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However, they're delving into what I call "subjective coding" where the choices you're making are no problem at all for a human to decide but they're really inelegant to try and code for.
Reminds me of a recent request I had by a friend. He wanted me to code an application to look through some text documents in which he kept journal entries and find places where he'd made the mistake of substituting a homophone for the correct word, such as "There home is insured" instead of the correct "Their home is insured." And there was one example sentence in which he'd written "I remember one particular incident from my adolescents...", which of course should have been "I remember one particular incident from my adolescence."
I've tried to explain to my friend that to write code to heuristically choose between any one set of homophones would be quite non-trivial. To choose the right homophone among dozens, hundreds?
This is why robots will never take over the world (sorry T3 fans). Programming constraints and processing-speed constraints just won't allow for anywhere near human-speed/human-accurate decisions and judgment.-kyrathaba (January 29, 2012, 03:56 PM)
For those of you who have used an AIO, how do you find looking at the screen so close you can reach it with you hands? I hate using my laptop and screen together - I much prefer to use either an external monitor with the laptop keyboard or wireless kb with laptop screen pushed away (or both). Then again my tired old eyes like a bit of distance relief for extended viewing. I can't image using an AIO for anything other than a media centre or similar where I only make a few inputs then walk away.-DougalS (January 25, 2012, 10:12 PM)
Most disturbing is the retention of private user generated message content, which has no value whatsoever for Google's marketing - but which is very valuable for fishing expeditions conducted by various parties. Can you say: criticize your employer or the government and later face repercussions - and then wonder how they knew? Especially since you only did so in an email sent to your best friend?
A simple information request made as a favor - or through a subpoena - would be sufficient. Big Brother doesn't exactly watch you. But he does record every single word you utter and log every thing you do for later recall - and evaluation.
It's called data mining. And it works.
Right now, these things have been perceived as fairly benevolent. Largely because egregious invasions of personal privacy have remained relatively rare - and were downplayed when reported.
But that's only because those who could most benefit from stripping privacy from all walks of personal life haven't felt sufficiently pushed against the proverbial wall to move on it. And the unfortunate truth is there's no guarantee they'll continue to feel that way in the future.
...
My biggest concern, with the heightened and heated level of rhetoric we're hearing in political circles, is the very real chance of us seeing our government switch into "wounded rhino mode." That's where the large and lumbering animal feels threatened, or becomes wounded, and lashes out with deadly and indiscriminate fury at anything and everything around it.
It's a very real concern...
Especially in an era where government sanctioned "shock & awe" is becoming the preferred response to everything: from a full-bore terrorist attack, all the way down to a local arrest for a minor felony.
No matter what town or city you're from in the USA, you'll see ninja-suited heavily armed police units responding any time an arrest is expected to be made. And that includes arrests for some of the most minor offenses imaginable.
Guess they need to do something to justify all the spending on "homeland security" training and equipment that's been used to militarize US local police forces in the last ten years.
The problem with tech like that is, once it's out there, it begs to be used. And often creates justification when justification can't be found.
So it goes.-40hz (January 28, 2012, 03:00 PM)
It is so amusing how people are mad about Google's continued reluctancy to stop their data misuse but don't see a reason to just stop using Google services. Oh well... people are stupid.
(Written without Google.)-Tuxman (January 27, 2012, 04:22 PM)
Not even TaoPhoenix's 200th post and already I'm becoming a fan.
-40hz (January 27, 2012, 03:27 PM)
It's hard for me to get worked up about these privacy issues.. I'm not sure why, they just don't seem to bother me.
Now I happen to think google is out of control and harmful for other reasons i have written about -- and believe that their greed and need to dig their nails deep into every thing in order to ensure they can never be dislodged from their position as an unstoppable advertising machine is disgusting. But the privacy stuff is the least of my concerns..-mouser (January 25, 2012, 02:36 PM)
Well, the censorship continues:-Renegade (January 20, 2012, 10:59 PM)
Exactly. Now compound that by the convoluted manner in which the issues are addresses during election debates/interviews. The one classic example that always stuck with me was when ABC's Charlie Gibson interviewed Sara Palin. He asked her a simple direct Yes-on-No question. She responded by babbling for 10 minutes straight, and never once said yes, no, or even addressed the friggin question. Charlie countered by re-asking he exact same question and directly specified that he was looking for a Yes-or-No reply. Her response? 10 more minutes of distracted puppet shit.
When a politician answers a direct question the only thing that can be guaranteed...Is that nobody in the room will have the slightest clue what the fuck their talking about. Because it's just one long string of complete bullshit.-Stoic Joker (January 20, 2012, 11:50 AM)
Hmmm... shouldn't it be ammo, then jury?-wraith808 (January 21, 2012, 10:32 AM)
