it down. Good service always gets sacrificed to save 2%
- bschne 3y ago
  I remember a patio11 thread about exactly this — once your operations reach a certain scale, even a 0.1% of cases problem takes a whole department to deal with
  - 8uhaal 3y ago
    Shows that some things just can't be provided by the private sector and need a govt agency like the USPS. A private corp would have shut this down long ago and just required in their terms&conditions that people write in an easily OCR-able style, else the letter gets dropped without notice. Letting the govt take care of this gives people more freedom - for example the freedom to get old and have a handwriting that a machine has issues with.
kumarm 3y ago
I suggest you watch Tom Scot mentioned in another comment and it might change your opinion. When OCR system was initially started 50% were done automatically. Today that is greater than 99%. Less than 1% are now handled by the Utah center and they it still going down (After closing rest of the centers already and Utah center is last remaining one).
- 8uhaal 3y ago
  Exactly my point! Machine takeover is further than you'd think, because of the long tail.
GoblinSlayer 3y ago
https://ozgurnevres.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/terminator-Sarah-Connor-captcha-meme-featured.jpg https://ozgurnevres.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/terminato...

by 8uhaal 3y ago

laichzeit0 3y ago

I think people underestimate the long tail of most problems. Even if it’s 98% good, what do you do with that last 2%? The same applies for self-driving and other computer vision related technologies.

tomcam 3y ago
> what do you do with that last 2%? My plan when I finally purchase a self-driving car is to get 800 people from Utah to help me navigate for that last 2%
theodric 3y ago
Realistically, keep running Utah until the next round of sweeping budget cuts comes, then cook up some reason to return/destroy the remaining 2% as "undeliverable" and shut it down. Good service always gets sacrificed to save 2%
bschne 3y ago
I remember a patio11 thread about exactly this — once your operations reach a certain scale, even a 0.1% of cases problem takes a whole department to deal with
- 8uhaal 3y ago
  Shows that some things just can't be provided by the private sector and need a govt agency like the USPS. A private corp would have shut this down long ago and just required in their terms&conditions that people write in an easily OCR-able style, else the letter gets dropped without notice. Letting the govt take care of this gives people more freedom - for example the freedom to get old and have a handwriting that a machine has issues with.

kumarm 3y ago

I suggest you watch Tom Scot mentioned in another comment and it might change your opinion. When OCR system was initially started 50% were done automatically. Today that is greater than 99%. Less than 1% are now handled by the Utah center and they it still going down (After closing rest of the centers already and Utah center is last remaining one).

8uhaal 3y ago
Exactly my point! Machine takeover is further than you'd think, because of the long tail.

GoblinSlayer 3y ago

https://ozgurnevres.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/terminator-Sarah-Connor-captcha-meme-featured.jpg https://ozgurnevres.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/terminato...