Infrastructure is all about unbelievable feats of engineering that are taken for granted. Sewage systems, running water, electricity, roads, public transport, cars, physical mail, and grocery stores/supermarkets are all unbelievable achievements that we all take for granted to varying degrees, and that’s just off the top of my head. IP networking is just more of that. Absolutely crazy, and by design we don’t think about it.

But AI (also depicted in this gif) is not in the same category IMO, for a lot of reasons.

Thanks, I think we’re mostly in agreement.

Regarding the selfishness thing: first, I should clarify that I only meant that part assuming the right lane would occasionally have obstacles (other cars). If it’s totally free, there’s no reason to leave it.

I’m talking about when the choice is either constantly zigzagging between middle and right, or staying in the middle. In that case I think staying in the middle reduces cognitive load both for yourself and for other drivers. Less lane switches on the road, less chaos. It’s not as selfish as you make it out.

Also, each time you switch lanes you temporarily occupy both lanes at the same time, so if you zigzag you’re taking up more of the road, which is arguably more selfish.

Comparing to people who don’t indicate is not fair. They’re just idiots, even selfishness can’t explain it because they’re making it more likely that they’ll be in a crash. There is not a single sensible argument to not use turn signals.

Interesting take. I like it.

I agree with you. The thing is, the overriding principle (and law) of driving is to be cautious. By my interpretation, all other laws can be bent if bending them is safer than strictly adhering to them. Hence my previous comment.

Depending on the road, this might be reasonable.

The right lane is often used for exiting or merging, so being in the middle lane is safer and allows others to use the right lane for this purpose more easily.

Frequently switching between right and middle lane because of the occasional slower/merging car only increases the chances of a collision, because switching lanes is more complicated than staying in one lane.

Staying in one lane all throughout the drive reduces cognitive load for the driver. This means they’re less distracted and can respond better to surprises or emergencies. (I’m assuming they’re not distracted by something else like using their phone, that’s a whole other topic)

In urban areas, the right lane is closer to parked cars, cyclists and pedestrians, making it inherently more dangerous to drive in.

So yeah, if the right lane is completely empty of cars and it’s not an urban area, they should use it. Otherwise, middle lane is probably the best choice.

https://xkcd.com/763/

I wanted to downvote you for failing to pick up on the sarcasm, but then you went and did all that math that I was too lazy to do and I ended up upvoting you instead. Damn you!

Either this is faked for the meme or something is very very wrong.

Thanks… I have downvoted my own comment in shame. Godspeed!

There’s no probabilities involved. The machine predicts the future perfectly.

The lever is designed in such a way that it can only be operated by pulling.

Yup, that’s the premise. It’s just an annoying thought experiment. Your actions physically can’t change the past, but somehow they still do, because the past was decided based on a perfect prediction of your actions. I was just playing devil’s advocate. I agree with your answer 100%.

“Now” is the moment where you decide whether to pull the lever. As is conventional in trolley problems, this moment can last anywhere from 2 seconds to hundreds of years :)

Obligatory nitpick: open weights ≠ open source. For it to be open source, they need to release the training data as well as all the parameters they used in training it.

Alas, it is a perfect simulation of our universe with perfect knowledge. Machine learning was not used in the construction of this machine. It can’t technically see the future, but it can predict anything perfectly except quantum phenomena. It has been demonstrated in countless trials that it can accurately predict human choices and decisions.

Correct, IMO. But right now, before you make the decision… The machine has already made its prediction. The track either has people on it, or it doesn’t. Changing your mind now will not change that. If you are so sure of that decision, then the machine must have put no people on Track B. So now if you do pull the lever, no one gets killed! So why don’t you?

Reminds me of a trolley problem variant I saw once. It went roughly like this:

A trolley is headed for Track A, where a single person is tied to the tracks. You can pull a lever and cause the trolley to switch to Track B, which enters a tunnel that you cannot see inside. Track B might have 3 people tied to the tracks, or it might be free of people. You can’t see which.

Two hours ago, a perfect prediction machine inside the tunnel predicted whether you would pull the lever.

• If it predicted that you would pull the lever (sending the trolley into the tunnel), then it tied 3 people to Track B, thus setting it up so pulling the lever would kill 3 people.
• If it predicted that you would not pull the lever, then it ensured Track B is free of obstacles.

The perfect prediction machine is guaranteed to have made the correct prediction. Do you pull the lever?

Good news: it’s already been debunked! Or at least called into question.

https://youtu.be/MedC_v-dEbY?t=48 description of the myth

https://youtu.be/MedC_v-dEbY?t=111 calling it into question

SciShow on youtube is well worth a subscription, their videos are well researched and fact checked.

it’s a spectrum

If a fake laptop isn’t fake running Linux I don’t want it in my home.

According to https://joinmastodon.org/about :

Mastodon gGmbH is a non-profit from Germany that develops the Mastodon software.

[…]

Mastodon, Inc. is a non-profit entity in the United States that supports the growth and operational capabilities of Mastodon, including being able to receive tax-deductible U.S. donations and in-kind support.

Doesn’t seem like it was a move, just a different entity. Seems like there’s a bit more history to this if you want to look it up, for example the German GmbH lost its nonprofit status in 2024, strangely.