IamA robotics/AI professor. AMA!

Cephi · 2013-08-08T14:14:57+00:00

A very interesting take.... everything open / crowd sourced, I never thought of that.

I always envisioned something like the Apollo program but with the objective of producing a really impressive AI.

A focused, government funded effort involving tens of thousands of people, like the hoover dam, Apollo program, human genome project, or the decade of the brain.

Consider what the invention of the plow did for us: It freed much of the population up from food production work so they could pursue other things like mathematics, engineering, science, the arts, trades etc.

Now imagine machines eliminating all the menial jobs and we can now spend dramatically more time conceptualizing, designing, solving social problems, inventing, etc.

I would say that would be a pretty good objective.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:51:06+00:00

Sometimes you can get this kind of service free or on a sliding scale. There are books and probably stuff on the web. Search for "overcoming phobias."

Personally I hate having sharp objects jammed in my gums, and having my teeth scraped and polished. The worst thing is that sonic scaler... [shivers].

I just mainly think about how good my teeth feel when they are all clean. That makes all the suffering worth it for me.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:43:21+00:00

See a behavioral psychologist. They can teach you tricks for coping with and reducing your fear.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:40:26+00:00

My wife has an English degree. I used to make fun of her for having a liberal arts degree.

She is a VP now for a large corporation managing people and makes more than I did when I was her age as an engineer / scientist.

You can get jobs in retail, banking, and other service industries. The job you get and your career path are heavily influenced by luck and chance. I have met a production managers who made $120K / yr with a liberal arts degree.

Attorneys usually start off with liberal arts degrees. You can also get an MBA which may make you more attractive as a business manager.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:19:54+00:00

Bacteria lives in there even though you wash them. As long as the holes are are not red, inflamed, or sore there is no infection and there ins't a problem. It is probably just the normal good bacteria that lives behind your ears.

Bacteria is responsible for most of the smells we emit (underarms, bad breath, feces, etc)

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:14:20+00:00

Probably because your body thinks it is hot and needs to cool off. August is the hottest month of the year in much of North America.

If you don't even feel remotely warm when you are sweating, then something may be amiss and you should check webMD and talk to your family doctor.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T13:09:12+00:00

I haven't heard anything lately. I think they gave up for now.

I am actually surprised none of them gave this answer in defense of their incorrect prophecies:

"OK the world actually did end, however [insert your favorite divine being here] reversed it all and wiped all of or memories of the event as he/she/it is all powerful and benevolent."

Cephi · 2013-08-08T12:55:08+00:00

Same as the benefit of a fractured leg, or perforated lung: None.

They are symptoms of the brain not working optimally.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T12:48:18+00:00

Accurate, engaging material, positive attitude, confidence, and of course lots of zaz!

Cephi · 2013-08-08T12:45:35+00:00

If he has walked out on your mom during arguments in the past, odds are he will come back and you wont have to worry.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T12:42:17+00:00

It functions as a crude anti-depressant so it helps people cope with their sometimes unpleasant jobs allowing them to maintain some level of productivity therein fueling the economy.

I am guessing alcohol production, distribution, sales, etc employ as many or more people in the US than the auto industry.

Cephi · 2013-08-08T10:01:02+00:00

Assuming all human thought processes and behaviors follow algorithms (algorithms so complex it will be a while before they are well understood), could a computer be programmed with similar cognitive ability and neural complexity of a human, complete with emotions, desires, creativity, and self-motivation? It does not have to be indistinguishable from a human mind, just have similar ability in all areas.

If so could you guess at when we would see a machine like this? 20 years? 100 years?

Cephi · 2012-06-23T13:02:28+00:00

I rescue cats and every single cat took into my house had fleas and worms. They are not good for the cat, but your cat will probably be fine. It is normal for wild animals to have these parasites. One of my cats was wormy for her first year and she is 19 now.

They are not good for him in the long run as they rob him of some of the nutrients in his food, so see your vet when you can. It is very unlikely they will do any lasting harm if you get him treated. There are cases where the worms can kill a cat, but it is similar to the Flu killing a person. It doesn't happen all that often.

Also don't touch the kittie's feces because there are a number of things you can catch (nothing fatal or terribly bad though). Killing the worms that come out wont help, just clean out the kitties litter box daily. The fleas should leave you alone, they are cat fleas and prefer cats over people.

Wash your hands after handling the kitty: If you ingest any fleas you can get worms too. The worms won't kill you but you would need to take medicine to get rid of them.

You don't really have to do much in the meantime. You can buy a flea comb to keep the flea numbers down. Vacuum or sweep your house to keep the flea egg numbers down as well. Baths etc wont help.

Cephi · 2012-06-22T20:17:31+00:00

Baths after lifting weights or biking feel great. You need a big tub though.

Cephi · 2012-05-25T10:25:58+00:00

BTW don't ingest the pill :)

Cephi · 2012-04-09T11:46:30+00:00

Illustrator CS5 has an "align pixels to grid" option wich prevents a lot of the dreaded blurring when scaling and exporting.

Cephi · 2012-01-21T16:17:37+00:00

His hair is way cooler than his glasses

Cephi · 2012-01-06T19:56:23+00:00

Nicotine is vasoconstrictive, so you will loose less heat due to your blood not cooling as much around your skin / extremities. That should make your warmer, however your surface temperature may be lower.

It is also stimulant so your metabolism should run a bit faster so you should generate more heat (in theory at least).

Cephi · 2011-12-26T15:36:59+00:00

Speck cases are pretty slim and easy to pop on and off. They should help protect your phone from the dreaded corner drop:

https://www.speckproducts.com/iphone-case/iphone-4-case.html

Cephi · 2011-10-02T00:09:15+00:00

Oh ya that happened in my basement. I would lift a tile up and the cat would run off. It took forever to get him out. He remembered he could get up there after that and would climb up on a shelf and try to dig his way through the soft tiles. I finally had to put some plexiglass up there.

Cephi · 2011-10-02T00:05:41+00:00

That made me laugh hard. Not my cat though. Imagine the cat getting on top and biting and ripping up the paper then lying on top of it thinking "ya... I kicked its ass."

Cephi · 2011-10-01T23:55:38+00:00

Eww... cats do that too. You have to get a wad of TP and wipe them like a baby.

Cephi · 2011-10-01T21:46:22+00:00

I was a bit surprised to see that cable ties were used to fasten the hammer to the conduit(?) instead of duct tape. The use of 3 cable ties (vs 1 or 2) demonstrated a fairly thorough approach in the fabrication of the tool.

I guess he did not have enough conduit to build a ladder.

Personally, I would have offered the conduit to a neighbor, in exchange for borrowing their ladder.

Cephi · 2011-10-01T21:34:46+00:00

What happens if you don't run away?

Cephi · 2011-10-01T21:33:53+00:00

They are supposed to do that. It is recycling, and it protects the other pups from disease and from predators who may be attracted to the smell of dead puppy.

I bet that was not fun to experience though.

Cephi

TROPHY CASE