121–130 of 131 posts
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Maybe. Evolution selects for virulence, not death toll. After all, your hosts can't spread you if they're dead.
> After all, your hosts can't spread you if they're dead Arguable. Dead bodies can and do spread disease.
Weird how that works.
Lethal viruses? No problem. Drugs? Abortion? Never! Weird how that works.
Stop making everything political, if this was done under a different administration you would have applauded it because of it being a scientific effort. Chances are this was decided by a panel and not the person you despise.
Being a-political myself, it always amazes me how for BOTH parties, the political issues aren't even about the issue at hand anymore. It's about proving the other side wrong.
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Thing is, some of the stuff I used to laugh at as bullshit can be done now. Use the enhance feature to magically unblur images to clarity? I've seen ML demos of stuff like that. Giant realtime database of all phone calls meta data and recordings? Realtime facial/license plate recognition search of millions of people/cars? Not so funny anymore. Tracking peoples movements in realtime. Sure just cary this phone wherever…
Yup. Watch_Dogs-style hacking of CCTV cameras? As the other story on HN's frontpage today will tell you (and so will any experience with Shodan), it's totally doable in theory - the only practical reason this doesn't happen is that every camera is broken in a different way, and as a protagonist, to hack them in a field-actionable way, you'd have to have a hundred people in your tech support staff, who manually engage…
Maybe the problem is that my sample size isn't large enough, but I've only encountered about a dozen widely used DVR servers that are actually unique tech instead of rebranding.
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Right but they're not saying they don't trust regulators and legislators as a concept, they're saying they don't trust them when they're basically writing what lobbyists tell them to. It's right they don't trust the law, but their criticism isn't of law and regulation. It's of lobbyists.
But I mean if they're really completely compromised then it doesn't much matter. I share the OP's concerns but I think he goes too far in his claims.
We humans collectively as one entity clearly have no discipline.
The current set of laws are themselves in first place not providing any peace in the lives of most people. And we have no time to fix that issue and our impulsive anxiety issue is making some weak willed men to open up new roads to destruction. It may yield some benefit but it is not essential.
I have 0 confidence in today's governments that they are capable of containing any damage caused by this law.
If entire of humanity is going to become extinct then we can take a high risk effort. All the day every time we need not take life threatening risks.
Opening up of this law means any minute now in best case scenario there is a 1% chance that there may be a deadly virus in the air u just breathed in. And based on history we humans are capable of leading ourselves into worst case scenarios and that puts the percentage of risk anywhere between 1% to 99%.
Now even if something worst case happens i am sure the human species would not go extinct as the billionaires and few millionaires would have means to survive any death prone event only with nobody left to buy their products anymore.
Kudos!
Lethal viruses? No problem. Drugs? Abortion? Never! Weird how that works.
Yes because black tar heroin produced in a basement comes with the following disclaimer: ".... and the work must produce knowledge — such as a vaccine — that would benefit humans". Stop making everything political, if this was done under a different administration you would have applauded it because of it being a scientific effort. Chances are this was decided by a panel and not the person you despise. Being a-politi…
Sounds like we are multiplying the ways to cause species level extinction rather than reducing them. Kewl.
Technology is, in a fundamental way, a force multiplicator. It gives you power to do more things that you could do with only your biological body and mind. That power can be used for destructive means too, so it follows that as we get more power, we open new, exciting ways to destroy ourselves.
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Thing is, some of the stuff I used to laugh at as bullshit can be done now. Use the enhance feature to magically unblur images to clarity? I've seen ML demos of stuff like that. Giant realtime database of all phone calls meta data and recordings? Realtime facial/license plate recognition search of millions of people/cars? Not so funny anymore. Tracking peoples movements in realtime. Sure just cary this phone wherever…
Yup. Watch_Dogs-style hacking of CCTV cameras? As the other story on HN's frontpage today will tell you (and so will any experience with Shodan), it's totally doable in theory - the only practical reason this doesn't happen is that every camera is broken in a different way, and as a protagonist, to hack them in a field-actionable way, you'd have to have a hundred people in your tech support staff, who manually engage…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ebola is one such virus. In terms of evolution these viruses tend to burn out by killing the host. Evolutionary pressures push viruses towards symbiotic equilibrium. Thus in the worst case scenario there will be survivors who are immune or the virus or the virus will burn out until the only strain left does not harm humans. The later was the case with ebola.
> In terms of evolution these viruses tend to burn out by killing the host. I learned two things playing that 'Pandemic' flash game a few years back: 1) don't evolve deadly characteristics until you've infected as many people as possible (to get around ebola's issue you pointed out) 2) Madagascar is the place to be in the event of a global epidemic