It may not be too late to save our planet: every day more and more people are convinced something needs to change. And more and more people are willing to put in some effort. One of the plans is this:
https://futurism.com/white-forest-tower-in-paris-will-fight-climate-change-with-2000-plants/
On other news: robots are not only way on their way to hand us more free time (it's what we want, right?) by taking over our jobs, they soon will be able to play so we won't have to...
Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
What if mankind is God's attempt to create artificial intelligence?
What if mankind is God's attempt to create artificial intelligence? The experiment got out of hand and He tried to end it: The Great Flood, Soddom and Gomorra, plagues...
A computer program is already diagnosing diseases. And doing a much better job than most doctors. An algorithm is helping judges to decide if one is guilty or not. And saving them lots of time, so the judge can focus on the human element to decide wether someone receives the minimum or the maximum penalty.
Should we be scared of those computerprograms? Or should we be scared of who controls them? Should we fear hackers?
At the very least we should discuss the pros and cons and think of solutions for problems that don't exist yet. Are you in?
And what if computer programs really do become completely selfsufficient or even self aware?
It looked like Facebook's experimental chatbots were doing just that: they appeared to have developed a way of communicating only they understood. And Facebook pulled the plug. Making many believe the people from the social network got spooked. In fact they didn't. They just didn't think chatbots who can only chat with eachother and not with human customers make not much sense. Here's the full article: https://gizmodo.com/no-facebook-did-not-panic-and-shut-down-an-ai-program-1797414922
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Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
A computer program is already diagnosing diseases. And doing a much better job than most doctors. An algorithm is helping judges to decide if one is guilty or not. And saving them lots of time, so the judge can focus on the human element to decide wether someone receives the minimum or the maximum penalty.
Should we be scared of those computerprograms? Or should we be scared of who controls them? Should we fear hackers?
At the very least we should discuss the pros and cons and think of solutions for problems that don't exist yet. Are you in?
And what if computer programs really do become completely selfsufficient or even self aware?
It looked like Facebook's experimental chatbots were doing just that: they appeared to have developed a way of communicating only they understood. And Facebook pulled the plug. Making many believe the people from the social network got spooked. In fact they didn't. They just didn't think chatbots who can only chat with eachother and not with human customers make not much sense. Here's the full article: https://gizmodo.com/no-facebook-did-not-panic-and-shut-down-an-ai-program-1797414922
===========================
Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Should every civilian carry a gun?
'Many mass shootings have been stopped by a law abiding citizen who carries!' -'Name one.' More often than not that's the end of the debates I sometimes have with people who say they think 'The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun.' That story is simply not backed up by facts.
Yes, there are a few incidents where a 'civilian' (more often than not an off duty police officer) shot a gunman before he could fire again. But it's hard to say if the incident would have turned into a mass shooting. Here's a list: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/03/do-civilians-with-guns-ever-stop-mass-shootings/?utm_term=.459194a4dda2
Here are a few figures to make people at least think about gun control:
It's actually really, really simple: more guns equals more gun deaths (click)
And only in the United States of America so many people are killed by bullets. Why is that?
Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
Yes, there are a few incidents where a 'civilian' (more often than not an off duty police officer) shot a gunman before he could fire again. But it's hard to say if the incident would have turned into a mass shooting. Here's a list: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/03/do-civilians-with-guns-ever-stop-mass-shootings/?utm_term=.459194a4dda2
Here are a few figures to make people at least think about gun control:
It's actually really, really simple: more guns equals more gun deaths (click)
And only in the United States of America so many people are killed by bullets. Why is that?
Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
Wednesday, December 06, 2017
Ban everything that's dangerous!
One guy attempted to blow up one airplane with one explosive device, hidden in one shoe. Since that day almost every airline passenger is required to take of their shoes and have them checked before boarding an airplane 'because shoes could be dangerous!'.
One lawndart once accidentally flew over a fence, hit one very unlucky very young child and hurt in in such a way that it died from the suffered injury. Since then it's illegal (in the United States of America) to buy or sell lawndarts.
Millions of times people got shot with a gun, mostly on purpose but often by accident. Since then it is illegal to buy or sell guns in the United States. Except that it's not.
So why ban shoes on planes and toys on lawns but not guns in the hands of idiots?
Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
One lawndart once accidentally flew over a fence, hit one very unlucky very young child and hurt in in such a way that it died from the suffered injury. Since then it's illegal (in the United States of America) to buy or sell lawndarts.
Millions of times people got shot with a gun, mostly on purpose but often by accident. Since then it is illegal to buy or sell guns in the United States. Except that it's not.
So why ban shoes on planes and toys on lawns but not guns in the hands of idiots?
Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
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