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The Independent Variable

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Trump wants $200 billion for bombs. Here's what that could buy instead.

motherjones.com

7 years of free school lunches. 3 years of Medicare dental coverage. 2,000 Trump heads on Mt. Rushmore.

This is the argument I and others have been making for years. These war mongers don't blink an eye at spending billions on killing people, but when it comes to trying to help people who could use it here at home, every penny has to be scrutinized to the point they start making up "welfare queens" and "fraud and waste."

Trump wants $200 billion for bombs. Here's what that could buy instead. Read more

Apple Maps may be about to get ads

techcrunch.com

Such a shift could represent a solid revenue driver for Apple. Google has included ads in its navigation app for years, and Bing Maps also offers a similar advertising capacity to local business owners.

Apple should use all that cash to take themselves private. Seriously, come on. Y’all did it, you made a trillion dollars and won capitalism. Every decision Apple has made in the last decade has been at a detriment to the consumer experience. How badly they ruined the Apple Store and Genius Bar experience is still unforgivable in my mind.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says ‘I think we’ve achieved AGI’

theverge.com

Fridman, the podcast’s host, defines AGI as an AI system that’s able to “essentially do your job,” as in start, grow, and run a successful tech company worth more than $1 billion.

“Essentially” is doing a whole lot of work in that definition. No matter what the definition, a real AGI would be smart enough to never hallucinate, and frankly, I don’t think the current path of LLMs will ever reach real AGI.

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Horror Novel ‘Shy Girl’ Canceled Over Suspected A.I. Use

nytimes.com

In an email to The Times late on Thursday night, Ballard denied using A.I. to write “Shy Girl,” contending that an acquaintance she hired to edit the self-published version of the novel had used A.I.

On the one hand, I love that publishers are taking a stand against AI. On the other, I’m increasingly nervous accusations are going to fly around with no regard for the truth and really hamper people’s ability to publish their writing. In this case, the author admits their editor used AI, so it’s a fine line. Did they

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Netflix Denies Claims It Forces Filmmakers to Repeat Plot Points for Viewers: “Haters Gotta Hate” — World of Reel

worldofreel.com

Netflix executives reportedly “laughed off” the idea that they require movies and TV shows to repeatedly recap their plots for audiences.

If I were a betting man, I would wager a lot of money that either a) the executives are lying or b) it’s a case of things lost in translation in a giant company because Netflix producers are absolutely giving notes to filmmakers to recap plots. It may not be a “requirement,” but the message is being heard loud and clear.

Netflix Denies Claims It Forces Filmmakers to Repeat Plot Points for Viewers: “Haters Gotta Hate” — World of Reel Read more