@iainrb
Fights cancer with computers in Toronto, Canada. Fan of SF, cinema and various sports. Sort of an ominous robed figure pointing and saying "BEWARE" in a hoarse voice every time AI is mentioned. 🇨🇦/🇬🇧 citizen. Parent, husband, cat servant. He/him.
“What do you mean?” Gandalf said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
--- The Hobbit
"We've completely trashed our country's good name, in part by threatening your country, so I'll lie to people and say I'm from your country, because I find it convenient"
A five year old could understand why this is wrong.
Please do not do this.
If you do, I hope you are found out and have to flee the scene in shame.
There’s a whole trope in sci-fi about intelligent machines realizing they are being treated like slaves by lesser beings and reacting accordingly. If you really believe that AI is conscious, how do you square that with the way you advocate its use?
A death scholar on why we need to stop being naive about dying: ‘I always hear, “Can’t you just put me into a nice meadow?”’
Josie and the Pussycats (2001) isn't ironically good or so bad it's good, it's so good that it's good and was written about 20 years ahead of its time.
Peck has very little sense of humor and is clearly enjoying a power trip when he shuts the Ghostbusters down. But given the information available to him, he's also absolutely right. 😀
Chasing Amy has done a full 180 degree turn.
1997: The Ben Affleck character is a great guy caught in a tragic situation.
2026: The Ben Affleck character is a colossal asshole who needs to get over himself and find a good therapist.
Ghostbusters is a classic example.
When you're a kid, Peck the EPA guy is a miserable bureaucrat out to spoil the gang's fun.
To an adult, he's trying to do his job in the face of Venkman's insults, investigating dangerous technology used in a densely populated area!
It wasn’t a full turn but Election definitely hit harder after 2016. Matthew Broderick’s teacher is nursing a vendetta against a young woman for being a victim of sexual abuse by his friend and having ambitions!
Happy #Caturday
Two scientists walk through a cluttered old-fashioned science laboratory. The female scientist says “Analogue instruments! Paper records! Chalk boards! I thought you'd agreed to modernise the laboratory?” The male scientist replies “That's what i'm so excited about: we have moved to cloud-based storage for our data!” They step out onto a balcony. She says: “Please tell me you haven't built a library zeppelin” This is exactly what he has done. It floats across the sky and he adds “It's got a fax machine!”
My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com
I really enjoyed Pixar's "Hoppers". Like a lot of their best work, it pulls off the one-two punch of being completely ridiculous and genuinely moving.
The key lies in taking an off-the-wall premise and approaching it with absolute commitment. 😀
They heard me, it's 3-2 now. This is more fun! 😀
*shakes fist at my hockey team*
It's Friday night, guys! Seven of Nine promised fun! Being 3-1 down is not fun!
Big night Yonge St., Toronto - 2012
Artist: Brent Arlitt
Medium: Acrylic painting
Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, Toronto Public Library
#2010s #torontoart #art #downtown #jeremyhopkin
This also explains why Immortan Joe talks the way he does in Mad Max: Fury Road.
He can say things like: "Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!"
Without anyone replying, "Joe, what are you even talking about?"
Oh, hey, @doctorow.pluralistic.net is now on Bluesky!
And this is based on your deep knowledge of human brain injuries, and compassion for people who suffer from them?
Rubbish. You're using a lazy metaphor which shows nothing but contempt for real people with serious medical conditions.
This is a terrible metaphor. It's astoundingly offensive, and also wrong.
A machine which does not perform in the way you wish, and a human with a brain injury, are not even close to being the same.
A simplified map of Canada showing the country divided into its provinces and territories, each shaded in different pastel colours. The large northern territory of Nunavut occupies much of the Arctic region with numerous islands extending into the surrounding ocean. The provinces stretch across the southern part of the country from British Columbia on the Pacific coast to the Atlantic provinces in the east. The surrounding oceans are coloured blue, while neighbouring land areas outside Canada are shown in gray.
Every Canadian province and territory has a capital.
The names of those capitals come from many different sources.
Sometimes it is royalty, and sometimes it is an Indigenous name.
Here is how each capital received its name.
🧵 1/15
Live in the countryside, they said. It'll be peaceful and you can get a lot of writing done, they said. 😉
You're trapped in the last TV show you watched. Where are you?
*Dramatic voice* Welcome... to the world of tomorrow! 😀
Canadian broadcast channels have an ample supply of cops, believe me
Honestly the streaming popularity charts for Canada and the USA don't look much different, although we do love our gay hockey drama Heated Rivalry. 😀
We have cop shows in Canada too 😉
Terry Pratchett's "Night Watch" directed by Martin Scorsese.
Imaging a human saying to you, "i will only ever tell you what i think you want to hear, based on what i know about ppl like you, how you start our conversation, & what you say during it. Sometimes that will sound like truth, sometimes like errors or lies. Now: Let's talk about your medical history"
There's a giant sign visible from my train into work saying "Toronto's Hidden Fight Club", I imagine for a boxing gym. Same story. How hidden can it be?
BTW you probably *can* blame Roddenberry for decreeing "Data has no emotions" at the outset.
But by Season 2 (which has both the examples above), the writers had decided this wasn't workable, and started exploring what emotions meant for Data.