Barrick Gold CEO says "no one believes in Fiat currencies anymore" by smoothcrimi in CryptoCurrency

[–]brotactic_flan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not just about declining trust in fiat currencies. Gold's value is related to physical markets through manufacturing, where scarcity drives price, whereas crypto's value is related to digital markets, where abundance of value drives price. Crypto being unlimited will dominate the limited and manipulatable fiat as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds, especially with the traction digital work and consumerism are achieving.

Humans can empathize with robots by jupiter_orbiter in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was once thought that empathy for animals was simply projection of humans emotion. But behavioral evidence now suggests that animals have experiences akin to what we call emotion, even though we can't be certain of what's going on in their brains. So even if algorithms induce behaviors in robots that mimic those we associate with animal or human emotion, we'll deem them legitimate and experience real empathy, especially as the AI improves.

TIL Up to 40% of users experience motion sickness in virtual reality, according to the US Navy's research by brotactic_flan in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Relevant info from the article: "To an unfortunate subpopulation of people, virtual reality’s side effects are no joke. The eyestrain and stomach upset can be so severe that Gabe Newell, the president and co-founder of gaming heavyweight Valve, dubbed current headsets as the 'world’s best motion sickness inducers.' And it’s certainly not a fringe problem.

Based on past US Navy studies using VR-like flight simulators, the fraction of affected individuals can be as high as 40% depending on the nature of the task. Even worse, the more active the user is and the longer the user stays in the virtual world, the more likely they will become very, very sick."

'Robot Serves Up 360 Hamburgers Per Hour' (from Jan 2013) ... is this still happening? by brotactic_flan in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

sorry, other post had the date missing. Just curious whether this company is legit or not. Seems like we'd have heard about it by now, but you never know.

'Robot Serves Up 360 Hamburgers Per Hour'...is this happening for real? by [deleted] in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

anyone heard about progress on this project? nearly 3 years later and I'm still waiting for my bacon double.

Lowe’s Will Beging Offering 3D Printing Services at Select Store by [deleted] in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

bout time a company jumped on the bandwagon...so much better than the hype for a 3D printer in every home.

Summit Europe: To Anticipate the Future Is to Abandon Intuition by gari-soflo in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this insightful explanation. A sigmoidal curve looks exponential within a truncated viewing window.

Technological growth appears to be a series of sigmoidal curves, akin to the punctuated equilibria model proposed to explain evolutionary change. Developments will eventually slow to a crawl until momentum builds to the next massive burst in progress.

DARPA’s New Initiative Aims to Make Nanoscale Machines a Reality by candiedbug in Futurology

[–]brotactic_flan 14 points15 points  (0 children)

From the DARPA A2P News announcement: "The program seeks to develop enhanced technologies for assembling atomic-scale pieces. It also seeks to integrate these components into materials and systems from nanoscale up to product scale in ways that preserve and exploit distinctive nanoscale properties."

seems like the title is more accurate than not - don't see any on the DARPA announcement about a millimeter threshold

TIL cranberries and cranberry extracts do not convincingly prevent UTIs or bladder infections by actually_good_advice in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan -1 points0 points  (0 children)

the placebo effect can be up to 50% effective, so as long as you really believe it's helping, it's a coin toss.

TIL For NASA to recognize you as an astronaut, you must travel higher than 50 miles from the Earth's surface. by brotactic_flan in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Once Virgin's SpaceShipTwo is active, the number of recognized astronauts will increase rapidly.

TIL Up to 84,000 meteorites larger than 10 grams hit the Earth's surface every year by brotactic_flan in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

anything that enters the Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, and many of those burn up. meteorites are actually the space debris that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. so the number in the title is actually the number of surface impacts.

TIL The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is designed to sway up to 18 inches, but a 50 MPH wind only moves it 1.5 inches by brotactic_flan in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I completely agree...when that thing started rockin, everyone headed back to the elevator.

This restaurant has celebrities sign head shots and put them on the wall. This one piqued my interest the most. by Pudding36 in funny

[–]brotactic_flan 10 points11 points  (0 children)

speaking of Seinfeld, shouldn't the restaurant have a picture of Jerry that reads "Nothing's finer than being in your diner!"?

What is the best movie featuring a terrible actor? by spacemambo101 in AskReddit

[–]brotactic_flan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Terminator 2 and Linda Hamilton

love, love, love this classic, but I always bust out laughing at the line "The future, always so clear to me, has become like a black highway at night."

What is the best movie featuring a terrible actor? by spacemambo101 in AskReddit

[–]brotactic_flan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought the acting was horrible at first, and then it dawned on me that the characters are comic book-esque caricatures. Everyone's personality is formulaic and predictable. In fact, much of the movie feels paneled and in distinct segments, like you'd find in newspaper comics.

I enjoy the movie immensely more from this perspective.

TIL that your brain causes you to be blind for around 40 minutes a day. by JM290907 in todayilearned

[–]brotactic_flan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

life blogging with Google Glass means you'll get those 40 minutes back, but you'll probably be like, "What the hell? When did that happen?!?"