Shower thoughts

[ColdJ]

Which are better, Bedknobs or broomsticks? hmmmm

[adsii1970]

Okay, I am grading exams today - the end of the summer semester is here. As I am working through the emails, it hit me -

If people would literally put as much work in meeting requirements for an assignment as they do making excuses for why they cannot do the assignment or why they cannot submit it on time, most of them would pass with at least a C. Quite possibly higher.

[ColdJ]

Jeopardy Answer: What has every school teacher and university lecturer said at some point in their career?

[adsii1970]

2 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Jeopardy Answer: What has every school teacher and university lecturer said at some point in their career?

Ahhhgh! If you only knew. Every semester I tell myself I'm just going to not care about or invest the energy into those students who pull this garbage. But well... here I am... yeah. That.

[ColdJ]

3 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Ahhhgh! If you only knew. Every semester I tell myself I'm just going to not care about or invest the energy into those students who pull this garbage. But well... here I am... yeah. That.

If you could not care then you wouldn't be a teacher. So be glad you do care.

[StrandedonEarth]

19 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Okay, I am grading exams today - the end of the summer semester is here. As I am working through the emails, it hit me -

If people would literally put as much work in meeting requirements for an assignment as they do making excuses for why they cannot do the assignment or why they cannot submit it on time, most of them would pass with at least a C. Quite possibly higher.

Hmmm, so just grade the excuses? Or….

”Assignment: Explain why you can’t do the assignment, minimum three pages…”

[adsii1970]

What I have decided to do is to simply focus on the students who have submitted their stuff on time. I'm halfway through those exams. My syllabus says that late papers are penalized at 20% of the earned grade. So... that takes care of about four of the bottom feeders.

The rest? Well they can stew in their lack of efforts.

[Admiral Fluffy]

5 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

If people would literally put as much work in meeting requirements for an assignment as they do making excuses for why they cannot do the assignment or why they cannot submit it on time, most of them would pass with at least a C. Quite possibly higher.

You Sir, as your old title said, are truly an in-house philosipher.

[Dientus]

Note to self, don't tick off  @adsii1970 when taking exams.

[adsii1970]

5 minutes ago, Dientus said:

Note to self, don't tick off  @adsii1970 when taking exams.

You have no idea. This semester, I had the usual knuckleheads who simply emailed me blank attachments. They have it in their heads that at least they are submitting something.  It is a real shame there is no grade lower than a 0. I'd be quite content to give them -25 for the energy I wasted opening a blank attachment.

6 hours ago, Admiral Fluffy said:

You Sir, as your old title said, are truly an in-house philosipher.

I put it back. It was there earlier, but in Latin.

[Max von Kerman]

20 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I put it back. It was there earlier, but in Latin.

LOL

Edited August 3, 2021 by Max von Kerman

[ColdJ]

@adsii1970 Nil Nisi Bonum

 

[BuranAce]

If you build an interplanetary ship around an asteroid with drills and fuel generators along with fuel tanks and engines, it would pretty much have infinite range, the asteroid would have infinite ore, infinite or meaning infinite fuel. infinite fuel meaning infinite Delta V. 

[adsii1970]

13 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

@adsii1970 Nil Nisi Bonum

 

Sed omnia bona

Update on grading:

Last night, I posted the grades for three courses. The last set of grades for a class I've inherited this summer term are due next Tuesday. 

Maybe it's my military background or perhaps I'm just an old fart. Maybe both. But why get mad because the job requires you to do something so you quit in the middle of the term?

I could never, by my nature and sense of loyalty, walk out on those students depending on me in the course.

[ColdJ]

8 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Sed omnia bona

Update on grading:

Last night, I posted the grades for three courses. The last set of grades for a class I've inherited this summer term are due next Tuesday. 

Maybe it's my military background or perhaps I'm just an old fart. Maybe both. But why get mad because the job requires you to do something so you quit in the middle of the term?

I could never, by my nature and sense of loyalty, walk out on those students depending on me in the course.

Hence you are a good teacher.

Do not overstress too much. A lot of humans need to have something personally affect them on a deep level before they have an "Aha" moment and realise the signifigance of something they were once taught. It can decades, so best to just help those who are willing to try and let the rest learn life long lessons that may one day become clear to them.

[adsii1970]

Just now, ColdJ said:

Do not overstress too much. A lot of humans need to have something personally affect them on a deep level before they have an "Aha" moment and realise the signifigance of something they were once taught. It can decades, so best to just help those who are willing to try and let the rest learn life long lessons that may one day become clear to them.

Yeah, I know. But this summer semester has been a living hell on earth. So much worse than previous terms.

The students who are first year do not understand university life. They think the faculty and staff should be like Walmart employees and do whatever they want us to do (the customer is always right mentality).

I've had students get upset about due dates, about project requirements, academic standards, and even complain about the course content. Tough bananas. It's a history course and I have standards required by the Board of Regents that must be met. Don't like it? Don't go to the university. 

This morning, I opened an email from a student who feels I didn't take their efforts in my class seriously. Okay, you failed because you didn't take any exams nor did you submit a term paper. You completed one assignment and earned 8/10 on it. But I'm not taking your efforts seriously!?

 

[ColdJ]

@adsii1970

[cubinator]

If you scaled one light year to the size of a meter stick, the distance from the Sun to Neptune would be about half a millimeter.

[adsii1970]

This morning, I started my day as I normally do. This was not a "shower thought" but in the same mindset, excuse the pun. I was driving back from my endocrinologist appointment and the song "Mr. Roboto" by Stix was playing as I drove across the Ohio River bridge. In case you are not familiar with the song, here it is, in the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

Anyhow, there's part of the lyrics which kept floating in my mind long after the song ended:

Quote

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you, thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you

The problem's plain to see:
Too much technology
Machines to save our lives
Machines dehumanize

Okay, the post-industrial "civilized" world, since the 1950s, has been rapidly increasing the amount of automation using robot technology. There's even been scientists who warn about the needs of following the Three Laws of Robotics, as proposed by Isaac Asimov. In case you are not familiar with the Three Laws of Robotics, they are:

• A robot may not injure a human being or allow a human to come to harm.
• A robot must obey orders, unless they conflict with law number one.
• A robot must protect its own existence, as long as those actions do not conflict with either the first or second law.

Earlier this month, in Jane's Defence Weekly, there was discussion about the potential new main battle tank for the U.S. military. Within a generation, we could possibly see autonomous weapons of war using artificial intelligence to make split-second battlefield decisions which will result in the death of humans - a direct contradiction to the first law. As a veteran of the armed forces, I am not worried about technology - in the hands of humans - on the battlefield. But I am very concerned with automated and potentially self-aware (artificial intelligence is the gateway to self-aware technology) weapons of war. Yeah, yeah, I know this has already been a plot element in many books and futuristic movies. Still doesn't mean I cannot bring it up.

What would happen if a single, or God forbid, a company of engineered infantry-bots became self-aware that the only way to prevent the death of humans was to kill the humans who sent them into battle? After all, telling a robot to kill humans would automatically send it into a logical loop, so to speak. It would be forced to make a decision. So, what if it comes to the conclusion that all humans are the enemy because humans have ordered the infantry-bot to kill other humans. Wipe out all humans, problem solved. Ignore the order and risk being scrapped.

And with that thought, there comes another issue. What happens if the infantry-bots decide to disregard the first two laws and simply work for it's own survival - which is always a possibility?

I've always wondered if we may be approaching a new form of slavery as more artificial intelligence is given to machines. Do we run the risk of creating an autonomous, synthetic life form and relegating it, as the part of the song by Styx says, "doing the jobs no one else wants to?"

[kerbiloid]

4. Before battling, ask the humans who are present to put on their team badges or to leave the battlefield.

5. The humans with proper badges are better than the humans with improper badges.

5a. The humans without badges are not proper humans.

6. Return to base in time for recharging procedure.

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

This morning, I started my day as I normally do. This was not a "shower thought" but in the same mindset, excuse the pun. I was driving back from my endocrinologist appointment and the song "Mr. Roboto" by Stix was playing as I drove across the Ohio River bridge. In case you are not familiar with the song, here it is, in the spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Anyhow, there's part of the lyrics which kept floating in my mind long after the song ended:

Okay, the post-industrial "civilized" world, since the 1950s, has been rapidly increasing the amount of automation using robot technology. There's even been scientists who warn about the needs of following the Three Laws of Robotics, as proposed by Isaac Asimov. In case you are not familiar with the Three Laws of Robotics, they are:

• A robot may not injure a human being or allow a human to come to harm.
• A robot must obey orders, unless they conflict with law number one.
• A robot must protect its own existence, as long as those actions do not conflict with either the first or second law.

Earlier this month, in Jane's Defence Weekly, there was discussion about the potential new main battle tank for the U.S. military. Within a generation, we could possibly see autonomous weapons of war using artificial intelligence to make split-second battlefield decisions which will result in the death of humans - a direct contradiction to the first law. As a veteran of the armed forces, I am not worried about technology - in the hands of humans - on the battlefield. But I am very concerned with automated and potentially self-aware (artificial intelligence is the gateway to self-aware technology) weapons of war. Yeah, yeah, I know this has already been a plot element in many books and futuristic movies. Still doesn't mean I cannot bring it up.

What would happen if a single, or God forbid, a company of engineered infantry-bots became self-aware that the only way to prevent the death of humans was to kill the humans who sent them into battle? After all, telling a robot to kill humans would automatically send it into a logical loop, so to speak. It would be forced to make a decision. So, what if it comes to the conclusion that all humans are the enemy because humans have ordered the infantry-bot to kill other humans. Wipe out all humans, problem solved. Ignore the order and risk being scrapped.

And with that thought, there comes another issue. What happens if the infantry-bots decide to disregard the first two laws and simply work for it's own survival - which is always a possibility?

I've always wondered if we may be approaching a new form of slavery as more artificial intelligence is given to machines. Do we run the risk of creating an autonomous, synthetic life form and relegating it, as the part of the song by Styx says, "doing the jobs no one else wants to?"

Great article from Robert Zubrin over on NR a couple of years ago on why autonomous weapons are a real threat. Not because they will act on their own, but because they won't.

The Real Robot Threat

Said it before, saying it again: Stock up on green tip.

[ColdJ]

@adsii1970

This is a phrase that I find important.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO A THING DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD DO A THING."

Humans love to show how inteligent they are by coming up with new things, whether we need them, or want them, or not. Without stopping to think about long term conseqences. AI should never be done, for so many reasons. First for me is one that many don't think about. If you create sentient life then you are responsible for it's well being and rights. The last thing we need is to create slaves again. The world is getting ever closer to understanding that if they wouldn't like to be imprisoned and forced to do things against their will, that other intelligent beings feel the same way.

As for funding more and more ways to kill ourselves, I would prefer funding more ways to understand each other so we can try to avoid conflict in the first place. It is so sad that major governments create and stockpile huge amounts of deadly weapons to fight each other and yet let warlords capture whole schools of girls to be used as forced teen brides, without those same governments actually using their weapons to wipe out the warlords.

[kerbiloid]

Vampires. Having a human and a bat form.

That's how a bat virus could adapt to the human.

And they wouldn't get sick themselves. Because vampires.

Should silver help?

[ColdJ]

robur unitas veritas

Edited August 28, 2021 by ColdJ
Remove debate

[cubinator]

31 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Is the only reason we haven't got refineries in the ocean using sun, wind, wave and tidal power to split Hydrogen and Oxygen out of the water that would then be piped back to land to be used in power stations to run the turbines and also be used in cars that would have 2 tanks, one for the hydrogen and one for the oxygen (solving the Nitrous Oxide problem) because the fossil fuel companies are desperate to hold on to their monopoly and politicians that could start things rolling are happy to keep getting money from them rather than secure the climate future of the planet?

Probably a little of that, but that system would require an entire new infrastructure which has never been built before. I think the battery-powered electric cars lend themselves as a simpler (though, of course, not perfect) climate solution - as you can plug them in to the existing electrical grid.