Humans can turn information into knowledge. AI can only extract predigested knowledge. That’s why they need such large data sets.

This is also why AGI is still a pipe dream. Most of the subsections already exist, but without a knowledge engine at its core, it’s like a person with a massive concussion. It sounds reasonable to simple conversation, but goes off on weird tangents.

I always find it fascinating to watch children learn and grow. The mistakes they make are often completely logical, they just have holes in their knowledge, and lack critical information. It leads to wonderful conclusions, which are also completely wrong.

It’s worth noting that I think both should exist.

No software dependence at all if possible, just a basic microcontroller and firmware.

Agreed, I just want a ZigBee endpoint as well.

As for the smart home stuff, I already have it in place, so it’s no additional expense.

Control wise, your method would be fine for someone techie and motivated. It would annoy the hell out of some non techies, particularly if they had vision issues (think OAP). It would also close down the option of relatives helping out by monitoring it remotely.

As I said, different target audiences. Both have their places. I just wish the smart option did its job properly, rather than the half baked options we keep getting.

To each their own. I prefer having the ability to adjust things from 1 central source. I’m prone to losing remotes.

Also, how would you do such a remote. You would also need a screen for feedback etc, which puts you back at square 1.

Also, a remote would be considerably more expensive than the extra cost of a ZigBee/Wifi enabled microcontroller.

I’m a fan of both, but fully accept that fission is now too late to be useful. We also have fusion right on the tipping point of viability. That could likely fill the use cases of fusion quite well, with far less issues.

FYI, nuclear produces 3 sorts of nuclear waste. High activity is nasty, but short lived. Put it in a pool for a few years and it decays away. Low grade is the stuff like lab waste and contaminated pipes. You don’t really want it going in normal landfill, but it’s not going to kill anyone with radiation (heavy metal toxicity is another matter). It’s only the last type, medium activity that is problematic. It lasts a long time, while still putting out enough radiation to cause potential problems. Unfortunately, older “power” plants, were actually bomb factories. They were intended to make plutonium, and so produce a lot more of the medium activity waste than they could.

Ideally yes. However some meals aren’t suitable for toddlers, others that simply don’t like. Particularly for exhausted parents, having a healthy, tasty fallback can be a sanity saver. Doubly so when on trips.

Treat them like the toddler equivalent of a McDonald’s. OK for 1 off meals, a problem when they become the default diet.

The ability to play with it, without having to fiddle with tiny switches is a big feature to many. Often these are used by people with mobility issues. The ability to add an extra feed, due to exercise, or adjust the timings to account for changes in life plans are a godsend to many.

Smart home devices are a balancing act. The extra control means more can also go wrong. Minimising that is a big part. The most critical is making it behave sanely when it suddenly goes offline. E.g. smart light switches become dumb ones, when the central hub goes down.

More a replacement brain for an EV. Compared to an ICE there is far less to manage in a hyper time critical manner. It’s a lot more viable to design a drop in replacement. Particularly if the battery bank already has its own monitoring, that just reports upwards.

You would end up with a modern EV, with many of the desired features. However, the manufacturer would no longer be able to reach in and extract data, either remotely, at a mechanic, or after an accident.

I’m hoping that someone does some reverse engineering on the engine management computers of EVs. EVs internals are a lot simpler. An open source, drop in brain is definitely not unachievable.

All the advantages of an EV with none of the corporate tracking.

A good therapist knows when to step out of the bounds of rigid professionalism for the benefit of the client. This sounds like one of those occasions.

Why do you think they are suddenly pushing the pervert glasses again? They are trying to get more learning data, by any means possible.

I suspect he’s managed to confound a drip with the vaccine. Possibly from some attempt to educate people on the risks of COVID etc. Or possibly just from a random medical drama.

Either way still completely idiotic, let alone coming from the US president.

They need to convince the people living there to actually vote for them. MPs areas are generally small enough that a local grass roots campaign can counter someone just pouring money in.

While the UK does have political parties, there is less blind party voting than the US seems to have.

He has a certain charisma to a subset of people. It’s a similar effect as trump in the US, only to a smaller subset of idiots.

The things he claims don’t hold up to scrutiny, but that doesn’t matter to some. They just hear the surface promises, and don’t think deeper.

A bucket of sand is fine for a static location, but not very portable.

A perfect solution that is unused is a lot worse than a mediocre one that is easy to implement.

If you’re going that route, you want 2 buckets, 1 1/4 full. You dump the failing battery into the 1/4 full one, then dump the other over the top. That covers you till it gets outside into open space to burn out.

I remember the same story, though it wasn’t mark twain. It was in an apartment, and he did it from the balcony above.

It was in a box of historical jokes and pranks I had years ago.

There are times it’s reasonable for an officer to turn their camera off. E.g. some people might be willing to share information, but not go to court over it. Turning off their camera to get information unofficially then makes sense.

That said, a malfunctioning body camera should be seen in the same light as destruction of evidence. It is assumed to be the worst case, unless proven otherwise, or reasonably explained.

FYI, apparently a lot of UK police love the body cams. It makes their paperwork so much easier. It’s also apparently quite satisfying to watch a hungover idiot realise exactly how rude they were to the officer trying to defuse things outside a pub.

A friend of mine (sadly now passed) was a chronic alcoholic. It got to the point where the doctors told him to stop trying to quit. Each time he did, he would have liver issues and turn Simpson yellow.

Welcome to life. I can’t get you out of it, all I can do is make it that bit better, in the hope that you can build on that further.

Each step up is still an improvement, in absolute terms. Most of human development has been finding out how to move up the hole.

I’m happy if I can leave things for our children even slightly better than we received it. It’s the ultimate relay race.

The goal isn’t to get out, just improving things is a win. Even when we backslide, reclimbing an existing path, or forging a new one, based on the lessons of a failed path is an improvement.