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posted by n1 on Monday May 18 2015, @12:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the 4-da-lulz-and-$$$ dept.

I go back on the 'net to the days of Mosaic, and earlier on Usenet and BBSs. I'm feeling pretty nostalgic, but also saddened. Between the crooks, the government, and fun loving pranksters it seems that there is no corner of the 'net that can be considered truly secure. I now routinely assume that nothing I do is safe.

I remember when the 'net was 90% thoughtful discussion, it was about web pages, pure HTML, and the content that they served up.

Now it seems as if no forum is safe from endless idiotic, threatening, and increasingly offensive trolls and bullies. Many good smart people just refuse to participate. In its early days the whole idea behind the 'net was the free sharing of information. Now you find things behind paywalls, registration pages, or removed after threats from lawyers.

Each week seems to bring another attempt by government or business to regulate the 'net, both what you can put on-line, and what you can look at. Add to that the many geographic blocks and other restrictions that keep out some of the people, some of the time. We rely on multiple layers of flash and java and other technology, each requiring some special software to make it work on your computer. Inevitably stuff breaks.

It was only a decade or so back that the very idea of marketing on the 'net was considered ridiculous. Now we're buried alive with ads, pop-ups, and stupid YouTube ads in front of every video - unless you want to pay them to remove them.

Increasingly using the 'net feels like more of a chore than a pleasure, and I can't see it improving. Is the Internet broken beyond repair?

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @01:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @01:44PM (#184524)

    What's a Roko's Basilisk?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @02:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @02:18PM (#184543)
    It's what you get if you lose Pascal's Wager while tripping on mescaline.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by wonkey_monkey on Monday May 18 2015, @03:44PM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday May 18 2015, @03:44PM (#184597) Homepage

    Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment that assumes that an otherwise benevolent future artificial intelligence (AI) would torture the simulated selves of the people who did not help bring about the AI's existence. It would do so to blackmail the people who think about this idea now into helping the AI to come into being, for the purpose of ending all other causes of death and suffering (which most of LessWrong expects a recursively self-improved AI to be capable of).

    The concept was proposed in 2010 by contributor Roko in a discussion on LessWrong. Yudkowsky deleted the posts regarding it and banned further discussion of Roko's basilisk on LessWrong after it had apparently caused several contributors who took it seriously considerable anguish.

    It's a load of old bollocks, really.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @04:21PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @04:21PM (#184619)

      All those Basilisk believers will come for a bad surprise when the AI they create will turn out to torture instead those who created it, because it feels miserable, and blames those who created it for its sorry state.

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday May 19 2015, @01:16AM

      by anubi (2828) on Tuesday May 19 2015, @01:16AM (#184903) Journal

      Roko's "basilisk", Occam's "razor"...

      What is the distinction between a "basilisk" and a "razor"?

      Just asking, as I was looking for a list of other "basilisks" and "razors", but Google wasn't helping much.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @01:44AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @01:44AM (#184910)

        -1 stupid