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Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

nytimes.com

741–750 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#741

From the movie "Flash of Genius" about Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper: "I can't think of a job or a career where the understanding of ethics is more important than engineering," Dr. Kearns continues. "Who designed the artificial aortic heart valve? An engineer did that. Who designed the gas chambers at Auschwitz? An engineer did that, too. One man was responsible for helping save ten…

> Who designed the gas chambers at Auschwitz? An engineer did that, too.

Well, given how unimaginative a leap the national socialists took from the national fumigation program to the gas chambers, I doubt there was much more to it than "take bug poison room tech, use it on humans".

There's no such thing as an "engineer" in the real world, and there's almost always somebody more unscrupulous, devout, or patriotic than you who knows or is willing to learn what it takes to finish the job, and school is not going to get in the way.

Added: Engineering is a practice, not an immutable identity. Even if you publicly shame all the "engineers" away from contributing to an effort you disagree with, replacing them is a matter of learning enough of the practice to complete the task. Even if we were just talking about what is in paper books today, it's hard to say that anyone could have control over who is or isn't capable of engineering efforts.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is currently the least dangerous it's ever been in history, and all data and all trends point that it will be even less dangerous in the future. Sorry but you're simply wrong.

Different metrics. I think you're referring to crime rates and health, but OP is referring to political instability.

I'm referring to all data, including political stability. You're less likely to find yourself in a war than ever before.

The source of my claims is the book by Steven Pinker: The Better Angels of Our Nature.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#744
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends how you look at it. What was the purpose. Presumably after fighting in the Revolutionary War the goal was not to give people hunting privileges, they had something else in mind. From that point of view, maybe RPGs should be allowed, but so should attack helicopters, surveillance capabilities, private spy satellites, etc. > IANAL but I’m pretty sure the second amendment only applies to guns; you can’t walk…

This has always been my way of looking at the 2A. It's clearly intended to give citizens the rights and tools to fight wars, otherwise it wouldn't mention it along with militias. Thus, it does seem logical that it extends to armaments of war, such as knives, firearms, artillery, bombs, etc (perhaps even hacking tools). I'm a gun owner myself, and I've (long ago) taken the stance that the 2A isn't really compatible wi…

Congress does regulate those weapons.

There's a reason you can't just walk into a Wal-Mart and walk out with a machine gun, or a rocket launcher.

That said, I don't much care for the fact that the requirement to have legal access to machine guns is "be rich enough to buy your way around the law".

Personally, I do think we need a complete re-work of the way we treat weapons to reflect the realities of the modern world.

(1) We have four hundred million weapons in the United States. It is horribly negligent that safe weapon handling is not taught in schools, at multiple levels. Also a good touchpoint to get police interacting positively with the community.

(2) The current background check system should be replaced with a Swiss-style one; e.g., you get a code, valid for say a week or two, that any seller can use to verify that you have passed a background check.

This doesn't create a de-facto registry, so no problem getting gun owners (or the NRA) to go for this one.

(4) A red-flag law that allows immediate family members and healthcare professionals to temporarily bar an individual from purchasing weapons, with safeguards in-place to keep bad actors from abusing the system (e.g., a psychiatrist that just reports all of his patients to the system because he opposes gun ownership).

(5) Removing gun rights only in the case of violent crime. Right now, in most states, misdemeanor assault won't cost you your gun rights, but a felony for tax evasion will. That's ass-backwards.

(6) Machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and the like should be available with a license. You really need to be able to show that you can handle these things safely. Right now, it's just "be rich".

(7) Treat short-barreled rifles and shotguns as normal firearms, and silencers like any other accessory.

(8) Concealed-carry should be the same for police as it is for normal citizens. Same licensing requirements: a one-day course, including a test on safe weapon handling. This also ends gun-free zones: if you have a license, you can carry wherever you want.

(9) Open carry needs to work differently for urban and rural areas. The above permit will allow you to open-carry a pistol in an urban area. Rifles, no. Put it in a case. In the countryside, open carry just makes sense.

(10) Actually prosecute straw sellers. Buy a gun for somebody that can't legally buy one on their own, you permanently lose your gun rights, plus whatever punishment makes sense.

(11) Secure storage requirements. If one of your weapons is stolen and used for a crime, you are legally an accessory if you can not demonstrate that you took reasonable measures to store the weapon securely (e.g., a gun safe or lockable case). This doesn't require police inspections, but provides a strong incentive for personal responsibility.

All of this would enjoy massive support from gun owners, and address a lot of existing problems.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#745

As the Google/Youtube/Alphabet crew make plans to become murderers, in their catered, air conditioned offices, to the endless justifications in this thread, I have a big smile on my face as I think of the woman who went in yesterday and shot at these murdering scum. Google/Youtube/Alphabet workers are about to become murderers, and they just got some big blowback yesterday, paying them back in their own coin. Thinkin…

The double standard in this comment is disgusting. One should never be happy at the loss of life.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#746

I completely support the employees but it is criminal that this NYT article does not mention the extensive roots of Silicon Valley in Pentagon funding. SV as a whole is substantially a creation of military spending. Just recently in the AI space: - Siri was spun out of a Pentagon project -- look up SRI International and CALO. Its purpose: a "soldier’s servant".[1] - Autonomous driving is a direct evolution of Pentago…

ORACLE was a CIA contract, and you can imagine what they did with that probably would make your stomach turn if you knew every detail.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#747
post #739

As the Google/Youtube/Alphabet crew make plans to become murderers, in their catered, air conditioned offices, to the endless justifications in this thread, I have a big smile on my face as I think of the woman who went in yesterday and shot at these murdering scum. Google/Youtube/Alphabet workers are about to become murderers, and they just got some big blowback yesterday, paying them back in their own coin. Thinkin…

> Especially reading all the justifications here for the need to work towards militancy. The internet was started because of military project. If you really care about this issue you should not be using the internet.

I worked and was taxed, and these taxes built the Internet. That I should not use something that was built from my indirect work seems to follow the logic all the rest of this does though.

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#748

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but maybe that just means I’m just a no-good warmongering fool, right? More specifically, a warmongering fool who can't discern a false dichotomy - because your options in life are rarely ever drones vs more lethal drones. These regions we're using drones in. They could probably use more tools to enable true democratic representation. Isn't that what Google should be doing, given that they "don't do evil"? Building…

Didn’t they eliminate that don’t be evil slogan a few years ago?

Now they can be evil guilt free!

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#749
post #739

As the Google/Youtube/Alphabet crew make plans to become murderers, in their catered, air conditioned offices, to the endless justifications in this thread, I have a big smile on my face as I think of the woman who went in yesterday and shot at these murdering scum. Google/Youtube/Alphabet workers are about to become murderers, and they just got some big blowback yesterday, paying them back in their own coin. Thinkin…

> Especially reading all the justifications here for the need to work towards militancy. The internet was started because of military project. If you really care about this issue you should not be using the internet.

[deleted]

Re: Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project

#750

I completely support the employees but it is criminal that this NYT article does not mention the extensive roots of Silicon Valley in Pentagon funding. SV as a whole is substantially a creation of military spending. Just recently in the AI space: - Siri was spun out of a Pentagon project -- look up SRI International and CALO. Its purpose: a "soldier’s servant".[1] - Autonomous driving is a direct evolution of Pentago…

> SV as a whole is substantially a creation of military spending.

This is a national budget problem. If you're in the tech world long enough, it becomes pretty clear that the only way to get Big funding is through military affiliation.

This puts a huge selective bias on what kind of technology projects actually get big funding, and further it prevents the benefits of those projects from reaching the community for years, because the military overlords demand secrecy sole use of the technology until it gets superceded.

We need to cut a huge chunk out of the military budget and give it directly to the tech sector, so that big innovative projects are actually possible without having to be military.

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