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#91

Politics, Society and News. / Re: Simple Known Dangers with ...

Last post by ssfc72 - February 28, 2026, 08:59:57 AM

I think the Citrini Research people probably used AI as a source for their article, so it probably is just AI hallucination.

We have trouble handling the technical world as it is now and preventing meltdowns. AI should increase our vulnerability unless we can use counter-AI to keep the world safe. One of the great principles of life is KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid, but we're well beyond that. What's going on in the background is beyond most human brains, which is what I'm equipped with.

This appeared on the CBC news page today. Just one more way AI will come back to bite us:

"The centre — part of the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's cyberspy agency — warns that threat actors engaged in ransomware attacks have started using AI to spot vulnerabilities, develop malware, generate deepfake images and automate negotiations with victims.

AI helps criminals overcome technical barriers and a lack of resources, making it easier to target victims and demand payment, often in the form of cryptocurrency, the report says."

For the full report see

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ai-ransomeware-attacks-9.7065169

#92

Politics, Society and News. / Re: Simple Known Dangers with ...

Last post by buster - February 27, 2026, 01:06:46 PM

Speak of the devil. This article is on news stations today about Block firing about 4,000 because of ai possibilities. I chose the BBC news release.

No workers = no spenders =no taxes =no gov't money = no health care and on and on.

But probably something will jump into the economic system that employs people or distributes the money of the extremely wealthy.

           https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq570d12y9do

#93

Politics, Society and News. / Re: Simple Known Dangers with ...

Last post by buster - February 26, 2026, 01:48:02 PM

Found an article that reads like sci-fi that is interesting because it caused some stock prices to fall a few days ago. Read most of the original article as well, but it's long. Some of the people who work in the coding business say the time line is too quick. The thesis is that if ai causes high unemployment, the whole economic system we have built is in danger.

Interesting ideas.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/24/feedback-loop-no-brake-how-ai-doomsday-report-rattled-markets

#94

General Discussion / Re: My new home phone VOIP pro...

Last post by ssfc72 - February 12, 2026, 08:50:04 AM

The Fongo voip telephone is working well, so far.

#95

Security and Privacy / Re: Serious Problems with Snap...

Last post by Jason - February 11, 2026, 05:13:43 AM

Disturbing! I wonder how it affects distros that use Ubuntu as a base. I remember the Mint crew forcibly removing some proprietary components from their distro years ago; I believe snap was involved. I think that Zorin uses flatpak instead of snap, which isn't proprietary. But you also have the choice of deb packages where available.

#96

Distributions / Re: Which Linux Distro Should ...

Last post by Jason - February 11, 2026, 05:09:49 AM

But it's for your own good, Bill! I don't remember his name but the guy that heads up AI at Microsoft was being interviewed and was telling the journalist that he wants AI to be so pervasive that it will see everything you see, and everything you do, all so it can more helpful at assisting you. Sounds like a great deal! Give up what last vestiges of your privacy, have it stored in one place, all so it can help you do... what, exactly? My theory is just so they can serve up more ads; that's why they want you to use their store, and their browser, and their backup service, etc.

But yes, I am so glad that Linux developers haven't embedded any of that AI crap in to the desktop OS. If people optionally want to have it, fine, but I think the nature of Linux is that you can't force any software on anyone, even in the OS, if they don't want it. I doubt Linus will be embedding AI into the kernel any time soon.

#97

General Discussion / Re: Remove your personal info ...

Last post by Jason - February 11, 2026, 05:02:46 AM

Sounds interesting, Bill. I'll add this post to my bookmarks to check later.

#98

Politics, Society and News. / Re: Elon Musk Demonstrates Aga...

Last post by Jason - February 11, 2026, 04:53:50 AM

Possibly irrelevant, but I don't think Musk is all that bright or he wouldn't have taken political stances that alienated his customer base. Liberals who bought Teslas don't really warm up to Nazis.

He's made a lot of dumb predictions before anyway, even those affecting his own company. But stockholders still keep pushing the price up because everybody thinks Musk is a genius. Ugh.

Regarding your analysis of his claim, I think you make some good points about the weaknesses in those predictions. I never heard of history referring to "black swans" before, but I do know about the Black Swan fallacy! Nuclear power plants take a long time to build because of all the red tape and because, honestly, people have irrationally-hyped fears of them so they delay construction for years. Modular reactors can be built more quickly and almost everywhere with less of the risk and cost. I'm surprised the government isn't doing that instead of a traditional reactor.

Sometimes technology can change pretty quickly. Look at how long it took before we depended on the internet to get anything including government benefits or how quickly solar and wind power have evolved. They're both cheaper now than fossil fuels and it's virtually unlimited power.

#99

General Discussion / Re: My new home phone VOIP pro...

Last post by Jason - February 11, 2026, 04:26:07 AM

Sounds good, Bill! How is it working so far?

#100

General Discussion / My new home phone VOIP provide...

Last post by ssfc72 - February 03, 2026, 10:00:59 AM

I have recently changed my home phone voip provider from the USA based Ooma service to an Ontario, Canada based service called Fongo.

The Ooma service was very good, cost about $6 per month for unlimited Canada wide calling. I had the service since 2018.
Unfortunately I think the Ooma phone adapter, which runs the voip, seemed to be failing. The incoming voice calls were suddenly badly garbled.
I would have to buy another Ooma adapter which would cost $130 plus shipping.

The Fongo adapter was only $25. The voip service can be paid monthly but it is cheaper to pay yearly, for $60, which is what I did.
The only downside is that with the Ooma voip adapter I could listen to any voice mail, by having the voip adapter play the voice mail back.
The voice mail on the Fongo system, sends you an email, with an audio file of the voice mail. You can also, apparently,  dial a phone number and enter your PIN to retrieve your voice mail.

I also had my original local Lindsay phone number, ported from Ooma to Fongo for only $6.
I believe I had to pay Ooma about $50 to port my Lindsay phone number, to their system.