Society's Child

Microsoft has invested $1B in AI project co-founded by Elon Musk

Laureen Feiner
CNBC
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:38 UTC

Microsoft is investing $1 billion in Elon Musk's OpenAI to build artificial intelligence that can tackle more complex tasks, the companies announced Monday.

Through the partnership, the companies will build new Azure AI supercomputing technologies and Microsoft will become OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider, according to the announcements. The companies said the technology they plan to build, artificial general intelligence (AGI), will be able to solve more complex problems that AI currently is capable of.

From the companies' press release:

"Modern AI systems work well for the specific problem on which they've been trained, but getting AI systems to help address some of the hardest problems facing the world today will require generalization and deep mastery of multiple AI technologies. OpenAI and Microsoft's vision is for artificial general intelligence to work with people to help solve currently intractable multidisciplinary problems, including global challenges such as climate change, more personalized healthcare and education."

Rather than build its own product to make up the costs of building AI technologies, OpenAI said in its announcement that it decided to license some of its "pre-AGI technologies" and make Microsoft its preferred commercialization partner.

Comment: See also: Creators of AI text generator say it's too dangerous to release

As absurd as it is, the Jessica Yaniv case has serious implications

Barbara Kay
The Post Millennial
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:18 UTC

For its wider implications, but also for its looniness, our history books will marvel — if and when cultural sanity returns — at the singular "human rights" case of alleged transwoman Jessica Yaniv — sometimes self-presenting as Jonathan Yaniv — vs the waxologists.

Yaniv retains his male genitalia. But, thanks to the recently invented, but imprecisely defined right of "gender expression" having been enshrined in legislation, Yaniv has been permitted to wreak havoc in the lives of 16 B.C. waxologists. These women, many of them immigrants, earn a modest living by performing intimate hair-removal services for other women. They refused to wax Yaniv's balls, and here their troubles began. Some, under the strain of the pressure Yaniv has brought to bear on them, have abandoned their livelihood.

Comment: Welcome to clown world.

See also:

Big Tech faces broad US Justice Department antitrust probe

David Shepardson
Reuters
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:44 UTC

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it was opening a broad investigation of major digital technology firms into whether they engage in anticompetitive practices, the strongest sign the Trump administration is stepping up its scrutiny of Big Tech.

The review will look into "whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers," the Justice Department said in a statement.

The Justice Department did not identify specific companies but said the review would consider concerns raised about "search, social media, and some retail services online" — an apparent reference to Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc, and potentially Apple Inc.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to provide a list of companies that would be scrutinized.

Google and Apple declined to comment, referring to prior statements by executives, while Facebook and Amazon did not immediately comment.

Facebook fell 1.7% in after-hours trading, while Alphabet fell 1%, Amazon was down 1.2% and Apple was 0.4% lower.

Comment: See also:

Class-action lawsuit seeks to protect students accused of sexual assault

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Inside Higher Ed
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 05:41 UTC

In a groundbreaking move, the first-ever prospective class-action lawsuit that would benefit students accused of sexual assault has been filed against a university, potentially reversing the outcomes of dozens of sexual violence cases.

Experts say the suit against Michigan State University is a clever legal maneuver that takes advantage of a significant ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judges determined in September 2018 that students accused of sexual assault, or their representatives, had a right to directly question their accuser, which legal experts said would reshape the notion of due process in these cases.

The lawsuit could theoretically challenge, even retroactively, the results of any campus sexual violence case that didn't offer due process protections.

Advocates for accused students have long maintained that institutions disregard due process rights in investigating and adjudicating campus rape charges, ever since the Obama administration in 2011 released guidance around Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal sex antidiscrimination law.

Comment: See also:

US & UK doctors issue warning against hormones/surgery for trans-identified kids

RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:43 UTC

Medical professionals in the US and UK are sounding the alarm about the growing use of "hormonal and surgical interventions" for children who are confused about their gender identity, saying that more studies are required.

Members of the conservative childrens' advocacy group the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) wrote a letter on Monday to the Surgeon General of the United States, warning about the effects of gender-reassignment surgeries and hormonal drugs on minors, saying such interventions have "not undergone long-term study."

The ACP called the issue a "grave public health concern" and said that the drastic methods have become the new "standard of care" in lieu of "ethical psychotherapy" for children and teens who present with gender dysphoria (GD).

Comment: The radical experimenting on children by transgender ideologues is going to end in tears.We are probably less than a decade away from the mental breakdowns and the lawsuits.

Fading trust is "sign of cultural sickness and national decline": Poll shows Americans don't trust the govt, the media - or each other

Dagny Taggart
The Organic Prepper
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC

Americans are losing trust in each other, in the government, and in the media, according to a concerning new survey.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that conducts public opinion polls and social science research and informs the public about issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. The organization recently published a new report called Trust and Distrust in America, which reveals that Americans think declining trust in the government and in each other is making it harder to solve important problems.

Confidence in the government and in each other is shrinking.

"Two-thirds of adults think other Americans have little or no confidence in the federal government. Majorities believe the public's confidence in the U.S. government and in each other is shrinking, and most believe a shortage of trust in government and in other citizens makes it harder to solve some of the nation's key problems," the report states.

Many Americans think it is necessary to clean up the "trust environment": 68% say it is very important to repair the public's level of confidence in the federal government, and 58% say the same about improving confidence in fellow Americans.

'Tensions have never been higher': Germany caught between right-wing and Islamic 'radicalism' and extremism

RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 14:58 UTC

© Reuters / Matthias Rietschel 51
Demonstrators take part at a right-wing NPD party Mayday rally in Dresden, Germany, May 1, 2019.

Germany is facing both right-wing and Islamic radicalism as the two extremist factions feed on fear to increase their support in the country. RT looks at the worrying trend and how it can be tackled.

A suspect in the recent assassination of a pro-migrant politician is believed to have extensive ties to far-right groups. On the other end of the spectrum, police last week arrested a German man of Lebanese descent for plotting an "imminent" terrorist attack.

"Both of these sides are feeding off each other, and both of them have to be crushed," Bijan Tavassoli, a member of the German Left party, told RT said, warning that "the tension has never been higher, and it's still increasing."

Watch full report by RT's Peter Oliver.

Riots in Israel continue as rampant allegations of racism against Ethiopian Jews persist

Vivian Bercovici
National Post
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 08:48 UTC

An off-duty police officer shot and killed an Ethiopian teen sparking riots across Israel.

Violent riots erupted in towns and cities throughout Israel recently, peaking on July 2. Cars were set alight, property vandalized, scores of police officers were injured and demonstrators arrested. Hundreds of thousands of motorists were stranded for hours on gridlocked highways and secondary roads, in the heat, without water or warning.

The protesters, predominantly members of the Ethiopian Israeli community and supporters, took to the streets to express their rage at what they condemn as systemic police brutality targeting their community. Numbering approximately 150,000 in a population of just under nine million, Ethiopian Israelis are black and their leadership is saying that this is rank racism.

What sparked this latest round of protests was the death of 19-year old Solomon Teka on June 30. Teka was hanging around with some friends, reportedly beating up a younger boy. An off-duty policeman happened by with his family and intervened. He claims that Tekah and his friends attacked him and he feared for his life. So. He drew his gun and aimed a warning shot at the ground. It ricocheted and hit Teka in the chest, killing him instantly.

Bioethicist warns we are slouching toward a "Brave New World"

Wesley J. Smith
Evolution News
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 18:50 UTC

Genetic engineering is among the most powerful human technologies ever invented. It holds great hope for everything from medical uses to cleaning up the environment. But it could also unleash a deadly pandemic or lead to a "new eugenics" with very sharp teeth.

The last time we witnessed something like this was the splitting of the atom. At that time, we had a sufficiently cohesive and responsible world community to enact meaningful legal and regulatory restrictions to govern the technology's development, which have been generally successful — with some obvious exceptions. Imagine where we would be if atomic energy had developed under an "anything goes" paradigm.

Comment:

Gender-selective abortion? No girls born in 3 months across 132 Indian villages

RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 18:10 UTC

A probe into sex-selective abortions has been kicked off in northern India, after government data revealed that of the 216 children born across 132 villages in the past three months, not a single one was female.

Local authorities in Uttarakhand state fear that villagers around the town of Uttarkashi are selectively aborting babies in an attempt to avoid having girls. Though female feticide has been explicitly banned in India since 1994, the practice still continues in rural areas, where girls are often considered a financial liability for families.

Indian officials vowed to address the concerns. Uttarkashi's district magistrate, Ashish Chauhan, said the numbers were "suspicious" and may indicate the outlawed practice continues on a wide scale in the region. Any parent found to have carried out foeticide will face legal action, he added.

Telling the truth? What a fucking joke. Liz Cheney is the spawn of Satan.

tekdude

Why, even Inspector Clouseau could crack this case. His first and most important clue was THE GREAT DECEPTION (CB), from there on out it was an...

Solare

The covid smokescreen is slowly being lifted. This is bad. Really bad. I f the US go for this crap it is just a question of time for Canadians...

Demore

I can see a devious actor impersonating a witless dictator to ridicule and bring down a country. From memory and experience I know that worked...

codis

THE HIGHER LAW I think, for maximum safety and security, all citizens deemed to be of the 'lower type', should have their brains removed and...

nedlud

Society's Child

Microsoft has invested $1B in AI project co-founded by Elon Musk

As absurd as it is, the Jessica Yaniv case has serious implications

Big Tech faces broad US Justice Department antitrust probe

Class-action lawsuit seeks to protect students accused of sexual assault

US & UK doctors issue warning against hormones/surgery for trans-identified kids

Fading trust is "sign of cultural sickness and national decline": Poll shows Americans don't trust the govt, the media - or each other

'Tensions have never been higher': Germany caught between right-wing and Islamic 'radicalism' and extremism

Riots in Israel continue as rampant allegations of racism against Ethiopian Jews persist

Bioethicist warns we are slouching toward a "Brave New World"

Gender-selective abortion? No girls born in 3 months across 132 Indian villages

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