×

We're Deeply Skeptical, But a Government Whistleblower Claims the US Has Recovered "Non-Human" Spacecraft by TrustyScrew in Futurology

[–]Lazaruzo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You think aliens can possibly only teleport at nighttime or by using blood sacrifices? Thank you for making my point!

Also, and I can't stress this enough:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Ahem. -_- Jesus.

Using electric water heaters to store renewable energy could do the work of 2 million home batteries – and save us billions by altmorty in Futurology

[–]window_owl 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Those don’t work in freezing temperatures where people use gas heaters.

On the contrary, there are now air-source heat pumps that work quite well when it's cold outside. In the U.S., the new (as of 2023) Energy Star 6.1 rating system "requires third-party verified performance for low temperatures, testing ASHPs down to 5°F", and provides heating ratings for units at that outdoor air temperature.

https://ashp.neep.org/#!/product_list/ currently shows 4,064 models that are Energy Star-rated to work at 5°F outdoor air temperature. Perusing the list, I see many (for example, the KINGHOME KM36H5O) which are certified to be able to produce 90% as much indoor heat when it's 5°F outside as when it is 47°F outside. This unit (which I chose only because it was near the front of the list) actually has performance specs going down to -22℉ outside, where it is rated to still be able to produce at least 8,000 Btu per hour (and up to 24,020, which is 74% of what it is capable of at 5℉).

Those numbers don’t have units and aren’t relevant to each other.

These numbers (the efficiency of indoor heaters) are actually unitless. It's the ratio of how much heat energy the unit can put into the house divided by how much energy the unit needs to be supplied with in order to do that. For example, how many joules of heat energy a furnace puts into a house divided by the joules of stored chemical energy the furnace consumes in fuel. Because the units on top and bottom are the same, they cancel out, so the number is just a ratio/fraction/percentage.

To illustrate (and perhaps clarify), compare a gas-fired furnace to an air-source electric heat pump, which gets its electricity from a gas-fired power plant. Provide both with one cubic meter of natural gas, which has a stored chemical energy of 40 million joules.

Pipe that gas into a furnace, and about 10% will escape through the exhaust, putting 36 million joules into the house. This makes the furnace 36 megajoules / 40 megajoules = 90% efficient.

Most U.S. natural gas power plants are 60% efficient, so the same 1 cubic meter of gas is turned into 24 million joules of electricity in transmission wires. 3% of that electricity will be lost in transit, so 23.28 megajoules of electricity arrive at the air-source heat pump. At 5°F outside, that unit is rated to consume 5.22 kilowatts (or 5,220 joules per second, or 18,792,000 joules per hour), so it can run for 1.24 hours on that much electricity. At that outdoor temperature, it is rated to produce 32,400 Btu per hour, so after 1.24 hours it will heat the house with 40,140 Btu, or 42.35 million joules.

Based on the electricity, this makes the air-source heat pump 42.35/23.28 = 182% efficient at 5°F. Based on the energy originally stored in the natural gas, the heat pump is 42.35/40 = 105% efficient, compared to the furnace's 90%.

In other words, even in places that get cold, most of the time it would actually take less gas to keep everyone warm by burning the gas in power plants, sending the electricity through transmission lines, and running currently-commercially-available air-source heat pumps on the electricity, than it would be to burn the gas where the heat is needed.

Georgia nuclear rebirth arrives 7 years late, $17B over cost. Two nuclear reactors in Georgia were supposed to herald a nuclear power revival in the United States. They’re the first U.S. reactors built from scratch in decades — and maybe the most expensive power plant ever. by mafco in Futurology

[–]pravis 30 points31 points  (0 children)

New builds of nuclear reactors in Europe still slowed significantly after the 80s. Without a steady stream of new builds that supply chain infrastructure and resource experience disappeared. Rebuilding that, along with increased safety measures, has caused schedules and budgets to run over.

Back before gas prices dropped significantly and made nuclear less attractive for utilities the outlook was that the costs for later builds would drop after the infrastructure was rebuilt and eventually there would be a recoup of investment from the primary vendors. China is not the best example as who knows that shady building practices they implement but you do see with each of their new rectors the cost and schedule came down. The US and Europe would have reached that eventually if more attractive options did not become available.

New IEA data shows the oil industry knows its days are numbered. Instead of investing in future production, it's distributing record profits to shareholders. Renewables are now the world's largest energy source as measured by future investment - almost double the size of fossil fuels by lughnasadh∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ in Futurology

[–]EmperorOfCanada 80 points81 points  (0 children)

I work with oil companies and would agree something has changed. They aren't upgrading software. I don't feel they are investing in their people. Safety is dropping like a stone. They are playing games of three card monty to make sure any environmental liabilities aren't theirs. I also see them selling off assets which don't quite make sense. Until you realize those assets are worthless if you don't need them in 10 years and selling them in 10 years will be hard.

They know there is still lots of money to be made squeezing shit out of the ground. But, there is a kind of neglect. It's like if one of those old timey gas stations were to ask if you want your oil checked, but you are driving a rental car; you just don't really give a shit if that oil is 30000 miles past due. While at the same time, you would fix a flat in the rental car because you still need it to get you to your destination.

On the asset sales, an example would be if you have a natural gas pipeline which runs out to your oil fields which is fairly critical for powering oil extraction/processing assets. I see companies where they built this pipeline as part of the creation of those assets. It makes little sense for them to sell off the natural gas pipeline as it is easy to operate and they are the primary user.

It does make sense if you aren't telling the fools who bought it that you are probably shutting down most if not all of the assets which use the bulk of that pipeline's capacity. This way the oil company gets money now for something they know will be worthless, while probably locking up the prices in a 10 year pricing contract which doesn't make it look like they know something special. They can argue they are just "focusing on their core business."

In Canada they watched as Keystone XL died and the oil companies didn't kick up that much of a fuss. There is a transmountain pipeline which basically died until the federal government bought it out and paid for it. Pipelines have 50+ year lifespans, so very much come under the category of long term investment.

Here is a simple bit of math which has some very interesting side benefits:

It has been calculated that having 4x the needed capacity in wind and solar will result in the US not needing any fossil fuels for electricity production 99.9% of the time. Even when it does need some extra juice, it doesn't need to produce 100%, just supplement when there isn't quite enough.

This entirely requires a rewiring of how electricity is paid for and used. In the above math there will be plenty of time where producers will be producing way too much. Obviously you can't just not pay them. So a new system where capacity is paid for, not production. This also results in a huge excess of capacity. This means whole industries could pop up where super cheap electricity is the key ingredient. The idea is not to charge them the "going rate" as that makes little sense. The idea is to encourage this electricity to not go to waste and to help pay for that 4x capacity.

There are all kinds of cool things you can do with super cheap electricity:

  • Desalinate water
  • Produce concrete alternatives like just melting rock into cinder-block shapes.
  • Produce rebar like structures using melted rock.
  • Produce fossil fuel replacements from literally thin air
  • Produce green steel
  • Proper waste disposal and recycling
  • Excellent waste water treatment.
  • So very many chemical processes where the present standard is quite dirty, but energy efficient.
  • And so very many chemical processes where energy makes things expensive.

One other factoid which the fossil people really hate. When a solar panel goes up, that means a certain amount of fossil energy is no longer needed. Pretty much forever. People can whine about how it is only during certain hours, and all that, but the reality is if one panel produces 100kwh per year, then 100kwh of fossil energy isn't delivered anymore; year after year after year. So, every house in a coal powered area with a solar roof will reduce demand by about 1000lbs. This might not seem like a bunch, but it adds up. If 10% of single family dwellings went with a solar roof it would remove the entire demand for coal from at least one of the biggest coal mines in the US.

Switching to heat pumps in the same houses would start eliminating entire productions of many many gas fields.

Now do 20% or even 50% and the fossil fuel industry would be in very serious trouble.

I use the US as an example, but it is a bad example because the nation benefits from oil in many ways. There are lots of countries where they don't have much local fossil fuel and thus it is all imported. Those countries are really going gangbusters to break free. They are doing rooftop, solar farms, wind farms, heat pumps, and many other techs which are doing an end run of the fossil world.

I look forward to seeing places like Alberta Canada slide into decay and decrepitude; for unlike the oil companies; they are planning on a long future of polluting the planet.

The FDA will apparently let Elon Musk put a computer in a human’s brain by PauloPatricio in Futurology

[–]Yasstronaut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What a BS title. Why are we so afraid of tech advancement after it’s been studied and gone through proper safety approvals?

Such a boomer take. “I don’t like change!”

Remote Work Will Destroy 44% of NYC Office Values: Study by Gari_305 in Futurology

[–]kaptainkeel 1752 points1753 points  (0 children)

Yep. This absurd idea that I see almost everywhere is that, "The real estate market is healthy! It's going up by 3-4% per year!"

Why does it need to go up by 3-4% every year? In what fucking world does that make sense? Houses get older and become less efficient/need renovations to be modernized. They should go down in value, not up.

Property should not be treated as an investment.

End Population Growth to Build Back Biodiversity on World Biodiversity Day by madrid987 in Futurology

[–]Theoricus 50 points51 points  (0 children)

That's a broad fucking brush dude.

We're on a planet heading towards environmental collapse because of human activity. We're literally in a mass extinction event called the 'Anthropocene extinction' because, you guessed it, humans are skull fucking every ecosystem on this planet.

Saying we can't have a conversation about controlling our population because it's politically sensitive implies the alternative is somehow preferable: global famine and war because of resource scarcity as life becomes unsustainable on this planet.

I'm fine with having no kids if it means our planet has a goddamn future.

End Population Growth to Build Back Biodiversity on World Biodiversity Day by madrid987 in Futurology

[–]vluggejapie68 12 points13 points  (0 children)

TIL I am an ecofascist.

The Return to the Office Has Stalled by OneOk2189 in Futurology

[–]OO0OOO0OOOOO0OOOOOOO 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Really interesting and scary what they're doing at JPMorgan Chase. This is a comment reply to an article about Musk saying he hates work from home.

They want to track your performance and think you don’t work hard remotely.. I work so much harder at home its incredible. Just see what JPM is doing...

A warning for anyone working at or thinking about working at JPMorgan Chase & Co. If you work at JPMorgan Chase & Co. or are thinking about working at JPMC, you need to know about their employee surveillance tool called WADU. WADU is an acronym for Workforce Activity Data Utility. Every employee at JPMC has a profile in the WADU database.

I think everyone expects their employer to track them to some extent. It is pretty standard practice for employers to monitor and run analysis on things like building badge swipes and the amount of time spent connected when working from home. It has also become very common place for employers to record audio and video at the office.

WADU is on a different level. It is an artificial intelligence & machine learning system for workforce human behavior. Starting at the moment you arrive to the building, WADU is tracking you using facial and speech recognition. Most JPMC offices and branches have been outfitted with some of the best HD AV security cameras.

Whenever you are at your desk, know that there is a HD camera tracking you the entire time. WADU uses the array of HD cameras at the office to monitor all of your nonverbal body language all throughout the day. The collected information is then fed into the Al/ML system and it is used to update your WADU profile in real time.

Every manager gets access to a dashboard that lists all the metrics about their subordinates. The productivity metrics about an employee start getting updated immediately after an employee logs into the system. If the employee is at the office, two bio-metrics are available, attention/focus and stress. The bio-metric feeds are updated from the facial and behavioral tracking. Having a bad day? Stressed about something? WADU has already noticed this and alerted your manager. Can’t focus? Not working at your usual pace? WADU has already noticed this and alerted your manager. Did something you normally don’t do? It’s possible WADU flagged it as suspicious and alerted your manager.

WADU is also why they are pushing RTO or “return to office” so hard. Upper management does not care if some employees are more productive when they are working from home. They want everyone back in the office as much as possible so that their WADU profiles are being refined. Enhancing their insight into you is more important to them than better productivity from working from home.

A lot of teams are now required to come in two to three days per week. Director level and higher are required to come in four to five days per week. Upper management wants to see everyone at all levels back in the office five days a week.

They have invested millions into the WADU system, and they want to get a return on that investment. That only happens whenever people are in the office as much as possible.

WADU is also watching and listening whenever you are working from home. If you installed Citrix Workplace on your own computer, and you permitted Citrix to access your web camera and microphone after login, you have connected those devices to WADU. If you are using an issued Chromebook, those permissions are already conveniently accepted for you.

You’ll notice that your web camera will flash right after login. This is not an “initial connection” flash. Your web camera just took a burst shot of pictures and sent them to WAD. The pictures will be scanned for anything deemed unprofessional or unsafe. Recreational drug paraphernalia, TVs, game consoles, and several other things are all flagged if detected in the pictures. If you see your web camera flash randomly, that was your manager or someone in security requesting a burst shot of pictures from your web camera.

You’ll also notice that your microphone will go hot shortly after login. Anything you say will be processed by WADU.

All background noises will be processed by WADU. Say something bad about your boss or other superior? WADU flagged it. Say something bad about another co-worker?

WADU flagged it. Have a moment of anger or frustration?

WADU flagged it. These are just some examples, WADU is trained to detect a wide variety of keywords, phrases, and sound events. Your manager can also connect and listen to your audio feed live. WADU is also able to detect keyboard pokers/bumpers and mouse jigglers/movers. It doesn’t matter if it is a completely external solution, WADU will be able to detect it by analyzing the repetitive input pattern. Your manager will be notified that your under suspicion of faking productivity. They will then connect to your session and see what is happening live. Action will be taken if the suspicion is confirmed. WADU determines how productive you are by analyzing a variety of metrics about your session input. This includes words typed, mouse clicks, application activity, and many other things. The analysis also determines if someone is a unique contributor or if they are a regular worker. In overall rankings, unique contributors are always ranked higher than regular workers. The same analysis can also determine who is essentially dead weight. These people are ranked last.

You may have noticed at some point that you started getting job postings sent to your personal email. If you click on any of the links in these job list emails, your manager will get a notification on your WADU profile that you are actively looking for a new job. Even if it was just browsing, it can negatively affect the employee who clicked the link.

If you installed the JPMC workplace app on your phone, you have connected your phone to WADU. The workplace mobile app will collect a variety of information from your phone and use it to update and refine your WADU profile.

Right now, the only way to reserve a desk at the office is to use the workplace app. The web version of the desk reservation system is still “coming soon” and you are pushed to install the app on your phone. It will probably still be “coming soon” in 2040.

Upper management pushes a narrative that all this surveillance is required to safeguard the firm against insider threats. While that may be partially true, the main reason is to train and refine the Al/ML system. They want every employee profile to be as accurate and as detailed as possible.

They say we are not supposed to use anything from an employee’s WADU profile to make employment decisions.

It is kind of hard to ignore a ranked list of subordinates with productivity forecasting.

The Return to the Office Has Stalled by OneOk2189 in Futurology

[–]bsylent 111 points112 points  (0 children)

As it should have. Let people work from home, institute the 4 day work week, turn office spaces into affordable housing and get people off the streets, let UBI become a standard. For once an American history, put people over profit. AI and automation and forever increasing profits should be leading to the betterment of mankind, not the comfortability of a few

11
29.6k
29.6k

EnergyArnold Schwarzenegger: Environmentalists are behind the times. And need to catch up fast. We can no longer accept years of environmental review, thousand-page reports, and lawsuit after lawsuit keeping us from building clean energy projects. We need a new environmentalism. (usatoday.com)

submitted by mafco

Mercedes wants EV buyers to get used to paywalled features | Your new electric car can be faster for as "little" as $60 per month by chrisdh79 in Futurology

[–][deleted] 12.3k points12.3k points & 2 more (0 children)

Pledge: I will not buy any car from any car manufacturer that engages in this practice.

A 23-year-old Snapchat influencer used OpenAI’s technology to create an A.I. version of herself that will be your girlfriend for $1 per minute by StartledWatermelon in Futurology

[–]PapaBePreachin 2263 points2264 points  (0 children)

When you visit the official page, caryn.ai, it just has "featured on Fortune" plastered in the middle. There is no proof of concept nor pertinent details on the tech. This reeks of paid advertisement/click-bait

​

*Update: The site is managed/created by "Goel Strategies," a marketing firm - here's their about page and you be the judge. Great Journalistic integrity "Fortune" 🙄

Mercedes wants EV buyers to get used to paywalled features | Your new electric car can be faster for as "little" as $60 per month by chrisdh79 in Futurology

[–]IONaut 1829 points1830 points  (0 children)

Ziggy, that deckmeister of the vehicular underworld, jacked in with his neural link, tendrils snaking into the EV's ghostcore. "Flippin' drek, this code's tighter than a corpo's credit line," he muttered, eyeing the ice he'd have to slice. Grinning like a glitched-out AI, he dove in, rattling through the datastreams.

"Rip the locks, Zig," urged Jynx, her stimsynth smile shimmering. "We need that ride, frag it!".

"I'm on it, I'm on it," he snapped, fingers dancing over his deck, a wild conductor summoning a symphony of shattered security. With a final flourish, the electric beast surrendered, and Ziggy crowed, "Zaibatsu be fragged, we're in! That EV's our ticket to the neon nirvana, Jynx!"

Will Universal Basic Income Save Us from AI? - OpenAI’s Sam Altman believes many jobs will soon vanish but UBI will be the solution. Other visions of the future are less rosy by CWang in Futurology

[–]The_Bitter_Bear 10 points11 points  (0 children)

What I always wonder is if they manage to automate most people out of work, wouldn't that in a way crash the economy? If most people don't have jobs, who's spending money on their goods and services?

Don't get me wrong I fully expect them to still try and be completely happy with screwing most of us over to prop up their lifestyles. Just seems like if it goes too far it's going to be bad for them as well.

16
309
310

AIAI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are - Tech CEOs want us to believe that generative AI will benefit humanity. They are kidding themselves (theguardian.com)

submitted by Gari_305

''I Get Worried'': Warren Buffett Compares AI To The Creation Of Atom Bomb by SharpCartographer831 in Futurology

[–]fyro11 1475 points1476 points  (0 children)

Do we need the 'first impressions' of every disconnected rich person on the planet?

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, says AI is about to start the biggest transformation in the history of education by making something previously only available to the rich - high quality personalized tuition - free to everyone on the planet. by lughnasadh∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ in Futurology

[–]DungeonsAndDradis 2309 points2310 points  (0 children)

I don't want you to discount your personal fortitude and resilience in this effort.

Yes, you used these resources to help you, but you:

  • Found resources

  • Maintained discipline

  • Kept commitments

I think you deserve just as much credit for this, dude. So kudos to you, and I hope you have a wonderful day filled with a little bit of magic.

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, says AI is about to start the biggest transformation in the history of education by making something previously only available to the rich - high quality personalized tuition - free to everyone on the planet. by lughnasadh∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ in Futurology

[–]radeon9800pro 2187 points2188 points  (0 children)

Yup.

I'm so dumb, I barely passed Algebra in high school. I know, not a big accomplishment for most people.

In college, I stuck my head into the deep fryer and took on more math. One of two reasons I was able to get through Pre-Calc, Single Variable Calculus(Calc 1) and Multi Variable Calculus(Calc 2) was because of Khan Academy. The other reason was patrickJMT. I jumped back and forth on these two resources and bashed my head against the wall until I understood it.

But it really says something that the MOST gains I got in my education were online resources and NOT the actual courses or the instructors or the textbooks.

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, says AI is about to start the biggest transformation in the history of education by making something previously only available to the rich - high quality personalized tuition - free to everyone on the planet. by lughnasadh∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ in Futurology

[–]Sekhmet3 409 points410 points  (0 children)

I don't want you to discount your personal fortitude and resilience in this effort.

Yes, you used these resources to help you, but you:

Found resources

Maintained discipline

Kept commitments

I think you deserve just as much credit for this, dude. So kudos to you, and I hope you have a wonderful day filled with a little bit of magic.

I LOVE THIS ENERGY ON REDDIT!!!!!!! <3 <3

Scientists Use GPT AI to Passively Read People's Thoughts in Breakthrough by manual_tranny in Futurology

[–]paceminterris 26 points27 points  (0 children)

It's important to get the conversation rolling about the social consequences and legal ramifications of the endpoint of this technology.

Remember, despite this being preliminary research, science learns and technology improves over time. The Wright Brothers' first plane could barely go 10 minutes in the air, yet airplanes today can circle the globe, carry other aircraft, break the sound barrier, launch space systems, etc.

Saying "we don't need to think about it because it's not mature yet" is like people saying "we don't need to think about how planes will change warfare, or transoceanic shipping, or the railways" when all those changes were about to sweep the world in the coming decades.

'The Godfather of A.I.' warns of 'nightmare scenario' where artificial intelligence begins to seek power by fortune in Futurology

[–]ulenfeder 87 points88 points  (0 children)

So sick of all the fear mongering. From what I've seen it's probably far easier to align an AI with the interests of humanity than it than it is to align actual humans to the interests of humanity.

IBM to Pause Hiring for Jobs That AI Could Do by AI_antidote_to_Ego in Futurology

[–]toxie37 116 points117 points  (0 children)

Harass employees and manually masturbate shareholders

Lawmakers propose banning AI from singlehandedly launching nuclear weapons by Gari_305 in Futurology

[–]OneChrononOfPlancks 5850 points5851 points 2 (0 children)

Now after they turn the two keys simultaneously, they also have to choose all the photos that have traffic lights.

The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born by Gari_305 in Futurology

[–]DzildotronDeluxe 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Spermstation 5

view more: next ›