From Pine View Farm

Geek Stuff category archive

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Via Der Spiegel, a very sad story that illustrates why maybe, just maybe, AI robots should talk like robots, as Bruce Schneir recently suggested.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Susceptible to a misdirection play? Perha–Look! Over there!

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Capable of perjury? You can swear on it.

Share

Geeking Out 0

Mageia v. 9 with the Plasma desktop. The wallpaper is from my collection.

Screenshot

Click for a larger image.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Qualified to provide medical care? You must be hallucinating, because they most certainly are.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

The dialog (at the 31-minute mark): Masterminds, as you call them, don’t go around with illuminated foreheads.

The closed caption: Masterminds, as you call them, don’t go around with illuminated for-ets.

The intelligence: Artificial. The stupid: Real. The question: What the heck is a “for-et”?

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Unbiased? Look under its hood and decide for yourself.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Share

Geeking Out 0

Debian v. 12 “Bookworm” with the Plasma desktop on a Thinkpenguin laptop. The wallpaper is from my collection.

Screenshot

Click for a larger image.

Share

The Disinformation Superhighway 0

Gabby:  Let's go to the library.  Michael:  Why?  Any information I could ever want or need is on the internet.  So what's the different between the internet and a library.  Gabby:  In a library, the

Click to view the original image.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Trustworthy? I got a bridge in Brooklyn you can buy.

Share

The Enemy Below 0

On the roof, persons frolic in the social media fun park.  Underneath, social media companies undermine democracy, fuel polarization and disinformation, and mine user data, all for profit.

Click to view the original image.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

Share

The Crypto Con 0

Froma Harrop explains how it works. A snippet:

Bitcoin’s price is fueled by the Greater Fool Theory — that the fool who buys it needs only find a bigger fool to pay more for it than he did. That’s how Beanie Baby mania worked.

Follow the link for details.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Without precedent? Just ask these lawyers.

Share

The Neglected Neighborhood on the Back Streets of the Disinformation Superhighway 0

Picture of a street with a sign bearing a glowering Donald Trump and reading

Click to view the original image.

Share

DOGE Ball 0

Security maven Bruce Schneier looks at how Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (which, incidentally, is not a government department in any legitimate sense of the term) has compromised federal computer systems and concludes that it can legitimately be considered a cyberattack on “the sinews of government.”

Here is a little bit from his article:

But the most alarming aspect isn’t just the access being granted. It’s the systematic dismantling of security measures that would detect and prevent misuse—including standard incident response protocols, auditing, and change-tracking mechanisms—by removing the career officials in charge of those security measures and replacing them with inexperienced operators.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Larcenous? You be the judge.

Caption:  Algorithm & Blues.  Image:  Robot holding a guitar and saying,

Click to view the original image.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

As trustworthy as that phone call telling you that you owe money to Walmart when you haven’t set foot in a Walmart in a decade?* You should be so lucky.

_______________

*Based on a real life experience.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Seductively manipulative? Darn tootin.

That’s why Bruce Schneier favors truth in packaging:

A person can be a friend. An AI cannot be a friend, despite how people might treat it or react to it. AI is at best a tool, and at worst a means of manipulation. Humans need to know whether we’re talking with a living, breathing person or a robot with an agenda set by the person who controls it. That’s why robots should sound like robots.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

(Slightly edited for more snark 2025-02-05 14:17 EST.)

Share

“Just the Fakes, Ma’am” 0

Security maven Bruce Schneier takes a look at why fact-checking fake memes on “social” media seems futile. A nugget:

People share as a form of social signaling. I send you a meme/article/clipping/photo to show that we are on the same team. Whether it is true, or misinformation, or actual propaganda, is of secondary importance. Sometimes it’s completely irrelevant. This is why fact checking doesn’t work.

Share

Addicted to Screens 0

Share
From Pine View Farm
Privacy Policy

This website does not track you.

It contains no private information. It does not drop persistent cookies, does not collect data other than incoming ip addresses and page views (the internet is a public place), and certainly does not collect and sell your information to others.

Some sites that I link to may try to track you, but that's between you and them, not you and me.

I do collect statistics, but I use a simple stand-alone Wordpress plugin, not third-party services such as Google Analitics over which I have no control.

Finally, this is website is a hobby. It's a hobby in which I am deeply invested, about which I care deeply, and which has enabled me to learn a lot about computers and computing, but it is still ultimately an avocation, not a vocation; it is certainly not a money-making enterprise (unless you click the "Donate" button--go ahead, you can be the first!).

I appreciate your visiting this site, and I desire not to violate your trust.