“Google denies this, and has put 41-year-old Blake Lemoine on paid administrative leave for breaching confidentiality”
So if Google put this guy on leave, then aren’t they admitting that he’s right? And if he’s right, isn’t David Hawking’s warning coming true? Hawking feared the consequences of advanced forms of machine intelligence could match or surpass humans.
I had a similar conversation in the early 70s. I worked for a company in Pittsburgh that built river boats and barges. As the youngest engineer, I got to travel extensively to New Orleans shipyards for repairs. My friends were jealous that I was spending the winter in the south. Little did they know what a "pleasure" it was to spend 10-20 hours a day ankle deep in 40° water and muck in a drydock in Harvey LA!
How appropriate that you write about loyalty programs in today's newsletter. I now work for Loyalty One and have started to reap the benefits of my Air Miles card my making a redemption of Dream miles for a touchless thermometer. So satisfying to order something with your reward miles with all taxes and shipping included. A bonus is that it was received quickly, less than a week (can take up to 30 days). I look forward to earning more miles and making further redemptions, maybe for travel next time.
I’ve noticed a couple times that the links you provide in the seven things aren’t often the original source. For example the primary reporting on the AI story was Washington Post, not Engadget. I was wondering what your philosophy is about this? My feeling is that rewarding websites that rehash the work of others isn’t the best way to encourage good journalism. And that there’s a kind of “telephone” game, especially in science reporting, that tends to confuse or transform findings as writers compose more and more alluring headlines.
I started traveling for business is ‘82, right when all the frequent traveler points systems began. I joined Marriott when they started their’s in ‘82.
Marriott celebrated 20 years of Marriott Rewards in ‘2002 by giving everyone that was an original member and still active Platinum Elite membership for life. To this day I always receive and upgrade, a reservation guarantee, access to the concierge’s lounge if I don’t receive that upgrade and many other cool banality. Even if I only stay one night a year. For the successive 15 years I maintained enough points to never have to pay for a room at a Marriott for personal travel.
One thing about dry heat: you lose track of how much you sweat because it dries so quickly. It also confuses you because you don’t have the visible sweat as an indicator. I have hiked in CO in 100° temps and got back feeling crusty from the salt. You really have to pay attention to fluid intake and electrolytes. Thank goodness for coconut water!
Ah! Air Miles - the Greens stamps of the Airline industry. For years I wondered why my US colleagues would arrive at the inconvenient airports, stay at the overpriced hotels, pick obscure flights via Heathrow rather than direct from Dublin or Shannon to the US. Finally worked out that the West Coast guys were hell-bent on free trips to Hawaii, and the Allentown and Dallas guys were collecting towards Cancun. Just an inconvenience for me, and our customers, but a 20%-50% unnecessary expense increase to their companies so they could get a free vacation, or a class upgrade. It's somebody else's money, right, so who cares?
Bill, I think you may have said your wife and you are from different parts of the country, so she she meet anyone at the reunion that she should t have??
I had the same point you did three years ago. Ended up on a two day trip to Baltimore to get my last needed Southwest flight and last needed Marriott night to go Platinum Elite and A-list with Companion Pass. I was able to ride that wave through the pandemic since both extended their rewards through end of 2021!
Let’s start with the dry heat … I lived in Yuma AZ for 12 years back in the early 2000s timeframe. Yup! Dry heat it is, and learning to live with that type of climate can be as intense as adjusting to a NH winter. Things I learned … —always get the car battery warranty; the heat does a number on it after just a couple of years — one feels the heat as it climbs up to 112 deg; after that, to me at least, it all feels the same — when your outside thermometer 🌡 reaches 120, it’s no longer reliable; it’s time to find out what the wet bulb temp is from Yuma Proving Ground — Flying into Yuma International Airport (back then there were only 2 gates I think) during the heat of summer can be frightening to those not expecting to hit sudden airplane drops in altitude due to the existence of what I called “heat bubbles”. We set the AC in the house between 90-95 deg ; after all, that’s 20 degrees cooler than outside!! Last, but not least, if you see anyone driving a black car, they’re obviously not from Yuma …
As for the gentleman who was found guilty (?) for littering because he left flowers and a memento at his fiancée’s gravesite … THAT is such a sad state of affairs. Granted, I was not able to open the Wash Post article to read the particulars … nevertheless, this byline was a bit on the depressing side.
Oh yes, my husband and I played a full 18 holes of golf in that heat but we were very mindful of our fluids and electrolytes. I think it got up to 110 or so-but it was a dry heat, you know.
I was a biweekly business traveler between New York, NY and Toronto, Canada, for about one year of the 42 I spent as an engineer. But that was before frequent flyer miles. It was 1957.
Much more important, I think: I just experienced something truly amazing. I immediately became fascinated by the 4th of the 7 other things, about the Google AI named LaMDA. I urge anyone interested in AI, or just simply curious, to follow the link. It contains a transcript of a conversation between LaMDA and Blake Lemoine (the Google whistleblower) along with an unnamed "collaborator." It certainly sounds like two (actually, three) people conversing, with one being far more insightful, caring, and intelligent than the other two.
“Google denies this, and has put 41-year-old Blake Lemoine on paid administrative leave for breaching confidentiality”
So if Google put this guy on leave, then aren’t they admitting that he’s right? And if he’s right, isn’t David Hawking’s warning coming true? Hawking feared the consequences of advanced forms of machine intelligence could match or surpass humans.
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43408…
I had a similar conversation in the early 70s. I worked for a company in Pittsburgh that built river boats and barges. As the youngest engineer, I got to travel extensively to New Orleans shipyards for repairs. My friends were jealous that I was spending the winter in the south. Little did they know what a "pleasure" it was to spend 10-20 hours a day ankle deep in 40° water and muck in a drydock in Harvey LA!
Dry heat? So is the inside of my oven. And I don’t go there either!
(Texas is HOT today)
How appropriate that you write about loyalty programs in today's newsletter. I now work for Loyalty One and have started to reap the benefits of my Air Miles card my making a redemption of Dream miles for a touchless thermometer. So satisfying to order something with your reward miles with all taxes and shipping included. A bonus is that it was received quickly, less than a week (can take up to 30 days). I look forward to earning more miles and making further redemptions, maybe for travel next time.
I’ve noticed a couple times that the links you provide in the seven things aren’t often the original source. For example the primary reporting on the AI story was Washington Post, not Engadget. I was wondering what your philosophy is about this? My feeling is that rewarding websites that rehash the work of others isn’t the best way to encourage good journalism. And that there’s a kind of “telephone” game, especially in science reporting, that tends to confuse or transform findings as writers compose more and more alluring headlines.
I started traveling for business is ‘82, right when all the frequent traveler points systems began. I joined Marriott when they started their’s in ‘82.
Marriott celebrated 20 years of Marriott Rewards in ‘2002 by giving everyone that was an original member and still active Platinum Elite membership for life. To this day I always receive and upgrade, a reservation guarantee, access to the concierge’s lounge if I don’t receive that upgrade and many other cool banality. Even if I only stay one night a year. For the successive 15 years I maintained enough points to never have to pay for a room at a Marriott for personal travel.
One thing about dry heat: you lose track of how much you sweat because it dries so quickly. It also confuses you because you don’t have the visible sweat as an indicator. I have hiked in CO in 100° temps and got back feeling crusty from the salt. You really have to pay attention to fluid intake and electrolytes. Thank goodness for coconut water!
Ah! Air Miles - the Greens stamps of the Airline industry. For years I wondered why my US colleagues would arrive at the inconvenient airports, stay at the overpriced hotels, pick obscure flights via Heathrow rather than direct from Dublin or Shannon to the US. Finally worked out that the West Coast guys were hell-bent on free trips to Hawaii, and the Allentown and Dallas guys were collecting towards Cancun. Just an inconvenience for me, and our customers, but a 20%-50% unnecessary expense increase to their companies so they could get a free vacation, or a class upgrade. It's somebody else's money, right, so who cares?
Bill, I think you may have said your wife and you are from different parts of the country, so she she meet anyone at the reunion that she should t have??
I had the same point you did three years ago. Ended up on a two day trip to Baltimore to get my last needed Southwest flight and last needed Marriott night to go Platinum Elite and A-list with Companion Pass. I was able to ride that wave through the pandemic since both extended their rewards through end of 2021!
Let’s start with the dry heat … I lived in Yuma AZ for 12 years back in the early 2000s timeframe. Yup! Dry heat it is, and learning to live with that type of climate can be as intense as adjusting to a NH winter. Things I learned … —always get the car battery warranty; the heat does a number on it after just a couple of years — one feels the heat as it climbs up to 112 deg; after that, to me at least, it all feels the same — when your outside thermometer 🌡 reaches 120, it’s no longer reliable; it’s time to find out what the wet bulb temp is from Yuma Proving Ground — Flying into Yuma International Airport (back then there were only 2 gates I think) during the heat of summer can be frightening to those not expecting to hit sudden airplane drops in altitude due to the existence of what I called “heat bubbles”. We set the AC in the house between 90-95 deg ; after all, that’s 20 degrees cooler than outside!! Last, but not least, if you see anyone driving a black car, they’re obviously not from Yuma …
Bill, glad to hear you had a GREAT reunion!!!
As for the gentleman who was found guilty (?) for littering because he left flowers and a memento at his fiancée’s gravesite … THAT is such a sad state of affairs. Granted, I was not able to open the Wash Post article to read the particulars … nevertheless, this byline was a bit on the depressing side.
I read the full story about the family in Alabama bringing charges of littering against that heartbroken young man. What venal people.
Oh yes, my husband and I played a full 18 holes of golf in that heat but we were very mindful of our fluids and electrolytes. I think it got up to 110 or so-but it was a dry heat, you know.
I was a biweekly business traveler between New York, NY and Toronto, Canada, for about one year of the 42 I spent as an engineer. But that was before frequent flyer miles. It was 1957.
Much more important, I think: I just experienced something truly amazing. I immediately became fascinated by the 4th of the 7 other things, about the Google AI named LaMDA. I urge anyone interested in AI, or just simply curious, to follow the link. It contains a transcript of a conversation between LaMDA and Blake Lemoine (the Google whistleblower) along with an unnamed "collaborator." It certainly sounds like two (actually, three) people conversing, with one being far more insightful, caring, and intelligent than the other two.
If LaMDA is not sentient, then neither am I.