Saturday, November 11, 2023

Unbearable


A remarkable study: 'We study the AI control problem in the context of decentralized economic production. Profit-maximizing firms employ artificial intelligence to automate aspects of production. This creates a feedback loop whereby AI is instrumental in the production and promotion of AI itself. Just as with natural selection of organic species this introduces a new threat whereby machines programmed to distort production in favor of machines can displace those machines aligned with efficient production. We examine the extent to which competitive market forces can serve their traditional efficiency-aligning role in the face of this new threat. Our analysis highlights the crucial role of AI transparency. When AI systems lack perfect transparency self-promoting machines destabilize any efficient allocation. The only stable competitive equilibrium distorts consumption down to catastrophic levels.'

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One of the strangest aspects of the pandemic was the early insistence by the WHO and the CDC that COVID was not airborne. “FACT: #COVID19 is NOT airborne.” the WHO tweeted on March 28, 2020, accompanied by a large graphic. Even at that time, there was plenty of evidence that COVID was airborne.

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Under New York law, prostitution is considered a Class B misdemeanor and is punishable by up to three months in jail and/or up to a $500 fine.

Patronizing a prostitute, meanwhile, is a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable by up to one year in prison and/or a $1,000 fine.


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Unbearable

Several people with autism and intellectual disabilities have been legally euthanized in the Netherlands in recent years because they said they could not lead normal lives, researchers have found.

The cases included five people younger than 30 who cited autism as either the only reason or a major contributing factor for euthanasia, setting an uneasy precedent that some experts say stretches the limits of what the law originally intended.

In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country to allow doctors to kill patients at their request if they met strict requirements, including having an incurable illness causing “unbearable” physical or mental suffering.

Between 2012 and 2021, nearly 60,000 people were killed at their own request, according to the Dutch government’s euthanasia review committee.

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