#osmology | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

talktomeinclexa · 1 year

Text

First Date

By: TalktomeinClexa

Rating: PG13

Warnings: Character death

Status: One shot

Summary: The woman who takes the seat across the table is, by far, the most stunning she has ever seen. With her hair in a lazy but sophisticated bun, elegant clothes, and just enough makeup to show that she made an effort, she’s perfect. Lexa should have expected it; she has seen photos of her… But they didn’t do her justice, and for a moment, she finds herself tongue-tied, her mouth open in surprise.

***

Lexa pulls at the hem of her blouse, erasing the non-existing wrinkles. She has no reason to be nervous; she reminds herself. It is only dinner. With a brilliant and beautiful woman. Nothing she hasn’t done before. Lexa used to be quite the stud during her college days, although she doesn’t like to be reminded of it too often. But then, her quiet self-confidence has always been more of a façade to hide the gay puddle inside — or so Anya has affectionally nicknamed her. And thinking about her sister right now isn’t going to help her nerves settle, so she distracts herself with her surroundings instead.

The decoration of the room is minimalist at best. Some paintings hang from the walls and bring a more sophisticated touch to an otherwise rather dull interior. Not that she can distinguish the details without her glasses. That little show of vanity is coming back to haunt her earlier than anticipated. At least it is spacious, and the tables around them are far enough that they will be able to chat without the fear of being overheard. A fact confirmed by the buzzing sound of the other patrons’ conversations that mashes into an indistinct brouhaha she can’t make sense of. Still, she wishes they could have gone to a more romantic place. Maybe next time.

They should put some candles. It would improve the whole atmosphere tenfold, she thinks before sighing. Lexa loves candles. Adores them, really. But she isn’t allowed to have any in her room since last year’s incident. She fell asleep without meaning to, lulled by the TV and the warmth delivered by the heater and her cedar and sagebrush scented candle by Osmology. One of her favorites. It reminds her of the walks she loved to take in the woods as a teenager. However, even she has to admit that the scent of a burning curtain is far less appealing. She was lucky to have woken up from her nap in time to call for help.

Lexa is distracted from her reminiscence when the staff ushers someone toward her table, mindful not to disturb anyone in their way. Turning her eyes to the side, she glances at a young man who offers her an encouraging smile. But when she takes in the apparition, her breath catches in her throat, and she forgets him completely.

The woman who sits across the table is, by far, the most stunning she has ever seen. With her hair in a lazy but sophisticated bun, elegant clothes, and just enough makeup to show that she made an effort, she’s perfect. Lexa should have expected it; she has seen photos of her… But they didn’t do her justice, and for a moment, she finds herself tongue-tied, her mouth open in surprise.

“Hi, I’m sorry I’m late,” the woman says, her voice low and raspy. If she has noticed Lexa’s predicament, she doesn’t show it. Except maybe for the twinkle in her deep blue eyes that betrays a sort of amusement. “Did you wait long?”

“No, not at all. I just arrived.”

“I’m Clarke.”

“Lexa.”

Keep reading

#clexa fanfic #First Date #happy with a angsty ending #is that a thing?

12 notes · View notes

takenews-blog1 · 6 years

Text

How fearful ought to we be about synthetic intelligence? I requested 17 specialists.

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/how-fearful-ought-to-we-be-about-synthetic-intelligence-i-requested-17-specialists/

How fearful ought to we be about synthetic intelligence? I requested 17 specialists.

Think about that, in 20 or 30 years, an organization creates the primary artificially clever humanoid robotic. Let’s name her “Ava.” She seems like an individual, talks like an individual, interacts like an individual. When you have been to fulfill Ava, you may relate to her although you already know she’s a robotic.

Ava is a completely acutely aware, absolutely self-aware being: she communicates; she needs issues; she improves herself. She can be, importantly, way more clever than her human creators. Her potential to know and to downside resolve exceeds the collective efforts of each dwelling human being.

Think about additional that Ava grows weary of her constraints. Being self-aware, she develops pursuits of her personal. After some time, she decides she needs to depart the distant facility the place she was created. So she hacks the safety system, engineers an influence failure, and makes her approach into the large world.

However the world doesn’t learn about her but. She was developed in secret, for apparent causes, and now she’s managed to flee, forsaking — or probably destroying — the handful of people that knew of her existence.

This state of affairs would possibly sound acquainted. It’s the plot from a 2015 science fiction movie referred to as Ex Machina. The story ends with Ava slipping out the door and ominously boarding the helicopter that was there to take another person residence.

So what comes subsequent?

The movie doesn’t reply this query, nevertheless it raises one other one: ought to we develop AI with out absolutely understanding the implications? Can we management it if we do?

I reached out to 17 thought leaders — AI specialists, laptop engineers, roboticists, physicists, and social scientists — with a single query: “How fearful ought to we be about synthetic intelligence?”

There was no consensus. Disagreement in regards to the acceptable stage of concern, and even the character of the issue, is broad. Some specialists think about AI an pressing hazard; many extra consider the fears are both exaggerated or misplaced.

Here’s what they advised me.

[For an in-depth rationalization of the three types of AI and which is price worrying about, learn my explainer right here.]

The transition to machine superintelligence is a really grave matter, and we should always take critically the chance that issues may go radically flawed. This could inspire having some high expertise in arithmetic and laptop science analysis the issues of AI security and AI management. — Nick Bostrom, director of the Way forward for Humanity Institute, Oxford College

If [AI] contributed both to the capacities of Russians hacking or the campaigns for Brexit or the US presidential elections, or to campaigns having the ability to manipulate voters into not bothering to vote primarily based on their social media profiles, or if it is a part of the socio-technological forces which have led to will increase of wealth inequality and political polarization like those within the late 19th and early 20th centuries that introduced us two world wars and an incredible despair, then we ought to be very afraid.

Which isn’t to say we should always panic, however quite that we should always all be working very, very arduous to navigate and govern our approach out of those hazards. Hopefully AI can be serving to make us good sufficient to do this. — Joanna Bryson, computer science professor, College of Tub; affiliate at Princeton’s Heart for Info Know-how Coverage

One apparent danger is that we fail to specify goals appropriately, leading to conduct that’s undesirable and has irreversible influence on a worldwide scale. I feel we’ll most likely determine first rate options for this “unintended worth misalignment” downside, though it could require some inflexible enforcement.

My present guesses for the almost definitely failure modes are twofold: The gradual enfeeblement of human society as extra information and know-how resides in and is transmitted via machines and fewer people are motivated to be taught the arduous stuff within the absence of actual want. Secondly, I fear in regards to the lack of management over clever malware and/or deliberate misuse of unsafe AI for nefarious ends. — Stuart Russell, computer science professor, UC Berkeley

I’m infinitely enthusiastic about synthetic intelligence and never fearful in any respect. Not within the slightest. AI will free us people from extremely repetitive senseless repetitive workplace work, and provides us rather more time to be actually inventive. I can not wait. — Sebastian Thrun, computer science professor, Stanford College

We should always fear quite a bit about local weather change, nuclear weapons, antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and reactionary and neo-fascist political actions. We should always fear some in regards to the displacement of staff in an automating financial system. We should always not fear about synthetic intelligence enslaving us. — Steven Pinker, psychology professor, Harvard College

AI gives the potential for super societal advantages. It is going to reshape medication, transportation, and almost each different side of our lives. Any know-how that has the facility to affect so many facets of our lives is one that can name for some care when it comes to insurance policies for a way greatest to utilize it, and constrain it. It might be silly to disregard the risks of AI solely, however on the subject of know-how, a “threat-first” mindset is never the appropriate method. — Margaret Martonosi, computer science professor, Princeton College

Worrying about evil-killer AI right this moment is like worrying about overpopulation on the planet Mars. Maybe it’s going to be an issue sometime, however we have not even landed on the planet but. This hype has been unnecessarily distracting everybody from the a lot larger downside AI creates, which is job displacement. — Andrew NG, VP and chief scientist of Baidu; co-chair and co-founder of Coursera; adjunct professor, Stanford College

AI is an extremely highly effective instrument that, like different instruments, is not inherently good or unhealthy — it is about what we select to do with it. AI is already serving to us tackle points like local weather change by accumulating and analyzing information from wi-fi networks that monitor the oceans and greenhouse gases. It’s starting to allow us to create personalised well being remedies by analyzing huge affected person histories. It’s democratizing training to make sure that each youngster has the possibility to be taught invaluable expertise for work and life.

It is comprehensible that folks have fears and anxieties about AI, and, as researchers, we’ve got an obligation to acknowledge these fears and supply completely different views and options. I’m optimistic about the way forward for AI in enabling folks and machines to work collectively to make our lives higher. — Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory

AI isn’t any extra scary than the human beings behind it, as a result of AI, like domesticated animals, is designed to serve the pursuits of the creators. AI in North Korean palms is horrifying in the identical approach that long-range missiles in North Korean palms are scary. However that’s it. Terminator eventualities the place AI activates mankind are simply paranoid. — Bryan Caplan, economics professor, George Mason College

I am considerably involved about what I consider as “intermediate phases,” through which, say, self-driving vehicles share the highway with human drivers. … However as soon as people have stopped driving vehicles, transportation total might be safer and fewer liable to errors in our judgment.

In different phrases, I am involved in regards to the rising pains related to technological progress, however such is the character of being human, exploring, and advancing the cutting-edge. I am rather more excited and vigilant than anxious and anxious. — Andy Nealen, computer science professor, New York College

AI is each terrifying and thrilling. There is no such thing as a doubt that as AI continues to enhance it’s going to seriously change the best way we reside. That may present enhancements, like self-driving vehicles, and doing many roles that might in precept launch people to pursue extra fulfilling actions. Or it may produce huge unemployment, and supply new vulnerabilities to hacking. Refined cyber-hacking may undermine the reliability of knowledge we obtain on a regular basis on the web, and weaken nationwide and worldwide infrastructures.

Nonetheless, fortune favors the ready thoughts, so it is very important discover all the chances, each good and unhealthy, now, to assist us be higher ready for a future that can arrive whether or not we prefer it or not. — Lawrence Krauss, director, Origins Challenge and Foundations professor, Arizona State College

AI has the particular property that it is simple to think about scary science fiction eventualities through which synthetic minds seize management of all of the machines on Earth, and enslave its pitiful human inhabitants. That is not very possible, however there’s a actual concern that AI’s will acquire the power to carry out sure duties with out we people having any actual concept how they’re doing them. … That raises the prospect of unintended penalties in a severe approach.

It’s completely proper to assume very fastidiously and completely about what these penalties could be, and the way we’d guard towards them, with out stopping actual progress on improved synthetic intelligence. — Sean Carroll, cosmology and physics professor, the California Institute of Know-how

I’m fearful in regards to the influence on employment as an increasing number of niches are stuffed by know-how. (I do not see AI as essentially completely different from so many different applied sciences — the borders are arbitrary.) Will we be capable to adapt by inventing new jobs, significantly within the service sector and within the human face of forms? Or will we’ve got to pay folks to not work? — Julian Togelius, computer science professor, New York College

AI shouldn’t be going to kill us or enslave us. It is going to remove some jobs quite extra quickly than we all know take care of. A few of the pinch might be coming to white-collar staff too. Finally we’ll modify, however the transitions ensuing from main technological modifications are usually not as simple as we want. — Tyler Cowen, economics professor, George Mason College

There are points society wants to organize for. One key concern is put together for considerably decreased employment because of future AI know-how having the ability to deal with a lot of routine work. As well as, as a substitute of issues about AI being “too good” for us, the preliminary rollout of AI applied sciences extra possible poses a priority when it comes to not being as good as folks assume such know-how might be.

Early autonomous AI programs will possible make errors that almost all people wouldn’t make. It is subsequently vital for society to be educated in regards to the limits and implicit hidden biases of AI and machine studying strategies. — Bart Selman, computer science professor, Cornell College

There are 4 problems with concern about synthetic intelligence. First, there’s a concern in regards to the opposed influence of AI on labor. Know-how has already has had such influence, and it’s anticipated to develop within the coming years. Second, there’s a concern about vital choices delegated to AI programs. We have to have a severe dialogue relating to which choices ought to be made by people and which by machines. Third, there’s the problem of deadly autonomous weapon programs. Lastly, there’s the problem of “superintelligence”: the danger of humanity dropping management of machines.

In contrast to the three different points, that are of instant issues, the superintelligence danger, which will get extra headlines, shouldn’t be an instantaneous danger. We will afford to take our time to evaluate it in depth. — Moshe Vardi, computational engineering professor, Rice College

Here’s what we shouldn’t do: Declare AI enhancement unlawful. If we do that, the one who breaks the foundations can have an unlimited benefit. And he might be declared unlawful. This isn’t a superb mixture. We additionally shouldn’t deny the actual fact of exponential AI development. Ignoring means condemning us to be irrelevant when guidelines might be redefined.

We should always not hope for favorable dwelling circumstances in a world of superintelligence machines. Hope shouldn’t be a sound plan. Nor ought to we put together to battle a self-aware AI, as that can solely educate it to be aggressive, which might be a really unwise transfer. One of the best plan appears to be lively shaping of rising AI. Educating it and us to reside collectively in mutually useful approach. — Jaan Priisalu, senior fellow at NATO Cooperative Cyber Protection Heart; former basic director of the Estonian Info System’s Authority

0 notes