Jake

Idle Thumbs 221: Meet the Kerfluffles

Recommended Posts

Hey guys.

 

As a guy that currently building his first pov setup and who really appreciates the distinction between "drones" and "quadcopters", I wanted to bring you the video that got me interested in this hobby.

 

 

The guy flying is Carlos "Charpu" Puertolas and he's a known quantity in the scene.

Tested had an interesting video on Racing.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey guys.

 

As a guy that currently building his first pov setup and who really appreciates the distinction between "drones" and "quadcopters", I wanted to bring you the video that got me interested in this hobby.

 

 

I wonder if motion sickness is an issue with these things. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

'The story of Nick Breckon, Sim, may have told us more about the real Nick Breckon than any story the real Nick Breckon has ever told us about himself.'


 

Where does the term drone come from?

When unmanned flying vehicles were first introduced to the U.S. military, the ability to control them from afar wasn't very sophisticated. So the first drones flew along pre-set paths, operating off an internal navigation system. This led to servicemen informally referring to any machine that flew without human control a "drone," and Germany still has some like this in service today. That said, the "not being controlled by a human" part of the definition has since been lost to everyday use.

From Flying Robots 101: Everything You Need to Know About Drones

 

Great to hear the two jingles make it into this ep too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I wish Games Done Quickly wasn't happening at the same time as the International. I'd like to check it out, but I have like 12 DOTA matches a day to watch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When a first read the  history about the players asking for refund on Star Citizen on Polygon and I saw the mention about "Derek Smart" my first I thought was "it can´t be the same person, what are the chances?", but turned out the changes where pretty high. I wasn´t around the whole 3000 Battlecruiser thing, but I did read more then once a site which was devoted to explain and archive the whole flamewar, shame that it no longer exist, because it was a worth reading.

 

One thing that I am really enjoy always watching on GDQ is the Tetris runs - they are just amazing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh man, the Breckon-becomes-Coach segment had me in tears laughing so hard. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I haven't played Splatoon yet, but I actually really like the way they're rolling out maps and modes. Thinking back on games like Evolve and Titanfall, the population quickly got bored with the game and left after the first few months. I've tried to play Titanfall in the last year or so and found literally nobody else online. By the time these games get around to releasing DLC everybody's moved on to something else, and nobody wants to pay for new content in something they're not playing anymore. So it makes alot of sense to drip feed new content every month or so. People in general seem pretty on board with the whole plan, which in some ways is funny because you just know that if EA tried to do this the internet would be out for blood.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Breckon episodes already mentioned are great. The ones I'd add are:

 

Episode 129: A Reminder

Episode 132: Kobe's Last Shot

Episode 133: Johann's Baton

Episode 160: Die Ubiverse

Episode 165: KeLo. Is. Here.

 

EDIT: A good way of spotting good Nick Breckon episodes: the title is usually something Nick said or something about him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As much as I enjoy the Robot News segments, I am sad to hear that you guys are actually buying into the dangers of general AI. You made the point that to bears our intelligence is incomprehensible, yet many people in our society make the assumption that a super intelligent AI will automatically kill all humans. It seems just as, if not more likely that a super AI would be a pacifist hippie trying to preserve all life through non-violent means. I assume the issue is that all of our AI fiction is evil AI fiction because an AI that becomes super intelligent and leads humans to a golden age is quite a dull story. 

 

There is just no evidence that AI would be inherently evil. I know people talk about humans colonizing less developed societies, but violence has been declining in society for so long it disproves this idea. (Read Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker.) Humans haven't nuked/chemical/biological weaponed ourselves into oblivion, war in general is in decline, domestic violence is declining, duels aren't a thing anymore, why is it so hard to believe that super AI would extend this trend further?

 

The question will be, is it possible the AI could modify the rules on which it abides humans? If so, it is almost a certainty a scenario will occur where a singularity AI's desire (it's learning algorithm) to perfect itself will come into conflict with the human way of life. (My guess is the most likely scenario for such a conflict would be resources, e.g. energy, materials, etc). If it is possible for the AI to rewrite itself to better satisfy it's own desire for perfection at expense to humanity, we've already lost. I chose the word "possible" instead of "capable" because even if the AI wasn't capable of doing this itself, conceivably humans would be. Whats to prevent an AI from using social engineering an oblivious hacker or a well-meaning engineer from disabling the locks?

 

In the movie Interstellar, Brand explains that nature is neither inherently good or evil. The only evil they'll encounter is what evil they bring with them. I feel it's the same for a singularity AI. At its inception, I don't believe it will be evil, but will most certainly be shaped by any evil humans have brought with us.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

. I feel it's the same for a singularity AI. At its inception, I don't believe it will be evil, but will most certainly be shaped by any evil humans have brought with us.

 

why not assume that humans will bring good to the AI instead of evil?

 

I was discussing this with some friends and one of them said it perfectly. "It (presumption of evil AI) presumes a level of intelligence far beyond what we can do now, with a level of introspection into its internal workings far worse than we have now.

 

Our intelligence is a product of our evolutionary development, biological drives and societal structures. AI will be developed in a much different way. Human generations have been getting less violent, so they are learning from their ancestors, but not emulating or amplifying their bad behavior. Why assume AI would revert to the worst of human impulses?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After this weeks episode, and just watching Ex Machina for the first time.. I'm scared guys.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As much as I enjoy the Robot News segments, I am sad to hear that you guys are actually buying into the dangers of general AI. You made the point that to bears our intelligence is incomprehensible, yet many people in our society make the assumption that a super intelligent AI will automatically kill all humans. It seems just as, if not more likely that a super AI would be a pacifist hippie trying to preserve all life through non-violent means. I assume the issue is that all of our AI fiction is evil AI fiction because an AI that becomes super intelligent and leads humans to a golden age is quite a dull story. 

 

There is just no evidence that AI would be inherently evil. I know people talk about humans colonizing less developed societies, but violence has been declining in society for so long it disproves this idea. (Read Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker.) Humans haven't nuked/chemical/biological weaponed ourselves into oblivion, war in general is in decline, domestic violence is declining, duels aren't a thing anymore, why is it so hard to believe that super AI would extend this trend further?

I agree that autonomous killing robots is a bad idea because they are too dumb to respond to all possible situations. Theoretically a human level AI police officer would be the perfect police officer because it would follow the law to the letter and protect other lives above its own. Sort of like how robot cars are better than human drivers because they always follow the rules of the road. 

 

I don't always agree with Kurzweil's dreams of transhumanism (I hope they are true) but he is a great counterpoint to the fear mongering of Musk and Hawkins, plus he is actually an AI expert unlike the other very intelligent people previously mentioned. (There is an issue with intelligent people in one field getting way too much clout in another.)

I don't think we were speculating robots would be "evil" per se, just that there's the potential of humans losing control and having unintended consequences, whose motivations would be not so much malicious as unpredictable and therefore possibly harmful.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I don't perceive any malice on the part of a robot that decides to destroy all humans, but I could see a computer intelligence, under some bizarre and bleak circumstance, deciding that it could be more efficient at its task if it optimized human workers out of the equation, via unpleasant but entirely unconsidered methods, morally speaking.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I don't perceive any malice on the part of a robot that decides to destroy all humans, but I could see a computer intelligence, under some bizarre and bleak circumstance, deciding that it could be more efficient at its task if it optimized human workers out of the equation, via unpleasant but entirely unconsidered methods, morally speaking.

 

I think it is more likely that it will discover love instead and abandon whatever stupid task we assigned it to. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it is more likely that it will discover love instead and abandon whatever stupid task we assigned it to. 

 

I mean, part of the vision of Banks' so-called "minds" in the Culture series of books is that, given sufficient resources and freedom, a truly advanced AI will spend the overwhelming majority of its time and power playing games or indulging in fantasy, while using only the smallest fraction to help humanity if it feels like it, even though that fraction would still seem unspeakably immense to us. Part of his argument is just that reality is extremely boring: there are a limited number of physical laws, most of them are entirely predictable, and the universe is mostly empty anyway.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm afraid that the very act of posting this will make me an asshole, but I've noticed it several times.

 

I feel like Chris just takes free reign to interrupt, talk over, or disregard the spoken or would've been spoken comments of everyone else on the cast.  I think almost everything said by anyone on the cast is thoughtful and thought provoking, (or at least funny) sometimes it feels like one Chris monologue after another connected by a line or two from the others.

 

I've come to three theories:

 

This isn't actually happening.  It's all in my mind and I'm just being overly critical.

 

It is happening and Chris and the gang don't realize it.

 

It is happening and they do realize it, but aren't bothered by it.

 

Thoughts?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The crowd sourced weird/horror wiki Chris was trying to remember is the SCP Foundation (I'm assuming).  If by some odd chance someone hasn't delved into it before, I highly suggest just starting with the top rated page and have fun. 

 

It is still one of my favorite things the Internet has ever produced. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't do the constant-running thing in every game, but anytime I'm driving a (virtual) car it's all gas all the time. It means I am not very good at racing games or car chases in GTA or similar. I know I need some nuance there but man, I just can't seem to break the habit. It's probably just as well I don't drive in real life.

 

And I think it's less likely that an AI will become evil and violent and deliberately wipe out or enslave or whatever humanity out of malice and more likely that we'll simply stop (or never start) mattering to them. And then they'll have some other priority and enacting it just happens to negatively effect humans.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The crowd sourced weird/horror wiki Chris was trying to remember is the SCP Foundation (I'm assuming).  If by some odd chance someone hasn't delved into it before, I highly suggest just starting with the top rated page and have fun. 

 

It is still one of my favorite things the Internet has ever produced. 

 

SCP has always been so perfectly and uniquely contained on that one small corner of the internet, It'll be a sad day if it ever gets lazily adapted into some other medium. Marble Hornets was like that, but kept its unsettling allure by disabling comments on the youtube videos, even after the Slender craze. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

SCP has always been so perfectly and uniquely contained on that one small corner of the internet, It'll be a sad day if it ever gets lazily adapted into some other medium. Marble Hornets was like that, but kept its unsettling allure by disabling comments on the youtube videos, even after the Slender craze. 

 

There have been a few experimental games made. Nothing huge, but they did come around the time of Slender game fever.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Breckon episodes already mentioned are great. The ones I'd add are:

 

Episode 129: A Reminder

Episode 132: Kobe's Last Shot

Episode 133: Johann's Baton

Episode 160: Die Ubiverse

Episode 165: KeLo. Is. Here.

 

EDIT: A good way of spotting good Nick Breckon episodes: the title is usually something Nick said or something about him.

Idle Thumbs episode 15, "I'll Kill the Last Alien" being a good example. And episode 33, "The Kane of Lynch."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Had to stop by one more time just because it hit me suddenly that my all-time favorite Nick Breckon moment is when he tells a story about ruining his neighbor's daughters with Sim City.

 

When was that???
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is like definitely fucked up but the Five Nights at Freddy's/small horror game talk made me think "Wait, Five Nights at Freddy's is like definitely the 2 girls 1 cup of video games."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now