They made inquiries with law enforcement agencies and no one took responsibility. The rather optimistic guess in the article is that the cops were acting on their own, which makes the use of the jammer illegal.

a prefrontal cortex, the administrative center of the brain and generally host to human consciousness.

That’s an interesting take. The prefrontal cortex in humans is proportionately larger than in other mammals. Is it implied that animals are not conscious on account of this difference?

If so, what about people who never develop an identifiable prefrontal cortex? I guess, we could assume that a sufficient cortex is still there, though not identifiable. But what about people who suffer extensive damage to that part of the brain. Can one lose consciousness without, as it were, losing consciousness (ie becoming comatose in some way)?

a dedicated module for consciousness would bridge the gap

What functions would such a module need to perform? What tests would verify that the module works correctly and actually provides consciousness to the system?

In fairness, the word “conscious” has a range of meanings. For some, it is synonymous with certain religious ideas. They would be alarmed by the “heresy”. For others, it is synonymous to claiming that some entity is entitled to the same fundamental rights as a human being. Those would be quite alarmed by the social implications. Few people use the term in a strictly empiricist sense.

Good question. Over the years, I’ve read a number of arguments about consciousness, or more precisely against machine consciousness. One thing that’s striking is that the authors never apply the same logic to themselves or humans in general. It’s like they completely lack self-awareness. If I took the whole “p-zombie” idea seriously, I’d look for such p-zombies. And these philosophers would be my first candidates.

secret sauce

What would such a secret sauce look like? Like, what is it in humans, for example?

Yes, that’s the point. You’d think they could have, at least, looked into a dictionary at some point in the last 2 years. But nope, everyone else is wrong. A round of applause for the paragons of human intelligence.

That might be the nadir of his career.

Maniac: [Maniac has just been shunned by a woman in the bar] I guess women out here on the edge of nowhere can’t appreciate a civilised man.

Blair: Sure they do. When they meet one.

Maniac: Good to see you too, Colonel, or should I say Farmer Blair? Glad you could fit me into your busy schedule.

Blair: It’s a peaceful life.

Maniac: I’ve always said you’re either an earthworm or an eagle.

Wait… Wing commander did it first? It’s originally a Mark Hamill meme?

It’s also a joke about Hamill’s career. After Star Wars, or in between Star Wars, there were no successes. Christopher Blair was the PC in a video game franchise in the 90ies. He recorded endless mission briefings. I love him for it, but it doesn’t get any more has-been, you know? Maybe it kept him humble.

Not sure what’s alarming about that. It’s a bit early to worry about an AI Dred Scott, no?

In short: BONK

It probably thought you were Elon Musk.

Easter is a good time to ponder the sins of our forebears, like the fact that the Gregorian Calendar is not 0-based. We all pay a high price for such failures to adhere to common standards.

On a possibly related note:

https://github.com/rauchg/doom-captcha

(via https://canitrundoom.org/ )

That tells me that you didn’t listen to enough metal.

That took me way too long.

No. Not imagery and not intimate as defined.

For the lulz!

It looks like an emperor’s new clothes scenario to me. People agree with each other that the US should manufacture more because they have picked up that that’s the respectable answer; not because they see any actual sense in it.

Or maybe it’s some sort of nostalgia. I guess people used to say that more people should work in agriculture, because that was somehow their idea of a proper, wholesome country.

People who play medievalist games somehow never pretend to be serfs or farm-hands.

There are a few areas where you would want manufacturing in the country. Defense, some medical supplies, … Just in case things go bad, you’d want some capacity, some expertise in the country to be less dependent. You’d spend extra resources just in case, just to be safe. But it’s never a rational end in itself.

Source: https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/econ/currentdata/?programCode=VIP&startYear=2015&endYear=2025&categories[]=20IX&dataType=V&geoLevel=US&adjusted=0&notAdjusted=1&errorData=0#line053

Google sitzt in den USA. Da gilt kein deutsches oder EU Recht.

Diese links-liberale Tradition von freier Rede und Presse in den USA ist ein deutlicher Wettbewerbsvorteil. Dem deutschen Recht merkt man die deutsche Geschichte an. ZB die Impressumspflicht aus monarchistischer Zeit, weil es einem autokratischen Staat natürlich wichtig war, Kritiker - allgemein, Menschen, die “falsche” Meinungen veröffentlichten - verfolgen zu können.