Notices by Kent Borg (kentborg@social.tchncs.de)

@TheConversationUS I don't want a car with damn "software". I want a car that works when I buy it, and keeps working that way

I'm going to hang onto the car I have for as long as I can. It has some very limited firmware in the computer that controls the engine and ignition. That software worked when they manufactured the car, and it still works. The result is a reliable car.

Unlike, say, my so-called phone.

Yes, my phone does real cool stuff, but it is not reliable.

@jeffowski Except he isn't really a billionaire.

@thomasfuchs Much deeper than it first appears.

A valuable property of computers is they are deterministic, they will sum the list of numbers the same each time. Where a human is insightful, as a new idea crosses his/er mind in a moment of distraction, humans are terrible at routinized tasks; as new ideas keep crossing our bored minds.

By making computers no longer reliable—whether through fuzzy, human-ish AI, or code that is never designed, documented, nor tested (because CI)—we loose a lot.

@AkaSci @canberradsn A "glitch" is not the same as a "bug". A glitch is something transient, easy to miss…maybe it never happened. The term predates computers.

When a spacecraft loses all communications it is not a mere glitch. It is a serious bug.

Not as much fun to say, but it's still the right word.

@Trilobyter Why is it bigger in the middle? Artistic license, or something else I don't understand?

@echo_pbreyer ✅ Run by a rich man who can change policies, or sell it to anyone, whenever his whim dictates

@fuat2mb One country has invaded another. You think the invader should just be given his prize and invited to continue?

@fuat2mb @dancinyogi I was reading through the responses, looking for those wallowing in that odd disconnected luxury that allows them to assert that Biden and Trump ARE the same, and I wasn't seeing them.

But then I saw this @fuat2mb reply and now I'm "reassured" magaheads aren't the only thing wrong with this country.

@gbhnews I particularly want individual reporters to quit donating content to Twitter and post over here.