bparsons

15 ms·

151.
by bparsons 2y ago
There is also just a huge increase in global air travel, which should increase the number of total incidents. The number of commercial flights doubled between 2004 and 2019, and is expected to continue on that trend for some time.
152.
by bparsons 2y ago
Pretty incredible that trillions of dollars can't buy a capability that can defeat these guys. What is the purpose of spending all of this money?
153.
by bparsons 2y ago
I love windows, but OneDrive made my experience on 11 nearly unusable. I never knew where anything was saved because of these indistinguishable, parallel file systems. The implementation was awful.
154.
by bparsons 2y ago
If you are on a stranded Boeing spaceship right now, this is not news that will bring you comfort.
155.
by bparsons 2y ago
I think the use case here are LLMs trained on billions of terabytes of bulk surveillance data. Imagine an LLM that has been fed every banking transaction, text message or geolocation ping within a target country. An intelligence analyst can
156.
TDK claims solid state battery breakthrough(arstechnica.com)
236 points by bparsons 2y ago|179 comments
157.
by bparsons 2y ago
At least 12 exabytes of mostly encrypted data, waiting for the day that the NSA can decrypt it and unleash all of these tools on it. Whenever that day happens (or happened) it will represent a massive shift in global power. It is on par wit
158.
by bparsons 2y ago
In a long list of awful things that US intelligence agencies have done, this has got to be near the top. Also, what happened subsequently is a textbook example of what Chalmers Johnson described in "Blowback".
159.
by bparsons 2y ago
This could have been a cataclysm 30 years ago, but the global energy picture has shifted a lot. US/Canada produce way more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and are now exporting significant amounts of energy. With China now shrinking, we
160.
by bparsons 2y ago
People are surprised when kids don't want to go out and play on the street, but their street is as wide as a highway and has no sidewalks. There are a million negative effects of vehicle centered urban design, and this is one of them.
161.
by bparsons 2y ago
This article is a great example of how macroeconomic indicators are a poor measure of overall economic health. The real question is who is actually served by an economy like this. The basic bargain at the heart of the United States means th
162.
by bparsons 2y ago
In Canada, it is. Canadian politicians are not really allowed to have investments (outside of some prescribed mutual funds), and all bank accounts, assets, loans etc. are disclosed on a public registry. All communications between lobbyists
163.
by bparsons 2y ago
I never cease to be amazed by the privacy abuses that are permitted and encouraged in the United States.
164.
by bparsons 2y ago
The capital markets are a type of AI, or a least a collective intelligence that is optimized for specific, short term outcomes. If you are a CEO of a large enterprise that relies on equity or debt financing, you don't actually have a l
165.
by bparsons 2y ago
Comical hearing the British Museum complaining about theft.
166.
by bparsons 2y ago
In a true emergency situation (like if a big portion of the power grid or internet went down) you need some way to communicate with people. This is a no brainer if you care about public safety.
167.
by bparsons 2y ago
You can trust what happens in front of your eyes until everyone starts wearing augmented reality contact lenses.
168.
by bparsons 2y ago
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
169.
by bparsons 2y ago
Iconic like the Titanic.
170.
by bparsons 2y ago
People were (rightly) critical of the notion that missile defense was something the United States could rely upon to survive a nuclear war. Scientists pointed out that this is a dangerous strategy, and that non-proliferation and arms reduct
171.
by bparsons 3y ago
Interesting. By reading that term, I thought the exact opposite. Mercenary sounds decidedly like a non-state actor.
172.
by bparsons 3y ago
Sovereign nations are under no obligation to allow foreign governments to flood their communications systems with propaganda and harmful disinformation. Imagine if during during the cold war, the Soviet Union was permitted to flood NBC, ABC
173.
by bparsons 3y ago
By the time a non-profit has paid off your medical debt, your financial life has already been destroyed by these companies. It is a band-aid.
174.
by bparsons 3y ago
Low battery. Stare directly into the sun to recharge.
175.
by bparsons 3y ago
Precisely. This is not a problem with Tata. It is a problem with the extremely backward labour laws in the United States.
176.
by bparsons 3y ago
On some level, the apps are optimized to keep you coming back. Whether it is an explicit business strategy or an outcome of the algorithm optimizing for profit, it doesn't really matter. The customer and software company do not have al
177.
by bparsons 3y ago
America was full of these guys in the late 1930s. History doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes.
178.
by bparsons 3y ago
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-mars-plan-t...
179.
by bparsons 3y ago
This is one of the many reasons that means tested, rather than universal programs end up producing perverse outcomes. People in countries with universal healthcare, daycare and education do not have to limit their participation or productiv
180.
by bparsons 3y ago
We were promised mars, but instead we got ubiquitous aerial surveillance of all human movement.

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